In spite of the show of solidarity put on in Washington the other day, the NATO allies are badly split over this war, with Germany, Greece, and Italy particularly eager to settle, and Tony Blair isolated as the militant advocate of a war to the death. The seriously destabilizing effects of the war on the entire region are too apparent to be denied. The German plan, a pause in the bombing following the withdrawal of a substantial number of Serbian forces from Kosovo, was once rejected outright by the United States, Britain, and France, but is now back on the table. There is an implicit concession by the Allies, however, in the numerous hints that the composition and organizational allegiance of the peacekeeping forces is negotiable. Although the window to a possible settlement is rapidly closing, it is not yet disappeared and the next few days will see this aspect of the story play itself out.
Scores are dead.
Jackson had better get his tables straight, or at least come up with a consistent story. While the Serbs have granted him safe passage through the war zone, the Americans refuse to make any such guarantee. If Jackson is the first American casualty, blown to bits by his own government, it would be a bizarre and more than slightly ironical end to a grotesquely surreal and morally indefensible war. Surely the Reverend Jackson, being such a great humanitarian and all, wouldn't mind making this little sacrifice. A San Francisco gay newspaper, the Bay Area Reporter , quoted from the interview without crediting Aravosis, however, and attributing the story to a reporter for the Melbourne Times-Observer , an Australian gay newspaper.