>Ah, if a people choose the form of independence that we approve of, then
>that is the right of "self-determination", but if they choose a form that we
>don't like, the it is illegitimate.
well, I'm not at all convinced that this (any) 'self-determination' is anything other than a claim for, at best, the protectionism of national rulers (largely economic), or at worst, the subordination of small nations to a 'different' set of global players, usually and increasingly the latter. those arguing along the lines of self-determination will have to advance a much less reified notion of what 'self' is, how it comes about, and why. much like those talking about 'national self-determination', the tendency is to pretend that these (nation and self) are givens, not something to be explained.
>But those who have argued that the intervention has accomplished nothing for
>the Kosovars and that, in the name of the Kosovars, the intervention should
>end - well, they might take the desires of Rugova and the whole range of
>Kosovar leadership that apparently think the intervention is effective
>enough on their behalf that it should not end.
a couple of points on this: I suspect Rugova, unless he allies himself clearly for intervention, will be (has already been?) marginalised by the course of events, if not the politically enhanced KLA*. - but that's not the more pressing point for me.
that many Kosovars are perhaps inclined to now think that armed intervention, and even 'ethnically pure' partitioning is the only thing that will save them, is understandable - but does this constitute a good reason to support it? I would ask a question about the origins of the conflict, not answer in such a way as to presume the conflict is eternal, thus making it ongoing.
Angela --- rcollins at netlink.com.au
* from _Danas_ 10/7/98 (Serbian paper): "In February, they [the KLA] were phantoms. Ibrahim Rugova claimed at that time that they were the fabrication of the Serbian regime's imagination, invented only to discredit the Kosovo Albanians Gandhian movement. It is now July. They are not phantoms any more. They are now controlling one third of the territory, for which they are fighting with arms, killings and kidnappings. "
from the _Guardian_ (9/7/98): "The international powers moved to integrate KLA guerrillas into the search for peace in the Serbian province yesterday, and revealed for the first time that they were drafting proposals for a form of home rule for the ethnic Albanian majority.... But the Contact Group also threatened to stifle the guerrillas' gun-running and fund-raising activities abroad if they spurned ceasefire efforts as a prelude to negotiating a settlement restoring the autonomy which was enjoyed by Kosovo for 15 years until it was dissolved by Slobodan Milosevic in 1989."
from _Repubblica_ (9/7/98): "Kosovo is really a step away from total war. The timid initiatives of Western diplomacy (the Contact Group met yesterday) seem totally incapable of stopping bombs and machine gun fire.... The liberation army not only lacks political representation in the Albanian parties, but does not even have a unified command. There is not just one single army, but perhaps five: that of Drenica's hardliners, who hate Rugova, and the more moderate ones of Malishevo, Suhareka, Decani and Djakovica. But they are torn by profound ideological and strategic divisions."