Letters to
Antiwar.com
 
We get a lot of letters, and publish a representative sampling of them in this column, which is updated as often as possible by our "Backtalk editor," Sam Koritz. Please send your letters to backtalk@antiwar.com. Letters may be edited for length (and coherence). Unless otherwise indicated, authors may be identified and letters may be reproduced in full or in part.

Posted July 31, 2001

Reading the Mind of Slobodan Milosevic

...You have a really very nice web page. This is not so with the content of your page. The problem with you is that you are antiwar when Serbs or Macedonians are concerned, but pro-war when Albanians are concerned. It is your right to take whatever position you want, but at least there should be some morality in it. Reading ... in your pages is just reading the mind of Slobodan Milosevic. With intention or not, you have became the spokesmen of the most extremist and anti-American Serbs.

What is disturbing is the veil of morality you have adopted. Never expect your readers to trust in your genuine impartiality if you have a Serb kid writing articles against Albanians – that's a burden he cannot shoulder, he is too young and very unprepared professionally.

...I never saw an article that mentions one single thing that is good about Albanians, be it from their history, character, suffering or whatever. Unless you adopt an impartial position, that is neither explicitly pro-Serb or pro-Albanian, which is at the same time totally against ... war of any kind, then your readers [will think] that you are no more ... than a bunch of paid people (by Serb nationalists) and money is your only ... concern.

~ Avenir Peka, Tirana, Albania

Nebojsa Malic replies:

"I resent the implication that my articles are 'against Albanians' as much as I resent this condescending, ad hominem criticism. The real problem Mr. Peka has with me is neither my youth, nor my falsely assumed lack of experience, but the fact that I am a Serb. And that, really, speaks for itself."

Justin Raimondo replies:

We do not "adopt an impartial position" – we are against the aggressors, and for those who are aggressed against. Serbians had and have the right to defend the territorial integrity of their nation against the incursions of both NATO and the KLA. We never said we were pacifists: although we have indeed expressed admiration for Ibrahim Rugova, the pacifist leader who was sidelined by the murderous drug-dealing thugs of the Kosovo "Liberation" Army. I praised Rugova repeatedly in my "Wartime Diary" columns, which appeared on this site in 1999. Since then, I’m afraid, there hasn’t been much to praise in Albanian politics: the KLA has stamped out all opposition to its fascistic rule in Kosovo, and has nearly succeeded in achieving its goal of ethnically "cleansing" the last Serbs.

If you think reading Antiwar.com is "like reading the mind of Slobodan Milosevic," then I would question your own reading ability: even the most casual and careless reader of my "Behind the Headlines" column could hardly fail to notice that I am not one of his biggest fans. Indeed, you don’t even have to read my column, but just peruse some of the mindlessly pro-Milosevic letters appearing right here in "Backtalk" – complaining that I’m much too hard on their hero – to find out just how wrong you are about that.

Soviets' Friends Were Antiwar in 1940

In his otherwise excellent article about the America First Committee, Mr. Raimondo made a mistake when he claimed that "In the winter of 1940 ... every left-wing 'antifascist,' every friend of the Soviet Union was raising his or her voice – America, they declared, must intervene..."

The Nazi-Soviet Pact lasted from right before the German invasion of Poland in 1939, until the German invasion of Russia in the summer of July, 1941. The Soviet line during that whole time was pro-Nazi and anti-Western. The last thing the Soviet-line Left wanted at that time was for the US or anyone else to intervene against Germany. Or, if they did, they certainly didn't say so in public.

~ Tim Starr

Another Macedonian for Peace

The youth group that I belong to received an e-mail from the webmaster of http://www.maknews.com, Mr. Uzunovski, informing them that you published my letter with title "Macedonia Must Be Defended" on your website. I am most grateful for your help in publishing my letter and also in your help concerning the crisis of my country. I am 17 years of age and have been active since the age of 15 in Macedonian activities and this year with this crisis I have helped organize a protest in New York City ... and I with one of my friends organized a Macedonians for Peace Rally in Washington DC on May 12th. I have been helping many of my Macedonian youth friends with spreading information on raising funds for Macedonia. One fund that a very active member of our youth group started can be found at: http://www.svetipetaripavle.org/new/office/doc/letter1.html. Feel free to publish it ... on your website.

Again I thank you for your time and consideration and help for my country.

~ Metodija A. Koloski

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