NATO wants to play policeman without risking injury which, to paraphrase Lenin, is like wanting to make omelettes without breaking eggs. When a required decision is evaded, the problem compounds. Kamal Kurspahic, then editor of the daily Oslobodenje recalled last week how the Serb artillery on the hills surrounding the city destroyed Sarajevo bit by systematic bit, killing 10,600 inhabitants including 1800 children. The Serb artillery emplacements were visible targets, easy to silence from the air. Yet the big powers looked on year after year.
Appeasement nourishes evil ambition.
He dithered, as months after tragic months added up to years. It legitimized ethnic cleansing by dividing Bosnia along unstable ethnic boundaries. This dubious 'achievement' required an excessive appeasement of Slobodan Milosevic who deserved then as he does now to be tried as a war criminal. He remained an indulged criminal, and like Nemesis, has returned to haunt his benefactors. The attack on Yugoslavia is aimed at saving lives, and for purely moral reasons.