Posted March 11, 2002

'Enlightened' Empire

I am not happy over the nasty attack on the British from Nebojsa Malic ["Bitter Balkans Ironies," March 7]. I am of British descent and very proud of it. It is true that the British Government is not covering itself with glory in the Balkan debate, but this is simply in line with the dreadful decline in the standard of politicians, all around the world. As I have several times illustrated Serbians are suffering from a malicious stereotype and it is necessary to refute it. This can only be done by proving that Serbians are not what has been put forward. One does not make friends by criticizing them. In the U.K., In Canada, in France, in the U.S.A., even in Germany there is a rising tide of empathy for Serbians. It is important not to stem it by utterly savage attacks on the history of these countries. The British Empire was enlightened and in great contrast to other empires. All its previous component parts are more or less together in the British Commonwealth. In Canada there has been a record of peaceful attempts to cooperate ever since 1759. In India, no more than 2000 British Administrators controlled the huge country and left a lasting legacy of a legal system, military training, railroads and roads that endures. The Indians freely acknowledge the benefits they secured from the British and . . . English is one of the major administrative languages of India and Pakistan. So tell Malic to hold his tongue and concentrate on what he does know accurately. If he wants to blame someone he should blame the various governments, not the nations themselves.

~ Geoffrey W., Ontario, Canada

Nebojsa Malic replies:

I agree, governments – not nations – are to blame. I should have made that clear. But "hold my tongue"? Was someone channeling Ari Fleischer? Perhaps I was a bit hard on the British, but facts stand: anywhere they got involved, they left a legacy of either genocide or ethnic problems. Forgive me if I'm not thrilled.

However much I appreciate the cultural, political and social legacy of the English, fact is that Britain was an Empire. I don't care how "enlightened" it claims to be compared to others, there is just no such thing as a "good" Empire. That sort of thinking is responsible for the present situation, for crying out loud...

Irony

[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of March 6, "Victimology & Foreign Policy / A gay foreign policy? Gimme a break!":]

I can fully understand, and appreciate, your plight of trying to introduce a modicum of sanity into a world gone totally insane. While not gay, I'm an agnostic who spends an inordinate amount of time defending the religious and religion's rightful place in our society. Ah, irony. It's not just for postmodernists anymore.

~ Mat M., deepest darkest Texas

'Quagmire'

Just had to ask about this one. A current headline on your site says: "Into the Afghan Quagmire." It links to an MSNBC story titled: "U.S. troops kill hundreds" [and later changed to "Al-Qaida resistance wanes, US says"]. Was this a mistake? The story basically quotes US sources as saying their troops mowed down a fair number of bin Laden's boys. Doesn't sound like much of a quagmire to me. Nine Americans and "hundreds" of al-Qaeda being killed sounds more like a rout. How is it that nine KIA are enough to make this another Vietnam-like "quagmire"? Casualties are inevitable and thus far the US has had an easy time of it. The US has free reign through out most of Afghanistan and its cost them only about a dozen deaths from enemy action. Quagmire is that last word I would use to describe the war so far.

~ Jan B., Canada

Best Column

Best column of the millennium? ...[Justin Raimondo's] "A Gay Foreign Policy?," might just be it!

~ Scott M.

What We Can Do

...I don't need to go to Antiwar.com to learn about the latest bombings in Gaza or Afghanistan, or the latest pronouncements by the State Department, or the body counts following protests in Columbia, Sri Lanka, or anywhere else. You can play war news all day and not give people any concrete way to reply to events through real action or active communication. Yes, you do have sections of your site devoted to "actions" and "backtalk" but the information provided here is pretty slim – I'm sure there is far more going on at the local and grassroots levels.... Your editorials can be fine, powerful – I've copied and sent several on to people I know – but again, however eloquently a writer states the problem, I still see very few answers or suggestions for actions that people can actually take, concrete ways that we may work for the kind of changes we hope to see in our world. I wish Antiwar.com would exist to address not what we can know, but what we can do with that knowledge. To open your page and read more facts – more murders, more riots, more bombs, more civilian deaths... – and continue to do nothing, to me, is untenable. In every school, in every church and synagogue and mosque there must be small activities already occurring: children writing letters, money being quietly raised for refugee relief, community forums to encourage the exchange of ideas – do you have someone covering such activities for your site? If I've missed it, I'm sorry. But I don't see it up there on page one, which is where it should be.

~ Nancy Lambert

Funny

Oh, Justin, you've outdone yourself this time! Your analysis of the militant gay agenda is dead on, not to mention laugh-out-loud funny!

~ Robert M., Texas

Never Served

Ninety percent of those who like the image of "hawks" in Congress have never served in any combat situation! As long as there is a plentiful supply of fresh young American blood, go for it! I speak as a disabled vet who has seen enough blood shed in the name of – what? – my own included.

~ Alton Windsor