the Serbs:rnMr. B l a i r ‘ s worst crime to daternhas been his cruel and pointlessrndecision to wage warrnagainst the Serbs, but thernblame for t h i s must also attachrnto the Government and the wholernHouse of Commons, which encouragedrnhim to t r y [and nowrnsays] that the bombing had beenrni l l e g a l , but chose to congraturnl a t e i t s e l f on “moralrngrounds.” In fact B l a i r ‘ s unilrna t e r a l intervention was notrnonly i l l e g a l . Its hopelessnessrnalso made i t immoral.rnOf all the crimes that government canrncommit, Waugh believes, “one of thernworst is to involve itself in an unnecessaryrnand unwinnable war, especially wherernthere is no national interest involved.”rnWhat will these people decide to do next,rnhe asks:rnTo abolish the House of Commonsrn, on the grounds that ourrnp o l i t i c a l classes are nornlonger up to the job, would bernone solution, but I think thernbest plan would be to give themrnanother chance. The presentrnmembers should certainly bernrounded up and prosecuted forrninvolving us in their disgracefulrnBalkans war. Whenrnthey are a l l safely in prison,rnwe might hold another generalrnelection, having shown thernwretched candidates what isrnl i k e l y to happen to them ifrnthey try to meddle with ourrnmost ancient country sport.rnBack in the United States, Kosovo continuesrnto be the victim of the mainstreamrnmedia’s collective amnesia. The BostonrnGlobe—once supportive of Clinton’s “humanitarianrnintei”vention”—was one of thernfew large papers to look back at the bombingrncampaign on the first anniversary of itsrnending (June 20):rn[W]hat does i t reveal aboutrnt h i s nation if we can engage inrnsuch massive violence and thenrnforget about i t without follow-rnup efforts to measure whatrnwas actually done against whatrnwas said? Did Operation AlliedrnForce achieve i t s goals? Wasrni t moral? Or even practical?rnIn this p o l i t i c a l season, hasrnanyone asked Al Gore or GeorgernW. Bush what they learned fromrnthe NATO a i r war? Or whetherrnthey would embark on such arncourse again? And what of usrncitizens? What do we say nowrnabout the mayhem of which wernwere sponsors?rnSuch questions are especially pertinentrnin light of a damning report issued byrnAmnesty International, charging NATOrnwith having committed war crimes:rn[A] campaign of ethnic cleansingrnhas continued in Kosovo unabatedrnsince last June withrnnary a hint of hiananitarianrnprotest-only now i t is Serbsrnbeing cleansed by Kosovar Albanians,rnwhose vengeful hatredrnwas exacerbated by the war . . .rnthe NATO a i r war, having criminallyrnk i l l e d c i v i l i a n s , havingrnelevated the protection ofrnwarriors above that of children,rnhaving preferred violencernover authentic diplomacy,rnhaving enabled ethnicrncleansing instead of haltingrni t , having strengthened Milosevicrnrather than topplingrnhim, having alienated Russiarnat the worst time, havingrnthrough a l l of this dulled thernconscience of the West-the NATOrnwar was even more unjustrnthan i t s fiercest c r i t i c srnthought.rnThe fallout of that war will be with Europernfor years to come. Milan’s Corriererndella sera carried a typical story on June 8rnabout the dramatic rescue, by Italian policernspecial forces, of a 15-year-old girlrnwho had been kidnapped by an Albanianrngang and was being held for ransom inrnTurin. Such items are hardly news in Italy,rnSpain, Britain, or Greece, but they somehowrndon’t make it into the press of thernland of the free. The same applies in casesrnwhich evoke Salman Rushdie’s causerncelebre—especially if they make a MiddlernEastern client state look bad (Reuters,rnJune 18):rnAn Egyptian writer on t r i a l forrnatheism and blasphemy againstrnIslam rooted his defence in thernright to free speech. “I havernan opinion and I expressed myrnopinion in these books,” SalaheddinrnMohsen, in detentionrnsince April, told a s t a t e securrni t y court. . . . Prosecutorsrnput him on t r i a l after he admittedrn. . . t h i s year that herndid not believe in Islam . . .rnMohsen is charged with “usingrnr e l i g i o n to promote, by writing,rnextremist ideas to denigraternthe Islamic religion,rnprovoke s t r i f e and damage nationalrnunity.” The t r i a l isrnthe f i r s t of i t s kind sincernEgypt’s top appeals court pronouncedrnCairo University professorrnNasr Abu Zeid an apostrna t e on the basis of hisrnwritings in 1996 and forciblyrndivorced him from his Moslemrnwife.rnSome of “secular” Egypt’s neighborsrnare busy with less lofty pursuits. The Independentrnof London (June 23) reportsrnthat money laundering has reached colossalrnproportions in Israel, “securing its statusrnas one of the world’s leading moneyrnlaundries.” The paper states that gangstersrnfrom Russia take advantage of moneytransferrnlaws aimed at attracting Jewishrnpeople to the country:rnThe businessman Gregory Lernerrnnotoriously admitted defraudingrnRussian banks of $48 [million]rn, which he used to. t r y tornopen a bank in I s r a e l . He wasrnfined $5 [million] not forrnbringing in stolen money butrnfor local bribery and fraud.rnBanking or spending the profirnt s of i l l i c i t offshore enterprisesrnhas not been i l l e g a l inrnI s r a e l , although moves arernafoot to change t h i s . For thisrnreason, Israel has been consideredrna launderer’s paradise.rnEstablished as a safehavenrnfor the Jews, the countryrnhas not asked many questionsrnabout their riches.rnEat your heart out, Switzerland: “notrnasking too many questions” has cost yourndearly. Perhaps one day, the Russian governmentrnwill sue Israeli banks for thernmany billions stolen from their rightfulrnowners—and invoke the recent Swissrnprecedent.rnSEPTEMBER 2000/21rnrnrn
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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