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WHO ARE THE WAR CRIMINALS?
PV Oct. 16-31/2000 Lead Editorial
(This editorial is from the October 16-31/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
YET AGAIN, US/NATO military and political power has backed domestic opposition groups in ousting a so-called "enemy government" from office. Today the tragic game is played out in Yugoslavia. But the number of countries where imperialism has acted in a similar fashion is high. Since the Second World War, the list includes Iran, Guatemala, Guyana, Chile, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua and many more, not least the European socialist countries a decade ago.
None of these countries was a utopia, including Yugoslavia. But those who cheer the overthrow of Milosevic are way off the mark. The fact is, having bribed countless politicians and rigged dozens of phoney "elections," Washington and its allies care absolutely nothing about corruption or voter fraud. What imperialism does care about is making the world safe and profitable for the huge transnational corporations which dominate the global economy.
For several years, the Yugoslav Federal Republic enraged the imperialist powers by refusing to play by the rules set up by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. For that "crime," the Serbian people and Milosevic were demonized by the Western media, bombed for eleven weeks, and blockaded by NATO. Thanks to tens of millions of dollars in Western funds, the Yugoslav opposition parties were finally able to take power this month, even though the left parties won a majority in the Sept. 24 parliamentary elections.
What's ahead now for Yugoslavia? We can safely predict that "loans" from the IMF and World Bank will be provided to "rebuild" the country. In other words, Yugoslavia will become heavily indebted to the same Western powers which have just destroyed its economy. As the experience of other countries in eastern Europe shows, the working people of Yugoslavia will face many years of mass unemployment and extreme poverty, with a small elite of wealthy gangsters controlling the country. More than likely, the Federation will be broken up into smaller chunks by NATO.
Yes, we agree that war criminals should be brought to justice. They live in Washington, London, Bonn and Ottawa, among other NATO capitals. The politicians and generals responsible for killing thousands of Yugoslavs (and Iraqis!) should be tried for their crimes. In the coming federal election, voters should tackle the Liberals and every other candidate on this vital issue!
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