Search LBO-Talk Archives

766 Brecher Resigns Over Kosovo -- rank: 1000

At 18:56 05/05/99 the following letter was reposted. I note that a lot of debate on these lists is taking the form of reposting material that the subscriber agrees with, not to argue a case, but to bolster a case of which they are already convinced. I have extracted the passages from Brecher's statement relevant for my response, which follows them. >May 4, 1999 > >Congressman Bernie Sanders >2202 Rayburn Building >Washington, DC, 20515 > >Dear Bernie, > >This letter ex ...

Document Size:	11451
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu May 6 00:23:44 PDT 1999

767 randomness and Yugo war -- rank: 1000

At 14:04 05/05/99 -0400, CB wrote: >In general, a Marxist understanding doesn't deny that "big men" have ideas (intelligence, stupidity, incompetence, etc.) in world events, but that underlying these BIG IDEAS are political economic ultimate factors. Clinton , Albright and Blair are BIG PEOPLE, like the kings and emperors of old, but it is class struggles that are the ultimate explanation of historical events and developments. < Quite. Capitalism has outgrown the nation state. I ...

Document Size:	6468
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed May 5 15:56:19 PDT 1999

768 One and Half cheers for failure in Kosovo -- rank: 1000

At 19:24 04/05/99 -0400, you wrote: > >STRATFOR's >Global Intelligence Update >May 3, 1999 > >Weekly Analysis -- The World After Kosovo > >Summary: > >Whether in a week or a month, the Kosovo crisis is drawing to a >close. The basic outlines of the settlement are already visible. >The question now is what the world will look like afterwards. Interesting bourgeois analysis useful for appraisal of the balance of power after Kosovo. Weak of course on any politics ...

Document Size:	9811
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed May 5 00:10:44 PDT 1999

769 Germany: east-west divide on Kosovo -- rank: 1000

In broad terms according to German tv 2/3 of the population of the former west Germany support the NATO attack on Yugoslavia. It is rejected by 2/3 of the population of the former DDR. It is suggested that protests in the west are relatively small. The protests in the east depend on the cooperation of the PDS with the christian churches who contributed so strongly to the Citizens Movement that brought down the old SED. If I understand the news reports correctly, one of the conditions that the ch ...

Document Size:	5609
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 3 23:43:22 PDT 1999

770 US admits Sudan bombing mistake -- rank: 1000

Hurrah! Chris Burford London At 21:42 03/05/99 -0400, you wrote: >The Independent >May 4, 1999 > >US admits Sudan bombing mistake > >By Andrew Marshall in Washington > >In an admission that last year's missile attack on a factory in Sudan >was a mistake, the US has cleared the man who owned the plant of any >links to terrorism. > >The embarrassing reversal means that the US has virtually no evidence to >support its claim that the missile attack was a strike ...

Document Size:	5533
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 3 23:45:07 PDT 1999

771 UK commandos - land war? -- rank: 1000

At 10:53 02/05/99 -0400, you wrote: >Sunday Telegraph (London) - May 2, 1999 > >COMMANDOS SENT TO JOIN KOSOVO FORCE >By Andrew Gilligan, Defence Correspondent I agree this is a significant report. It was possibly specially given to the Telegraph. Despite the fact that the editorial department is in favour of the war, there is a vocal right wing opinion in the columns and on the letters page against it. This argues partly that Britain has no selfish interests involved, and partly that ...

Document Size:	6203
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 3 23:43:06 PDT 1999

772 Hope in Democratic Party -- rank: 1000

At 20:33 02/05/99 -0700, Brad de Long wrote: >Complaints about the Democratic Party--the only true hope for human >progress over the next quarter century--I will be glad to receive and deal >with appropriately. Obviously from past posts of mine, I consider Brad de Long an important contributor to the range of debate on this list. But I must differ from the either/or way this controversy so often seems to be expressed. I regard it as the job of the Democrats to get elected in the USA and ...

Document Size:	5755
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 3 15:45:54 PDT 1999

773 resignations -- rank: 1000

There are surprisingly relevant echoes for these e-mail lists from nine decades back at a time when the technology could not have been imagined. I am not here endorsing Lenin's call for a structured party, but his observations (1904 OSFTSB) about a situation in which "any individual could pass from one circle to another at his 'own free will', for he was not faced with any formulated expression of the will of the whole. Disputes within the circles were not settled by rules, 'but by a strugg ...

Document Size:	6007
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 3 15:22:14 PDT 1999

774 Asia/West Split at WTO - 62 to 59 -- rank: 1000

> Mr Mchumo named Mr Moore as WTO members' preferred >candidate after a hard-fought contest in which the New Zealander edged >narrowly ahead in the final days. > >He gained the support of 62 countries spread around all major regions >and among rich and poor countries, against 59 who back Mr Supachai, >Thailand's deputy prime minister. Until proved otherwise, I suggest that narrow lead in votes for the west, was almost certainly bought, and is unrepresentative of the interest ...

Document Size:	5145
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 3 15:10:25 PDT 1999

775 Balkan CPs joint statement-29.3.1999 -- rank: 1000

At 15:10 31/03/99 -0500, Yoshie thought it internationalist to forward >Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 22:44:29 +0100 >From: Asteras Amaliadas <jm6 at st-andrews.ac.uk> >To: Left Wing Union <leftwing at st-andrews.ac.uk> >Subject: Balkan CPs joint statement-29.3.1999 > >STRENGTHEN ANTIIMPERIALIST STRUGGLE FOR PEACE > >Joint statement of the Communist Parties of the region condemning >NATO intervention While these organisations may be different, what is the evidence ...

Document Size:	6271
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Mar 31 14:59:57 PST 1999

776 The broadest united front -- rank: 1000

>> the >> most dangerous threat facing the people of the entire world is the ruling class >> and government of the United States. Our pro-war liberals never address that >> problem. >> >> Ken Lawrence > >Well put, Ken. >The world is complex and the struggle is very far from the end game stage. >The left must maximized its strength through the braodest united front. > >Henry I have been seeking to cross swords with Henry on the question of Kos ...

Document Size:	10345
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Mar 30 22:56:07 PST 1999

777 Helsinki Group on Genocide -- rank: 1000

Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo Report by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Kosovo Helsinki Committee Vienna, 30 March 1999. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Kosovo Helsinki Committee provided information and analysis today concerning the nature of genocide and atrocities against Kosovo Albanians; the pattern of ethnic cleansing taking place; and the steps that can be taken to bring about an immediate halt to the large scal ...

Document Size:	11535
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Mar 30 22:52:28 PST 1999

778 'Refugees' from NATO Bombs and the KLA -- rank: 1000

>From an Albanian website (see below) Perhaps in the words of the article that Yoshie thought it her internationalist duty to forward, the authors had "motives that were hard to fathom through the centuries-old fog of Balkan intrigue and deceit". It sounds pretty plain to me. Maybe once you have befriended social chauvinism, moral blindness is infectious. (I note BTW that Wojtek has not quite got the point that racism is not restricted to discrimination against people by the colour ...

Document Size:	6024
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Mar 30 14:51:22 PST 1999

779 Moral Blindness of Serb "liberals" -- rank: 1000

At 11:00 30/03/99 -0500, Wojtek wrote: >At 11:41 PM 3/29/99 +0100, Chris Burford wrote: >> >>Similar argument to that of the racist white South Africans, who would >>visit Britain. When you protested the treatment of the black majority, they >>would say, have you ever been to South Africa? >> >>Wojtek's question is similarly disingenuous. He knows that civil society >>has been crushed in Yugoslavia. He knows B92 independent radio station has >>g ...

Document Size:	7368
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Mar 30 12:53:24 PST 1999

780 US terror bombing -- rank: 1000

At 16:56 29/03/99 -0500, you wrote: >This is marred by Trot boilerplate, but it's still a fine example of why >Workers Vanguard used to be worth reading when Jan Norden was editing it. > >Yeah, yeah, NATO is just bombing military targets, not civilians, though >there are 500,000 refugees and hundreds of thousands of others who are >feeling mighty inconvenienced. But who would trust an entity with a history >like this to bomb humanely? > >"Liberals have often sough ...

Document Size:	6545
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Mar 29 15:01:10 PST 1999