20/02/2008

KOSOVOIL INDEPENDENCE


Kosovo’s declration of independence, whilst allegedly violating international law, quickly won the support of Washington. Unilateral western-supported independence mocks the 1999 UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which only permits Kosovo's self-government as a Serbian province; the resolution recognizes the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;" only a new UN resolution in compliance with international law can change that legally.

Why the US haste in particular? Are there profits to be had…perhaps mineral wealth at stake here? No, I’m not being cynical – the history of US foreign policy this past 60 years has shown unequivocally that if the US starts taking an interest anywhere its corporate elite smells megabucks.

Global Research posits an answer in a piece entitled: Large Potential Albanian
Oil And Gas Discovery Underscores Kosovo's Importance and from which I quote:

On January 10, Swiss-based Manas Petroleum Corporation broke the news. Gustavson Associates LLC's Resource Evaluation identified large prospects of oil and gas reserves in Albania, close to Kosovo. They're in areas called blocks A, B, C, D and E, encompassing about 780,000 acres along the northwest to southeast "trending (geological) fold belt of northwestern Albania."

“Assigned estimates of the find (so far unproved) are up to 2.987 billion barrels of oil and 3.014 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. However, because of their depth, oil deposits may be capped with a layer of gas. If so, Gustavson calculates the potential to be 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and up to 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Further, if only gas is present, the discovery may be as much as 28 trillion cubic feet. In any case, if estimates prove out, it's a sizable find.

“..In December 2007, Albania's Council of Ministers allowed DWM Petroleum, AG, a Manas subsidiary, to assist in the exploration, development and production of Albania's oil and gas reserves in conjunction with the government's Agency of Natural Resources.

“This development further underscores Kosovo's importance and the cost that's meant for Serbia. Since the 1999 US-led NATO war, it's been all downhill for the nation, the region and its people:

- Kosovo is part of Serbia; at least it was; since 1999 it's been a Washington-NATO occupied colony stripped of its sovereignty in violation of international law;

- it's been run by three successive US-installed puppet Prime Ministers with known ties to organized crime and drugs trafficking;

- it's the home of one of America's largest military bases in the world, Camp Bondsteel; the province/country is more a US military base than a legitimate political entity;

- its part of Washington's regional strategic objective to control and transport Central Asia's vast oil and gas reserves to selected markets, primarily in the West.”

I can just see Tony Benn saying “told you so” as he emphatically taps out his pipe.. I remember him (maybe back in 1999) speaking in Trafalgar Square, when the Kosovo war was kicking off, arguing against Britain getting involved militarily, that this was a western imperialist war to get access to Kosovo’s oil. Maybe those pundits who slagged him off in the press are digging out their old articles from the time.


Over on Counterpunch, John V Whitbeck looks for the Palestinian link:

“The American and EU impatience to amputate a portion of a UN member state…. contrasts starkly with the unlimited patience of the U.S. and the EU when it comes to ending the 40-year-long belligerent occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (no portion of which any country recognizes as Israel's sovereign territory and as to which Israel has only even asserted sovereignty over a tiny portion, occupied East Jerusalem). Virtually every legal resident of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip seeks freedom -- and has for over 40 years. For doing so, they are punished, sanctioned, besieged, humiliated and, day after endless day, killed by those who claim to stand on the moral high ground.

“In American and EU eyes, a Kosovar declaration of independence from Serbian sovereignty should be recognized even if Serbia does not agree. However, their attitude was radically different when Palestine declared independence from Israeli occupation on November 15, 1988. Then the U.S. and the EU countries (which, in their own eyes, constitute the "international community", to the exclusion of most of mankind) were conspicuously absent when over 100 countries recognized the new State of Palestine, and their non-recognition made this declaration of independence purely "symbolic" in their own eyes and, unfortunately, in most Palestinian and other eyes as well.”

I’m not into nationalism, or supporting the right of small nations to self-determination, but the guy’s got a point.

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