Washington Post editorial of Decemberrn12, which began with the admission that,rn”in many ways,” Russia had more justificationrnfor intervention in Chechnya thanrn… no, not the United States in Kosovo,rnbut Serbia in Kosovo! The editorial thenrntakes a sharp turn:rnBut whatever sympathy Russiarntherefore might have enjoyedrnfor its campaign it has squanderedrnwith methods that echornall too familiarly those of Mr.rnMilosevic. Not only the looting,rnbut also the indiscriminaternshelling of civilians;rnthe creation and mistreatmentrnof hundreds of thousands ofrnrefugees; and, according tornsketchy accounts, the abuse ofrnprisoners and suspected “terrorists”-rnall this goes far beyondrnwhat might have been justifiedrnby difficultrncircumstances.rnBut the Post’s outrage is completely atrnodds with its editorial of April 18:rnIt’s inevitable in a democracyrnwith a free press that an alliedrnbombing accident thatrnkills dozens of civilians willrngarner as much attention as anrnadversary’s murder of hundredsrnor even thousands of innocentrnpeople. The concern is legitimate;rnNATO should be pressed tornaccount for its actions. Butrnit’s also important not to losernsight of the larger point. Thernvictims of NATO’s mistakesrnwere on the road, like hundredsrnof thousands of others, becausern[of] the troops of SlobodanrnMilosevic. . . .rnThe logic behind this reasoning wasrndissected by Matt Taibi in eXile (No. 24,rnDecember 12), an excellent Intemet magazinernpubUshed from Moscow:rnAmerica gets to do the Machiavellirnthing-the “ends” inrnKosovo justify the “means”-butrnRussia doesn’t. Russia has arngood reason to go into Chechnya,rnbut the way it’s goingrnabout it [is wrong] so itrnshould get out. The way we’rerngoing about the Kosovo operationrn[is wrong], but we have arngood reason to be there, sornit’s OK.rnJohn Laughland’s travelogue in thern5/?ectator of London (December 18) givesrnthe real flavor of postwar Kosovo, unlikernthe thousands of fact-free stories our ownrnfourth estate has force-fed us since the beginningrnof the N A T O occupation:rnsix months after its liberationrnby Nato, the province continuesrnto wallow in chaos andrnsqualor. . . . By day, Kosovornresembles India. The throngrnand press of people on thernstreets are matched only by thernappalling traffic jams, causedrnby the sudden influx of stolenrncars, the constant flow of articulatedrnlorries bringingrnaid, and the endless giganticrntanks which Kfor troops unnecessarilyrnuse to move around in.rnThere is mud everywhere. . . .rnMeanwhile, the great self-referentialrnworld of internationalrnorganizations has installedrnitself in force. There arernmore than 400 foreign non-governmentalrnorganizations registeredrnin Kosovo, each of whichrnseems to have its own fleet ofrnwhite jeeps.rnLaughland encountered many membersrnof this new global elite in the mainrnhotel in Pristina, “discussing whether theirrnnext posting will be in Jakarta or Geneva,rnwhile upstairs seminars are held on thernrights of the child in Cambodia and onrngender equality in the Balkans.” Outside,rnhe noted “an army of stubbly young menrnin leather jackets and sunglasses hangsrnaround on street comers,” but:rnOf the Serbs, meanwhile, therernis little trace. During thernsummer, Kfor and the United Nationsrnturned a blind eye as allrnnon-Albanians were systematicallyrnchased out of Kosovo,rnthereby flouting the veryrnprinciple invoked to legitimisernthe Nato war in the firstrnplace. Whereas during the Natornbombing tens of thousands ofrnAlbanians were able to remainrnin Kosovo unmolested by thernSerb police, any Serbs who havernbeen foolish enough to venturernout since Kfor entered thernprovince have been beaten torndeath or shot in the street.rnIn towns where previously tensrnof thousands of Serbs used tornlive, now not a single familyrnremains. Their houses havernbeen looted and burned. Thernspecifically ethnic nature ofrnthese attacks is emphasised byrnthe systematic bombing campaignrnwhich the Albanians havernwaged against Serb churches.rnSince June, some 80 churches,rnincluding some of the greatestrnjewels of mediaeval Christendom,rnhave been desecrated orrnprofessionally dynamited.rnLaughland’s final remarks are enough tornmake any Washington Post editor’s bloodrnboil:rnCrossing the border on footrnback into Serbia proper, Irnfound myself on a dark and desertedrncountry road. The nearestrnvillage was many milesrnaway. Fortunately, I was discoveredrnby a helpful policemanrnwho gave me a lift and thenrndrove into the village to findrnme a taxi. One had the strongrnimpression of arriving back inrncivilisation.rnIn the meantime, on the other side ofrnthe civilizational divide, Secretary of StaternMadeleine Albright celebrated Ramadanrnwith American Muslims. She held a lavishrniftar dinner in the ornate Thomas Jeffersonrnroom at the State Department tornmark the end of the Islamic holy month onrnDecember 21.rn”U.S. foreign policy is conducted inrnyour name,” Mrs. Albright told about 60rnguests of the American Muslim Council,rnco-host of the event, and she went on torncriticize—what else?—the Russian actionrnin Chechnya. “Killing the innocent doesrnnot defeat terror. It feeds terror,” she said.rnM O V I N G ?rnend chanse of address and thernmailHiii labe atest issue to:rnCHRONICLES Subscription Dept.rnP.O. Box 800rnMount Morris, IL 61054rnMARCH 2000/25rnrnrn