A Deaf and Blind Milosevic

If Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, defiant in the face of overwhelming NATO arms, is expecting the alliance to blink, he has made a suicidal mistake. The planes are armed and ready, the targets chosen and the H-hour set. If there is no agreement by noon Saturday to settle the Kosovo crisis by diplomacy, his military bases will be attacked. He’s a man of force. Surely he understands what is happening and knows that his bluster won’t stop a bomb.

There must be apprehension even in the circle of hard-line Serbian politicians and military men who have stood by Milosevic as, misstep by misstep, his obstinacy led to the breakup of Yugoslavia . . . Slovenia gone, then Croatia and Bosnia. Even they must wonder why he is now adamantly opposing some measure of autonomy for Kosovo and risking its ultimate loss as well.

On Thursday, mediators at talks outside Paris were circulating a proposal to Serbs and Kosovars that was dubbed “a kind invitation to consider it as a final version.” That appeared to leave about 48 hours for a solution. Prospects are dim.

The NATO goal was to force agreement, or at least a beginning. But the long years of enmity between Serbs and Kosovars have made quick decisions unlikely. Too many politicians on both sides have made too many promises to their supporters.

NATO strategists anticipate nothing but trouble. Bombing Milosevic’s aircraft and armor would damage his strength, but this crisis is based in ethnicity and politics, and that’s where the task will be most difficult. If the NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia are still watching a simmering pot years after peace was declared, what can be expected for troops seeking to separate Serbs from Muslims in Kosovo, troops that would be much closer to hostilities?

The plan involves deployment of about 30,000 NATO troops in Kosovo, and an initially and rightly reluctant administration in Washington now speaks of dispatching around 4,000 American troops. A British general would lead the combined NATO units.

It’s fair, we think, to again ask why and for how long NATO troops will be cleaning up the messes of Yugoslavia. European and American diplomats should be applauded for their efforts in pursuit of agreement, many at the risk of their lives. But the problem is clear. His name is Milosevic and he runs a small gang. The many Serbs who hope for democracy, and have demonstrated that hope in the streets, deserve far better. But it appears they and others will have to fight for it.