Last War: New World Order Talks

With diplomats, aid supplies, soldiers and finally bombers, the West intervened in the former Yugoslavia - but did this interference really yield anything? Were the pre-formulated goals actually achieved? Or were our pretensions too high and our involvement therefore counterproductive? What can we learn from the experiences in the former Yugoslavia with regard to the new world order? This is the subject of the book 'The Last War, Conversations about the New World Order', written by SP MP Jan Marijnissen and writer-journalist Karel Glastra van Loon on the threshold of the new millennium. The book is a search for answers to many important questions. To this end, they spoke to a large number of prominent people with knowledge, experience and an opinion, both at home and abroad.

'The Last War' has become a disturbing book about war and peace. In addition to the many interviews, the book also contains an extensive essay on the lessons that, in the opinion of the authors, can be learned from the Balkan tragedy and the Western involvement. The authors hope to initiate a social debate about the goals of foreign policy and the dilemmas that are connected to it.

'The Last War' is not a clear-cut book in its conclusions, in the sense that one answer suffices. On the contrary, the answers that Marijnissen and Glastra van Loon recorded during their investigation vary widely. Former European Commissioner Hans van den Broek says 'that in retrospect he regrets that military intervention was not taken earlier, because there were too many deaths.'

'Better no foreign policy than bad foreign policy' should be the adage for responsible government officials, according to Marijnissen and Glastra van Loon. They advocate a new means: 'socio-economic' intervention. This should provide the means to counteract the often absurd differences in prosperity and to combat the causes of conflicts. Marijnissen and Glastra van Loon see no benefit in the arrival of a Euro-army and instead insist on an increased role for the United Nations - which should also be given much more opportunities to do so and should be dominated much less by the large, rich countries. As proof of the correctness of their choice for less military and more socio-economic intervention, they point to the events in Yugoslavia. At the time, the West was not prepared to offer financial aid to prevent a too rapid disintegration of Yugoslavia (as advocated by Lord Carrington, among others), after which the same West appeared to be prepared to deploy billions in weapons to combat the consequences of the disintegration. The Balkan Stability Pact came after Kosovo - while if it had been implemented earlier, it might have prevented the Kosovo war. 'You can put out any fire with a bowl of water - if you are quick enough and willing to use a bowl of water'.

According to the authors, 'we need to put an end to the hypocritical politics that on the one hand preaches the fight for humanity but at the same time does nothing to promote that humanity in peacetime; that on the one hand shows concern about the increase in the number of violent conflicts but on the other hand continues to develop new weapons and trade in arms; that on the other hand swears loyalty to international law but on the other hand does not adhere to it when it suits us.'