'Reverse Balkan blowback': good guys become bad then good

One day in late 1992 a fit looking man in his late 30s or early 40s walked into MILS's Brussels office. He had very short blonde hair and an upright military bearing. He introduced himself as Andreas Renatus Hartmann, German political advisor to the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) in the European Parliament.

Down the track, Mr Hartmann invited Dr Naumovski and myself to dinner at a swanky Moroccan restaurant. The dinner went well. We talked about a wide variety of subjects but the attention inevitably turned to the Balkans. I was enjoying eating the Moroccan couscous and almost choked when Mr Hartmann said matter of factly that German Intelligence (BND) was about to open its first "station" in Tirana, Albania since World War II, and the British were not impressed at being beaten to the punch.

I thought to myself, why is this guy telling me this? He dropped more bombshells when he said that Europe, in particular German and France, did not want an Islamic state in the Balkans - namely Bosnia-Herzegovina or a Greater Albania. The German and French right wing parties wanted to strengthen Macedonia to act as a buffer state against possible Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, he claimed.

In the early stages of the war in Bosnia both the United States and the European Community (EC now European Union) were not interested in the plight of Muslims, other than supporting a token UN peacekeeping force. So why did the US change its policy and “permit” the use of former Islamic Mujahaddin warriors from the Afghan conflict with the Soviets to fight on the side of the Muslim Bosnians?

First, there was a change in President: George H. Bush was voted out after one term to be replaced by William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton in 1992. Second, and this is speculation on my part, there was a fear of post-Soviet Russia playing a big role in the Balkans again.

When Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia, Germany broke ranks with the EC, to grant recognition. In Serbia’s camp was Russia, its traditional Orthodox ally. Could the US about-turn on Bosnia have been prompted by the possibility of the Russians eager to flex their diplomatic muscle after losing their communist empire?

Has the rivalry between the US and Russia since the end of World War II really stopped? The Russian showdown against the West in Georgia last year proves that the Russian bear is alive and well after licking its wounds at the end of the Cold War (1946-89).

Meanwhile, Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad would be an interesting character to interview about the inner workings of al-Qaida.