Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
I think European support for Kosovo's independence is sheer madness!  In particular and closest to home, I'm absolutely FURIOUS at the way Italy has lined up with the US/UK/GER/FR on this - we're close enough, Balkan-involved enough, have enough sense-of-history etc etc to know better, practically every serious article/report I've read in this country including on defence forums is queasy-to-put-it-mildly on chain-reaction consequences both short-term and longer-term so WHY is Italy-too backing this dangerous idiocy?  If the Balkans explode again we'll be in it up to our necks one way or another - even from the most crudely self-interested POV no question that consequent-conflict refugee-flows, provision of peacekeepers, aid etcetc will end up costing us a packet ... so why provoke fate?

Take a look at this opinion-polls on Kosovan independence in Corriere della Sera -


Will the independence of Kosovo threaten stability in the Balkans? (14th Feb.)
Yes: 66.4%
No:  33.6%

So the only rational explanation I can find for Italy pursuing a national policy so out of line with both national brain-knowledge and national gut-instinct is that this "alignment" performance on its part is 1) a sop consisting of "showing a face of unity" to counterbalance Western(TM) disapproval of Italian thin-ice ranks-breaking re non-hostile relations with Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas ... plus 2) some form of unmentionable behind-the-scenes calculation regarding preservation of Italy's weird n' scraggy lil' "special relationship" with pet ugly-duckling Albania?  

Yech! :-(

"Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami

by eternalcityblues (parvati_roma aaaat libero.it) on Sun Feb 17th, 2008 at 03:28:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Others have rated this comment as follows:

Display:

Occasional Series