[spectre] Balkan Power Cuts

[geert lovink]

From: "Kevin Magee" <hypobololemaioi@multiverse.com>
To: <generation_online@coyote.kein.org>
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 11:24 AM
Subject: [Generation_online] Balkan Power Cuts

from Igor Mekina's
"Slovenia and Its Army: Expansion as Business"
AIM Ljubljana, August 3, 2001

"Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic, Romania and Slovenia, in preparing for NATO's expansion, are
purchasing offensive arms, such as F-16 and F-18 aircraft and military
helicopters in order to better their chances for admittance in NATO."

"NATO's expansion has turned Central and Eastern Europe into a lucrative
military market worth at least US$35 billion..."

"Despite official claims by NATO that weapons purchases will not secure
membership in this exclusive club, the aforementioned countries are under
pressure to buy these weapons in hopes of thus improving their chances. The
paradox is that these countries are not threatened at all... Because of
this, selective arming of such countries with modern equipment is
destabilizing the region and is in opposition with NATO's declared goals," a
study compiled by the Berlin information Center for Transatlantic Security
says.

*
from Hardt's Zagreb transcript:

"So in this way they've been trying to understand the new form of power, the
way a movement understands something, which is some kind of experimental
form. I think that in fact none of these organizations that they have
targeted with the protests is itself the center of global power. In other
words, IMF is not in control of globalization, in itself."

"And in many, sort of basic or profound ways, our perspective is completely
_for_ globalization. But the problem with our contemporary world in many
ways is not that we have too much globalization, the problem is we have not
enough. That really we need to globalize equal relationships, democratic
relationships, the problems with our contemporary form, say, the control of
dominant corporations, the control of the US military, of various other
forms that constitute this imperial power, the problem is that in many
regards that it blocks globalization, it blocks the possibility of
constructing democratic relationships across the globe."

*

AIM, 17 rue Rebeval, F-75019 Paris, France, admin@aimpress.org
*** Great Expectations
AIM Skopje, November 23, 2001

These days, both ears and eyes of the Macedonian public are turned towards
the international community that promised that it would not allow this
country, still faced with a military-political crisis through no guilt of
its own, to bear this heavy burden alone. After the adoption of
constitutional amendments, which grant equal rights to all national
minorities, especially the Albanians, the Macedonian politicians have
launched an offensive aimed at "collecting payment" for their
cooperativeness.

President Boris Trajkovski was the first to pick up the receiver and kindly
remind his collocutors, first in Washington and then the others in Brussels,
Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Paris, Bonn and Tokyo of the given promises to
help this country get out of the crisis with the least possible damages.
According to independent analysts, it is an illusion to expect that the
Macedonian war-worn economy will be able to recover soon and become a pillar
of future economic progress without a generous financial injection. He,
therefore, stated that the meeting of donors willing to loosen the
purse-strings must be held by the end of this year, i.e. before Christmas
holidays. Only in that case, he emphasised, things could take a turn for the
better, so eagerly awaited by everyone here.

The first to promise aid and support to the chief of state was IMF President
Horst Coller. However, Mr. Coller reminded that in order for the Donors'
Conference to be organised at all, Macedonia had to meet some additional
conditions, because it did not conclude an arrangement with this
international financial organisations this year. He recommended that
negotiations on current macro-economic policy and "disciplined" frameworks
for the next year be expedited and that the Government should accept the
introduction of control over all income and expenditures of the state
budget. A so called "staff monitoring" programme has been prepared for that
purpose, according to IMF claims, customary for countries in crisis
situation which need foreign financial assistance for recovery. In addition
to the adoption of constitutional amendments, the world monetary authorities
and bankers, as well as donor countries, demand of Parliament to adopt a Law
on Local Self-Government and "tighten the belt" at all levels of public
spending. More specifically, the plan is to reduce the budget deficit from
USD 700 million to only 72 million. However, national experts openly doubt
that the IMF intends to introduce a currency board for Macedonia, which
would mean a definite loss of financial power and part of state sovereignty.
Nevertheless, they agree that, in view of the country's extremely unenviable
position, this would be better than risking being forced to carry the burden
of crisis alone with highly uncertain prospects for the future. Therefore,
they advised Prime Minister Georgievski not to have any dilemmas, but to
quickly meet all the set conditions to the greatest extent possible.

In just a week since the adoption of constitutional amendments, negotiations
with representatives of the World Bank, the European Union, USA and Holland
have been intensified in Skopje and the basic elements agreed so that there
are no more dilemmas. Literally, at the eleventh hour, Macedonia "caught the
last train".

According to the official confirmation of both the Macedonian Government and
representatives of organisers from the World Bank and the European Union, as
well as greatest donor countries, the Donors' Conference for Macedonia will
be held in Brussels by December 20, at the latest. Finance Minister Nikola
Gruevski optimistically announced that there is a possibility that the
Conference might be held even a week earlier, i.e. on December 14, so that
some funds could be transferred to the national account in the current year!
He also emphasised that Chief of UN Mission Bisvardhi Banerdzi would be
coming to Skopje on November 26 so as to prepare technical details with his
hosts for the signing of the agreed "staff monitoring" programme, whose
implementation is scheduled to start as of January 1, 2002, as well as to
agree terms for the start of negotiations on a new stand-by arrangement. His
superiors instructed him to complete this task in the shortest possible
time. According to Gruevski, this is a good sign which shows the flexibility
of world monetary authorities, which is now customary. At the same time,
this would be proof enough for donor countries that the money they decide to
give this country would be used for macro-economic support, repair of war
damages and economic stabilisation, and not for the acquisition of arms
(which is very important for them) or end in private hands.

Gruevski also pointed out that already next week the Government would submit
to the Macedonian Parliament the drafted Law on Local Self-Government, which
parliamentarians would then adopt it within two weeks time. "We must
gradually, but without fail reduce the budget for additional USD 9 million
by the end of the year", pointed out the first Macedonian financer. Apart
from two previous cuts since June and "saved" USD 63 million, as instructed
by the international financial policemen, Macedonia would thus fulfil
everything that has been asked of it and create conditions for the holding
of the many-times announced and then postponed Donors' Conference, which
should bring salvation to the country.

Minister Gruevski hoped that Macedonia would finally get what it needs to
survive, a minimum of USD 120 million, which is the amount of uncovered
budget deficit created by additional defence costs. He hoped for as much
fresh money as possible, which less than was promised earlier, but not given
because of the war and other reasons. He expressed fear that in Brussels,
the donors would try to effect that "old assistance" so as to make the
success of the Conference more glamorous.

Gruevski said that in addition to previously promised 45 million Euros
Holland has announced another 10 million. Also, on top of the "old" 50
million Euros, the European Commission has prepared an additional package of
18 million in new European banknotes. They hope that this example would be
followed by Governments of other countries-potential donors, with whose
representatives head of state Boris Trajkovski will hold another preparatory
meeting next week in Skopje. The aim is to present to the world as precisely
as possible all the damages caused by the war, as well as real needs of the
Macedonian economy. The most important thing is that, according to
estimates, disagreements with the IMF have been patched up, that there is a
good will for flexibility, that all relevant factors, at least openly and
declaratively, believe that there are no other political obstacles for the
return of peace and stabilisation and that they have every intention of
keeping their promises.

This all sounds very well, but only has to be carried! Unfortunately,
Macedonia has very bad experience with international conferences and
donations, especially those held after the Kosovo crisis. At the Donors'
Conference held in Paris in May 1999, it had been promised USD 252 million.
Out of that amount USD 125 million was to be granted in the form of credits,
USD 25 million for debt rescheduling and 102 million as grant-in-aid. Out of
that sum, Skopje received barely 5 billion denars (USD 1 = 68 den).

This "bad luck" is precisely the reason why public is very cautious in its
expectations from the forthcoming Donors' Conference, which will most
probably be held in the EU Headquarters in Brussels. Some are optimists and
convinced that the money will come in time for the repayment of many due
credits and repair of war damages. Others do not trust the promises of the
world financial potentates. For these "doubting Thomases" this Donors
Conference is just a farce. We should wait and see who was right.

# BRANKA NANEVSKA
(AIM)

*

I'm forwarding to this list two appeals for financial assistance from
AIMPRESS.ORG (Alternativna Informativa Mreza, http://aimpress.ch and The
Balkan Courier: http://www.balkans.eu.org. Please forward this notice to any
other discussion lists that might be interested. The journalism from the
Balkans translated into English and French provided by these two projects is
especially valuable for a chronicle of the political dimension of the wars
in this region following the disintegration of the federation of states once
called Yugoslavia.

There are multiple perspectives among the many journalists who have been
translated by AIM and the Balkan Courrier, but in common among the majority
of contributors is an attention to electoral processes, human rights,
corruption, privatization, and workers protests which contrasts sharply with
the both mainstream and much alternative journalism practiced in the United
States. I don't wish to make the obvious comparison about the advanced
political culture evident in these articles, as I believe this Balkan
"literature" has developed in response to the many thousands dead, uprooting
of villages, devastated local economies, diaspora, the NATO bombing
campaign, and the struggle for journalists in the region to define democracy
while reporting on the many contradictory practices that go by that name.

There are analyses in these articles in addition to the chronicling of
events, personages, facts and charges, and the archive at the aimpress
website is well worth researching. Many of the same articles may be found in
French translation at the Balkan Courrier, though I am less familiar with
this archive.

That financial support for such translation projects should become an issue
now invites questions about the stage of the social crisis in Macedonia and
Albania as among the other Balkan nations. What kind of struggles are just
beginning to take shape that do not bear the comparatively transparent
character, for the "international community," of border wars and nationalist
aggressions? What interests are served by removing from the view of English
and French readers the analysis of politics in the Balkan states, at the
intersection of nation and class, if (and especially if) the wars are over?

Kevin Magee
http://hypobololemaioi.com/degats1.html
http://hypobololemaioi.com/degats2.html
http://hypobololemaioi.com/degats3.html

"Le texte publié précédemment, "Balkans, le talon d'Achille de l'Europe", ne
faisait pas mention de l'auteur de l'article; il s'agit de la journaliste
Ilda Mara. Veuillez nous excuser pour cette erreur, L'équipe du Courrier des
Balkans"

*
http://www.aimpress.ch/fix/info/notice.htm
Notice to our readers

As you will no doubt already have noticed, there has been a substantial
reduction in the number of articles produced over the past few months. The
reason is all too simple: AIM is facing an increasingly severe economic
crisis and we are not sure to what extent we will be able to continue. The
exception is our editorial board in Macedonia which has received a specific
grant from the Council of Europe's Programme of Confidence-Building
Measures. We have also been able to obtain funding for most of the network's
training programmes. The problem lies in the remaining editorial boards, the
translation service and other necessary running costs (administration,
coordination meetings, Internet site...).

It has recently become clear that the international donor community has
decided to reduce its financial assistance to the media sector in South East
Europe. New priorities have appeared across the globe and some believe that
there is no longer such a need for a project like AIM now that the worst
nationalist regimes have been removed from power and that no wars are being
waged in the region.

We are convinced that the scars and tensions are deep and cannot be healed
quickly. The transition to democracy has only just begun and the region
faces deep economic crisis. It is simply too soon to remove financial
support from a project like AIM. We are therefore grateful for any support
that readers can give, particularly in the form of suggestions of
foundations or institutions that might be ready to provide funding. We wish
to remain true to our principle of providing our information free of charge
on the Internet, as it is used by many people with little financial means,
including many in the diaspora. Over the next few months we intend to
examine the structure of AIM and see in which ways it could be reformed so
as to increase efficiency and reduce costs. We will keep you informed. We
would also be glad to know more about our readers, what you think of AIM's
articles. We sometimes receive comments and occasionally even
congratulations - which is always an encouragement to go on. Constructive
criticism is, however, also invaluable. We look forward to hearing from you.

AIM, 17 rue Rébéval, F-75019 Paris
Tel. 00.33.14018 03 82
Email: admin@aimpress.org
Bank account: Banque Nationale de Paris, 67 bd. De la Villette, 75010 Paris,
Account Nr. 00000041772; IBAN FR76 3000 4016 6500 0000 4177 216

*

Le Bulletin du Courrier des Balkans Jeudi le 16 mai 2002 -- No. 5

Flash-Infos
Appel à l'aide!

Amies lectrices, amis lecteurs,

Voilà déjà une semaine, nous vous avons lancé un SOS, pour redresser la
situation financière catastrophique du Courrier des Balkans. Depuis lors,
vous avez été nombreux à entendre notre appel et à nous faire parvenir vos
dons. À toutes et à tous, un grand merci !!

La situation n'est malheureusement pas beaucoup plus rose aujourd'hui. Nous
sommes toujours à la recherche de financement, et toute l'équipe du Courrier
des Balkans s'affaire aujourd'hui à trouver des sources de revenus
garantissant la survie du CdB. Toutes les possibilités sont ouvertes :
financement par des organisations philanthropiques, sponsoring, etc...

Les prochaines semaines seront décisives en ce qui a trait au financement de
l'Association par le biais de divers organismes et fondations. Nous nous y
attelons sans relâche, mais nous devons malgré tout faire toujours appel à
votre générosité pour assurer, à très court terme, le fonctionnement du
Courrier des Balkans. C'est pourquoi nous nous permettons, encore
aujourd'hui, de faire appel à vous pour effectuer un don - même modeste - au
Courrier des Balkans, afin d'assurer sa survie
http://www.balkans.eu.org/soutien.php3.

Nous lançons également un appel particulier aux organisations, entreprises,
groupes de consulting qui utilisent les services du CdB pour leurs activités
dans les Balkans : une contribution corporative de votre part nous
permettrait d'envisager l'avenir plus sereinement, et vous permettrait de
continuer à bénéficier des articles traduits en français de la presse
balkanique.

Enfin, nous rappelons à tous ceux et celles qui seraient intéressés à
participer à l'aventure du Courrier des Balkans à entrer en contact avec
nous. Nous avons besoin, plus que jamais, de vos idées et de votre énergie
dans le cadre de notre recherche de financement ; n'hésitez pas à nous
écrire !

À bientôt,

La rédaction du Courrier des Balkans.
Pour nous joindre
balkans@balkans.eu.org

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