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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (1514)	4/4/1999 6:07:00 PM
From: Abner Hosmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

In a nutshell, you are correct on this issue. This was a disastrously bad step for NATO, has totally changed the world equation in the eyes of everyone, and and we'll be dealing with the consequences of it from now on. And you're right on a second point. There are NO good guys in this whole Balkans mess. The Muslims attempted to EXTERMINATE the Serbs and the Jews just 50 years ago, and they'd probably do it again if they could. Furthermore, the Albanians were MESSING with these people, running guns and guerilla operations across Yugoslavia's borders. These people are NOT Jeffersonian democrats. We should have kept our noses out of this mess.

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (1514)	4/4/1999 6:36:00 PM
From: marcos	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

George, are you denying that Serbs are systematically eliminating the ethnically Albanian population of Kosovo?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (1514)	4/4/1999 7:20:00 PM
From: wonk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

...Now the Nato members (especially Greece and Italy and soon Germany) are having second thoughts about this whole thing because their voting public is AGAINST it and could well live with a flood of Albanian refugees in their countries with an avg unemployment rate of at least 10%! Doesn't seem like it. Support for Bombing Spreading in Europe ...But since NATO warplanes took to the skies over Yugoslavia 10 days ago, public support for Operation Allied Force has grown steadily across Europe. In Britain and France, solid majorities are now in favor of sending ground troops to Kosovo, even though their governments are reluctant to do so, to stop Serbian forces who are forcibly deporting much of the population and to clear the way for the safe return of ethnic Albanian refugees. The shifting sentiments have been most pronounced in Germany, which until recently refused to send any military forces abroad because of sensitivities dating to the Nazi era. A poll published Thursday by the weekly newspaper Die Woche showed that 62 percent of those surveyed support the airstrikes and approve Germany's participation in the war, while 31 percent are opposed. ... In Britain, the Labor government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has shifted the party closer to the political center, has displayed none of the party's historic support for unilateral disarmament and other pacifist causes. Only a week ago, aides at 10 Downing Street expressed anxiety about losing public support if the airstrikes lasted much beyond a week. But instead, surveys show that two-thirds of the British people now favor a major escalation of the allied war effort, including the dispatch of ground troops to help the refugees return home. A Guardian/ICM poll published Friday showed support had surged 19 points in the past week for sending troops to augment the bombing campaign.... In France, conservative President Jacques Chirac and Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin have set aside political animosities and traditional frostiness toward NATO to line up squarely behind the bombing. Public opinion has backed them: 58 percent of the French people support the war effort, including possible use of ground troops; 29 percent are opposed. ..... But even as the government in Rome wavers over airstrikes, the plight of Kosovo refugees appears to have fortified public support. A poll published Friday in the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera showed the number of Italians who believe military action is justified rose from 25 percent to 37.3 percent over the past week. In the same period, the proportion of Italians who believe their country should remain loyal to its NATO commitments, including military involvement, jumped from 30 percent to 44 percent. And those who felt Italy should abstain from any role in the Balkan war fell from 14.3 percent to 7.5 percent.... ....Among NATO's new members, Hungary and Poland are supporting the airstrikes even though they are not contributing planes. Public approval is running about 60 percent in both countries. But in the Czech Republic, it is much lower at 35 percent, reflecting the negative views of Prime Minister Milos Zeman who has disapproved of the airstrikes. washingtonpost.com