From: jovanovic-nick@cs.yale.edu (Nick Jovanovic)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna
Subject: Re: Good News from U.S.
Date: 21 Jan 1993 14:08:47 -0500
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
NNTP-Posting-Host: zoo-gw.cs.yale.edu

In article <C17pJu.E0F@me.utoronto.ca> arnsenad@me.utoronto.ca (Senad Arnautovic) writes:
>
>Do serbs in Bosnia call themselves Bosnians? Those who are fighting
>against democratically elected B-H government forces certainly do not.
>
All who are from Bosnia are Bosnians whether they like it or not, and
whether they call themselves Bosnian or not.  So Muslims, Serbs, Croats,
Jews, Gypsies, Germans, Hungarians, etc. are ALL Bosnians also if they
are from Bosnia.

>However, those Serbs who along with other ethnic groups are fighting
>for the strong B-H government are of course Bosnians.
>
No, all Serbs from Bosnia are Bosnians.  Ditto for others from Bosnia. 

>Do you consider bombing Baghdad this week defending the U.S. rather
>than bullying other countries?

No, I do not.  I consider the raids on Iraq by Bush, Major, and Mitterand
to be criminal acts of Western imperialism.  BTW, I also considered the
Gulf War two years ago to be improper.  On the other hand, Iraq's invasion
of Kuwait was also improper, though it killed far fewer people than did
the U.N. semi-authorized invasion led by Bush.

>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.
>
Don't play games about Communist threats.  Izetbegovic does not have a
pristine, anti-Communist history himself, eh?  B-H should never have been
recognized when a third of its people did not agree to be pulled out of
their own country (Yugoslavia) overnight by a secession.  Doing this to
people is a blatant violation of international human rights.  Bosnia is
not under foreign aggression; it is in a civil war.  You must accept the
fact that the Bosnian people themselves do not agree on what form the 
former Yugoslav Republic of B-H should take.  This is the problem which
must be addressed by Bosnians and by the rest of the world. 
 
>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.
>
I don't see why any country in which half of its citizens would rather
divide it among its neighbors than live in it is particularly worth
saving, at least not all of it would necessarily be worth saving.
>
>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.
>
I know thousands of people have already died in the war.  I grieve for
all of them.  But be sure, if outside forces intervene like they did in
Iraq many more innocent people will die than need to.

Arming one faction of Bosnians against the others is very lucrative for the
world arms market, but it won't do anything to bring peace to B-H.  The
balance you speak of between U.S. and U.S.S.R. was NUCLEAR.  No member of
the "nuclear club" has been willing to use them since their destructive
powers were demonstrated on Japan.  This did not stop the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R. and China from fighting conventional wars all over the globe, e.g.,
Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Angola, Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, Libya,
Lebanon, Grenada, Israel, Iraq, etc., etc., etc.  It is madness to think
that conventional arms balances achieve peace.  History proves otherwise.

-Nick