CAMPAIGN WATCH : Avoiding More War

Scathing White House attacks notwithstanding, Bill Clinton’s recently announced Yugoslav policy is not “reckless.” On the contrary, it’s a decided improvement on George Bush’s.

The measures Clinton proposes--including a strengthening of the economic sanctions on Belgrade by naval stop-and-search operations and a war crimes indictment of the Belgrade regime--are better calculated to avoid a ground war than an Administration policy that even the conservative Heritage Foundation has called “poorly informed, short-sighted, and ineffective.”

The United States is no longer solely responsible for Europe’s defense, but Europe is not yet solely responsible for its own defense either. The region is in transition.

Once past the transition, a European crisis like the one now creating millions of refugees in Yugoslavia will find a fully European solution. But in the short run, with NATO still in existence and absent any formal American disengagement, the old arrangements built around American leadership are still the ones that count.

The Bush Administration backed the continuation of the Yugoslav federation long after its division into separate republics was clearly inevitable. If early recognition of Slovenia and Croatia had enjoyed transitional NATO support, Serbian aggression might have been foiled.

That chance was lost, but the choices are not, even now, acquiescence in holocaust or the quagmire of a long war. There is a middle course. Many have pointed toward it, including, now, Clinton.