But that doesn't make the stakes small. The stakes remain the same, we just so far out of the race that it doesn't seem to matter. The view from the horse that is coming in last doesn't change the amount in the purse of the winners.
>>My feeling is that there is an unfortunate tendency amongst we lefties to
>>set ourselves opposite and apart - rendering ourselves smugly impotent in
>>the process.
>
>Hear! Hear!
Partially the left sets itself opposite and apart, partly it has been pushed apart. With nobody "real" to talk to, minor issues and personality conflicts become political principles, the massive number of splits of the whole Trot "movement" (approaching zero is a movement, right?) that were based on nothing more than a single minor policy decision or some personality conflict shows this off. When a left group is actually in contact with and has some intercourse with people on the ground, these things are pushed to the background, real people don't have patience for sociopathic trustfunders declaring themselves leaders.
>>We shouls also seek input into saving lives right now, in the real
>>benighted world. To that end, we need a grasp of what's happening and a
>>take on what's possible by next week.
>
>Ah, but then what? Who here has the ear of anyone in
>power?
Here is another reason why the left is divided; actual divisions. Having the ear of someone in power is meaningless and irrelevant. It is not as though NATO is incompetent or making a mistake. They knew, as they were told by the Serbians, by their own intelligence and by their own military leaders, that bombing would exacerbate the crisis. That's what they wanted to happen, so that they could move in. The trial balloons for ground troops are already being floated. Whispering into someone's ear "This is a bad idea" won't mean and thing.
Too much of the left still has delusions about the nature of the state. An All-Left Union would be a wreck, as much as a wreck of the Republican Party with its patricians, farmboys and snake handlers. The snake handlers do all the work, the patricians provide all the money and the farmboys are the ones who actually hold the offices and leave the other two groups out in the cold for the most part. An All-Left Union, especially one that doesn't need to come to any sort of conclusions, because "we're all in this together" would lead to the same, milquetoast Democrats and apologists for bombing, for cutting social security, eliminating welfare etc. Who do I know it will happen? It has already happened.
>> No, the soldiers would
>>primarily have to come from the European NATO countries, especially the
new
>>member states. Now there's a gamble.
No, it wouldn't have to. The US can push in its own troops or whistle for the UN troops after a few weeks of fuhfuhing and a day of handshakes.
>A gamble on more levels than one: remember the
>disgraceful Euro record in Bosnia. Even the *Dutch*
>stood by while the Serbs committed atrocities against
>the 'Turks', ferchrisake!
If the only role of the Left is boohooing the fact that ruling class imperialism isn't doing what the Left "wants" there is bigger trouble than all that. Stakes are huge, not small.
>>The partition would be policed not by NATO troops (now most definitely
'the
>>invader'), but Russian troops - Primakov and Yeltsin save their political
>>hides, Russia its face, and Milosovic can point to some Slavic
>>'brotherhood' thing to take the curse off it.
I'd be surprised if Russia could afford this, money wise or popularity wise. Chechnya was all the rage too. Who really has efficacy to make a long-term troop commitment here?
>And in the name of their shared Christianity they turn
>a blind eye to continued 'cleansing' of Muslims?
What?
>If the very UN force that was meant to protect the Bosnian
>Muslims could turn their backs....
Your problem is that you think the UN was meant to protect the Bosnians. It was not. The UN troops are doing exactly what they were sent to do.
NATO is doing exactly what it wants to do.
Clinton is doing exactly what he is in office to do.
The problem of politics is not that the ruling class is incompetent or stupid or devoid of compassion for their fellow human beings. The left doesn't need to be a moral compss, it needs to eliminate a system that turns slaughter, peace through bombing, periodic crises etc.
The stakes aren't small, they're large. Huge chunks of the self-identified left are in bed with the ruling class, thus helping to guarantee the short term success of the ruling class.
So, why are you on the wrong side?