Posted on 02/19/2011 2:12:22 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Think Mubarak was bad? Kosovo's leaders are accused of being organ-smuggling, drug-dealing goons -- and the United States is looking the other way.
Amid fireworks and celebratory gunfire, Kosovo -- Europe's newest country -- turned three years old on Thursday, Feb. 17. But behind the scenes of revelry in the capital, Pristina, it's clear that it will take a lot more than flag-waving for the fledgling country to grow out of its terrible twos. For all the hope that was once showered upon this young democracy, it still faces an enormous uphill battle: the country has no international postal or telephone code; it cannot establish its own IP address; its athletes cannot partake in many international sporting events; thousands of NATO troops still remain as peacekeepers; and Kosovars can only travel visa-free to five countries -- one of which is Haiti. With only 75 out of 192 nations having recognized the new state, it remains in a purgatory of semi-sovereignty.
Meanwhile, it's been a big start to the year for new states and new orders. The regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have fallen. Southern Sudan claimed its independence with a near unanimous result. A wave of reform protests continues across the Middle East. After a bit of diplomatic wavering, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to self-determination and human rights, promising to support "principles, processes and institutions -- not personalities" in its engagement with the new governments taking root in North Africa.
Trouble is, a sobering assessment of the successes and failures of state-building since the end of the Cold War demonstrates that governance and development work best when a population rallies behind an enlightened leader -- and suffer when one does not emerge. Principles of democracy and human rights have to abide in a leadership and must be bought
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
'Why do we have all these neat weapons if we can't use them?'
If all the moonbat Prof's want to look for an "Illegal War", start there. Billy-Jeff ignored Congres and the US War Powers Act. He ignored the United Nations, AND Klintoon forced NATO to void its Charter by attacking a non NATO member country that was not a threat to any of them, or us (details, details, details).
Not to mention that ijit 'general', Weasley Cluck almost starting WWIII by wanting to attack Russian Troops at Pristina airport. We'll overlook the bombing of Serbian civilian targets with 'dumb bombs' from 20,000 feet. That's just another, 'minor detail'.
You forgot to mention the Stealth Fighter that we left there for the Chinese to learn from...
Would that be the F-117 'Stealth Fighter' that was shot down over Serbia in 1999? (guess all that 'Stealth' didn't work too good that day.)
Anyway, with all the Hi-Tech stuff that Billy-Jeff was giving selling China - through Loral(1) - for Campaign/Library money I figured that was just another 'minor detail' and not worth mentioning ;-)
an aside: With all the arms and info the CIA was giving the KLA Terrorists I'm surprised the USA had any 'secrets' left after that 'war' ended.
Read the whole article. Pay special attention to page six.
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