San Francisco Chronicle, Opinion (fwd)

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Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 15:07:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Zorana Gluscevic <zorana@german.umass.edu>
To: colin cavell <cscpo@polsci.umass.edu>
Subject: San Francisco Chronicle, Opinion (fwd)



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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 23:06:56 -0400
From: Lila Kalinich <ljk1@columbia.edu>
Reply-To: srpska_kultura@4Cbiz.net
To: SRPSKA KULTURA <srpska_kultura@4Cbiz.net>
Subject: San Francisco Chronicle, Opinion


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____ CP||CKA KY/\TYPA ____ No. 794  Poruka od:  Lila Kalinich <ljk1@columbia.edu>

   San Francisco Chronicle 	Friday, April 9, 1999 
   Opinion 

   Drop Money, Not Bombs
   NATO'S misguided war on Yugoslavia

   By  Mirjana Samardzija
   
   
   AS AN AMERICAN whose family came to this country from Serbia, I watch
   the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia with a heavy heart. My adopted country
   is bombing my homeland, to no good end. It is the wrong approach to
   the Kosovo crisis.
   
   The Clinton administration's decision to bomb Yugoslavia was touted as
   a measure which was to prevent a humanitarian disaster and a regional
   spillover of the conflict. Instead, it has backfired with devastating
   results. In addition to waves of hundreds of thousands of refugees
   with nowhere to go, we are bombing an innocent people who are not
   responsible for the brutal actions of their regime.
   
   Voices of moderation among both the Albanians and Serbian political
   opposition have now been squelched. Contrary to President Clinton's
   promise of no ground troops, just such action is in preparation. Stuck
   in the mud of its own making, the NATO alliance is no longer bombing
   to help the Kosovo Albanians but to save its own credibility.
   Americans do not have to finance this tragic frivolity. This is not
   planning. Have we forgotten Vietnam? How do we get out?
   
   Clinton has badly misjudged how hard Serbs will fight for Kosovo.
   Kosovo is the Serbian Mecca, sacred ground, with more than 800 Serbian
   Orthodox monasteries and churches dating back to the Middle Ages. The
   first Albanians came with the Turkish Ottoman occupation. The Kosovo
   Serbs dwindled from 50 percent of the population prior to World War II
   to 10 percent today, largely due to expulsion, often at the hands of
   Albanians themselves.
   
   The issue of autonomy for Kosovo Albanians is not as simple as NATO
   has portrayed. Tito's Yugoslavia granted Kosovo a degree of autonomy
   that truly made Kosovo a state within a state. But over the years,
   these rights were taken to extremes. In the late 80s, Slobodan
   Milosevic promised that Serbs would not be pushed out of Kosovo any
   more. Autonomy was removed, but some rights enjoyed under that status
   remained. Albanian discontent was met with police rule. While moderate
   Albanians tried to reach concessions from intransigent Yugoslav
   authorities, terrorist forces from Albania led by the Kosovo
   Liberation Army pushed a fight for independence.
   
   At the Rambouillet negotiations, the peace ``agreement'' was presented
   on a take-it-or-leave-it basis with a bombing ultimatum. It focused on
   satisfying Albanian objectives while totally disregarding Serbian
   interests. The Serbs accepted autonomy, but not Kosovo independence on
   an installment plan. They accepted an international -- but not a NATO
   -- peacekeeping force.
   
   Instead of continuing to wreak havoc in the Balkans, all the billions
   being spent on bombs and refugee relief should be applied toward an
   equitable stabilization of the region. A program for a fair and
   balanced return of all refugees displaced by the most recent wars
   should be instituted -- Serbs of Croatia; Muslims, Croats and Serbs of
   Bosnia; and Albanians and Serbs of Kosovo. It would involve rebuilding
   homes and infrastructure destroyed in these wars. Sanctions against
   Yugoslavia would be lifted so that people could go back to work.
   
   Only a political solution is viable. A new peace plan, mediated by
   Europe and Russia, would have to be worked out. The United States is
   no longer objective.
   
   The option of independence or autonomy cannot be offered to the Kosovo
   Albanians unless it offered to the Serbs of Croatia and the Serbs and
   Croats of Bosnia. NATO cannot dictate which oppressed minority
   qualifies for its own homeland. We bombed the Serbs in Bosnia because,
   we said, they wanted a Greater Serbia. Now we bomb Serbs in Yugoslavia
   because the Albanians want a Greater Albania. We must stop pushing
   one-sided agendas.
   
   To be sure, the Milosevic regime is corrupt and brutal. So are those
   of Croatia and Bosnia. All would have to understand that aid would
   depend on the removal of media controls, new and fair elections and
   guaranteed rights for minorities. Money would need to be spent on
   independent media and other democracy efforts.
   
   Let us not be led meekly into this quagmire. More military force may
   hurt Milosevic but it will also hurt the very people we want to help.
   We should demand accountability from our legislators, who are standing
   by without offering solutions. They need to know we do not want
   another Vietnam. We are a very creative and basically fair culture.
   Let us revive participatory democracy and contribute to peace.
   
   Mirjana Samardzija lives in the Bay Area and is active in
   Serbian-American issues.

                                __
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