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Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade

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Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade
AuthorTariq Ali (editor)
LanguageEnglish
SubjectNATO bombing of Yugoslavia
PublisherVerso Books
Publication date
2000
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages240

Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade is a 2000 anthology of texts critical of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War, edited by Tariq Ali.

Summary

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The texts in Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade question the legitimacy of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War and criticise the people who promoted it as a humanitarian intervention, such as Tony Blair and Jürgen Habermas.[1]

The book contains an introduction with the title "After the War" by the editor Tariq Ali and the following texts:[2]

Part I. How to Rule the World: Geopolitics after the Cold War

  • "The Euro-Atlantic Origins of NATO's Attack on Yugoslavia" by Peter Gowan
  • "The Balkan War and US Global Power" by Giovanni Arrighi
  • "Rasputin Plays at Chess: How the West Blundered into a New Cold War" by Gilbert Achcar
  • "The Strategic Triad: USA, China, Russia" by Gilbert Achcar

Part II. On 'Humanitarian Warfare'

Part III. Balkan Landscapes: the Sleep of Reason

Part IV. Dispatches from the Time of War

Part V. The Last Word

  • "'Traitors' of All Balkan Lands: Unite!" by Gazi Kaplan

Reception

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Victoria Brittain of The Guardian says the book "will make numerous powerful men in western chancelleries exceedingly cross", as its authors "take on just about everyone involved in the promotion of NATO's first war".[1] In Medicine, Conflict and Survival, Rae Street calls the book "deeply engaging" and "a treasure-trove of arguments and information", praising its authors' "stimulating writing" and willingness to ignore appeals from politicians and journalists to "the values of the western world".[3] Carl G. Jacobsen describes the book in Global Dialogue as "a powerful, compelling antidote" to apologias for NATO's intervention and the hegemony of the United States over Europe.[4] Gregory Elich writes in Science & Society that the book contains little analysis of the war itself, but works as background reading about the lead-up to the war, American domination of Western Europe and NATO's decision to expand into Eastern Europe.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b Brittain, Victoria (29 April 2000). "War crimes". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  2. ^ Ali, Tariq, ed. (2000). Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade. London; New York: Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-85984-269-0.
  3. ^ Street, Rae (2001). "Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade". Medicine, Conflict and Survival. 17 (1): 87. JSTOR 45351870.
  4. ^ Jacobsen, Carl G. (2000). "Deconstructing Nato's 'Humanitarian War'". Global Dialogue. 2 (3): 163.
  5. ^ Elich, Gregory (2002). "Masters of the Universe? NATO's Balkan Crusade". Science & Society. 66 (2): 291. JSTOR 40403999.
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