[CTRL] NATO Builds Forces for 24-Hour Airstrikes
-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-03/30/015r-033099-idx.html A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/WPcap/1999-03/30/015r-033099-idx.html"NATO Builds Forces for 24-Hour Airstrikes/A - NATO Builds Forces for 24-Hour Airstrikes Russian Prime Minister Announces Mission to Coax Milosevic Back Into Talks By Thomas W. Lippman and Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, March 30, 1999; Page A01 The United States and its NATO allies dispatched more airplanes to reinforce the relentless bombardment of Yugoslavia yesterday as military commanders concluded the strikes have so far failed to deter what officials described as a systematic attempt by the Yugoslav military to subdue or exile the populace of the rebellious province of Kosovo. Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon announced that the United States is sending more bombers and electronic warfare aircraft as part of an alliance-wide buildup. He said five B-1B bombers, five EA-6B Prowlers and 10 tankers will join the fleet that has been pounding Yugoslavia since Wednesday. The airstrikes continued last night and will henceforth be conducted around the clock, according to British officials and NATO spokesmen. As reports multiplied of atrocities against Kosovo's civilian population and tens of thousands of refugees streamed into neighboring countries, Pentagon officials said they are considering deployment of Apache attack helicopters in an effort to impede the tanks and troops that are carrying out the assaults. Britain also announced reinforcements, saying eight additional Tornado fighter-bombers are being readied for deployment. The announcement that more U.S. planes would be sent to support the air campaign followed a White House meeting between President Clinton and his senior defense and foreign policy advisers. After that session, Clinton took advantage of a balmy afternoon to head for the golf links, where he telephoned two key alliance leaders, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The additional deployments dramatized an apparent mismatch between NATO's objectives -- to stop the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Kosovo -- and the tactics employed so far to achieve them. In that light, the NATO supreme commander, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, sought authorization over the weekend to hit additional targets to intensify the punishment against President Slobodan Milosevic's government, including the Defense and Interior ministries in downtown Belgrade where the army and security police get their instructions. His request was turned down as premature by NATO's political leadership. But a senior U.S. official said Clark's request had "100 percent support" from the Clinton administration, while other members of the 19-nation NATO alliance declined to endorse it. As the air campaign intensified, so did Russian efforts to halt it. Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who canceled a visit to Washington a week ago to protest the imminent start of the airstrikes, announced he will fly to Belgrade today with his foreign, defense and intelligence chiefs. He is expected to explore the possibility of a cease-fire with Milosevic, the leader of the Yugoslav federation and of its dominant republic, Serbia. Milosevic has shown no signs of yielding to allied demands that he cease his campaign against Kosovo, the southernmost province in Serbia whose population is about 90 percent ethnic Albanian, people speaking a different language and practicing a different religion from the Serbs who rule the province. On the contrary, Milosevic's military and police appeared to be waging what a senior U.S. official called a "scorched earth campaign" to crush the Kosovo separatist challenge once and for all. News of the Primakov trip to Belgrade caught the Clinton administration by surprise and caused some alarm here and in other allied capitals, senior U.S. officials and NATO diplomats said. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who spoke by telephone with Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright yesterday and Sunday, stoked the anxiety by telling reporters, "We are going to Belgrade not to save somebody's face but to stop the aggression, to return to the negotiating table." The allied position is that the air campaign will cease only when Milosevic pulls his security forces back from Kosovo and accepts a peace plan based on extensive autonomy for the province but under continuing Serb sovereignty. Part of the administration's apprehension was based on the fact that France -- which in the past has aligned itself with Russia in opposition to Washington on key issues, such as Iraq -- encouraged the Primakov initiative. French officials, however, said there is no breach between Paris and the rest of the alliance. They cited a television address yesterday by President Jacques Chirac, in which he accused Milosevic of being responsible for "more than 200,000 deaths and millions of displaced persons"
[CTRL] NATO Builds Forces for 24-Hour Airstrikes
-Caveat Lector- from: http://38.201.154.103/articles/?a=1999/3/30/63301 A HREF="http://38.201.154.103/articles/?a=1999/3/30/63301"NewsMax.com: Articles/A - Russia's Anger Makes for War Talk J.R. NyquistMarch 30, 1999 When US and NATO warplanes struck Yugoslavia last week, President Boris Yeltsin warned of a global war. But Western leaders have seemingly scoffed at Yeltsin's statement, and those of other Russian leaders. By ignoring such peril, Western leaders have taken a casual approach to Russia that may be intensifying Russia's growing animus toward the West. To date, no high level meetings between Russian and American officials have been arranged to address Moscow's concerns. The usual anxiety about US-Russian relations is almost non-existent. At the State Department, James Rubin offered the belief that "President Yeltsin, Prime Minister Primakov and Foreign Minister Ivanov see the value of keeping the relationship (between the U.S. and Russia) on track, and not letting someone like Milosevic derail everything that's at stake." Yet the relationship is not on track. After the air assault on Yugoslavia began last Wednesday the Russians froze their relationship with NATO. They pulled Russian ground troops out of the Bosnia Stabilization Force. They also expelled the NATO representative in Moscow. Ominously, they discontinued their cooperation on the Y2K problem -- a problem that could have catastrophic consequences for Russia unless they receive Western help. Then, the Russians canceled a planned visit by Pentagon officials to discuss the dismantling of Russian nuclear weapons. Worse still, according to Russian news reports, the Kremlin is contemplating the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons and bombers to Belarus. Belarus is Russia's invasion pathway to Europe. An alarm has been sounded throughout Russia. When NATO bombs began falling on Russia's ally, Yugoslavia, the banner headline of Kommersant, a business newspaper, simply said: "The Blow." Segodnya's ominous headline explained: "It's war. The Americans cannot convince the Serbs, and Russia cannot convince the Americans." Vremya's headline stated: "NATO planes have attacked Yugoslavia as well as Moscow's international authority." On Saturday Russian lawmakers, meeting in emergency session, passed a resolution 366-4 that called the NATO air assault on Yugoslavia "an act of aggression that is a gross violation of the UN Charter ..." The four page resolution further stated: "The aggression against Russia's ally Yugoslavia is seen as a serious threat to Russian security." Nikolai Zyubov, an independent political analyst, has stated that due to NATO air attacks on Serbia: "Russians are far more anti-American today than they have ever been." But more than this, he pointed out that Russia now feels threatened. Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Russian Communist Party declared: "The Americans have gone down the path of Hitlerism. The use of force has become the main argument in their policy, and so have blackmail, bombs and threats." The liberal Russian newspaper Izvestia called NATO's bombing campaign a "royal gift" to the Communists in the Russian Duma. "The Party of retrogrades," said Izvestia, "does not require a new strategy at all, as the NATO alliance has of its own accord provided proof of the slogans of anti-American propaganda." Russian outrage has been apparent at the US Embassy in Moscow. Angry Russians have pelted the US Embassy with eggs. The protestors are often heard shouting anti-American slogans. One placard said: "NATO go to Hell." On Sunday the protest almost turned violent when an attempt was made to use a grenade launcher against the Embassy building. Afterward, one of the Russian protesters snarled: "I hope the Russian government will understand and take this unique chance to start a war against the enemies of the Russians and of all Slav people." A leading Russian analyst, Leonod Radzikhovsky stated that "xenophobia, envy and hatred of America are deep rooted feelings in Russia." And now these feelings have been awakened. Valdimir Zhirinovsky, wearing a military uniform, called for Russian volunteers to fight NATO. "The Third World War started on March 24," he said. Thousands of young Russians have answered Zhirinovsky's call. Colonel General Viktor Chechevatov, commander of Russia's Far East Military District, has offered to lead a combined Russian force of "volunteers and regulars" into Yugoslavia. The Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, spoke of the unity of the entire Russian nation in the face of America's bid for "global domination." He called it the worst crisis since the Second World War. The usually polite Ivanov further accused NATO of "blatant genocide," saying that NATO bombs have killed approximately one thousand Serbs. Ivanov has also called for the criminal prosecution of those responsible for the bombing. "We have extreme measures in reserve," warned Ivanov. "The NATO aggression
