The fault lies with the Western powers, not the international body, and those most guilty for Bosnia's slide into Serbia's brutal embrace walk the corridors of power in Paris, London, Bonn, Washington and Moscow. It is after all Nato geography that is most affected. And it is principal Nato partners of Britain, France and Germany who have proven most reluctant to apply military force of any kind unless America carries the troop pail. Indeed, it is the failings of Nato in the first place that brought the UN peacekeepers in during 1991. The chaos in large parts of what was Yugoslavia is a practical dilemma and a moral one for those on the outside.
Allegiances vary, consensus is impossible to reach.
It is thus no policy at all, but a position taken as the lesser of the apparent evils. Sadly, the best efforts of the UN and its member nations to rectify this situation have done little to enhance the UN's reputation, effectiveness or fund generating abilities. The US is the organization's biggest donor nation, but the Bihac and Gorazde debacles have left American conservative columnists and liberal newspapers alike fulminating. This proves that as a vehicle for concerted military response to an aggressive violator of human rights, the United Nations is worthless. What wonderful grist for America's newly ascendant conservative mill.