-----Original Message----- From: J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. <rosserjb at jmu.edu> To: pen-L at galaxy.csuchico.edu <pen-L at galaxy.csuchico.edu>; lbo-talk@!lists.panix.com <lbo-talk@!lists.panix.com> Date: Saturday, June 19, 1999 5:01 PM Subject: [PEN-L:8117] goodbye to Kosmet
> This will be my last commentary on the situation
>in Kosmet. At the end of my session today I shall
>log off both pen-l and lbo-talk again, probably for
>an extended time. I shall still be on pkt where I am
>on the Board of Moderators, whoop de doo.
> The Subject heading on this is no accident. Although
>Noam Chomsky refers to it as this, and this has been the
>politically correct among Serbs way to refer to this province
>of the Serbian Republic of the Federal Republic of
>Yugoslavia, henceforth I shall refer to it as just "Kosovo"
>and not "Kosovo-Metohija," but not "Kosova" either. It is
>clear that Kosovo will now be in a quasi-Chechnya condition,
>technically, officially, de jure what is described above, but
>de facto independent, and certainly autonomous, although
>obviously not fully so given what will be its effective status
>as officially a UN protectorate but effectively a NATO one,
>with a lot of outside oversight and control. I hate to admit it,
>but given the clear unreliability and tendency to revenge and
>general viciousness of the UCK/KLA, this will probably be a
>Good Thing, more or less, at least better than the obvious
>alternatives available for now.
> I for one have to admit that I was at least partly wrong
>about this. I thought the war would go on much longer, that'
>the Serbs would hold out much longer. I am glad that I was
>wrong about that. I understand that there are people on these
>lists who are unhappy about this, who wanted very much for
>a clear Serbian victory. If this could have been achieved quickly
>and reasonably bloodlessly, and without all the horrible stuff that
>was done to the Albanian Kosovars, that would have been fine,
>maybe. But it was not a possibility.
> Of course a low moment in all these discussions, which I
>think have been very stimulating, was the infamous remark
>of Mark Jones when he declared of the exile of the Albanian
>Kosovars that this was a matter of "good riddance to bad
>rubbish." I think that prior to producing that sterling piece of
>brilliance, he must have consumed about half of that case of
>Lagavulin that he is still expecting from Max Sawicky.....
> I don't see much point in hashing over the old arguments
>about this war. We have all had a lot to say, some of it smart,
>some of it not, some of it impassioned, some of it not, blah blah.
>Obviously there are some very nasty actors on both the Serbian
>and Albanian sides. The sooner they are all gotten under control,
>the better. Maybe we are about to see that.
> As for the economics, well, I forecast that Kosovo will probably
>get something like what Albania has. That is nothing to write
>home about, a gangster type of capitalism. I do not see any
>great achievement of a "silk road to oil" coming out of this.
>Given that the US and EU will give no aid to Yugoslavia and
>have it under an embargo, I do not see any quick rebuilding of
>the bridges on the Danube that will allow the traffic on the
>Danube to flow so well.....
> Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal and should be
>thrown out of office by the Serbs. But I see nothing to be gained
>by this embargo against Yugoslavia. This will simply sow more
>seeds of hatred and war and retribution in the region. Perhaps
>the US and the EU have been out to undo Serbian socialism,
>such as it is, but it persists in its odd form in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
>I continue to see the real systemic struggle going on in Slovenia
>where the EU is trying to enforce an opening to foreign capital.
>There the best remnants of the old Yugoslav economic system
>persist, but are under pressure from outside to conform. The
>role of the EU as the main actor in this really stands out very
>strongly. This was very definitely a matter of Euro-periphery
>pacification, with the aid of the US and Canada.
> In any case, goodbye Kosmet!
> I welcome messages from anybody and remind folks
>that my website is at http://cob.jmu.edu/rosserjb. I have
>recently put several more papers up on it. Take care everybody!
>Barkley Rosser
>Professor of Economics
>James Madison University
>Harrisonburg, VA 22807 USA
>
>
>