From: arnsenad@me.utoronto.ca (Senad Arnautovic)
Subject: Re: Good News from U.S.
Organisation: U of Toronto, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Organization: UofT Mechanical Engineering
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 16:23:54 GMT

jovanovic-nick@cs.yale.edu (Nick Jovanovic) writes:

>In article <llrilrINN9u@news.bbn.com> rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman) writes:
>>In article <1993Jan20.153634.19582@husc3.harvard.edu>, stojanov@husc11.harvard.edu (Milan Stojanovic) writes:
>>
>>|>     NEW YORK, Jan 19, Reuter - Only one in four Americans believes the United
>>|> States has a responsibility to intervene in the fighting between Serbs and
>>|> Bosnians in Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.
>>
>>You captioned this "Good News from U.S."  Exactly who is this
>>supposed to be good news for?
>>
>>-- 
>>Ron Newman		rnewman@bbn.com

>First of all, it is good news because the question doesn't make any sense:
>since most Serbs in Bosnia are Bosnian themselves (1.4 million Serbs lived
>in Bosnia-Hercegovina before the present war started), exactly which fighting
>between Serbs and "Bosnians" is the question asking about???

Do serbs in Bosnia call themselves Bosnians? Those who are fighting
against democratically elected B-H government forces certainly do not.
Helped militarily (in manpower and weapons), financially, logistically
and morally by Serbians to occupy portions of B-H to eventually join
Greater Serbia they are definitely not Bosnians. Small example: in name
of all towns and villages they had taken that had the adjective "Bosnian"
had been dropped: Bosanski Petrovac is now named Petrovac, Bosanski Novi
is now Novi.

However, those Serbs who along with other ethnic groups are fighting
for the strong B-H government are of course Bosnians.

>Second, it is good news that the majority of Americans do not support the
>idea of using the U.S. military as much as the Bush administration did.  I
>served in the submarine force for 8 years active duty to defend the U.S., not
>to bully other countries.

Do you consider bombing Baghdad this week defending the U.S. rather
than bullying other countries?
The democratic government of B-H has asked international community
for a help to protect its internationally recognized boundaries
from foreign aggression - communist Serbia. The U.S. did help
other countries, say Korea under the threat from communist China,
Western Europe from Nazi Germany, etc.

>Third, since recent events are finally showing that Croatia is just as much
>a protagonist as Serbia in this war (Croatian troops in B-H, Croatian planes
>violating no-fly zone more than Serbian planes, Croatian troops fighting
>against Muslim troops, Croatian land grab of Herceg-Bosna, illegal arms sales
>to Croatia in violation of arms embargo, etc.), it is good news that 
>Americans are not ready to send their children to war as allies of Croatian
>or Muslim or Serbian nationalism.

The point is the current B-H government in Sarajevo represents ALL
ethnic groups in B-H almost proportionally. However, those Serbs and Croats
in B-H government are moderates who feel B-H is their country worth
fighting. They are Bosnians.
Serbs and Croats who are fighting against Bosnians want to joint respective
portions of B-H to Serbia and Croatia.
It is very unfortunate that western media did not emphasize the fact
that B-H government is multi-ethnical representing the interests
of majority of B-H people. As a free world country, B-H should
have been viewed by Western world as the one worth defending.

>Fourth, it is good news for the thousands of innocent people in the region
>who would be murdered by an escalation of the war if the "great powers"
>intervene militarily.  Are the Iraqi people better off after these "great
>powers" intervened there with Western weapons of mass destruction?

It is bad news because tens of thousands of innocent people have
ALREADY been murdered because they did not have the arms to defend themselves
against Yugoslav army and Chetniks. By arming Bosnians, a balance
on the battlefield can be achieved leading in a longer run
to a more lasting peace.
The cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union did not turn
into a warm one because there was a military balance between them.
Thus, to achieve peace, there must be a balance in the power: Arm
the Bosnians and no military intervention is needed.

>-Nick
>  

Senad