<<The point was originally raised in the context of the Yugo war - that if the U.S. was claiming the right to violate Yugoslavian sovereignty on the basis of genocide, the claim could be made with equal legal justification about the U.S. itself>>
I agree that the U.S. should be held to the same standards as every other country. And there's no doubt the U.S.'s claim of genocide in Yugoslavia is spurious. But the claim about ongoing genocide in the U.S. rings terribly hollow to me.
If you want a counterexample to Kosovo, look at the Kurds in Turkey. 30,000 people killed, versus, at most 3000 in Kosovo. 3000 villages destroyed and depopulated, versus 200 in Kosovo. Estimates of internal refugees range from 275,000 to 2 million versus 700,000 or 800,000 total refugeed in and around Kosovo. With most of Turkey's weapons supplied by the U.S. All because of scorched-earthed policies to combat separatist guerrillas with shady reputations themselves, in both cases. As a U.S. State Dept. official said in '92: the U.S. "sees nothing objectionable in a friendly or allied country using American weapons to secure internal order."
If Russia decided to launch a "humanitarian intervention" by lobbing missiles into Ankara without going to the Security Council -- "hey, the Americans would just veto it!" -- we all know what the American response would be.
As for the "U.S. genocide," I still think it's an abuse of language.
Seth