councilor.org
| Source | Wladislow G. Krasnow |
| Date | 99/06/05/15:31 |
| 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. |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho