The World
Will It Be a Dialogue of the Deaf?
Let's talk. That's the surprising word from Iran, which gave a nod to a proposal from the country most often spurned as the "Great Satan" to discuss cooperation to throttle back Iraq's sectarian violence. The initiation came from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad with an OK from the White House. Details remain to be worked out. U.S. authorities see Iranian backing for radical Shiite militias and "Iranian fingerprints"--expertise and components--on some roadside bombs. Iran's angle? Tehran officials may be nervous about overplaying chaos on their doorstep. Also, they may hope to slow the U.N. Security Council's mulling over sanctions for Iran's nuclear activities.
Little Affection for a Man of Hatreds
The Butcher of the Balkans returned home to Serbia. In death, unlike in life, Slobodan Milosevic stirred little passion. Far fewer mourners than expected visited his flag-draped coffin in Belgrade, a subdued send-off for a man who brought so much death to the region. His fiery appeals to Serbian nationalism, along with his raw political opportunism, set off the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Balkan wars, which claimed some 250,000 lives. Milosevic, 64, died from a heart attack while on trial at The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide and war crimes.
Balkan nations are moving on. Bosnia's economy is growing, and tourists have returned to Croatia's marvelous coastline. Negotiations are underway toward likely independence for Serbia's Kosovo region, the ethnic Albanian-majority area where the last of Milosevic's wars was cut short by NATO intervention. And Serbia's reformist leaders--facing an early April deadline set by the European Union--say they are closing in on Milosevic's former henchman, Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic, an indicted war criminal believed sheltered by sympathetic Serbian military officers. Belgrade's hopes for EU membership depend on delivering him to the war-crimes tribunal.
Now, More Time to Hit the Links
When South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan decided to tee off at a March 1 golf outing, he teed off a lot of people. Last week, Lee resigned amid the kerfuffle over his decision to play golf just as South Korea was hit by a nationwide railway strike. Even in the golf-happy nation, this was seen as one stroke too many; he was also golfing in April 2005 when a wildfire destroyed a 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple. Add the fact that his golfing buddies included a businessman with a criminal record for rigging stock prices, and it's no surprise the main opposition party wants an investigation into, yes, "golfgate."
A Nice Place to Visit...but Goodbye
Iceland, without a military force of its own, has relied on the U.S. military--and vast open ocean--for its security. Now, the Yanks are going home, departing their Cold War-era outpost at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Keflavik, an area of volcanic landscape outside the capital of Reykjavik. This was once serious business. U.S. surveillance aircraft and subs operated from Iceland to keep track of Soviet forces, particularly the nuclear-armed sub fleet moving into the North Atlantic from bases in the Kola Peninsula. The United States stands by its 1951 defense agreement should, sniggers aside, Iceland come under attack.
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