Kosovo and Somalia

[Chris Burford]

At 11:22 01/04/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Many parallels have been drawn between Kosovo and various imperial
>adventures that pretended to be humanitarian ventures, implying that this
>one too will someday be unveiled as having an explicable and brutal
>purpose.  But I suspect the proper parallel is Somalia, which looks, even
>after the passage of time, to have been a humanitarian venture -- and one
>that failed pretty decisively through arrogance, ignorance and
>half-assedness, i.e, the unwillingness to die even in tiny numbers for
>such a disinterested cause.  I have a feeling the invasion in Kosovo grows
>out of the same mixture of idealism and arrogance, and will come to the
>same end.  And it will likely do for humanitarian bombing what Somalia did
>for humanitarian invasion, i.e., remove if from future consideration as an
>option.
>
>Michael

There are of course imperialist motives for wanting to appear high minded
defenders of justice. 

I also think in global political terms, Western Imperialism is pushing the
boundaries of its sphere of influence eastwards.

But I too think it is necessary to draw distinctions between different
overseas actions of the US and the EU. They differ in significance. I was
among those who objected strongly against the bombing of the Khartoum
pharmaceutical factory. At that time almost everybody protested more
against that than against the attack on Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and the
pressurising of the Taliban government.

My view is that the stance on Kosovo is relative progressive and it would
be a good thing if it was extended to Kurdistan. It won't of course,
without struggle.

Chris Burford

London