Oh No: Biden Kicks Off Balkan Tour

posted at 7:42 am on May 19, 2009 by Michael van der Galien
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Oh no, couldn’t Obama have sent someone else?

Vice President Joe Biden began a landmark Balkans tour Tuesday to show US engagement in a region still wracked by the tensions that triggered Yugoslavia’s bloody break-up almost two decades ago.Biden landed on board US Air Force Two plane at Sarajevo airport at dawn under heavy security measures.

He was spending Tuesday in Bosnia-Hercegovina — accompanied there by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana — meeting with political leaders and delivering a speech in the Bosnian parliament.

The Balkans are one the least stable part of Europe. Many experts believe it’s not a question of whether but when the different peoples living there will have another go at each other. My guess is that if Biden is allowed to roam about freely, it’ll be soon rather than later.

Can you imagine Biden saying something like: “I know you miss Milosevic. And so do we. But you have to look towards the future! Hope and change have arrived.”

Wasn’t Clinton available? Or did Obama fear that she would once again brag about being “under sniper fire”?

We can only pray that Biden won’t leave a burning Europe behind.

Read more of my work at PoliGazette.

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