European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 02, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 2, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes b Page 15 . Prods europeans to take Lead in Balkans looking southward in 1876, Bis Marck of Germany borrowing a phrase from Frederick the great recoiled from Continental responsibility the Balkans Are not Worth the healthy Bones of a single pomeranian  Many americans today feel the same Way. What the rapacious serbs have been doing to the bosnian is horrible and what the croats Are now doing to the bosnian a they get even with the serbs is Al most As  what do All these ancient hatreds have to do with us to translate Bis Johnso William Safire our inclination Bismarck s isolation into Lyndon John Nese i Don t have a dog in this  but when television brings film of suf Fering into our Homes and Rescue work ers and journalists report rapine and genocide americans Are moved to a More principled position. We say human right Cousley you europeans ought to do something about Trie evil rampant of your own continent. So european leaders hold peace talks to legitimize current conquests. They loosely apply economic  Send in peacekeepers to provide humanitarian Aid treating the victims rather than confronting the  United nations labors Over imposition of meaningless flight restrictions. Result aggression is rewarded and War spreads in the former Yugoslavia. American Public sentiment is now be coming prepared for another half step tallow the bosnian to Arm themselves and die for their country. We May even provide air cover and satellite intelligence for european troops and threaten to bomb Serbi an artillery now killing civilians. Today the essential american Mes Sage to Europe seems to be if you take the Lead Well help but our help has to be technological and not the sort that generates outcries of opposition. This qualified offer to hold Europe s coat docs not go Over Well with our allies. The much prefer that the superpower take the Lead in the Balkans which would give them political cover at Home barring that they wish some hawkish americans would Stop talking about serious military response be cause it May jeopardize the present con science saving treatment of the symptoms that s the state of play As the Clinton administration takes its place at the world table. Here Are three facts that face Pur new policy makers collective Security is no longer limited to defending National Borders a Nas cent understanding grows that ethnic minorities Are entitled to International Protection. Europeans Are capable of being shamed into taking action to enforce this new concept of collective Security but unless America does the Active shaming Europe s leaders will shrink from their responsibility. America if it is to have the standing to Call for effective action must be read to share the risk. We should be prepared to help pose a threat on the ground As Well As in the air perhaps As a symbolic part of a muscular nato Force that could be assembled in Macedonia protecting that Region As Well As the ethnic albanians who live in Serbia s Kosovo. This would not be a vulnerable Contin gent Riding Shotgun for the red Cross i would be a powerful deterrent ready to counterattack ethnic cleansers. American Public opinion is far from ready for this. Is president Clinton so eager to begin Domestic innovation ready to begin preparing the ground for such a foreign commitment to do so he must ask his aides we Yin t the Pentagon working with allies to prepare a Battle plan that might intimidate local aggressors into settlement without War we Are entering the season that will de cide whether nato lives or Dies. A mis step could Cost lives inaction will Cost lives and an Alliance. America cannot impose its ideals on its allies but if the nations of Europe Are unwilling to defend their inno cents those nations can hardly expect America to help defend their Borders. C Tho now York Tolmoi Clinton could Force Europe to act in Bosnia after a week of travel in Western Europe on Point leaps out the experienced and sophisticated leaders of these countries Are waiting for a Man who has been governor of Arkansas for the last decade to Tell them what to do about a place in their Back Yard called Bosnia and Herzegovina. No one is More aware of the stench of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and the dangers of a wider Balkan War than Britain France and the other members Tonato but none of them will throw More military chips into the Balkan pot unless president Clinton first orders . Air and ground forces to fight by their Side. Even then they will sen their soldiers into Battle Only under the umbrella of the peace an by Cyrus a Vance lord avid Owen and Only with the express approval of the United nations. This lengthy list of condition leads to two inescapable conclusions first Western Europe s leaders Are trying to put the political Monkey squarely on the shoulders of the new american president. Vul second they Are trying to Man Euver him into Chick ening out. If any one has to say no to More Force they want it to be Clinton and not  european diplomats and warriors know something else As Well something thai truly frightens them. If Clinton decides to get Lough in the Balkans they will have Little Choice but to join in. I politically we would be shamed to action said a be Leslie h Gelb i o senior difficult to pin Down the line Between t u Roo eans realism and cynicism. Ullha to be said that they truly see the Balkans As an abyss. Even our solutions have terrible problems acknowledged a senior French foreign ministry official. Of the Peoples of former Yugoslavia the same official later blurted out they need to fight. They want to fight. They have hated each other for  it also has to be said Fri Western europeans that their governments without exception Are politically weak and divided and that their armed forces Are Al ready overstretched. Thus europeans continue to focus on diplomatic rather than military options though they Are quit clearheaded about the fact that diplomacy holds Little Hope of reducing the killing let alone a Prospect of peace. To them the Vance Owen peace process for All its flaws and dim chances of Success and despite the parties failure to fully accept it even after the Vanseth Reat to seek . Sanctions against holdouts rep resents the Only realistic course of action. While american pundits Rake Vance Over the coals european leaders Call him a hero. Perhaps they Are being cynical urging him on As the serbs have to undercut mounting pressures for further Western Mili tary action. Perhaps they Are serious and realistic. In any event the europeans say they will enter Tain no thought of upping the military Ante outside the Vance Owen plan the British have told the Clinton team privately that they will Send More forces Only to carry out the plan and Only after the warring parties agree to it and then Only if backed by . Forces on the  French have advanced a much More specific proposal they say they Are prepared to act on now to support the peace plan even before it is signed.  Lanade the French military chief has Dis cussed the details of the still secret proposal with Gen. Colin l. Powell his american counterpart and is awaiting a  one is to enforce immediately the ban on All military nights by the warring parties Over Bosnia. The getting serious.", official purpose to show that the West s French officials complain that British an continue to resist enforcement with the argument that it would complicate the Vance Owen talks. Step two is to throw a protective military ring around the beleaguered City of Sarajevo without  French say this would require two divisions one american plus one French brigade and one British Bri Gade and air cover provided mainly by the United states. Both Steps would require .  the French want Clinton to say yes. Or a seems More Likely they and other europeans arc really hoping he will say  Ball is in the president s court. He can initiate an unseemly pingpong mat a or better Send a hard message to All with a yes q the new York times