Mr. Bush could rapidly affect events with much less force than would have been needed in the past. A classic air strike and a few smart bombs would deeply undermine the determination of the Greater Serbian forces. The destruction by air of Serbian heavy equipment would require Belgrade to face a war conducted on equal terms with Bosnia and Croatia. In Iraq, we have learned that sanctions hurt the population without necessarily bringing down the leaders we wish to punish. Yet, Helmut Kohl and John Major, with Mr. Bush's apparent support, have pushed to strengthen sanctions in Yugoslavia.
Military aggression requires military response.
Chinese policy has been the next area of failure for Mr. Bush. No one is now playing off China against some other hostile power. No one has ever seen Most Favored Nation status change a communist dictatorship for the better. Whatever the microns in which the White House professes to measure human rights improvements in China, the communists have, in reality, retrenched. They have forcibly seized disputed islands in the South China Sea, intensified nuclear testing and accelerated sales of rockets and other arms to Syria and Iran.