Protest against the Bombing

[Johannes Schneider]

Margaret wrote:
> If we actually do think self-determination is a Good
> Idea, and if we agree that Kosovo is ethnically
> albanian, and if we agree that the Serbs are using
> their superior military strength to suppress the desire
> for self-determination ...then why would we want to
> protest the US bombing of the Serbs?
>
1. NATO never supported the Kosovorians right to self-determination. The
Rambouillet accord is not about self-determination but some form of
autonomy. Thus all of the Kosovo delegation rejected it. In the end they
were forced by the NATO diplomats to accept it.
Someone else on the list posted arguments, why NATO doesnt want any
substantial changes in the Balkans.
2. Bombing Yugoslavia does not change the balance of power on the ground.
Quite oppositely, the present bombings have created a situation in which the
Yugoslav army is attacking the Kosovarians even more.
3. To stop the Yugolsav army from deporting Albanians from their villages
ground forces would have to invade Yugoslavia. Excactly thats whats NATO is
not doing. ( For those ones who enjoy misunderstandings: I dont think NATO
should do so).
4. Last summer the Yugolsav army crushed the KLA under the eyes of NATO. Its
obvious that NATO politicians see the KLA as one of the trouble makers
there. Last year they were quite happy the Yugoslav army did the dirty work.
5. This argument has already been mentioned: Why didnt NATO intervene in
other places of ethnic cleansing, e.g. Turkish Kurdistan? Thus NATO beeing a
champion of self-determination sounds quite hypocritical to me.
Johannes