I Work Hard for My Money

Powell suspends aid to Serbia which decides to pay Milosevic a salary.

Because of its refusal to extradite sixteen war crime suspects to the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Serbia-Montenegro won't be receiving about $26 million of American aid. Serbia's defense minister says the suspension would exacerbate the already struggling economy.

Apparently things aren't really that bad though because yesterday the Serbian parliament decided to pay for salaries and legal fees of Milosevic and other Serbian war crime suspects who are being tried at The Hague. In addition, the travel and mailing expenses of some family members will be covered. A lawmaker in favor of the measure said, "We will never forget how Milosevic was kidnapped and illegally sent there."

The war crimes tribunal's foreign location may have contributed to the emergence of denial and revisionism in Serbia. Trying former leaders hundreds of miles away does little to provide closure or memory within a country where the atrocities took place.

U.N. Your Buddies

Several members of the Iraqi Governing Council do not want the United Nations involved in the establishment of its permanent government.

This may come as a surprise since the organization usually carries the legitimacy of international community support. The distrust of IGC representatives grew out of the UN's handling of the Oil for Food program from which Hussein stole billions of dollars to award his friends around the world. Some Iraqis blame the UN for allowing this corruption and possibly even taking bribes in exchange for willful blindness. The UN is considering a full investigation while the IGC has already hired KPMG and Freshfields, an international law firm, to look into the allegations.