>There is also the report that NATO bombed a bridge in the middle
>of 'market day,' then five or fifteen minutes later, when people
>were trying to assist victims of the bombing, they dropped
>another one in the same place. Textbook terrorist tactics.
>I'm ready to get off this bus. I see no movement towards efforts
>to protect Kosovars or their interests by Nato. In light of this
>deficiency, we've only got what amount to serial atrocities by
>Nato.
>I could see potential merit in a rescue invasion, if that's not
>an oxymoron, but my criteria would be: an explicit declaration
>of war by the U.S., ratified by Congress; war aims explicitly to
>secure the independence of Kosova or its annexation by Albania,
>and to stay out of Serbia except to protect Kosova; no economic
>dictat for any country in the region; a halt to any bombing of
>non-military targets, narrowly defined; a different U.S.
>president leading the campaign; the absence of
>Albright/Berger/Cohen in said U.S. Administration.
>Clinton is an evil, chicken-hearted swine who should be
>impeached. His policy to minimize U.S. casualties in order to
>make a symbolic gesture and forego a decline in his polling
>numbers has harmed Kosova no less than Milo. It could also cost
>more lives on all sides in the longer term.
>Failure of the Administration and Nato to specify any meaningful
>war aims underlines the likelihood that any deal in the offing
>will be a sell-out purely designed to save somebody's face,
>rather than Kosovar lives.
>Unfortunately Kosova looks to be a new entry to the international
>list of lost causes. I would still emphasize self-determination
>for Kosova, as for the Kurds, East Timor, etc. I still reject
>slurs on Kosovar nationalism, and note that 'militant' and
>'fundamentalist' do not imply each other. The KLA is certainly
>militant, but it is not at all clear that it should be described
>as 'Islamic fundamentalist.'
>>
>> But there are real possibilities that the NATO command has
>shifted its
>concept of what is a legitimate target. This would be consistent
>with their
>impression that morale has broken in the Serb population in the
>last couple
>of weeks. It may be calculating that the deaths of 50 Serb
>civilians in two
>days, far from strengthening Serb resolve may weaken it ahead of
>a crucial
>sert of meetings determining the interpretation of the G8
>conditions which
>Serbia has said it will accept. >
>As noted above, it doesn't seem to matter much now whether Nato
>or Serbia "win" this thing. 'Western' diplomats are about
>selling people out.
>> I was against the widening of the war to economic targets and I
>am against
>this further widening. But I would say to the many sincere,
>intelligent,
>informed , and committed left-wing subscbribers that it is not
>enough
>merely to oppose everything that western governments do as a
>matter of
>course. It is necessary to oppose them on the basis of a wider
>strategy
>challenging their claim to be the hegemonic arbiters of
>international justice and instead pinpoint the issues that would
>shape a juster concept
>of international world governance, which is being fashioned now,
>through
>such struggles. >
>Right.
>mbs