The Austrian political expert, Helmut Kramer, believes that
the negotiations may well move in the direction of amputating
Kosovo from Serbia. He believes it is possible that they could lead
to an exit strategy for the UN, which "could lead to a situation
like Afghanistan".[1] In the background of the discussions are
German demands, which contradict existing UN Resolutions and aspire
to the secession of Kosovo. In a strategy paper the Bertelsmann
Foundation proposes that the EU should set up a "semi-sovereign"
Kosovo, "if Kosovo Albanians and Serbs are not in a position to
create a lasting resolution to the Kosovo conflict". Futhermore the
EU should take over the command of the KFOR troops "not only to
become the most important international player in Kosovo but also
to lend weight to its foreign and security policy". Brussels must
be prepared for a blockade in the Security Council and be ready "to
recognise Kosovo unilaterally".[2] These recommendations are a
re-run of the German coercion by which the diplomatic recognition
of Croatia was compelled at the beginning of the Yugoslavian
wars.
Demonisation
The German role in the territorial destruction of Yugoslavia
is the topic of a media analysis, recently published by the Berlin
Information Centre for Transatlantic Security (BITS).[3] The study
analyses the reporting of the British Times" and the "Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ) from the beginning of 1991 to the end of
1995. Whilst the Times is credited with "balance at the beginning"
which ended with the militarization of the conflict, the FAZ "gave
a decidedly negative image both to the recent history of Yugoslavia
and to Yugoslavia in its death throes. To this end, the FAZ used
images of fascist analogues and mobilised anti-communist
resentments in manipulating reports of massacres, according to the
study.
Primitive Frames of Reference
The author of the BITS study sees a further characteristic in
the FAZ reporting of its attributions to ethnocentric causes. The
paper not only accepted the "simplification of points of difference
along ethnic lines" supported by "nationalist forces in Yugoslavia"
but had set out to deepen and multiply these "primitive frames of
reference". In connection with this, the paper had "inverted the
norms of international law" and "used the principle of
self-determination selectively for its argument". The writer noted
a similar conversion to the ethnocentric cause by the Times.
Orders and Decoration
The author also demonstrates the deep partisan commitment of
the FAZ in the conflict from the "grateful gestures of the
presidents of Slovenia and Croatia", who gave state approval to the
Frankfurt paper. Victor Meier, a long time South East Europe
correspondent for the FAZ, received the highest decoration of the
land, "The Order of Freedom", from the President of Slovenia. The
FAZ cartoonist Fritz Behrend, who is known for his aggressive
style, is being considered for an order and was also decorated with
the title "Danica Hrvatke" (Dawns of Croatia). According to BITS,
the highly partial stance of the FAZ was "not without influence on
the political decision makers of Germany".[4]
War Propaganda
The results of the study correspond to the findings of
already existing investigations into the legitimisation of the
attack on Yugoslavia of 4 March 1999. Brigadier General Heinz
Loquai confirmed the manipulation by the media of the "Racak
Massacre" in a lecture on the background to the war. It was, he
said, a definite "setting of the points toward war in
Yugoslavia".[5] According to Loquai, well-known journalists ignored
inconvenient results of investigation by the independent medical
forensic specialist, appointed by the court.[6] The war against
Belgrade was substantially legitimised by this type of reporting.
It not only marked a milestone on the forced march by the Red/Green
coalition to remove the taboo on the military but prepared the way
for the amputation of Kosovo from Serbia, which Berlin will attempt
to negotiate this autumn.
A Founding Act
In memory of the preparations of German foreign policy, which
sees the war against Belgrade as "a founding act for a Europe of
people and human rights", german-foreign-policy.com is preparing
excerpts from a
government statementby
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The statement was received with
universal applause by almost all MPs in the German
parliament.
