The problem of implementing ''competent diplomacy'' as you put it, is that you need ''competent, sensible negotiators'' to discuss with... Milosevic is by no means such a decent representative of the Serbian people.
Hence, you remind me of Daladier and Chamberlain coming back from their trip to Munich in 1938 --remember how gleeful they were, waving the piece of paper signed by Adolf Hitler! And what was W. Churchill's reaction? He said: You wanted to escape from war, although in a honourable way but you'll end up with war anyway --losing your honour altogether!
Think about it: Milosevic was in no way in some ''backseat'' position during the Rambouillet meetings: one the one hand, you had a loose band of democratic countries that spent most of their energies squabbling with each other instead of standing up together to Milosevic; and on the other hand, you had an autocratic, one-man-ruled delegation that was wise enough to play one Western country against another to weaken the West coalition... Milosevic was diplomatically stronger than all its opponents together: he missed such an opportunity to grant ethnic Albanians an acceptable agreement. Now, he's faced with a military confrontation, that is a battlefield where he'll be much more weaker than he was at the diplomatic roundtable.
Furthermore, I think that most Americans miss to grasp the larger picture: if Milosevic were to win in his Balkan ethnic cleansing then Western Europe is next! We've got also our domestic ''Pat Buchanans'' here... Just imagine what would happen in the U.S. if Buchanan wins the next gubernatorial election in California: he would implement his ethnic cleansing policy --i.e. expelling all the Latinos to Mexico, enforcing quotas for Blacks, Chinese, Koreans, etc. If the Federal Administration let him go on with such a reactionary policy then US citizens from other States would face a similar threat: New Mexico, Arkansas, Texas,... might be next. And the U.S. of A. would get flung back to an 1861-65 Civil War!!! Got the picture?
Regards,
Gustave. |
