Time’s Up for Milosevic

The string of delay, bluster and diversion has run out for Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic. His army’s violent suppression of any level of autonomy for the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo province has lit the NATO fuse.

This Saturday the NATO powers and Russian officials will offer the Serbian strongman a last chance to avoid a potentially punishing blow to his military assets. A prudent leader would strike a deal in the Paris-area talks, in which members of the rebellious Kosovo Liberation Army will make a case for self-rule. Alas, prudence is not in Milosevic’s vocabulary.

This decision was a long time coming for NATO, and with good reason. After its hard-won suppression of the Bosnian war four years ago there was little enthusiasm among the Western powers to continue to sort out the problems of the Balkans. Had Milosevic made the slightest effort to accommodate the ethnic Albanian Kosovars, this weekend’s showdown meeting probably would not be necessary. The Clinton White House, rightly proud of what was accomplished in Bosnia, was not looking for further commitments, but the European NATO members stood more prepared: Kosovo is in their backyard.

Washington, correctly we believe, has taken the problem of Kosovo and Milosevic step by step. The Clinton administration is conscious of the dangers of becoming further involved in the broken bits of what was Josip Broz Tito’s Communist domain at the end of World War II.

But now a crisis is at hand, for the NATO countries and for Milosevic. He can face realities and give some sort of home rule to Kosovo, while keeping it within the Yugoslav federation, or he can face the certainty of continued unrest in the province and the near-certainty of NATO air assaults on his military centers within a week. This leader of the Serbs remains prideful and defiant, but to make the wrong step here could be suicidal.

Beyond NATO’s air power, which includes U.S. squadrons, NATO troops would probably be committed to action as needed. Britain, for instance, is known to stand ready to contribute perhaps 8,000 rapid-deployment troops. In Washington Tuesday, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said the Pentagon is working with its NATO allies to forge a “credible threat of force.� He made no mention of committing U.S. ground troops to battle, but discussions in the Senate floated a number of 5,000 U.S. troops in a peacekeeping force.

The crisis is coming to a head. If Milosevic fails to comprehend what faces his regime, he has only himself to blame for the damage.