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Pastimes : WORLD WAR III -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chaosad who wrote (383)	3/16/1999 4:26:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 765

I don't think that NATO's involvment in the Yougoslavian crisis is a grave mistake per se... First, let me lead you to an interesting website regarding this issue: Kosovo peace talks The failure of the Rambouillet conference By Peter Schwarz 26 February 1999 The Kosovo conference held at Rambouillet, near Paris, came to an end on Tuesday without any tangible results. Despite massive pressure on the part of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, neither of the two parties to the conflict agreed to the demands of the "Contact Group". These had proposed a wide-ranging autonomy for Kosovo within the framework of the Serbian state. This was to be secured through the stationing of a 28,000-strong "peace force" under the umbrella of NATO. [...] Full story: wsws.org If NATO was not involving itself in the Yougoslav conflict, how worse would be the outlook today? Could the French together with the German, the British and... the Russian(?) work out a peaceful settlement in this region? When such a dramatic, violent conflict as the current Balkanic war unfolds, a strong leadership is mandatory to bring a credible, stable solution to all the parties involved. Up to now, only the United States can provide such a diplomatic leadership. Yet, the U.S. should try not to ostracize the Serbs: it's counterproductive because they'll still have to live as neighbours with all the other people in the region --Albanians, Bosnians, Croatians,... On the other hand, human rights must prevail against barbarian, medieval practices: there's a poisonous fetichism spreading throughout Europe, that is nationalism, xenophobia, and a neolithic struggle for the soil... Serbs claim the Kosovo as their ancestral, holy, founding-father-soil --regardless of the population who's thrived on it for the last century. This is not a method: people deserve a higher respect than a few acres of mud! Finally, I see the failure of the Rambouillet Peace Talks as just another episode in the power struggle between France and the U.S.: it was not in the interest of the U.S. diplomacy to get to a successful peace agreement under a French patronage... Better a second round in Wye Plantation or aboard a Navy aircraft-carrier off the Dalmatian coast to give the initiative back to the US diplomacy. Such a diplomatic manoeuver will reinforce NATO and will strenghten the U.S. leadership in Europe's military issues. Remember that France, together with Germany has set up a joint Euro-task force. Further, Europe's political elite is aware of the need for Europe to care about its defence strategy on a standalone basis. On paper this might sound fantastic: the democratic, open-minded, liberal people of Europe together, hand in hand, looking after their own security... Such a wonderful seachange! But there's still an ominous black dot in the picture: far-right extremism and neo-fascistic tendencies are coming back --with a vengeance. Recently, in Austria, Neo-fascist Jorg Haider has won a local election with over 42% !!: wsws.org That's why I see the US presence in NATO as a democracy label. I may not agree with each and every US intervention abroad but, as far as Europe is concerned, I think the US can prevent Europe from collapsing again into totalitarianism. My 2 cents, Gustave.