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Pastimes : Kosovo
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To: Neocon who wrote (5629)4/28/1999 1:56:00 PM
From: Stormweaver  Read Replies (1) of 17770
 
Here are my reasons why NATO nations should not be bombing:

Prior to the conflict I would have cited these main reasons:

1. U.N. Doctrine violation.
These doctrines are a key part, foundation, of our development of international law and maintaining world peace. By having any nations act above them we are in effect trashing them.

2. Not part of the NATO treaty.
NATO is a treaty that protects member nations against agression from non-member nations. The Kosovo situation is outside NATO's scope.

3. By acting with force we are not acting fairly to both sides.
Both parties have committed acts against each other. Picking a side and blowing the other up is not in our interest. Since we can't treat both sides fairly we shouldn't be involved; as is evident from the pro-Kosovo Albanian Rambouillet agreement.

4. Serbia was a strong ally in WWII; we can't forget that.
Therefore we can't just bomb them. We need to find a diplomatic solution.

5. Airstrike only campaign
 History has proved that to control the ground you need to be on the ground. No air-strike only campaign has won a war; look at Iraq as a recent example if you site more powerful technology.

After the bombing ; I'll add these points:


1. Refugee situation.
 This was greatly accelerated by the bombing as is evident in the number of refugees expelled in the 30 day campaign so far; 600,000 versus only 200,000 over a period of a year prior to the bombing.

2. Re-ignited the cold war.
It took 50 years to stop the arms race which has now been potentially re-ignited in 30 days of airstrikes against Yugoslavia. Russian opposition parties and the public are clearly anti-NATO and anti-US now. This should make it relatively easy for a anit-West party to get into power in the next elections leading to a startup of the arms race again. This "fear" of NATO interventionism will also spark similar arms races no doubt in China, Pakistan and India.

3. West Interventionism trend; Globo-cop, a dangerous prospect.
As Blair more clearly put forth in his NATO speech last week, NATO will become a more pro-active organization, essentially becoming a global police. This entails more "Kosovo-like" missions in the future under the idea that countries that think like us will not harm us. This essentially is the same strategy that Natzi party in Germany trumpeted; assimilate or be destroyed. This is a dangerous "jump" in west foreign policy and has not been properly thought through. I only forsee greater anti-West sentiment throughout the world because of this which can only lead to future agression against the west; terrorism etc.

4. Cost of war
 The U.S. alone will spend about $20 billion on this war and that is before reparation costs paid to rebuild the bombed nation of Yugoslavia ? All tolled this war will cost the U.S. in excess of $50 billion once reparation is paid and the munitions are re-stocked. This is money spent in an unacceptable manner and best spent on internal domestic affairs.

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