Posted on 05/23/2006 6:33:04 PM PDT by blam
Serbia's navy left high and dry by the vote for independence
By David Rennie, Europe Correspondent
(Filed: 24/05/2006)
Serbia is about to join the select club of former naval powers.
Officers, who remember the heyday of the old Yugoslav navy - it boasted nearly 80 warships - are weighing their options following Sunday's independence referendum in Serbia's sister republic of Montenegro.
The Yes vote means Serbia will lose its sea ports and naval bases.
Gen Radosav Martinovic, a military adviser to the government of Montenegro, said that the Serbian navy would be lucky to end up with some patrol craft on the Danube.
The general invited Serbia's most capable admirals and officers to stay on and help build a new Montenegrin fleet. The offer may not be that attractive, however, as the new-born nation is planning a coastguard-style force, based on fast patrol boats, plus a three-masted, 180-foot sail training ship, the Jadran.
The Montenegrin authorities have started auctioning off some of the most picturesque bases on the Adriatic to tourist developers.
Other nations, from Ethiopia to the Austro-Hungarian empire, have lost coastlines and waved goodbye to their navies. Bolivia, defying the trend, still maintains a "navy" of river boats and a clutch of admirals, despite losing its coastline to Chile in 1884.
You need support all right... lost your strap did ya?
Yeah, right sure you did. When pigs flew!
Why do you consider the NATO bombings of Serbia to be the moral equilivant of the US attack on Iraq. It seems to me that there are several differences.
1. Iraq was thought to be hiding weapons of mass destruction. I don't reacall Serbia having the same issues.
2. Iraq was training terrorists that had killed 3,000 Americans. I don't recall Serbia having done this.
I am not saying that the US/NATO didn't have sufficient reasons for doing what it did in Serbia, I just think that the case is less compelling and the same arguments cannot be made between the two conflicts.
I asked you about this once, and why you didn't know a lick of Hangul after having served in Korea "killing commies on the DMZ".
It just seems odd, in a DITHF kind of way.
Is it me or is this guy Walter Mittie
I agree with you that they're not equivalent, and please don't think that I'm opposing the Iraq War.
But I do think that regardless of what you think of a specific government policy, you are obligated to support your country against its enemies in time of war -- with the sole exception of a few most extreme circumstances. There are exceptions to that, such as Stalin, such as Hitler, but they are rare exceptions. We may not care for Bill Clinton or his policies, but he was no Hitler.
LOL.
Oh but seriously, how the (regionally) mighty have fallen, and how completely unnecessary it all was, and continues to be.
Why is it exactly that you feel the pressing need to call my service into question?
Now, go find some other DESTRO to chase... and by the way, MY FISHING trip with some lucky freepers went just great!!
Did find your "long lost love" destro yet???
Because I DO NOT LIKE YOU.. clintinoid.
The leather dude's eyes are huge. He should move to Hollywood.
This is serious, Lion - I'm calling you on this: If you served in Korea during the Korean conflict, back it up, here and now.
And so should you. I hear they like pretty playthings out there.
Well, I agree with what you said for the most part. I would not have protested the NATO bombings while our soldiers were in harms way. However, in retrospective I think that one can examine the wisdom of past military action.
Unlike most of the left, I do not equate outward protests to be the same as patriotism.
Charming.
Get serious yourself..LOSER!
You too.. clintinoid who says he served WITH the Israelis... LOL!
I have an easy commute to Hollywood as it is, so it is a win-win. Eat your heart out.
YOU owe ME!!
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