The U.S. attitude to Yugoslavia and to Ukraine

​

The subject of this article is the U.S. attitude to two different Slavic countries, to Yugoslavia and to Ukraine.

At first, I would like to remind about the situation in Yugoslavia at the end of the 1990s.

At that period, ethnic Albanians, who are majority in the Yugoslav region Kosovo, began to fight for secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav authorities, of course, always claim that this separatist movement was supported by foreign countries, e.g. by Turkey and other Islamic countries. The Yugoslav authorities also claim that there were many foreigners – even black people - among separatists and that the regular army of the neighboring Republic of Albania took part in hostilities on the Yugoslav territory.

Spoiler

And the U.S. government too, decided to support Kosovo separatists, at first by diplomatic means and then by a military operation which forced the Yugoslav army and police to leave Kosovo in 1999.

On February 17, 2008, the Kosovo Parliament declared the full independence of Kosovo and on the next day the U.S. recognized Kosovo as independent.

And it should be mentioned that Hashim Thaci, one of the leaders of the Kosovo separatist movement, who later became the President of Kosovo, is now on trial by a Special Court in the Hague where he and three other leaders of Kosovo separatists are accused of war crimes, crimes-against-humanity, killings and tortures during and after the 1998-1999 conflict against then-Yugoslavia.

By the way, back in 2010, a Council of Europe report had stated that Hashim Thaci had links to an Albanian group involved in smuggling weapons, drugs and human organs; please see the website of Voice of America.

But during the “freedom fight” in Kosovo in the 1990s no Western media had reported about such facts.

Now about situation in Ukraine.

In November 2013, a protest movement – the so-called Euromaidan – began in this country and at some point, protesters started to burn and kill although such their actions absolutely could not be called a self-defense; please see the thread “Was there a threat for ethnic Russians in February 2014 in Ukraine (Crimean question)?”.

Therefore, the Russian Government had concerns about future of ethnic Russians, who are the majority in the Crimea, and in March 2014 the Crimea was accepted into the Russian Federation.

However, this time, the U.S. declared that the principle of territorial integrity had to be abided by.

But why had the U.S. not abided by this principle of territorial integrity six years earlier when they had recognized Kosovo?

In the spring 2014, after an unconstitutional removal of the President Yanukovych from power, protests began in the Eastern Ukraine, mainly in Donbas. And new Ukrainian rulers, of course, claimed that these protests were instigated by Russia.

And the U.S. did not support the separatist movement in Ukraine – although they had supported the separatist movement in Yugoslavia at the end of the 1990s.

​

The difference between Western attitude to Yugoslavia and to Ukraine can be well showed by the following events in these two countries.

In March 1998, Yugoslav special forces surrounded in the village of Prekaz a compound of brothers Adem and Hamëz Jashari who fought with arms for secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia.

You can find many pictures of these persons in Internet when they posed with automatic rifles, a machine-gun, etc.

And in March 1998, The Washington Post cited a statement of the Yugoslav authorities that before the attack on the Jashari’s compound the Yugoslav policemen had demanded that all persons come outside. Yugoslav police officials said that 30 people answered the call and came outside but Adem and Hamëz Jashari and other persons stayed in the compound and started to fire.

The fight lasted for several days, and the number of killed persons varies in different sources. For example, in the book “Humanitarian law violations in Kosovo”, which has been published by Human Rights Watch, you can find on page 32 names of 42 Albanians, who had been killed in Prekaz in this compound; please see Google Books. And by the way, the names of Igballe Rifat Jashari (item 9 and item 10) and Feride Jashari (item 6 and item 31) are repeated twice in this list

After these events in Prekaz, there was a huge outcry in the U.S. and Western Europe; please see the citation below.

please see Google Books

But when exactly the same number of persons, i.e. 42 died in a fire in the Odessa Trade Unions House at the beginning of May 2014 during clashes with Ukrainian nationalists (please see here), there was absolutely no public outcry in the U.S. and Western Europe.

And American and Western European politicians, too, were absolutely indifferent to the death of 42 people.

But why did the U.S. not bomb Kiev after this mass death?

I personally cannot even remember that a U.S. President or a German Chancellor ever demanded from any Ukrainian officials to investigate deaths of these people. Therefore, Ukrainian authorities have not finished “investigation of this mass death so far.

Source

​

 

Why did the U.S. government like Kosovo separatists so much in the 1990s?

The former leaders of these separatists, including the former President of Kosovo, are now on trial by a Special Court in the Hague where they are accused of war crimes, crimes-against-humanity, killings and tortures (please see the first post of this thread).

 

I said at the time this nasty business in Kosovo would come back to bite -- and the apologists cried "No No No" We are the big bad USA.. and can do what ever we like .. and what we like is "Do as we Say .. Not as we Do" the Rules based order is not for me but for YOU.

One of the foundational Rules of the UN is respect (= not violating) international sovereignty .. but if this is to be done .. in the rare circumstance that it is justified .. Requires at minimum unilateral approval from the Security Council .. Full Stop .. End of Discussion if this is not achieved is an illegitimate action .. a Violation of the Rules.

We used to be able to get away with "Do as we say - Not as we do" back in the day when we were the only economic Game in Town .. and all we had to do was whisper our desires into the ear of some nation and they would come running on bended knee .. as everyone wanted to play in our backyard ..

Things have changed .. we are no longer the Only Game in Town .. China alone is a bigger in terms of Purchasing Power .. and that is the number we care about.

So we decide to once again "change the Rules" if we have some ethnic group within a nation wants to separate --- some kind of Persecution going on .. (Such as the case with English speaking people in the province of Quebec Canada) this justifies going to war with that nation and annexing territory .. as was done in Serbia ..with a long history and connection with the territory of the land annexed including being the Seat of the Religious Authority .. so .. in a way .. almost like annexation of Jerusalem or Mecca ...

but no worries about such trivialities .. All good in the hood so long as "Do as we say - Not as we do" holds up so long as others do not start "Doing as We do" but here we are. Ethnic Russians being Persecuted harshly -- not only by the Azov Neo Nazi's leading to civil war but with Gov't involvment in the game.

There are additional factors to consider but this alone meets the bar - the bar set by the US - for annexation.. but since it is Russia doing the annexation .. all the who's down in who-ville cry Boo Hoo Hoo .. Do as we say .. not as we Do

 

Bill Clinton at the time he was bombing ethnic Serbs in the former Yugoslavia was also defending himself over white stains found on a blue dress. American presidents always have the power to redirect the lapdog news media.

 

White stain didn't have much to do with much .. Was Mad Madaleine leading the Charge.


Don't let the good looks fool you .. there is a demon being the mask.

 

The use of "concerns for Russians was just a ruse. Putin and Russia politics and policy viewed Ukraine either as a protectorate under Putin's regime or a breakaway state from Russia. Thus, after the revolution in 2014 to get rid of Putin backed government after the PM rejected Ukraine joining the EU, an economic consortium. The rest is pure idealogical hogwash and lacks historical perspective.

Yugoslavia was formed after WW1 after the breakup of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. It still had ethnic clashes, but after WW2 and the Soviets who "liberated the area," Yugoslavia became a dictatorship in which ethnic clashes were kept in check, but was still brewing. Under the Soviet Yugoslav government failed, all four major ethnic factions broke away.

 

I am sure this little to nothing to do with this thread.

We did a fair amount of camping around Europe in the late 1960s. I was somewhat surprised that the Yugoslavians were fairly friendly. I have no idea which faction they were. We would occasionally see Czechoslovaks and they would not associate with anyone one.

 

Lol...that sounds like a redux of Putin's whine. Blame the foreigners when things go tits up.
And the Yugoslav situation is more akin to the breakup of the ussr where disparate countries were cobbled together forcefully and finally broke apart.
None of that excuses another country trying to force a reunification or annexation of a sovereign country by force.
You can't put enough lipstick on that pig to make it believable.

 

The misogynist card is always a favorite with right-wingers.

 

Do you think the half-a-million children our sanctions against Iraq killed was worth it?

Madeleine Albright thought so.

 

In the 1990s, the U.S. government liked Kosovo separatists very much whose former leaders - including the former President of Kosovo - are now on trial by a Special Court in the Hague.
They are accused there of war crimes, crimes-against-humanity, killings and tortures which they have committed during their “freedom fight”.

And now, the U.S. government likes “Ukrainian freedom fighters” very much.
Are you sure that these “Ukrainian freedom fighters” aren’t criminals too?