BANJA LUKA - Europe, the intriguing front in Word War III, is about to become even more intriguing with this new political dispute within the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its three headed Presidency, which was installed in 1995 as a result of the Dayton accords. The office is based on a political crop rotation of a Bosnian Muslim, a Croat and a Serbian, but on October 19 the European Union (EU) High Representative Miroslav Lajcak established some new election law the Serbs find threatening to their position. As a result the Serbian leader, Milorad Dodik, has stated his intention to lead the Serbian community to secede from Bosnia and declare their own independent Republika Srpska and with the full support of the Serbian government in Belgrade. Washington’s response to this latest debacle has been to dispatch its Ambassador to Bosnia, Charles English, to deliver an ultimatum to Dodik, “Conflict with the High Representative is the conflict with the USA. The safety and stablility of Bosnia-Herzegovina is in the interest of the United States and we are prepared to defend it. If the path of the conflict continues the reaction of United States will be swift and powerful.”

Belgrade - This has been the pattern of Washington’s foreign policy since World War II. Start or join a small war, engage in a lot of overkill for several years as industrial services that arm the Pentagon laugh themselves all the way to the bank. But it is not just between Washington and the Bosnian Serb government in Banja Luka. Serbia Prime Vojislav Kostunica has recently announced, “Preserving Kosovo and Republika Srpska are now the most important goals of our state and political party.” Belgrade has re-armed very heavily since NATO’s 78 day air campaign against them in 1999 and with major assistance from Moscow. And in January 2006 Belgrade signed a security agreement with Teheran which knows another war in Southeast Europe would not only keep the West busy but will also be used to silence Vienna, which would end the investigation into Iran’s nuclear weapons program by the UN agency based there. Teheran also knows everyone in the Balkans hates Vienna even more than Teheran does.

Teheran - The only reason I linked this article from Xinhua on Teheran shrugging off sanctions just announced by Washington is because the photos are so telling and hilarious. Teheran’s new negotiator Saeed Jalili looks like he is ignoring them completely and that they are very much beneath him. U. S. Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice is looking indignant and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is just there going through the motions.