Posted September 18, 2002

Insightful Deliso

Thank goodness for writers like Chris Deliso, an example of someone who has demonstrated a great level of insight and clarity when writing on the situation in Macedonia. I am working in Macedonia now, originally from the US, and I can vouch for Deliso when he writes about the negative impact western imperialism has had in the region.

NATO's war on Serbia three years ago and it's failure to protect Macedonia from Albanian KLA terrorists during last year's war here, despite its 40,000 troops in Kosovo, have completely destabilized the region and resulted in what is essentially a "Greater Albania." This new, ethnically pure state has wreaked havoc on non-Albanians who have resided here for centuries. I suppose ethnic cleansing does not make for interesting news when "our" guys do it, and the Serbs and Macedonians are the victims.

It is a shame there aren't more western journalists like Deliso to get the truth published. Rather, the brainwashed masses in the west still naively believe our causes in the Balkans were just. So now, as the West washes its hands of the mess it created in the Balkans, moving on to grander plans in the Middle East, this once peaceful region will suffer the consequences for generations to come.

~ Alex G., Skopje, Macedonia

Wonks

[Regarding "Preventive or Preemptive War?" by Alan Bock:]

Okay; the preemptive-strike policy wonks have been reading books mostly, though I imagine that a few of them have some military experience. But where is the street-level and language experience that makes your critique any more valuable? As a person of foreign origin who has lived in the US for more than thirty years, with occasional trips to, and a pretty good grip on what is happening in, my former country, I am astounded at the inability of the American mind to perceive the world. (So much for the absence of serious foreign-language study in this country and total ignorance of the prescriptions of Antonio Gramsci, the most powerful Marxist theoretician since Lenin.) The situation reminds me of what one art historian said about Fra Angelico: The gentle artist was so filled with the piety and liberality of the Christian ideal that he failed to understand evil. None of this means that America should necessarily attack Iraq. I think an immediate and wholesale American pullback from the Middle East is in order. If that doesn't solve the problem, then war becomes imperative. Attempts to control developments in that region is like central economic planning; it can't be done. But, on the whole, if I had to bet on who is right about the facts and who is wrong, the pro-strike wonks would probably get my money. ...

~ Jose Stelle

What's This All About?

Scott Ritter has the courage to speak his convictions. He will most certainly pay a heavy price for this professionally and socially.

I hope that there will be no war. I have never lived through a war, thank God, but my parents did. They saw the horror and devastation of bombs falling, people burning alive, screaming children terrified out of their minds, grandmothers dying slowly as they are crushed by buildings. I think the name of this terror is "collateral damage."

I hope the UN inspectors will have a chance to go to Iraq. What is this all about anyway? Is it oil or money? Is it control of Iraq through a puppet government? If the New World Order will bring continuous war and tragedy, then reasonable, peace loving people everywhere will have to come up with a way to prevent this.

~ Richard O.

Monday Night Movement

A small suggestion for those who desire to peacefully make known their opposition to a war against Iraq:

Every Monday night, from 8 PM - 9 PM, all those who oppose a war against Iraq should peacefully meet near the municipal center of the city or town in which they live.

That's it. Just meet. For one hour. And meet peacefully, in respect of fellow citizens. (Bring signs, of course. Especially ones that say "Antiwar.com.")

Even a silent protest with lit candles would be tremendously effective.

Once a "Monday Night Movement" started, it would grow, and serve as a focus point for global protest, and would visually demonstrate just how many ordinary folks are against the impending U.S. military invasion of Iraq.

~ Miles M. Smoljo, Toronto, Canada

Neocon Bird

The current War Party is so beyond the traditional hawks in view, and so insane in their ambitions that we really need a new bird.

"Dove" is for the peaceniks, "hawk" is for the militarists.

To designate the neocons, however, I suggest we start using as bird designation "loon".

~ MH

Where is the Money Coming from?

If this madman Bush invades Iraq he should be arrested by the international courts for crimes against humanity. He really doesn't care about the people in this country, that's very obvious; the economy is in the dumper, the war in Afghanistan is costing us dearly -- where is the money coming from to fight Iraq? I say down with the dictator Bush.

~ MW

Bin Laden's Coup

One year on from September 11th 2001 and I can't help but think that Osama Bin Laden is well on his way to achieving one of the greatest coups of modern history: the downfall of a Hyperpower.

Anyone who believes that the sole purpose of Sept 11th was to kill many as many people as possible is naive. Its purpose was to trigger a chain reaction, that, considering the history of the Middle East and its strategic importance, may have been foreseen by someone willing to put in the time, effort and intellectual capacity required.

What have Bin Laden's action triggered? Well, the United States is hated worldwide more than it has ever been in its history. This is in part due to the United States' own belligerence regarding the International Court of Justice, Kyoto agreements and various other issues pertaining to international poverty and disease. Osama's actions have provoked yet another trade war with Europe over steel and has isolated the United States from the rest of the world.

The immediate result of this? Well, it appears that a certain amount of fear and uncertainty has crept into American's lives. Foreigners are less prone to buying American products. People don't particularly like putting money into Bill Gates' pockets, probably less so now.

Exported American culture, in the form of films, clothing, food and just the general lifestyle, probably (and correct me if I am wrong) generates a huge amount of wealth for the United States. That culture is no longer representative of freedom, it represents oppression, avarice and war, and the wealth generated from these exports is bound to suffer.

People often forget that another aim of Sept 11th was to bring down the house of Saud, a regime much hated by Bin Laden as unrepresentative of the true form of Islam. He appears to be well on the way to doing so, as well as bringing down the secular regimes of Iraq, Jordan and Syria while Iran, another country representing an 'untrue' form of Islam, is also in the United State's crosshairs. The result of this will be, as Justin Raimondo quite correctly prophesises, "a US occupation of virtually the entire Middle East, from Afghanistan to the River Jordan".

And the end result (a result not measured in days or months or quarters or fiscal years so beloved by men in suits)? While Europe, China and Russia wisely sit on the sidelines, biding their time and giving the United States no more than moral support, the United States will become so stretched, so deprived of funds, so hated, so isolated, so full of its own self importance and arrogance, so battered by the continued occupation of other people's lands, so fatigued by endless wars, that at some point in the future, it will spectacularly self implode. And to do so, Osama does not even have to lift a finger, the United States is doing this all on its own.

~ Neil Lowrie, UK