MIM Notes 187 June 1 1999

NATO guaranteed 'peace' failure by demanding
occupation of Yugoslavia

by MC5 & MC12

Diplomats offering Serbian leader Milosevic a 
peace treaty knew all along they would fail, 
because they offered impossible terms for him to 
sign before the bombing started. It is a real 
testimony to the ignorance and imperialist 
chauvinism of major media reporters and 
executives that no one reported on the Western 
side of the story. No state leader would have 
signed the peace treaty offered by NATO: NATO 
asked to occupy all of Yugoslavia, not just 
Kosovo.

The facts about the peace treaty NATO offered 
support Noam Chomsky's contention that U.$. 
diplomacy often uses the tactic of making a 
situation worse to set up stepping in as an 
apparent savior.

Phony Maoists in Germany have pointed out the 
relevant facts to MIM. The truth is the truth, 
even when it comes from phony Maoists and 
homophobes. Walter Grobe of verlag@neue-
einheit.com pointed out the following, from 
Appendix B of the draft treaty of Rambouillet:

"8. NATO personnel shall enjoy, together with 
their vehicles, vessels, aircraft, and 
equipment, free and unrestricted passage and 
unimpeded access throughout the FRY [Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia -ed.] including 
associated airspace and territorial waters. This 
shall include, but not be limited to, the right 
of bivouac, maneuver, billet, and utilization of 
any areas or facilities as required for support, 
training, and operations."

Also:

"3. The Parties recognize the need for 
expeditious departure and entry procedures for 
NATO personnel. Such personnel shall be exempt 
from passport and visa regulations and the 
registration requirements applicable to aliens. 
At all entry and exit points to/from the FRY, 
NATO personnel shall be permitted to enter/exit 
the FRY on production of a national 
identification (ID) card. NATO personnel shall 
carry identification which they may be requested 
to produce for the authorities in the FRY, but 
operations, training, and movement shall not be 
allowed to be impeded or delayed by such 
requests."

"6. (a) NATO shall be immune from all legal 
process, whether civil, administrative, or 
criminal.

"(b) NATO personnel, under all circumstances and 
at all times, shall be immune from the Parties' 
jurisdiction in respect of any civil, 
administrative, criminal, or disciplinary 
offenses which may be committed by them in the 
FRY. The Parties shall assist States 
participating in the operation in the exercise 
of their jurisdiction over their own 
nationals."(1)

MIM adds that to make a long story short, after 
thousands of words of text, the Appendix calls 
for the surrender of Yugoslavian sovereignty to 
foreign powers. Such deals from the imperialists 
are reserved for cases (such as First Nations in 
the Americas) in which complete domination is 
the only option, and the "choice" provided to 
leaders is whether or not they want to openly 
accept puppet status rather than face military 
annihilation.

The imperialist media's unquestioning 
description of the "agreement" as a "peace" deal 
proves their role as servants of the imperialist 
agenda. Consider the "Q & A on the Conflict in 
Yugoslavia" that the Washington Post ran on 
March 28, and keeps on their web site as 
background:

"Q: Why did the U.S. and NATO attack?

"A: They want Serbs and Kosovo Albanians to 
accept a peace deal that was negotiated in 
France last month. The Kosovo rebels have signed 
the agreement. But the Yugoslav government - led 
by President Slobodan Milosevic, a hard-line 
Serb nationalist - has refused to go along, 
objecting to foreign peacekeepers who would be 
sent INTO KOSOVO under the accord. NATO told 
Milosevic that if he didn't accept the peace 
deal, his forces would be bombed. He refused 
anyway, and so the bombing has begun."(emphasis 
added, 2)

The Washington Post continues the lie that the 
NATO troops would only be in Kosovo, and adds 
that refusing to completely surrender 
sovereignty to the U.$. and NATO makes Milosevic 
a "hard-liner," the universal Amerikan media 
term for whoever disagrees with the U.$.

Whatever the circumstances in Yugoslavia were 
before, the Amerikan intervention at Rambouillet 
guaranteed the failure of the "peace" process. 
The plan was clearly complete NATO/Amerikan 
domination, one way or the other.

Notes:

1. The complete Interim Agreement for Peace and 
Self-Government In Kosovo is at 
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/kosovo.htm.

2. Washington Post at 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/overview/overvie 
w.htm