STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [When the medicine - supporting neo-fascist secessionist uprisings and then moving it militarily to occupy the disaster zone you've helped create - has an adverse, potentially lethal, effect, then the solution is to - apply more of the same. So says the pro-Western former FYROM ambassador to Washington, one who - to prove her open/civil society credentials - affirms of her fellow citizens and neighbors that "the people of the Balkans must catch up with the calendar." The medication adjustment she prescribes? Shoulder the White Man's Burden and civilize - or at least contain - the natives at bayonet point. How manifestly humanitarian. How Western.] Baltimore Sun NATO must send troops to Macedonia to end war By Ljubica Z. Acevska Originally published June 14, 2001 WASHINGTON - Then-President George H.W. Bush warned Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic in December 1992 that the United States will take steps to prevent violence spreading into Macedonia and Kosovo. This statement was repeated in February 1993 by then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher at the outset of the Clinton administration. Such a ringing and unequivocal statement is needed again. While U.S. support and involvement have played an important role in Macedonia's remaining peaceful and stable for nearly 10 years, a strong U.S. commitment is necessary today to ensure the peace. >From independence in September 1991 until February of this year, Macedonia was peaceful and stable despite the carnage elsewhere in the Balkans. Macedonia has withstood many challenges and provocations, two economic embargoes, the U.N. sanctions against neighboring Serbia, a large influx of refugees and nearly continuous unrest in the neighborhood. Macedonia has preserved the peace when many expected it to fail. It has continued on the path to developing a democratic system, strengthening interethnic relations and developing a market economy. In fact, it has been widely lauded as an "island of peace and stability." President Bush praised Macedonia March 23 as a "successful example of a democratic, multi-ethnic state in the Balkans." The violence in Macedonia today between ethnic Albanian rebels and the government, instigated by Albanian rebels from Kosovo, is indeed tragic. And it seems to be escalating. Certainly, Macedonia needs to improve conditions for its minorities, but this can only be achieved through political dialogue, not violence. If conditions for minorities have been so bad, as the ethnic Albanians charge, why has it taken nearly 10 years for violence to erupt, and instigated from the outside? With violence continuing, it is very difficult for the political leadership to undertake the necessary corrective steps. That is why it is time once again for the United States to take the lead in making a strong commitment to bring peace to Macedonia, making clear that violence will not be tolerated. While some efforts have been made after five months of instability, much more needs to be done. Strong political assistance must be given to Macedonia, and not on a piecemeal basis. The United States has been very supportive of Macedonia since independence, and this has been the crucial difference. The United States must also help Macedonia to strengthen and, now, repair interethnic relations, which can only be achieved through dialogue. That Macedonian citizens have not taken up arms proves that, despite the differences between the many ethnic groups, they want to live in peace. But the longer the violence continues, the more of a setback there will be in interethnic relations. Ten years of bloodshed, loss of innocent lives and chaos in the Balkans is enough. The people of the Balkans must catch up with the calendar, to leave the hatred of the past and focus on cooperation in this new millennium. And the international community should have learned that early intervention is necessary. The United States does have a strategic interest in the Balkans and must make a definitive commitment to end the crisis in Macedonia and secure a lasting peace in the Balkans. To turn away from a friend at this time of crisis would be abandonment at midstream. NATO must not only remain in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it is time for NATO to send troops to Macedonia as well. Ljubica Z. Acevska, until September Macedonia's first ambassador to the United States, is a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
