STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [With the Unholy Trinity of Joe Biden, Richard Lugar and Wesley Clark clamoring for NATO occupation, there's little doubt how this one will play out: Just as intended, with the ever helpful KLA contingent performing on cue.] Bush Under Pressure on NATO Troops for Macedonia BRUSSELS, Jun 14, 2001 -- (Reuters) U.S. President George W. Bush came under pressure on Wednesday to back a greater NATO military role in the Macedonia crisis or stand back and watch his European allies take the initiative. The leaders of France and Britain, speaking at Bush's first, informal summit of the Atlantic alliance in Brussels, urged bolder action to halt a slide toward civil war in the former Yugoslav republic and avoid yet more bloodshed in the Balkans. They scrambled to smother resulting speculation that they were considering military intervention but diplomatic sources said a groundswell was building for more decisive action. Bush indicated this was not the signal the allies wanted to send the government of Macedonia -- a political remedy to the conflict between Slavs and minority ethnic Albanians, not a military bail-out, remained the alliance's goal, he said. To bolster a twin-track political and security plan by Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, NATO Secretary General George Robertson and European Union foreign affairs chief Javier Solana were due in Skopje on Thursday to offer support. But some prominent U.S. figures urged military involvement led by the United States, implying it should not be undertaken by any European "coalition of the willing" ready to put troops on the ground to back Macedonia's limited security forces French President Jacques Chirac had told the summit NATO "must not preclude any form of action needed" to stop the conflict. He later said he was not "thinking of an eventual military action because for me that would be a last resort". Britain's Tony Blair told leaders it was "better to make preparations and to stabilize the situation rather than to wait and let the situation deteriorate". British sources also denied afterwards that Blair was suggesting intervention. France and Britain are the prime movers behind the European Union's plan to create its own rapid reaction military force. Bush seemed under pressure not only from the U.S. Senate, where there were calls for Washington to get involved, but also from London, Paris and Macedonia's NATO neighbor Greece. NATO sources said there was a "groundswell" for bolder action. But what form it might take had not been decided. "GIVE PEACE DEAL A CHANCE" "NATO must play a more visible and active role in helping the Macedonian government counter the insurgency there," Bush told fellow leaders of the alliance. At a news conference, however, he insisted this did not signify sending troops, especially before peace was established between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and government forces. "Most people believe there is still a political solution available before the troops are committed," Bush said. "The sentiment I heard here was that there's still a possibility for a political settlement, a good possibility. "The idea of committing troops within Macedonia was one that most nations were troubled over. They want to see if we cannot achieve a political settlement first," the president said. In Washington, however, senators urged more U.S. engagement. "This country must increase its involvement. The stakes in Macedonia are simply too high for us to choose to play a secondary role," Senator Joe Biden, a Democrat, told a hearing. He said only the United States had "the military and political credibility with all ethnic groups to successfully manage and resolve the crisis in the Balkans". Senator Richard Lugar took a similar line. General Wesley Clark, NATO commander in the war over Kosovo in 1999, said NATO troops in Kosovo should move into Macedonia's conflict zone. "Even if there's a political agreement...it's going to take NATO backing and that's going to take U.S. leadership and U.S. commitment and no doubt U.S. troops on the ground to enable the Macedonian army to get into the areas where there has been fighting," Clark told the hearing in written testimony. TALKING NOT SHOOTING In Brussels, NATO's Robertson emphasized the political track, saying there was "a good wind" behind Trajkovski's peace plan, which the coalition government agreed to on Tuesday. "We are not talking about other options," Robertson said. "What we need now is continuation of the existing ceasefire, recognition by the armed insurgents that the reform process they claim they are interested in can be achieved through democratic means and an international community that stands four-square behind the territorial integrity of that country," he said. Robertson later met U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell at Solana's downtown office, along with Anna Lindh, the Swedish foreign minister representing the European Union presidency. "I think the Secretary summed it up by saying we need to create a momentum for President Trajkovski's peace plan, we need momentum for the political process and momentum for results from the party leaders' discussion that will be taking place in Macedonia," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Macedonian leaders, including ethnic Albanian members of the national unity government, were due to meet at Lake Ohrid on the Albanian border on Friday to decide on political reforms and a demilitarization and amnesty offer to the guerrillas. Diplomatic sources at NATO and the EU said that added "security support" for Macedonia could be provided by a "coalition of the willing" within NATO and could take the form of teams of advisers, their exact tasks unspecified. NATO officials stressed that the possibility of mounting a third Balkans peacekeeping mission, alongside those in Bosnia and Kosovo, had not been not discussed and no military plans for such a course, which could take months, had been ordered. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
