Perception

                           NATO: Milosevic 'cracking' From CNN Online News - Email delivery, 25 May 1999

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said Monday that Milosevic is suffering from international isolation and increasing internal dissent, proving that NATO should stick with its air campaign.

"We want to maintain the strategy at this very moment which is producing results rapidly," Solana told The Associated Press. Milosevic "is cracking. No question about it,"he said.

NATO's air commander, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Short, predicted the alliance would accomplish its goals in the next two months. He told The Washington Post that NATO's bombing campaign will chase Yugoslav forces out of Kosovo by mid-summer.

The Truth:

Support for Milosevic strong in Belgrade

But CNN's Walter Rodgers reported from Belgrade that NATO's relentless attacks appeared to have no adverse effect on the public's opinion of Milosevic. Instead, Rodgers said, Belgrade's citizenry appears increasingly angry at NATO.

The alliance, however, continued to report growing disaffection with Milosevic's policies, ranging from anti-war protests in Serbian towns to the desertion of some Yugoslav troops
 

Webmaster's note. Protests are happening against the bombing by NATO as in this photo of a Belgrade demostration.

Milosevic balked at a provision in the Kosovo peace plan calling for an international peacekeeping force in the province with NATO at its core. The Yugoslav president has said he would accept a lightly armed force controlled by the United Nations, but NATO insists that nothing less than a fully armed contingent can guarantee the safety of ethnic Albanian refugees returning to their homes.

Webmaster's note: What homes?