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Battalion
Page 9 • Monday, April 19, 1999
Vo Greeks allowed
should be thrown out of NATO due to recent actions concerning Kosovo conflict
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PASSWATERS
resolution to the conflict.
:e every nation’s leader
ntitled to his or her own
nion, this would not be
thlnentioning — save for the fact that
ece itself is a part of NATO.
Vith the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
anston of NATO into Eastern Europe, some
pie have suggested that the organization has
ome too large for a mission that is still rela-
ly undefined. If streamlining is indeed in or-
tht n Greece should be the first to go. Its
k record is an indication that it is a part of
alliance in name only.
Jnder the leadership of Greece’s ruling party, the
-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the
S eks have racked up a rather stunning record of
dng the United States and Great Britain,
t would be a logical assumption that Greece
ildlfeei some sort of debt to these two nations
d not only freed Greece from Nazi tyranny but
) prevented it from falling into the Communist
ere of influence in the Greek Civil War. In-
id.lhe late Prime Minister of Greece Andreas
japindreou, told “60 Minutes” “I’m grateful to
g 0iri: bna for anything.”
and ||J nc | er Panapandreou, Greece showed that to
:rue. After PASOK signed a “bond of brother-
id” with Syria’s Baath Party (run by Hafez As-
A , no humanitarian himself) , Greece allied it-
E| with Mummar Khaddafi’s Libya. While
K’ing American F-16 fighter aircraft, the Greeks
> permitted terrorists from Libya and Abu
al’fe group to work from inside its territory
ebac^e ^ oul an y interference.
Yhpn the Reagan administration warned
eripan citizens not to travel to Greece after
hijackings of several aircraft and the murders
, - eveial American citizens, the Greek govern-
it accused the United States of conducting
'ropst operations” against it by creating the
DPS iression that Greece was unsafe,
it Universeyhly WO uld anyone consider a nation that calls
letrc w \Yia\ b\ow up busses and
mailable:
ars ana c
on Spikes
he St. Lix
Bears and
d Aggies
th of- _
bomb synagogues unsafe?
While the Palestinians, who are fighting for a
land that they consider to be theirs, are called
“freedom fighters,” the Kosovo Liberation Army
1Y.LA) are called terrorists by the Greek govern-
ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion
ment. Greece hates the KLA because they are of
Albanian descent and they consider Albanians to
be “Turks.”
Jn Robert Kaplan’s splendid book Balkan Ghosts a
Greek politician tells him that “you must never con
fuse an open heart with an open mind.”
Greece’s hatred for Turkey, a supposed
ally and fellow member of NATO, goes
back nearly a thousand years.
It can be described in one word: Con
stantinople. Since the Islamic Turks took
the city —the cradle of the Eastern Ortho
dox Church — and renamed it Istanbul,
the Greeks have felt that part of their na
tional character has been stolen from
them. The hatred of the Turks and those
like them has becoming all-consuming for
the Greeks. The Serbs are Eastern Ortho
dox just as the Greeks are.
As a result, Greece supports their oppres
sion of the Kosovar Albanians. The fact that
this oppression can also be deemed exter
mination is not important; the Serbs are like
them, and the Kosovars are like the Turks.
This is justification to the Greeks and to
many other people of the Eastern Orthodox
faith for whatever the Serbs do.
Kaplan writes that “the Greeks cannot
bring themselves to utter the word, Istanbul.”
However, as the song goes, “Istanbul is Con
stantinople” — and it is nobody’s business
but the Turks. The Greeks have decided that
they cannot let past history be just that — in
the past.
They have decided that their religious
bonds and long standing hatreds are more
important than being a part of an new,
multicultural alliance. NATO has existed
for 50 years; it does not have the staying
power of a grudge 800 years old.
Greece’s support for Yugoslavia, no mat
ter how tacit, cannot be permitted by
NATO. In order to stop the extermination
of the Kosovar Albanians, NATO must put
forth a strong, totally united front in order
to face down Slobodan Milosevic.
Greece’s decision to not be in lock step
with NATO has given the Serbs hope that
the alliance will crack if they hold out long
enough. If Qreece wishes to put old ha
treds ahead of new bonds, then it should
be free to do so — after the other members of
NATO eject it from their ranks.
Mark Passwaters is a graduate electrical
engineering student.
eople of different religions should not push beliefs on others
Staff
; i
k
•Id work
icouragaki ... . ,
| eligious toler-
'isitourweisjg ance in Ag-
Vgieland? Grant-
this semester
aid have been a lot
i hectic at the The
Mian office if such
I pg did exist.
^-The idealist in
^ryone would just
5 to see Baptists,
David
LEE
Kti
(hoLcs, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and
In atheists hold hands at Fish Pond to-
|tow and sing “We Are the World.”
wever, judging from the heated debate
rked by this topic, it is about time
leone addresses why religious intoler-
e exists at Texas A&M.
The answer is pretty obvious if one
S at the situation objectively. The cul-
■ islhe prevalence of self-righteous-
KjS among a certain minority of stu-
itshere determined to force their slant
Christianity down the throats of the
of ihe student body. Their presence.
which seems to be innocent at first, man
ages to undermine the strong unity and
levels of understanding that are the cor
nerstones of this University.
Without a doubt, self-righteousness
and religion are a volatile combination.
From the Crusades to the ongoing ethnic
cleansing in Kosovo, countless conflicts
throughout the course of human history
have occurred because of self-righteous
people who think of themselves as be
lievers of the “absolute” truth. That be
lief, in and of itself, is not the problem.
Quite the contrary, it is honorable for
people to find their spiritual compasses,
whether they believe in Jesus Christ, Al
lah, are seeking a state of nirvana or
whatever else. It is only when people are
deadset on forcing their beliefs on others
who do not welcofne it, this becomes a
serious problem. If anything, people
should have figured out by now that
there is no way human beings can agree
on one absolute truth when it comes to
religion. Why else are there so many dif
ferent religions in the world? Why else
are there so many denominations of
Christianity?
In a recent study, Newsweek reported
that almost one-third of the world’s pop
ulation claims to be Christian. Obviously,
Christianity is the dominant ideology
here on campus. It is not uncommon to
see a student faithfully reading his or her
Bible between classes. Every now and
then, students are seen passionately de
bating and discussing religious topics.
Such activities do not necessarily indi
cate self-righteousness; the majority of
these students are admirably displaying
the strong faith they have in God. It is
only when these students begin to pester
other students who do not share their
views, when they begin to put down and
insult other students for having a view
that does not conform exactly to theirs
that they become self-righteous. Only
then is the line crossed.
Yes, it is the duty of every self-respect
ing Christian to spread the gospel of Je-
MAIL CALL
sus Christ; no one denies that. However,
there is a fine line between enlightening
a lost soul and badgering someone who
is already on solid spiritual ground. If a
student is a devout Muslim and has been
for his entire life, it is ridiculous for a fa
natical Christian student to pester him,
condemning him for not sharing the
same beliefs.
The only thing that is accomplished
through that course of action is the Muslim
student’s growing contempt for the other
student’s ignorance, furthering the rift
from understanding. Furthermore, it is
even more ridiculous for a Baptist student
to insult and berate a Catholic student for
not sharing the same religious doctrines.
Even though the two students may be
of differing denominations with differing
opinions on Christianity, in the end, it is
the same God.
In the end, it is the same Christ who
died to wash away the collective sins of
mankind. It is a shame that in the midst
of all this arguing that this ideal is lost.
This is college right? A place of open dis
cussion and respectful debate? Then why
is such an ignorant attitude prevalent? It
makes very little sense.
What is the solution to this problem?
Well, the sad thing is that there is no per
manent solution, nor should there be
one. Human nature dictates that this im
balance will continue, that human beings
will continue to disagree on religion.
It is all just a matter of individual stu
dents deciding on how they will deal
with all of these clashing beliefs and ide
ologies, whether it be through practicing
tolerance or ignorance. Hopefully,
through understanding, or at the very
least tolerating someone else’s views on
religion, one will be able to gain a better
perspective on their own faith. “Love
your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:29 -
12:31). Perhaps that is God’s greatest test
of all.
David Lee is a sophomore
economics major.
orps, non-regs
Jed understanding
n response to Doug Keegan’s
■ 15 mail call.
, j have noticed lately, all of the
>ClJLiresting articles between the
I i f ps and non-regs in The Bat-
1/ Lon and quite frankly I think
K Ft it is wrong.
| fpThe Corps does not hate non-
s and many of my friends
pen not to be in the Corps. I
P that you would show the
pus more what we are about
Bthan letting people from
'side the Corps place articles
'he Battalion about how they
'n things.
PH The Corps of Cadets is an-
i'' 1 -'er bspect of Texas A&M that
Ps to make place seem so
nd|y. I will agree that people
different and we may not al-
's agree with each other, but
definitely should not go out
kjr way to harm each other
_-\i)in 1 say things to reduce each
ag^r.
are all Aggies here and
—'"'e is absolutely no reason to
ilicly bash someone else. It
; ms more and more that peo-
Want to see campus unity,
H
69
but instead of working for that
they complain about the way
things are and make the situa
tion worse. We should be more
constructive and less destruc
tive.
Isaac Bartholomew
Class of ’99
If I’m not mistaken, the posi
tion of yell leader was invented
and performed by the Corps long
before there were non-regs on
this campus.
Why is there such a need to
fill our shoes? If non-regs knew
what it is like to be in the Corps
then I think they would have
more respect for it, and if you
want a Corps position you
should put on a uniform, stop
complaining and live the life that
Aggies have lived since 1876.
We are so passionate about
the Corps because we give our
heart, soul sweat and blood to
this school and people have no
respect.
Why don’t we just give
Reveille to a frat, put OF Sarge
in shorts and a T-shirt and tell
the families of deceased Aggies
that we cannot do Muster any
more.
The fact remains it takes a lit
tle more to be in the Corps of
Cadets, what we do on a daily
basis makes us the better candi
date.
Ricky Wood, would you be up
to spending a few days as one
of the freshman that will be car
rying you off of Kyle next year?
Let us see how you feel about
the Corps then.
Ronnie H. Kirschner
Class of ’00
Kosovo-like conflict
not unique, rare
In response to Lisa Foox’s Apr.
13 opinion column.
The crisis in Kosovo cannot not
be compared with the Holocaust.
Yes, it is ethnic genocide,
however not in large as a scale.
You also stated that after the
Holocaust thousands cried “nev
er again” but it has occurred
again and again, and yes even
before this crisis in Kosovo.
Rwanda, Sudan, Sri Lanka,
not too mention a few other na
tions the United States did not
try to cure.
Bombing for peace, a very in
teresting concept. The NATO
bombing has to stop; it is hurt
ing more than it’s helping. We
have basically severed our ties
with Russia and this is very cru
cial. Yesterday, we bombed a
convoy of ethnic Albanians. And
I am afraid this “war” is going to
turn uglier and uglier before it
gets better. You can say now
that you support the United
States' destruction of others,
but are you going to feel the
same way once body bags of
our soldiers start coming back?
Stop NATO now.
Angelique Dorazio-Sanders
Class of ’98
Writer should do
more topic research
In response to Shea Tran-
tham’s Apr. 14 mail call.
And so another person claim
ing to be ‘hardline’ comes to
prove that it really translates as
“hardhead."
Your claim that the writer’s
logic is faulty, uninformed and ex
tremely biased. I have some bad
news for you, whereas the writer
in The Battalion may have been
biased yours is even more so in
a worse context.
You dispense violence like it
were aspirin to a problem in
which I see you clearly have no
grasp of magnitude for. It is far
nobler to err on the side of
peace than on that of war.
Kill more, kill more — is that
always the solution? This brings
me to the point of the problem
we are trying to solve. Do you
know what it is? Think on this
one and do not just regurgitate
the propaganda that comes out
of the Pentagons press room.
You my friend are the pawn of
the American hate machine, to
paraphrase your clever bit of
non-wisdom in your letter.
Perhaps you can think back to
the Iraqi War when reports came
out of Kuwait that the invading
Iraqis were going into hospitals
and ripping babies out of incuba
tors and taking the old of life
support machines.
These reports turned out to
be generated by the American
propaganda machine, as too did
many other reports that turned
out to be false.
This proof that you claim to
support you point of view calling
for the killing of thousands of
more people is not as reliable as
you seem to believe because any
coverage of it was made impos
sible with the removal of the
OSCE from the country because
of the bombing (now that is a
fact).
Milosevic is a political leader,
albeit a nationalist one, he is
still a political leader. You have
swallowed every piece of sensa
tionalism flown by President Clin
ton, Murderer Albright, and the
Pentagon all the while standing
upon the ideas of American Im
perialism.
I wish that you were more in
formed before you criticize some
one else for not being so.
Jason R. Sanders
Class of ’OO
The Battalion encourages letters to the ed
itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in
clude the author’s name, class and phone
number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit
letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters
may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc
Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also
be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
Campus Mail: 1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu
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