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I read a book about the Balkans a while back, which a few people here may or may not have read – The Balkans, Misha Glenny. It could of went into much more detail on various areas, but considering it’s a book encompassing the entire Balkans, going into to detail would require many more volumes, nevertheless this last page was interesting;
Theodore Geshkoff in the 1940’s wrote that the Balkans is usually reported to the outside world only in time of terror and trouble; the rest of the time they are scornfully ignored. It is during these long periods of neglect that the Balkan countries have badly needed the engagement of the great powers. Yet the only country to demonstrate a sustained interest in the economic development of the Balkans was Nazi Germany during the 1930’s.
….Should the west fail to address the effects, not merely of the three month NATO air war in 1999, but of the 120 years of miscalculation and indifference since the congress of Berlin, then there will be little to distinguish NATO’s actions from any of its great power predecessors. The NATO campaign can hardly claim either a moral or political victory if its sole achievement is the expulsion of Milosevic’s Serbia from Kosovo.
There is an unassailable case for political and economic restitution in the Balkans….Afterward the alliance proved incapable of stopping the KLA from imposing a regime of intimidation and murder which provoked the departure of almost the entire Serbian minority population from Kosovo within weeks of the Albanians’ return. If the greatest military machine in history is unable to impose law and order in a small province, one cannot help wonder what the future holds….
Yet if the great powers fail to seize the present opportunity by investing heavily in the region, the suffering of the Balkans will surely continue…
So besides making craters throughout the Balkans, dividing land, manipulating and neglecting whole populations, unable to impose law, incapable or unwilling to help industrialise the Balkans – they instead do what exactly???? Let me think, ignore major human right violations, allow countries to undermine a peoples identity and statehood, allow forced population transfers of millions and also allow countries to raise problems where they don’t exist (e.g. the name dispute and the”confusion” the name could cause).
Further, how long did it take to re-industrialise Germany? Considering that much of Germany was flattened during the War and what was the incentive to do so? Noting the fact that Nazi Germany was Europe’s greatest ever threat. Do they see no incentive to heavily invest in the Balkans? Or do they see the Balkans as Europe’s greatest threat (inline with Nazi Germany), even though they were the puppet masters that helped create and/or allowed the very problems to paint the Balkans as a problem region to this day. Thus our problems today is for the most part their problem. How do they then try to fix some of the problems; Change the name of your country (regardless of your rights, laws and what people so strongly desire) and we will give you a firm handshake and welcome you into the club (EU), but unfortunately we can’t help you get the knife out of your back. I believe there is a term for this – WESTERN HYPOCRISY.
Theodore Geshkoff in the 1940’s wrote that the Balkans is usually reported to the outside world only in time of terror and trouble; the rest of the time they are scornfully ignored. It is during these long periods of neglect that the Balkan countries have badly needed the engagement of the great powers. Yet the only country to demonstrate a sustained interest in the economic development of the Balkans was Nazi Germany during the 1930’s.
….Should the west fail to address the effects, not merely of the three month NATO air war in 1999, but of the 120 years of miscalculation and indifference since the congress of Berlin, then there will be little to distinguish NATO’s actions from any of its great power predecessors. The NATO campaign can hardly claim either a moral or political victory if its sole achievement is the expulsion of Milosevic’s Serbia from Kosovo.
There is an unassailable case for political and economic restitution in the Balkans….Afterward the alliance proved incapable of stopping the KLA from imposing a regime of intimidation and murder which provoked the departure of almost the entire Serbian minority population from Kosovo within weeks of the Albanians’ return. If the greatest military machine in history is unable to impose law and order in a small province, one cannot help wonder what the future holds….
Yet if the great powers fail to seize the present opportunity by investing heavily in the region, the suffering of the Balkans will surely continue…
So besides making craters throughout the Balkans, dividing land, manipulating and neglecting whole populations, unable to impose law, incapable or unwilling to help industrialise the Balkans – they instead do what exactly???? Let me think, ignore major human right violations, allow countries to undermine a peoples identity and statehood, allow forced population transfers of millions and also allow countries to raise problems where they don’t exist (e.g. the name dispute and the”confusion” the name could cause).
Further, how long did it take to re-industrialise Germany? Considering that much of Germany was flattened during the War and what was the incentive to do so? Noting the fact that Nazi Germany was Europe’s greatest ever threat. Do they see no incentive to heavily invest in the Balkans? Or do they see the Balkans as Europe’s greatest threat (inline with Nazi Germany), even though they were the puppet masters that helped create and/or allowed the very problems to paint the Balkans as a problem region to this day. Thus our problems today is for the most part their problem. How do they then try to fix some of the problems; Change the name of your country (regardless of your rights, laws and what people so strongly desire) and we will give you a firm handshake and welcome you into the club (EU), but unfortunately we can’t help you get the knife out of your back. I believe there is a term for this – WESTERN HYPOCRISY.