: Gideon I've a lot of respect for your views and think what you have said is worthwhile, if someone else had made a postlike mine I think I might have responded in a similar fashion HOWEVER what is the alternative?An effective peacekeeping force would be a good thing on the ground. It's the only way that we're going to stop the killings. NATO forces will now be shot on sight by the Serbs; the escalation of the conflict has ensured that.
Unfortunately, most of the points I made in my previous post have come true; Albanians are being slaughtered openly because the Yugoslav army feels that it has nothing to lose.
What about a UN-backed peacekeeping ground force composed wholly or partially of Russians? Russia is one of the few countries that Serbia still trusts and Russia is angry that the NATO countries have circumvented the UN; to give Russia extra financial aid in exchange for their presence on the ground would be cheaper (in terms of lives and munitions) than this continued bombardment; it would result in less damage to Yugoslavia's infrastructure and less resentment by the Yugoslavs of the West. Russia would get to take its place on the world stage, keeping the Russians happy, it would benefit the West financially and politically and it would probably be the only ground-based peacekeeping force that could prevent the atrocities right now. It would also have the UN mandate.
Before the bombing, Milosevic was only barely holding on to power; the opposition in Yugoslavia was pretty vocal and effective; since the bombing started, all the Serbs have united behind him; he may be a scumbag, but he's their scumbag.
Speaking personally, I think the best thing would have been to send a ground peacekeeping force in and wait for Milosevic's government to crumble; that's been complicated by the bombing, but if the UN can hold troops in Korea's DMZ for 40 years, I don't see why a similar thing can't be achieved in Yugoslavia.
: These people are plagarising Hitler for foreign and domestic policy! All Hierarchies are bad, granted, but some are worse than others.
Milosevic's hold on power is far looser than Hitler's; if we just shielded the civilians and stood off from him, he would be more likely to be finished off by his own people.
Gideon.
(Of course, there are parties interested in prolonging the bombing; Hughes, Raytheon, McDonnell-Douglas, Bofors, Ooerlikon, Northrop, etc...all of whom will make lots of money replenishing the US's arsenal.)
