>>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