Not long ago, when mad cow disease (BSE) in the UK was thought to be under control, there was much publicity about the renewed safety of eating British beef. Indeed, when EU sanctions were lifted, German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder went so far as to claim he’d soon be eating some.

Since then, however, German politicians have come under fire for not taking the threat seriously enough. Until mid-November 2000, the government insisted no BSE existed in Germany. Before then, BSE cases and its human variant, vCJD, had been reported only in other parts of Europe. Then it appeared in Germany. Both consumers and farmers became unsure and frightened, and the country’s agriculture policy soon came under increased criticism. read more

There are three main positions on Serbian government military action during the 78 day bombing of Yugoslavia.

Position one: Serbian armed forces engaged in genocide on a vast scale; the NATO/KLA forces were right and the Yugoslav government was wrong. Position two: Serbian forces were bad but not as bad as Position One suggests; there was right and wrong on both sides. And Position three: there is no evidence that Serbian forces committed atrocities. Moreover the Serbs were fighting a just war; they were and remain right. read more

For those wanting a second opinion, or in the case of Kosovo, any opinion other than Madeleine Albright’s and her compliant media spin doctors, Kosovo Crisis: A Study in Foreign Policy Mismanagement by Dr. Vojin Joksimovich is a first. It’s the first book authored by this nuclear scientist, the first comprehensive detailed volume about the war in Kosovo as told from a non-NATO perspective. It’s also the first "no-holds barred" attack on the NATO propaganda machine and their dirty little illegal war. read more

Over 20 wars are raging around the globe. Why then was NATO so concerned with the Balkans? The plight of the refugees is the stock pro-war answer. Yet, 15.3 million refugees were made homeless by war in 1995 alone. So, again, why did the war in Kosovo, where US military might was 99 times greater than that of the state it opposed, command the attention of the world’s great powers?

The causes can’t be found by looking only at the Balkans, or at the events of recent months. The roots are much broader and deeper. To see the whole picture we must return to the central fact of recent European history — the fall of the Stalinist states in 1989. read more

During a recent conversation with an old friend – once an anti-war activist, now a congressional staffer – I suggested that the decision to bomb the former Yugoslavia had more to do with NATO’s credibility and US influence in Europe than protecting Kosovo Albanians or defense of human rights. Be that as it may, he responded, "Milosevic is a brutal dictator and something had to be done to stop genocide. I’m not a pacifist."

Such arguments among progressives have been common since late March, with both sides marshaling "facts" to support their positions. Opponents of the war note that NATO and the US didn’t negotiate in good faith, or take steps to deal with the refugee flow that would inevitably follow military action – though they probably expected it. Supporters point to the mass removal of Albanians before the bombing, Milosevic’s past betrayals and crimes, and evidence of atrocities since March. To this extent, both sides are right. But equating opposition to bombing with pacifism, along with the argument that military action was justified by the charge of genocide, betrays the myopic thinking of those who support "diplomacy backed by force." read more

Those who thought the French government blocked the European Commission’s crusade for the New Transatlantic Marketplace (NTM) last spring were surprised when the results of the European Union-United States Summit were announced. At their press conference in May, US President Clinton, Commission President Santer, and UK Prime Minister Blair revealed the birth of a creature called the New Transatlantic Economic Partnership (NTEP). As Clinton put it, using this comprehensive trade initiative, the EU and US "will work to dismantle trade barriers, both bilateral and multilateral … in about a dozen areas in all." read more