GANGBOX
> This is a liberal, though illuminating analysis by Polyconomics which > was posted to the Bungaraya list by one of the few subscribers there who > concurs with my criticism of the NATO imperialist attack against > Yugoslavia. > > I also shows how the IMF is responsible for the ethnic troubles and > violence there, though it calls for rather utopian solutions and may not > be entirely accurate in all its arguments. > > Fraternally > > Charles> The IMF and the Balkan Crisis (May 5, 1993) > > Memo To: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright > From: Jude Wanniski > Re: A Polyconomics Report, Six Years Ago > > When the Clinton administration began six years ago, it came onto the > scene > during the middle of a chess game in the Balkans that had begun several > years earlier. Perhaps your predecessor, Warren Christopher, had a grasp > of > how the game began, but I doubt he took the trouble to understand the > forces > that wormed their way into the Balkans that led to the rot back then... > and > today. Polyconomics took the trouble to look back to the origins of the > ethnic strife that began in 1987, discovering the destabilizing > influence of > the International Monetary Fund as the primary culprit. Criton Zoakos, > then > of my staff, wrote the following letter to our clients on May 5, 1993. > It is > one of many pieces we’ve written over the years on the continuing Balkan > > crisis. On the theory that if you don’t know why something broke, it > becomes > difficult to fix and stay fixed, I send you this copy of our 1993 letter > and > hope it helps you realize that where swords will not work in that part > of > the world, ploughshares will. > > * * * * * > > In 1987, the old Yugoslavia, with all its tragic failings, was still a > functioning state. The International Monetary Fund then took over > economic > policy, implementing a number of all too familiar shock therapies: > devaluation, a wage freeze, and price decontrol -- designed on the > Harvard/MIT economic textbook principles meant to drive the wage rate > down > to a level where it would be internationally competitive. As the economy > > contracted from this shock, revenues to the central government declined, > > triggering pressure from the IMF to raise taxes to balance the budget. > As > always, this led to a further weakening of the once strong Yugoslav new > dinar, which in 1986 was still worth $22. > > These centrifugal forces began to tear at the federation, with the > richer > provinces of Croatia and Slovenia objecting to being drained of > resources by > the poorer provinces. Just as the USSR splintered as the IMF browbeat > the > Gorbachev government into a ruble devaluation, Yugoslavia broke into > pieces > as ethnic and religious rivalries were reasserted in an attempt to > control > the rapidly shrinking pool of resources. As in Russia today, where the > IMF > textbook shock therapy is again being used, the peoples' money capital > had > been extinguished and the population left impoverished. On average, the > dinar was devalued by one order of magnitude each year. As in Russia, > inflation was driven by the price of oil being pushed ever higher in a > fruitless attempt to reach world levels. By December 1989, the dinar had > > fallen in value by 200 times, to 11 cents from $22. Hyperinflation > became > evident in December 1991 as the dinar fell to one-half cent of value by > the > following summer, to the present 0.003 cents. Hyper-unemployment > accompanied > the hyper-inflation. [In Russia, the ruble has now lost 200 times its > value > of 1987, roughly where the Yugoslav dinar was in December 1989, not > quite > yet at the point of a hyperinflation that would in all likelihood > produce a > breakdown of civil authority.] > > When the IMF shock therapy hit Yugoslavia, the initial form of social > disorder was not ethnic friction but massive and repeated strikes and > other > labor actions. As late as 1988, an enterprising U.S. journalist deployed > in > Belgrade had difficulty finding evidence of ethnic passions and > reported: " > 'I would be a Serb, a Bosnian, anything - an Uzbekistani - I'd make my > eyes > slanted, if I'd have money,' says a Belgrade taxi driver named Zoran, > stretching the skin around his eyes with his fingers to make his point." > > Ordinary people turned into ethnic monsters only after all their options > for > a normal economic life were destroyed. "Ethnic cleansing" arrived only > after > "shock therapy" had done its work. Finally, on December 14, 1992, when > dinar > devaluation reached the IMF's theoretical ideal of infinite percent with > the > dissolution of the state that used to issue dinars, civilized life ended > and > was replaced by a "natural state of war," as political philosopher John > Locke predicted would invariably happen when organized government > disappears > from a people's life. > > Now, the same Western intellectuals who cheer IMF shock therapies > propose > the further extinction of the last remnants of organized government in > Serbia under the blows of the proposed allied air strikes. This will > produce > not less violence but more -- precisely because of the further > extinction of > organized power. Once this happens, the United Nations and others will > discover that instead of trying to stop a war of tanks, artillery > batteries, > aircraft, and chains of command, they will have to deal with a war in > which > crazed populations kill each other with knives, clubs or their bare > hands. > > The logic of the proposed air strikes falsely presumes that the crippled > > Serbian government in Belgrade has the power to impose its will on such > Bosnian Serb leaders-of-the-moment as Radovan Karadzik and that, in > turn, > quixotic figures like Karadzik have the power to impose their will on > the > rank-and-file of armed Bosnian Serbs. In fact, Belgrade and Karadzik > command > attention from the armed Serbian rank-and-file only when they serve the > logic of the post-civilization "state of war." > > Karadzik, as the Bosnian Serbs' putative leader, signed the May 2 Athens > > accord accepting the Vance-Owens Plan only 48 hours after he had called > it > "suicidal for the Serbian nation" during an interview with the Deutsche > Presse Agentur. For most of April, Karadzik had tried to convince the > Bosnian Serb parliament to accept the plan, although suicidal, by > arguing > that the alternative, i.e., systematic allied bombing of neighboring > Serbia, > would destroy the only still existing organized state of the Serbian > nation. > > Following the Athens agreement, battlefield reports from throughout > Bosnia-Herzegovina indicate that Serbian field commanders do not > consider > themselves bound by Karadzik's signature. The fighting will continue not > > until all sides complete their "ethnic cleansing," but until organized > government is restored. In the meantime, the other shoe will fall during > May > 15 and 16, when the Serbian population in Bosnia holds its referendum on > the > Vance-Owens Plan -- which is widely expected to be soundly rejected. > > On what grounds should the United Nations ignore the Bosnian Serbs' > referendum? When the Croatian people held their referendum for > independence > on May 19, 1991, the world community bowed to their will and recognized > Croatia; when the Slovenians did the same, the U.N. again complied. Why > is > the Clinton Administration on the Serbs' case, pretending that Croats > and > Bosnians are innocent victims? While media headlines throughout April > were > filled with preparations for military action against Serbs, the greatest > > atrocities -- according to reports from the International Red Cross -- > were > perpetrated by Bosnian Muslims against Croats. > > If the Clinton Administration bombs Serbs and arms Bosnian Muslims as it > > proposes, the levels of violence will only escalate. U.N. ground troops > will > be confronted with 10 million Serbs settling down to long-term partisan > warfare, Bosnian Muslims reinforced by battalions of Iranian-armed and > financed mujaheddin, and vengeful Catholic Croats. The entire Balkan > peninsula will be one monstrously large Beirut at the mercy of > anarchistic > ethnic and religious militias. The Serbs will hate the U.N.-U.S. > peacekeeping force because of the bombings; the Croats will hate it > because > it armed the Bosnian Muslims; the Bosnian Muslims will also hate it > because > they will be under the sway of Muslim fundamentalist mujaheddin armed > and > financed by Iran. Our presence there will be similar to the U.S. > Marines' > presence in Beirut in 1982. Our moral outrage at the atrocities Beirutis > > were perpetrating against each other was no less than our outrage at the > > present Balkan atrocities. Yet, Ronald Reagan, a proud President under > whose > watch Soviet Communism was defeated, saw no choice but to leave when we > brought home more than 200 Marines in body bags. > > Sen. Dennis DeConcini [D-NM], chairman of the Senate Intelligence > Committee > and an advocate of the use of force in Bosnia, appeared Monday on CNN's > "Crossfire," rejecting the argument of Rep. Robert Torricelli [D-NJ] > that we > should not use force unless we know where that will lead. In a letter to > > DeConcini yesterday, Jude Wanniski noted: "Bob Torricelli seems closer > to > reality in arguing it is a slippery slope. The last thing we should do > is > put troops on the ground. Leave it to some madman to get his hands on a > tactical nuclear weapon and we'd lose as many troops in an afternoon as > we > did over several years in Vietnam." > > Rather than playing futile military games, we believe the only > constructive > route is to undo the destruction wrought by the IMF's shock therapy. The > > starting point, we have suggested, is to reverse the IMF policies that > have > pointed Russia and the rest of the ruble area toward economic and > political > disintegration. With the collapse of communism in Moscow two years ago, > The > Wall Street Journal asserted editorially that the IMF was now the single > > most destructive force on earth. The Fund, for the most part controlled > by > the international banks through their influence at the U.S. Treasury, is > > truly the satanic force that precipitated the crisis in the Balkans. > Until > it is somehow neutralized, ethnic cleansing, atrocities and civil war > around > the world will continue to lay claim to America's blood and treasure. > > Criton Zoakos > > [Clients: You have our permission to circulate this report beyond your > institution if you wish. We are having an extremely difficult time > getting > our perspective on Bosnia and Russia broadcast through established > media. > JW] >
THE JAVITS CENTER THEN AND NOW
JUNE 30, 1998 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS STRIKE "N.Y. Daily News"
MORE JUNE 30, 1998 STRIKE STUFF "N.Y. Post"
THE COALITION: BUSSES, BASEBALL BATS AND INTEGRATION IN THE NEW YORK CONSTRUCTION TRADES
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