REJECTING appeals from Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovie for the lifting of the international embargo on arms to his government's forces, European Community and United Nations mediators have agreed to the carving up of Bosnia into three 'ethnic' states.
The new position means accepting the results of the savage campaign by Serb and Croat nationalists to seize territory and micans turner wayes erectinic cleansing • - this time with the explicit collusion of the 'international peacekeepers".
EC mediator Lord Owen nia will continue to exist in this new tripartite form, but there seems little to stop the 'Croat" and " Serb' statelets merging with Croatia and Serbia.
According to Lord Owen you have got to try to reach the solution that may not be ideal. but will bring a peace settlement.
In fact the process of dividing up the spoils will be anything half a million Muslims would leave Croat and Serb territories. The rump "Muslim" state would be surrounded by enemies. crammed with refugees and starved of resources.
Obstacle
The Bosnian president does thus become an obstacle in the path of the international diplomats. The corridors of the conference were rife with rumours someone more amenable - - specicany wit rikret AddIc, al businessman with a murky past who is currently said to be making a fortune from trading across the new borders.
Izetbegovic may be placing hopes in the United States. President Clinton has called for the lifting of the arms embargo and the new US ambassador in Sarajevo has pledged American support for the territorial integrity of Bosnia.
However, the US have no strategic interest in pursuing the cause of Bosnia and its embattled Muslims. With a respect for procedures not seen in its other arenas of intervention, Clinton has regretted the fact that the embargo cannot be ended because this would not he ac. cepted by the UN Security Council. His pro-Bosnian prosestations are aimed at domestic public opinion and scoring points against his Buropean 'allies'.
It would be somewhat paranoid to see in the behaviour of the 'international community a plot to back up Great Serb and Great Croat ambitions while seeming to oppose them.
However what is clear is that the leading circles of imperialist diplomacy have not the slightest inclination to support the cause of coexistence between nations in the Balkans - and the independence from Western interests this would enable. Furthermore, the West shuns the thought of destabilising Serbia - the inevitable result of a serious military setback for the Serb nationalists in Bosnia - with all the implications that would have throughout the region.
Counter-weight
Indeed, a strong Serbia to counter-balance German influence in south-castern Europe has lain at the centre of British, French and American diplo macy in the region since the First World War.
The Arab and 'Islamic' governments, however telling their criticisms of Western hypocrisy over Bosnia, are also point scering for domestic purposes none of these governments is in a position to pursue a diplomatic path radically at odds with the will of the masters of the New World Order.
At every stage of the unfolding crisis in the Balkans both the victims of aggression and those moved by their plight in the West have looked to the great powers" and above all the US for help. Butthe American capetalist class and the agencies it dominates - including the United Nations - are not on our side.
Solidarity with Bosnia must be independent of the US-controlled power system to have any future. Accepting this fact also means accepting the present weakness of the forces opposing war and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans - but a small step in the right direction is better than a big leap in the wrong.
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