The Empire has no allies, only a spectacle to sustain. posted by Richard Seymour

The Cultural Parody Centre has video evidence of Noam Chomsky discussing the Nato invasion of Kosovo. It contains the assertion that Strobe Talbott has confessed that the war on Yugoslavia was fought because of Milosevic's refusal to undertake the neoliberal shock therapy that every formerly existing 'socialist' had to go through under Washington's tutelage. Presumably, the fact that the Rambouillet accords attempted to impose these reforms on the FRY would have given that impression to some in the first place.

Now look to the ICTY, whose angelic Chief Prosecutor is currently instructing a court of the criminality of three UCK leaders including the former Prime Minister of Kosovo. They are accused of having waged a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Serbs and Roma. I don't doubt that they did this, but the sight of the Nato-funded court trying these people demands an implausibly sustained suspension of disbelief. The whole thing has been shambolic, but this is somehow a new level of greasiness and hypocrisy.

Look at the indictment:

Al1 acts or omissions alleged in this indictment as crimes against humanity or violations of the laws or customs of war occurred between 1 March 1998 and 30 September 1998 in Kosovo, in the former Yugoslavia.

Excuse me? Did anything happen after those dates, you think? All three men were senior members of the UCK until it became the UN-run Kosovo Protection Corps, under the leadership of former ethnic cleanser and now Prime Minister of Kosovo, Agim Ceku. The KPC is supposed to be a civilian outfit, although in practise it has supported various military operations by Albanian nationalist groups. However, the point is, it is absolutely uncontroversial that the main bout of ethnic cleansing carried out by the UCK occurred in 1999 when the organisation was placed under the leadership of Agim Ceku by Nato. This began as soon as Milosevic signed a peace deal with Ahtisaari and Chyrnomirdin, and continued well beyond the formation of KPC. Indeed, Kosovan groups have repeatedly carried out acts of ethnic cleansing against Serbs remaining in Kosovo.

So, they invaded Yugoslavia to complete its break-up and subsume it into the neoliberal order that had already been imposed on Eastern Europe and Russia, and to strategically encircle Russia, with a story about preventing ethnic cleansing. Having overseen a massive wave of ethnic cleansing, they now try some of their footmen for crimes committed before they decided to make them footmen. I believe they call this 'international law' in some quarters.