It’s very logical…

The article covers the important distinction between perception and reality: that what we see, or more importantly what we interpret, carries far greater weight - both for emotional value and qualitative agency - than any fact we might be told. Particularly when it comes to Kosovo and the slightest hint that an action conflicts with "our" ideas, people get incredibly defensive, highly confrontational, and quickly irrational (this website comment section merely understates these realities on a daily basis).

Yet there's one thing Montgomery never really addressed: the question to send weapons in the first place.

How does sending weapons, particualry weapons to poor people living in an overwhelmingly underdeveloped region, enhance bilateral relations? What are we, the US, getting out of Kosovo in return? Sorry, I can't personally profit off of empty gratitude and a military base I'll never use.

Doesn't the sending of weapons only increase the dependency of said region on us? Wouldn't the facilitation of better living conditions, the modernization of educational standards, the building of roads, public institutions, and strengthening a democratic civil society be more conducive to "enhancing bilateral relations"? How about providing the opportunity for students in Kosovo, both Albanian and Serb, to attend American universities on a scholarship?

How in the world is throwing weapons at what amounts to little more than Borat-country enhance bilateral relations, let alone enhance that elusive "peace and stability" we were all told would happen if we just run ramshod over international law and give Kosovo premature independence? How can we even hope to pacify a region poisoned with some of the most irrational perceptions of the "other" by giving weapons?

What we have now, is more egg on the face of US foreign policy, worsening of already horrible US-Serb relations, an increasing committment of US forces to stay in the Balkans, electoral ammunition for the Radicals and Kostunica, and a security dilemma not only between Serbia and Kosovo Province, but also a potential security dilemma between the US and Russia.

Here's another "perception" to chew on: David Brooks, op-ed writer for the New York Times, and somebody whom I greatly admire, noted that most of the planet regarded Americans as "the spoiled bimbos of the earth." After reading this article, I'm increasingly inclined to believe that unfortunate perception, regardless of the "realities" my government tries to reassure me with.

Since you're speaking about perception and reality concerning US politics in Kosovo, here is something you should meditate about:

Nearly two millennia ago, in his Life of Agricola, Roman historian Tacitus put these words in the mouth of a Germanic chieftain; Calgacus describes the Romans thus: "Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant." They create a wasteland, and call it peace.

For a nation that fancies itself the heir to Rome, this is entirely fitting.

It’s very logical… William Montgomery Washington and Brussels are getting very arrogant they think they can do what ever they like and don't have to answer to no one. Brussels thinks all of Europe is their back yard and for Washington the world. They work hand in hand or better elites arrogance in to bigger self delusional arrogance to get their desired outcomes. For the world to be a servant to big members Brussels and of Washington. More than anything of a master slave relationships or colonial powers of the old history. So the world can and is to be exploited of the few remaining resources for their greedy benefits. What Washington calls National interests some time they backfire but they have a lot of poor young men and woman to lay down their life while the rich hypocrites elites politicians wrap them selfs in the red white and blue. As I remember Clinton ,Bush and Chaney were to scared to serve in Vietnam and had other power elites pull strings to remove them from harms way. To do their military time in the U.S. how very convenient but they are so eager to send others children how are not so well elites power connected ,to foreign battle fields of the elites and of their own design and making.

I commented on this article's Serbian version and I would not repeat myself, only I would add that this is another of Mr Montgomery's "zurnalistickih patki". Serbia is not afraid of 2.500 Kosovo Albanian guns that USA are going to sell them and any sort of Serb-Albanian war tomorrow is out of prospect. Serbia would be afraid of hungry Kosovars tomorrow migrating into Serbia as they did once from Albania into Kosovo, if USA - apart from giving them indpendency - does not quickly give them prospects of a better life, which for now seems to be improbable. Mr Montgomery knows very well that Serbia has signed the contract for the south pipeline in Europe, and he must also know that Russia, before signing that contract with Serbia, got official guarantees from the USA State Department that Serbian soil would be safe and not under war threat in the long future, exchanging USA with several recompenses in Iran's and China's affairs. The fact that Serbia is lost for USA strategic goals in the long future is another topic.

As a soldier and a civilian that served in both Bosnia and Kosovo, I can remember to mission was to stop the violence period on both sides. Since when did we care to create a country out of a country? The mission was never to setup a country or support it but rather stop the violence.....
The foreign policy in the USA is like a train wreck, (everyone see's it coming but the conductor).... If any state or defense official had the stones to give an honest assesment/write a paper with pro's and con's we wouldnt be in this situation (We I mean the USA!) Sad day for foreign policy and shows just how weak foriegn service officers representing the USA and the DoD officers are yes men.

Mr. Montgomery, those "ignorant" officials are so ignorant because you and other diplomats and politicians have told them that the independence of Kosovo is just another occassion were a new state becomes independent. Not a replay of the US sponsored independence of Panama - as most of the world sees it. Many people have warned about the "collateral damage" of Kosovo's unilateral independence. This is part of that damage too. Caused by a distorted view of the world.

Montogomery,

"This Proclamation plays entirely into their hands and is perhaps the greatest gift we could give them. It is a major blow to moderate, pro-European forces. That we could not even wait six weeks to make this Proclamation"

- the reality is that this does not play into anyones hands it is at least blatantly obvious that the US intention is and always was a NATO non-entity!

That you would as a diplomat consider the duplicitous route of delaying till after elections is just a mere strategy but the reality and not perceprtion is now extremly evident - that is soemthing that not even pro-US and pro-EU Serbs in this dissection of the UN recognised, Soverign and democratic European republic of Serbia can no longer cover up from the electorate!

Vote for your pro-EU moderates is a vote for the disintegration of Serbia and the creation of a NATO non-entity!

Like many American politicians, Mr. Montgomery is acting naive and ignoring the elephant that is standing in the room (on purpose). US foreign policy boils down to "War = Prosperity" and "Your kids die, I get the cut on the bullet". It is amazing to me that the country that produced policies like the Monroe Doctorine is coming back and acting as the judge and the jury for ethnic conflicts in the rest of the world. Americans are good people and hold much common ground with the Serbs. But, just like the Serbs, they stand and watch their government do bad things on their behalf. Shame on us all.

I agreed here, "the perception which has immediately been firmly and irrevocably created in Serbian minds (and others) is that there will now be significant levels of support to Kosovo from the United States to build up a strong military force. This ties in exactly with the rhetoric of Prime Minister Koštunica that the United States has engineered a “NATO State” headquartered at Camp Bondsteel (the U.S. base in Kosovo)."

Perception and reality are one. What you perceive is what your reality is.

How do you perceive what perceptions the others have?
The same thing holds for the perception of the Americans towards Serbia. What is the reality in Serbia and what is shown to the world? Burning embassies. It is useless to just accuse the western media of bias.
It is a long process trying to change what other countries think of yours, it doesn't happen overnight and for it to happen real change must occur too.
I can speak only for my country, it has been 20 years and Albanians from Albania proper are still remembered in Italy as desperate people packed on ships on the Adriatic or on speed boats and traffickers. Only now that is starting to change, because it has been long since these things have stopped happening.

"The great irony is that the original motivation to push as rapidly as possible for Kosovo independence was that it was seen by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and other senior Administration officials as the key to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region and turning it completely over to the European Union to manage. For years, this was the underpinning for our policy.

Somewhere between the departure of Rumsfeld and where we are now, that underlying objective seems to have been forgotten. In all probability, in order to convince members of the European Union to support the U.S. strategy, the U.S. had to agree to stay in KFOR as long as it was in place. Thus, instead of independence being the catalyst for departing Kosovo, the United States finds itself not only still involved, but having to be even more active in a military sense. Quite a turnaround."

Why are we forced against our wishes to intensify our dialogue with an organization which make such strategic blunders all the time?

Stepping back from Seselj and Russia? Well, if the Anti-Globalist movement gets state support it can be compared to the Communist Movement fifty years before the Russian Revolution. So it is important understand the threats as real - even though they seem silly at this stage. What surprises me is how these ideas are espoused spontaneously by so many people around the world.

Free Tibet!

The Logic of this article is: US should step back in front of Seselj’s party and Russia.

I agreed here, "the perception which has immediately been firmly and irrevocably created in Serbian minds (and others) is that there will now be significant levels of support to Kosovo from the United States to build up a strong military force. This ties in exactly with the rhetoric of Prime Minister Koštunica that the United States has engineered a “NATO State” headquartered at Camp Bondsteel (the U.S. base in Kosovo)."

Perception and reality are one. What you perceive is what your reality is.

Free Tibet!

How do you perceive what perceptions the others have?
The same thing holds for the perception of the Americans towards Serbia. What is the reality in Serbia and what is shown to the world? Burning embassies. It is useless to just accuse the western media of bias.
It is a long process trying to change what other countries think of yours, it doesn't happen overnight and for it to happen real change must occur too.
I can speak only for my country, it has been 20 years and Albanians from Albania proper are still remembered in Italy as desperate people packed on ships on the Adriatic or on speed boats and traffickers. Only now that is starting to change, because it has been long since these things have stopped happening.

It’s very logical… William Montgomery Washington and Brussels are getting very arrogant they think they can do what ever they like and don't have to answer to no one. Brussels thinks all of Europe is their back yard and for Washington the world. They work hand in hand or better elites arrogance in to bigger self delusional arrogance to get their desired outcomes. For the world to be a servant to big members Brussels and of Washington. More than anything of a master slave relationships or colonial powers of the old history. So the world can and is to be exploited of the few remaining resources for their greedy benefits. What Washington calls National interests some time they backfire but they have a lot of poor young men and woman to lay down their life while the rich hypocrites elites politicians wrap them selfs in the red white and blue. As I remember Clinton ,Bush and Chaney were to scared to serve in Vietnam and had other power elites pull strings to remove them from harms way. To do their military time in the U.S. how very convenient but they are so eager to send others children how are not so well elites power connected ,to foreign battle fields of the elites and of their own design and making.

The article covers the important distinction between perception and reality: that what we see, or more importantly what we interpret, carries far greater weight - both for emotional value and qualitative agency - than any fact we might be told. Particularly when it comes to Kosovo and the slightest hint that an action conflicts with "our" ideas, people get incredibly defensive, highly confrontational, and quickly irrational (this website comment section merely understates these realities on a daily basis).

Yet there's one thing Montgomery never really addressed: the question to send weapons in the first place.

How does sending weapons, particualry weapons to poor people living in an overwhelmingly underdeveloped region, enhance bilateral relations? What are we, the US, getting out of Kosovo in return? Sorry, I can't personally profit off of empty gratitude and a military base I'll never use.

Doesn't the sending of weapons only increase the dependency of said region on us? Wouldn't the facilitation of better living conditions, the modernization of educational standards, the building of roads, public institutions, and strengthening a democratic civil society be more conducive to "enhancing bilateral relations"? How about providing the opportunity for students in Kosovo, both Albanian and Serb, to attend American universities on a scholarship?

How in the world is throwing weapons at what amounts to little more than Borat-country enhance bilateral relations, let alone enhance that elusive "peace and stability" we were all told would happen if we just run ramshod over international law and give Kosovo premature independence? How can we even hope to pacify a region poisoned with some of the most irrational perceptions of the "other" by giving weapons?

What we have now, is more egg on the face of US foreign policy, worsening of already horrible US-Serb relations, an increasing committment of US forces to stay in the Balkans, electoral ammunition for the Radicals and Kostunica, and a security dilemma not only between Serbia and Kosovo Province, but also a potential security dilemma between the US and Russia.

Here's another "perception" to chew on: David Brooks, op-ed writer for the New York Times, and somebody whom I greatly admire, noted that most of the planet regarded Americans as "the spoiled bimbos of the earth." After reading this article, I'm increasingly inclined to believe that unfortunate perception, regardless of the "realities" my government tries to reassure me with.

Like many American politicians, Mr. Montgomery is acting naive and ignoring the elephant that is standing in the room (on purpose). US foreign policy boils down to "War = Prosperity" and "Your kids die, I get the cut on the bullet". It is amazing to me that the country that produced policies like the Monroe Doctorine is coming back and acting as the judge and the jury for ethnic conflicts in the rest of the world. Americans are good people and hold much common ground with the Serbs. But, just like the Serbs, they stand and watch their government do bad things on their behalf. Shame on us all.

Since you're speaking about perception and reality concerning US politics in Kosovo, here is something you should meditate about:

Nearly two millennia ago, in his Life of Agricola, Roman historian Tacitus put these words in the mouth of a Germanic chieftain; Calgacus describes the Romans thus: "Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant." They create a wasteland, and call it peace.

For a nation that fancies itself the heir to Rome, this is entirely fitting.

Montogomery,

"This Proclamation plays entirely into their hands and is perhaps the greatest gift we could give them. It is a major blow to moderate, pro-European forces. That we could not even wait six weeks to make this Proclamation"

- the reality is that this does not play into anyones hands it is at least blatantly obvious that the US intention is and always was a NATO non-entity!

That you would as a diplomat consider the duplicitous route of delaying till after elections is just a mere strategy but the reality and not perceprtion is now extremly evident - that is soemthing that not even pro-US and pro-EU Serbs in this dissection of the UN recognised, Soverign and democratic European republic of Serbia can no longer cover up from the electorate!

Vote for your pro-EU moderates is a vote for the disintegration of Serbia and the creation of a NATO non-entity!

Mr. Montgomery, those "ignorant" officials are so ignorant because you and other diplomats and politicians have told them that the independence of Kosovo is just another occassion were a new state becomes independent. Not a replay of the US sponsored independence of Panama - as most of the world sees it. Many people have warned about the "collateral damage" of Kosovo's unilateral independence. This is part of that damage too. Caused by a distorted view of the world.

I commented on this article's Serbian version and I would not repeat myself, only I would add that this is another of Mr Montgomery's "zurnalistickih patki". Serbia is not afraid of 2.500 Kosovo Albanian guns that USA are going to sell them and any sort of Serb-Albanian war tomorrow is out of prospect. Serbia would be afraid of hungry Kosovars tomorrow migrating into Serbia as they did once from Albania into Kosovo, if USA - apart from giving them indpendency - does not quickly give them prospects of a better life, which for now seems to be improbable. Mr Montgomery knows very well that Serbia has signed the contract for the south pipeline in Europe, and he must also know that Russia, before signing that contract with Serbia, got official guarantees from the USA State Department that Serbian soil would be safe and not under war threat in the long future, exchanging USA with several recompenses in Iran's and China's affairs. The fact that Serbia is lost for USA strategic goals in the long future is another topic.

As a soldier and a civilian that served in both Bosnia and Kosovo, I can remember to mission was to stop the violence period on both sides. Since when did we care to create a country out of a country? The mission was never to setup a country or support it but rather stop the violence.....
The foreign policy in the USA is like a train wreck, (everyone see's it coming but the conductor).... If any state or defense official had the stones to give an honest assesment/write a paper with pro's and con's we wouldnt be in this situation (We I mean the USA!) Sad day for foreign policy and shows just how weak foriegn service officers representing the USA and the DoD officers are yes men.

The Logic of this article is: US should step back in front of Seselj’s party and Russia.

"The great irony is that the original motivation to push as rapidly as possible for Kosovo independence was that it was seen by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and other senior Administration officials as the key to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region and turning it completely over to the European Union to manage. For years, this was the underpinning for our policy.

Somewhere between the departure of Rumsfeld and where we are now, that underlying objective seems to have been forgotten. In all probability, in order to convince members of the European Union to support the U.S. strategy, the U.S. had to agree to stay in KFOR as long as it was in place. Thus, instead of independence being the catalyst for departing Kosovo, the United States finds itself not only still involved, but having to be even more active in a military sense. Quite a turnaround."

Why are we forced against our wishes to intensify our dialogue with an organization which make such strategic blunders all the time?

Stepping back from Seselj and Russia? Well, if the Anti-Globalist movement gets state support it can be compared to the Communist Movement fifty years before the Russian Revolution. So it is important understand the threats as real - even though they seem silly at this stage. What surprises me is how these ideas are espoused spontaneously by so many people around the world.