America's Last War of the 20th Century
by Mark Robertson
With the events of the last five years it is easy to forget that America's model for so-called "humanitarian intervention" was brought to full realization in the final decade of the last century. The test case was Clinton's 78-day U.S. led bombing of Serbia carried out under the flag of NATO without UN authorization, and thus as much a violation of the United Nations charter and established international law as the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Operation Allied Force was ostensibly aimed at preventing the ethnic cleansing of the majority ethnic Albanian population by Serbian Army forces in Kosovo. Contrary to the often simplistic portrayal of the conflict by U.S. media, the three years prior to the 1999 air campaign was politically complex and had seen attacks on both minority Serb civilians by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Albanian civilians by the Serbian military.
The bombing of Serbia was certainly not solely focused on military targets and included the destruction of factories, power stations, telecommunications facilities, major roads and bridges, and the headquarters of the Yugoslavian Leftists, a political party led by then president Milosevic's wife (all of which were claimed to be dual-use civilian and military targets); not to mention the bombing of the Chinese embassy (later revealed to be intentional) and the accidental destruction of an Albanian refugee convoy killing 50. Far from solving the crisis, the bulk of ethnic cleansing was later revealed to have occurred after the start of the NATO air campaign.
Now, seven years after this supposedly successful demonstration of humanitarian warfare, it seems that little has been solved to anyone's satisfaction.
UN Delays Final Report on Kosovo's Future
by Ian Traynor
Published by The Guardian
November 10, 2006
The international community today put off deciding to impose independence on Kosovo in an attempt to forestall extreme nationalists coming to power in Serbia.
Serbia today announced early elections for January 21, with the extreme nationalist Radical party tipped to emerge as the strongest party. Simultaneously in Vienna, the UN envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, and diplomats from the US, Europe and Russia went back on earlier pledges to resolve Kosovo's status this year. They said they would wait until after the Serbian ballot before making public their recommendations.
The Albanian-majority province is formally part of Serbia, but won an independence war in 1999 when the Serbian authorities were driven out by Nato. Since then the province has been under UN control.
Mr Ahtisaari has been conducting fruitless negotiations between the Serbs and the Albanians since February in a vain attempt to find a settlement. Since there is no prospect of agreement, he is to propose to the UN security council that the international community impose his recommendations. “I have decided to present my proposal for the settlement of Kosovo's status to the parties without delay after parliamentary elections in Serbia,” Mr Ahtisaari said in Vienna.
The Serbian authorities have been trying to delay any decision on Kosovo and are waging a ferocious campaign warning of the dangers to international security and stability of an independent Kosovo.
Last month the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, rushed through a new Serbian constitution proclaiming Kosovo forever part of Serbia. The Kosovo issue will utterly dominate the election campaign in Serbia.
In a study of the new constitution this week, the International Crisis Group thinktank said that Serbia was turning its back on mainstream liberal democracy in Europe and reverting to a role as a nationalist, authoritarian seat of instability in the Balkans.
Mr Ahtisaari, strongly backed by the US and Britain, is certain to recommend that Serbia lose Kosovo, although the province's independence will be hedged with conditions that fall short of full sovereignty for some time to come.
Tensions are rising as the deadline for a decision nears. Any further postponement of a decision on Kosovo's fate risks a violent explosion of frustration among the province's two million Albanians.
With the events of the last five years it is easy to forget that America's model for so-called "humanitarian intervention" was brought to full realization in the final decade of the last century. The test case was Clinton's 78-day U.S. led bombing of Serbia carried out under the flag of NATO without UN authorization, and thus as much a violation of the United Nations charter and established international law as the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Operation Allied Force was ostensibly aimed at preventing the ethnic cleansing of the majority ethnic Albanian population by Serbian Army forces in Kosovo. Contrary to the often simplistic portrayal of the conflict by U.S. media, the three years prior to the 1999 air campaign was politically complex and had seen attacks on both minority Serb civilians by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Albanian civilians by the Serbian military.
The bombing of Serbia was certainly not solely focused on military targets and included the destruction of factories, power stations, telecommunications facilities, major roads and bridges, and the headquarters of the Yugoslavian Leftists, a political party led by then president Milosevic's wife (all of which were claimed to be dual-use civilian and military targets); not to mention the bombing of the Chinese embassy (later revealed to be intentional) and the accidental destruction of an Albanian refugee convoy killing 50. Far from solving the crisis, the bulk of ethnic cleansing was later revealed to have occurred after the start of the NATO air campaign.
Now, seven years after this supposedly successful demonstration of humanitarian warfare, it seems that little has been solved to anyone's satisfaction.
UN Delays Final Report on Kosovo's Future
by Ian Traynor
Published by The Guardian
November 10, 2006
The international community today put off deciding to impose independence on Kosovo in an attempt to forestall extreme nationalists coming to power in Serbia.
Serbia today announced early elections for January 21, with the extreme nationalist Radical party tipped to emerge as the strongest party. Simultaneously in Vienna, the UN envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, and diplomats from the US, Europe and Russia went back on earlier pledges to resolve Kosovo's status this year. They said they would wait until after the Serbian ballot before making public their recommendations.
The Albanian-majority province is formally part of Serbia, but won an independence war in 1999 when the Serbian authorities were driven out by Nato. Since then the province has been under UN control.
Mr Ahtisaari has been conducting fruitless negotiations between the Serbs and the Albanians since February in a vain attempt to find a settlement. Since there is no prospect of agreement, he is to propose to the UN security council that the international community impose his recommendations. “I have decided to present my proposal for the settlement of Kosovo's status to the parties without delay after parliamentary elections in Serbia,” Mr Ahtisaari said in Vienna.
The Serbian authorities have been trying to delay any decision on Kosovo and are waging a ferocious campaign warning of the dangers to international security and stability of an independent Kosovo.
Last month the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, rushed through a new Serbian constitution proclaiming Kosovo forever part of Serbia. The Kosovo issue will utterly dominate the election campaign in Serbia.
In a study of the new constitution this week, the International Crisis Group thinktank said that Serbia was turning its back on mainstream liberal democracy in Europe and reverting to a role as a nationalist, authoritarian seat of instability in the Balkans.
Mr Ahtisaari, strongly backed by the US and Britain, is certain to recommend that Serbia lose Kosovo, although the province's independence will be hedged with conditions that fall short of full sovereignty for some time to come.
Tensions are rising as the deadline for a decision nears. Any further postponement of a decision on Kosovo's fate risks a violent explosion of frustration among the province's two million Albanians.
posted by Mark Robertson at 8:23 AM
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