Ariel Rusila's Conflicts [Ex-BalkanPerspective]

This post was first published in TH!NK ABOUT IT site 25th February 2009. During last twenty years war for humanitarian reasons has came quite popular in political vocabulary e.g. in Balkans and now with Georgia case. The ideal to use power in the service of ethics is good. The problem is the low level of ethics when US is using her power in world. EU has been mostly economical union without any significant military muscle – U.S. lead Nato has had that role. As economical - if not military – power EU’s influence to conflicts is sc. soft power. Should EU take more distance to U.S. foreign policy? I think yes, an independent 3 rd way should be taken into consideration. Balkans and Caucasus are suffering about US Cowboy policy United States Foreign policy during last decades could be described as series of strategical errors. When Soviet Union splintered, the US saw possibility to widen its influence through breakaway republics and former satellites, do whatever want in the rest of w...

This post was first published in TH!NK ABOUT IT site 21st February 2009. An Italian non-governmental organisation – the Rome-based “Un ponte per …” - is investigating consequences of NATO's 1999 bombings of Serbia and the effects of the use of depleted uranium (DU) on the civilian population. The NATO allegedly used shells with depleted uranium which are still today causing an increase in the number of cancer patients. NATO has admitted the use of DU in the bombing campaign and Italian media has reported that 45 Italian soldiers who served in the international forces in Kosovo (KFOR) died after the bombing and 515 became ill with cancer. In Serbia and its separatist province Kosovo the number of civilian victims is still unexplored but most likely the figures are manifold compared to those of soldiers. This topic was discussed years ago when e.g. I was working in Kosovo, however any proof and warnings then did not came to my hands. Later more information was available and on ...

This post was first published in TH!NK ABOUT IT site 12th February 2009. The internal report shows that a project of World Bank in southern Albania led to the destruction and destitution of a powerless village Jale in 2007. The report, obtained last week by Balkan Insight , a publication run by investigative journalists in southeast Europe, also noted allegations of corruption and efforts at a cover up. The Bank has already announced the suspension of a loan for the project. World bank, the world's largest and most influential anti-poverty institution and part of the U.N. system, is doling out $100 billion over the next thr ee years for development projects. ( Source BalkanInsight ) As the case from my viewpoint is not unique exception it is maybe worth to analyze it a bit more. The investigation by an inspection panel found that World Bank management failed to comply with its policies with respect to the design, appraisal and implementation of the project, harming the local p...

Police from the European Union law and justice mission in Kosovo (EULEX) have set up two customs control points in Serb dominated north Kosovo. Customs is again in place after one year when angry Serbs burnt down and pushed to nearby river the border posts in reaction to the Albanian majority's declaration of independence from Serbia. Same time United Nations’ mission (UNMIK), EULEX and International Community Office (ICO) are twisting arms who will start talks on the realization of the six-point plan drafted by the UN. Separatist province’s local politicians are again bystanders only struggling between themselves about illusory administration of disputed puppet state. With Albanian authorities having little control in Serb-inhabited areas that back onto Serbia proper, no efforts at rebuilding were made until this weekend. Kosovo has said it has lost millions in customs taxes in that period, as goods from Serbia entered freely and without any sort of control in these two points. E...

This post was first published in TH!NK ABOUT IT site 1st February 2009. EU taxpayers are paying over 2,410 million (€ 2.4 bn) Euros to receive EU propaganda of EU bureaucracy. This amazing figure can be found from recently published study “The hard sell: EU communication policy and the campaign for hearts and minds" (December 2008) made by UK-based think tank Open Europe. Open Europe is an independent, non-party political think tank which contributes bold new thinking to the debate about the direction of the European Union. Open Europe believes that the EU must now embrace radical reform based on economic liberalization, a looser and more flexible structure, and greater transparency and accountability if it is to overcome these challenges, and succeed in the twenty first century. (More about Open Europe here ) The calculation The very well detailed and quoted new study with its 151 pages has concluded that total EU’s total propaganda spend amounts to more than € 2,410,231,28...