Rambouillet's indispenable housekeeper

Time to redraw the map of Europe again, and shuffle a few chairs around at the United Nations and in Brussels. Once again, the Balkans have been balkanized. Montenegro declared its independence from the union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Twenty-three centuries ago, Aristotle said a nation should not extend farther than one could see from its highest hilltop -- only think of the nations of Monaco, Liechtenstein, Marino, and the Isle of Man. It appears, Aristotle's distant cousins have taken his message to heart.

The BBC has a timeline of the "dramatic and violent changes" that have occurred since the Yugoslav Federation broke apart in 1990's. The BBC leaves much unsaid. This area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for almost six centuries. Following the defeat of that Islamic empire by the Allied Powers in the First World War, Yugoslavia was formed; it consisted of 6 federated republics: Bosnia-Hercegovina, Crotia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.

We can skip over the Cold War era, when Yugoslavia was a client state of the Soviet Union. We need look back just 15 years ago when ethnic conflict began anew in the Balkans, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence; war began in Croatia.

In 1992, Macedonia declared independence; a peace treaty was signed ending the war in Croatia; Bosnia declared independence and war began there between ethnic factions. That same year the Federated Republic of Yugoslavia was reformed consisting of Serbia and Montenegro.

In 1993, war began between Bosnia and Herzegovania. In 1994, the war briefly ended when factions signed a peace treaty but fighting resumed later that year.

In 1995, the Dayton Agreement ended the war between Bosnia and Herzegovania. (Richard Holbrooke's, a secretary with no state, claim to fame.)

In 1998, war began in the Serbian province of Kosovo between ethnic factions.

In 1999, NATO launched a military campaign, which was unsanctioned by the United Nations, against Serbia. General Wesley "McClellan" Clark, NATO Commander, tellingly said "technically, that war was illegal." Eleven weeks of NATO (writ large as American) bombing, Serbia was defeated. And Kosovo became a protectorate under a United Nations' mandate.

In 2004, ethnic violence erupted in Kosovo. In 2006, ethnic violence erupted in Kosovo. Perhaps, we'll be redrawing the map of Europe again soon.

Two international misfits (Madeleine Albright and Richard Holbrooke) have told us repeatedly, prior to, and after our invasion of Iraq, our actions could lead to the balkanization of Iraq. Yet these same multilateral misfits encouraged America to go to war in the Balkans (twice), to prevent the balkanization of the Balkans, which continues unabated to this very day.

From March 1999, we read in International Herald Tribune: "[Albright's] intensive, often improvised, diplomacy raised concerns that her entry into the talks clouded the prospect for settling the civil war ... her performance injected new uncertainties into the situation and sowed doubts about the seriousness of U.S. diplomacy," quoting an unnamed American ambassador in Europe. The IHT quotes conservative critic Robert Zoellick, "she seemed to concentrate hard on tatics, but she lost sight of U.S. strategic goals, and even her tatics seemed imperfectly adapted."

At Rambouillet, Albright's peace initiative consisted of: (1) if Serbs don't agree, we'll bomb 'em, (2) if Albanians don't agree, we'll let the Serbs continue to kill 'em, (3) if neither side agrees, we'll pout 'cuz we can't bomb no one, and (4) if both sides agree, we'll give out scarab broaches to all the peacekeepers that will be sent in.

In a huff, she unleashed the dogs of war, so we bombed Serbia, yet ethnic violence continues, largely unnoticed by Albright and others.

Years ago, I was listening to Don Imus and he said something that cracked me up. Imus was talking about Albright, "Doesn't she look like she should be changin' sheets at a Red Roof Inn?"

Last week Albright was in Europe hawking her newest book. After reading her interview in Der Spiegel, all I could think of: "Why doesn't someone drown that old scarab in a bucket of cold urine?" Yeah, that's rude, but she prattles on about solving problems in Iraq or Iran, yet that old Stubenmadchen never cleaned up any messes.

Who can forget seeing her on CNN running after Arafat like a bitch in heat? Arafat scorned her and her master, and walked off to begin killing more Jews.

All we heard from Albright was: "If we use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We see further into the future."

Today, Albright says, "If the Democrats were still in power, [things] wouldn't be in this kind of shape ... we were bombing pretty heavy in the no-fly-zones. I thought we had Saddam Hussein in a box." (Hey Maddy, he's in a box now, but we call it a prison!)