-Caveat Lector- >From The Age http://www.theage.com.au/daily/990328/news/news19.html Lead-in ... Uncle Sam's secret agenda By JOHN PILGER WHEN the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the front page of the London Daily Express said: ``This is a warning to the world.'' When American missiles and bombs attacked a sovereign European state last Friday, it was another clear warning to the world, with the message fundamentally unchanged. The most powerful and rapacious imperial power in history will stop at nothing to secure its domination over human affairs. <<Remainder at site>> >From The Nation http://www.thenation.com/issue/990419/0419klare.shtml April 19, 1999 The Clinton Doctrine See below for background and related information. <<At site>> E-mail this story to a friend. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- >From http://www.zmag.org/belgrade.htm THE BELGRADE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Mlatisumina 26, 11000 Beograd, FR Yugoslavia Tel/fax (+381 11) 432 572 or 344 1203. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The massive air strikes against Yugoslavia destroy not only army installations. They also take human lives and ruin the economic infrastructure of our impoverished country. In the long run, however, the biggest collateral damage will be the shattered possibilities for democracy in Serbia. We fear that the only durable result of the undeclared war will be a permanent state of emergency, legal and spiritual, this time with the support of the bewildered majority, which has always sided with the government in times of extreme adversity and danger. Democratic and economic transition in Serbia is the only real cure for the Kosovo problem and hope for achieving stability in the Balkans. Our long-standing criticism of the policies of the Serbian regime and especially its human rights record is well known. However, we regard the NATO's decision "to use violence for humanitarian reasons" as a sign of incompetence and impotence of the US and EU policies in regard to Kosovo, rather than an unavoidable move after all other efforts had failed. Air strikes signify the defeat of the international community's long-standing policy towards Serbia, which has been exclusively based on negotiating with Mr. Milosevic and pressuring him to deliver peace. There will be no real peace and stability in the region and there will certainly be no peace in Yugoslavia unless Serbia embarks on the road to democracy and market economy. However, it appears that the international community has never seriously considered this option. There has been no real effort to promote and assist the position of those in Serbia that have been endeavoring to put their country on the road to democracy. On the contrary, economic and political isolation of FR Yugoslavia has been maintained although it has been clear that this immensely aids authoritarian and xenophobic extremists. In the atmosphere of war and national calamity these enemies of democracy will feel no inhibitions and will meet with little resistance. Occasional maladroit attempts to "assist" democracy and human rights in Serbia by vague promises of money to individuals and groups have only exposed non-governmental organizations in Yugoslavia to accusations of cupidity and treacherous service to foreign enemies. A fresh and very unfortunate example is the introduction in the US Senate of a "Serbian Democratization Act" in the wake of the first night of bombings! The air strikes erased in one night the results of ten years of hard work of groups of courageous people in the non-governmental organizations and in the democratic opposition, who have not tried to "topple" anyone but to develop the institutions of civil society, to promote liberal and civic values, to teach non-violent conflict resolution. The emerging democracy in Montenegro is in peril and will be hard to maintain now. The Kosovo problem will remain unsolved and the future of democracy and human rights in Serbia uncertain for many years. However, we still hope that it is not too late for all the parties involved to come to their senses and try to resolve this situation through negotiations and without further violence. For the Centre, Professor Vojin Dimitrijevic, Former Vice-Chairman of the UN Human Rights Committee ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. -Thomas Huxley + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
