Re: Framework of nations

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Atkinson" <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com>
>
> > But the Balkans? Well since the US State
> > Department effectively torpedoed the a British
> > sponsored European peace
> > plan it's only fair you clean up your government's
> > mess ;) Sure the plan
> > probably might not have worked, but we'll never know
> > now will we.
>
> Funny, I thought the mess had been created and
> perpetuated by an ineffectual UN mission led by the
> Euros.  Yes, we told the people that created the mess
> that they would not have another go-around on making
> it worse.

Lord Owen, main negotiator together with American Cyrus Vance has
written a
very detailed book "Balkan Odyssey" on that process. According to him,
the
Vance-Owen plan John Atkinson presumably alludes to was far from ideal,
but
the only that had a realistic chance of being implemented (whether it
would
have worked long-term is a different matter)  The plan had solid support
from the European countries and the George Bush (Senior) administration.

According to Owen, the plan was effectively scuttled by the incoming
Clinton
administration, who approached the situation with amateurish ignorance,
and
by pressure from the ill-informed US media.

Greetings