More evidence that the liberation of Iraq will never be successful without the United Nations:
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro - Kosovo has declared a day of mourning for Monday, ordering flags to fly at half staff to grieve for the 28 people killed in ethnic Albanian mob violence directed at Serbs.Why on earth does anybody -- this means you, Mr. New York Times -- think the United Nations can possibly assist the United States in building a new Iraq?[...]
The attacks were the worst outbreak of violence since 1999, when a NATO air war ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence. The war killed 10,000 ethnic people.
Kosovo has been an international protectorate since then, whose final status is to be decided by the United Nations (news - web sites). For now, it officially remains a part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia.
Comments (1)
First, the UN is an organization of states and Security Council actions reflect only what the permanent five can joint agree. The US should go it alone in these circumstances if you think the costs of compromising with other states are higher than the high costs of going it alone.
I'm not sure the empirical evidence would be on your side.
Second, more importantly, the UN is only in charge of civilian matters in Kosovo. NATO remains in charge of security. This incident was more a NATO failing than a UN failing.
Third, your implicit critique is unfair. Really stable and secure states sometimes suffer this kind of horrific violence -- though that is not to deny that the situation in Kosovo is far from ideal.
Posted by Rodger | March 25, 2004 12:28 AM
Posted on March 25, 2004 00:28