January 09, 2004
THIS IS FAST, EVEN FOR US
Serb ethnic cleansing brigade in training for Afghan mission (IAN BRUCE, The Herald, 1/09/04)
SERB paramilitary troops who last saw action in the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo in 1999 are being trained for anti-terrorist duties in Afghanistan beside some of the US forces who helped expel them from the Yugoslav province.Not that this is in any way a clash of civilizations . . . Posted by David Cohen at January 9, 2004 03:10 PMThe 1000-strong force comprises some former members of the "red berets", a feared military police unit which helped lead the campaign to drive the Albanian majority out of Kosovo and wipe out Kosovo Liberation Army resistance fighters.
The US has provisionally accepted the offer of the battalion to help relieve the strain on its overstretched garrison in Kandahar and to help hunt al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in the mountains east of the city.
It's barely reported or even acknowledged, but among the main beneficiaries of Mssrs. Clark and Clinton's war were those in league with Bin Laden. The Albanians have also now claimed a large chunk of organized crime in Europe.
It makes sense, then, that Serbs would be on our side in Afghanistan. This seems like a fairly big story and another slap-down (though not so big as Mr. Milosovic being elected to parliament) of Wesley Clark.
Posted by: Jim at January 9, 2004 03:53 PMIf you buy Huntington's thesis, as you appear to do by using the "clash of civilizations," then the Serbs cannot be on our side, because Huntington says Orthodoxy and Rome are antagonistic.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at January 9, 2004 04:08 PMThe Serbs certainly aren't going just for our benefit.
So just what are they getting from us?
Harry -- And secular Iraq will never make common cause with Al Qaeda. I would guess that the Serbs now think that their enemy is our enemy.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 9, 2004 04:18 PMI would not get carried away with symbolim, as I see the Serbs wanting to be just "useful" in the New World order (meaning being nice to us). And actually, if they have a message to send here, it is as likely to be to the EU-snobs than to the Islamofascists.
Posted by: MG at January 9, 2004 04:40 PMHarry--
I don't think that Huntington says that civilizations must be clashing with each other all at once--two civilizations can easily ally temporarily, or be at peace with each for a long time.
How the Serbs would (will?) do as a part of the EU would be a more Huntingdonian question.
Posted by: Brian (MN) at January 9, 2004 04:57 PMBrian and Harry
think pre-modern,last years enemy is this years ally.Short term goals,and allies,may change in the persuit of long term goals.
Posted by: M. at January 9, 2004 05:47 PMHarry is right and wrong about Huntington's thesis and the position of Orthodoxy (Russia) and the West (not Rome).
First, Orthodoxy is threatened by the Islamists as is the West, making the two natural allies against a common enemy.
Second, Huntington stated that it was possible that Orthodox civilization would become part of the West in its attempt at reforming its politics and economy. Given Putin's general pro-Western policies this is distinctly still an open option in the years to come if he aligns Russia more with the West.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at January 9, 2004 06:52 PMChris:
You remind me that Russia was passionately, indeed violently, opposed to the Kosovo war on the basis of Slavic brotherhood. Now, Serbia wants to make common cause with us in Afghanistan, something that Russia has not been much doing.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 9, 2004 07:04 PMM.'s on point!
Posted by: Genecis at January 9, 2004 09:25 PMComplicated, isn't it?
But I think Huntington is mostly right that, long term, civilizations are antagonistic. The Japanese may prove an exception.
The Russians have tended in the name of slavic brotherhood to have sided with the Serbs again and again, and it has always worked out badly for them.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at January 12, 2004 12:37 PM