PP Man, a question about the war in the Balkans

[modest mouse]

Could you please explain to me why European Nations failed to act while people were slaughtered in the streets, while rape became an instrument of ethnic cleansing, and a region of the world with one of the richest histories was reduced to village by village warfare.

I would also like to know how that has affected the current EU policies regarding military action.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sexyguy2]

Damn good question. Another good question is, how could the Muslim nations stay silent when the Bosnian Muslims were being slaughtered by the Christian Serbs?? could it be the reason was the Bosnian Muslims were WHITE?

 

[p_p_man]

Could you please explain to me why European Nations failed to act while people were slaughtered in the streets, while rape became an instrument of ethnic cleansing, and a region of the world with one of the richest histories was reduced to village by village warfare.

I would also like to know how that has affected the current EU policies regarding military action.

Thanks in advance.

The Kosovo Force (KFOR) was a NATO-led international force responsible for establishing and maintaining security in Kosovo.

This peace-enforcement force entered Kosovo on 12 June 1999 under a United Nations mandate, two days after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Background
Prior to the establishment of KFOR, Kosovo was facing a grave humanitarian crisis. Military and paramilitary forces from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were fighting day and night. Ethnic tensions were at their highest and claimed the lives of many.Nearly one million people had fled Kosovo to seek refuge where their lives would not be endangered.

NATO Nations in KFOR

Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
The Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States

It was decided to go into the Balkans under the UN/NATO banner...

And it worked...

ppman

 

[sexy-girl]

it might be naive of me but i don't think we knew

at the start we didn't even know who was the "bad" guy if it was the serbs or the kosovo's


but i do think once we did know we were slow to react some ... but thats part of why europe wants this rapid reaction force ... a lot of it was slowed down by bureaucracy

 

[Guest]

 

[p_p_man]

it might be naive of me but i don't think we knew

at the start we didn't even know who was the "bad" guy if it was the serbs or the kosovo's


but i do think once we did know we were slow to react some ... but thats part of why europe wants this rapid reaction force ... a lot of it was slowed down by bureaucracy

Yes we were very slow to react assuming the war would be very localised. It wasn't until stories of the death and rape camps became public knowledge that the true horror became clear.

Also there was a fear for a while that the fighting would spill over into Macedonia then Greece and become a much wider European war.

The Rapid Reaction Force though not formed as a direct result of the war certainly had impetus given to it because of the fighting.

ppman