-Caveat Lector- The New Australian Kosovo: to which drumbeat do the Democrats march? By James Henry No. 113, 29 March - 4 April 1999 The Balkans is more than a political dog's dinner — it could be dynamite for the US. The vast majority of Americans cannot distinguish between Balkan and Baltic. But they soon will. They will also learn why the Balkans were considered at the turn of the century by sophisticated European politicians to be the "powder keg" of Europe. It was there that the Great War was ignited by the assassination of Prince Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist in the city of Sarajevo in 1914. Now, as we approach the turning of another century, the Balkans have once again become a "powder keg" and good ol' President Bill Clinton (patron saint of draft dodgers) has decided to light another fuse. Why? What is it all about? How does Bill's Big Balkan Adventure serve the interests of Americans, or even most Europeans? The Republican's only support him out of traditional respect for the presidency, an office that Bill and his friends cheerfully dragged into the sewer. But why are the Democrats once again in lockstep with a policy that will bring home body bags for no apparent good reason? As I pointed out in American liberalism and fifth columns* the Democrats now support interventionist policies that guarantee casualties and huge costs in materiel without any gain for the American people. When Reagan funded anti-Marxist groups struggling to overthrow pro-Soviet regimes he was accused by Democrats of interfering in these states' internal affairs, even though these states intended to spread revolution right up to the Rio Grande. Now that's what I call an American interest. Yet they ridiculed Reagan when he pointed this out. And that is my basic point. It is because this action does not serve US security interests that these Democrats support it. The same Democrats who attacked operation Desert Storm. A Democratic administration involved the US in Vietnam for the noblest of reasons. The same will never be said of US actions in Serbia. Many left-wing Democrats in the Senate and Congress see intervention in Bosnia as a moral crusade and that is why they are so willing to send American troops and pilots into combat in Bosnia and Serbia. Naturally, these politicians are not so morally committed as to volunteer for combat themselves. They've got dumb patriotic Americans to do that for them. The kind that respect the flag and the Constitution and all that they stand for. I began with the statement that the Balkan's are more than political dog's dinner. Even that is an understatement. The region's ancient hatreds, blood feuds, religious and ethnic conflicts go back centuries, even before the Turkish conquest, and they are not going to be resolved by NATO bombings. The region was the last genuine Turkish outpost in Europe until the 1878 Congress of Berlin saw the virtual annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, despite the Kingdom of Serbia's historical claim to the area. That was 121 years ago. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has gone, along with the Habsburgs, but NATO has arrived instead. NATO is a defensive organisation: it has no business becoming involved in military conflicts unless those conflicts present a clear danger to any member of the Alliance. The Balkans do not. They are what they have been for centuries — a long-running European tragedy and a boil on the backside of Europe. Well now that it has been lanced, maybe we should let the political puss drain away, brutal as that sounds, while doing everything in our power to alleviate the pain. What we cannot do is occupy the place or change the inhabitants' thinking. Moreover, NATO has violated its own charter which only sanctions force if a member is attacked. (I emphasise is because Bill has difficulty in understanding its grammatical function). I have not argued the rights and wrongs of the conflicts because I don't know what they are. And if I did, I don't see how we could fix them anyway. It's true that terrible crimes have been committed. But crimes on a much vaster scale have been committed elsewhere, and still are, without us being called in. So what are the Democrat's left-wingers playing at? What is it about Serbia, but not North Korea or Beijing, they find particularly repulsive? I reckon I've got the answer. Milosevic looks, sounds and acts like a right-wing thug. As one 'activist' (meaning left-wing) Democrat said to me: "He's nothing but a fascist." To these American Leftists there is something cathartic and vicarious about bombing Belgrade — morality hasn't got a damn thing to do with it. It's all about satisfying their ideological fantasies about fascism. Too yellow to fight themselves, they'll see it live — care of the Turner/Fonda network — as GIs risk their lives to do their ideological dirty work for them. And for this young American men and women could die. These are the very same people who called Vietnam vets mass murderers and who, at one time or another, have toadied to every Marxist dictatorship you can think of. These are the same people who sent the boys into Somalia in 1992. The result: Somalia is still a mess but Arlington Cemetery did get some more guests, average age 19-20. What's the game plan? Is there one? No. There is only hope. Hope that the thuggish Milosevic will cave in to the cowardly moral degenerate the American people elected to the White House and the Senate voted not to convict. The first thing to understand is that the bombing will not stop Serbian atrocities against Kosovo's Albanians. The second thing is that the bombing is intended to quickly force Milosevic to the negotiating table and end the war in a matter of days. That's the plan. Fat chance. Any Serbian leader who gave up Kosovo might as well commit suicide. Milosevic knows that the longer he holds out against the bombing the better his chances of survival, just as he knows American body bags will quickly dissolve any public support for Clinton. It is therefore in Milosevic' interest to prolong the war — not shorten it. By holding out he strengthens his own image as a defender of Serbian nationalism. Knowing that Clinton is a coward and even as president lacks any moral authority could greatly encourage Milosevic to pursue this simple policy. Even if NATO succeeds in slicing Kosovo away from Serbia, does it really think this will be the end of it? Artificially creating another state in the Balkans is like putting more sticks of dynamite together — eventually you'll get a bigger bang. And all for what? Clinton the Warrior has broken international law, breached NATO's charter, aggravated Russian nationalism and even alienated his Beijing friends. The same boy scouts who invaded Tibet in 1950. The Russia sees itself as Serbia's big brother. And what does Clinton do? He humiliates Russia. The long-run consequences of his actions could be terrifying. No other American president would have been stupid enough to risk triggering such uncontrollable forces. In the nineteenth century France, Britain and Germany knew to stay out of the Balkans. They supported the Habsburg dynasty's policy because they thought it would keep a lid on the place. This policy of "containment" lasted for only 36 years. America is not an imperial power so let history run its course. As President, it's Clinton's duty to put the interests of the US first. 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