Posted on 11/11/2005 6:28:31 PM PST by NormsRevenge
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Former President Clinton praised former members of the Soviet bloc in the Baltic states and eastern Europe for moving to democracy, but said "we're going through a critical period" on the future of Kosovo.
The Serbian province populated by ethnic Albanians and Serbs has been run by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia, later renamed Serbia-Montenegro. Kosovo wants full independence; Serbia refuses to give it.
As president, Clinton ordered the bombing of Serbian targets to force former President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on armed ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo.
Clinton spoke to the Club of Madrid, which is devoting its two-day meeting to the movement to democracy in the post-communist world after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
"I think the transition has been enormous and immensely impressive in the Baltics, in central Europe and even in southeast Europe," Clinton said. "In Kosovo now we're going through a critical period and we've got to continue to support a genuine democracy in Serbia."
International negotiations are expected to begin in the coming months on Kosovo's final status.
Clinton also said he was in favor of Turkey's European Union membership because that country could become a gateway to the Middle East.
The European Union opened membership talks with Turkey in October in a historic first step that could transform the bloc by taking in a predominantly Muslim nation and expanding its borders to Asia and the Middle East.
"I still believe the idea of Europe that is secure, prosperous free and united is a right one," he said.
The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world, using the experience of its members — 67 former heads of state or government, including 10 new members accepted during the meeting in Prague. It was created in 2001 in Madrid.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, right, makes his speech as former Czech President Vaclav Havel listens during the evening plenary session of an annual conference of the Club of Madrid in Prague, on Friday, Nov 11, 2005. More than 30 former heads of state or government discuss democracy in the post-communist world. (AP Photo/CTK, Michal Dolezal)
I suppose this communist still thinks he is President.
Apparently
Eastern-European Democracy's....no thanks to the rats of course...
I heard his brain was affected by his heart attack and now I can see that it is true. The last thing Europe needs for its stability is Turkey in the EU or an independent Kosovo or an enlarged Albanian criminal state.
> an independent Kosovo or an enlarged
> Albanian criminal state.
What a timely conclusion.
Then what ws Yugoslavia bombed for?
Ah, yes, it was done by the godless Democrats.
Good cop and bad cop.
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