Many people in high places seem confident that Russia will not escalate its military challenge to American-led NATO forces in the Balkans. They point out how impractical it would be for Russia, with all its economic and internal political problems, to become embroiled militarily against the only country with the financial resources to help them. All of history would be different if countries did only practical things. Admiral Yamamoto thought it was impractical for Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor. German generals were plotting to overthrow Hitler in 1938, in order to prevent him from getting Germany into a ruinous war.
Wars are even less likely than other human endeavors to go according to plan.
Worse yet, this administration shows no sign of even having any real plan. Its foreign policy, like so many of its other policies and actions, is little more than a series of photo-ops and slick rhetoric geared to the moment. What matters to the Clinton administration is how things will look tonight on the 6 o'clock news. The long run is left to take care of itself. How that something will ultimately turn out is not an issue on their political radar screen.