quarterly-report.com Political Commentary by James R. Audet

The 79th Day
June 14, 1999  (Flag Day)

On June 10, seventy-nine days after the start of NATO's War with Yugoslavia, a halt was finally called to the bombing.  One day later, under the umbrella of NATO's warplanes, Russian troops calmly pulled out of Bosnia, crossed Serbia and entered Kosovo.  They made camp at the airport in the capital city of Pristina.

It defies military logic how the Allies allowed the airport to fall so effortlessly into Russian hands.  What military commander fights a war, then looses the most strategic asset of the country to a non-combatant?  One would think the NATO War Council would have grasped the significance of a local base..

After the airport's capture, U.S. Secretary of State Albright said its loss was a problem for the military.  NATO's military commander, General Clark, claimed it was a political problem to be resolved by diplomats.  Clark's response gave an insight into his true feelings about waging war by committee.

The Russians will maintain a presence in the field, regardless of NATO's huffing and puffing.  Russia knows it would be foolish to surrender the airport without something in return.  The chess piece they snatched from the Allies was a stratagem to force the West to continue financial support of the evolving Russian economy.  Told by NATO they had no role to play in a post-war Kosovo, the Russians had little to lose and gambled that no one would stop them.  Indeed, given NATO's "no ground troops" pledge, what fear should the Russians have had - that NATO might attack the Russian troop convoy from the air?  Preposterous.  To the victor belong the spoils.  The Russian gambit was a masterful move.

Russia will have a say in the Kosovo quagmire, and NATO will cut a deal to permit a Russian presence.  This may be an appropriate countermove as it globalizes the peace-keeping mission and shifts the Kosovo crisis to the United Nations where it rightfully belongs.  The Russian intervention may be a blessing in disguise.

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