By Rick Morris
I am someone who is intrigued by geopolitics, but even I find the situation in the Balkans (both over the last 20 years and historically) very confusing. I do know that I opposed the 1999 US war on Serbia as something that was not in our vital national interest and I would have rather seen a minimal US presence in international peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia over the years -- but beyond the few issues very clear to me one way or another about our national interest, I don't have too many strongly-held beliefs about how our country should navigate through this swamp of ethnic and religious hatred and endless cycles of revenge.
But, as I do in general when it comes to international affairs, I find myself nodding affirmatively to the writings of Pat Buchanan, perhaps the foremost "America Firster" on the scene today. His latest article, "
Does Balkanization Beckon Anew?" raises questions that the Einsteins in our State Department who eagerly led the United States to recognize the new "country" of Kosovo cannot possibly understand.
Again, I don't claim to understand all of the radioactive factors at play in this particularly sticky corner of the globe. But after reading Pat's article, I do know this: we have set an absolutely horrible precedent here. Consider the list of countries who are dealing with their own secession movements -- and who we now are bound by precedent to anger by supporting their breakaway republics:
^ Serbia (again)
^ Montenegro
^ Macedonia
^ Bosnia and Herzegovina
^ Romania
^ Georgia
^ Spain
^ Turkey
^ Moldova
^ Russia
^ China
^ Canada
Huh. That's a long list of countries to have PO'd at us, don't you think? And all because the eggheads at Foggy Bottom couldn't wait to scratch that anti-Serbian itch one more time.
Everybody in this country that praises diplomacy has apparently never studied our diplomats ...
