Posted by stjepankljujic on October 1, 2003, 3:04 pm, in reply to "Redrawing Bosnia's Borders (An Article)"
One of the most interesting things to come out of September 11 has been the ability for anyone with an axe to grind against anyone else to link their adversary to Osama bin Laden. I think this article presents a very interesting point of view. Interestingly, I think I finally got answer to my question of what the hell was Tudjman thinking?. This article precisely presents Tudjmans plan. Croatia would halt the spread of radical Islamic fundamentalism into the heart of Europe, proving definitively that Croatia deserved a place at the table of the West. Europe, as well as the rest of Western civilization would be so grateful to the heroic Crusaders that they would grant them anything they wanted. Pretty cool huh?
Based on just how much this guy Kuhner and the Washington Times in general are quoted in the right wing Croatian press, I dont dismiss the fact that this really strikes a chord with a lot of Croats. Hes written quite a bit about Croatia and Gotovinas case in particular. He even had one article where he lauded Ivo Sanader as the Croatian George W. Bush. (wow! What a compliment! I wonder if that means that Sanader has also gone AWOL and that hes been arrested three times like our Dumbya?)
The Washington Times is Washingtons second biggest paper with a circulation of just under 100,000 or about a tenth of the much larger and more respected Washington Post. It was founded by and still owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Ronald Reagan once called it his favorite paper. For those who dont know, Moon is the founder of the Unification Church, a cult that brainwashes young followers. Its best known for pairing people up (who often have never even met) and holding mass weddings that Rev Moon presides over. In the 80s, he served 18 months in prison for tax evasion. Ironically, hes known for making virulent anti-American statements
denouncing the US as Satans harvest and condemning American women as having descended from a line of prostitutes. (Ironically, none of this was reported in the Times)
Now this is where it gets interesting
he also has very close ties to the Republican party and the Bush family in particular
paying old man and old lady Bush hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for speaking at Moonie events. Kuhner in particular has written pretty extensively about Gotovinas case calling for abolition of the ICTY and hes tied it to the cases against US General Tommy Franks for the illegal Bush war in Iraq.
I could comment point by point on how short-sighted and impossible to carry out Kuhners article is. If anyone disagrees, Im happy to do just that.
However, its more apparent to me that whats going on here is the American far right intent on promoting its pre-emptive anti-terror crusade finding a convenient test case in Croatia.
So what about the strategic partnership with the US that he talks about in the article? Lets just look at the past year
the US has tried to strong-arm Croatia into exempting American troops from war crimes prosecution while being pressured to surrender their own; the US pressured the Croatian government to completely disregard the overwhelming sentiment of its people and send troops to Iraq. All this partnership can do is drive Croatia further and further from its goal of joining the EU and from its natural place in Europe. It could however open markets for American products (Croatia currently does the overwhelming majority of its trade with the EU, the US is tenth), perhaps even let some American companies pick up some bargains after the inevitable demands for trade liberalization that usually comes from small countries partnership with the US. And when the US has gotten what it needs, it will drop Croatia faster than a prom dress after a few wine coolers.
I have to give these guys credit
they certainly do know which buttons to push.
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