The Absurd Mr. Ahtisaari

The former Finnish president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, trumpeted recently that Serbia should not be allowed to join the European Union (EU) without recognizing Kosovo's independence. It should be noted that Mr. Ahtisaari “won” his Nobel Prize for proffering a “peace plan” in 2008 that ended with the independence of Kosovo, which is to this day not accepted by Serbia or the United Nations.

Would someone please tell Mr. Ahtisaari to be quiet!

The claims by NATO and the Western media of "genocide" and "crimes against humanity" in Kosovo were false. Moreover, the war was carried out without U.N. sanction, which in my view is not a disqualifying factor, but rather a point of interest. As George Friedman of STRATFOR Global Intelligence astutely pointed out: “In 1999, the Americans and Europeans made political decisions backed by military force.” The U.N. Resolution 1244 negotiated to end the war, guaranteed Serbian interests and sovereignty in Kosovo. Yet, in February 2008, Mr. Ahtisaari supported the Albanian Kosovars' declaration of independence from Serbia: a clear violation of international law; a UN Resolution; and the principle of national sovereignty forged out of the horrors of World War II.

Recognition of Kosovo's declaration of independence was naive and absurd foreign policy. The crisis in Georgia was a direct result of American and European actions in Kosovo. The South Ossetians ran the KLA playbook and the Russians ran the NATO playbook. The lamentable little wars of independence will continue to sprout like spring poppies on the Kosovo polije.

In the last analysis, Mr. Ahtisaari, should just go away. He has no imagination; he is pedantic; and he is disingenuous. Only a pompous bureaucrat like Mr. Ahtisaari would spend $415.30 on himself for lunch when someone else is picking up the tab (reference Lunch with The Financial Times, published January 23, 2009). There will be blood. I would posit that for the next war in Kosovo, it be Finnish soldiers who do the fighting.

OBAMA STIMULUS PLAN

I was in opposition to the TARP. By all accounts the TARP has been a failure at best and a fraud at worst.

Now, the U.S. Senate will debate and vote on the House approved $819bn stimulus package past Wednesday, 28 January 2009.

It is my opinion that the stimulus package will similarly fail, in it’s current form, and do more harm than good. The resulting deficits will be disastrous. The Bush Administration’s 2008 stimulus package had no real effect. The TARP was a fraud, and resulted in a massive transfer of taxpayer wealth to the financial elite who created the economic collapse, along with government policy, in the first place. And, then used the monies to reward their greed and incompetence such as 4bn in bonuses by Merrill Lynch, and 18.2bn by other Wall Street banks.

I do not object to government intervention. Moreover, I think we have had enough tax cuts. America, as Alexander Hamilton knew, must be fiscally responsible. Prudent and sound national finances have proved to be indispensable to our country’s well being. This stimulus plan seems more like something out of the capitals of Argentina and Zimbabwe than Washington, DC. I believe that deficit spending to this extreme will lead to hyper-inflation and an even more severe economic crisis than we are now experiencing. As that fellow once said, 'do you think that money is heaven sent?'

We can’t afford to get this wrong.