-----Original Message----- From: J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. <rosserjb at jmu.edu> To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu <pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu> Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 4:03 PM Subject: [PEN-L:4883] Re: Re: Kosovo-Metohija
> This will also include a response to Jim D., but
>I'll focus on Doug's arguments.
> Redmond (and even Nowell) is partly right in that
>there is a lot of enthusiasm for this campaign in many
>Western European circles in the leading EU/NATO nations.
>The hegemony argument is the most logical explanation.
>"Showing the EU who's top dog" still seems pretty flimsy
>unless they were eager for this campaign.
> The question of what is going on with Russia
>(and China and the Eastern European orthodox world)
>more generally is a very big, important and not-well
>addressed question in all this. My mother-in-law from
>Moscow is visiting so I hear the Radio Moscow line
>literally every day and I am struck by how intensely
>anti-US and anti-NATO it has become. Yesterday when
>I commented on Ukraine, that was really a part of the
>bigger shift of the Russia's position along with it bringing
>along a bunch of recently anti-Russian countries with it.
> An alternative "imperialsm/capitalism" theory is that
>this is being driven by the old Cold War military/industrial
>complex that was never happy about the end of the Cold
>War. Wow! Here we go again! We even have China and
>Russia allying making it look the bad/good old days of the
>early 1950s, whoop de doo!
> I see the expansion of NATO as indeed predicated on a
>fear of such a revival. Certainly for the nations joining the
>alliance that was a major factor, along with this being a
>part of getting into the EU and supposedly getting in on the
>general economic gravy train of the Eurobourgeoisie. Clearly
>all this fits with a number of points made by a number of people.
>But, I don't think that for most decisionmakers the idea was
>the revival of the Cold War. That has become a self-fulfilling
>prophecy. They got complacent because although the expansion
>of NATO did not bring an immediate response from Russia that
>similar pokes in the face would not either. Madeleine has seemed
>to have made such statements: "they'll (the Russians) will get
>over it." Not clear at all. Whether plotted by a secret elite or
>just blundered into, this revived Cold War looks like a major
>outcome of this, no matter what happens on the ground in K-M.
> As for the related "squeezing Russia" argument, I think that
>both Doug and Jim D. are a bit off. The fact is that the US has
>either given outright or approved the giving or lending of large
>sums to Russia, up to $90 billion is the last figure I have seen,
>which is on the order of the Marshall Plan, although most of that
>has been loans. I think that in the early 90s under both Bush and
>Clinton there was a genuine desire by US elites to have Russia
>(and its former republics and satellites) succeed in a transition
>to "normal market capitalism." I think that they hoped to expand
>US firm activities into those zones. There was no conscious effort
>or desire to "squeeze Russia" so that this project would fail. One
>can charge the US and IMF and various folks, including Brad's
>pal and occasional coauthor Andrei Shleifer, of having given bad
>advice (and maybe even participated in the corruption). But much
>of the failures and problems were home grown in Russia, a corrupt
>nomenklatura privatization that has proven to be a horrible human
>disaster in its own right.
> Indeed, except for out pro-Cold War crowd waiting in the wings,
>this was not a desired outcome. And, indeed, it is unsurprising that
>as the disaster has unfolded anti-US sentiments have surged in
>Russia. They substantially increased after last August. This war
>in K-M has just fed into and accelerated a trend that was already
>going on. It is stupid to the extent that it is not consciously venal.
>Barkley Rosser
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu <pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu>;
>lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 2:50 PM
>Subject: [PEN-L:4877] Re: Kosovo-Metohija
>
>
>>J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. wrote:
>>
>>>Redmond's
>>>theory that the US is subordinate to the EU is ridiculous, but the
>>>counter theory is also ridiculous. The French have never hesitated
>>>to oppose the US on something they did not like.
>>
>>Opposing the U.S. is one thing, organizing a war is another. The U.S. is
>>reminding the EU who's the top imperialist. This may inspire the EU to
>>think about its own foreign policy, but that's for tomorrow, which is
>>another day.
>>
>>>Squeezing Russia is clearly counterproductive and outright stupid.
>>
>>But that's exactly what's been going on economically for 10 years. What's
>>the logic of NATO expansion if it's not to prepare in advance for a
Russian
>>resurgence?
>>
>>Doug
>>
>>
>
>