A common, guttural cry of "Eureka" echoed as the
peoples of East Europe and the Balkan emerged from the
Communist steam bath. It was at once an expression of
joy and disbelief. That the West should be willing to
bankroll the unravelling of a failed social experiment,
freely entered into, exceeded the wildest imaginings. That
it would do so indefinitely and with no strings attached
was a downright outlandish fortuity.
Transition in the post communist countries was coupled
with a hubristic and haughty conviction in the
transforming powers of the Western values, Western
technology, and Western economics. The natives - awe
struck and grateful - were supposed to assimilate these
endowments and thus become honorary Westerners
("white men"). Where osmosis and immitation failed -
bayonets and bombs were called upon. These were later
replaced by soft credits and economic micromanagement
by a host of multilateral institutions.
Accustomed to Pavolvian interactions, adept at
manipulating "the system", experts in all manner of make
belief - the shrewd denizens of the East exercised the
reflexive levers of the Great Democracies. They adopted
stratagems whose sole purpose was to extract additional
aid, to foster a dependency of giving, to emotionally
extort. In one sentence: they learned how to corrupt the
donors.
The most obvious subterfuge involved the mindless
repetition of imported mantras. Possessed of the same
glazed eyes and furled lips, the loyal members of a
perfidious nomenklatura uttered with the same seemingly
perfervid conviction the catechism of a new religion.
Yesterday communism - today capitalism, unblushingly,
unhesitatingly, cynically. Yesterday, a recondite
dictatorship of the proletariat or, more often, a personality
cult - today "democracy". Yesterday - brotherhood and
unity, today - genocidal "self determination". Yesterday -
genocidal inclinations, today - a "growth and stability
pact". If required to bark in the nude in order to secure the
flow of unsupervised funding (mainly to their pockets),
these besuited "gentlemen" would have done so with self-
sacrificial ardour, no doubt.
When it dawned upon them that the West is willing to pay
for every phase of self-betterment, for every stage of self-
improvement, for every functioning institution and law
passed - this venal class (the soi-disant "elite" in
government, in industry and academe) embarked on a
gargantuan blackmail plot. The inventors of the most
contorted and impervious bureaucracies ever, have
recreated them. They have transformed the simplest tasks
of reform into tortuous, hellish processes, mired in a
miasma of numerous committees and deluged by cavils,
captious "working" papers and memoranda of stupefying
trumpery. They have stalled and retraced, reversed and
regressed, opined and debated, refused and accepted
grudgingly. The very processes of transformation and
transition - a simulacrum to begin with - acquired an aura
of somnolent lassitude and the nightmarish quality of
ensnarement. And they made the West bribe them into
yielding that which was ostensibly in their very own
interest. Every act of legislation was preceded and
followed by dollops of foreign cash. Every ministry
abolished was conditioned upon more aid. Every court
established, every bloodletting firm privatized, every bank
sold, every system made more efficient, every procedure
simplified, every tender concluded and every foreign
investor spared - had a tariff. "Pay or else ..." was the
overt message - and the West preferred to pay and to
appease, as it has always done.
The money lavished on these "new democracies" was
routed rather conspicuously into the private bank accounts
of the thin layer of vituperable "leaders", "academics" and
"businessmen" (often the same people). One third
cigarette smugglers, one third uncommon criminals and
one third cynical con-artists, these people looted the
coffers of their states. The IMF - this sanctuary of fourth
rate economists from third world countries, as I am never
wont of mentioning - collaborated with the US
government, the European Union and the World Bank in
covering up this stark reality. They turned a common
blind eye to the diversion of billions in aid and credits to
mysterious bank accounts in dubious tax havens. They
ignored fake trading deals, itinerant investment houses,
shady investors and shoddy accounting. They expressed
merely polite concern over blatant cronyism and rampant
nepotism. They kept pouring money into the rapidly
growing black hole that Eastern Europe and the Balkan
have become. They pretended not to know and feigned
surprise when confronted with the facts. In their
complicity, they have encouraged the emergence of a
criminal class of unprecedented proportions, hold and
penetration in many of the countries within their remit.
To qualify to participate in this grand larceny, one needed
only to have a "sovereign" "state". Sovereign states are
entitled to hold shares in multilateral financial institutions
and to receive international aid and credits. In other
words: sovereignty is the key to instant riches. The
unregenerate skulks that pass for political parties in many
countries in East Europe and the Balkan (though not in all
of them - there are exceptions), carved up the territory.
This led to a suspicious proliferation of "republics", each
with its own access to international funds. It also led to
"wars" among these emergent entities.
Recent revelations regarding the close and cordial co-
operation between Croatia's late president, Franjo
Tudjman and Yugoslavia's current strongman, Slobodan
Milosevic - ostensibly, bitter enemies - expose the role
that warfare and instability played in increasing the flow
of aid (both civil and military) to belligerent countries.
The more unstable the region, the more ominous its
rhetoric, the more fractured its geopolitics - the more
money flowed in. It was the right kind of money:
multilateral - not multinational, public - not private,
deliberately ignorant - not judiciously cognizant. It was
the "quantum fund" - capable of "tunnelling" (as the
Czechs called it) - vanishing in one place (the public
purse) and appearing in another (the private wallet)
simultaneously. Even the exception - the never-enforced
sanctions against Yugoslavia - served to enrich its
cankerous ruling class by way of smuggling and
monopolies.
And why did the West collaborate in this charade? Why
did it compromise its goodwill, its carefully crafted
institutions, its principles and ethos? The short and the
long of it is: to get rid of a nuisance at a minimal cost. It is
much cheaper to grease the palms of a deciding few - than
to embark on the winding path of true and painful growth.
It is more convenient to co-opt a political leader than to
confront an angry mob. It is by far easier to throw money
at a problem than to solve it.
It was not a sinister conspiracy of the Great Powers as
many would have it. Nor was it the result of foresight,
insight, perspicacity, or planning. It was a typical
improvident European default, adopted by a succession of
lacklustre and lame American administrations. It enriched
the few and impoverished the many. It fostered anti-
Western sentiments. It provoked skirmishes that provoked
wars that led to massacres. To reverse it would require
more resources than should have been committed in the
first place. These are not forthcoming. The West is again
misleading and deceiving and collaborating to defraud the
peoples of these unfortunate netherlands. It again
promises prosperity it cannot deliver, growth it will not
guarantee and stability it cannot ensure. This
prestidigitation is bound to lead to ever larger bills and to
the attrition of good will of both donor and recipient.
Never before was such a unique historical opportunity so
thoroughly missed. The consequences may well be as
unprecedented.