U.S. should treat ethnic cleansing consistently
Gary Sudborough
When an estimated 2000 people had been killed in Kosovo, the United States called it ethnic cleansing, then threatened military force, and finally bombed Yugoslavia for over two months. When 100 times that number of people have been killed in East Timor, the U.S. response is much more muted. There are no threats to bomb Jakarta or invade Indonesia.
I was somewhat surprised to actually notice mention of this double standard in the U.S. media. Usually, they just ignore inconvenient facts like this. However, they attempt to rationalize this double standard with explanations like it is due to oversights, mistakes, fickleness, absentmindedness or even stupidity.The people who pay the politicians campaign expenses and who own and control so much of this planets resources are not absentminded, nor are they stupid.
Yugoslavia was bombed because it was the last socialist state in Europe and was failing to implement the IMF austerity measures and privatize and deregulate all state-owned enterprises, including their media system. Indonesia is not bombed because it is a capitalist country and has invited in many American based multinational corporations like Nike, which take advantage of the very cheap labor. Also, Suharto destroyed the Indonesian Communist Party in 1965 in one of the greatest slaughters of the 20th century, killing an estimated one million people. Incidentally, lists of dissidents to be executed were provided to the Indonesians by the American Embassy. These things have made Indonesia a very valued ally of the United States and very unlikely to be bombed.
Of course, this explanation can never be given to the American people in the major media. It is too logical and consistent with history and might actually influence a few people.
Gary Sudborough
Bellflower, CA
October 6, 1999
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, October 14, 1999
