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Posted August 30, 2001
Erasure of Culture
I just read the article "Barbarism and the Erasure of Culture" by Christopher Deliso about the destruction of the Sveti Anastasi monastery in Macedonia.
Let's look
at this article written by a Greek about the poor Macedonians. It is strange
that he will even use the name Macedonia. Greece as a country is insistent
that Macedonia be called FYROM, or the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
In Kosovo it was okay for Serbs to imprison, beat and slaughter Albanians
when they were in charge and had the power. Now that NATO has entered
Kosovo, what do we have? Just the opposite. Now the Albanians think they
are in charge. The results in the Balkans are quite predictable: rape,
murder, [and] looting.
...If you work around the Balkan people (notice I used a blanket statement,
not specifying any particular ethnic group) they are good at one thing:
shifting the blame to others. They are quick to point the finger at anywhere
to explain why their fingers pulled the triggers.
It starts
with their relationships with each other in everyday affairs. Ask one
of them why they didn't bring a certain piece of paper. Well, you know
they just forgot it, but they will blame their best friend in the hopes
that they won't get in trouble. Who cares about their best friend? Expand
this to a national level. "What, us? We're just victims! The CIA
made us massacre those 8000 Muslims in cold blood."
But then, we can all take the Antiwar.com line. If NATO, the EU and the
UN hadn't gotten involved the Balkan people would all live happily ever
after. This overlooks the fact that they were busy before the world even
realized they were in the process of starting a 10 year spree of wars.
...Does your Greek writer, Mr. Deliso, realize that the Macedonians don't
like the Greeks either?
...Mr. Deliso,
... why do you live in such an evil country as the USA? You could join
up with your Greeks down the street here in Kosovo who are the best clients
at the white slavery prostitution coffee house.
Sorry, here I am devolving into basic Balkan name-calling. Maybe I have
been here too long. Starting to sound like an article on Antiwar.com.
Wouldn't want to spew biased nationalistic garbage in an attempt to end
all war.
The "Backtalk" editor replies:
From your assumptions about Mr. Deliso's ethnic background to your stereotyping of all of the Balkans' ethnic groups (except, perhaps, the Slovenes), you are spewing biased garbage.
Antiwar.com's "line" is not that "the Balkan people would all live happily ever after" if NATO pulled out, but that NATO's bombing, bullying, aiding of terrorists, and military occupation have harmed the Balkans. NATO has violated agreements made by the organization's national governments (including by allowing the operation of your neighborhood "white slavery prostitution coffeehouse"), which has destabilized international relations and set a dangerous precedent. Another concern for Americans: the US military committed acts of war without a Congressional declaration of war, further undermining the Constitutional balance of power.
The State Department
Marc Atkinson [in his letter of August 22, "FlowerPower.com?"] ... and other soldiers write from time to time broaching the general question of when antiwar becomes anti-military.
I think Antiwar.com tends to look at policy, not operations -- for instance, our State Department's foreign policy as opposed to the actual military operations that flow from that policy. The military bombed Yugoslavia because the State Department ordered it.
If there is no criticism of policy, the military is often the party that bears the brunt. For example, has anybody asked why our State Department was concerned about "engaging" in Yemen by sending warships there to refuel?
The USS Cole could have refueled at Muscat instead of Aden, Yemen, and saved the taxpayer a significant sum. Yemen has little interest for the United States but great interest for Saudi Arabia next door. Why would we want to provoke irritation in Saudi Arabia by poking our noses in Yemen? Was the state department pressuring Saudi Arabia? For what purpose?
Of course the military cannot exercise oversight over the State Department. Clinton was hopelessly out of his depth, our congress's view of oversight is from the top of a pork barrel, and our mainstream media keeps its eye on the balance sheet. I guess that leaves little ol' me.
Carlos
Castaño
[Regarding
Alexander Cockburn's column of August 2, "Blueprints
for Colombian War":]
I read Cockburn's insightful analysis with interest, although it is marred by being a bit out of date. ...The AUC leader, Castaño, stepped down in April 2001 following a chainsaw massacre of civilians which appalled even war-hardened Colombians, and resulted in Army reprisals against the paramilitary death squads for the first time.
~ J. McGirk, Mexico