This report examines the reasons Slobodan Milosevic, the then president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, decided on June 3, 1999, to accept NATO's conditions for terminating the conflict over ...Kosovo. Drawing in part upon the testimony of Milosevic and other senior Serb and foreign officials who directly interacted with Milosevic, the report analyzes (1) the assumptions and other calculations that underlay Milosevic's initial decision to defy NATO's demands with regard to Kosovo, and (2) the political, economic, and military developments and pressures, and the resulting expectations and concerns that most importantly influenced his subsequent decision to come to terms. While several interrelated factors, including Moscow's eventual endorsement of NATO's terms, helped shape Milosevic's decision to yield, it was the cumulative effect of NATO air power that proved most decisive. The allied bombing of Serbia's infrastructure targets, as it intensified, stimulated a growing interest among both the Servian public and Belgrade officials to end the conflict. Milosevic's belief that the bombing that would follow a rejection of NATO's June 2 peace terms would be massively destructive and threatening to his continued rule made a settlement seem imperative. Also examined are some implications for future U.S. and allied military capabilities and operations.
Recent bombing campaigns and peacekeeping efforts have achieved a fragile and uncertain peace in Kosovo. However, NATO will need help from both the European Union and the United Nations to create and ...maintain a lasting peace in the region. An expert in the affairs of the troubled region, Rezun traveled to the crisis zone to interview Kosovar refugees and foreign statesmen. He offers a sharp critique of the conflict, taking NATO and the entire Western Alliance to task and emphasizing the villainous behavior of the Milosevic regime. One cannot consider what happened in Kosovo to be an isolated affair, Rezun contends.Based on the widest possible range of sources, including documentation in nearly every European language, this study will appeal to experts and laymen alike. Rezun refuses to take sides. In addition to his criticisms of foreign intervention, exaggerated statistics, and reverse ethnic cleansing, he is merciless in his condemnation of the Serbs, in particular the corrupt influence of Milosevic and the late Arkan. In writing laced with irony, wit, and satire, he reveals the foibles of limited war and the errors committed by all parties. Yet his primary focus remains on the sufferings of the men, women, and children who filled the refugee camps and the devastated villages to which they have returned.
It has been claimed that internationalized, or "hybrid" courts, courts which mix international and local personnel and international and domestic law, can be used to replace or complement the work of ...the International Criminal Court. Four such hybrid courts---courts located in Kosovo, East Timor, Cambodia and Sierra Leone, have either just completed their work or are far enough along in their operation to provide a type of "justice laboratory" to test this claim. Analysis reveals that the performance of these courts has been poor. It shows that the courts in Kosovo and East Timor were doomed to failure, that the court in Cambodia is headed in the same direction, and that only the court operating in Sierra Leone offers a possibility that something close to justice will result. The summary recommendation drawn from the analysis is that hybrid courts should only be employed where: (1) international personnel control the proceedings, (2) the legal framework of the court conforms to international standards, and (3) the sponsors of the enterprise possess a clear ability, and demonstrate a credible commitment, to try and punish those most responsible for committing gross human rights offenses.
Our Conscience Is Clean Himka, John-Paul; Michlic, Joanna Beata
Bringing the Dark Past to Light,
07/2013
Book Chapter
Compared to the contentious postsocialist debates over the Holocaust that have occurred in the other countries of Eastern Europe, the wartime history of prewar Albania’s 156 native Jews has generated ...scant public attention and scholarly research both in Albania and abroad.¹ Nearly all Albania’s Jews and hundreds of nonnative refugees survived the Second World War in Albania.² A small group of government officials, historians, and journalists based in the country’s capital, Tirana, formulated Albania’s first published perceptions of the Holocaust after the fall of Albanian communism in 1992. Albanian elites have since addressed the subject within the context of issues
Becoming Kosovo Gaudet, Matthew J
America (New York, N.Y. : 1909),
04/2008, Volume:
198, Issue:
13
Magazine Article
The foreign aid, combined with millions of dollars worth of remittances coming from Kosovar relatives who remained overseas, sparked a great reconstruction in Kosovo that provided more jobs and ...furthered the economic recovery. A typical Kosovar home has a basic frame of clay brick, but most lack any sort of insulation or finishing to protect their inhabitants from the elements. International aid has been targeted to construct a modern power plant, but even that will not help unless the power companies can find a way to get people to pay their utility bills.
