However, there is a wee bit of a problem with the probombing arguments. In the Yugoslavian wars, the West has made it clear that the right to self-determination applies to everyone _but_ the Serbs. So, when the Bosnian and Croatian Serbs say that they do not want to be Bosnian/Croatian, the West says, too bad, "national" borders are sacred. Never mind that, as I understand it, these borders were arbitrarily drwan by Tito with the express goal of reducing Serb influence in post-WWII Yugoslavia. In fact, NATO keeps 20,000 troops in Bosnia whose main job is to prevent the Bosnian Serbs from exercising their right to self-determination and seceding from a country to which they have made clear they do not wish to belong.
Another small problem with the bombing is NATO's astonishing hypocrisy. Let us not forget that the most succesful ethnic cleasing of the wars was conducted by the neofascist and holocaust denier Franco Tudjman with full NATO diplomatic and military support. 300-400,000 Serbs (who, truth be told, had previously conducted their own small-scale ethnic cleansing) were uprooted from the Krajina and Western Slavonia as a result.
What is the reason for the West extreme anti-Serb prejudice? On the US side, I believe it is mostly incompetence, Slick's desire to show that he can bomb with the best of them, and a quarter-trillion military desperately looking for enemies to justify its existence. But the main driver (and this is mere speculation on my part) has been Germany's desire to destroy any challenge to its hegemony on Southeastern Europe. A strong Yugoslavia could have been a problem; a series of small, quarreling, helpless principalities suit it much better. Thus, it essentially forced the rest of Europe to recognize Croatian, Bosnian and Slovenian independence and imposed the principle that borders were not to be touched (this principle is now conveniently forgotten in Kosovo). A strong Serbia could still pose a problem, unlike Croatia or Slovenia who are perfectly happy to become German satellites; so, demonize it, isolate it, embargo it, and now, destroy it.
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique