From: mb2p@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Marco  Bertamini)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.europe
Subject: Re: Hats off to Meggy
Date: 13 Aug 92 02:21:44 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia

In article <kutluk.713628821@ccl.umist.ac.uk> kutluk@ccl.umist.ac.uk (Kutluk Ozguven) writes:
>
>The reason tens of thousands of Bosnian men, women and children
>killed by Serbs is that they had no mens to protect themselves.
>If they are supplied some, they can protect themselves, survive
>from stravation and death traps, and fight back with the Serbian
>army to get back their land. This is their legitimate right.
>There is a recognized legitimate and elected Bosnian government
>and we must help them to overcome the genocidal invasion in their
>country.
>
>Remember that your logic would reward Adolf Hitler's invasion
>of Poland. The Serbian government, and the Bosnian Serbs' leadership
>is commiting the same crimes based on same nationalism.

I may have been wrong in comparing BH to the Faukland in a
recent posting, but you certainly are wrong in comparing 
it to Poland at the beginning of WWII. First of all there is a large
minority of serbs in BH. Second, the war did not start with
the invasion of BH but with the death of the old Yugoslavia.
German was a growing power, Serbia is a desperate part of
old Yugoslavia that has failed in everything so far in its
attempt to preserve the old borders (see Slovenia and Croatia).
Third, and most important, Serbia is not the superpower that Germany 
was, because of this international pressure and sanctions
should be effective against it.

>There is an open good and bad in this situation; it is simpler
>than Lebanese civil war. 

I never thought that the Lebanese civil war was simple.

>The Serbian fascistocommunism is the bad
>side here. They invaded a foreign country, they massacred tens of 
>thosusands of defenceless people, they deported 2 million people,
>they are preparing to do the same thing in Kosova, another two million
>to deport or massacre, while they are opressing  Croats, Muslims,
>Albanians and Hungarians. The reason of suffering is the Serbian
>nationalism and supplying arms to defend themselves against this sick
>men is the right solution. The other one is of course international
>force.
>
>Kutluk

even though we agree on who is the good and who is the bad guy,
we may disagree on the opportunity of providing arms to one
side. Briefly, I think there are other ways to deal with the
problem, they may take time but even providing arms to BH will 
not stop the war tomorrow. Moreover, I really think that providing
arms will only make the confrontation worse, and I just hate the 
principle of rich countries sending arms all over the word where 
local wars seem to be never-ending.
In fact, although this may not be the case of BH, the idea that
the enemy of my enemy is my friend is one of the most dangerous
political mistakes that you can make.

You speak of Serbs as if they were all sick men. I think you
need to be more careful, there is a strong opposition in Serbia
and the worst possible effect of this war is precisely the risk
of start talking about whole countries as sick and evil. If
we do fall into this habit, the future of Europe is bound
to be vary sad.

ciao,  Marco