Randy Mott

Mr Randy Mott wrote to us pointing out that the views expressed in Sam Vaknin's article, "The Dark Clouds of NATO", which appeared in Central Europe Review, 26 July 1999, are neither as clear nor as indisputable as one might expect. Dr Vaknin's article delineates the unbelievable, and frightening, findings of the Assessment of Environmental Impact of Military Activities During the Yugoslavia Conflict - Preliminary Findings, which was prepared in June 1999 by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe, a reputable NGO, and commissioned by the European Commission (DG-XI Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection).

To the Editor:

The UN team has made preliminary observations on the environmental impact of the Kosovo war that differ greatly from the Regional Environmental Centre's report and the views expressed in CER.

The basic problem has been the extent of pre-war pollution. As a former socialist country, Yugoslavia has the same laissez-faire environmental attitudes that predominated in Central and Eastern Europe under Communism.

While I was opposed to NATO taking sides in a long-standing domestic feud, there does not seem to be very credible evidence that environmental problems can be blamed on anything but a totalitarian regime's historical neglect.

Randy Mott, 11 August 1999, Alexandria, Virginia, USA