THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 30, 1994 TAG: 9411290023
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The end is near in Bosnia. After 31 months of conflict, the Muslim forces are close to being overwhelmed by the Bosnian Serbs who now control 70 percent of the country.
The outcome is a major embarrassment for the United Nations, NATO and the powers of Western Europe, a lesser one for the United States. The embarrassment results from a mismatch between bold talk and inadequate action. All wanted the conflict to stop, but none had a viable plan or the will to make it happen.
NATO military forces brought too little leverage to bear too late to have any effect. The U.N. tried saber rattling, but lacked a saber. The belligerents went about their deadly business. Instead of keeping a non-existent peace, U.N. forces have become targets in a war. They should be gotten out of harm's way.
The arms embargo appears in retrospect to have been misguided, permitting the aggressors to arm and preventing the victims from doing so. But the fear of escalating the level of bloodshed balked any military aid.
And now the finger pointing is beginning as various parties use the debacle to advance agendas of their own. Sen. Bob Dole is contemptuous of the United Nations and says we ought to cut funding for the body. Others argue that NATO has been shown to be a paper tiger.
Overreacting would be a mistake. Yugoslavia was an artificial construct that held together for 50 years because authoritarianism and the Cold War kept a lid on centrifugal forces. When the disparate peoples of Yugoslavia were free to revert to their old antagonisms, a bloody mess was inevitable.
More of the same may be coming in the several former Soviet states, in Africa, wherever peoples have been yoked together against their will, harbor nationalist aspirations or nurse racial, ethnic or colonial resentments.
What can bystanders really do? In Bosnia, massive intervention might have separated the combatants and put the lid back on. But for how long and at what cost? No power was willing to pay the price. That doesn't mean NATO doesn't work. It proves it can't be used unless members are agreed and fully committed.
Nor should the United Nations be bad-mouthed for trying to persuade the parties to accept a negotiated settlement. Some antagonists simply won't settle for less than total victory. The organization shouldn't have made empty threats. But those who tried tirelessly and without success to cut a deal don't deserve scorn. by CNB