-Caveat Lector-
April 19, 1999
The Clinton Doctrine
See below for background and related information.
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President Clinton's decision to use military force against the Serbs was not
simply a
calculated response to Slobodan Milosevic's intransigence. A careful reading of
recent
Administration statements and Pentagon documents shows that the NATO bombing is
part of a larger strategic vision.
That vision has three basic components. The first is an increasingly pessimistic
appraisal
of the global security environment. "In this last annual threat assessment of the
twentieth
century," Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified on February 2,
"I must
tell you that US citizens and interests are threatened in many arenas and across
a wide
spectrum of issues." Those perils range from regional conflict and insurgency to
terrorism, criminal violence and ethnic unrest.
The second component is the assumption that as a global power with far-flung
economic interests, the United States has a vested interest in maintaining
international
stability. Because no other power or group of powers can guarantee this
stability, the
United States must be able to act on its own or in conjunction with its most
trusted allies
(meaning NATO).
The third component is a conviction that to achieve global stability, the United
States
must maintain sufficient forces to conduct simultaneous military operations in
widely
separated areas of the world against multiple adversaries, and it must revise its
existing
security alliances--most of which, like NATO, are defensive in nature--so that
they can
better support US global expeditionary operations.
Combined, these three propositions constitute a new strategic template for the US
military establishment. This template is evident, for example, in the $112
billion the
President wants to add to the Defense Department budget over the next six years,
which will be used to procure additional warships, cargo planes, assault vehicles
and
other equipment intended for "power projection" into distant combat zones.
Less public, but no less significant, is the US effort to convert NATO from a
defensive
alliance in Western Europe into a regional police force governed by Washington.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright first unveiled this scheme this past
December at a
meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. Claiming that missile-armed "rogue
states" pose as great a threat to Europe as the Warsaw Pact once did, Albright
called
on NATO to extend its operational zone into distant areas and to combat a wide
range
of emerging threats. "Common sense tells us," she said, "that it is sometimes
better to
deal with instability when it is still at arm's length than to wait until it is
at our doorstep."
Herein lies the essence of what might be termed the Clinton Doctrine--the
proposition
that the best way to maintain stability in the areas that truly matter to the
United States
(like Western Europe) is to combat instability in other areas, however
insignificant it
may seem, before it can intensify and spread. Perhaps the most explicit
expression of
this doctrine was Clinton's February 26 speech in San Francisco--an important
statement that clearly foreshadowed the decision to bomb Serbia:
It's easy...to say that we really have no interests in who lives in this or
that
valley in Bosnia, or who owns a strip of brushland in the Horn of Africa,
or some piece of parched earth by the Jordan River. But the true measure
of our interests lies not in how small or distant these places are, or in
whether we have trouble pronouncing their names. The question we must
ask is, what are the consequences to our security of letting conflicts fester
and spread. We cannot, indeed, we should not, do everything or be
everywhere. But where our values and our interests are at stake, and
where we can make a difference, we must be prepared to do so
[emphasis added].
This is an extraordinary statement; not since the Vietnam era has a US President
articulated such an ambitious and far-reaching policy. Moreover, as we have seen
in the
Balkans, Clinton has every intention of acting on its precepts. His decision to
bomb
Serbia is consistent with a clearly delineated strategic plan.
There is a growing debate over the wisdom of bombing Serbia. Certainly many people
are concerned about the humanitarian dimensions of the Serbian actions in Kosovo.
But
in the course of this debate it is essential not to lose sight of the larger
strategic doctrine
behind the bombing. If the newly hatched Clinton Doctrine is not repudiated, the
bombing of Yugoslavia may be only the first in a series of recurring overseas
interventions--a prospect that should galvanize peace and disarmament groups
across
America.
Michael T. Klare
E-mail this story to a friend.
Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire
College, is The Nation's defense correspondent.
Background and Related Information
Institution for War and Peace Reporting
This is one of the few places to find dispatches, translated into English,
from
dissident journalists within Serbia and Kosovo, along with other good
commentary.
http://www.iwpr.net
ZNet
A page of up-to-the-minute articles regarding the current bombings. The lead
piece by Noam Chomsky puts the entire situation into context, and other
pieces
posted include Andre Gunder Frank, Dave McReynolds, Diane Johnstone,
Stephen Zunes and Michael Albert.
http://www.zmag.org
Common Dreams News Center
Provides breaking news and views for progressive-thinking Americans, with
ample information on the crisis in Kosovo, including maps and breaking
updates
from various news services.
http://www.commondreams.org/kosovo/kosovo.htm
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
FAIR's coverage of the war in Yugoslavia includes "Rescued from the Memory
Hole: Background of Serb/Albanian Conflict."
http://www.fair.org
Help B92
As the situation in Yugoslavia worsens and many are questioning the
effectiveness of the NATO air strikes, this group has been founded to try to
insure the distribution of relevant information. This group is called Help
B92, in
honor of one of Yugoslavia's most important media entities, Radio B92, the
backbone of the independent news service in Yugoslavia. Without immediate
financial support, this last source of independent news for the inhabitants
of this
region is endangered. A fundraising campaign is underway, with the objective
of
sending money and equipment to B92 and other independent radio stations in
Serbia and Kosovo. For further information check out the site or email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://helpB92.xs4all.nl
Help B92 in Amsterdam
The Help B92 team in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have begun to compile an
archive of news stories in text and in audio to provide accurate and
up-to-date
information.
http://b92.klari.net/b92/journal/default.asp?rubriek=4
Radio B92
Although banned, Radio B92 is still live on the web, with breaking news in
English.
http://www.b92.net
Out There News
Reports from Kosovo's frontlines, interviews with Kosovar pacifist leaders,
photos of the destruction and historical background.
http://www.megastories.com/kosovo/index.htm
BBC News Online
The BBC offers live audio coverage and many articles on Kosovo, as well as
"Kosovo Conflict on the Web," with BBC News Online's guide to how the
conflict is being represented on the Web.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/kosovo
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NATO's site was unavailable for a while this week, apparently because of a
daily
barrage by thousands of e-mails from hackers in Belgrade, which made their
system crash.
http://www.nato.int
Against the NATO attacks/For the Support of Yugoslavia
This Serb site provides someone's immediate responses to various Serbian and
international news reports, a timetable of the day's air raids, photos of the
destruction in Kosovo and a child's plea for peace.
http://www.beograd.com/nato
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