A L S O+T O D A Y Beginner's guide to the Balkans By Laura Rozen A week ago, few Americans could find Kosovo on a map. What's behind the crisis Clinton's committed to solve Kosovo update By Laura Rozen Macedonian officials leave hundreds of Kosovo Albanian refugees stranded Milosevic's proposal The Yugoslav president says he's ready to stop his campaign against Kosovar Albanians and take his place at the negotiating table, but only if NATO halts its airstrikes   T A B L E+T A L K Has Larry Flynt delivered dynamite revelations or dirty laundry leftovers? Dissect the Flynt Report in the Politics area of Table Talk   Search and ye shall find -- personal health, family wealth and bibliophilic happiness at barnesandnoble.com Search by:  Keyword Title Author     R E C E N T L Y Endgame? By Jeff Stein As the crisis spirals out of control, everybody scrambles for a quick solution. Everybody but Milosevic (03/30/99) Postcards from Yugoslavia Postcards from Yugoslavia: E-mail lets ordinary citizens get their story out to the world (03/30/99) A raft of refugees Reports of genocide, political assassinations and a Serbian "scorched-earth policy" punctuated the sixth day of allied bombing in Yugoslavia (03/30/99) Calling Kosovo By Laura Rozen Serbs and ethnic Albanians are united -- in misery -- as the bombing and the terror continue (03/29/99) The empires strike back By Jeff Stein As the world focuses on the Balkans, the return of Germany and Japan to military action barely made news (03/29/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		[ C O M M E N T A R Y ] Bombing the baby with the bath water EACH MISSILE WORSENS THE HUMANITARIAN DISASTER THAT NATO IS SUPPOSED TO BE PREVENTING. BY VERAN MATIC | BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- The airstrikes against Yugoslavia were supposed to stop the Milosevic war machine. The ultimate goal is ostensibly to support the people of Kosovo, as well as those of Serbia, who are equally victims of the Milosevic regime. In fact, the bombing has jeopardized the lives of 10.5 million people and unleashed an attack on the fledgling forces of democracy in Kosovo and Serbia. It has undermined the work of reformists in Montenegro and the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and their efforts to promote peace. The bombing of Yugoslavia demonstrates the political impotence of President Clinton and the Western alliance in averting a human catastrophe in Kosovo. The protection of a population under threat is a noble duty, but it requires a clear strategy and a coherent endgame. As the situation unfolds on the ground and in the air day by day, it is becoming more apparent that there is no such strategy. Instead, NATO is fulfilling the prophecy of its own doomsaying: Each missile that hits the ground exacerbates the humanitarian disaster that NATO is supposed to be preventing. It's not easy to stop the war machine once its power has been unleashed. But I urge the members of NATO to pause for a moment and consider the consequences of what they are doing. Analysts are already asking whether the airstrikes are still really about saving Kosovo Albanians. Just how far are NATO members prepared to go? What comes next after the military targets? What happens if the war spreads? All of these terrifying questions must be answered, although I suspect that few will want to live with the historical burden of having answered them. The same questions crowded my mind as I sat in a Belgrade prison on the first day of the NATO attack on my country. Whiling away the hours in the cell I shared with a murder suspect, I asked myself what the West's aim was for "the morning after." The image of NATO taking its finger off the trigger kept coming to mind. I've seen no indication so far that there is a clear plan to follow up the Western military resolve. N E X T+P A G E+| Bombed by fellow democrats