John, Bosnia is an example of a good reason for American troops being sent into harm's way. The Europeans have repeatedly demonstrated their inability to solve the most basic problems that they should have learned from the lessons of the 20th century. You have the Catholics of Croatia representing Western Europe, the Eastern Orthodox Serbia representing Eastern Europe, and the Muslims representing the world of Islam from Western Africa to Indonesia and Central Asia. There was absolutely no excuse for allowing Milosevic, dictator of Serbia, to start doing what he did across the old Yugoslavia. The people of Yugoslavia were getting along very well before Milosevic and now they all hate each other. That hate will last for centuries and will be part of the culture of those people forever.
American troops were slaughtered in the First World War which started because of the stupid hatreds in that part of the world. The Second World War was an continuation of the First. It is easy to see how another huge war could start there. There are still plenty of nuclear weapons in Russia along with plenty of Communists and crazy nationalists. That is the source of the support for the Serbs which has been traditional. There is plenty of ill will in the Muslim world and with Iraq and Iran building weapons of mass destruction with the aid of the Russians, French and Chinese, they would likely take the side of the Muslims in Bosnia.
Now the US is ready to enforce the ban on weapons of mass destruction imposed on Iraq but is opposed by the French, Chinese, Russians, Egyptians, and I don't know who else. Some more Americans are going to be killed and more of our taxes wasted on these people but it can't be helped because they don't want to learn. If we don't go in and nip it in the bud now, we will eventually be involved in another gigantic slaughter.
The inability of the Europeans to act in a concerted way to prevent a massive problem from developing is the reason I think the European common currency is going to fail. Before a common currency can work, there has to be a common government. How good would a greenback be if there was no federal government and all 50 states decided to go to a common currency without the discipline of a common government to enforce financial laws? I think the Euro will be another mess for the American taxpayer to pay for because that will be the way it will develop, not because I think we should.
Charles |
