C. Heartfield,
First, you know very well that I am not in support of the bombing so the fact that you refer to my views as those of a "war-monger" indicates to me that you are trying to make a polemical, rather than a purely logical point. That's fine, but you should direct it at those who disagree with your political aim.
When you say that the Balkan " ethnic tensions would never have gotten any more violent than those in other parts of the world - but for the internationalisation of these conflicts," you are missing the point. Simply equating the "ethnic tension" (by which you really mean "environment of prejudice and bigotry") in the Balkans with that in places like Sudan, Nigeria, Israel, Turkey, and on and on, does not diminish the wrong of it. This "ethnic tension" is not an unavoidable consequence of human existence. It is a moral lapse. Actual ethnic tension, meaning cultural divergence within a cohesive society that protects civilized values, is an entirely different thing. There is ethnic tension between Britons and Scots. No one has tried to justify a war on that basis for a very long time. I doubt any amount of outside agitation could create such a war. On the other hand, there was ethnic violence, violence mind you, in the former Yugoslavia back in the days when the West had very little influence there. It was ethnic violence, violence inspired by bigotry and chauvinism, that turned into ethnic war, not "ethnic tension."
Just because I don't support the West in their idiotic and destructive intervention does not mean that I mustn't condemn the atmosphere of bigotry in the Balkans. I can do both and I feel that both must be done. You feel that the West is encouraging separatism. I agree and one of their methods is to accept the prevailing ethnic mythology, rather than condemning hostile ethnic mythology as prejudice. If there was ever a movement inspired by hostile ethnic mythology, it is the Milosovic anti-Albanian movement.
Finally, you posit that suffering under bombing somehow dulls moral intelligence so that one cannot distinguish between fighting the KLA and driving Albanian civilians from their home with violence. I think not.
Once again, the Balkans represent two problems. One is a political problem with NATO and the other is an internal political problem in the Balkans. That internal problem is not "racial" as no problem is. Yet, like most political problems, it's roots are in prejudice and bigotry. The NATO chieftains clearly feel the people of the Balkans are less important than G-7 people. That is one bigotry, essentially based on class. The other is among the Balkan groups themselves, based on ethnicity *and* class.
peace