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Kosovo declares independence | 190 comments (189 topical, 1 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Kosovo declares independence (4.00 / 2)
I need to sit down and work out Kosovo et al ... ever since I discovered on ET that (unsurprisingly) the mainstream media narrative was a fairytale I have failed to adequately grasp even the basics of the situation in that area.

I suspect I'm not alone here: I very much doubt that almost all the members of the governments involved don't understand what they're doing. There will be a small number of civil servants who think they do, but they'll mostly be operating on biases and sympathies.

Sometimes the system is just fucked.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon Feb 18th, 2008 at 11:41:23 AM EST
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Re: Kosovo declares independence (4.00 / 3)
I suspect you haven't had a good listen to Bernard Kouchner on this subject. He's one of the main players.

After watching him in action, let me say I'm a lot less confident in the motivations and abilities of EU ministers than you are.

I appreciate your point of view, and actually this is a frequent argument that friends make when we discuss international events. I'm of the mind that fuckups frequently occur, while my friends tend to think that things are much more plotted.

From the US, I watch as the CIA sets up fake banks in Europe with which to entrap Al Qaeda, I watch as the Joint Cheifs of Staff conjure up Operation Northwoods to trigger wars, I watch as badly forged uranium documents are pased to Italy, as German intelligence conjures up Serbian genocide plots in Kosovo (Operation Plotvicka) not realizing they are using the Croatian spelling in their forgery, I watch as the British parliament states that, although the document is a forgery, it still rings true, and American congressman and State Dept officials who have no clue act surprised when an Albanian at the table at Rambouillet rejects a peace agreement.

These events, these people, do not inspire confidence. In fact, they look like bunglers to me. Bill Clinton's own Balkans outlook was fashioned after reading a single book by a neo-con. I think we could do better.

by Upstate NY on Mon Feb 18th, 2008 at 12:15:06 PM EST
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Re: Kosovo declares independence (none / 1)
I started reading this and thought "'a lot less confident in the motivations and abilities of EU ministers than you are'? Cynical man." and then realised that I had meant to write:
I suspect I'm not alone here: I very much doubt that almost any of the members of the governments involved understand what they're doing. There will be a small number of civil servants who think they do, but they'll mostly be operating on biases and sympathies.

Double negatives are not my friend.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon Feb 18th, 2008 at 12:18:27 PM EST
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Re: Kosovo declares independence (4.00 / 2)
Hah! Yes, and upon rereading everything, I should have known because some of the rest of what you wrote didn't jibe with that first sentence.
by Upstate NY on Mon Feb 18th, 2008 at 01:40:36 PM EST
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Kosovo declares independence | 190 comments (189 topical, 1 editorial, 0 hidden)
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