NATO is celebrating its 50. anniversary. The greatest criminals of the world met last week in Washington to agree on a “new strategic concept” of this war machine. According to the bourgeois press, the oligarchy delegation led by Demirel achieved a diplomatic victory at this meeting.

What was talked about at this meeting?

The NATO-meeting starting in the shadow of the bombs which are dropped on Yugoslavia. About all the imperialists and their collaborators congratulated each other with their success in Yugoslavia. Then they began their secret meetings. It was known that NATO, organised for a Cold War period and judicially legitimising its existence with the “protection of its members against a possible expansion of the communist regimes into Europe”, would attempt to create some kind of legitimacy for its attack plans against the peoples of the world at this meeting. NATO did not want to bind itself to a international judicial norm or institution.

The attacks in recent years in several regions of the world and the statements of the imperialist cadres sufficiently show what kind of world they are striving for. For example, the criminal attack against Iraq was carried out with violating all international treaties. The attack against Yugoslavia makes it even more clear. Yugoslavia is a sovereign state, represented in the UN. It signed several international treaties. Its existence as a state was recognised by all other states. Not a single parliament of any nation has declared war against Yugoslavia. The imperialists defended their attack against Iraq with the argument “there is a UN resolution”. But regarding Yugoslavia even such a resolution does not exist. But NATO relentlessly launched its attacks, almost as if it was saying: “We rule the world, nothing goes without us”.

The US: the supreme leader of the imperialist world

As a consequence of the “new strategic concept of NATO”, the US pushed through its chief position in the entire imperialist world. As can be seen with the attacks against Yugoslavia, in the end it is accepted what the US want. There are still deep contradictions between the imperialists, but for the realisation of their common goals, these contradictions are put aside for the moment.

What the Turkish oligarchy presented as a “diplomatic victory” on this 50th. anniversary was in fact a result of such a contradiction. The European imperialists had prepared, albeit within the framework of NATO, a relatively independent plan for the defence of Europe to limit the intervention of the USA in their “own region”. Of course this plan resulted in another treaty between the European imperialists and Turkey was excluded from this. Because of the decided opposition of Turkey, and the direct support of the US for Turkey, this plan was rejected, resulting in the legitimisation of direct US intervention in Europe, as was the case already before. In the end, the imperialists accepted the US as their boss, as the world police force which solves all their problems. Nothing new. The other imperialists try to stab each other in the back, always prepared to ask the US for support in case they need it. They cannot stand up against it. An example is the statement of Joscka Fischer, the German secretary of Foreign Affairs: “… I told Milosevic that he was entering a war with the US. I told him Germany had attempted that twice this century and that the results were catastrophic. But I wasn’t able to convince him…” (April 15, 1999, Milliyet). It also quite telling that the leaders of the other NATO countries ran away during a meeting, ignoring the internal protocol and Solano, to shake hands with Clinton…

The attacks against Iraq and Yugoslavia are proof of what kind of world NATO is striving for. According to NATO’s statements, the imperialist world is nowadays confronted with three major threats which somehow have to be removed. When these threats are presented as “against humanity, democracy and human rights”, this is just a formality.

What is in fact endangered, are there own interests. Looking at these “threats”, this can clearly be seen:

The first threat: the countries which resist imperialism.

Besides the socialist countries, these are mostly regimes with petite-bourgeois dictatorships at the top and with anti-imperialist characteristics. The targets of imperialism are those countries, from Cuba and Korea to Vietnam, which are outside of the market of imperialism. But attacking those countries is not that easy because conditions are not favourable at the moment. Also countries like Libya, Iraq, Syria, and in general those countries which are labelled as “terrorist” or as “countries which support terrorism” belong to that category.

The imperialist attack against Yugoslavia, or Iraq for that matter, aims at forcing these countries to their knees to push through the imperialists’ plans in these regions without obstacles. When they succeed to neutralise these petite-bourgeois dictatorships, similar regimes in the region and the peoples there will be intimidated as well. The new decisions of NATO in fact are about relentless oppression of those countries which pose a threat to imperialism.

The second threat: non-governmental agents.

Klaus Naumann, chairman of NATO’s military command staff, stated mid April: “The danger of the Warsaw Pact has been removed. But the picture of Europe is full of unclarities and instabilities… The USA, the strongest coalition partner in NATO, has taken a sensitive attitude towards non-state actors. Nobody can defeat the USA military. But this kind of organisations could pose a threat.” The people’s liberation movements are the greatest fear of the imperialists. The petite-bourgeois dictatorships are an obstacle for the realisation of the imperialists’ plans. But regarding the system, the cannot pose a serious threat.

These regimes can be kept under control at a certain point while people’s liberation movements or revolutionary movements present a uncontrolable and invaluable force. The imperialists can wage a war against Iraq, against Yugoslavia, because the strength opposing them, seen as an enemy, is clear. But they cannot fight the people’s liberation movements with the same methods, because now the “enemy” is everywhere. That’s what they mean with the phrase “actors outside of the state”. The essence of their fear is that, although all the conditions seem to be given, they cannot wipe out the liberation movements. The New World Order couldn’t force the peoples on their knees. Their statements, like “co-operation against terrorism” or “fighting international terrorism”, as well as deploying NATO forces in this sense, are an expression of their deepest fears.

The third threat: regional conflicts and elements of instability.

NATO describes regional (and ethnic) conflicts as the third threat. The imperialists do not oppose regional wars, or peoples slaughtering each other, incited by nationalism. They themselves pull the strings, because they make a profit when peoples are massacred. They don’t mean those conflicts, they mean the conflicts which arise outside of their control, harming the stability of their imperialist exploitation in the regions. Such conflicts can emerge when the countries, labelled as “terrorist states” by imperialism, openly resist them, or when the wars of the people’s liberation movements expand.

NATO, the ruler of the world, The USA, the boss of NATO.

Caspar Weinberger, former Defence secretary of the US and now busy with imperialist propaganda, recently stated: “NATO was the most successful defence organisation in history and its task was the same as it is now: making sure that Europe isn’t conquered, and that the people can live in peace and security. This mission hasn’t changed. But there are now several ways to reach this goal and sometimes NATO goes over to attack.” In short: in the past NATO could not directly attack system to protect the imperialist interests. But now the conditions because of the opposing socialist system. But now the conditions exist. NATO is the “organisation of the North Atlantic Pact” and its founding protocol states that it was founded for the security of Europe. This means that its operation areas is limited to Europe. But this changed with the 50th. anniversary meeting. NATO claims the right to intervene and attack all over the world. According to the their statement, such interventions should be in “accordancewith the UN”. The answer who else agreed to this right is simple: nobody. NATO proclaims itself as the ruler of the world. NATO rules the world and with the pretext that no time can be lost, NATO doesn’t take anybody into consideration, not even the UN, in itself nothing more than a marionette of imperialism. There is nothing behind all the words and the show of force, just emptiness. The imperialists cannot rule the world. This becomes clear when we look at what was experienced with the New World Order in the past years. While they expected a rose garden without any thorns, there were numerous conflicts all over the world, harming the interests of the imperialists, and a lot of new movements emerged. This process will find its own way and destroy imperialism in the end. The peoples of the world will emerge is victors.

The UCK, a sham army…
The guerrilla of imperialism.

The imperialists and the collaborating media in our country are building up the UCK. This exaggeration goes from numbers to organising. They speak of the UCK as if it was some kind of
extraordinary organisation, at the threshold of taking power. We have not seen before that imperialism praises a national liberation movement in such a way. Of course there were other organisations which were praised by imperialism. Like for example the Taliban in Afghanistan who now massacre the Afghans, hanging them in electricity poles. Even a Rambo film was made for them. Imperialism also praised the contra’s in Nicaragua, calling them “freedom fighters”. They also liked the fascist collaborators whom they brought to power in Vietnam. There were many murderers and contra’s, many fascists and racists, which were liked by imperialism. When nowadays the UCK is made big with the same praises, this alone confirms that the UCK is active for the interests of imperialism. There is a lot of proof that the UCK is organising as the guardian of the imperialist interests in the Balkan.

The UCK, the contra-organisation of imperialism…

Sejdiu is complaining the most that they are being “misrepresented”. They are labelled as religious, and even as Marxists, but they only pursue one line. They are waging “a fight for independence”. When given the necessary means, they will achieve victory… These words stem from Pleurat Sejdiu, the European representative of the UCK. The UCK spokesperson essentially presents the picture of a contra organisation, used by imperialism. It exploits what is sacred to the
peoples, trying to appear sympathetic. UCK! “fighting for freedom”. UCK! “fighting for the liberation of the people of Kosovo”. UCK! “waging the holiest of wars”. This is how the UCK is presented by their spokesman. And he adds that they will win when they “possess the necessary means”. What are these “necessary means”? How are they to be created? The UCK-representative simply says: NATO should give us “anti-tank weapons, rocket launchers, tanks and mortars”. (April 22, 1999, Milliyet) Thus he is saying: “NATO should give is weapons, and we will finish the job”. What kind of a “national” organisation is this? For whose interests is it fighting? Did a liberation movement ever win with the help of weapons from imperialism? They are collaborators. The lesson which should be learned from this is: this collaboration was created through nationalism, feeding on it. Its essence is to collaborate with NATO, based on the animosity towards the Serbs. One can also say: this nationalism collaborates with the enemy of all peoples, based on being against a people, and pretending to defend the interests of a certain nation. The European representative Sejdiu says: “In our ranks there is only room for Albanians. We will liberate our soil ourselves”. But the whole world knows that those who have been brainwashed and who travel from New York to Kosovo, are wearing uniforms with the American flag on them, preparing to shoot people. They are trained and supplied by the imperialists.

Whose “guerrilla” is it?

The bourgeois and imperialist media normally avoid the word “guerrilla” as much as possible. Because the world “guerrilla” has always had a positive connotation among the people. “Guerrilla” has become the name of those who are fighting in the mountains and cities for the liberation of the peoples.. This was the case yesterday, and it will be the case tomorrow. Because of this, the imperialists and their lackeys fear this word. They said “terrorist”… They said “gang”… But they never said “guerrilla”… Because the guerrilla represents hope. The word primarily generates hope. The guerrilla are those who fight against the tyrants, the exploiters and parasites. They are the children of the people. They are the ones who are willing to face death, the ones who are prepared to die for their people. Guerrilla means the trust that the people can achieve victory. The imperialists and their collaborators know this. That’s why the guerrilla is their nightmare. Until recently they feared the word “guerrilla”. But now this is all they talk about when they talk about Kosovo and the UCK. It’s interesting, the UCK, until recently, was labelled as “terrorists” by the USA. Because they were not controlled by them and the other imperialist forces, especially Germany. What has changed? When asked, the European representative answered: “In the mean time all understood who we are. That’s the reason for the NATO support”. What he is saying is: “when you harm the interests of the imperialists, of the USA, when you fight against them or their stability, then you are a terrorist. When you are a collaborator, when you do not harm the interests of imperialism, when you guarantee to protect them, then you are a freedom fighter, a “guerrilla”. The UCK is precisely such a guerrilla. A sham guerrilla. The guerrilla of imperialism…

Source: Kurtuluş(Liberation) on the road to independence and democracy, magazine
Issue No. 28, May 2, 1999.

Translated by Ozgurluk(Freedom) news agency / For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! /