NATO's Empty Victory [Paperback]

Ted Galen Carpenter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2000

The Clinton administration and the other NATO governments boast that the alliance won a great victory in its war against Yugoslavia.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Within days of the end of the fighting, policy-oriented scholars began writing up the lessons and meaning of the Kosovo conflict (March-June 1999). The arguments assembled in this collection probe deeper into the diplomatic and moral rationale for the NATO-led conflict with Serbia. Readers familiar with the CATO Institute, an independent Washington think-tank, will find that this text adopts its generally conservative line. A battery of foreign policy experts focus on what they perceive to have been the diplomatic miscalculations and the moral blunders in the lopsided, ill-advised conflict. These range from NATO's misreading of Serb and Albanian nationalism to the harming of the West's relations with Russia and China. John Mearsheimer's essay on partition as the only rational solution to the Serb-Kosovar problem, in particular, introduces a much-needed element of sober realism into the debate about the future of the Balkans. While these essays do not cover important recent events, they underscore the need for a sustained effort to overcome the weight of Balkan history in reviewing the recent conflict. For academic and larger public libraries.
-John Raymond Walser, U.S. Dept. of State, Washington, DC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Cato Institute (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882577868
• ISBN-13: 978-1882577866
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,523,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad for Yugoslavia, Bad for the US, August 31, 2000

By 

Phillip Corwin, author Dubious Mandate: A Mem... (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NATO's Empty Victory (Paperback)

A real gem of an essay collection: articulate, passionate, and in the deepest sense, boldly patriotic. From several different angles, the authors of these essays -- eminently qualified scholars, diplomats, and foreign policy experts -- show why NATO's military aggression against Yugoslavia, under the guise of humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, was bad, very bad, for America's national interest. Here from the introduction, is a brief balance sheet on the Clinton-Albright war of aggression: "In the course of acquiring the dubious role of baby sitter of the Balknas, NATO inflicted enormous suffering on innocent Serbian and Albanian Kosovar civilians; created serious economic and political prolbmes for neighboring Balkan countries, stimulated fears through the world that the democratic West had embarked on a new round of imperialism under a phony banner of humanitarian intervention; further undermined a key provision of the U.S. Constitution; and badly damaged relations with Russian and China."

One wonders, after reading these essays, why did the so-called "independent" Western press act as publicist and promoter for US foreign policy? Where were the dissenters? Moroever, these essays suggest that the real dangers in the Balkans are Albanian nationalism and NATO expansionism. Do we want American soldiers sacrificed in foreign wars that have no impact on our national interest -- in fact, undermine out national interest? Read this book!

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NATO's Empty Victory. It answers "why?"., March 7, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: NATO's Empty Victory: A Postmortem on the Balkan War (Hardcover)

The author's writing style is clear and concise. There is good support in terms of data and comparisons to support the main points. The book addressed my concerns about what is really behind NATO's first ever military actions against a economic third world country that had not attacked nor threatened militarily any of the members of the NATO alliance. I was also curious how NATO justified acting on behalf of the United Nations in spite of a lack of consensus on the part of the Security Council - the book give a convicing explanation. More trouble is ahead in NATO occupied Kosovo. This book can be useful in understanding why. Good reading.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for NATO and the Balkan War studies., February 3, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NATO's Empty Victory (Paperback)

This brief survey of the Balkan War challenges the notion that NATO had waged a successful campaign against genocide, showing how the Kosovo Liberation Army is still a threat and considering how the war actually damaged relationships between major world powers. Recommended for any in-depth study of the Balkan War or Nato.