“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” ignsJ of tjje tKimesirnVol. 1 No. 7 July 1999rnThe crisis in Kosovo continues to illuminaternthe glaring gap between the qualityrnof reporting in America and in the restrnof the world. In Western Europe, in particular,rnthe tragedy in the Balkans hasrncome to be seen as the defining moment ofrnour civilization and of its chances for survivalrnin the coming century.rnJohn Laughland, writing in the Times ofrnLondon (April 22), identified the fundamentalrnissue at stake in Kosovo: the leftistinternationalistrnconspiracy to destroyrnthe nation-state, and thereby the very conceptrnof nation:rnAmong the charred corpses andrnsmoking ruins of Kosovo therernl i e s an unreported casualty. Itrni s not one of the hundreds ofrnphysical victims of Nato’s bombsrnbut instead a metaphysical one.rnIn 1999 as in 1389, the BlackbirdrnField has witnessed the defeat ofrnthat spiritual body of valuesrnwhich . . . used to be known asrnthe West. . . . [T]he war is beingrnfought to destroy the veryrnprinciples which constitute thernWest, namely the rule of law.rnUnlike in 1389 however, the enemyrni s not the Sultan but rather thernleaders of the Western nationsrnthemselves. . . . The bombingrnstarted because Milosevic refusedrnto allow hostile foreign troopsrnon to Yugoslav soil. Overturningrnthis refusal remains Nato’s overridingrnpurpose. Yet this demandrni s completely incompatible withrnthe logic of a system ofrnsovereign states, which for thernpast 350 years has formed the basrni s of Western p o l i t i c s , liberalismrnand the rule of law.rnLaughland admits that state sovereigntyrncan be overridden in certain extremerncases. But he warns that the war is beingrnfought in order to override it in all casesrnand to remove it completely as a relevantrnfactor in the New World Order. If the warrnis post-national in its aims, Laughlandrncontinues, it is also post-national in its implementation.rnNATO is colluding withrnthe Kosovo Liberation Army, “whosernstructures and goals owe very little to anyrnpolitical program of national liberation forrnKosovo and instead a great deal to thernneeds of its mafia activities and extensiverndrug-running network.” The only nationrninvolved is Serbia, whose wholesale destruction,rnif not the stated aim of the war,rnis certainly going to be its outcome:rnThis i s why a l l the war’s mainrnprotagonists are old enemies ofrnnationhood, NATO and the West.rnBill Clinton, Mr. Blair, JoschkarnFischer and Senor Solana formrn”the new generation of p o l i t i ­ciansrnwho hail from the progressivernside of politics” of whichrnMr. Blair boasts. Commentatorsrnhave been wrong to chuckle at thernapparent conversion of these onetimernopponents of US power, forrnthe truth is much worse. Thisrnwar represents the most completernfulfillment of their deepest internationalistrnconvictions. . . .rnMr. Blair has even compared thernfour weeks of bomb attacks on Yugoslaviarnto the process by whichrn”globalisation is opening up thernworld’s financial architecturernfor discussion, re-evaluation andrninprovement”. War, i t seems, isrnnow the continuation of economicrnintegration by other means.rnWriting also in the Times of Londonrn(April 28), Simon Jenkins provided arntimely reminder that, prior to the beginningrnof the air campaign, American strategistsrnhad claimed that Belgrade mightrneven welcome a few bombs, so that SlobodanrnMilosevic could justify a retreatrnfrom Kosovo to his countrymen. Whenrnthat did not work, Clinton and Blair resortedrnto “morality.”rnJenkins pointed out that the killing of arnscore of technicians working for Belgraderntelevision came after specific assurancesrnfrom NATO spokesman Jamie Shea thatrnthe station was not a target. NATO’s postbombingrnspin was that the techniciansrnwere “legitimate targets” since the stationrnhad refused NATO’s demand that it broadcastrnsix hours of “Western programs” inrnplace of its own propaganda. By no definitionrnof war were these civilians classifiablernas combatants. Yet they were treatedrnby NATO’s targeters as the equivalent ofrnspies, executed without trial.rnMore than 350 European writers,rnartists, and intellectuals—including AleksandrrnSolzhenitsyn, Harold Pinter, PeterrnHandke, Mikis Theodorakis, Jean Raspail,rnand Jacques Laurent—signed a petitionrnpublished in Germany, France, andrnother countries, and ignored by the Americanrnmedia:rnfor the f i r s t time since 1945 arnEuropean sovereign state is beingrnbombed by a military alliance underrnAmerican command, with totalrnconterrpt for the rules of internationalrnlaw and in breach of thernUN Charter. NATO’s aggressionrnagainst Serbia is unacceptablernand will only worsen the confrnl i c t s i t is supposed to resolve.rnThe victims of the bombing arernthe Serbian and Albanian people,rnwhom NATO’s sorcerer’s apprenticesrnare pretending to help.rnSolzhenitsyn expanded on this theme inrnthe Moscow Times, an English-languagerndaily, on April 29. He compared the Atlanticrnalliance to Hitler, and denouncedrnjustifications for the air campaign as hypocritical.rn”It was such good luck—thernSerbs are a defenseless target,” Solzhenitsynrntold Russian television, calling the attackrna self-serving show of strength. NATOrn”can show its beak and talons.”rnWhile some may dismiss the RussianrnNobel Prize laureate as an inveterate Russianrnnationalist, a similar voice has arisenrnfrom one of NATO’s new members.rnGeorge Konrad, Hungary’s preeminentrnwriter, published an op-ed article on Aprilrn3 that reflected the feeling in Budapest:rnWe Hungarians entered NATO onrnMarch 12. Less than two weeksrnl a t e r , as NATO members, we prolULYrn1999/25rnrnrn