John Bolton has voiced the alarm about Albania’s power play to take Kosovo from Serbia. Good. Such a US warning is long overdue. In fact, Bolton’s warnings on the threat to regional stability from Kosovo’s so-called “independence” come almost too late to be effective (in truth, Kosovo would instantly be taken by a Greater Albania, along with Macedonia and Montenegro).

Kosovar PM Thaci will next week announce a timetable for separating Kosovo from Serbia. If Bolton is serious, he will have President Bush and Senator McCain, whom Bolton has endorsed for US president, call Kosovar PM Thaci and ask him to postpone his announcement. Bolton can then call upon Senators McCain and Clinton, the two strongest proponents of Kosovo independence, to sponsor an immediate Senate resolution and an up or down Senate vote on Kosovo independence.

The Senate, especially McCain and Clinton, who seek to be president, surely will want a Senate floor debate and to go on the record on this war and peace issue? Macedonia has just asked for fast track NATO membership because of the irredentist threat from Kosovo and Albania. In practical terms, this means that US troops, via NATO, would be responsible for stabilizing Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia.

This is iust the beginning of a US/NATO surge in the Balkans. How about US/NATO protection for Montenegro and Croatia? Both states are candidates for Bush’s fast track Balkan expansion program for NATO, quietly supported by McCain. Does the entire Senate approve of this fast track NATO expansion throughout the Balkans. Would the deployment of additional US troops for the Balkans detract from US securirty elswhere, especially from Operation Surge in Iraq?

Finally, why does the US Senate carry on with the daily business if it refuses to debate the most important war and peace issue of our time, NATO expansion in the Balkans?

Even more to the point, how can McCain and Clinton even consider running for president when they will not debate and be accountable on the future of Kosovo and NATO in the US Senate?