Kosovo Was An Intervention Needed Essays - International Relations

Kosovo: Was An Intervention Needed? Was an Intervention Needed? If you asked somebody about Kosova three years ago, they would hardly even know where it is. They would maybe respond with an attitude that Kosova should be somewhere in Asia or Africa. Today, however, people in all continents have at least some information about the conflict. The year 1999 brought Kosova conflict to the television screens all over the world. Daily images of fleeing refugees or the ones of the NATO air raids could be heartbreaking for everyone who had prejudices about the sides of the conflict, or for a person living far away from the region and knowing nothing about it. To correctly approach the causes and effects of NATO intervention, it is necessary to place the plot some ten years earlier in 1989, when the change in the constitution of Kosova occurred. Set in 1974 the constitution ensured Kosova an autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Therefore, the change of this constitution in 1989 whereas Kosova was denied its autonomy brought about the first signs of disagreeable institutions based on national identity. Over the next ten coming years, Kosova is about to accumulate in itself the demands and dissatisfaction of both Albanians, who firmly advocated separation from the Serbias full administration, and Serbs, who constantly promoted the necessity of remaining under the govern of the Republic of Serbia. The long disputed conflict in this region between ethnic Albanians and Serbs living in Kosova reached a big eruption of violence in 1998. In spring of 1999, the nine most powerful countries of the world started peace negotiations in Rambuillet, France, between both sides of the conflict. Rambuillet gathered together the Albanian delegation made of moderate leader Ibrahim Rugova and the representatives of the KLA (Kosova Liberation Army) that was fighting for the independence, and the Serbian delegation made of Yugoslav selected officials of the government. It is inevitable fact that neither of the delegations involved in the conflict was satisfied with the peace terms set by the Rambuillet mediators, since they did not comply with all demands made by both delegation. However, the closing stages of the Rambuillet negotiations brought about the acceptance of the given peace terms by the Albanian delegation and refusal of the same peace terms by the Serbian delegation. The refusal furthermore led to the utilization of the bombings, which were purposely used as a pressure on the Serbian side, until they accepted the agreement. Apart from the two different sides in the conflict, NATO intervention itself caused the separation of the pro and contra promoters and an open political debate. There were two major sides advocating and opposing the military intervention. One was the survival of media in the country of Yugoslavia that is described by Peter Goff in his book Kosovo News and Propaganda as ...one of the worst pseudo-democratic countries in the world to work in as a free-minded journalist (29). This statement includes the fact that TV channels always informed from the perspective of the Government of Serbia and thus denied peoples freedom of speech. The Yugoslav media accused NATO for violating the countrys sovereignty and called it a criminal organization. The other major side was the alliance of the NATO countries led by the U.S. media, a media that justified NATOs attack by referring to it as a purely humanitarian intervention. However, as Bruce Franklin presents the success of the American media to justify its deeds by stating that: In this magnificent triumph of techno war, Americas images of its wars had seemingly reached perfection. (449). American media, according to Bruce Franklin is facing a constant advance towards betterment in providing war information. Franklins example of the military intervention in the Gulf War against Iraq in August 1990 and the use of technology of warfare in it can be applied also in the latest case of intervention in Kosova, where NATO applied American technology in informing. There are many articles and books opposing and justifying NATO military intervention, but I have compared two articles from the opposing sides that have a different argument about this matter. The former NATO Secretary General Dr. Javier Solana wrote one of the articles, which appeared on NATOs online