XPost: alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox, alt.politics.religionsoc.culture.usa

March 24 marks the ttwentieth anniversary of the start of the bombing
of Yugoslavia by a U.S.-led NATO force. The bombing continued until
June 10, 1999.

But the Wars of the Yugoslav Succession had begun almost a decade
earlier, and lasted throughout the 1990s. It was a perfect example to illustrate Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” thesis, where local ethnic quarrels attracted international backing, and ended with
the complete dismemberment of Yugoslavia.

It was also ironic that at the very time when South Africa was
abandoning apartheid as evil and unworkable, Europe was adopting it
with a bloodthirsty enthusiasm. And it was the second time in fifty
years that Yugoslavia had been torn apart. For Yugoslavia the Second
World War was also a civil war, but after the war there was no truth
and reconciliation commission, no attempt to exorcise the demons of
ethnic and ideological violence. Instead there were just idealistic
slogans, and it was said that Yugoslavia had seven neighbours, six
republics, five nations, four languages, three religions, two scripts
and one goal – to live in brotherhood and unity (Crnobrnja 1994:15).

The last tattered remnants of the dream of brotherhood and unity were destroyed, if not forever, then for at least a generation by the Nato
bombing.

Many books were written at the time, trying to explain or establish
blame for the conflict, or to put a particular spin on it. Perhaps ten
years later one can see it more in historical perspective, and a new
book is shortly to be published that takes a fresh look at it: First
Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of
Yugoslavia by David N. Gibbs (Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville,
2009).

Gibbs is an associate professor of history and political science at
the University of Arizona. He says:

The 1999 Kosovo war is often remembered as the ‘good’ war which
shows that American power can be used in a morally positive way and
can alleviate humanitarian emergencies. In fact, the NATO air strikes
failed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo; instead the
strikes worsened the atrocities and heightened the scale of human
suffering.

The NATO states could have achieved a negotiated settlement of the
Kosovo problem and resolved the humanitarian crisis — without war.
However, the Clinton administration blocked a negotiated settlement at
the Rambouillet conference, leading directly to the NATO bombing
campaign. The U.S. government sought to use the Kosovo war as a means
to reaffirm NATO’s function in the post-Cold War era. It was this NATO
factor — rather than human rights — that was the main reason for the
war.

The Kosovo war had many features in common with George Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. In both Kosovo and Iraq, American presidents avoided diplomatic avenues that might have settled the disputes without war,
went to war by circumventing the UN Security Council, and engaged in
extensive public deception.

All this shows the negative aspect of so-called ‘humanitarian interventions,’ which are advocated by Samantha Power in her book A
Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide. There is a tendency
by many to simplify complex ethnic conflicts in ways that favor U.S. intervention, for example now in Darfur in the Sudan. There is also a
tendency to ignore the danger that intervention, however well
intended, runs the risk of worsening humanitarian crises.

For my own take on it, written ten years ago (though I believe it
still applies today), see my article on Nationalism, violence and reconciliation.

Bibliography

Crnobrnja, Mihailo. 1994. The Yugoslav drama. Montreal:
McGill-Queens University Press.
Gibb, David N. 2009. First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention
and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, Nashville: Vanderbilt University
Press.
Hayes, Stephen. 1999. Nationalism, violence and reconciliation, in Missionalia, 27(3), August, pp 187-202.

Source: https://t.co/62Ar85QbLE
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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