Hi folks, at least for awhile.
Let me follow up on my forwarded message with a more detailed set of questions. These were put forth on pkt, but so far nobody has responded. I am also somewhat nonplussed that there has been no discussion of any of this in virtually any of the media that I have seen nor on either pen-l or lbo-talk, at least when I was on those lists.
The questions have to do with the economic embargo against Serbia. Firstly I would note that this embargo must be seen as an underlying factor in the initiation of the war to begin with. Clearly it alienated and isolated Serbia and made it less amenable to pressures and ultimata from NATO and more open to an aggressive stance against the Albanian Kosovars, especially given the pathetic economic condition of Kosovo-Metohija. To continue it in the postwar period (if we have really gotten to that yet, which remains unclear) will certainly make it less likely that there will be peace in the region.
So, if anybody can answer the following questions (to which I do not have the answers), I would be most grateful: 1) When was the embargo put in place? 2) Under what auspices, the UN? 3) How many countries are a part of it (extension of (2))? 4) What does it include, all trade, some trade, investment? 5) Does it cover all of Yugoslavia (including Montenegro) or just Serbia? 6) What was the official reason it was imposed? 7) What conditions must Yugoslavia or Serbia fulfill to have the embargo lifted, officially? 8) Does Clinton's Chicago speech mean that Kosovo-Metohija will now be exempt from it (and what about Montenegro)? 9) Is the real, de facto condition for removal of the embargo the removal of Milosevic from a position of power? 10) What happens if he is replaced by Seselj or somebody even more rabidly nationalistic? Barkley Rosser