Reluctance over Bihac

The reasons why the world's most powerful alliance could not halt Serbian aggression on Bihac were more political than military as the New York Times said three days ago.

Air power, for instance, might have been used, not just against Croatian air bases but also against Serbian aircraft and the artillery moving towards Bihac.

Britain and France have refused to treat the largely Muslim government as an innocent victim of aggression. They have always been more sympathetic to the Serbs than has Washington. The Serbs were their allies in both world wars.

The harsh reality is that Britain and France, along with Russia, reject the use of force against the Serbs and base their entire diplomatic strategy on cooperating with Milosevic.

Though Milosevic, Serbia's president, was the original architect of the war, he claims to support the latest international peace plan.

For this he is being rewarded with phased relief from economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations after his earlier support of aggression.

-- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo