 |
 |
Hi Martin, George and all, The opposition in Serbia has never stood firmly for the rights of national self-determination in Kosovo(most of them joined with Milosovic even before the NATO campaign began). We should not be surprised by this. Serbians see Kosovo as an integral part of their country and heritage. They do not belive that Alabanians have a right to divide the greater nation. A direct paralell would be an attempt by Irish catholics to keep Ulster protestants within a united Ireland or, failing this, have them deported (de Valera canvassed both notions). Irish catholics would never rise against their own leadership to secure partition. Never. Let us be quite clear - the Serbian people also will never stand against their own regime in order to win self-determination for the Kosovans. Any Serbian revolution will be on democratic lines in the forseeable future, social lines in the not so forseeable future. There will be no Serbian revolution with the aim of dividing the motherland. Albanian Kosovans will either win this by their own strength (a military impossibility) or they will win in by getting western military power on side. The KLA are not fools - they have evidently gone for this latter alternative and, despite the ethnic cleansing, they obviously have the support of the Albanian Kosovan people. Western imperialism, we are told, have their own selfish agenda not neccessarily in the interests of the people of the Balkans. This is no big revelation, but if the ethnic cleansing and national oppression in the Balkans in to be stemmed they are the only game in town. The Albanian Kosovans will use western military force for their own ends without trusting everything Clinton and Blair do (why else did the KLA sign the accord - because they believe that Kosovo should remain within Yougoslavia!?) Democracy in the west should equally warn against unthinking triust in NATO's objectives, but this does not require a blanket position of non-interventionism. Eternal vigilence, not abstention, is the price of freedom. All the best, Marc. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%