UN Track Record in Kosovo
From
Tech Central Station:
bq.
Iraq's Future vs. The UN's Track Record
In the five years since the NATO intervention in Kosovo, the devastated former Yugoslav province has lost the attention of global media and political leaders. This is dismaying for its residents, who have grown to depend on the world powers to assist them in finding their way, but is also unfortunate in that policy failures in Kosovo offer many lessons for the future of Iraq.
bq. How is that possible? Kosovo is less than a tenth the size of Iraq in population, is located in Europe, and is not an Arab country. Still, the two localities have certain elements in common. Both are majority-Muslim, with extremely heterodox forms of Islam prevalent in the countryside. Kosovar Albanians include many adherents of the obscure and controversial Bektashi Sufi order, which is deeply influenced by Shia Islam, the sect comprising a majority in Iraq.
bq. But more importantly, Kosovo has now spent a considerable period of time under the supervision of the United Nations, which governs it through a structure known as UNMIK -- the UN Mission in Kosovo. It increasingly appears that the UN will also take over a major share in ruling from Baghdad.
And more:
bq. In Kosovo, UN-administered privatization is at a standstill. Notwithstanding recent gestures toward its formal achievement, there is widespread conviction that it has failed. In the week of January 21, the territory's prime minister, Bajram Rexhepi, was reported to have exchanged "harsh words" with UN administrator-in-chief Harri Holkeri, at a meeting where a Kosovo labor leader threatened a general strike.
And more:
bq. Of course, in Iraq the stakes are much higher. Kosovo has no oil or gas resources, and among other consequences of UN mismanagement, its elderly and broken-down power plants function so badly that, in the depths of winter, local residents go for days and weeks without heat and light. ("The international community" has its own powerful generators.)
bq. Kosovar Albanians are threatening to go on strike. Think of Iraq as ten times more volatile than Kosovo and you have an idea just how bad UN biases against efficient privatization could make Baghdad look. And remember, in Kosovo Serbs and Albanians fight each other, but don't attack NATO. We all know how that differs from Iraq.
The U.N. does not want efficient privatization. The U.N. is at heart a communist organization preaching top-down, high-tax government by the elite for the proles who do not know better... I do like some of the child organizations that are under the 'wing' of the U.N. - some of them actually do good work. My issue is with the primary governing body and the Security Council.
Posted by DaveH at January 26, 2004 8:49 PM