Vladimir Putin gave a speech in Munich, blasting the American empire for aspiring to global hegemony
by Nebojsa Malic
After several years of enjoying near-unchallenged world hegemony, in 2006 it began appearing as if the U.S. Empire had suffered a series of setbacks. The true extent of this “long defeat” became obvious in 2007, as the fruitless Iraqi occupation continued to produce death and destruction, a rickety economy collapsed on the home front, and a rival power arose in the East.
When the Democrats took over the U.S. Congress at the start of ’07, one of the less-noticed consequences was the increased focus on the Balkans. The year began with a screed by the new head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), calling for action against “opponents of new Kosovo.” Biden turned out to be a harbinger of things to come; both the Democrats and the White House really got into the notion that this was still 1999, which proved to be a miscalculation of great proportions.Setting the Stage
Around the time American voters put Biden’s party in control of the Congress, Serbia held a constitutional referendum, which resulted in a general election in January. Gains by the Democratic Party of president Boris Tadic were understood in the West as a sign that Serbia would submit on the issue of Kosovo. EU foreign policy commissar Javier Solana expected a “nice, soft landing.” Within weeks, Empire’s envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, presented his proposal for the occupied province’s final status: independence under a NATO/EU protectorate.
Despite clear warnings from 2006, up to this point few policymakers in Washington actually believed that Serbia and Russia would persist in their opposition to the separation of Kosovo. It was to prove a fateful miscalculation.
The leadership in Belgrade, far from being pliant, rejected Ahtisaari’s plan. On February 10, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a now-famous speech at a conference in Munich, blasting the American empire for aspiring to global hegemony. From there onwards, 2007 would be a long, futile struggle of the Empire to impose Ahtisaari’s dream in Kosovo against Serbian and Russian opposition.