If you turn on the corporate news today, you won’t see round-the-clock coverage of what I consider to be the most important news story of the day: Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia. Instead, CNN’s talking about bullshit regarding the elections, Putin’s sustainability in front of the press, and overall sideshow politics, MSNBC’s showing police car dashboard camera footage from 10 years ago (though their website has the biggest headline about Kosovo), and Fox News is talking about the Daytona 500, another Israeli pledge to hunt down Hamas leaders, and more of said political bullshit.
So why do I find this event to be so significant? Well, considering the long-lasting political and cultural instability that has existed in the Yugoslavian remnants, one would think that this event could lead toward turning the region into yet another Balkan powder keg. All you need is a nutjob who happens to be a good shot or who knows how to throw a grenade (and the grenade stuff has apparently already happened…http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7249034.stm). If you kill the right person of importance, you could very well open the proverbial can of worms. We may think we’ve evolved since World War I, but the only difference is that we have even more frightening weapons now. Simply put, there needs to be more discussion about the geopolitical implications of this event. I support Kosovo’s declaration of independence, and I’m glad that the US supports it as well. I’m worried about those who don’t support it — namely Russia, who’s got the big guns, the nukes, and a President with a few loose screws. I’m worried that if the situation gets out of control, someone’s going to do something rash and stupid. That’s all I can think of in this stream of consciousness for now…