Let us be consistent

Kosovo (recently semi-independent) is in what would seem to be a rather desperate internal state, coming up to nine years since Serbia was forced by international intervention to give up control (remember that the international intervention in Afghanistan only took place six and a half years ago). Below is the situation in Kosovo today after almost a decade of a major foreign military presence, by NATO as also in Afghanistan, and very large international aid efforts:

[...]

Official unemployment stands at around 40 per cent. And even if black market activities and subsistence agriculture are taken into account, there are more Kosovars on the dole than in a job. Unemployment is particularly high among those under 25, who make up half of Kosovo’s 2 million people. Around half a million Kosovars have left to work in the EU, many of them illegally.

Of those who stayed at home, more than a third live below the poverty line, and social services only reach a tiny share of them. There are no industries to speak off, and little to export apart from scrap metal. The current-account deficit amounts to 50 per cent of GDP (although that is inflated by the big international presence). Although the EU claims that it has invested €400 million into the power sector alone, regular electricity blackouts remain the biggest problem for local businesses...

Surely it is time for NATO to end its hopeless mission, since this foreign military occupation has done so little to improve Kosovars' daily lives. Let the locals sort things out for themselves.

I await Federal NDP leader Jack Layton's call for NATO to withdraw from Kosovo:

...NATO is the wrong organization to be in charge.

NATO is a regional defence organization that has been searching for a purpose since the end of the Cold War.

It is a military organization that does not possess the experience, expertise or inclination to deal with the diplomatic and humanitarian needs in...

Mark C.

Posted by markc at March 2, 2008 11:23 PM