from SLATE, 5/8/99, copyright 1999, Microsoft: >today's papers Bombs Astray! By Eve Gerber >Everybody leads with the bombing of China's Belgrade embassy. The Los Angeles Times late edition relays a report that two people were killed in the incident and more than 20 were injured. A statement from Beijing called the strike a "barbarian act" and "a brutal violation of China's sovereignty." As the New York Times and LAT report, the embassy was near a television station which was likely NATO's target. < so the bombing of the embassy was an accidental barbarism that arose in the effort to commit a barbarism. >All papers speculate about how this mistake will impact diplomatic progress given China's ability to veto anything NATO might want to push through the UN Security Council. NATO took responsibility for a stray attack in another Serb town, where more than a dozen civilians were killed by cluster bombs intended for nearby bunkers and a military airstrip. >All papers fill in some blanks from the G-8 resolution reported upon yesterday. The NYT provides the best clarification of the U.S. position -- NATO must comprise the core of the envisioned peacekeeping force, as in the Bosnia. The Washington Post reports on the UN Secretary General's attempt to create a central role for himself in the resolution of the crisis. But NATO wants the UN's blessing, not its meddling. According to the Post, Albright told Annan that he could not negotiate for NATO. Though the paper notes that the refugees are reluctant to trust UN peacekeepers, no paper makes the source of mistrust clear: blue-helmets stood by while approximately 7,000 Bosnian Muslims were massacred in the UN-protected Srebrenica during the summer of 1995. >The KLA continues to demand the complete withdrawal of Serb forces and expressed reluctance towards any settlement that would guarantee Yugoslavia continued sovereignty over Kosovo. All papers note that, urged by France, NATO has backed away from using force to enforce an oil embargo against Yugoslavia. < Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/JDevine.html Bombing DESTROYS human rights. US/NATO out of Serbia now!
