Monitor: The massacre of Kosovan villagers in Racak by Serbian security forces

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SO WHAT is the great Western military alliance, Nato, going to do about the latest massacre of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo? While the West spews out strong words condemning the killings of innocents by a militaristic Serbian regime, it dithers when it comes to acting against some of the greatest mass murderers in post-war

years. The important question is why the Western alliance is so loath to act against the continued killings virtually on the doorstep of some member states, while some of the more belligerent members of Nato are ever ready to blow Saddam Hussein to another world?

Hong Kong Standard, China

BECAUSE THE United States and its Nato allies still were not really prepared to confront and stop Mr Milosevic, they settled for an agreement that delivered far less than administration officials claimed. It did not force Mr Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo. It allowed the international community to deploy only unarmed monitors on the scene. And even Mr Milosevic's concessions were not enforced. Nato again took no action. Now the massacre in the village of Racak shows how far from ideal the October agreement really was.

The Washington Post, US

SINCE LAST summer, when the Kosovo Liberation Army suffered a serious defeat, Kosovo has been reduced to a refugee problem. The Albanians have realised that they are on their own as long as the West regards Milosevic as the guarantor of stability. Unlike the Gulf, Kosovo is a tiny piece of land, far from the thoroughfares of the global economy. No one is interested in its plight. Is keeping it quiet the most that is wanted, so as not to be pestered by further waves of refugees?

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

HE PLUNGED his own people, for whom he has taken on the role of herald, into the worst crisis of their history. Serbia has only won international opprobrium, economic sanctions and hundreds and millions of refugees, chased from Croatia and Bosnia.

Le Figaro, France