Moscow, Belgrade Call U.S. Bluff
by Nebojsa Malic
One of the more persistent misconceptions about the current Emperor is that he is from Texas. He may have lived there for many years, may have even been the governor of the state, but he was in fact born in Connecticut. A real Texan would know a thing or two about playing poker.
There is a great country song by Kenny Rogers, called “The Gambler.” Part of it goes, “You got to know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em/Know when to walk away and know when to run.” It doesn’t seem His Imperial Greatness has ever heard of it, though, because he is trying to raise the stakes even as others are calling his bluff.
The Misunderestimating of ‘No’
Mere days after being clearly informed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Heiligendamm that Russia’s “no” to the proposed independence of Kosovo in fact meant “no,” and not “yes” or even “maybe,” Emperor Bush – basking in the glow of a personality cult in Albania – declared his Empire’s absolute commitment to the separatist Albanian cause. According to http://www.birn.eu.com/en/86/15/3208/, the Emperor told his Albanian hosts:
“You get your diplomats working with Russians and EU diplomats to see if there is not a common ground. If you end up being in a position where you don’t, at some point of time, sooner rather than later, you got to say: that’s enough – Kosovo is independent.”
As expected, Serbian authorities condemned Bush’s statement: “The U.S. has to find some way of showing its favor and love for the Albanians other than presenting them with Serbian territories,” Prime Minister Kostunica quipped.
Expectations that Moscow or Belgrade would fold – accept the demands for independence of the occupied Serbian province – have proven wrong on every count. They hold strong cards: international law, precedent, principle, rules, charters and treaties. What is in Bush’s hand?
Arrogance and Stupidity
It appears the Empire is holding nothing but a single Will-to-Power. It has been known for some time now that Bush and his closest followers believed their actions shaped reality itself, and all criticism was merely inconsequential chatter of the “reality-based community.” Now even lower-level bureaucrats, such as Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, have actually come to believe in this notion.
During his visit to Serbia this week, Fried launched into a diatribe against Serb “denial,” claiming that he was the only one with enough courage to tell the “truth” – which, according to him, is that “Milosevic lost Kosovo when he went to war with NATO and committed atrocities against the Kosovars.”
But it wasn’t Slobodan Milosevic who went to war with NATO – it was the other way around! As for the “atrocities,” the Empire has not managed to produce a single shred of evidence that any of them actually took place, even after eight years of NATO occupation. Meanwhile, Albanian atrocities against Serbs, Roma, Turks and other Albanians have taken place under the very noses of NATO “peacekeepers” and are documented in detail.
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=11169