>On Saturday he argued that Bosnia and Kosovo were mere preludes to the
>tasks of NATO with the forthcoming implosion of the former Soviet Union.
>I cannot really see this. I can see Europe expecting to assimilate the
>Yugoslavia. Yesterday Slovakia just voted in a president sympathetic to the
>country aligning with the European Union and seeking NATO entry.
>Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine, are surely too large to be assimilated
>and interfered with in this way. Chechnya showed that. Besides Kosovo has
>been no pushover for NATO. I would have thought the worst of the financial
>crisis was now over in Russia, and the IMF will compromise on the room for
>economic expansion.
>Does anyone agree with Paddy Ashdown on this point?
>Chris Burford