[PEN-L:6745] Fw: Concerning my brother Peter: Reply to Barkley

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

-----Original Message-----
From: James K. Galbraith <Galbraith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: POST-KEYNESIAN THOUGHT <pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 1999 6:14 PM
Subject: Concerning my brother Peter: Reply to Barkley


>Barkley's remark concerning the role my brother Peter, then U.S.
>Ambassador, played at the time of the Croatian sweep through the Krajina
>deserves clarification, not through any fault of Barkley's but because
>these complicated events are often distorted and simplified in hindsight.
>
>In fact, Peter waged a furious last-minute diplomatic effort to forestall
>the Croatian sweep, and had reason to believe until near the very end that
>he might succeed. His reason, well foreseen beforehand, was that the
>subsequent depopulation of the Krajina would be the entirely predictable
>outcome.  When the Serb population did evacuate following the sweep, Peter
>joined the convoy of refugees in order to publicize their situation and to
>protect them from abuse by Croatian security forces along the way.  This
>earned him the epithet of "tractor diplomat" from Croatian President,
>Franjo Tudjman, and turned him from hero to pariah in the Croatian press
>overnight.
>
>It is also worth noting that in another section of Croatia, Eastern
>Slavonia, a diplomatic solution was achieved after huge efforts, that left
>most of the Serb population in place.  It is by no means wholly successful,
>but at least an improvement on the alternatives. Peter deserves more
>recognition for this obscure and limited but important success than he has
>been given.
>
>Those who saw Peter on the Lehrer News Hour last night also know that he
>opposes the bombing of civilian and infrastructure targets outside of
>Kosovo, which have no relation to any military or humanitarian objective
>inside that province.
>
>James Galbraith.
>*****
>James K. Galbraith
>LBJ School of Public Affairs
>The University of Texas at Austin
>Austin TX 78713
>Phone: 512-471-1244 (o)
>Fax:  512-471-1835 (o) 512-480-0246 (h)
>Email: Galbraith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>See the UTIP web-site at http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/
>See the ECAAR web-site at http://www.ecaar.org/
>