European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 27, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday november 27, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 23 serbs pull the string a and nato dances by Donald m. Rothberg nato is among the severely wounded in the Savage War in Bosnia. After years of preparing for armageddon nato first involvement in a shooting War is straining the Alliance. Airstrikes have done nothing to slow serbian offensive in Northern Bosnia and Are looking More like a show of weakness than of strength. The whole experience in Bosnia has been just dreadful said Eliot Cohen a professor of military history who headed Pentagon study of the air War in the persian Gulf. The organization really looks like a laughingstock and the serbs Are clearly not afraid of throughout the cold Waif the 16-na-Tion Alliance was a formidable military bulwark against the threat of a soviet at tack on Europe. But that threat never materialized and the soviet Union Dis solved without a shot being fired against the West. .,.,/. Nato s Mission changed. It became the potential enforcer of . Resolutions. Nato took on the role of enforcing the .-imposed no Fly zone in bos Nia and later threatened the Bosnia serbs with airstrikes if they did t lift their siege of Sarajevo and halt attack son . Peacekeeping troops. But acting As a . Enforcer also involved accepting .-imposed limits and now the United nations gets much of the blame for nato s inability to use its vast military potential effectively in bos Nia. " / in addition deciding what nato could or could not do depended on get Ting the approval of All 16 members of the Alliance. Britain which has troops i Bosnia As part of the . Peacekeeping Force has opposed a military escalation that would endanger those forces. The differences Between the United states and its allies Are no secret. Speaking Only on condition of anonymity a senior Clinton administration official involved in the Issue said without More pressure on the serbs than we Nave mustered to Date there in t a Chance in Helle re going to get a political incoming Senate majority Leader Bodole r-kan., heading for nato head eight seven six Theta skis id puck Down just As they shoot 5ach other Inthey Cote quarters in Brussels Belgium said he would Tell them i Don t see any reason for their existence if they have to take or Ders from the United As president of the Atlantic coun cil David c. Acheson is a Strong supporter of nato but he describes himself As terribly frustrated by what he Calls the convoluted Chain of command. My personal View is that nato might be better off to pull put of Bosnia and say it will return Only if Given a Freer hand to use its military Power Acheson said ". " i ask myself he said what Are we waiting for what will it take to generated nato retaliation against planes or troops i honestly Don t Over nato s role intensified after last week s raid on the Dubina air base in a serbian held area of Croatia. The United nations authorize the raid by nato warplanes but insisted that every Effort be made to limit casualties. The result was a bombing run that left holes in the runways but avoided damage to the planes parked said damaging the runways had no military they have Well trained Crews they can fix that in a Day he said. Calling it a signal of weakness Cohen said that Irsan insane Way to use military Force and it s dangerous because ultimately it realty is the kind of thing that s going Roget people Clinton administration officials Are known to have been disturbed when they Learned that the raid on Dubina resulted in nothing More than disrupt int he goal of the . Effort to gain a stronger response in Bosnia is to keep the conflict to that former yugoslav re Public. Now policy makers fear that i Bihac Falls the conflict will spread be cause Croatia might decide to try to Dis Lodge serbs from territory they hold in that country out of fear that the Bosnia serbs will join forces with their croatian Brethren. C Tho associated Prest Community appropriately for this thanksgiving week end the concept of Active citizenship As the taproot of democracy is getting the attention it deserves. When the men of the Mayflower company signed the com pact under which they would live 374 thanksgivings go the civil body politick they formed was a Model of local self government. The 41 signatories recognize that the Fate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony would depend on their own cooperative , this Continental Republic is governed from a capital that is physically Remote from most of its inhabitants and politically distrusted by Many of them. One of the signals sent by the election three weeks ago Wasa protest against big and Distant government. The new Republican majorities in Congress Are prepared to Dis Mantle some of the Washington bureaucratic super Structure. And the greatly enlarged corps of Republican governors meeting last week in colonial Williamsburg said they want Relief from Federal Man dates and regulations. But As every honest conservative acknowledges the Price to be paid for eliminating intrusive top heavy government in Washington is in creased responsibility at the Community level and that in turn demands a More engaged citizenry. Recognizing that need a number of private organizations have stepped Forward to encourage and nourish exactly that kind of citizenship. Their projects May seem duplicate vend redundant but this is an area where the More peo ple stirring the pot the better the Stew May of the most important efforts is being led to the Century old National civic league in collaboration with John Gardner the former Cabinet member and founder of both the Urban coalition and common cause. They have launched the Alliance for National renewal linking some 100 organizations Large and Small which nurture local leadership. Gardner told Methe Alliance Hopes to give National attention to local innovators. And to spread the Good news about the successes of their projects As an incentive to others to step up to the challenges in their own initiative this one funded by the Milwaukee based and conservative Bradley foundation i called the new citizenship project. Its president John p. Walters told me we want to use a lot of the experimentation going on at the state and local level to talk about what opportunities there Are to a things better by having them locally not nationally a third Effort will relaunched Here next month when the american civic forum is sues a Call for a new citizenship echoing Many of the themes of the other two groups. The civic forum name is Bor rowed from Vaclav Havel s grass roots group which Over threw the communist tyranny in Czechoslovakia. The spark plug of the non partisan Effort Harryc. Boyte of the University of Minnesota has the sup port of one of president Clinton s White House Domestic policy aides William Galston. More academically oriented than the other two civic forum is going tory to flesh out the concept of a new role for govern ment. Instead of mainly providing services and making top Down decisions Boyte said it should act As a catalyst. And provide tools for citizens and communities to solve their own All of this can sound Davids. Broder rather abstract and unreal when reduced to a few Road generalizations. But the citizenship movement if i can Call it that is firmly rooted in realities. One is that millions of americans have become deeply cynical about government and distrustful of their own capacity to influence the decisions that deter mine the Quality of their lives. Far More important than the partisan outcome of any election is the question whether cynicism and apathy or citizenship Ana participation prevail at the grassroots. Of course Active citizenship must be based on an understanding of How our democracy works. Serious people Are beginning to give overdue attention to the sad state of that kind of teaching in our schools. Earlier this month the Center for civic education made Public a set of voluntary National standards for elementary Middle and High school students covering the Constitution the political and governmental sys tems. Charles n. Quigley the Center s director told me that he and his colleagues Are alarmed that american government is not being taught rigorously or systematically in most of our the recommended Stan Dards Are a first step toward remedying that situation. For those of you interested in these efforts Here awesome phone numbers Alliance for National renewal National civic league 1-800-223-6004 the new citizenship project 202 822-8333 american civic forum 612 625-0142 Center for civic education 818 591-9321. And remember the Battle to replace cynicism with citizenship really does begin at Home. C Washington pos the Roundup of stateside editorials was not Avail Able today
