I had to laugh at this one. A poster from Europe found this article and put it on our discussion board. Evidently, while writing about the EU's Javier Solana's recent meeting in Washington with Condoleezza Rice, an American reporter felt the need to include how to pronounce Solana's name. So, the reporter wrote, "hah-vee-EHR' soh-LAHN'-ah" Read about it here.

The European poster who found this article asks, "Why do so many of the US reports when writing about Mr. Solana do as if they hear his name for the first time???"

You know, that's a very good question. In fact, if you go to our discussion board, you will find posters picking up the question and running with it. Why is it our American media appear to be so in the dark when it comes to a man named Javier Solana. And, since the America political scene is so influenced by evangelical Christians, why aren't more evangelicals aware of him and clueing in their political representatives? 

It's not like Solana just appeared. He's been a heavy in the world's political arena since 1995 when former president Bill Clinton appointed him as head over NATO. Solana led the bombing campaign in Serbia and he surprised everybody by talking a reluctant Russia into going along with NATO's eastward expansion. In fact, thanks to his Russian agreement, Solana is credited with making possible the biggest security changes to the continent of Europe since the Yalta Conference at the end of World War II.

How about peace in the Middle East? Solana's 1995 Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Peace is swiftly becoming the platform upon which a final settlement for the Israeli/Palestinian dispute is becoming possible. Solana's new European Neighbourhood Policy will most likely be the seven-year instrument that will finally bring it about -- at least for a time.

Of course, I could show how Solana arose among a 10-nation alliance in 1999 and went on to created for the EU an independent military apparatus. I could also explain how Solana developed a new three-piece security doctrine that, if implemented, will change the entire world. I could even tell you about the two documents that have made his rise possible -- the ones with the number 666. But, I shouldn't have to. This is all common information freely available to all who want to know. In fact, enough has already been said about this amazing new European leader by the name of Javier Solana.

For you American reporters, that's, hah-vee-EHR' soh-LAHN'-ah.