A Disaster In The Making

The U.S. approach this past month has been to turn to Milosevic. Intentionally or not, Washington has buttressed his political position by reducing sanctions and allowing him to continue his war. It is letting him get away with destroying the remaining free media in Serbia. And it has all but branded as terrorists the Albanian insurgents seeking independence. In return, Milosevic from time to time was expected to make minor concessions to the Albanians. That policy is now clearly bankrupt.

In any event, unless the United States soon produces something far more tangible for the Albanian side, the country's moderate leadership could be swept away; the KLA has grown rapidly since the violence started. At the very least, the Albanians want the Serb police and special forces removed and their shadow government turned into public reality. While that would run the risk of hastening the province's slide toward independence, the alternative is more violence.

Investment sanctions did not stop the violence, nor did their suspension. Now, the United States is talking about reimposing them. That won't eliminate the carnage and it certainly won't solve the Kosovo problem. So what's to be done? I propose the following:

If the West is not prepared to threaten and, if necessary, use force to stop the fighting, Milosevic must be told that either he must cooperate with efforts to solve the problem or the West will do everything possible to bring him down, including, if necessary, supporting and arming the KLA. The Kosovo issue has to be resolved within one year, and in return sanctions against Serbia will be lifted.