Amazon Review
Scarcely had the dust settled on NATO's 1999 bombing of Serbia when prolific political commentator Noam Chomsky brought out
The New Military Humanism, which raises incisive, unsettling questions about the motives of the United States and England--the two most vocal proponents of Operation Allied Forces--and the efficacy of their handiwork. Chomsky pulls together much damning evidence, including testimony from the military commander who led the attack, to demonstrate that the assault was not intended to bring an end to Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's "ethnic cleansing" of the disputed territory in Kosovo; it seems very likely, in fact, that President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair knew full well that their actions would ultimately exacerbate the situation. Chomsky also points out that if the United States was genuinely concerned with ending the horrors of genocide, its continued financial and military support of repressive regimes in countries like Turkey and Indonesia is at the very least extremely puzzling. (
The New Military Humanism was written and published before the international community decided in September 1999 to intervene in East Timor, which had been subject to Indonesian occupation for over 20 years.) Ultimately, Chomsky suggests, such contradictions exist because what the United States claims to be a "humanitarian" mission is--no matter how glowingly the mass media portrays it--nothing more than American muscle flexing. "The contempt of the world's leading power for the framework of world order", he concludes, "has become so extreme that there is little left to discuss". --
Ron Hogan
Review
'Thank God for Noam Chomsky ... Ruthless in his analysis of Nato's lies, relentless in his emphasis on the parallels between Kosovo, Central America and Turkey, he believes that this year's bombardment of Serbia undermines what is left of international law.' Robert Fisk, The Independent 'Chomsky's new book systematically destroys the argument that there is a new humanism underpinning US policy.' Labour Left Briefing 'This book amounts to a critique of power politics as a possible foundational concept of world order: The only alternative to an international juridico-political framework is allowing the powerful to do as they wish, and the New Military Humanism is a step towards the demolition of the rules of world order.' Millennium 'Rich in thought, and it will definitely serve as a solid introduction to the author's further work on this topic, which is eagerly awaited by many.' Journal of Peace Research 'Lessons from Kosovo is a caustic, honest and totally devestating critique of the rotten nature of contemporary global politics.' Left Republican Review