Kosovo & Peace

List,

	I'm glad that I shared my concerns and that so many others are
also worried.  It seems to me that the internet in general and this list
in particular provide us all with a power that has never before existed.
The utility of this power could not possibly be used for a better purpose
than to deflect what appears to be a possible World War III (or 16th,
depending upon definition).  Our participation on this list implicitly
indicates a common interest in & likely familiarity with world-system
analyses.  What could be more helpful than the application of such
analyses to the current crisis?  Particularly if matched by practical
actions designed to minimize the liklihood of succumbing to the vortex of
violence whirling around us and our respective communities?
	I propose that we continue to pool our contributions and divergent
analyses NOT for the purpose of scoring polemical points for ego
gratification, nor for dismissing each other's points as propoganda, but
instead struggle for some dispassionate, rigorously logical and clear
analysis that can give us plausible scenarios upon which we can construct
practical actions in our home communities which can innoculate as many as
possible against the temptation to succumb to militant hysteria.
	When I put out my analysis of Russian domestic politics yesterday,
I did not do so in order to *advocate* the Russian position but only to
EXPLAIN it, and show why it must be part of the solution.  The beginning
of objectivity lies in the compassionate understanding of ALL of the
contending perspectives.  The fact of oppression does not automatically
make its victims morally superior to its perpetrators.  (e.g.--the poor
are not morally superior to the rich).  We must resist the easy temptation
to assume that one side is "right" & the other "wrong": ALL actors are
right in their own sight!  I think that that the solutions will emerge
from letting go of defensive justification of either side and instead
investing ourselves in working on plausible solutions--not just for the
Balkans, but for ALL of the likely "genocides" to come.
--Peter