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Thank you very much for this response.  I remember "Sorry, we didn't see it banner" very well.  My Serbian friends suggested I watch Podzemlje and Crna macka, beli macor to understand Serbian humor, both of which I loved.

On this point:

NATO war with Serbia is definitely not an example to compare with these wars of Middle East.

from what I read in your response, the difference you see comes down to the demographic make-up of the territory being defended:

As for Kosovo as much as we feel attached fact is that we have lost most of the territories there by simple fact as birth rate is. So sooner or later we'll have to say goodbye to at least half of it because it's simply not praiseworthy to maintain. Too costly...

since you also pointedly write that

if NATO solders let ground forces enter Serbia the guerilla war would be present till this very day.

In other words, Colman's thesis -- when limited to guerilla warfare -- still holds.  The Kosovo War was not a guerilla war.  But would have become one, had NATO invaded Serbia.  In which case, according to Colman's thesis, air power would not have been enough to defeat Serbia, and moreover would have caused far more civilian casualties then it did.  At least on this point, NATO seems to have been smart.

Out of curiosity, do you agree with DoDo's point above:

what NATO got from Miloševi? in the end was not more than what he offered himself in Rambouillet, before the KLA representatives made talks fail.


Point n'est besoin d'espérer pour entreprendre, ni de réussir pour persévérer. - Charles le Téméraire
by marco (cowannar at gmail punkt com) on Tue Jul 25th, 2006 at 07:14:11 PM EST
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The Kosovo War was not a guerilla war.  But would have become one, had NATO invaded Serbia.  In which case, according to Colman's thesis, air power would not have been enough to defeat Serbia, and moreover would have caused far more civilian casualties then it did.  At least on this point, NATO seems to have been smart.
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I agree but I don't know if NATO have been smart or they (and Serbs in a way) were lucky that Milosevic lost his nerves after terrific bombardment of infrastructure of Serbia and agreed to sign peace. In a way Serbs psychologically were ready and willing to fight guerilla war on the ground ...even those Serbs that hated Milosevic. That's how NATO united them. They even hated Milosevic for signing peace at that point.
To understand Serbs (even others on Balkan) you have to understand that there are points when for them death is just "elementary tempest" and while they'll try to avoid it they feel that there are things more important then to just simply stay alive.

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What NATO got from Milosevic? In the end was not more than what he offered himself in Rambouillet, before the KLA representatives made talks fail.
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I don't know if anybody knows exactly what NATO got from Milosevic or Milosevic from NATO...really. I remember that people were talking about NATO forces walking freely in and through entire Serbia like occupying forces (this is a terrible thought for us) was one of the thingies predicted in Rambouillet. I don't see them in Serbia to this day all though there are rumors  now of letting them use some airports etc. There is simply not transparency there at the moment. I only can say that in order to have person who signs on Serbian side for Kosovo (or even part of Kosovo) independence, live more then 24 hours after that,  Serbs need to get other Serbian lands (where Serbs live) like in Bosnia etc. become part of Serbia. It can only bee that way or there is no way anything signed will hold for the future. As we say "Paper can endure anything"... but  reality...

by vbo on Wed Jul 26th, 2006 at 04:53:56 AM EST
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