Kosovo

At this writing, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia continues, and the Serbian destruction of Kosovar society also continues. Yes, the Serbian campaign must have been planned before the bombing began; the logistics of moving forty thousand soldiers are immensely complex. In some parts of Kosovo the harsh realities of ethnic cleansing were already visible before the decision to hit the Serbs with missiles and smart bombs was made. And given the Serbian record in Bosnia, and the mobilization of soldiers on the borders of Kosovo, and the refugees already on the move, military intervention seems to me entirely justified, even obligatory. But the brutal emptying of Kosovo in the weeks since is still in some sense a response to NATO’s air campaign, and the speed with which it has been carried out is obviously a response—an effort to create facts on the ground before (as Milosevic apparently believes) the bombing stops and negotiations resume. Ethnic cleansing is perfectly consistent with ...