Balkan bombings spoil NATO bash

WASHINGTON, APRIL 22: It was meant to be a celebration but is now increasingly beginning to resemble a sepulchral commemoration. Washingt...

WASHINGTON, APRIL 22: It was meant to be a celebration but is now increasingly beginning to resemble a sepulchral commemoration. Washington is bedecked to welcome leaders from 42 countries around the world who began arriving here for the 50th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance NATO, but the mood is anything but celebratory. What was supposed to be a gala party is more like a sombre wake against the backdrop of the Balkan crisis with the bombing of Yugoslavia now into its fourth week.

Originally meant as an alliance to defend Europe from the encroaching threat of communism, the 19-member alliance 8211; with three new members 8211; is now having to redefine its objectives in the post-Cold War era. The aerial assault on Yugoslavia and the gradual engagement in the Balkan crisis means NATO has already expanded its role from collective defence against Soviet expansionism in Western Europe to taking on additional responsibility for security throughout Europe.

Kosovo is yet another reminder that thegreatest challenges in Europe, to Europes stability, emanate from beyond NATO8217;s territory, National Security Adviser Samuel Berger said at a White House briefing earlier this week, in a clear enunciation of the Alliances enlarged role.

And that could just be the beginning. Already, there is a buzz in the strategic circles about NATO transforming itself into a global Atlantic Alliance, policing the world. The United States, for instance, has proposed a NATO centre for Weapons of Mass Destruction that would function as a nerve centre to share intelligence and threat assessments from rogue and non-stage terrorist groups. That would certainly take it beyond the European theatre.

But for now the Kosovo crisis is certain to dominate the summit. The Americans are arguing that the Balkan crisis is a test of NATO8217;s strength and commitment and unless the mission is completed, the alliance itself may come unhinged. Egged on by jingoistic commentators and analysts, the administration has begun making verbal groundfor the introduction of ground troops and is setting the removal from power of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as the key to the solution.

Not all countries are smitten by NATO8217;s overarching aims. Some members have made noises about the need to seek a UN Security Council mandate for specific military action. But the US and Britain knock down this plea, arguing that it would just offer veto power to Russia and China, both of whom have opposed NATO action in the Balkans. Such is the overriding power of the United States at the moment that there is hardly a whimper about this line of argument.

On the ground, the summit has overwhelmed Washington with a cordon sanitaire around the city center cutting it off from even federal workers, some 90,000 of whom have been given a holiday on Friday to ease the traffic for the thousands of limousines that will roll in. Sharpshooters and sniffer dogs are evident everywhere. According to long-term diplomatic watchers, this will be the largest gathering of foreigndignitaries in the city since President Kennedy8217;s funeral.