Technotranscendence wrote:
>
> The Spring 2000 issue of _International Security_ [24(4)] has two essays on
> last year's Kosovo War that might be of interest to Extropians and
> transhumanists: "Kosovo and the Great Air Power Debate" by Daniel A. Byman
> and Matthew C. Waxman and "The War for Kosovo: Serbia's Political-Military
> Strategy" by Barry R. Posen.
>
> Both present excellent analyses of the war and its outcome (to date, that
> is). Also, in Posen's article, he cites the "Rambouillet Agreement: Interim
> Agreement for Peace and Self-Government in Kosovo" at
> http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/ksvo_rambouillet_text.html
>
> During an exchange on this list with Michael Lorrey, I also cited it, but,
> sadly, the above URL was not active at the time. (I'd read the agreement
> on-line, but could not find any government web pages with the agreement,
> save for those of the Serbian government. The above source is the US State
> Department.) Now it's back up. Please read, especially, "Appendix B:
> Status of Multi-National Military Implementation Force." This was the
> agreement before the war began and some believe that this particular section
> was put into the agreement -- along with several others -- to make sure
> Serbia (FRY, or whatever you want to call it) would not sign the agreement,
> thereby giving NATO, especially the US, a chance to bomb.
>
> Of course, other parts of the agreement might have also pushed Serbia's back
> to the wall. It's also interesting to note in what key ways the current
> situation differs from that of the original agreement, if one is to judge
> the success for any side of the war.
The thing is is that the conditions set forth in Appendix B are not very
different from the agreements that all NATO member nations have to sign
to host NATO troops. The differences being there specifically because
Serbia was, in fact, an agressor nation in opposition to NATO. Being
given the opportunity to cooperate prior to the bombing is markedly
different from the options Serbia gave the other republics when they
declared indiependence. Serbia just started bombing and shooting
non-serbians by the thousands. You really don't have much to stand on
here trying to make Milosevic look like the victim.
-- TANSTAAFLMike Lorrey
"In the end more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free." --- Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
"A person who wants a society that is both safe and free, wants what never has been, and what never will be." --- Thomas Jefferson
"It's a Republic, if you can keep it..." --- Benjamin Franklin
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