What did America learn from the 1999 Kosovo war?
Eastern approaches 2013-09-13
Summary:
HAS Barack Obama’s team been studying the Kosovo war and the 78-day NATO bombardment in 1999? According to The New York Times, an American daily, it has. But it is questionable whether there are any relevant lessons for Syria from the Balkans. The geopolitical context is very different.
Given that Serbia was the main target of the 1999 bombardment one might have expected that Serbian officials would have something to say on the matter. In public they have not made any comment. The only prominent Serb who has come out with anything was Novak Djokovic, Serbia’s champion tennis player, who without doubt speaks for most of rest of the nation in his opposition to any bombing.
According to a source in the foreign ministry, Serbia was waiting to align itself with a common European Union position and hoping for the “best case scenario” of a United Nations Security Council resolution agreed by all. This is tantamount to evading the question of whether Serbia’s government thinks there should be a military intervention. Serbia, to use a phrase used about the Balkan wars and now...Continue reading