Airstrip One

Paying the Price - 12th June 2003, 22.33

Belgium's Universal Competence law allowed any politically motivated activist to indict any figure for war crimes. Its universal application, hot on the heels of the Pinochet debacle, has been directed primarily at the United States and the United Kingdom for refusing to observe the favoured principles of transnational law.

Understandably, the United States has decided to take Belgium's law at its word and refuses to fly accused military and political figures to Brussels.

"The point is this: By passing that law, Belgium has turned its legal system into a platform for divisive, politicized lawsuits against officials of its NATO allies," Rumsfeld said.

If US officials are no longer able to attend meetings of NATO in Brussels, and are no longer willing to finance the construction of the Alliance's new headquarters, how long will it be before NATO moves to a more hospitable country?

The three best contenders are probably Germany, Holland or Denmark. However, if we placed the headquarters in Ulster....