The whole Kosovo/Nato situation is a big mistake. There's nothing good that can possibly come out of this in the long run (unless we say WW III is a good thing). NATO/U.S. will not win it by air power. A ground war would be expensive, unpopular and strategically unwise. Particularly with Y2K hitting a few months down the road. Yet it seems that is the direction we are headed.

As shown in the Conflict in Kosovo page, we seem to be setting ourselves up for an historic confrontation between ourselves and Russia and China, and our leaders don't seem to see it. As Yeltsin says in Russia Today, April 19,1999:

"Bill Clinton hopes to win, he hopes (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic will capitulate, give up the whole of Yugoslavia, make it America's protectorate," Yeltsin said. "We will not allow this. This is a strategic place, the Balkans."

For those who think that a nuclear exchange is unlikely, remember that it what Russia has been planning. Despite their economic weakness, their firepower is formidable. The U.S. is currently on "launch on IMPACT" (as opposed to "launch on warning" which Russia is still on.) This means that we would have most of our missiles and silos destroyed in one volley to which, by then, our military forces would be incapable of responding effectively.

The Russian Strategic Rocket Forces are on permanent alert. This gives them a position from which to launch a surprise attack.

Quotes:

"There is profound error and harm in the disoriented claims of bourgeois ideologues that there will be no victor in a thermonuclear war. " -A.S. Milovidov, Russian Military Theorist

"The principle of the employment of nuclear weapons in combination with other means of destruction follows from the fact that it is impossible to destroy all varied objectives on the battlefield with nuclear weapons alone. It is believed that nuclear weapons, as the main means of destruction, will be employed only for the destruction of the most important objectives; all other targets are neutralized and destroyed by the artillery, aviation, and the fire of tanks and other weapons. " -Colonel A.A. Sidorenko, Soviet Strategist

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when we are far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him." -Sun Tzu

Nuclear Warfare:
The Soviet Art of War

"The rapid deployment of the [intercontinental] missile is due to its extremely advantageous characteristics. This weapon has unlimited range, enormous speed and high trajectory, great accuracy and maneuver of fire, and can carry a nuclear warhead of any yeild. Ballistic missiles, employed en masse, are still practically invulnerable to existing means of air defense, and their employment is almost independent of weather conditions." -- Soviet Military Strategy , p. 298.

"For the Soviet strategist nuclear war is not merely an exchange of nuclear strikes, but a military operation involving huge masses of infantry, tanks, and ships. The key to victory in such operations is: exploit, exploit, and again, exploit. The idea is to use one's missiles to make huge holes in the enemy. Next: move rapidly through those holes before the victim can recover." -- Origins of the Fourth World War, p. 201

"The assertion that nuclear war will not be a continuation of politics is completely fallacious." -- Colonel General Makhmut Al. Gareev

"The Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries must be prepared above all to wage war under conditions of the mass use of nuclear weapons by both belligerent parties." -- M. I. Cherednichenko

"If the attack succeeds in destroying the defender with the very first nuclear volley, he will no longer be able to offer resistance to the attacker with either nuclear or conventional weapons." -- Colonel A. A. Sidorenko

"Preemption in launching a nuclear strike is considered the decisive condition for the attainment of superiority over him and the seizure and retention of the initiative." -- Colonel A. A. Sidorenko

"Not only the enemy's armed forces, but also the sources of his military power, the important economic centers, and also points of military and state control as well as the areas where different branches of armed forces are based, will be subjected to simultaneous destruction." -- Colonel M. Shirokov

"The Soviet strategic literature indicates that chemical and biological agents will be used against 'unsalvageable' populations, even after they have been disorganized and disarmed. As the Communists define it, an unsalvageable population is thoroughly and irredeemably bourgeois. Such people are past the point of benefitting from any sort of re-education. Therefore, all unsalvageables will be subject to a Kremlin-inspired 'Final Solution,' probably by way of biological attacks." -- Origins of the Fourth World War, p. 205

"The Soviet leaders have estimated that they might lose between 5% and 8% of their population in a war. They would not mind 20% casualties if victory was assured. Remember: It does not matter how you play the game -- as long as you win." -- Origins of the Fourth World War, p. 211

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