Eminently Undiplomatic Diplomats
Sparks flew at the Transatlantic Forum in Brussels last Friday between Western and Russian participants over Kosovo. When French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner accused Russia of being responsible for the absence of a negotiated agreement between Belgrade and Priština, President of the Duma Foreign Policy Committee Konstantin Kosachov replied that it was not Russia's stand which prevented the finding of a solution, "but rather the promise of the West to Kosovo Albanians that they would get independence sooner or later" which meant that "Kosovo Albanians were not motivated to look for a solution." At this point yet another participant, former U.S. Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke, reacted by bursting into loud laughter. According to a Russian news report, Holbrooke and Kouchner then got up and left the room in the middle of the Russian representative’s presentation.
The same mix of haughty arrogance and plain rudeness was on display in Rome three weeks ago, where I attended a fairly high-profile conference on Kosovo organized by the geopolitical review Limes. Other panelists included the Undersecretary of State at the Italian foreign ministry, Famiano Crucianelli; the vice-chairman of the Italian Senate foreign relations committee, Sen. Alfredo Mantica; Limes’ editor Lucio Caracciolo; Jim Jatras of the American Council for Kosovo; and Serbia’s Ambassador to the Holy See Professor Jankovic.
[NOW YOU SEE HIM . . . (From left: Escobar, Crucianelli, Caracciolo, Trifkovic, Jankovic, Jatras)]
A political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Gabriel Escobar, had accepted the organizers’ invitation to be one of the panelists – but then used his introductory remarks to berate them for not including any “Kosovars” in the panel. Having finished his tirade Mr. Escobar got up, turning his back on the Italian officials seated next to him, and left the podium, and the room, without a word of farewell.
[ . . . NOW YOU DON’T: Senator Mantica has taken the seat next to Under-Secretary Crucianelli.]
In the event Mr. Escobar’s gesture could not cast much of a shadow on what turned out to be an excellent conference. It merely cast him in a poor light, prompting an Italian participant to comment that his behavior was “like that of a Soviet diplomat in Sofia half a century ago.” Another panelist noted that Escobar merely displyed the same lack of open-mindedness that has led American policy on Kosovo into its current dead end:
Allowed to deliver his remarks near the beginning of the session, he first scolded the organizers for not having the Kosovo Albanian view represented. He declined to explain how that view differs one iota from US policy. He did not respond to the observation that events on Kosovo typically represent only the US/Albanian perspective. Having made his dubious points—a rote recitation of Washington's position—he imperiously left the room, despite requests to listen to the other presenters and participate in the Q&A.
Judging by the histrionics of Messrs Hollbrooke and Excobar, American officialdom need only talk with those who agree with them, and not allow their virgin ears to be defiled by dissonant opinions.

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What was the whole Arkan and the Scorpians that he led during the balkans wars that he was percieved as the main bad guy other than Milosevic during the war. I remember Hollbroke talking about him. Was that all BS like Milosevics greater Serbia agenda?
kushener,holbrook are a couple of modern version of cowboys,pirates togheter w albraght,clintons,bush/es...and the rest of sh who sees in Serbia/Kosovo:
rich mines,great slaves in albanian ppl,potential part of the World where the WWIII can start ...and if we look in the past history during WARS:WWI,WWII some parts of the World build they economy better than ever..
it does not matter from what coner you look from for them it is always 'wining'a wheel fortune.
they are bunch of primitive,greedy crowed whose moves you do not have to read btw the lines.
if you do not agree w them they say:u r not patriotic if u agree w them u r an id.t...
They just DO NOT CARE,what the rest of the World think!
Our post-1989 Russian policy has been an unmitigated disaster.
No doubt under the best of conditions we'd have disputes and rivalry with Russia, but the deliberate breaches of our promises to Russia when it has ceased to be an ideological threat were just nuts--they still have more nukes than the other nuclear powers (other than us) combined.
It seems that to some people just have to have an enemy.
And Holbrooke is on the Dem. short list for Sec. of State!
http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=162&a=5239
Holbrooke is an atavistic Russophobe who'd gladly forge yet another alliance with Jihad -- and damn the cost to the West! -- if it brings the demise of Muscovy a little closer. Brzezinski approves, of course...
I can only describe an American involvement in the Kosovo matter and its prefabricated and premeditated 'independence', which is now widely known as a failed one ( only 28 countries have recognized such illegitamate move, out of over 190 members of the UN), as one-sided, biased and short-sighted.
Surprisingly, except for a few daring and brave individuals and organizations, most Americans do not give a hoot about a real danger of such totalitarianism on their own soil.
Great Evildoer's Lieutenants, as I tend to refer to persons mentioned in Mr. Trifkovic's article, never displayed anything but menacing and offensive manner on any occasion, any subject they address or action they undertake.
Arrogance and threat, smirk and patronizing, open insults and rhetorics of high school bullies, never leaving any doubt that something very big, very powerful and very mean protects them, suppose to convey "crystal clear" message to any active or passive participant on their stage.
List of names of these is alarmingly long. I believe it always was but never before so plain, outrageously obvious and so profane.
Did Great Eveldoer lose self esteem, is he panicking?
Well, he cannot blame rest of us for choosing wrong planners for actions towards goals that retarded child would know better how to achieve. He could also choose hired help which is less repulsive
and at least a little bit credible like being able to directly sell an used car or something.
I think ethnicity in politics drives our foriegn policy. I'm sure that Holbrooke, Lantos,Pearle, etc and there think tanks like AEI, ACPC are Jewish and that Jews have a centuries old hatred of Russians and that Brezinski is Polish and they have centuries old hatred of Russians to doesn't drive our hostile foreign policy.
Perhaps at the next conference the organizer could invite some Albanian professor from Kosovo to make Mr. Escobar happy, someone that he recommends. With this is mind, the organizer should sent a letter to Mr. Escobar with an apology and a request for help since Mr. Escobar is positioning himself to be a person of authority on the subject. It would be a blast to see who he comes up with or watch this chosen person try to hold his own. (Last minute cancellation due to a scheduling conflict is most likely.)
Richard Hoolbroke, according to his own statements, was heavily adviced by his Hungarian wife Kati Marton (a "journalist"), an enthusiastic supporter of Hungarian territorial aspirations towards its neighbours, especially Serbia. Kati and Richard share the view that Hungary was a bastion of European civilization, threatened by the lower race - Ortodox Serbs... When Kati Marton speaks about Serbs and Serbia one could feel how much she would enjoy torturing and killing Serbs with her own hands.
Hey, don't you know we're an empire now? We don't have to exlpain ourselves. You just have accept and follow.
Sean Scallon is right - accept and follow!
We are not the empire because we are strong,
but because our enemies are not!
What they have to do is: Get up early, every morning, go take shower, dress up neatly, put some deodorant, and the smile, than go to work and work, work, very, very hard, three to four or maybe five times more than we (the empire) do and than, maybe in 1000 years, they might catch up with us.
Gedza (12), I have studied the serbs for a while and come to the conclusion they will never succumb to outside pressure. Remember the serbs successfully stod up against the Ottomans, Nazis and the Communists. Now they stand up against NATO and their Albanian puppets. The British, German and French may succumb to trans-atlantic pressure. But Serbia will not. They have always fought injustice and will continue to do so, no matter the odds.
funny thing is that it is not:
WE..!!!deffinitly not you/even that i do not know you personaly!!!
it is :THEM a few rich famillys with 'choosen'servants like holbrook,kouchner,szarkazy,bushs,clintons,obama,..who are obediently listening and serving...
Shon & gdedza you are just 99% of those in deep depth with credit cards,mortgages,..runnig from job to job and thinking that you
MADE IT:)
under that shiny surface it cann't get more rotten.
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/mb/038.shtml
"Consider: Ten minutes into the documentary we see the illegal immigrant Florin Krasniqi with an Albanian "guerilla" entourage known as KLA contributing at a John Kerry fundraiser and having a laugh with Democrats Wesley Clark and Richard Holbrooke. Fundrace.org indicates that Krasniqi indeed donated money to Kerry.
Krasniqi laments that "With money, you can do amazing things in this country... Senators and congressmen are looking for donations, and if you raise the money they need for their campaigns, they pay you back."
In this day and age, "negotiating in good faith" stands not within the prospects of belief.
We have crossed over into the diabolical part of existence. It doesn't exactly look like Dante's Inferno but all else points that way. Look up "Tent city, Ontario, California" - to see that thousands of Americans live like Serbian refugees did during their exodus from Krajina, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Who is Gabriel Escobar?
Our first answer is found at URL: http://www.namebase.org/xelm/Gabriel-Escobar.html
IN CONCLUSION: I am surprised he came to unfurl his cloak of whatever "function" he holds at his present post -- but the motives were obviously sinister.
Perhaps because in Italian sinistra means "to the left" -- maybe he's only left handed, in which I see no crime, but all else above gives me pause.
New Thought Crime hits Europe: publicly wearing t-shirt that staes obvious.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2008/01823.shtml
REF# 18 Even in sports, THEY, be it American top politicians and/or their European puppets, try IN EVERY UNIMAGINABLE, INCOMREHENSIBLE AND UNCONCEIVABLE WAYS, to denigrate and undermine everything that has CONNECTIONS with Serbs and their SPORTS AND culture. Only Nazis had behaved like that during the 1939-1945 tortures , that is the World War II.
MILORAD CAVIC is a Serbian Pride and HERO!!! YOU DID THE RIGHT THING, MILORADE!!!
It's a replay of past Balkans shenanigans. US is trying to make situation for Serbs in Kosovo so miserable so as to provoke a shooting war with Serbia (again). Probably to use as pretext for invading all of Serbia once and for all? Key news from the past few days:
* news emerges that at least two of the three foreign ministries of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Croatia admitted to the Serbian Foreign Ministry that they were coerced into recognizing Kosovo
* long list of intellectuals (including bishops) in Orthodox Bulgaria deride's their government's actions in open letter and demand a reversal
* propoganda war to stir up troubles with 300K Hungarians in northern Serbia underway (again)...even though that minority is well-integrated and has proven largely immune to past efforts (note: ethnic Hungarians serve in the Serbian army and were also deployed against Albanians in 1999; many disillusioned Hungarians recently returned from their emmigration to Hungary to opt for the life they had in Serbia)
* Serbian minority party deputy prime minister resigns Croatia's government...PM Sanadar attempts to convince Serbian minority party to remain in coalition
* NATO troops turn protest and strikes in Mitrovica into bloody siege
* UNMIK administrtor resigns in disgust and tells Belgrade daily that the violence was UN's fault...UN says person in question is "on vacation" and unavilable for further comment
* UNMIK official reveals troops were ordered to not negotiate protestors out of Mitrovica buildings, but to arrest them and transport to jails in Pristina (preumably to Albanian run jails)
* Serbian government announces it has damning ballistics evidence from Mitrovica siege that suggests NATO troops are being used in deliberate provocation...demanding a UN inquiry
* Ukranian policeman dies in Mitrovica siege...Ukrainian government says his death was UN's fault
* White House announces it is sending "small arms" to Kosovo Albanians to protect against unrest
* Russian government demanding emergency meeting with NATO-Russia Council on announcement of arms shipments
* propoganda offensives and counter-offensives emerging on cultural and scene...the Serbian gold medalist swimmer's sanctions being one of the latest...winner of Sweden's national Eurovision competition appears on stage with Serbian flag...rebuff to the globalist Carl Bildt?...Eurovision championships scheduled to be held in Belgrade this May, weeks after parliamentary election that is to decide Serbia's "European view"
Does this sound like anyone is trying to preserve "stability" in the region, as they say?
The west has control of the Kosovo mines, which is all they wanted in the first place. If the thugs they put in charge get out of hand they'll be replaced by a panel of experts. That is to say New York financiers, who will add capital and reduce the labor force at said operations. The assets and the profits will be stripped out of the region to subsidize "living large" in the USA.
@ Etienne Gervaise
Can you please provide any reliable sources on the proven and probable deposits in those mines? I have never seen any reliable numbers, only assertions that the deposits are either very large or not large at all.
Yet another issue is: who is going to work in those mines? People who aren't used to doing anything productive? The reality of organized work in Kosovo could be a bit more complex than getting a group of Mexican illegals to do landscaping or construction in, say, Las Vegas for $5/hour under the table.
Ref# 21& 22 According to Nebojsa Popovic, Director for Economic Development for Kosovo and Metohija ( within the Serbian government)... Kako kaže, geološke rezerve lignita iznose 14,7 milijardi tona. Po svom značaju rangirane su kao pete u svetu, dodaje.
Geological reserves of a coal are estimated to be around 14.7 billions of tons...fifth in the world...76% of the coal reserves in Serbia are located in Kosovo..
'...Rezerve olova i cinka se procenjuju na 42,2 miliona tona...'
. Reserves of lead and zinc are estimated to be around 42.2 millions of tons...
Započinjanje sa eksploatacijom lignita dovelo bi do otvaranja više od 35.000 radnih mesta i donelo ogromne prihode lokalnom budžetu. U ukupnim rezervama lignita u Srbiji više od 76 odsto nalazi se na Kosovu i ne treba, međutim, zanemariti činjenicu da se u kosovskim rudnicima nalaze i retki metali poput indijuma, kalijuma i germanijuma. Svetska banka je rudna bogatstva Kosova i Metohije procenila na oko 20 milijardi evra – istakao je Popović.
World Bank has estimated that Kosovo has natural resources valued at approximately 20 BILLION EUROS, according to the Mr. Popovic!!!!!!!!!
THERE YOU HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR the USA TO BE THERE...LONG LIVE THE BONDSTEEL BASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#23: If that is true, then an interesting choice for Serbia would be to sabotage mining. Perhaps by contaminating it with nuclear waste making mining extremely expensive, or even impossible. When the main carrot for the occupiers have been taken away, then it will be easier to persuade them to leave.
#11 Sean, Yes, you're right, we are indeed an empire. However, we must be the stupidest empire in history. If the American peolpe were smart enough to vote for a real tyrant, then we'd exact tribute out of the subjugated populations -- Iraqi oil comes to mind. It seems that time and again we go into a barbaric backwater country and then bankrupt ourselves giving the undeserving savages democracy.