The integrated command-field experience is invaluable for the new NATO that has been made possible, and necessary, by the end of the Cold War, Ralston says. He has worked subtly but consistently to raise the European profile within NATO at a time when European Union leaders are demanding more responsibility in defense. The Norwegian's command authority is further reinforced by a brief pep talk that Ralston delivers to the troops before he heads back to the airport and the rest of this 15-hour workday. In two years, U.N. administrators and NATO commanders have not solved Kosovo's problems. Ethnic hostility is still intense, especially in the town of Mitrovica.
Economic progress is elusive.
But Kosovo seems to wear its political limbo more easily as time passes. The Kosovar leaders I met praised NATO's handling of the recent skirmishing in Macedonia. They seem comfortable with the presence of 38,000 KFOR troops from 39 nations on their soil, and say they will be flexible in pursuing eventual independence from Serbia's version of ex-Yugoslavia. A referendum resulting in Montenegrin independence could come by June. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has indicated he will accept a peaceful disunion with Montenegro.