From: "John Foster" <borealis-AT-mercuryspeed.com>
Subject: Current World Order
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 15:33:52 -0700


http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/chomskymay2000.htm

It is also sad that for every 'reconstruction' imposed as necessary
following an illegal and immoral resort to aerial bombardment is a draining
off of funds devoted for true humanitarian aid in the developing world. Here
is an excerpt from Chomsky on the bombing of Kosovars. Will Iraq experience
a similar 'cleaning'?



"Current indications are that Kosovo under NATO occupation has reverted to
what was developing in the early 1980s, after the death of Tito, when
nationalist forces undertook to create an "ethnically clean Albanian
republic," taking over Serb lands, attacking churches, and engaging in
"protracted violence" to attain the goal of an "ethnically pure" Albanian
region, with "almost weekly incidents of rape, arson, pillage and industrial
sabotage, most seemingly designed to drive Kosovo's remaining indigenous
Slavs...out of the province." This "seemingly intractable" problem, another
phase in an ugly history of intercommunal violence, led to Milosevic's
characteristically brutal response, withdrawing Kosovo's autonomy and the
heavy federal subsidies on which it depended, and imposing an "Apartheid"
regime. Kosovo may also come to resemble Bosnia, "a den of thieves and tax
cheats" with no functioning economy, dominated by "a wealthy criminal class
that wields enormous political influence and annually diverts hundreds of
millions of dollars in potential tax revenue to itself." Much worse may be
in store as independence for Kosovo becomes entangled in pressures for a
"greater Albania," with dim portents.
The poorer countries of the region have incurred enormous losses from the
blocking of the Danube by bombing at Novi Sad, another center of opposition
to Milosevic. They were already suffering from protectionist barriers that
"prevent the ships from plying their trade in the EU," as well as "a barrage
of Western quotas and tariffs on their exports." But "blockage of the
[Danube] is actually a boon" for Western Europe, particularly Germany, which
benefits from increased activity on the Rhine and at Atlantic ports.
There are other winners. At the war's end, the business press described "the
real winners" as Western military industry, meaning high-tech industry
generally. Moscow is looking forward to a "banner year for Russian weapons
exports" as "the world is rearming apprehensively largely thanks to NATO's
Balkans adventure," seeking a deterrent, as widely predicted during the war.
More important, the U.S. was able to enforce its domination over the
strategic Balkans region, displacing EU initiatives at least temporarily, a
primary reason for the insistence that the operation be in the hands of
NATO, a U.S subsidiary. A destitute Serbia remains the last holdout,
probably not for long.
A further consequence is another blow to the fragile principles of world
order. The NATO action represents a threat to the "very core of the
international security system" founded on the UN Charter, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan observed in his annual report to the UN in September. That
matters little to the rich and powerful, who will act as they please,
rejecting World Court decisions and vetoing Security Council resolutions if
that becomes necessary; it is useful to remember that, contrary to much
mythology, the U.S. has been far in the lead in vetoing Security Council
resolutions on a wide range of issues, including terror and aggression, ever
since it lost control of the UN in the course of decolonization, with
Britain second and France a distant third. But the traditional victims take
these matters more seriously, as the global reaction to the Kosovo war
indicated.
The essential point-not very obscure-is that the world faces two choices
with regard to the use of force: (1) some semblance of world order, either
the Charter or something better if it can gain a degree of legitimacy; or
(2) the powerful states do as they wish unless constrained from within,
guided by interests of power and profit, as in the past. It makes good sense
to struggle for a better world, but not to indulge in pretense and illusion
about the one in which we live.
Archival and other sources should provide a good deal more information about
the latest Balkans war. Any conclusions reached today are at best partial
and tentative. As of now, however, the "lessons learned" do not appear to be
particularly attractive.           Z



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