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They say that truth is the first casualty of war. And it does seem true. Propaganda must be as old as war itself.
Combatants inevitably try to move public opinion in their direction. They release carefully crafted statements, control what the media can see and hear, and often control what the media can say.
The current situation in the Balkans is no exception. NATO, the US, the Serbs, and the Kosovars all want to control the flow of news and the perspective people have on history.
But there is one difference in this war. This time, many of the battles over public opinion are being waged in cyberspace. Both the combatants and the peace activists are pioneering the use of the Internet to spread their messages. Instead of a few, concentrated news sources, millions of people can now broadcast and exchange information.
In this Policy Spotlight, we highlight some of the most interesting and significant sources for information on the War in the Balkans. The news and commentary comes from all sides of the conflict, but we pay special attention to what free-market and libertarian analysts are saying.
J.D. Tuccille's Media Spotlight (War Coverage to Die For) takes a special look at how the American media is treating the Balkan war.
When you have questions or contributions of your own, add them to the War in the Balkans discussion forum.
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The Cato Institute has been leading the way in reasoned and well-researched policy recommendations related to the Balkans for a number of years. A search of Cato's web site just for articles related to Kosovo will turn up over 60 links.
With so much to choose from, the best place to start is Cato's own page of Selected Readings on the Kosovo Conflict. The earliest of these articles, Kosovo Tempts the Meddlesome to Incite Another Ethnic War, appeared at the beginning of 1998, and warned that certain Western governments were already inflaming the situation in Yugoslavia.
These days, many of the daily Cato Commentaries refer to Kosovo. Articles have ranged from Bill Clinton, Aggressor (3/23/99) to Give Kosovars a Permanent Refuge (4/9/99). Recently active in providing commentary have been Ted Galen Carpenter and Doug Bandow.
Selections from the year leading up to the NATO bombing campaign include Another Balkan Blunder? (7/29/98), An Accomplice to War in Kosovo? (8/5/98), Kosovo Consequences (10/5/98), Clinton's Kosovo Confusion (2/11/99), and Hurtling into the Kosovo Quagmire? (2/19/99).
For slightly lengthier analysis and background, the Cato Foreign Policy Briefing Series provides a wealth of information. Articles such as NATO Expansion Flashpoint No. 2: The Border between Hungary and Serbia (1997) and The Domino Theory Reborn: Clinton's Bosnia Intervention and the 'Wider War' Thesis (1996) have renewed relevance today.
Still longer analyses can be found in Cato Policy Analysis Series. Articles in PDF Adobe Acrobat format include Rethinking the Dayton Agreement (December 1998) and Washington's Kosovo Policy (October 1998).
Cato has also been a leader in more general efforts to move the US Congress away from an interventionist foreign policy. The US Role in Kosovo was delivered to Congress on March 10, 1999. The complete index of Congressional testimony also includes The High Cost of NATO, delivered in 1997.
Finally, if you're looking for some offline reading, try Cato's Online Bookstore Foreign Policy Section for titles such as Beyond NATO: Staying Out of Europe's Wars (1994) and NATO Enlargement: Illusions and Reality (1998).
To stay up-to-date on Cato's activities see their Web page of Cato News Releases, subscribe to the Cato Institute PointCast Connection, or subscribe to the Cato Institute Mailing List.
Antiwar.com: The Committee Against US Intervention
The Committee Against US Intervention has become a leader for the activist antiwar forces in the United States.
Their Web site, Antiwar.com, was registered several years ago and has been active resisting earlier interventionist campaigns, such as those in Bosnia and Iraq. The Antiwar.com front page is updated several times a day with the latest news from a variety of sources other than the "War Party."
Antiwar.com hosts is a growing list of organizations and commentators who have come out against the War in the Balkans. Among the 150 or so names in the list are former Libertarian Party presidential candidate and current US Congressman Ron Paul, former Kosovar Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, writer Thomas Sowell, the John Birch Society, the World Federation of Trade Unions, Pope John Paul II, the Cato Institute, and the Libertarian Party. A large percentage of these names are American, but there is also significant opposition to the war in Canada, the UK, Scotland, India, and elsewhere.
In addition to linking to antiwar daily commentary from around the world, Antiwar.com editor Justin Raimondo delivers his daily Behind the Headlines. Antiwar.com also includes a number of resource pages on subjects such as The KLA, Background on Kosovo, Pro-Intervention Links, and other News Sources.
The Mises Institute was founded with the assistance of the late Murray N. Rothbard, a long-time opponent of US intervention.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., the institute's founder and president, has been a vocal opponent of the NATO involvement in Yugoslavia and elsewhere.
Rockwell's initial response to Clinton's decision to bomb Yugoslavia can be found in The Lies of War (April, 1999).
Rockwell is a frequent contributor to WorldNetDaily. Recent articles of his include Freedom vs. War (April 1, 1999) and Honor and dishonor (April 9, 1999). The latter includes a lengthy list of those who have spoken out either in favor or against NATO attacks on Yugoslavia. Rockwell invites readers to contribute more names.
Mises.org has also published articles by others related to the Kosovar campaign. See especially The Draft (February 19, 1999), Blood in Kosovo (March 24, 1999), Wartime (March 26, 1999), and Orwell and Kosovo (April 9, 1999).
Accuracy in Media is a conservative Washington-based "non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage."
In a recent article, Kosovo: Wag the Dog (4/2/99), AIM takes on claims of one-sided Serbian wrongdoing in Yugoslavia. Articles over the past year include America Goes to War (6/29/98), Story of Mass Graves Gets Buried (8/27/98), More Criticism of CNN (8/12/98), The Genocide Hoax (3/31/99, referring to the Racak Massacre), and Prepare for Another Wag the Dog (10/9/98).
The Yugoslav branch of the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) maintains a small Web site in Belgrade. In addition to the ISIL branch, local organizer Tomislav Krsmanovic also runs The Movement for the Protection of the Human Rights in Belgrade. Prior to the NATO bombing campaign, Krsmanovic had been coming under increasing pressure from Yugoslav authorities. There have been no recent updates.
Sometimes there's nothing like a good thick book to provide a detailed understanding of a complex problem. Laissez Faire Books has an online catalog where you can order titles such as "Isolationism Reconfigured: American Foreign Policy for a New Century" by Eric A. Nordlinger and Ted Galen Carpenter's books "Beyond NATO: Staying Out of Europe's Wars" and "The Captive Press: Foreign Policy Crises and the First Amendment." See Laissez Faire's section on Free Trade & International Issues.
Robert Higgs of The Independent Institute put forward some novel alternatives to NATO expansion in an editorial in the Orange County Register (Superfluous NATO, 12/22/98).
In a 1995 article, Robert Higgs asked More Defense Spending for What? He presciently speculated that "plenty of opportunities will present themselves to any administration willing to use its soldiers as globocops."
Independent Institute research director Alexander Tabarrok comments on the lack of opposition to unbridled executive power in Congress Shall Have the Power to Make War (3/99).
The Republican Liberty Caucus made their position clear on March 25, 1999, with a statement condemning bombing in the Balkans.
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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