“Game, set and match to Germany,” wrote the Trumpet six years ago. “Germany: the peace-broker in Kosovo, the future administrator of Kosovo and of the whole Balkan Peninsula—the lead nation in the Eurocombine shortly to rule the European continent and extend its powerful reach globally to impact all nations” (June 1999).

That’s the way the Trumpet called the outcome of the grand Vatican/German-inspired strategic game to sew up the Balkan Peninsula and pave the way for expanding the empire of the European Union eastward from central Europe. This action paved the way for 10 more nations from Eastern Europe to be added to the grand Germanic design for a pan-European Union, which occurred four years later.

The game began in 1991 with Germany—quickly followed by the Vatican—declaring its recognition of the Catholic states of Slovenia and Croatia as sovereign nations, outside the Yugoslavian federation of Balkan states. To that point, the nations of the Balkans had survived 46 years in union since World War ii. The very first foreign-policy initiative of the newly united Germany—this act of contempt for global public opinion and the will of many Balkan peoples—was a deliberate attempt to initiate a crisis in the Balkans upon which Germany and the papal state could impose their own well-planned solution. By initiating an illegal war, funded by and fought for the EU largely by the United States and Britain via nato, all that was left for the Vatican and Germany to do was to sit back and wait till the dust settled—then simply take over.

It was a masterful piece of political subterfuge which served to demonstrate that the old Teutonic masters of the ancient, ever-reviving Holy Roman Empire had learned much from their failure to win Europe in two great world wars. Simply let others fight the wars—preferably at their own expense—and always appear reluctant to enter the offensive; then follow along, cap-in-hand, and offer to be the peacemaker at the end of the major conflict. Fait accomplis!

With Bosnia now due to be handed to a German nominee high commissioner, one festering sore yet remains within this revamped, 21st-century Balkan Peninsula—Kosovo.

The United Nations is exasperated with the mess. “Kosovo has been stewing in economic destitution and political no-man’s-land for six years. And now the United Nations finally seems ready to admit that it will not get any better, and so let it move on. … The urge to wash hands and simply dispose of the mess is palpable” (Stratfor, October 25). Faced with virtually no real progress toward a resolution of the division of hatred that exists between the Serbian minority and Albanian majority in Kosovo, the UN has decided to basically walk away from the problem as soon as it finds someone willing to take it on.

Enter former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, hand-picked to lead final-status talks on the future of this former territory of Yugoslavia that has existed as a de facto UN protectorate since the end of the Kosovo war.

Actually, it is a re-entry onto the Kosovo stage for Ahtisaari. He was originally charged with the responsibility of delivering the ultimatum to former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic during the illegal nato war in that region in 1999. At that time, the Finnish negotiator told Milosevic that pulling Serb forces out of Kosovo was the only way to stop nato’s bombing of Yugoslavia. The bombing lasted 11 weeks, largely destroying the region’s infrastructure and opening the way for an incursion by Albanian militants into Kosovo, leading to much bloodletting of Serbs at Albanian hands.

The UN’s eagerness to wash its hands of the Kosovo mess comes after its rank failure to resolve the conflict between Serbia and Albania over control of the region—Serbia seeking to retain political control, the Albanians holding out for independence. Unless a strong hand emerges to take firm control of this situation as a result of Ahtisaari’s negotiations, the result could be another bloodbath, when UN forces withdraw from Kosovo.

Yet, the solution will soon become obvious. The future of Kosovo will probably be decided by referendum, and the majority will hold sway. The pattern is set.

The Balkan states of Serbia, Albania and Bosnia are presently negotiating a Stability and Association Agreement (saa) with the European Union. This is a major step toward formal EU membership talks. Macedonia and Croatia already have an saa in place. Montenegro, the other remaining piece of the old Yugoslavia, together with Serbia and Kosovo, plans to hold an independence referendum early next year. This vote is almost certain to pass. Once it does, it sets a precedent for the only remaining bit of the old Yugoslavian federation needing to be sorted out—Kosovo. It simply would be foolish for the United Nations to deny a similar vote to the German-backed Albanians in Kosovo. Poll results have consistently indicated that such a referendum would pass by a ratio in excess of nine to one.

The Kosovo Serbs’ fate will be sealed. The German plan to Albanianize Kosovo will be a done deal.

And with the future of that final piece of the Balkan Peninsula then firmly wedded to the Albanian bid for EU membership, the Vatican-German plan to sew up the Balkans crossroads will be finalized.

As we declared five years ago, “Game, set and match to Germany, the future administrator of Kosovo and of the whole Balkan Peninsula.”

When it happens, remember—you read it here first.