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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (74784)	2/17/2003 12:24:36 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Analysis: Bulgaria, the 'quiet American' upi.com [ I stumbled on this while looking up something unrelated, it's pretty amusing and speaks to Safire's "great majority of democratic nations". I have no idea why the moonie editors let this one through. "Such overt obsequiousness" is clearly the only way to resolve international differences of opinion, as near as I can tell from local analysis. Now if only the French would figure that out . . . ] SKOPJE, Macedonia, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Last week, Bulgaria, sitting on the United Nations Security Council, was one of 10 east and southeast European countries -- known as the Vilnius Group -- to issue a strongly worded statement in support of the United States' attempt to disarm Iraq by military means. This followed a similar, though much milder, earlier statement by eight other European nations, including Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, the European Union's prospective members in central Europe. The Vilnius 10 -- Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- called the evidence presented to the Security Council by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell -- "compelling." Iraq posed a "clear and present danger," they concluded. Bulgaria and Romania pledged free access to their air spaces and territorial waters. The first U.S. military plane landed on Monday in the Safarovo airport in the Black Sea city of Burgas in Bulgaria. Other members are poised to provide medical staff, anti-mine units and chemical protection gear. Such overt obsequiousness did not go unrewarded. Days after the common statement, the International Monetary Fund -- considered by some to be a long arm of America's foreign policy -- clinched a standby arrangement with Macedonia, the first in two turbulent years. On the same day, Bulgaria got glowing -- and counterfactual -- reviews from yet another IMF mission, clearing the way for the release of a tranche of $36 million out of a loan of $330 million. Partly in response, six members of parliament from the ruling Simeon II National Movement joined with four independents to form the National Ideal for Unity. According to Novinite.com, a Bulgarian news Web site, they asserted that "the new political morale was seriously harmed" and "accused the government of inefficient economic program of the government that led to the bad economic situation in the country." Following the joint Vilnius Group declaration, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Macedonia received private and public assurances that their NATO applications now stand a better chance. Bulgaria started the second round of negotiations with the military alliance Monday and expects to become a full member next year. The head of the U.S. Committee on NATO Enlargement, Bruce Jackson, stated: "I'm sure that Bulgaria has helped itself very much this week." . . .