Monitor: Comment on current developments at the Kosovo peace summit at Rambouillet

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MILOSEVIC IS plainly seeking to gain through diplomacy what he cannot hope to gain militarily. Other European states are getting cold feet over Nato's threat to bomb what is left of Yugoslavia. He may welcome limited military action as a means of showing his people that he was obliged to give up a bargaining position for their own good. Experts are betting that the Kosovars will accept the Nato plan. Let's hope so.

Dallas Morning News, US

INTERVENTION HAS never been an effective method for resolving disputes. Threatening to use force complicates the problem, and jeopardises security and stability. The climate in Rambouillet is chilly and people are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the talks. Peace advocates anticipate an acceptable end to the crisis and hope that the cold winter days will soon give way to the arrival of spring.

China Daily

WILL NATO'S EU states ever do for America what we are willing to do for them? Or is the truth to be found in the congenital impertinence of self- indulgent "allies" such as France, which makes a fetish out of criticizing America, the country that more than once has saved them from having to exchange their language for German?

Holland Sentinel, US

EVEN AS negotiations progressed, Serbian forces assaulted monitors and attacked Kosovo villages. This is a taste of what may still be in store if the US and its allies lack the will to stand up to Milosevic now.

Washington Post, US

RECONCILIATION IS challenging in the Balkans but policies which have succeeded elsewhere should be given a chance. Short-term protectorates can prevent wars. But only a long-term integration paves the way for true peace.

Business Day, South Africa

MILOSEVIC ACTS like an opportunistic megalomaniac even though he is only the ruler of a small Balkan republic he has bled dry.Continuing in this way, he is ready - as he demonstrates - to raise the stakes and to go back on his word, but always to maintain his role of games-master.

Le Monde, France