Tag: Serbia

How Madeleine Albright Got the War the U.S. Wanted

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By Gregory Elich

Twenty-five years have passed since the U.S.-orchestrated NATO attack on Yugoslavia. As the United States readied its forces for war in 1999, it organized a peace conference that was ostensibly intended to resolve differences between the Yugoslav government and secessionist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo on the future status of the province. A different scenario was being played out behind the scenes, however. U.S. officials wanted war and deliberately set up the process to fail, which they planned to use as a pretext for war.

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Serbia Resists US-led Bullying

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By Gregory Elich

Little more than half a year has passed since Belgrade hosted the Non-Aligned Summit on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the movement’s founding, and Serbia is increasingly under fire for upholding the organization’s principles.

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The NATO War on Yugoslavia

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Gregory Elich discusses his visit to Yugoslavia two months after NATO bombings, the impact of the war, and the broader objectives behind Western intervention.

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The Fall of Yugoslavia: the West’s First ‘Color Revolution’

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By Gregory Elich

For years, the dismantling of Yugoslavia was no more than a half-completed job in the eyes of Western leaders. The United States and Western European nations lavished financial, diplomatic, political and military support on secession-minded forces until only two republics remained in the federation. To the annoyance of Western leaders, Serbia and Montenegro stubbornly clung to the Yugoslav ideal and a predominantly socialist-oriented economy. Although the 1999 NATO war succeeded in carving another piece off Yugoslavia, the province of Kosovo, the government remained intact.Read More »

Devastating Free Market Reforms Imposed on Serbia

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By Gregory Elich

Nine years ago, neoliberal political forces took power in Serbia, promising a radical transformation of the economy. Today, deep into that transformation, Serbia is foundering from its effects, exacerbated by the worldwide economic downturn. Industrial production has fallen 15 percent compared to last year’s average, while unemployment remains high. [1]

A delegation from the IMF is now in Belgrade, negotiating over Serbia’s 2010 national budget and how best to deal with the economic crisis. The two sides are not far apart in that both parties envision more of the usual neoliberal prescriptions as the way out of an economic crisis brought about in large part by those very same measures.

The probable outcome of the talks is Serbia’s further enthrallment by Western dictate. Already, the economy has been essentially placed at the service of U.S. and Western European corporate interests, and the centerpiece of that transformation is the privatization drive. At one time, Serbia’s economy was predominantly based on socially owned firms that were worker-managed and large state-owned companies. The last remaining enterprises in the former category are scheduled to be eliminated by the end of this year, while the latter category will take longer to tackle.

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