Key Clinton adviser wants more US troops sent to the Balkans
James Forsyth 1:48pm
Richard Holbrooke, America’s UN Ambassador under Bill Clinton who is expected to become Secretary of State if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, has an op-ed in the Washington Post today arguing for more US troops to be sent to the Balkans to deal with the fallout from a Kosovan declaration of independence which is expected before the end of the year. As Holbrooke notes, if Kosovo declares independence then the Serb portion of Bosnia will likely follow suit. On top of this, the Russians will try and link the issue to that of breakaway republics in the former Soviet Union.
Holbrooke pins the blame for the current situation on Vladimir Putin and the Bush administration’s failure to realise how serious his threats were. Some would dispute Holbrooke’s analysis but what is certain is that Putin would see forcing the West to back down on this issue as a fitting end to a presidency that has been all about restoring “Russia’s dignity” on the world stage. The Americans, however, have no desire to let Russia be rewarded for throwing its weight around. The last line of Holbrooke’s piece shows just how serious the situation is, “It is not too late to prevent violence, but it will take American-led action and time is running out.”
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Comments
Rich Lake Geneva, WI
November 25th, 2007 4:24pmwho cares what a Clinton advisor believes! Those people are complete Windsock, failures!!
TGF UKIP
November 25th, 2007 5:56pmAs befits one of the Clinton gang, this piece was more about politically "dissing"the Bush Administration than dispassionate analysis. That said, I think it may well suit Putin to bring this to a boil sooner rather than later. It suits him to keep the Iran nuclear question on the boil not only because of the impact on the oil price but to give him more elbow room to continue playing the bully in the Balkans and in the republics. I would guess therefore that this could be one of those almost blindside issues that arrives at the top of the international agenda very soon and with a quite possibly literal bang. The Americans will then find that no matter how useless the europeans were back in the nineties at sorting out the Balkans, they will be even worse now.
Max Kaye
November 25th, 2007 7:22pmSensible Americans will leave this nasty little can of worms for 'Europe' to sort out. For years the EU has been lauding its 'soft power', soon we'll get to see just how soft it really is. Worst case scenario: Sarajevo 1914 = Kosovo 2008?
Tim Montgomerie
November 25th, 2007 7:32pmThis is, of course, the subject of David Cameron's speech in Washington this week. It'll be interesting to read what the Conservative leader has to say...