Spain to withdraw its troops from Kosovo

Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacón (r) in Kosovo Chacón with Col. Luis Francisco Rey (Photo ©mde.es)

Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacón was in Kosovo Thursday to announce the phased withdrawal of the remaining Spanish troops in the NATO contingent there, expected to take place within 4-6 months: Chacón anuncia la retirada de Kosovo El País 19.03.2009; España pone fin a su misión en Kosovo y la OTAN critica la medida El Mundo 19.03.2009; La Ministra de Defensa anuncia el regreso escalaondado de las tropas españoles desplegadas en Kosovo Ministerio de Defensa, España 19.03.2009. She said, "después de 10 años de gran trabajo, la misión está cumplida y es hora de volver a casa". (after 10 years of great work, the mission is completed and it's time to come home)

This is a real reminder that even success story of intervention and occupation came take a long time. The NATO intervention in Kosovo began in 1999, and enjoyed relatively high support from the local Kosovar population, though not from the Serbian inhabitants. Matters didn't go entirely smoothly. Corruption in the Kosovar government has been a major problem. Ethnic cleansing in postwar Kosovo wasn't nearly as bloody as it has been in Iraq, but the Serbs in Kosovo were pushed into a small enclave near Serbia proper, an area whose status remains in dispute. For that matter, the status of Kosovo as an independent country remains in dispute. Kosovo had been part of Serbia and Serbia, along with other countries including Spain, has not recognized Kosovo's independence.

Chacón made her visit to a Spanish military base there and was careful to avoid official contact with the Kosovar government. Fity-seven countries currently recognize Kosovo's independence, including 22 of the European Union's 27 members. Spain currently has 632 troops there as part of the NATO force of around 15,500, known as KFOR. Spain also maintains troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO contingent there, and in Bosnia, Chad, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan.

Kosovo's independence was a point of contention between Russia and the Cheney-Bush administration. Their insistence on proceeding with formal independence for Kosovo is considered to be a major reason for Russia's taking a hard line on the status of Georgia and Ukraine and the nature of its reaction to Georgia's attack on its positions last year.

Spain's withdrawal announcement annoyed NATO's Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to the point that he openly complained that he wasn't happy with the way Spain had proceeded. Even after a decade, De Hoop Scheffer complains that the situation there still isn't stable enough for Spain to be withdrawing its troops this year. Something to keep in mind when considering interventions in places like Darfur for humanitarian reasons.

Tags: carme chacón, españa, kosovo, spain

Spain's Defense Minister reviews the troops

Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacón conducting her first review of the troops, accompanied by outgoing Defense Minister José Antonio Alonso

Por primera vez una mujer, una ministra y una embarazada ha pasado revista a las tropas. La imagen se guardará en la retina de la Historia española como un hito. La recién estrenada ministra de Defensa, Carme Chacón, ha realizado su primer acto como tal frente a la cúpula militar, encabezada por el jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa, Félix Sanz Roldán. - Las tropas se ponen firmes por primera vez ante una ministra El Mundo 14-04-08

[For the first time, a woman, a female Minister and someone who's pregnant reviewed the troop. The image will stand as a milestone in the retina of Spanish history. The recently announced Minister of Defense, Carme Chacón, made her first act in her new role before the military leadership, headed by the Senior Chief of State for Defense, Félix Sanz Roldán.]

Not surprisingly, Chacón's appointment met with some criticism. But outgoing Defense Minister José Antonio Alonso defended her appointment as "absolutely normal", reminding the critics that Norway and the Czech Republic also have female Ministers of Defense.

The 37-year-old Chacón has described herself politically as "green on the outside, red on the inside". By which she presumably means that she's modern and environmentally minded and also a staunchly pro-labor Socialist. (For those accustomed only to the American political vocabulary, "socialist" in most of the world is not a synonym for "bad", as it is in American politics.)

Tags: carme chacón, españa, spain

It's not Franco's country any more

Carme Chacón, Spain's new Minister of Defense

The recently-reelected Socialist (PSOE) government of Spain led by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero just appointed Spain's first female Minister of Defense, Carme Chacón Piqueras. Chacón served in Zapatero's cabinet as Minister of Housing during his first term.

Hey, aren't these Hispanic and Latin countries supposed to be dominated by macho thinking much more than we enlightened Americans, we being the "city on a hill" and the Greatest Country in the History of the World and so forth?

But Argentina has already elected a female President, which we've never had. Spain now has a female Defense Minister, which we've also never had. Chacón is even pregnant right now. We've certainly never had a pregnant Secretary of Defense!

In this very limited sense, it's too bad Rummy isn't still at the Pentagon. It would probably be awful for him to have to deal with her at NATO ministerial conferences and such. One thing's for sure, he couldn't accuse her of being a "girlie-man".

Plus, Hell must feel a little hotter for Francisco Franco about now.

See Carme Chacón será la primera mujer al frente del Ministerio de Defensa El Mundo 12.04.08; Carme Chacón se convierte en la primera mujer en dirigir el Ministerio de Defensa 20minutos.es 12.04.08.

Here's a recent Spanish video of her in an interview prior to the recent parliamentary elections. She represents a Barcelona district.



No, she doesn't seem like a Rummy type to me!

Tags: carme chacón, españa, spain