[PEN-L:6654] (Fwd) EUROPEAN NATO MEMBERS SAY, "ENOUGH"

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Date sent:              Mon, 10 May 1999 17:44:29 -0700
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Subject:                EUROPEAN NATO MEMBERS SAY, "ENOUGH"

http://www.stratfor.com/crisis/kosovo/commentary/c9905101554.htm

Stratford                      1554 GMT, 990510 

EUROPEAN NATO MEMBERS SAY, "ENOUGH"

Germany and Italy, whose simmering opposition to the U.S. led NATO
bombing campaign against Yugoslavia has been kept in check through
the intense efforts of Washington, have finally said "Enough." The
bombing campaign has not succeeded in stemming the humanitarian
crisis in Kosovo. It has not brought Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic to the negotiating table. And it is now plagued with an
increasing number of incidents of collateral damage, including the
bombing of the Chinese embassy. Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
said that NATO should cease its bombing campaign, "because we are
very worried to see that the raids are apparently moving away from
military targets and are being directed towards civilian targets." Germany,
meanwhile, has called NATO Secretary General Javier Solana to Bonn to
meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Schroeder wishes to
discuss with Solana the aftermath of the bombing of the Chinese
embassy, and its impact on the air campaign and the diplomatic process.

Another indication that Germany and Italy are ready for an end to the
crisis in Yugoslavia came from Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin, who
said Sunday that Milosevic was responding positively to "new
circumstances." Chernomyrdin left Bonn for Moscow on Sunday,
postponing a visit to Belgrade, because he had to discuss "very serious
circumstances" related to the Yugoslav settlement with Russian leaders.
According to Agence France Presse, Chernomyrdin returned to Moscow
to allow NATO more time to formulate a formal proposal to Milosevic. It is
apparent that the "circumstances" to which Chernomyrdin was referring
regarded the split in NATO following the Chinese embassy bombing, and
the formal proposal he is awaiting is the one to be drawn up by Bonn and
Rome and forced, not on Milosevic, but on Washington. Germany and
Italy are tired of U.S. leadership in this crisis, and of U.S. mistakes.