Islamist state in Europe?

The Washington Times ^ | 12/18/2005 | Jeffrey T. Kuhner

[thierrya]

Islamist state in Europe?

By Jeffrey T. Kuhner

Published December 18, 2005

The Bush administration has decided to get involved in another dangerous nation-building project -- in the volatile Balkans.

More ominously, the effects of this intervention will lay the groundwork for an Islamist state in the heart of Europe.

Recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the leaders of Bosnia's three main groups -- Muslims, Serbs and Croats -- met in Washington to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Accords, which ended Europe's worst bloodletting since 1945. The administration should have limited itself to a symbolic remembrance. Instead, it pressured Bosnia's political representatives to sign an agreement demanding constitutional reforms by early next year. The plan seeks to establish a centralized, unitary republic dominated by a strong government in Sarajevo. The ultimate goal is to forge a more cohesive state that will finally eradicate the country's ethnic divisions. Bosnia's current political system, with its rotating tripartite presidency, parallel administrations and vast bureaucracy, is neither rational nor efficient. Reform is needed. The American-backed plan, however, is a recipe for disaster. It is a form of radical social engineering that will have to be imposed against the wishes of the country's Serb and Croat populations.

More importantly, it will pave the way for potentially turning Bosnia into Europe's first Islamic republic. This will destabilize not only the Balkans, but the entire European continent.

[JesseJane]

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