>>I am happy to entertain any theories you might offer, Bob...
Well see, that's the problem. I don't have any theories and was hoping someone else did. All I have is my cynicism, the lack of a reasonable justification for this entire shindig, and a lot of questions. I can see all of the geopolitical reasoning behind this, but I can't escape the sense that it's a form of Monday morning quarterbacking, that is that after the fact the analysts, the pundits and the talking heads say that we needed to make a show of force to the radical Muslims, or we needed to keep the former Soviet bloc in line, or we needed to keep Greece and Turkey as stable as possible, or we needed to stop the genocide, or whatever. But there's just too many problems with that reasoning.
First, I really don't believe that any international political entity can be that objective. In addition, not only are they not really achieving any of those aims, but the analysts were apparently saying in advance that they wouldn't. And that brings me to my first question... Since it's fairly apparent that rather than stabilizing the situation, this attack is destabilizing it, is there a reason why it would be advantageous to NATO or any of its members to make the situation worse? Is it possible that NATO saw that with the collapse of the Soviet Union their reason for being had just vanished and they're cynically trying to force the Eastern bloc into an alliance that they can then protect us from?
Or on a more mundane level:
What are the chief (legal or illegal) exports of the region? Who do they export to? What are their chief imports and who do they import from? Are there any high-ranking Albanians in NATO? Does Milosevic's government owe money? Who to? Does the KLA owe money? Who to? What are the political doctrines of the various players? Who's making money off of this war? Has NATO simply decided that in order to survive they have to become an offensive rather than defensive organization? Are they just jealous because the U.N. has gotten all the "glory" lately? I know there's some oil in that part of the world, but is there any in Kosovo? If so who buys it? Who sells it? Is Kosovo a transfer point in the drug trade? If so, again who's buying? Who's selling? Is this sort of an international version of Ruby Ridge or Waco, that is is it NATO's way of establishing the precedent of "we'll bomb who we want when we want and you won't stop us?" What does the EU stand to gain or lose from this? Is NATO making a power play in an attempt to supplant the U.N. as the probable rulers of the "New World Order?" Or are they just stupid?
I'm sure there's more, but that'll do for now.
I don't have any idea what the real story is, it's just that whenever any political entity starts talking about humanitarianism my reflex is to look to see what they're hiding. This world isn't about humanitarianism, it's about power and money.
Any answers are welcome.
-BLT |
