Jbl,
It is inevitable that Serbia and the rest of the balkan states will join the EU. They are isolated and surrounded by nations all around them who are seeking to do just that.
As for joining NATO, I don't see why not.
After all, although certain elements of the Serbian population are responsible for the atrocities we have seen over the course of 10 years+, it has been Milosevic and his cronies who have encouraged and empowered it.
I really get some mixed feelings about what is occurring over in Kosovo. While on one hand, I disagree with the bombing strategy(the minute we bombed we essentially admitted diplomatic defeat), on the other, I see very little recourse except to carry through until we can develop a situation the situation where Kosovars can either return home under some semblance of security, or carry on the fight indepently through the KLA from Albanian bases.
But what has left me most disappointed is that Europe, for whom this issue is most acute, has been content to permit the US to carry the largest burden of the air campaign, and thus the blame for any mistakes that occur.
So much of this bloodshed could have been avoided had Russia and China been more proactive towards preventing the inevitable confrontation in Kosovo. Instead they played power politics through the UN security council and prevented the UN from taking the lead in resolving the Kosovo issue, and playing on Western fears by encouraging anti-west nationalism within their own borders.
Russian and Chinese hands are not clean with regard to enpowering Milosevic to carry out the actions that he has. They provided him moral support, realizing their own vulnerability to separatist movements among oppressed minorities within their own borders.
What they have consistently failed to realize is that by providing political representation to EVERYONE in their country, they can usually avoid these issues (Kosovars, while ethnically Albanian, certainly realized that they bread was "buttered" economically through their business connections with Belgrade).
Provide everyone within your borders the same economic opportunity, guarantee their individual rights, and provide them a political outlet for voicing their frustrations, and ethnic jingoism will usually fade into the background.
Just my humble opinion.
Regards,
Ron |
