I thought I made the main argument here also, although it got repeated more over on pen-l. The particular argument that really got some people annoyed was when I posed that if Milosevic had dropped dead somehow in around 1986, that very likely more than 200,000 extra people would be alive today. Those 200,000 are not in Kosovo- Metohija but are the dead from the early 90s wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina which I see Milosevic as having started and supported. Obvious related issues have to do with to what extent the breakup of the old Yugoslavia was due to his removal of Kosovan autonomy in 1990 versus various external machinations by the IMF, the US, and Germany.
Although various people were highly offended at my formulation of this counterfactual question (that effectively blamed Milosevic for most of those war dead), there was very little serious in the way of response to my specific arguments. The most serious responses came from the very knowledgeable Paul Phillips, who is not on lbo-talk to the best of my knowledge. He basically made the argument that the external imperialist machinators were more responsible than Milosevic for the breakup and thus of the subsequent wars, as they encouraged political arrangements that discriminated unfairly against the Serbs and thus justified (effectively) their starting the attack on Vukovar in Slavonia and the subsequent attacks on Muslim Bosniaks in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Krajina (where later the Croatians counterattacked and "cleansed" the Serbs).
One other part of Paul Phillips's argument, which has some truth to it, is that Milosevic is actually a political moderate in the Serbian landscape, especially compared to Vojislav Seselj and his Radical Party that is now a part of the Milosevic government, that he opposed more radical nationalism by those folks at certain points. My response to that has been that it was his crushing of the Albanians in 1990 and his general stirring up of nationalist sentiments after 1987 that allowed for these more radical nationalists to arise and become powerful.
Another argument is that of Louis Proyect which he made on lbo-talk that it is all the fault of the Albanians for discriminating against the Serbs when they had autonomy in Kosovo-Metohija. I have already responded to that argument on this list.
BTW, I sent a message to pen-l that was supposed to come here also rethinking the question of partition, which I now see as not so impossible to do. I don't think it ever showed up here. Barkley Rosser -----Original Message----- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Date: Wednesday, May 26, 1999 3:16 PM Subject: Re: British TV jury finds against Nato
>J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. wrote:
>
>> More precisely I was "demonizing" Milosevic as
>>being responsible for the expulsions which I was
>>also denouncing (and denouncing Milosevic for his
>>role in the wars and deaths in the Croatia and Bosnia-
>>Herzegovina earlier). It was made clear to me that I
>>was becoming boring and overdoing it and that I should
>>stop, which I have. I always opposed the bombing
>>campaign and still do and said so.
>
>Feel free to make the point here. I'm no fan of the tyranny that says you
>have to be either "pro-Serb" or "pro-NATO."
>
>Doug
>