At 16:22 29/09/99 +0200, Martin William Smith wrote:

>Of course you can.  That's just a cop out.  A typical, fair weather
>activist copout.  Your government isn't bombing at the moment.

Actually the US government *is* bombing at the moment, in Iraq.

>You have to learn not to lead with your chin.  You just proved
>everything I have said.

While perhaps not 'everything' you said, his comment was ...
illuminating.  The Chechens have been fighting a separatist war against
Russia in much the same way as the Tamils in Sri Lanka.  When the
mostly-Sinhalese Sri Lankan army kill Tamil civilians, this is an atrocity
in the same way as when the mostly-Javanese Indonesia army kill East
Timorese civilians, and in the same way as when the Russian army kill
Chechen civilians.

I draw no distinction between atrocities in this respect, and fail to see
how anyone could.

>I have the same concern for Chechens that I do for everyone else who
>is being bombed.  I haven't maked anything.  I haven't protested the
>bombing of Chechenya.  I didn't protest the bombing of Yugoslavia
>either.

While Mulutin's comment was illuminating, so is yours, Martin.  You have
the same concern for people who go and get themselves bombed, yet you fail
to do anything about it?

>And I say that most activists are dishonest.

So this is your cop-out.  Most activists are dishonest, so that alleviates
the necessity to act when faced with war-crimes, or crimes against humanity.

Well, I guess you can't be accused of having double-standards if you don't
have any at all.

Alister