Yugoslav War Continues in Ukraine

As a result, Parliament ignored the UN Security Council official invitation of June 10, 1999, to take part in the postwar settlement of the Kosovo problem. Many observers are certain the problem will be solved once there are more Deputies in the hall. But even if this happens, Ukraine has still suffered irreparable losses as a state.

First, because part of the Ukrainian political elite has showed to the whole civilized world the "crassness" of their ideology" by actually taking sides with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's regime and opposing world public opinion which now condemns this regime's actions, in particular, the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo that NATO announced as the main cause of the war.

A group of Ukrainian journalists, which visited the camps of Kosovar refugees in Albania, saw with their own eyes that ethnic cleansing and forcible deportations of Albanians from Kosovo by the army and police was not a concoction of NATO ideologists. Tens of thousands - men, women, and children - had really lost everything under pain of physical violence and death well before the NATO bombings started. In a camp near the Albanian city of DurrСs, we spoke to a mother of six, who told us that her husband had been arrested in the spring of 1998 on suspicion of terrorism and their house was bulldozed to the ground. That family had been making its way to the camp for almost a year, migrating from one village to another and knowing nothing about the father's fate.

That family lost their property in a matter of minutes - a house, property, and equipment worth DM 300,000. But this is not the main thing. French medical psychologist Monique Le Goff from Doctors of the World, who deals with the psychological rehabilitation of refugees, told us that the essence of the humanitarian disaster in Kosovo is that tens and hundreds of thousands of Kosovars will have to get used again to living among people without fearing for their life, honor, and dignity. "There is nothing more horrible than to look at a person and suspect that he not only wishes you death but also kills. The Kosovar refugees trust no one, and it will take a lot of time to cure this trauma. And even returning to their destroyed homes in Kosovo will be taken by many as a new trauma overlapping the old one," Madame Le Hof is convinced.

NATO now maintains that it fought against the Milosevic regime to forestall the advent of his followers in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Belarus, and the Caucasus. The position of some Ukrainian Deputies has only confirmed that NATO's preoccupation with Ukraine, the Crimea, and the problem of the Crimean Tatars, are not so groundless. What if some Ukrainian leftists indeed try to solve the Crimean Tatar problem by the well-known principle of Stalin and Milosevic: "people create problems, no people no problems"?

Secondly, Ukraine, which ignored the invitation once, may not be invited a second time. And this will inflict not only diplomatic and political losses but also purely pragmatic ones. NATO began to lose its servicemen only after stopping the bombings. Peacekeepers get blown up by land mines, while the military operation came off without a single loss of human life. It was a true third-millennium war with high-precision state-of-the art technologies, weapons, and equipment. For the Ukrainian military, it would mean invaluable experience in the guidance of military units in modern conditions, on-the-spot familiarization with sophisticated military hardware, etc. And moreover, they would not be outcasts at the world feast of the victors. Ukrainian peacekeepers have been known very well since the events in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, they can lose the opportunity to confirm their reputation as good soldiers and the reputation of their country as civilized and democratic.

Thirdly, Ukraine was virtually the first to speak about its material losses caused by the Yugoslav war. It estimates at $220 million its losses from the disruption of shipping on the Danube alone. And experts think that restoration of the ruined Yugoslav economy will need an estimated 50 to 180 billion dollars in investment. Many international companies and concerns will try to get a piece the coveted pie of the Yugoslav revival. And Ukraine would also have plenty of work to do in the Balkans, but it may happen if it is not let in. The leadership of the US and a series of its European satellites are known to have taken a firm stand on economic aid to Yugoslavia: not a cent while Milosevic remains in power. And what if NATO takes the same firm stand with respect to Milosevic's allies which may also include Ukraine, against its will, through the fault of the over-politicized Deputies? A pragmatic West does not tolerate rivals. The West most often renders technical aid, that is, it invests money but then allows its own companies and specialists to work off and utilize it. The NATO countries are in no hurry to give promised aid to Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro, which carried the main burden of keeping the hundreds of thousands of refugees, let alone sharing any probable dividends with anybody.

But I repeat, there is work to do in the Balkans. For example, today's Albania is a deeply impoverished country strewn with 700,000 reinforced-concrete bunkers built back in the times of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha but critically short of good roads. So even the sometimes-one-lane highway connecting the capital Tirana with the main airport of Rinos is now being widened and paved by the US military. Soon often, civilian Americans, Germans, or Italians will come around. And the Ukrainians could also do so...

There is another disquieting general conclusion: Ukrainian foreign policy has again fallen hostage to domestic politics conditioned by the presidential campaign. Even President Leonid Kuchma, who seemed to initiate the sending of peacekeepers to Kosovo, also backed out after Parliament's refusal, saying that issues like this cannot be resolved "off the cuff:" one must think over all pros and cons, you know... Of course, he as a candidate needs to win the votes of the anti-NATO Ukrainian electorate. It is also clear that Mr. Kuchma as a man with a hot temper could have taken offense at NATO turning a cold shoulder to his previous peacemaking efforts.

But what has it got to do with Ukraine, when its President takes offense?! For it is now obvious that even Russia, which without a thought dropped its paratroopers into Pristina, deserves a more respect. The stupidity of the brave is not always praised in song. But it is to be reckoned with, for everyone wants to forestall any new surprises from Moscow. And a country, which always takes one step forward and two steps back, could simply be excluded from all calculations.

INCIDENTALLY

The US State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the detention and prosecution of Yugoslav war criminals, including President Slobodan Milosevic. The Hague-based International War Crimes Tribunal earlier indicted President Milosevic and other top officials, including Serbian President Milo Milutinovic, as personally responsible for the murder, deportation, and persecution of Albanians in Kosovo. However, the State Department stressed that bounty hunters need not personally apprehend the accused but should get in touch with the US government and provide the relevant information.

Kyiv - Tirana - Durrёs - Kyiv