The NATO/UN "peacekeeper" troops did NOT stop the slaughter. They just stood by and watched, like in Srebrenica, which was under UN/NATO protection at the time of that massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica The peacekeeper troops did nothing but protect other NATO personnel and NATO facilities. There were a lot of Srebrenicas in that civil war, by all sides. Kosovo Albanians killed thousands of Serbs, forcing the rest to abandon land they held for hundreds of years and flee from their ethnic homeland of Kosovo.
The fighting finally stopped because the ethnic cleansing, put on steroids by the US/NATO bombing, was completed. There were no opposing ethnicities left to fight in the various rebel states.
Why did we bomb the Belgrade TV station? Could it be they were showing embarrassing footage of hospitals and schools bombed by the US, with children's limbs strewn about the rubble? Ask those people if they think NATO overstepped their bounds. Amnesty International certainly thinks so; it declared the bombing of the Belgrade TV station a war crime. http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/04/amnesty_international_calls_na.html
And yet, we declared it a "legitimate target." http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/24/balkans3 We did not even issue a warning so civilians could leave before bombing the building: "Amnesty International said in the statement that NATO officials confirmed that no specific warning of the attack was given, even though they knew many civilians would be in the RTS building." http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/04/amnesty_international_calls_na.html
The scene was horrific:
Reporters at the scene said they saw the almost decapitated body of one man dangling from the rubble, and the body of a make-up artist. Another man was trapped between two concrete blocks. Doctors amputated his legs at the site but he later died.
The state-run news agency Tanjug said about 150 people were inside the building at the time of the attack. The minister without portfolio, Goran Matic, said that in addition to 10 dead and 18 wounded, at least 20 people were feared buried in the rubble.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/24/balkans3
It is this grotesque disregard of Serb lives that has driven Serbs into Putin's arms. Not only is that a disaster for Serbia, but it is a tremendous danger for the security of Europe and US interests.
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