Ljubomir Kljakić

SERBIA AND THE CORPORATE EMPIRE


1. There are many people who think that the world as we know it is falling apart and the humankind is faced with a state of chaos. And this is true, indeed. We do live in chaos, since, we are contemporaries, actors and witnesses of deep structural transformations of world society that could be compared to very few – perhaps just two or three – similar ones over the entire course of history. The process unfolding before our eyes is that of historical demission of the world capitalist system such as we have known for the past 500 years.

2. This process – the historical demission of the world system - has been irreversibly set in motion in the period between 1970 and 1974. Ever since, that is to say for nearly four decades now, we have been living in an era of transition from one into another historical epoch. Immanuel Wallerstein states somewhere in his writings that this process theoretically means the return to feudalism. From another angle, following Headley Bull and his 1977 book: Anarchical Society, and particularly following the 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus – The Hundredth Year by Pope John Paul the Second, a group of authors qualifies this process as a more-than-welcome emergence of corporatism of the new mediaevalism, or specifically, of the new European mediaevalism. I will come back to this aspect of the current situation later. Either way, theorists of the world system argue that the current transititonal and transformational crisis of world society will conclude in the establishment of a historically new world system around the year 2050.

3. Of course, it is still unclear what this new world system will be like, whether it will be better, worse or the same as the one we are departing from. At the same time, we know with a high degree of certainty that, by choosing between different possibilities available to the entire humankind, each local society and each individual human being at a crossing from the present to the next historical stage, we literally influence the future and its structural, as well as institutional features. After all, the structural complexity and instability of world society in transitional circumstances makes it possible for any, even a slightest external stimulus, to influence a change of historical vectors, a stir in the pace of history, and consequently, its outcome. This can be illustrated by any concrete event that we choose to review. Yet, there is no doubt that the current «Kosovo case» best exemplifies how the butterfly creating changes by flapping its wings at the far «end» of an endless universe is not just a metaphor. Indeed, the «Kosovo case» has already caused deep changes in world affairs. Particularly prominent is the influence of the «Kosovo case» in the process of world power reconfiguration.

4. Thus, decisions made, or to be made in resolving the future status of Kosovo – a Province within the sovereign Republic of Serbia - or in defining the future status of the Republic of Serbia itself, definitely, if not decisively, bear upon the present international order and its institutes and, consequently, on the institutional framework and features of the historically new world system of the year 2050.

5. As you know, for several months now, the political leaders of the Albanian community in Kosovo and Metohija are announcing, on a daily basis, the unilateral proclamation of the «independent Kosovo» not as a multietnic but as a second monoethnic Albanian state in Europe, this time on the territory of the sovereign Republic of Serbia. In addition, we know that this monoethnic Albanian project of «independent Kosovo» was inspired and is strongly backed by the so-called «coalition of the willing», meaning, in this concrete case, by the U.S.A., UK, Germany, France and Italy. However, it should be noted that, to accomplish the monoethnic Albanian «independent Kosovo» project on the territory of the sovereign Republic of Serbia, it is necessary to commit an act of agression, apply force and to breasch all principles, laws and institutes of legality and legitimacy embodied in international law and in international order – the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OSCE Final Act and others. Furthermore, accomplishing the project of monoethnic Albanian «independent Kosovo» on the territory of the sovereign Republic of Serbia implies a radical denial of empirical facts, common sense and any moral reason. Actually, this is the only way to recognize an act of agression and illegal secession and to endorse as legal a system in Kosovo and Metohija founded on lies, deceipt and crime. Related to this, we should recall a notorious fact that there is no one in the world, meaning neither within the «coalition of the willing», in the U.S. Administration, nor anywhere else, who believes that an «independent Kosovo» is possible as a sustainable and legal solution. On the contrary, the Republic of Serbia's Province under temporary international administration since June 1999 is widely referred to as a «crime state», «captive state» and the «Europe's black hole». The body of factual evidence supporting such views is substantial and highly plausible. And yet, the «coalition of the willing» has publicly stated its firm intention to recognize as legal the illegal act of the unilateral declaration of «independent Kosovo». In other words, the «coalition of the willing» has declared its intention to recognize as legal the illegal act of agression and breakup of territorial integrity of the democratic Republic of Serbia. Do governments of the U.S., UK, Germany, France and Italy think that such an event could really pass unnoticed and without grave reprecussions for international law, international order, world peace and security? When the governments of UK, Germany, France and Italy last used an identical model for «resolving» a similar, rather than identical, problem, the decision they took at the time set off a chain of events leading to a world war. This was in September 1938, when the governments of the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy signed the so-called Munich Agreement legalizing the breakup of the Czechoslovak Republic. At the moment, the «coalition of the willing» has publicly declared its readiness to support violent force and lawlessness in international relations, with all its implied consequences for world peace and security.

6. If such declared and evidently prepared course of events should materialize, if this long announced and much publicized process of splitting up the Republic of Serbia should happen, we will find ourselves in a world where no rules and no laws apply. What we refer to as chaos today, will turn into a nightmare of lawlessness, violence and tremendous human suffering. In such case, only architects and protagonists of different world corporate empire projects will be pleased. However, our historical experience teaches that a world empire, be it a world corporate empire is not easy or possible to please.

7. At the present moment, when it comes to the «Kosovo case», the world is standing at the edge of a precipice. Whether it will eventually fall over depends on decisions made by governments of the «coalition of the willing». It is still not too late for the U.S., UK, Germany, France and Italy to reexamine their resolve to support and recognize the illegal act of breaking up and fragmenting the Republic of Serbia. Should this really occur, a different way out of the crisis would open ahead of us.


Belgrade, 14 January 2008


Note: Paper presented at conference Kosovo: A Preventable Disaster, Public briefing and press conference organised by The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies, Thurstady, January 17, 2008, 3 - 5 PM, Central Hall Westmister, London, SW1; in order of appearance, conference attended by: Sir Ivor Roberts, a UK career diplomat, ambassador in Belgrade (1992 to 1997), now the president of Trinity College, Oxford University (unable to attend, his statement submitted in writing); Mark Littman, QC, professor of international law, Oxford University; James Bissett (James Bissett), Canadian statesman and diplomat, ambassador in Belgrade (1990 to 1992), President of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies; Sir Brian Barder, a UK career diplomat, ambassador retired, Ljubomir Kljakic, assistant minister for Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian Government, a political scientist and publicist; Dr. Srdja Trifkovic, executive director of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies, editor of international affairs, Journal Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture; Richard Ll. Thomas, banker, Land Securites Trillium, UK government advisor; the conference was chaired by Yugo Kovach, The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies. Under the title Kosovo and the international relations, this paper was posted in NSPM,
http://www.nspm.org.yu/debate_2007/2008_kljakic1.htm; entitled Serbia and Corporate Empire (extended in accordance with the conditions after 17 February 2008), this paper was published in Književni list, 67, Belgrade, 1 March 2008, pp. 2.