AMERICAN voters communicated a clear message to the Bush administration in the November 2006 elections: withdraw US forces from Iraq as soon as possible. Should a Democratic candidate be elected president this coming November, he or she would almost certainly draw down US forces in Iraq as a prelude to complete withdrawal. Another Republican president, facing political pressure and the high cost of continued military involvement in Iraq, would probably do much the same. Facing this reality, Iraqi leaders should seriously consider adopting a federal system of government to replace their current political structure, a weak unitary state.
Three different structures for Iraq are under discussion: a unitary state, complete partition and a federal system. The Bush administration, most academic specialists and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group favor a unitary state. Many others, however, including Peter Galbraith...
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SINCE Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17th, Serbs have staged violent demonstrations against the US and against many EU countries that supported the move. It is feared that recognition of Kosovo has set a dangerous precedent, with consequences far beyond its borders.
Violence in the Balkans, contained in recent years, is breaking out again, and the fact that the trigger is—not for the first time—events in Kosovo, bodes ill for the region. The burning of the US embassy in Belgrade and the attacks on other Western missions may be no more than the tip of the iceberg, as Serbs continue to show their anger and frustration over the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.
Their Government, led by the West’s one-time “favourite” Vojislav Kostunica, is largely to blame for the violence. They must have known that calling a huge demonstration of hundreds of thousands of people was...
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