Monitor: All the News of the World: Reaction to the growing crisis in Kosovo

RICHARD HOLBROOKE'S mission is to persuade the Yugoslav president that the threat of a bombardment is serious. All the military mechanisms are in place. Only a political decision is required. The problem now is finding legal justification for a bombardment. These doubts are exemplified by the Spaniard Abel Matutes, who assured the press in Luxembourg that "intervention isn't possible without the legal backing of a mandate from the Security Council". International experts have emphasised four bases for legal intervention: to prevent genocide; to restore peace and international security; to avert imminent human disaster; and to prevent serious violations of human rights. All four conditions apply in this case.

El Pais, Spain

OFFICIALS FROM Belgrade claim to have received many letters from Russians offering to take part in the struggle against Nato with the Yugoslav army. Balkan roulette unfurls with invisible speed... it is clear that this theatre of the absurd may become a theatre of war at any moment, with intervention in a sovereign state without the mandate of the UN. All this could shake the system of modern international relations with truly unpredictable consequences.

Sevodnya, Russia

COUNTRIES PREPARED to live by the law cannot let the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic get away with this deceptive, destabilising scheme. The Nato republics are only uncertainly engaged in the Kosovo crisis and may be tempted to forgo use of the alliance's missiles and bombs this time around. But that practically invites a second cycle. The Kosovars will almost surely crank up another burst of resistance that will bring another bloody Serbian response. Nato cannot dance at the end of a Serbian string. The right humanitarian course is to help Kosovo's refugees go home. The right military course is to be hard-nosed in judging Serbian compliance and to prepare to destroy the military infrastructure supporting genocidal attacks on Kosovars. The right political course is to prepare a negotiation that in time will let democratic Kosovars participate in shaping their own destiny.

The Washington Post