While the German losses in Yugoslavia have been heavy, the 700,000 figure appears a bit high for a guerilla war alone. OTOH, the Germans also had other operations in the region, so who knows?
As to the debate on the current Balkan crisis, three points seem in order.
1. Material reality rarerly enters the arguments of armchair warriors. The case for military action is made in terms of abstract claims: "ethnic self-determination, "stop-ethnic cleansing" etc. put forth by interests groups, NGOs etc. These folks seem to be unencumbered by history or material reality - they are social engineers who belive that shape any society to their liking with a little help from modern technology (smart bombs, dumb leaders, etc.)
2. Critical thinking and examination of known and unknown is the first casualty of the bombing campaign. With few notable exception, the cognitive functions of many folks seem to be short-ciruited to two alternatives: accept the official story as a whole package or summarily reject it.
This is what happens when pomo lit-crit computer-age mentality meet - pointa, clicka, no-thinka - the program will unveil the virtual narrative by default, without much imput from the human operator.
3. While I do not really know what the facts on the ground in Kosovo are, the arrogance of the US officials and media reporters makes my stomach turn up. That is the single reasons that pushes me against whatever those trolls might be up to.
Cheers,
Wojtek
>
> The Times of India
>
> Tuesday 30 March 1999
>
>
> NATO airstrikes an eyewash
>
> By M D Nalapat
>
> Till the war against Serbia that was begun by NATO five days ago, the
> United States had concentrated on Muslim countries for hostile action.
> Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, Iran and Syria are part of the list of
> countries subjected to US bombing, sanctions and other actions
> impacting negatively on the local populations. Serbia is the first
> Christian majority entity to have been given the same medicine.
> However, it has been administered in a form guaranteed to ensure what
> NATO claims to want to prevent, the elimination of the Muslim majority
> in Kosovo.
>
> So long as there were OSCE monitors and a chance to avoid hostilities
> Serbian military, paramilitary units and irregulars, held their hand.
> Once the peace monitors got replaced with missiles, the brakes were
> off. As a result, the Serbs now have a clear field for altering the
> population balance in Kosovo through the creation of conditions that
> will ignite an exodus of the Muslim population. Aerial bombardment
> cannot stop this ground reality, as NATO planners well know.
>
> This is because the type of ethnic cleansing done by the Serbs in
> Kosovo need only hand-held weapons to be effective. Short of carpet
> bombing that will massacre large numbers of civilians (as was done in
> Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by the United States in the 1960s and the
> 1970s) air power cannot stop the massacre of Muslims by Serbia's armed
> forces. Indeed, now that the worst is happening, the Serbians have
> every incentive to change the ethnic balance in Kosovo and then return
> to the conference table.
>
> In view of the fact that Serbia does not intend to invade neighbouring
> states, it has small need for much of the tanks and aircraft that the
> NATO air strikes are eliminating. The only way to make President
> Milosevic sue for peace would be to raise the cost of the war to an
> unacceptable level by directly bombing Yugoslav cities. However,
> unlike in the case of Asian countries, the Serbs are Europeans. It
> would not therefore be politically acceptable for NATO to bomb
> civilian targets in Yugoslavia, despite the ongoing slaughter of the
> Kosovo Muslims.
>
> Short of a dramatic increase in the scale of the bombing campaign, the
> only other military way to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo would be to
> introduce NATO ground troops in the province. Thanks to their superior
> equipment, around 120,000 ground troops would suffice to push back the
> Serbian armed forces from Kosovo and thus secure the Muslim
> population. NATO has so far ruled out the use of ground forces in
> Kosovo. By its limited bombing campaign, it has ignited a wave of
> Serbian retaliation against the Muslims of Kosovo. By NATO reluctance
> to either dramatically expand the scale of the bombing to force
> President Milosevic to sue for peace or to introduce sufficient number
> of ground troops, the alliance has in effect connived at the
> elimination of the only Muslim-majority province in Yugoslavia.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
>