[lbo-talk] Re: Note on Lieven

Grant Lee grantlee at iinet.net.au
Tue Jul 8 16:08:56 PDT 2003



> I'm moving towards adding a second grudge:
> towards leftists who argue or have argued that u.s. intervention abroad
> can _ever_ be a positive force -- particularly those who supported u.s.
> interventions in Haiti, Yugoslavia, East Timor, or Afghanistan.
>
> Carrol

These are all different situations.

For instance, there is and has been virtually zero resistance to the international forces in East Timor. (The East Timorese have been directing their anger against their own government recently.) The post-election atrocities which led to the intervention were, in most cases, probably carried out by Indonesian military disguised as locals. The intervention was _anti-imperialist_, in the sense that it symbolised a defeat for a corrupt and authoritarian Javanese imperialism.

If US forces had been involved --- remember that Clinton never was a great interventionist and he passed the buck that time --- I think they would have been as welcome as the forces which did go in.



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