No excuses justify the NATO's air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
It is a blatant aggression and act of vandalism.
The sovereignty of an independent country and the authority of international law are being raped in the name of peace and humanism.
The Kosovo issue is an internal affair which falls under the jurisdiction of the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The internal affairs of a sovereign state brook no interference from outside forces, however strong they are.
The United States and its NATO allies have gone extra miles trying to build a moral and legal basis for their intrusion.
But it is hard because they are on the opposite side of reason.
There is obviously the lack of a UN mandate for the NATO strikes. Ignoring the existence of the UN Security Council, NATO has just gone its own way, so blatantly. In reality, even the United Nations has no legal basis to unilaterally initiate military intervention in a dispute of domestic nature of a sovereign country. This is not to mention a regional establishment like NATO, to which Yugoslavia has no affiliation and towards which it has expressed strong opposition to its involvement.
The "inherent authority" US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright claims for NATO and the United States to act militarily in what they call the spirit of the UN charter is fallacious.
The "moral imperative" US president Bill Clinton cited for American military involvement does not exist.
The most compelling justification so far for the NATO intrusion is the Yugoslav Government's refusal of a NATO-brokered peace deal.
Belgrade turned down the deal because of its opposition to the stationing of NATO forces on its territory, a legitimate concern for a sovereign state.
But the refusal is not the same as animosity to peace.
A peace deal devoid of a foreign military presence might very likely be accepted and hopefully lead to lasting peace in Kosovo.
Considering the complex historical background of the Kosovo crisis and entwined relations among the local ethnic groups, any feasible peace plan has to be based on even the most trivial initial gains.
But NATO's hasty action does not seem to be a result of anxiety for immediate peace.
NATO rushed to the conclusion that there was no other option except the use of force because it needs a war to make Yugoslavia succumb and this is the only way to shift the responsibility of war onto the latter.
Despite NATO's conclusion as well as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's lament for the "failure of diplomacy," hopes had not died and possibilities for a peace deal had not been exhausted before NATO missiles and bombs landed on the soil of Yugoslavia.
The trigger-pullers cannot escape liability for this aggression.
The NATO intrusion does more than set a bad precedent. It is a further revelation of the threat of power politics to international order. As the de facto leader of NATO, as well as a self-proclaimed leader of the international community, the United States has shown an increasing disregard for set rules of the game in the international arena. The United States left the United Nations aside in its military attacks against Yugoslavia. This is out of conformity with its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Now that the Kosovo crisis has been internationalized because of NATO's aggression, the UN Security Council should act promptly to stop the intrusion.
The international community has a moral imperative to rise up against this barbarity.
At stake is not only justice, but also peace and order relating to the well-being of us all.
