Re: Questions on the Yugoslav Uncivil War

["Bryan A. Alexander" <bnalexan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Good questions:

Bryan Alexander
Department of English
University of Michigan
**********************

On Thu, 11 Jan 1996, Chegitz Guevara wrote:

>..
> It seems to me that the imperialist intervention has only come about, now
> that all sides are thoroughly sick of the war, and when it had begun to
> peter out on its own.

Not the whole story: although Croats, Serbs, and Bozniaks were truly sick
of the war to the highest degree so far, late last year saw a successful
Croat-Bozniak drive against Serb positions, which threatened to
collapse.  Banja Luka, the center of one-half of Serbian lands (the
western lobe) was actually in danger.  The JNA (Yugoslav National Army)
was showing no signs of intervening.  It's possible that stalemate would
have set in again with the snows, as it did nearly every year - but maybe
not.  And if maybe not, then the intervention acts to *preserve Serbian
control*.

>
> Given the fact that nearly half of Serbia was opposed to the war, and that
> there were anti-war movements in each country to greater and lesser
> extents, how much do you think that the intervention has to do with
> keeping the population "in-line" rather than the combatants apart?

Plenty.  The intervention will also bring the IMF back to FY.  The IMF
allied itself with the federal leadership in the late 80s, and lost
control once the federation splintered.  FY was very recently a hotbed of
labor unrest - I'm sure we can all guess what will happen when
international capital's highest representative moves in under the cover
of NATO armed might.

>
> What is the status of the anti-war groups in FY now?

Growing slightly, depending on the country.

>
> What is the status of the anti-imperialist groups in FY now?

Not sure.
>
> How stable are the regimes in FY?

Most are very.  Milosevic seems to have a good stranglehold on Serbia,
and looks to have sold his peacenik image pretty well.  Tudjman is the
god-king of Croatia, and just got his surpreme court to annul a massive
opposition election (which was perfectly legit).  Izetbegovic will
probably stay on the cross which is his job.  I don't think it's likely
he'll turn to Islam in a formidable way.  The Slovenes are happy
colonials.  Montenegro's leadership is playing a good balancing act.
Macedonia's president just gain much stature by surviving an
assassination attempt.

>
> What sort of opportunities are there for leftists outside FY to connect
> with and support progressive anti-imperialists within FY?

That's the question, right?  I've got a post on union aid, which I'll
repost if you like.

>
> *If* there is no mass movement in FY opposing intervention, upon what
> basis can we, in the NATO nations, fight it?

Aha!  Yep, that's the question.
>
> Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
> personal homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett
> political homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett/chegitz.html
>
> "Jeezuz Christ Mom! I just saved your life, the least you could do is
> offer me an oreo!"
>
> YT, in Neal Stephenson's, "Snow Crash."
>
>
>
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>


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