Now, the U.S. are facing the cultural challenge I was referring to in my reply to D. Long on April 3, 1999:
Message 8682764
Remember what Karl von Clausewitz said in the early 1800s: War is the continuation of diplomacy by other means... And what's the political issue at stake in Kosovo? It simply is the removal of an outdated jingoist, nationalistic regime in Belgrade!
Serbia needs the very same therapy as Japan in 1945: remember how the U.S. rebuilt a democratic political framework for Japan after WWII: a new Constitution was imposed, a demilitarization was enforced, a fostering of democratic, moderate parties,... Only the Emperor remained as a link with pre-war Japan but he was denied any capability other than a symbolic one.
The benchmark of the Kosovo conflict is not how much more B-2 bombers will get shot down or how many Apaches will get successful in their ''ground cleansing'' mission. The goal is to topple Milosevic down. The whole mission is not military --it's a political conflict! Hence, the goal is to put Serbia BACK ON TRACK, a democratic track that is.
The best way to achieve such an objective is to grab Kosovo out of the hands of Milosevic: this will cut off his ''political air supply''.
As Milosevic will fail in keeping Kosovo under Serbian control, he'll lose his political legitimacy and he'll face heavy --maybe lethal-- pressure by his own military to step down.
Then, under NATO supervision, Albanian refugees will be allowed to return to their villages and a new, peaceful regional framework could be worked out under a U.S./EU patronage. |
