BY MAURICE WILLIAMS

Washington and its NATO rivals in Paris, Bonn, and London are probing to step up their intervention in Yugoslavia. The so- called international war crimes tribunal issued worldwide arrest warrants July 11 for chauvinist Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic. "All states will henceforth be legally obliged to arrest the accused if they come within their jurisdiction," declared a press communiqué' from the imperialist-crafted tribunal.

Robert Frowick, the U.S. official overseeing the September 14 elections in Bosnia, said the nationalist Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) would be barred from the race unless Karadzic resigned from his political activity and position as head of the party by July 19. "Things must be straightened out by that date," Frowick told a news conference in Sarajevo on July 15.

Karadzic has said he will not run in the elections, but he was recently re-elected head of the SDS. Richard Holbrooke, a Wall Street banker and former U.S. diplomat who helped push through the Dayton "peace" agreement last fall, met with Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic July 17 to twist his arm to oust Karadzic. Holbrooke said his four-hour meeting with Milosevic was "inconclusive and in progress." Washington has threatened to reimpose economic sanctions on Serbia if Karadzic remains in his post.

Holbrooke also met with Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, after which he described the situation in the Balkans as a "moment of very serious challenge."

The Financial Times of London reports that Paris has suggested the possibility of a "NATO-led commando raid to arrest the Bosnian Serb leaders." French defense minister Charles Million told a press conference July 14 that Paris planned to ask the United Nations Security Council to give NATO forces more explicit authorization to arrest Karadzic and Mladic, as well as others indicted on charges of war crimes.

Former Swedish prime Minister Carl Bildt, the chief international negotiator in Bosnia, recently came to the conclusion that a "military snatch" of Karadzic was necessary, according to the New York Times.

Other imperialist government officials expressed hesitations. "For some strange reason, Karadzic is still very popular and his removal could strengthen the SDS by making a martyr," one unnamed government official told the Financial Times. British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind said any military action was a decision for NATO commanders on the ground, who would have to assess the risk of taking on heavily armed bodyguards.

"Give us the order, and we'll do it," Gen. William Nash, commander of Washington's military operations in Bosnia, reportedly said in a meeting with U.S. secretary of commerce Michael Kantor.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns warned Karadzic's forces July 17 against any attempt to retaliate if the arrest warrants are carried out. "They should not fool themselves," he declared. The NATO forces "will take whatever steps are necessary to protect their own troops and police trainers."

The New York Times reported, however, that given the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the Clinton administration hopes to "avoid American casualties or a wholesale unraveling of the Bosnian peace effort - clear risks of a military action."

Alex Ivanko, a UN spokesperson, said the police chief in the city of Pale warned of wide retaliation against the NATO troops if there was an attempt to arrest Karadzic.

A recent military probe by Washington led to Belgrade-backed Serb forces threatening to fire on U.S. helicopters. The helicopters flew over a military compound July 5 at Han Pijesak in eastern Bosnia, as U.S. troops prepared to investigate reports of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles being moved into the Bosnian Serb military headquarters.

U.S. forces then deployed about 20 warplanes and helicopters and some 20 armored personnel carriers, while setting up a command post in the area. When a British officer escorted by U.S. soldiers entered the compound on July 6, about 200 civilians waving Serbian flags pounded on the Humvees while others blocked roads into the village.

"It was a very aggressive response on our part, I'll grant that," said Lieut. Gen. William Carter, chief of staff of the NATO force in Bosnia. "But we don't intend to tolerate any threats against us," he added.

Meanwhile, conditions in Yugoslavia continue to deteriorate. Wages are paid months late, if at all. The average wage for rural or urban workers in Serbia is about $100 a month, an 80 percent drop in the last decade.

Union leaders, who led a series of strikes earlier this year, threatened the Serbian regime with mass protests if it does not increase wages and create new jobs by September. On May 13 more than 10,000 workers marched in Nis, Yugoslavia, demanding back pay and work.

Imperialism's prospects for reestablishing capitalist property relations in Yugoslavia appear grim. "Foreign companies come in here, take one look at what is going on and pack up and leave," one official discussing unrest in Kosovo told the New York Times. "We don't even bring in trade delegations now."

The trade magazine Institutional Investor recently ranked Yugoslavia at 129 out of 137 countries as a prospect for international investment.

"The Government has two ways left to manage the deficit," said Dragoslav Avramovic, a proponent of capitalist reform measures who was recently fired from his job as governor of the central bank. "Either print more money or stop paying the bills. I am not sure which is worse. The Government has stopped, for now, paying its bills, but we are running into trouble."  
 
 
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