>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tony Abdo) >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >List-Id: An open, militant non-sectarian mailing list ><leninist-international.lists.wwpublish.com> > >One would think that with all that concern in previous years about >Bosnia, that those activists against 'Milosevic imperialism' that >assured us so often that they were opposed to NATO also, would now be >out in massive demonstrations in the streets. But all is quiet on the >Western Front as NATO opens its base in Bosnia. > >Not much opposition flowing out of Britain against British troops in >Sierra Leone, neither. Seems that there is more interest from world >Trotskyists in organizing opposition to unjust Russian labor codes, than >in defending Africa from more European or American military >interventions. > >And all the Chomskyites are happy that the UN and Australia finally >moved into East Timor. Never mind the tens of thousands dying in >the Indonesian instability that this chipoff for imperialism helped put >into motion. We can always call for the UN to go throughout the >Pacific on humanitarian missions if things get too bloody. I've >even read an article or two opposing something the authors called >Javanese imperial designs. > >We on the Left might pause a second to see where all this Left support >for so-called 'self-determination' actually leads to. It leads to >supporting 'humantarian' imperialist intervention. > >It Bosnia, it led to NATO bases being installed. And so many >socialists convinced themselves that they were equally opposing >Milosevic and NATO. The truth is in their inactivity now. >................................Tony Abdo >_______________________________ >NATO Chief Opens New Peacekeeping Base in Bosnia > >SARAJEVO, Jul 20, 2000 -- (Reuters) NATO Secretary-General George >Robertson opened a new peacekeeping base in Bosnia on Wednesday almost >five years after the end of the war - recognition that stabilizing the >Balkans is a long-term task. > >Robertson, on his third visit to Bosnia in around nine months as >Secretary-General, said he had seen progress in securing peace but that >it was not enough. Far too much money was still spent on local armed >forces, he said. > >He told a news conference he had urged leaders of the two entities which >make up post-war Bosnia - the Moslem-Croat federation and the Bosnian >Serb republic - to cut troop numbers and integrate their militaries. > >But he faces resistance. On the eve of his visit four leaders of the >Bosnian Serb republic rejected a request by the West's top Bosnia envoy >to start military reorganization under SFOR leadership, the Bosnian Serb >news agency Srna reported. > >BASE COULD LAST TEN YEARS >Camp Butmir, which straddles the former front line near the capital >Sarajevo that was besieged by Serb forces throughout the 1992-5 >conflict, was initially meant to house the headquarters of the NATO-led >Stabilization Force (SFOR) for just six months. > >An SFOR soldier showing reporters the nearly-completed garrison said it >was designed to last up to 10 years. >Robertson said the camp, which houses around 1,000 troops and includes a >cinema, sports facilities, shops and restaurants, showed NATO's >commitment but that the SFOR mission would not last forever. He told the >news conference later there were no plans to cut SFOR troop numbers. > >"SFOR's new facilities at camp Butmir, built at considerable cost and >effort, show that NATO remains firmly committed to its mission here," >Robertson told reporters and headquarters personnel at an opening >ceremony. > >"But this headquarters was not built to last forever. It was built to >make efficient use of SFOR resources and so that SFOR could better >perform its mission for as long as the United Nations Security Council >and NATO are willing to continue." > >"SFOR guards the road and for the time being secures the peace," he >said, referring to some 20,000 peacekeeping troops remaining in Bosnia >compared with an earlier force of 64,000. > >He added that the West's top envoy in Bosnia, the High Representative >who coordinates the peace process, and international organizations were >there to show the way but that it was up to Bosnians themselves to build >long-term stability. > >WEST IMPATIENT >Western leaders, who have committed $5.1 billion to Bosnia, recently >expressed impatience with the time it is taking for local politicians to >move ahead with reconstruction, reintegration and market reform. > >High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch said cooperation between the >international civilian and military organizations in Bosnia had become >more important than ever with attempts to return Moslems to hardline >Serb areas of Eastern Bosnia. >The head of the UN mission in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, last week appealed >for wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, indicted by a UN war >crimes tribunal, to be arrested before parliamentary polls in Bosnia in >November. > >Asked to comment, Robertson said he was determined to see Karadzic, >Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic and Yugoslav President Slobodan >Milosevic all taken for trial in the Hague, but declined to go into >details. > >Robertson was on a tour of the region with NATO ambassadors that >included a visit to NATO-led peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, over which >Milosevic was indicted last year. > > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leninist-International mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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