The Russian guy got out of a meeting
with Milosevic and announced "progress." Milosevic said that he'd
talk to the other interested parties when the bombing stops. The
bombers adopted a "wait and see" position and continued bombing.
Milosevic's proposals were complete
non-starters - bunch of lying nothings - the truth revealed by the propaganda
that the Kosovars are fleeing the bombing rather than the Yugoslav army,
which is of course just silliness. The Russians picked up that line
and repeated it on their news. I guess it would seem plausible if
you're in a certain pan-Slav state of mind.
The fact is, though, that the bombing
is utterly useless in terms of the stated goals of getting him to stop
being a crumbum. It only bolsters his position at home. And
it does nothing, obviously, to impair his ground capabilities.
So much for the other side.
Back at the White House they are saying that the repression has nothing
to do with the bombing, that he was going to do it anyway. That is
more silliness. Milosevich was being restrained by the politics of
the pre-bombing situation - had to sneak around doing a few expulsions
here, a few house burnings, maybe a little massacre. The bombing
was a perfect excuse to really get the job done. He could claim national
security in time of war. It's all spelled out in Hitler's book, which
Milosevic has obviously read.
But the White House figures if they
say something, well, someone will believe it, and of course it will make
the News, there'll be an element of credibility just because they said
it. But it is so obviously wrong that it engenders incredulity -
just another lie from the government. So we are back to Vietnam on
this - if the government says something it must be untrue.
Now for the best part, cynically speaking.
They (whoever it was that planned this) either knew it would turn out this
way, in which case there is a hidden motive for the exercise having nothing
to do with the Kosovars, or they were thoroughly mistaken in their calculations.
The first possibility would be criminal, as indeed, in terms of international
law, the whole exercise is. The second would be rather exquisitely
stupid.
Well, so what would would be the hidden
motives? Who benefits from this business transaction, if that is
what it is? As mentioned before, Turkey gets a boost, simply by the
depletion of Slav assets. There is an implied benefit for far away
Iran as well, for similar reasons. The softening up of the Balkans
may perhaps facilitate some oil pipeline business at some point in the
future. Perhaps we see the shadowy form of Royal Dutch Shell behind
the the participation of the Netherlands. And Germany, in the military
realm, is still a slave to the victors of World War II, with no independent
possibilities. But tell me, if any of you know, if there is any national
interest for Italy in this? Or for UK? I think there is none.
If this is a plan, it seems to benefit some private and personal interests.
Interesting ideas? Someone remind me of what I'm not noticing here.
The other possibility is stupidity.
Bunch of stuffed shirts sitting around their conference room thinking up
a halfbaked halfplan, convince themselves it might work, it doesn't work,
they can't think of anything better to do than more of the same.
We have certainly seen this scenario before, haven't we? I think
we could call it petit hubris, and it seems that every president
since, oh, maybe Eisenhower has succumbed to this occupational disease.
At the moment, seven days into the
bombing, I incline toward the stupid possibility rather than the carefully
executed criminal conspiracy. I've seen it many times before.
Haven't you?
I've been sending little piddly donations
to the Dems to foil the evil stupid Reps. I've told them no more
donations until the bombing stops. Bad imitation of Bush, himself
no role model.
More on this later. Please,
anyone who knows things I don't, give me a clue.
4/2/99
The mail I'm
getting on this subject, admittedly not a lot, seems to tend toward the
utterly cynical theory that this is an inept attempt by a clueless and
vainglorious Clinton to have a little military fling to secure his place
in history. If true that would place him in a lower mental state
than Nixon, a paragon of rectitude, comparatively speaking. One hesitates
of course to attribute such thoughtless stupidity to a national leader,
but of course similar gaffes occur regularly in the course of human events.
This bagatelle cannot possibly do any good for the prospects of the Dems
in 2000. Surely someone among the perpetrators will benefit from
this exercise! Surely it is not designed for the ultimate benefit
of Milosevic! Keep those emails coming please. I am still in
the dark as to why this is actually happening. Deep Throat said to
follow the money, but the money only seems to be going down the drain.