I would like to suggest to Nathan that what he misses out of account is that Nato is involved in the repression of the peoples of the Balkans. This much is evidenced not just in the body count, but in the autocratic dictatorships over Bosnia and Kosovo, the economic sanctions against an elected government, the bombardment of Yugoslav civilians, the destabilisation of elected governments, the assassination of nationalists and so on.
The difficulty in talking to Nathan on these points is that there is a blind-spot in his vision. He can see the cruelty and repression on one side (the enemy's). But whenever we look at the vicious, arbitrary, unjust, militaristic, autocratic and plain repressive in his own government's actions, Nathan starts making excuses, imputing honourable motives, protesting 'non-equivalence'. The end result is that Nato's actions are never in the frame.
It is like watching a film of the Los Angeles riots without seeing the Rodney King beating that led up to it. All that you can see is looting and attacks on white truckers. And naturally enough you draw some one- sided conclusions.
In terms of the sheer social weight of the Western intervention, by comparison to the relative impoverishment and political isolation of all those actors on the ground (Serb, Kosovar, Macedonian etc), what the West does has the greatest impact of anyone. It is Western policy in the region that has dictated the terms, not just of the Kosovar claim for the same independence that was granted the Croats, Slovenes, Bosniacs, but it has also dictated the actions of the Serbs. The Serbs wanted to sign up to Rambouillet. So the West went out of there way to make it impossible. The Serbs wanted to give Kosovo autonomy, so the West pushed for independence. At every stage it has been Western policy (not always understanding its own influence, but increasingly so) that has shaped the course of events. All other actors in the region are by comparison puppets.
There is a Kafka short story about dogs who wonder nervously where the food keeps coming from that appears in their plates. That's what Nathan's account of events in the Balkans reminds me of. You just can't understand what's happening because the puppet master's strings have been covered up.
But all of this is by the by. The real challenge to anti-Imperialists is whether they support the break up of Indonesia and the landing of Australian troops. The only reason that we are all re-heating the argument about Kosovo is because we are afraid to challenge the consensus for intervention in Indonesia. -- Jim heartfield