NY Times & LA Times: "It's Economy & Geopolitics, Stupid!" (was Re: Yugoslavia: what the media is hiding...)

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Sun Oct 8 13:47:28 PDT 2000



>In a message dated 10/8/00 1:06:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>furuhashi.1 at osu.edu writes:
>
><< 'm afraid the Yugoslav model of market socialism & federalism, *in
> the course of devolution*, themselves laid the material and
> ideological grounds for the dissolution of Yugoslavia, as much as the
> IMF's SAPs, Western imperial geopolitics (especially the USA &
> Germany), NATO bombings, assorted nationalists on all sides, etc.
> did. >>
>
>Well, I never said I supported Titoist politics: he was pretty orthodox a
>Stalinist on the National Question, and the federalsim solution advocated by
>Marxism-Leninism is conducive to breakup in both planning and market systems,
>as we see in the former Soviet Union. Be that as it may. I still it is pretty
>eich to attack me for defending the markets socialist core of the former
>Yugoslav model, and then to defend its executioner, Milosovic, as a proponent
>of socialsm. Taht and not the merits of specific details of Yugoslavia's
>former arargngemenst is the issue. --jks

Well, as a matter of fact, I have never said that Milosevic is a proponent of socialism (he is thought of as such in the Western mass media & by the Serbian oppositions, however, which explains their demonization of this figurehead), in my numerous posts on Yugoslavia over the years. Milosevic as an individual politician is not the point for the West in any case. Milosevic could have been a reliable Western asset if he had been allowed to sell out; neither the Serbian working class & rural masses (out of economic reasons & concern for the fate of the Serbs in break-away ex-Yugo states) nor the West (out of the conflict between its economic and geopolitical reasons) allowed him to sell out as the pragmatic banker might have. Milosevic, but for the Serbian working class & rural masses & Western geopolitics, could have been a Kwasniewski:

***** New York Times, October 8, 2000 Polish Leader Is the Favorite for 2nd Term

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHELM, Poland, Oct. 7 - Nowadays, if hundreds of Poles throng a flag-bedecked stage, thrusting pictures at the speaker for his autographs, the center of attraction is not necessarily Pope John Paul II, or the Solidarity founder, Lech Walesa, but Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former Communist sports minister, who seems to be coasting comfortably to a second term as president.

Mr. Kwasniewski, 46, is now Poland's best-loved politician and the overwhelming favorite in Sunday's presidential election.

He regularly tops 60 percent in voter polls, while none of his dozen challengers has managed much over 10 percent. Mr. Walesa, the national hero whom Mr. Kwasniewski unseated in 1995, can barely muster 3 percent, but is running anyway.

This week, Mr. Kwasniewski took a 10-point dive in at least one poll after an opponent's ad showed a video of him appearing to mock the hugely revered pope. Some pollsters believe the video may cost enough votes to deny him the 50 percent needed to win outright and force a runoff ballot. But few doubt that he will finish first on Sunday.

The post is largely ceremonial, but carries considerable moral authority in this country of 39 million people. The president also can veto legislation, as Mr. Kwasniewski did by blocking tax reforms and a ban on pornography, inspired by the Roman Catholic Church, which he said was oppressive and unenforceable.

While endorsing painful market reforms, he also has cast himself as the champion of millions who believe they have suffered in the tumultuous shift to capitalism.

Mr. Kwasniewski has a "warm voice, and he knows how to reach us," gushed Aneta Kozdra, 26, displaying a freshly autographed photo of the president in Chelm. "I cannot imagine another president."

Mr. Kwasniewski transformed the former Communists into a Western- style social democratic party that ran the country from 1993 to 1997 until Solidarity rebounded into government. Many believe next year's parliamentary elections could return the social democrats to power.

On Sunday, Mr. Kwasniewski's main challengers are Solidarity's current chairman, Marian Krzaklewski, and an independent economist, Andrzej Olechowski. But both are far behind in opinion polls. *****

This did not happen in Serbia, in part because the West has given more weight to geopolitical reason than economic reason (wars & international sanctions are not conducive to privatization, you see). Now that NATO has spectacularly expanded itself and gained valuable bases in the Balkans (as well as setting precedents of its use of military power outside Western Europe), however, the West can afford to turn its attention to economy, while aiming for entrenching its military presence in the Balkans.

***** New York Times, Oct. 8, 2000 THE SANCTIONS Easing of Some Restrictions by West Could Happen Soon By JOSEPH KAHN

..."The problem was Milosevic, Milosevic, Milosevic, now it's economy, economy, economy," said Milan Panic, a Serbian-American who runs California-based ICN Pharmaceuticals, which once owned one of the largest private companies in Serbia. "This will be a major test for the United States and Europe."... *****

***** Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2000 Yugoslavia Must Make Good on Reforms, U.S. Says By ROBIN WRIGHT, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON--Despite almost giddy diplomatic euphoria over Slobodan Milosevic's political demise, the United States cautioned Friday that Yugoslavia still must act on several contentious issues before it will be fully embraced by the outside world....

...At the top of the list is the full transfer of power. The process is complicated by the fact that Kostunica is in charge of the federal structure, but many of the instruments of power, including guns and financial resources, are in the hands of the state government, which he doesn't control. Yugoslavia is made up of two republics, Serbia and Montenegro....

...Also high on the list of outstanding problems is the future of Montenegro and Kosovo, a province of Serbia, both of which want to change their status. Kostunica, a fervent nationalist who condemned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing of Yugoslavia in a dispute over Kosovo last year, and still has deep ties to Serb nationalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina, strongly favors keeping Yugoslavia in one centralized piece....

...The new government also must begin restructuring Yugoslavia's political and economic systems, a process that has been painful and unpopular in much healthier parts of Eastern Europe.... *****

You are a delightful person to talk with when it comes to discussion of philosophy, but, in this instance, your focus on individual politicians has allowed you to neglect the big picture.

Yoshie



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