on 11/25/99 9:22 AM, Anthony Abdo at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> NATO IS a US operation.
That would come as a surprise to the other NATO countries that voted to use
force. Are you saying that the US would have attacked Yugoslavia regardless
of whether Western Europe supported it? I see no evidence to support that
view.

>It has no independent life.

There's no way of telling, is there? I mean, unless the US withdraws from
NATO, and NATO collapses, you're statement is unverifiable. So it's not
worth discussing.
>
> Why is a materialistic analysis crude?

Not all materialistic analyses, just that one.

>As opposed to what?    A moral
> sermon?
Chomsky's works are basically just that, so maybe you are on the wrong list.
He does not subscribe to the idea that human behavior is determined by
material conditions (read his attack on Skinner, if you haven't already),
and neither do I.
>
> Funny that you use the word simplistic.    What were all those
> "analyses" that focused only on--- Milosevic contra the  oppressed
> minority---  without ever a geopolitical framework?

My answer included a geopolitical framework, one that makes more sense (ie.,
is consistent with the recent history of the Balkans and not contradicted by
any evidence of which I am aware) than yours. Unless you think the US
negotiated fruitlessly with Milosevic for 10 years solely to provide a cover
for imperial aims, and pushed through the Dayton Accords just as a red
herring, and stood by while Srebrenica was butchered for the same reason,
your analysis ignores too much counterevidence to withstand rational
scepticism. There was no--and I mean no--evidence that the US wanted to get
involved militarily in the Balkans, and Milosevic exploited that for 10
years. Leftists are always fighting the last war. This was not Kuwait.
>
> US Savior- Lady in distressss!!!!- Stop the Bad Guy.
Another oversimplification. Bad habit, Tony.
>
> All that focus on Bad Guy Slobodan accomplished what?    It certainly
> was not constructive in the crude materialistic need to build an
> anti-war movement here in the US.

I realize that's what drives Leftists nuts. Just wars are like that. Life is
nonideological, unfortunately.
--
Tresy Kilbourne
Seattle WA