Bosnia, Kosovo, prelude to Soviet Union

[Chris Burford]

Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in Britain has been
successful in persuading Tony Blair to intervene in Kosovo, and then to
promote the idea of ground troops.

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