Essay, Research Paper: Yugoslavia-War And Peace

The U.S. has a very important job throughout the world. Not only does the government and the military have an important job, but the people do also. As citizens of the U.S., we are talked about around the world about our freedom of speech. Some countries don t approve of our ways, but it is our choice. And on the other hand some countries look on us to help them improve their government. We are number one in the world and that means we have a major responsibility. When countries call upon us to help them in time of need, we should be there with manpower and foreign aid.
Our overall role in the world is too help keep peace in other countries. We should stick up for the little countries that need help against a country that we don t believe in. For example, the U.S. has a current conflict with Iraq and the U.S. is helping Kuwait from being taken over. Being number one puts a big burden on our shoulders. Other countries look up to us for help. As for other nation s rights, we should give all nations an equal voice in a matter if it concerns them, and help out in a peace process. We shouldn t have any special rights just because we are number one in the world of nations. We should be partly responsible for some actions in the world. If we were called upon to help in a situation and that country gets beat, then we should be held partly responsible. But only if that was our own fault.
We should be most interested in places of the world like the Middle East. The U.S. imports oil from the Middle East, and without oil, our country would practically fall apart for a time being. Oil runs our cars, provides electricity for some people s homes. Without oil, there would be absolutely no transportation. Another nation of interest is Panama. The U.S. has given back the Panama Canal back to Panama. If another country takes or tries to take it over, the U.S. should step in. Panama is a major shortcut around the North and South America, and we should be concerned about what is happening there because some of our businesses depend on that canal to speed up travel time of products. Our overall involvement in the world is about right. We have troops all over the world. There are troops in Germany, South Korea, Kuwait, Serbia and numerous other countries. The U.S. should contact NATO or the U.N. if a problem exists in another country. We should never act alone in a situation. With their help and our own army, almost anything can be solved. The U.N. has stepped in with us at Iraq and NATO and the U.N. in Serbia to help solve conflicts. The Serbia conflict may be solved before long, but the Iraq situation may persist for a while.
I chose the area of peace and war because in today s world there are many areas where people/countries are constantly fighting. When countries begin to fight, innocent people are killed, friendships between countries fall apart, economies fail, and resources in that area skyrocket in price. We must help keep an eye out for the smaller countries and help them from being taken over by the larger ones. Currently we are highly concerned about Serbia and Iraq. Iraq has a major supply of oil also the same with the Middle East. If we let Iraq have its way, then we better be ready to pay at the pumps because oil prices will shoot to $5.00 a gallon or more. Iraq would try to take over the Middle East and the oil supplies in other countries like Kuwait and if Iraq takes over these key areas, they would probably charge us plenty for fuel. Serbia has also been of concern because of the amount of fighting within that country. Due to elect in of President Kostunica, Milosevic is history, and the fighting will die down as the U.N. lifts embargos.
The U.S. should deal with these areas with extreme force. First we should try peace. Possible deals with Iraq and Serbia may stop fighting and end the war between us. We should be sending some of our peace advisors to these countries to meet with the leaders of these countries to make a peace agreement. So the first and major part of peace is communication. We should interact with organizations like NATO and the U.N. in making peace happen and help solve problems around the world. Our first country of priority is Serbia. Now with the new President, we should settle any arguments between us and move on to another country. Fighting one at a time is better then fighting two at a time. And besides, the Iraq problem will be around awhile and we should make a strong friendship with the Serbs.
Yugoslavia is located next to the Adriatic Sea, on the Balkan Peninsula. Yugoslavia is slightly smaller then Kentucky. Yugoslavia s location is really important to Western Europe. They control one of the major land routes from Western Europe to Turkey and they also lay along the Adriatic Coast. The government has just switched powers on Oct. 7, 2000. Slobodan Milosevic lost to Vojislav Kostunica for the Presidency. The Republic is going through a harsh time period right now. The new President has many ideas to turn the crippled country around, but the fact remains that they have a long way to go to achieve his goals. The world is trying to help Yugoslavia to a comeback. President Clinton lifted sanctions and a lot of time and money is needed to stabilize them. The country has the right economy to be really prospective. They have many industries like machine building, mining and chemicals. But on the other hand with a GDP of $1,800 per person and imports tallying higher than exports, it s tough to get ahead. The major obstacles ahead of them are to repair buildings and other structures damaged from last years war. The people have also suffered greatly. The infant mortality rate is 20.13/1000 in Serbia last year, and a population growth of .0739%. This tells us that the people are in some very difficult times.
Yugoslavia has not received any foreign aid of any kind that is known to us. Yugoslavia has had disputes with Bosnia and Herzegovina over the Serbian populated areas in the past. The military spent $911 million in 1999, which averages out to 6.5% of the GDP. In the past the U.S. and NATO has bombed Yugoslavia but today we and other countries have started to lift the embargoes and sanctions on the unstable country. At the time, the U.S. and NATO bombed Yugoslavia because of Milosevic s crucial rule and the war crimes by the people of Yugoslavia.
The U.S. has recently started to lift sanctions and embargoes on the country of Yugoslavia. The sanctions and embargoes were set on Yugoslavia last year during the war, when Milosevic was President. The sanctions and embargoes were lifted on October 12, five days after President Kostunica took office. The oil embargoes and flight bans from the U.S. were lifted on October 12. Also on October 12, Kostunica met with James O Brian, who is the U.S. special envoy to the Balkan Territory. At least the country is trying to get off on the right foot.
I think that the U.S. should help out Yugoslavia in as best a way a possible. The U.S. and NATO bombed them, and now with a new president, we should step in and help them out as best as we can do. We should contribute aid to the crippled country. Not only money but man power as well. There is a limit to the spending but to put a figure on it would be tough. We should spend enough to jump-start them to better lives. Military manpower is needed to help reconstruct the rubble and advisors also need to be sent over to help the government and the economy start off to the right foot again. Depending on how fast we work at this, we should only need to be there an extra year or so. I believe that if we can turn an enemy into ally, we should go for it. If there is any trouble in the European region in years to come, Yugoslavia will probably help us fight another country off, because we helped them out. It never hurts to help somebody out in the time of need. If we decide to not help Yugoslavia, their economy may collapse completely, and then nothing is gained in peace at all, but instead it just fell further away.
The United States tries to help countries around the world with foreign aid and military manpower. We however cannot be everywhere at the same time but we try to help out as best as possible. Our conflicts with Iraq do rate over others because our national security is threatened, but we still find ways to help out Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia is a major land route through the Blaken Peninsula and the U.S. may not use it as much as other European countries, but it is an important route for our allies. So we must help protect these areas around the world to keep peace between our allies.