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1066 Genocide in Kosovo -- rank: 1000

The media has been rather restrained about horror stories. But two reports help to answer the question of where tens of thousands of Albanian Kosovar men may have gone. 1) Yesterday Sky interviewed a peasant man in his later thirties, with hands bandaged. He described how he and other men in the village had fled their homes when the Serbs came from door to door, and went up into the hills. They were surrounded by armed men. The men were separated from the boys and they were made to go into two ...

Document Size:	7512
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sat Apr 3 13:10:27 PST 1999

1067 Fwd: MADRE's Talking Points on Yugoslav Crisis -- rank: 1000

At 12:58 03/04/99 -0500, you wrote: >Chris Burford wrote: > >>I am very glad NATO has abandoned its appeasement role, (which was also >>imperialist in character - even more so than its war role) but one of the >>criticisms to be made of NATO is its condescending saviour approach. It >>should have had a bottom up approach, and it should have insisted in >>bargaining on fostering not international monitors but the structures of >>civil society, of the sort ...

Document Size:	6016
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sat Apr 3 12:54:07 PST 1999

1068 Fwd: MADRE's Talking Points on Yugoslav Crisis -- rank: 1000

This is the sort of criticism of NATO that is IMO more principled and credible, and has coherence as an overall strategy. They have been involved, from what they say, in a quite different strand of left-wing work in the Former Yugoslavia than the current of chauvinist Serbian social facism that people think it is their anti-imperialist duty to regurgitate uncritically. That current has been about working quietly in multi-ethnic pluralist human rights work. >MADRE has worked for 15 years with ...

Document Size:	9898
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sat Apr 3 08:50:16 PST 1999

1069 NYT on Kosovo 1987 -- rank: 1000

We are at best trying to say how we should make history, in circumstances not of our choosing. I have made a number of criticisms of the imperialist nature of the intervention by the NATO powers. But I maintain that the Serb regime is fascist and the danger of fascism is high, especially in the former socialist countries, and I maintain that the logic of the international united front against fascism of 1935 remains important. That includes the possibility that certain imperialist states can pla ...

Document Size:	30213
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 2 13:35:38 PST 1999

1070 B92 closed down, Montenegro mext? -- rank: 1000

The independent radio station in Belgrade B92 which Doug reported about earlier this week was closed down today when a court ordered a director sympathetic to Milosevic to take over. Human rights, not just in Kosovo, but elsewhere will be futher undermined. Yesterday it was reported that 8 senior Yugoslav military officers have been demoted or sacked. Do not forget that at times of atrocities and violations of human rights one of the groups of hidden victims are the members of the military who r ...

Document Size:	5719
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 2 11:59:59 PST 1999

1071 "Pro-Serb-Nationalism"/"Pro-Milosevic" Baiting and the Death of Yugoslavia -- rank: 1000

At 20:21 01/04/99 -0500, you wrote: >It has been my experience on this list that those who do not swallow the >imperial thesis that "Serbs are the worst rapists, ethnic cleansers, and >organizers of genocide" have been repeatedly characterized as >"pro-Serb-nationalism" and/or "pro-Milosevic." I have no probelm refuting >such characterization, but the frequency with which such epithets are used >reminds me of red-baiting rhetoric; only this time, y ...

Document Size:	8211
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 2 10:37:36 PST 1999

1072 Kosovo and Somalia -- rank: 1000

At 11:22 01/04/99 -0500, you wrote: > >Many parallels have been drawn between Kosovo and various imperial >adventures that pretended to be humanitarian ventures, implying that this >one too will someday be unveiled as having an explicable and brutal >purpose. But I suspect the proper parallel is Somalia, which looks, even >after the passage of time, to have been a humanitarian venture -- and one >that failed pretty decisively through arrogance, ignorance and >half-assedn ...

Document Size:	6213
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Apr 1 14:58:01 PST 1999

1073 The broadest united front -- rank: 1000

At 12:56 01/04/99 +0200, you wrote: >At 07:56 31.03.99 +0100, Chris Burford wrote: > >> >>On politics I think that we are moving towards global government. We cannot >>resist this. We can try to outflank it. We can try to divert it in a >>progressive direction. >> > >Wake up, Chris Burford! > >You are a citizen of one of the states which deliberately and continously >violate international law and the existing instruments of global >government ...

Document Size:	10126
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Apr 1 14:51:58 PST 1999

1074 Danube bridge blown -- rank: 1000

>the main novi sad bridge has been taken down completely. This is a quite new development. It cannot necessarily be called a military target such as air defences or supplies. It blocks the Danube. It is an isolated event. My guess is that it is a threat to the Serbian government to attack the economic infrastructure of Serbia on a massive scale, and that this threat has been conveyed to them through a diplomatic route. On the one hand it appears strong, from another it is probably a sign that ...

Document Size:	5073
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Apr 1 14:19:28 PST 1999

1075 IMF Annual Report and reform -- rank: 1000

At 08:04 PM 9/23/98 -0400, Mike Cohen wrote: >Chris Burford wrote: > >> As far as we are concerned it would be more progressive to have a central >> global bank which could be accountable. To whom it is accountable could >> then become explicitly open contested territory. If financial movements of >> a short term nature are so turbulent, (and really a form of insurance >> against risk which just makes the whole thing even more risky) why not >> propose f ...

Document Size:	15590
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Sep 24 00:20:09 PDT 1998

1076 Promoting mass purchasing power -- rank: 1000

I would like to protest against the incoherent thread drift under this title. The two party system is a powerful mechanism for maintainging capitalist dominance in an electoral democracy, and it always throws up the contradiction of whether you totally ignore any differences between the two main parties, or you are mesmerised by the difference. There is a wider question of how much the present crisis makes the business of relying on the qualities of single individuals to fulfill all the roles ex ...

Document Size:	5718
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Sep 23 15:31:47 PDT 1998

1077 IMF Annual Report and reform -- rank: 1000

Yesterday's FT coverage of the IMF annual report, recorded a significant shift in perspectives on the management of the global capitalist system, towards management [Yes, Louis, managemenent for the sake of the capitalist class!!]. It admitted that controls on inward movement of capital could be a useful tool for some countries. Opening economies prematurely to free flows of capital was "an accident waiting to happen". It also suggested that a significant increase in capital flight fro ...

Document Size:	10893
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Sep 23 15:43:57 PDT 1998

1078 Blair on reform of world finance. -- rank: 1000

At 07:04 PM 9/21/98 -0400, Louis P wrote: yet another personalised attack on me. I therefore decided it was more proper to take it up on his own list. A small part of my reply reads >>>> But apart from this old issue, which is not currently relevant on a list like LBO, why overlook the series of posts I sent to LBO recently denouncing the US bombing of the pharmaceutical factory in the Sudan? <<<< I am BTW going on leave soon and will be withdrawing from LBO talk for a pe ...

Document Size:	5040
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Sep 22 00:20:42 PDT 1998

1079 Blair on reform of world finance. -- rank: 1000

Presumably in the US Blair's speech got squeezed out by Clinton's interview even more than in the UK. Symbolically the day seemed somewhat to confirm the link Seth referred to between multi-culturalism and the multi-national corporation. It is striking to see blacks and women speaking up for Clinton, and sensing it is more than just a sectional interest. His standing ovation at the UN general assembly so soon after the bombing of the Sudan chemical factory, suggests he is symbolising something e ...

Document Size:	8597
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Sep 21 15:46:58 PDT 1998

1080 Crunch - sex and politics -- rank: 1000

Today looks like crunch day for the politics that lies behind the personal battles. The London papers are trailing Blair's speech to the IMF and in other meetings today with Clinton. It appears it is indeed a joint initiative for the reform of the global financial system. Publicity for it will clash with the questionable demeanour of Clinton testifying to the grand jury, and we will see who will win. The fact that Blair and the other meetings are going ahead as scheduled is an indication of the ...

Document Size:	6258
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Sep 21 00:03:32 PDT 1998