Word: nato
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...last occasion in the Balkans, to pacify Bosnia, it took NATO bombs, three weeks of shouting, pleading diplomacy at Dayton, Ohio, and 20,000 U.S. troops to help enforce the peace. Now will the U.S. have to pay the same to end the killing in Kosovo? The Clinton Administration has long winced at the idea of going that far into the quicksand of Serbia's Kosovo province. But in defiance of the U.S.-brokered October cease-fire, the Serbs continue to massacre ethnic Albanians, and the implacable rebels keep smuggling in weaponry to pick off Serb forces, as both sides...
...peacekeepers. With that decision in her purse, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sped through Europe last week, pushing the allies into an ultimatum that essentially orders Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic to sign an agreement on autonomy with Kosovo's ethnic Albanians within three weeks. If he doesn't, NATO formally warned him last Saturday that he will face bomb and missile attacks from the alliance's planes and ships. The fractious Albanian groups, including the hard-line guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (K.L.A.), are also on notice that they must do the same, though NATO is vague about...
Until last week, neither the U.S. nor NATO was willing to be so bold. But spurred by the resumption of civilian slaughter, Albright insisted it was time the allies demand "an interim political settlement." All right, replied the allies, but only if the U.S. will follow through: peacekeepers must go in on the ground for years to make an agreement stick, and American troops must be among them. Administration officials did not say so publicly, but they signaled NATO for the first time--and confirmed to TIME--that they were willing to go along...
This may be what the U.S. and NATO want, but it is not what the people doing the fighting and killing say they are after. The ethnic Albanians agree on little but a vow to settle for nothing less than full independence. U.S. diplomats insist that the K.L.A. rebels "will get the message" not to play the spoiler. Milosevic declares he will not negotiate with the K.L.A. "terrorists" and will never allow foreign troops to enter Serbian territory. Washington believes he "understands" the language of force and will cave...
...warring parties do not show up at the bargaining table, or if they fail to agree, NATO swears it will bomb. But for how long, and where? Milosevic might assume the role of Saddam of Serbia, gritting through attacks on his security forces and emerging to claim a victim's victory. Or this could be an out for Milosevic. Although the insurrection is nothing but trouble for his sanction-strapped country, he can't just hand Kosovo over. But he may welcome the chance to be forcibly shorn of it and blame NATO. If the Albanians unilaterally block a deal...