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1. There are many people who think that the world as we know it is falling apart
and the humankind is faced with a state of chaos. And this is true, indeed. We do live in
chaos, since, we are contemporaries, actors and witnesses of deep structural
transformations of world society that could be compared to very few – perhaps just two
or three – similar ones over the entire course of history. The process unfolding before our
eyes is that of historical demission of the world capitalist system such as we have known
for the past 500 years.
2. This process – the historical demission of the world system - has been
irreversibly set in motion in the period between 1970 and 1974. Ever since, that is to say
for nearly four decades now, we have been living in an era of transition from one into
another historical epoch. Immanuel Wallerstein states somewhere in his writings that this
process theoretically means the return to feudalism. From another angle, following
Headley Bull and his 1977 book: Anarchical Society, and particularly following the 1991
encyclical Centesimus Annus – The Hundredth Year by Pope John Paul the Second, a
group of authors qualifies this process as a more-than-welcome emergence of
corporatism of the new mediaevalism, or specifically, of the new European
mediaevalism. I will come back to this aspect of the current situation later. Either way,
theorists of the world system argue that the current transititonal and transformational
crisis of world society will conclude in the establishment of a historically new world
system around the year 2050.
3. Of course, it is still unclear what this new world system will be like, whether it
will be better, worse or the same as the one we are departing from. At the same time, we
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know with a high degree of certainty that, by choosing between different possibilities
available to the entire humankind, each local society and each individual human being at
a crossing from the present to the next historical stage, we literally influence the future
and its structural, as well as institutional features. After all, the structural complexity and
instability of world society in transitional circumstances makes it possible for any, even a
slightest external stimulus, to influence a change of historical vectors, a stir in the pace of
history, and consequently, its outcome. This can be illustrated by any concrete event that
we choose to review. Yet, there is no doubt that the current «Kosovo case» best
exemplifies how the butterfly creating changes by flapping its wings at the far «end» of
an endless universe is not just a metaphor. Indeed, the «Kosovo case» has already caused
deep changes in world affairs. Particularly prominent is the influence of the «Kosovo
case» in the process of world power reconfiguration.
5. As you know, for several months now, the political leaders of the Albanian
community in Kosovo and Metohija are announcing, on a daily basis, the unilateral
proclamation of the «independent Kosovo» not as a multietnic but as a second
monoethnic Albanian state in Europe, this time on the territory of the sovereign Republic
of Serbia. In addition, we know that this monoethnic Albanian project of «independent
Kosovo» was inspired and is strongly backed by the so-called «coalition of the willing»,
meaning, in this concrete case, by the U.S.A., UK, Germany, France and Italy. However,
it should be noted that, to accomplish the monoethnic Albanian «independent Kosovo»
project on the territory of the sovereign Republic of Serbia, it is necessary to commit an
act of agression, apply force and to breasch all principles, laws and institutes of legality
and legitimacy embodied in international law and in international order – the UN Charter,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OSCE Final Act and others.
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world corporate empire projects will be pleased. However, our historical experience
teaches that a world empire, be it a world corporate empire is not easy or possible to
please.
7. At the present moment, when it comes to the «Kosovo case», the world is
standing at the edge of a precipice. Whether it will eventually fall over depends on
decisions made by governments of the «coalition of the willing». It is still not too late for
the U.S., UK, Germany, France and Italy to reexamine their resolve to support and
recognize the illegal act of breaking up and fragmenting the Republic of Serbia. Should
this really occur, a different way out of the crisis would open ahead of us.
Note: Paper presented at conference Kosovo: A Preventable Disaster, Public briefing and press
conference organised by The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies, Thurstady, January 17,
2008, 3 - 5 PM, Central Hall Westmister, London, SW1; in order of appearance, conference
attended by: Sir Ivor Roberts, a UK career diplomat, ambassador in Belgrade (1992 to 1997), now
the president of Trinity College, Oxford University (unable to attend, his statement submitted in
writing); Mark Littman, QC, professor of international law, Oxford University; James Bissett
(James Bissett), Canadian statesman and diplomat, ambassador in Belgrade (1990 to 1992),
President of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies; Sir Brian Barder, a UK career
diplomat, ambassador retired, Ljubomir Kljakic, assistant minister for Kosovo and Metohija,
Serbian Government, a political scientist and publicist; Dr. Srdja Trifkovic, executive director of
The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies, editor of international affairs, Journal
Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture; Richard Ll. Thomas, banker, Land Securites
Trillium, UK government advisor; the conference was chaired by Yugo Kovach, The Lord Byron
Foundation for Balkan Studies. Under the title Kosovo and the international relations, this paper
was posted in NSPM,
http://www.nspm.org.yu/debate_2007/2008_kljakic1.htm; entitled Serbia and Corporate Empire
(extended in accordance with the conditions after 17 February 2008), this paper was published in
Književni list, 67, Belgrade, 1 March 2008, pp. 2.