
CNN Worked with Army PsyOps Group During Kosovo War (2000) - manjana
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/12/julianborger
======
phobosanomaly
Looking back, it wasn't a time when there seemed to be a big ideological axe
to grind, and Clinton was pretty hesitant to get involved in anything abroad
that could affect the economy. They were just trying to avoid getting
criticized for letting another genocide happen under their noses in the former
Yugoslavia.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_Bill_Cli...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_Bill_Clinton_administration)

Seems plausible that it might have been just as banal as the army claims it
was.

~~~
frabbit
_it wasn 't a time when there seemed to be a big ideological axe to grind_

So, neoliberal intervensionism and bombing for human rights happened in a
vacuum?

There has never been a time when people did not have ideological axes to grind
and this period was one of the launching pads for the Project for a New
American Century.

~~~
phobosanomaly
If you had to assign percentage contributions to decision-making by the
Clinton Administration regarding western intervention in Kosovo, where would
you put them:

% decision due to horrified peers and constituents pressuring the President to
do something to stop another potential genocide

% decision due to Neoliberal puppetmasters playing 3D chess

~~~
frabbit
1\. 10 2\. 90

[https://www.amazon.com/Fools-Crusade-Yugoslavia-Western-
Delu...](https://www.amazon.com/Fools-Crusade-Yugoslavia-Western-
Delusions/dp/158367084X)

~~~
phobosanomaly
Fair enough.

Diana Johnstone has an interesting take on the situation. It is a fringe
opinion, however, and I default to the simpler, more widely-held narrative of
what took place. It's just supported by more journalists who were there, and
it lines up with my heuristics regarding the behavior of the US government
(the Clinton administration in particular).

Yugoslavia Death of a Nation [https://www.amazon.com/Yugoslavia-Death-Nation-
Laura-Silber/...](https://www.amazon.com/Yugoslavia-Death-Nation-Laura-
Silber/dp/0140262636/ref=rtpb_6/144-8428569-8854747?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0140262636&pd_rd_r=160b6135-882d-42a5-9720-fd0cd7c0c2df&pd_rd_w=7aoS0&pd_rd_wg=We8LQ&pf_rd_p=8e29e6d3-1af9-49e1-9000-62311a8a6943&pf_rd_r=3M624AY2X4HACP1XT339&psc=1&refRID=3M624AY2X4HACP1XT339)

The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War [https://www.amazon.com/Fall-
Yugoslavia-Third-Balkan-Revised/...](https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Yugoslavia-
Third-Balkan-
Revised/dp/0140257713/ref=rtpb_5/144-8428569-8854747?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0140257713&pd_rd_r=160b6135-882d-42a5-9720-fd0cd7c0c2df&pd_rd_w=7aoS0&pd_rd_wg=We8LQ&pf_rd_p=8e29e6d3-1af9-49e1-9000-62311a8a6943&pf_rd_r=3M624AY2X4HACP1XT339&psc=1&refRID=3M624AY2X4HACP1XT339)

The Death of Yugoslavia
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Yugoslavia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Yugoslavia)

~~~
frabbit
Are you claiming that those references support the idea that Bill Clinton's
administration acted motivated primarily by humanitarian motivations unalloyed
with the longstanding desire (and repeated demonstration¹) of the United
States to systematically destroy all oppositions to its control of most of the
world's economy?

That seems like a "fringe" opinion to anyone that has looked in even a half-
objective manner at the easily available history.

1\.
[https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/interventions/](https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/interventions/)

~~~
phobosanomaly
Yep. I do claim it.

Clinton did not want to get dragged into a potential quagmire in the former
Yugoslavia.

Sometimes the United States does things to systematically destroy opposition
to its control of most of the world's economy.

Kosovo wasn't one of those times.

I poked through Zoltan's stuff, but I don't see anything that makes any
attempt to look at internal decision-making by the Clinton Administration
during the period.

This Brookings article, however specifically addresses internal decision-
making by the Clinton Administration during the period:

[https://www.brookings.edu/articles/decision-to-intervene-
how...](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/decision-to-intervene-how-the-war-
in-bosnia-ended/)

If you CTRL-F to "Why was the summer of 1995 any different?" There's a
paragraph that explicitly addresses the key elements to Clinton's decision to
pursue an interventionist policy in the former Yugoslavia.

If you are concerned that the Brookings Institution may be a biased source of
information, I welcome you to review it's rating on Media Bias/Fact Check:
[https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/brookings-
institute/](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/brookings-institute/)

