Slate's Bizbox
the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Aronowitz and Willis

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Stanley Aronowitz

Harvest of Cynicism

Posted Monday, April 5, 1999, at 10:53 AM ET

There are two more things to be said. Early in the World War II period an aeronautical engineer named Seversky published a very popular book called Victory Through Air Power in which Americans were promised a virtually push-button war. The illusion that bombing the enemy to hell can save "American" lives while destroying others remains with policy-makers a viable option but it is as looney tunes today as it was almost 60 years ago. Unless the United States and its NATO allies are willing to fight a ground war and reverse the corrupt policy of arms embargo that devastated Bosnia and has had a similar effect in Kosovo, the result of this intervention is likely to strengthen reactionary nationalism in the region.

But Western policy in Yugosalvia has been to strengthen reactionary nationalism since the collapse. It began with Germany's recognition of Croatia. The idea is to "Balkanize" the region so as to more easily control it. Social democrats and human-rights advocates in Croatia have been subject to death squads, exile, and other forms of repression for nearly a decade. But "communism" has been defeated and from the perspective of NATO it's worth the price of ethnic cleansing and mass emigration. Far from humanitarianism, the West is reaping the harvest of its cynicism.

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Stanley Aronowitz

Harvest of Cynicism

Posted Monday, April 5, 1999, at 10:53 AM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Ellen Willis directs the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program in the department of journalism at New York University. Her latest book, Don't Think--Smile! Notes on a Decade of Denial, will be published this fall. Stanley Aronowitz is author of From the Ashes of the Old: American Labor and America's Future (click here to buy the book), and he teaches social and cultural theory at the City University of New York Graduate School. His forthcoming book is Knowledge Factories.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
Imagine if...
Hiatt | What if McCain had waged his campaign based on respect?
Editorial: Meddlesome PalinKing: The Danger of Palin Power