[Poohbah]

My main complaint with the diverse peoples of the Balkans is that they have an uncanny knack for dragging in the Great (or Not-So-Great) Powers into their mess. Better that we simply eliminate the ENTIRE problem (call it "removing an attractive nuisance" or "global hazard mitigation") as opposed to tolerating part of it until we find out that we have bought ourselves even more trouble.

Once you consider relative transportation infrastructures, Afghanistan is far enough away from anything we give a damn about--the Balkans are RIGHT NEXT to the Mediterranean and Europe, two areas that we DO care about.

[bob808]

My main complaint with the diverse peoples of the Balkans is that they have an uncanny knack for dragging in the Great (or Not-So-Great) Powers into their mess.

The "Great Powers" were dragged into this one the same way you would have to drag a fish into water. I think that's part of the problem, we keep imposing these artifical borders on them, hence the problem keeps comming up. We should have just stayed out of it and let them settle it themselves. Unfortunately, Bill left a stain on Monica's dress and the rest is history.