Dr. Paul Michelson to discuss Kosovo at monthly breakfast

Huntington, Ind.- The Huntington College Foundation will host its next monthly breakfast on Wednesday, May 12, 1999. Dr. Paul Michelson will discuss the conflict in Kosovo. The public is cordially invited to attend. Breakfast will be served at 7:45 a.m. in the Habecker Dining Commons.

Michelson serves as distinguished professor of history at Huntington College. He has been a three-time Fulbright scholar, receiving academic fellowships for study and research in South Eastern Europe. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles on the region. A frequent guest of the national and international press, his opinions on the war in Yugoslavia have been recently sought by the BBC and the Christian Science Monitor.

"They say that history doesn't repeat itself, just historians do, but it is interesting that ignorance about South Eastern Europe led at the beginning of the century to war in the Balkans and seems to be leading to war in the same area at the end of the century," said Michelson, referring to World War I.

"At the heart of the matter is the fact that American foreign policy under the current administration has been reactive rather than proactive, which is why we always seem to be faced with equally bad choices," Michelson said. "Much better choices could have been made four or five years ago. And, in fact, some of the poor choices we made to end the conflict in Bosnia after similar blundering led directly to the Kosovo crisis."

"A much over-looked aspect of the NATO campaign concerns the legal issues involved," Michelson added. "What is being done is clearly illegal both under NATO's charter and the Charter of the United Nations."

Michelson notes with irony that the current conflict in Kosovo parallels the scenario of the 1997 movie, "Wag the Dog," which portrays a fictional president starting a war in Albania to distract attention from domestic scandals.

The breakfast program will conclude by 9:00 a.m. The cost of the breakfast is $5 per person. First-time guests are not charged. For more information about the Huntington College Foundation's breakfast series, or the Huntington County Scholarship program, please call Kay Schwob at (260) 359-4089.