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Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andy Thomas who wrote (2330)	3/27/1999 11:59:00 AM
From: freeus	Respond to of 13056

Good commentary on our present agression: Thoughts on the Serbian War by Sean Gabb As I write, the Royal Airforce is being readied for a third night of bombing raids on Serbia. The pro-Government media here in London is filled with the usual atrocity stories that attend these aggressions. Some of these may be true, though I do not suppose that those publishing them care very much about truth or falsehood. What I want to do here fairly briefly is to explain why this war with Serbia is to be opposed whether or not the atrocity stories are true. Though I do not like war, I do accept its legitimacy as a use of state power. This being said, it should only be resorted when five conditions are satisfied. There are: First, that there is a vital national interest to be secured which cannot be secured by any other means; Second, that there is sufficient unity of political will in the nation going to war; Third, that there is the ability to commit sufficient force to win the war; Fourth, that there are aims clearly defined enough for most people to agree when the war has been won; Fifth, that the long term costs of the war are not greater than any short term benefits of fighting it. All these conditions were met in the Falklands War that we fought with Argentina in 1982. A British territory settled by British citizens had been invaded by a foreign enemy. The war was supported by all but a small fringe of malcontents, some of whom wanted to use a defeat to bring down Margaret Thatcher or who were against all wars without exception. We were able to send an adequate task force to the South Atlantic. We knew the war was over as soon as the Argentine forces had surrendered and the Union Flag was flying again over Port Stanley. Once the war was over, we were able to withdraw most of our forces from the region and to reestablish acceptably good relations with Argentina. In these respects, the Falklands War was a model of what a war ought to be. However, none of this applies to the current war with Serbia. Where is our national interest in the Balkans? Whatever happens in Kossovo will not affect the lives and property of anyone in this country. There is no balance of power that we need to consider. However strong he may grow, Slobodan Milosevic is never likely to be able to invade this country or cause any serious inconvenience to British trade. What he is doing within the borders of his country may be deeply unpleasant, but is no more our concern that the many other unpleasant things that are done elsewhere in the world but over which we do not even think of going to war. The Albanians of Kossovo may be our fellow human beings, but they have no more intimate claim on our affections. They can hardly mean the same to us as the Falkland Islanders. The do not even mean the same to us as the people of Hong Kong, who were our fellow subjects of the Queen when we handed them over to the Red Chinese in 1997. Where is the unity of political will? The war is supposedly being waged by NATO as a whole. Yet the Greeks and Italians are openly opposed. At home, I have spoken to no one who is in favour of the war. There is