Max writes:> This is indeed Vietnam redux, though it is Milo who plays the U.S. role.< Milosevic vs. the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo/a might indeed be likened to Vietnam's war in that there was a civil war going on. You could liken Milosevic to Diem or Ho, whichever you like, with the KLA as either Ho or Diem. Except that there difference isn't a matter of political ideology as much as an ethnic fight, with the KLA striving to secede to join Albania and Milosevic trying to maintain Serbian hegemony. I can't see either side emphasing class issues to benefit the peasants or workers. Then in comes the US, just as in jumped in Vietnam. A key step is when the US gave the nod (or maybe actively organized) the assasination of Diem, in 1963. Just as in Vietnam, the US has no real "support on the ground" in Kosova/o or in the rest of internationally-recognized Serbia. In Vietnam, the US sent large numbers of troops and then slowly changed its emphasis to strategic bombing as the ground war failed. In Serbia, the process seems to be going in reverse, from strategic bombing to Cherokee helicopters to ground troops. But both are quagmires, wars being fought partly to defend the "honor" of the "West," seemingly open-ended conflicts that will destroy many lives. It may destroy Al "Hubert" Gore's presidential ambitions, too. However, I don't think historical analogies like this can be taken too far. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/JDevine.html
