They were an act of pure imagination. So was Bill Clinton imagining he could bomb Yugoslavia without them hitting back. He apparently imagined they'd see that he was right, and go along. And Madeleine Albright evidently imagined, and convinced Bill Clinton, that the Serbs would fold up as soon as the bombing started. That's not what the military or intelligence chiefs predicted, but ever since he was out of short pants Bill Clinton has believed that the Establishment lacks imagination.
Imagination is especially scary where nuclear weapons are involved.
Lately Boris Yeltsin has been mumbling threats of world war, and it is alleged that Russia is retargetting its nuclear missiles onto NATO countries. It takes some imagination to believe that, since you'd have to believe they were ever pointed elsewhere. But it takes a lot more to believe that because Ottawa declared itself a nuclear-free zone, we have nothing to fear. However, the Clinton administration has cheerily assured us that Mr. Yeltsin is just joshing when he threatens Armageddon, that it's all for domestic consumption and that privately he's told them he's pleased as punch about what's going on in Serbia. This sort of imagination, I'm afraid, we've seen before.