[PEN-L:6184] Re: Re: peacekeepers and partition

["J. Barkley Rosser, Jr." <rosserjb@xxxxxxx>]

Yoshie,
     Well, I'm afraid that whatever it is called and
whoever is in it, whatever "entity" is involved in
either "observing" or "keeping the peace"
will have to be at least armed somewhat, if only
to defend itself, unfortunately.
      I have no great admiration for Draskovic.  It
is disturbing that so many of the Serbian political
leaders seem to be so creepy.  Vojislav Seselj,
the leader of the other coalition party, makes both
Draskovic and His Excellency seem like progressive
peace loving teddy bears.
Barkley Rosser
-----Original Message-----
From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>
To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, April 29, 1999 5:47 PM
>Subject: [PEN-L:6181] Re: peacekeepers and partition


>Barkley Rosser wrote:
>>      More civilian dead and more massacres, ugh,
>>and now Vuk Draskovic is out in Belgrade for
>>advocating a UN peacekeeping force.
>> Which gets us back to Yoshie's nice sounding
>>peace proposal allegedly issued by Belgrade.  Well,
>>yesterday the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry made it
>>clear that it will only accept unarmed civilian "peacekeepers'
>>and that NATO troops must withdraw from the border area,
>>although Chernomyrdin claims they will accept an
>>armed peacekeeping force.  We shall see.
>
>In my previous post on the subject, I reported on the Yugo peace proposal
>attributed to Zoran Lilic in an AFP report, and I offerd what I think
>Yugoslavia may eventually have to accept, considering their weak position
>(e.g. Yugoslavia's lack of sufficient internal oil sources, the coming oil
>embargo, increasing economic difficulties, etc.); however, personally
>speaking, I think that to call an armed force (especially of foreigners) a
>'peace-keeping' force is quite Orwellian, so I don't consider the peace
>proposal to be 'nice sounding.' (And this is not just a theoretical
>opposition either; remember Somalia?) An army of occupation (whether in
>South Korea or the Balkans) basically exists to keep restive workers,
>students, and other uppity elements under control, in case they demand even
>a tiny degree of real self-determination (through reforms or revolutions).
>Your own country's standing army is bad enough, if you are an advocate for
>workers' rights, not to mention a socialist; foreign soldiers who may lack
>sympathy with natives, I cannot but argue, are likely to be much worse.
>
>About Vuk Draskovic's background, Lou posted an interesting item he dug up
>from Lexis-Nexis. Lou posted on his marxism list:
>*****  NY Times, April 29, 1999
>
>"The minister, Vuk Draskovic, the outspoken and liberal window-dressing for
>President Slobodan Milosevic's government, was informed of his dismissal by
>Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic just 30 minutes before it was announced on
>Serbian state television, officials said."
>
>=========
>
>The Independent (London)
>
>February 25, 1990, Sunday
>
>'Greater Serbia' finds its Rasputin; As ethnic hostility grows in
>Yugoslavia, Marcus Tanner heard the simple solutions of a Serbian leader in
>Belgrade
>
>BYLINE: By MARCUS TANNER
>
>IN THE GREY landscape of Serbian politics, Vuk Draskovic fits Rebecca
>West's image of the Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne - ''a great lit-up bus
>crashing through the lights''. Madder and more exciting than grey-suited
>Communist officials, he exudes raffish charm, with his flowing locks,
>sunken eyes and a raincoat that flaps in the wind as, from a soap-box, he
>preaches his message: Serbia has been betrayed by Communist Judases.
>
>Mr Draskovic may look like Rasputin but he is no joke. At 44, he is rich, a
>successful author and the driving force behind Serbia's growing far-right
>opposition movement, the Serbian National Renaissance. A man who ''hates
>crowds'' and is so sensitive that he is ''tormented'' by the memory of
>having once run over a cat, he has won an overnight following by offering a
>populist - and brutal - solution to Yugoslavia's ethnic quarrels.
>
>The Serbian National Renaissance says that Yugoslavia's federation of six
>republics and two ''socialist autonomous provinces'' established by
>President Tito in 1945 must be dissolved. In its place they propose a new
>Great Serbian state enveloping the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, the
>republics of Montenegro and Macedonia and most of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
>''Serbia must have everything which it held on the 1st December 1918, the
>day that Serbia entered Yugoslavia,'' Mr Draskovic says. He also wants
>Croatia to surrender territory in reparation for the deaths of half a
>million Serbs he claims were killed by Croatian fascists in the Second
>World War. ''Croatia must not be allowed to keep the borders which it
>obtained through genocide.''
>
>>From within these new borders Mr Draskovic plans the compulsory
deportation
>of ''disloyal'' ethnic minorities, such as Albanians, and a referendum on
>restoring the monarchy. ''The abolition of the monarchy by Tito's
>communists in 1945,'' he says, ''was a criminal and illegal act.''
>
>Since its launch on 6 January the Serbian National Renaissance has become
>enough of a menace to the local Communists to warrant blistering attacks
>and even threats of a ban. Its followers have disrupted Communist rallies
>by shouting anti-Communist slogans and hoisting the Serbian national flag
>with the red star cut out. In countless subways and on crumbling housing
>estates their emblem is scrawled, a cross surrounded by four S's - short
>for ''only unity saves the Serbs''.
>
>Mr Draskovic was a fanatical Communist in the 1960s, who thought ''Tito was
>god and Communist Yugoslavia the happiest society in the world.'' Like many
>intellectuals he returned to the Orthodox Church, monarchism and
>nationalism when he decided Tito was helping Yugoslavia's other
>nationalities at Serbia's expense. ''It suddenly became clear. Serbia was
>being sacrificed and Tito was the greatest enemy the Serbian nation ever
>had.''
>
>When non-Communist parties are finally legalised in Serbia, the National
>Renaissance seems certain to make a considerable mark by playing on the
>ethnic fears of at least two million Serbs living outside Serbia. Among
>this diaspora - 1.3m in Bosnia, 600,000 in Croatia and 200,000 in Kosovo -
>it claims overwhelming support. Kosovo is particularly important. Serbia's
>present leader, Slobodan Milosevic, was swept to power on pledges to
>bolster Serbian rule in Kosovo. But instead of faltering Communist attempts
>to rule the province through ''honest'' Albanians, Mr Draskovic proposes a
>more draconian solution: about half a million Albanians should be
>''provided with maps, escorted to the frontier and kissed goodbye,'' he
says.
>
>Although Serbia's Communist rulers have not even pledged to hold free
>elections, Mr Draskovic is confident the tide is flowing his way. ''We have
>200,000 members,'' he boasts. Others would put the figure much lower. ''In
>a free election in Serbia, the Serbian National Renaissance would get the
>biggest number of votes, Communists the least.''
>
>© 1999, LEXIS®-NEXIS®, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights
>Reserved.  *****
>
>Yoshie
>
>