LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE
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Le Monde diplomatique
english edition
May 1999
WAR IN THE BALKANS
A fine mess *
by Ignacio Ramonet
At the start of the crisis there were two main objectives: to
restore substantive autonomy to Kosovo and ensure that the Yugoslav
government respected the Kosovars' political, cultural, religious
and linguistic freedoms. The plan at the Rambouillet conference was
to achieve these two aims by peaceful means. The Serbs and the
Kosovars (including representatives of the Kosovan Liberation Army)
had reached a consensus on the two main objectives. The Rambouillet
conference ended in failure because of the West's stubborn
insistence (the United States in particular) on a Nato presence in
Kosovo to monitor the implementation of the agreements.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/05/01leader.html
Translated by Lorna Dale
Nato, master of the world
by Noam Chomsky
Meeting in Washington for the 50th anniversary of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the member states on 26 April
ratified the New Strategic Concept proposed by the United States.
This permits Nato to go beyond its defensive role and intervene
militarily, without a mandate from the United Nations, against a
sovereign state. The token reference to the UN may satisfy France
but does not seriously modify US power. The war in the Balkans,
conducted without the authorisation of the Security Council, in the
name of humanitarian intervention, and the new strategic concept
mark a turning point in the global order. For the first time since
1945 the victors of the second world war (less Russia) have ignored
the sole source of international legality, the UN - without
replacing it. This allows China, India or Russia, for example, to
conduct similar interventions in their own spheres of influence;
and increases the risks of injustice and conflict throughout the
world.
Original text in English
Confederation or explosion *
by Catherine Samary
The upsurge of nationalism is threatening to reshape the whole
Balkan peninsula. As the drive towards the establishment of
ethnically homogeneous states gathers force, so does the risk of a
chain reaction and the spread of conflict throughout the region. Is
maintaining existing frontiers compatible with the right to
self-determination?
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/05/03samary.html
Translated by Barry Smerin
US aims to win on all fronts
by Michael T. Klare
The United States used to bank on acting through international
organisations it could control. Now the priority is on the sole
exercise of power and unilateral actions. This means a large
military investment. As a result of the current war President Bill
Clinton will be able to justify a budget increase of $112 billion
for his armed forces over the next six years.
Original text in English
Behind the Rambouillet talks
by Paul-Marie de La Gorce
The (official) motive for the attack on Serbia was Belgrade's
refusal to sign the Rambouillet agreement. Yet the Yugoslav leaders
had accepted its main provisions. The only outstanding issue was
the nature of the force to be deployed in Kosovo. And although the
Serbs rejected any Nato presence, they had envisaged some other
formula.
Translated by Barry Smerin
Serbia's outlaw regime
by Jean-Yves Potel
The violence in Kosovo is a direct result of the nature of the
Milosevic regime. Rooted in the Soviet model, the Serbian regime
embodies authoritarian power wielded by a mafia-style oligarchy.
Its ideology is a dangerous cocktail of social demagogy and extreme
nationalism.
Translated by Julie Stoker
Rise of the Kosovar freedom fighters
by Christophe Chiclet
Unheard of until four years ago, the KLA now dominates the scene in
Kosovo. Radicalised by repression, it has won support away from the
pacifist, Ibrahim Rugova. It owes its success largely to support
from clan leaders, the diaspora and a variety of traffickers and
intelligence services.
Translated by Lorna Dale
Sixty years of ethnic cleansing
by Tommaso di Francesco and Giacomo Scotti
During the second world war the occupation forces set about the
extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews and Gypsies - and
also of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Half a century later the
dismantling of Yugoslavia sparked new massacres in which each
community has been both victim and executioner.
Translated by Ed Emery
Israel on Kosovo *
Amnon Kapeliouk
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/05/10isbox.html
Apaches and Tomahawks *
Nancy Dolhem
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/05/02dolhem.html
SOCIAL CRISIS, INTER-ETHNIC TENSION
Israel's mosaic falls apart
by Dominique Vidal and Joseph Algazy
On 17 May the Israelis go to the polls to elect their Members of
Knesset, and also their prime minister with an optional second
round on 1 June. The opinion polls predicted that the rightwing
coalition would not have a majority in the Knesset, even if the
religious parties supported them. But the predicted defeat of
Binyamin Netanyahu was looking less than certain, despite the
deadlock in the peace talks, disappointing social and economic
indicators and a disastrous election campaign. The Likud leader
owes his political base largely to his ability to exploit the
fractures within Israeli society. The clash between religious and
secular, but also the intercommunal rivalry, is undermining Israel.
Translated by Wendy Kristianasen
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF HARIRI
Peaceful transition in Lebanon
by Walid Charara
As Binyamin Netanyahu fights it out with Ehud Barak in the Israeli
elections, both men have raised the issue of an Israeli withdrawal
from Southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army is up against
increasingly effective armed resistance. The stalemate in the
Arab-Israeli peace talks and the economic, political and social
crisis in Lebanon have resulted in prime minister Rafiq Hariri
stepping down. A new era has opened in Beirut: the talk is of
reform and a campaign against corruption, and Hariri and some of
his ex-ministers are now under investigation.
Translated by Ed Emery
USE OF CHEMICALS GOES UNCHECKED
Pesticides poison the small farmer
by Mohamed Larbi Bouguerra
As dangerous to make as to use, pesticides are but one example of
how products and technologies that are banned by law in some
industrialised countries are being exported to the developing
world. In most cases there is connivance between local politicians
and the multinationals based in their countries - and always
disregard for the health of the local population.
Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
TRANSATLANTIC WHEELING AND DEALING
A new manifesto for capitalism *
by Christian de Brie
Sheltered from the hubbub of war and crisis, Europe, the United
States and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are devising
agreements that will remove the final obstacles to the free play of
"market forces" and require countries to submit to the unfettered
expansion of the multinationals. Learning from the failure of the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), big business and
technocrats are trying to force through a decision before the end
of 1999.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/05/13mai.html
Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
RICHES ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
Unequal terms of electronic trade *
by Philippe Quéau
The strategy patiently pursued by the United States in
telecommunications since the 1980s is now bearing fruit. It
involved deregulating the American domestic market, using
competition to create competitors powerful enough, financially and
technologically, to go on to attack markets outside. Europe and
Asia, which had refused to develop their own infrastructures, are
now seeing these firms take control.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/05/14tele.html
Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
BACK PAGE
Trust me, I'm a politician
by Serge Halimi
The old war propaganda no longer depends on censorship but on
training cameras on irresistible and equivocal images, scenes that
arouse real emotion. Emotion has become the very stuff of the
writing spewed out by the media (in war and peace alike). And the
media has been only too ready to swallow the received wisdom passed
down from Nato concerning the need for its "humanitarian
intervention" in the Balkans.
Translated by Barbara Wilson
English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen
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