Monday, June 11, 2007
You can take him out of the country, but ....
I have been away from my normal news sources the last 2 or 3 days, getting to and getting settled in here in Istanbul. But I did happen to turn on CNN and catch the rapturous greeting President Bush received in Albania. I was pleased to see it--good old fashioned pro Americanism is as scarce as hen's teeth these days. For Bush, it has about boiled down to Crawford and Tirana for this sort of thing, and I'm not too sure about Crawford. But then, I heard his speech in which he came out foursquare in favor of independece for Kosovo, and the sooner the better. Geez Louise. While he is at it, why not just come out for independence for Scotland, or Catalonia, or Wales, or for the Basques, or Flanders, or Bavaria, or Sicily, or Corsica, or Baluchistan, or Kurdistan, or Quebec, or Hawaii or for, well, Texas for that matter. All of them have a far greater claim to nationhood than Kosovo. Many parties have seen the dangers involved in Kosovo nationhood and were working for some diplomatically nuanced solution short of full independence. Let's hope these cooler heads (including Russia) prevail and Mr. Subtle's speech is soon forgotten outside of Tirana. And in the meantime, I am going to stay away from the televison until I return home. It just gets me riled up.
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11 comments:
What's happened to the man I voted for? Are we going to have any real choices in '08?
Why not just revive the Ottoman Empire and give back all its pre-Great War territory while we are at it? Is Toledo to be returned to the Moors by US bombers and at NATO bayonet point?
Indeed, Clinton and Bush have betrayed Balkan Christians to violent and vindictive Muslims, and undone the centuries of valiant work done by literal Saints of the Orthodox and Catholic churches in driving invading and persecuting Muslims out of Europe.
Edmund Burke has been proved right in his prediction that completely independent Americans would devolve into "blue-eyed Turks." Or, in the immortal words of David Bowie, "I'm afraid of Americans. I'm afraid of the world."
Ron Paul seems to be the only plausible choice. He may not come to the aid of foreign Christians, but at least he wouldn't bomb them on behalf of Islamic narco-terrorism.
I admit my ignorance of the history and politics of the region. Here is a blogpost that deals with the same topic: George Bush's Generosity
Well, this may not come through---I am trying to understand blogspot commands in Turkish.
theron, if you are like a lot of us, we didn't really vote for anybody, but we voted against somebody. And as to the choices in 08, yes there will be real choices. They run the gamut from bad to worse.
death bredon, great Burkean quote. If you have the full citation, I would love to have the full quote. And I am also terribly impressed with Ron Paul. I hope he stays in, for at least he will keep the conversation honest.
eytyxo-, I have seen that site before. It is indeed a tragic situation. The short answer to the history of the region is that there is no such thing as a "Kosovar." There are, rather, Albanians who have settled in southern Serbia. Although I wouldn't agree with it, one could make the intellectual argument that Kosova should be joined to "Greater Albania." But a separate, independent Kosova--NO. It seems that some today define freedom as everyone getting their own microstate.
I was pretty riled up and I WAS home.
John,
I doubt I could ever go back and pin point Burke's quote. But I do remember reading it and have seen others quote it. The context was Burke's support for the autonomy of the American Colonies, but under Commonwealth arrangement that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other former English colonies have. (George Washington originally supported this idea too.)
Burke's concern was that, were the Colonies to lose all connection to the civilizing influence of its progenitor (Jerusalem through Rome through London), it could devolve along Lord-of-the-Flies lines. And so we have.
We are a aggressive and brutal nation (just ask Aboriginal America Indians, Mexico, Filipinos, Serbians, Iraqis, etc. And worse, we have no consensus regarding our identity, hence no authority to appeal to stop the violence. To some, we are an Anglo-American nation (weather Plymouth Rock Puritans, Scotch-Irish, or Tide Water Cavaliers); to others we are mutt-lie melting pot of the refuse of Europe; to others, we are a nation built on purely abstract ideals and wide-open immigration.
One of the great dangers of an independent Kosovo that it might seek some form of union with Albania, which might prove a threat to the religious freedom of Orthodox Christians in Albania itself.
Albanian Albanians and Kosovar Albanians are very different in culture, history and outlook.
Oh Steve,
I fear you fail to grasp the enormity (intentional use) of the situation. Whether Kosovo and Albania incorporate formally or not, the de facto Greater Islamic Albania is already in the process of purging Orthodox Christians (first Kosovo, then Albania). But the large aim is too take the entire Balkan peninsula as part of a restoration of the Ottoman Empire. Educated Albanians and Kosovars already have European maps denominating the entire Balkans as a single Islamic-only political state. Bill "Cracker" Clinton and George "Tex" Bush have just given the Islamic Nationalist a leg up on their master plan.
Lord have mercy!
DB
How have Albanian Orthodox been "purged" (I'm taklking about the post-Hoxha era). Can you give some recent examples?
Yes, the Albanian government is somewjhat suspicious of Greek imperialism and those who seem to have an ideal of a "Greater Ellada", but they don't seem to have bene anti-Orthodox per se.
Steve,
I said it is a process. First the Christian purge in Kosovo, which is happening right now under UN and NATO auspices. Then, once that is done and we force Kosovar independence, the movement will flow backwards into Albania. Mark my words. Militant Islam is very predictable.
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