Strange Allies
Donald Trump is not so cosy with Alex Salmond these days, but Republican nominee to become President of the United States seems to agree that western intervention in the former Yugoslavia was a big mistake - or an "unpardonable folly" as Mr Salmond said at the time.
The late Christopher Hitchens provided an eloquent rebuttal to those who argued for the west to stand on the sidelines during the terrible events in Yugoslavia, yet a recent report in The Huffington Post effectively places Alex Salmond and Donald Trump on the same side of the argument.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-serbia-bombing-mistake_us_57ff94a1e4b0e8c198a654fa
Trump Calls U.S. Bombing Of Yugoslavia A ‘Big Mistake’: Report
If true, the GOP nominee has essentially aligned himself with Russia.
Igor Bobic - The Huffington Post
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump expressed regret to Serbia for the U.S.-led bombing campaign of what was then Yugoslavia in the 1990s, according to a Serbian weekly magazine.
“The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake,” Trump told Nedeljnik. “Serbians are very good people. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of.”
NATO forces carried out two major bombing campaigns of then-Yugoslavia to halt ethnic persecution and genocide. In 1995, NATO bombed Bosnian Serb forces threatening United Nations “safe zones” in order to prevent genocide like the one that occurred in Srebrenica. In 1999, NATO again deployed forces ― without U.N. authorization ― in a humanitarian mission to stop Serbian persecution of Albanians in Kosovo. Russia, however, viewed the bombing as a breach of international law.
A request for further clarification from Trump’s campaign was not immediately returned. Newsweek, which also reported on the statements, updated its article Thursday to clarify that the Nedeljnik interview was conducted “via email correspondence with a Trump campaign senior adviser, Suzanne Ryder Jaworowski.” Both the original Nedeljnik article and the Newsweek piece, written by reporter Damien Sharkov, attributed the quotes to Trump.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
Igor Bobic - The Huffington Post
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump expressed regret to Serbia for the U.S.-led bombing campaign of what was then Yugoslavia in the 1990s, according to a Serbian weekly magazine.
“The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake,” Trump told Nedeljnik. “Serbians are very good people. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of.”
NATO forces carried out two major bombing campaigns of then-Yugoslavia to halt ethnic persecution and genocide. In 1995, NATO bombed Bosnian Serb forces threatening United Nations “safe zones” in order to prevent genocide like the one that occurred in Srebrenica. In 1999, NATO again deployed forces ― without U.N. authorization ― in a humanitarian mission to stop Serbian persecution of Albanians in Kosovo. Russia, however, viewed the bombing as a breach of international law.
A request for further clarification from Trump’s campaign was not immediately returned. Newsweek, which also reported on the statements, updated its article Thursday to clarify that the Nedeljnik interview was conducted “via email correspondence with a Trump campaign senior adviser, Suzanne Ryder Jaworowski.” Both the original Nedeljnik article and the Newsweek piece, written by reporter Damien Sharkov, attributed the quotes to Trump.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
Unpardonable Folly (07/07/16)
I watched Sir John Chilcot deliver his long-awaited report into the war in Iraq and while his criticisms were broadly as expected, two important and overarching points stood out.
First, that Sir John and his team enjoyed seven long years to mull the whole business over and they also had the benefit of 20/20 hindsight before drawing their conclusions.
Second, and more importantly, the Chilcot Inquiry did its work inside of a political vacuum rather than the highly adversarial arena in which UK politics is played out these days, under the glare of a cynical and often overtly hostile news media.
Tony Blair can answer for himself and has done, of course.
But some of his fiercest critics were not just against the Iraq War, they opposed military action just about everywhere: the Gulf War in 1991, Nato air strikes against Serbia in 1999, the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 (in the wake of 9/11), the support for anti-Gaddafi rebels in Libya, and the current action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Alex Salmond who is currently calling for Tony Blair's 'head on a plate' was guilty of a monumental misjudgement, in my view, when he described NATO air strikes against Serbia as an 'unpardonable folly' back in 1999, even though this particular military action was designed to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Kosovo.
First, that Sir John and his team enjoyed seven long years to mull the whole business over and they also had the benefit of 20/20 hindsight before drawing their conclusions.
Second, and more importantly, the Chilcot Inquiry did its work inside of a political vacuum rather than the highly adversarial arena in which UK politics is played out these days, under the glare of a cynical and often overtly hostile news media.
Tony Blair can answer for himself and has done, of course.
But some of his fiercest critics were not just against the Iraq War, they opposed military action just about everywhere: the Gulf War in 1991, Nato air strikes against Serbia in 1999, the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 (in the wake of 9/11), the support for anti-Gaddafi rebels in Libya, and the current action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Alex Salmond who is currently calling for Tony Blair's 'head on a plate' was guilty of a monumental misjudgement, in my view, when he described NATO air strikes against Serbia as an 'unpardonable folly' back in 1999, even though this particular military action was designed to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Kosovo.
So if you were to examine Mr Salmond's remarks with the same cool detachment of the Chilcot Inquiry would you consider his comments to be:
a) a sincerely held, yet ultimately mistaken belief
b) windy, opportunist political rhetoric
c) unforgivably stupid and inane
The lesson of Iraq is that military intervention is messy, complicated business, one that is fraught with risks and has no guarantee of success.
But there is also great risk attached to sitting on the sidelines watching murderous fascists go about their work, as they did in Kosovo in 1999.
As the late author Christopher Hitchens said, though much more eloquently than me:unpardonable folly, my arse.
a) a sincerely held, yet ultimately mistaken belief
b) windy, opportunist political rhetoric
c) unforgivably stupid and inane
The lesson of Iraq is that military intervention is messy, complicated business, one that is fraught with risks and has no guarantee of success.
But there is also great risk attached to sitting on the sidelines watching murderous fascists go about their work, as they did in Kosovo in 1999.
As the late author Christopher Hitchens said, though much more eloquently than me:unpardonable folly, my arse.
BBC News - 22 March 1999
Demonstrations: Serbs and Albanians focus protests in London
Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond has become the first leading UK politician to speak out over the air strikes against Serbia, calling them counter-productive.
In a televised address to the Scottish people, Mr Salmond said that the military campaign was failing to do anything but strengthen Serb resolve and threaten the lives of ethnic Albanians.
And as Nato launched another night of raids against targets in Yugoslavia, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, also called for talks to replace bombing "as soon as possible".
'Dubious legality'
Mr Salmond said: "It is an act of dubious legality, but above all one of unpardonable folly."
The bombing "may make matters even worse for the very people it is meant to be helping".
The nationalist leader said Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic bore "prime responsibility" for human rights violations carried out on ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo.
"However, if we are to sanction intervention in Serbia then the policy must be capable of achieving two things," he said.
"It must be capable of weakening Milosevic and helping Kosovo. A bombing campaign will do neither, indeed the chances are it will make both worse."
The SNP wants an end to the bombing
But reacting to the breaking of ranks among domestic politicians, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook accused Mr Salmond of being "unfit to lead".
"He (Alex Salmond) fails to see the clear distinction between the resolve of a democracy defending itself against dictatorship and a dictatorship engaged in ethnic cleansing," he said.
But Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley also questioned the Nato bombing in his address to the Welsh nation, asking whether the action was actually exacerbating a human catastrophe.
Carey calls for talks
Dr Carey later called for talks to replace confrontation "as soon as possible".
He told BBC's One's Nine O'Clock News that Nato had been right to act but negotiations must restart to save civilian lives.
"The evils of ethnic cleansing and the dispersed populations are factors that no civilised person can be happy about," he said.
"We are seeing on our screens appalling pictures of suffering.
"Negotiation must replace confrontation as soon as possible. Nato was correct to take the action, howbeit regretfully - we must all regret that very deeply.
"But it is vitally important that we get people around that negotiating table as quickly as possible in order that civilian lives may be saved."
Riot police flood Whitehall
Meanwhile, London experienced more protests, leading to riot police moving in to keep opposing demonstrators apart.
Hundreds of officers closed off Whitehall as a demonstration of more than 1,000 Albanians in Trafalgar Square neared Downing Street where Serbs were protesting against the air strikes.
The square was filled with pro-Kosovo demonstrators carrying banners declaring: "No appeasement, no compromise, no surrender".
Serbs held placards denouncing Mr Cook as a murderer - but despite fears of a clash the noisy demonstrations ended peacefully.
At one point Union flag-waving Kosovans allowed two Serb women through, escorted by riot police, to attend their rival demonstration.
