Well, those of you who have the pleasure of reading this article on a regular basis are probably expecting to read yet another work that criticizes the wrongdoings of the person that holds the Presidency (or her husband!) That will likely be the case next month, but today, you will privileged to hear my thoughts on the situation in Kosovo, and may find that they are strikingly similar to those of the President.

I believe that regardless of the somewhat mixed public response it has so far received, the NATO air campaign against the Serbian military must continue. The reason for this is that we are faced with a humanitarian crisis that, while on its own is sufficient reason to act, could also develop into a crisis in which the interests of the United States could be threatened. It is certainly not in the interest of the United States to see other Balkan nations dragged into this conflict, and there are nations in the Balkan region whose ambitions conflict with those of the men in Belgrade whose vision of a greater Serbia has led to some of the most vicious ethnic cleansing since the Nazi atrocities of the 1940's, and the Soviet mass killings of the 1930's.

That is over and above the interest that we, as the world's one remaining superpower have in preventing genocide. And we should not be mistaken that that is what Slobodan Milosivec, the Serbian President, is doing. His goal is to remove all ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, either by instilling in them such fear that they flee their homes, by forcible deportation, or by simply killing them. This is an intolerable violation of the norms by which civilized nations are expected to abide.

This should not be taken to mean that the United States should intervene militarily anytime that a nation has human rights violations. However, in this case, the violations are of such an egregious nature, and are so clearly aimed at a civilian population whose only offense is seeking autonomy for their region, that the NATO airstrikes were, and are, appropriate.

The only question remaining is whether or not the NATO forces have the resolve to follow these airstrikes with whatever actions are needed, even if this means sending ground forces into battle against the Serbs. But that is an issue for another day, and another article.