From: "Dave Coull" <d.y.coull-AT-dundee.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 12:23:58 GMT
Subject: Re: US-information warfare & KLA


I said

>> that is pretty much what I figured. The refugee exodus
>> from Kosovo is due to a mixture of Serbian intimidation,
>> KLA "persuasion", and NATO bombing.

and Roger commented

>i fail to see the necessity to insult the kosovars. 

You are accusing me of insulting a whole ethnic group ?
Where is your evidence ? This accusation is similar
to your earlier one

>>>you ARE quoting the party line on the Holocaust

and has as little basis. I referred to the KLA. This 
is an armed force which (if BBC television is to be
believed) wears fancy uniforms, has officers, and evidently 
receives funding from somewhere. The KLA is  _not_  
the same thing as "the Kosovars". What I figured was
that maybe the KLA would, shall we say, not discourage
the exodus from Kosovo, because it could be used
to cover their own retreat. That is what  _any_  similar
military force might do in similar circumstances
of military defeat, to live to fight another day.
Of course intimidation by Serb military forces 
is the main factor in the exodus. Of course what
Serb forces are doing in Kosovo is really horrific.
I certainly don't support the Yugoslav government
or their forces. Unlike you, I don't support 
the forces of   _any_   government.

>if nato bombing hasn't driven serbs from beograd, 
>then why do you make the absolutely unsupported 
>statement that nato bombing has driven even a single 
>kosovar out of their homes?  

The bombing of Kosovo has been more intense than
the bombing of Belgrade. It seems reasonable to me 
to assume that, if, in addition to being intimidated by
your "enemies", you are also in danger of becoming
"collateral damage" by your "friends", then you might 
be more inclined to move away.

Of course, I am getting my news about the situation
filtered through the BBC or ITV, and I know for a fact 
that the British media accepts that it has to act  "in 
the national interest" in time of war. They are choosy 
about which things they report, and how they report 
them. The funniest thing I have seen on TV recently
was a NATO spokesman saying they would bomb
Yugoslav Television because it was "an instrument
of propoganda", and a BBC reporter solemnly nodding!

>the continued demonization of both the kla and the kosovar 
>people as a whole truly confuses me.  it used to be that 
>anarchists supported oppressed people in their efforts 
>for individual and collective self-determination.  but no 
>"devolution" for kosovo, eh?  

What anarchists, real anarchists, not NATO stooges,
support is anarchism. The anarchist attitude towards
"national liberation" struggles is a complex one. 
We recognise a right of self-determination, but
we do not recognise any "nation", whether it be 
Scotland or Kosovo, as a homogenous whole. 
We say that there are class differences within nations, 
and there are power relationships within nations. 


Dave