Word: nato
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...NATO is about to be dragged into a messy war in Kosovo that it doesn't want but may be unable to avoid. In a fierce battle Wednesday, Serb forces ousted the insurgent Kosovo Liberation Army from the coal mining town of Belacevac and prepared for an onslaught on the besieged town of Kijevo -- dubbed "the most dangerous place in Europe" by U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke last week. "A full-scale Serbian offensive against the KLA will force NATO to take action against the Serbs," says TIME correspondent Douglas Waller, who last week accompanied Holbrooke on a futile peace mission...
BELGRADE: Richard Holbrooke wasn't carrying a big enough stick. That's why he came back empty-handed from Kosovo this week: Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian president, is emboldened by NATO's hesitance to conduct air strikes. "Holbrooke's mission failed because Milosevic didn't feel enough pressure," says TIME Central Europe bureau chief Massimo Calabresi. "NATO's political will is visibly weakening. Greece and Macedonia have come out against military action, and France is insisting on taking the matter before the U.N. That, together with Russia's support, has taken the heat off Milosevic...
...Fighting in Kosovo intensified this week even as the U.S. envoy shuttled back and forth between the warring parties. Holbrooke left the region warning that NATO is stepping up preparations for those air strikes on the Serbs. For now, at least, Milosevic appears content to call his bluff...
BELGRADE: Will President Slobodan Milosevic remember that it was Richard Holbrooke who authored the 1995 NATO bombing raids that forced the Serbs to negotiate a peace accord in Bosnia? NATO certainly hopes so. The Serb leader has largely ignored the Western ultimatum to end his offensive in Kosovo, and Holbrooke flies in to Belgrade today to warn of the consequences. "Right now Milosevic, and just about everyone else, believes that NATO lacks the political will to carry out air strikes," says TIME Central Europe bureau chief Massimo Calabresi...
...Milosevic ignores Holbrooke's warning, bombing won't bring an easy solution to the crisis. NATO is demanding that he withdraw his troops and negotiate to restore Kosovo's autonomy within the Yugoslavian federation. But even in the unlikely event that he complies, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority would keep on fighting for independence from Belgrade. So air strikes are simply a short-term strategy to stop the Serb campaign against civilians. "There's no hope of any progress unless Milosevic makes some concessions, and so far he has given away nothing at all," says Calabresi. "He is pushing...