[PEN-L:7622] Buchanan on the Balkans

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Johnson russian list

Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999
From: "Wladislaw George Krasnow, PhD" <wgkrasnow@xxxxxxx>
Organization: Russian American Goodwill Associates
Subject: Buchanan on Russia at National Press Club in Washington

Patrick Buchanan became the first U.S. presidential candidate to declare
the war in the Balkans the greatest obstacle to better relations with
Russia which, he said, would be "priority number one" if he is elected
to the White House. During a luncheon presentation at the national Press
Club on Tuesday June 1, Buchanan criticised the four other Republican
presidential candidates, George W. Bush, Elisabeth Dole, Steve Forbes
and Sen. John McCain for failing to distance themselves from "Clinton's
war."

Buchanan disputed McCain's suggestion that "we must do whatever is
necessary to win lest we be perceived by our enemies as an uncertain foe
and by our friends as an unreliable ally." "If a war is unwise, unjust,
or unwinnable except at exorbitant cost," argued Buchanan, "a
statesman's duty is to end it on the best terms attainable, as
Eisenhower did in Korea, DeGaulle in Algeria, and Gorbachev in
Afghanistan."

According to Buchanan, "the only winner thus far has been Milosevic who
has earned a niche in Serb mythology for defying 'the most successful
alliance in history' rather than surrender Kosovo, the sacred cradle of
the Serb nation." Concluded Buchanan: "Let us cut a deal and end this
wretched war now."

When asked about his vision of the U.S.-Russia relations in the 21st
century, Buchanan said that "the greatest achievement of Ronald Reagan
was not only ending the Cold War but also turning the millions of
ordinary Russians to our friends. Under Clinton, anti-Americanism in
Russia became rampant and reached the lowest pointly after the expansion
of NATO and the start of the war in Yugoslavia."
    "If elected, I'd make the reparing of U.S.-Russian relation the
number one priority of my foreign policy to keep Russia from moving
closer to Red China," promised Buchanan.