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First the bad news ..
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''Far from creating a tolerant democracy, the allies have presided over
one of the largest episodes of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.'' |
Now the good news - can a Nobel Peace Prize be far away for Madeleine
Albright? She has now met the Carter criteria of 1) Attacking her
own country's government; 2) Authorship of a horrendous diplomatic
failure. Let the festivities begin.
''Western officials, starting with American Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, developed policy in a dream world. They thought
that a couple days of bombing would bring Belgrade to heel, completely
missing the nationalism that animated most Serbs, even democrats and
human rights advocates. Worst, the allies believed that they would be
able to concoct a multi-ethnic Kosovo in which Albanians and Serbs
would join hands singing Kumbaya around communal campfires. In fact,
having used their American-supplied air force to eject the Serb
military units, the victorious ethnic Albanians saw no need to
compromise.''
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There may be another lesson to be learned by reading the full article, "Blind Eyes Over Kosovo".
The behavior of NATO-UN forces, charged with keeping the peace,
may hold the key to Europe's seeming animus towards the U.S. and
Israel for taking decisive action against clear and present dangers.
''Although the monastery was nominally guarded by German soldiers
serving in the international Kosovo Force (KFOR), most of them packed
up when the crowd began crossing the shallow creek separating the
monastery from the road. They took the monks along but left the
buildings and contents unprotected; a few remaining soldiers played
tourists, photographing the monastery's destruction. This shocking
behavior was the norm on a day of violence around Kosovo. Complained
Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch: 'In too many cases, NATO
peacekeepers locked the gates to their bases, and watched as Serb homes
burned.'"
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It's human nature to fear what one cannot understand, and preemptive
action against security threats, or even a devotion to duty seem to be
utterly alien to Europeans. It'll be sad, but interesting, to see how
Parisian women take to replacing haute couture with garbage bag
chic.
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