> More evidence that this is capitalist, not just ideological war. The
> profiteering from this war is not a windfall.
>
> This article openly portrays the bombing of Yugoslavia with the
> latest technologically sophisticated weapons of mass murder as
> an advertising campaign by the death salesmen.
>
> The military industrial complex is desparately looking to
> socio-politically construct new want/needs in the forms of
> "Hitlers" and "Evils"so that their weapon commodities have
> "use"-value. This is to replace the drastic drop in demand
> with the end of the Cold War (see the article below).
>
> These are not socalled defense contractors. They are merchants
> of death.
>
> Expropriate the Merchants of Death !
>
> Charles Brown
>
> ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
>
> USA TODAY
>
> April 15, 1999, Thursday, FIRST EDITION
>
> Kosovo crisis boosts stocks of U.S. defense contractors
>
> by Salina Khan
Yes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. In his just-published book, _Fortress America: The American Military and the Consequences of Peace_, William Greider makes it quite clear how the military-industrial complex is increasingly divorced from any rational securtiy purpose -- even accepting mainstream definitions thereof.
Kosovo is indeed a windfall for them, but NATO expansion, and the overall alienation of Russia was not -- it was something they and their political allies pushed hard for. Furthermore, their sales needs are driving them along a development path which is making them increasingly multinational. They are in the process of institutionalizing an arms race with themselves. Within this long-term process, Kosovo is simply one more step. A welcome giant one, to be sure. But had it not been Kosovo, some other way would be found.
This is the bottom line why I'm opposed to what the US is doing in Kosovo -- because it's part of the process of institutionalizing militarism into a new post-Cold War world order, and completely marginalizing the very real option of persuing a demilitarization and collective global security option.
The path we are on virtually assures one, two, three, many more Kosovos, most of which we will simply ignore, or actively support, as is our usual modus operandi. It undermines the political will, popular imagination and institutional capacity to create a fundamentally different world order which would prevent these endless repetitions from happening in the first place.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"