- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Not so smug...

Posted by: Samuel Day Fassbinder ( Citizens for Mustard Greens, USA ) on June 12, 1999 at 19:03:19:

In Reply to: Comparisons posted by Dr. Cruel on June 12, 1999 at 13:02:33:

: It is nice to see that so many people are against genocide - it makes me warm inside to hear from so many honest, caring people. Now, all we have to do is resolve that bit of nastiness in Cambodia. (Isn't it appropriate that the ol' guard of the present regime in Vietnam welcomed the Khmer Rouge, the ... ahh ... 'stooges of American imperialism' ... back into the business?

SDF: Actually the Khmer Rouge were the incidental beneficiaries of American imperialism. Nixon and Kissinger's illegal bombing of Cambodia so devastated that nation that its subsequent submission by the Khmer Rouge was made extremely easy. All the Khmer Rouge had to do to herd the masses into concentration camps (just after the fall of Phnom Penh) was to claim that the Americans were going to be bombing soon. A lie universally believed in Phnom Penh at the time.

: Guess murdering Cambodians is hard work - wouldn't do to send away some eager professionals so recently unemployed ...)

: Ahh ... burying communism is SUCH fun. Rather about time too, y'think?

SDF: I'd imagine that Milosevic thought it was about time, too, when he privatized much of his nation into his own pockets...

: "Doc" Cruel

:
: P.S. The Bosnians say 'hi'. And by the way ... they're grateful.

: Capitalism 1, genocide 0. Tahnk you, Mr. Clinton (et. al.).

SDF: I think you missed the point I made above. The bombing of Yugoslavia, and thus Milosevic's subsequent ethnic-cleansing of Kosovo, were unnecessary, as FAIR showed in one of the links I presented. The treaty NATO signed with Milosevic agreed to almost all of the changes to Rambouillet Milosevic wanted, so we can safely conclude that peace would have been possible two months ago, on the same terms it has been conducted this month, had Holbrooke chose to negotiate Rambouillet instead of presenting it as an ultimatum.

Milosevic is still in power, unfortunately, and doubtless the bombing helped to coalesce his support in his own country, unfortunately, since his country is such a mess now. Meanwhile here in the US, the War Powers Act of 1973 has been violated, so the Constitutional prerogative of Congress to declare war has been placed in limbo.

I have to wonder about your smug claims about genocide. Is capitalism supposed to bring life back to its victims?

Revised scoring: IRS and Pentagon appropriation of my tax dollars, 1, ethnic cleansing, 1, the people of Serbia, 0. Let's hope NATO can do better than this in the future.




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