The policy difference between the U.S. (and the UK) and the European countries already existed before the air strikes in Yugoslav. The policy difference is the result of post Cold War security policies.
NATO continued to exist and even increased the number of member states in Eastern Europe after the end of the Cold War, after the threats from the former Soviet Union disappeared and Warsaw Treaty Organization was dissolved. NATO has continued to exist not only because of the political instability within the former Soviet Union, but also because the U.S., as the leader of NATO, has not been willing to abandon its comfortable position which enables it to become involved in Europe and the countries beyond Europe. The Bush administration never considered the dissolution of NATO because it was believed that the Cold War had been ended because the U.S., leading NATO, challenged the former Soviet Union and finally defeated it.
European countries, however, thought differently, believing that the dialogue between East and West through CSCE brought the Cold War to an end.
CSCE was initiated in 1975 by the Brandt administration in former West Germany. Its first general conference was held in Helsinki. Nearly all the leaders of the Eastern and Western European countries gathered to discuss security, human rights and economic cooperation. Subsequently , through an administrative vice-ministers council as well as the general conference, they have made efforts to foster coexistence between East and West. They have made efforts to avoid disastrous power clashes by building trust among countries. For example, they make it a rule to notify beforehand any planned military maneuvers. Unlike NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization which determine their enemies, gather allies and resolve with force in case of an emergency, CSCE has created a new security concept, a kind of new, localized UN, the so-called "harmonious and universal security" concept. With this new security concept, all countries concerned ordinarily observe dialogue channels and seek to solve peacefully any conflict which has occurred or which has the potential to occur.
The principle of this concept was supported by the anti-nuclear movement in Europe in the early 80s when tensions between US and Russia escalated over the deployment of intermediate nuclear missiles. The principle led to negotiations toward the reduction of armaments such as regional nuclear weapons in Europe and tactical nuclear weapons. Therefore, the Cold War ended. In November 1990, a CSCE general assembly in Paris declared the "Paris Charter" which proudly summarize what they had done to promote disarmament. The charter emphasized, that, "It is the duty of each country to cease activities which threaten other countries and to abandon the use of miliary force and to make an effort to resolve conflicts peacefully through dialogue." In other words, the spirit which is the basis for the Japanese Constitution was adopted by the U.S., Canada and the European countries including former Soviet Union, and CSCE expanded into OSCE.
People in the European countries realized that the principle behind CSCE was idealistic and not easily realized, and therefore agreed to maintain NATO as a transitional measure. The U.S., however, had no intention of abandoning its option of NATO as a force of last resort and continued to insist that solution through force is unnecessary for conflicts within NATO but necessary for those occurring outside NATO, even though the U.S. signed the "Paris Charter." Conflicts outside NATO initially meant those involving the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. But after the situation there stabilized somewhat, the U.S. began to focus on the Islamic world and to emphasize "the clash of civilizations." In the midst of changing policies, the conflicts in Yugoslav began.
Europe initially tried to solve the conflict through the UN and OSCE. The U.S., on the other hand, from the outset, insisted on taking a hard-line policy, with economic sanctions and NATO intervention. But Europe resisted the U.S. Approach and tried to solve the problem by sending a OSCE observation team. Since this team was not effective, the U.S. said, "You see. There is no way other than airstrikes to solve the problem." Europe then reluctantly agreed with the U.S..
It is natural, however, for Europe to try to return to its previous policy, that is, seeking a solution through the UN and OSCE, since air strikes have also proved ineffective. Clinton tried to make up for an domestic embarrassment with foreign policy. If he fails, he will have the dishonor as the worst President in the American history. |
What's New
Index
Next