Thanks for the post.
>but let my try and address what I see as your aims: the massacres and
>racist purifications of serbia should be stopped. I agree. there
>is nothing more important than this. and, in forgetting this we would
>be sliding into a geopolitical mindset which makes of this a mere
>rhetoric in the service of various, and contradictory, foreign policy
>aims. and herein lies the problem: either we are serious about the
>fundamental objective or we are not.
I would simply add that we should not only strive to end the killings and atrocities in the short term, but also work to find a long term solution for a lasting peace in the Balkans. A solution which stops the violence today, but merely postpones it for a while, is not really a solution.
>and, having said that, a question I would ask of those both for and
>against the bombing: what other strategies can be offered? I for
>one have no idea about concrete strategies, and I am never too
>enamoured of so-called diplomatic solutions which would mostly likely
>end in partitions, bantustans, and the expansion of already bloated
>geopolitical orbits marking a continuation of racism and racist
>hatreds on a new terrain.
>
>but in the longer term, those who oppose the bombings on this list
>will have to ask themselves whether their gaze is as fleeting and
>detached as that
>of CNN's cameras.
Here's my answer. I don't know as much as I'd like about all the competing political parties of the region, but the real culprit seems to be nationalist fervor, and all the Balkan strains appear infused with the desire to purge the "homeland" of "impure" ethnicities. The Serbs are guilty of it, the folks who want to see a greater Albania are guilty of it, the Bosnian muslims have been guilty of it, and the Croats certainly share in the guilt. Unless these sentiments can either be dulled or an alternative political movement can be found, I don't have much hope for the region.
Saying and doing are two very different things, but I DO criticize the US since it seemed to support Milosevic after the signing of the Dayton accords, and now it seems to be implicitly supporting the KLA. But neither of these parties deserve our support. As others have said, I think we should support those groups in both countries who support pluralistic, democratic societies. Whether they have enough support to really make a difference is unclear. Barring that, the only options seem to be occupation of ground troops to force a cease fire (which I see as being semi-permanent as long as nationalist sentiment runs high) or simply to do nothing and let them duke it out until they stop from exhaustion or a military solution is reached.
Brett