Monitor: International reaction to Nato's decision to proceed with airstrikes on Serbia
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Your support makes all the difference.THE EFFORTS of the international community have resulted in this situation, following demonstrations of flexibility that appeared as weakness. If unprecedented bombardments in post-war Europe should occur, the crisis could lead us into uncharted waters. But the continuation of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo without a Western response would have revived ghosts of the appeasement of Hitler in 1938, the prelude to European war. The question remains whether to accompany bombing, whose effects are inevitably limited, with land troops to prevent reprisals against the Kosovars. Would there be the political will for such a risky escalation of hostilities?
El Mundo, Spain
MILOSEVIC'S MODUS operandi is not so different from that of Saddam Hussein. Both employ stalling tactics and are skilled at "brinkmanship", pushing the crisis to the brink and then making it seem as if they are backing down. In both cases it is the people who suffer. Innocent masses of people pay the price rather than the ambitious, irrational leaders.
Milliyet, Turkey
WHAT INTERESTS of the US are at risk in Kosovo? What is the goal of military action in Kosovo? What do we do when we reach the goal? In the Second World War, the goal was extremely clear: the unconditional surrender of the Nazis and the Japanese. If the United States government cannot articulate the reasons its citizens will be asked to sacrifice, then we have no business being there.
Huron Daily Tribune, US
NATO HAS taken one of the most serious decisions of its existence. It has decided for the first time to attack a sovereign country, without a specific mandate from the UN Security Council. The Serbian offensive carried out over the past few days in Kosovo and the new wave of refugees it has created have finally persuaded the allies to act. Faced with Belgrade's obstinate determination to accept the Paris agreement, Nato could no longer defer its action.
Le Soir, Belgium
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