A L S O+T O D A Y Finally, the Flynt Report By Carol Lloyd Are these smutty tales true? Let the reader beware Day Two: The airstrikes persist NATO bombards Yugoslavia for the second night, saying it will attack, disrupt, degrade, devastate and destroy Yugoslav forces unless Milosevic capitulates Outlaw nation? By Laura Rozen Even Serbs who hate Milosevic are outraged at NATO bombing Verdict on Starr's witness By Murray S. Waas and Suzi Parker Whitewater figure David Hale is found guilty on Arkansas state criminal charges   T A B L E+T A L K Don't ask, don't Teletubbie? Know of any other gay icons for children? Do tell in the Headlines area of Table Talk   How-to, why-not and what-for -- find it all at barnesandnoble.com Search by:  Keyword Title Author     R E C E N T L Y The bombing begins By Jeff Stein Will NATO strikes push the Serbs to peace talks, or engulf the region in bloody chaos? (03/25/99) The Kosovo myth By Christopher Ott A battle fought 600 years ago animates the Serbian lust for a province now populated by Albanians (03/25/99) Banned in Belgrade By Janelle Brown The Web provides links to Serbian diatribes, Albanian liberation dispatches and Yugoslav radio you can't get in Yugoslavia (03/25/99) Where does Elizabeth Dole really stand on abortion? By Daryl Lindsey The question won't go away (03/24/99) Susan McDougal's moment of truth By Suzi Parker Bad day for Starr as she says Clinton told the truth about Whitewater loan (03/24/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		The unhappiest allies Italians question NATO moves in Kosovo as the country braces for more refugees. BY GABRIEL KAHN | ROME -- As NATO jets took off from military bases up and down Italy Thursday, Italian authorities lined up mobile homes and cleaned out military barracks in preparation for the arrival of thousands of refugees displaced by the fighting in Kosovo, while struggling with deep ambivalence about the conflict. In the second day of military action against Serbia, Italy was trying to get used to the idea of being on the front lines of a conflict in which it is not a direct participant. Under the NATO plan, the bombing sorties were led mostly by British, American, German and Spanish aircraft, while the Italian military was charged with the task of patrolling its own coasts in the highly unlikely event of Serbian retaliation. Italy's sizable left wing has always been uncomfortable with the country's membership in NATO, which it considers an American-dominated imperialist organization. Less than 24 hours after the bombings began, Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, a former Communist, insisted it was time to halt the strikes and return to diplomacy. At a European Union summit meeting in Berlin on Thursday, D'Alema said that a new "scenario is opening in Kosovo" and that "the time to hand matters over to politics and diplomacy is approaching." The abrupt opposition after just one day of an extensive bombing campaign was taken as an affront by other NATO allies and Washington in particular. Relations between Italy and the U.S. were already tense after the Marines acquitted Richard Ashby, the pilot whose jet severed a gondola cable in the Italian Alps last year, sending 20 passengers plunging to their deaths. D'Alema expressed his outrage at the acquittal during a meeting with President Clinton in Washington on March 5. Meanwhile, a heated debate in the Italian parliament was under way as D'Alema's far-left allies threatened to yank their support from his government if Italy allowed the use of its soldiers in any attacks. But despite the effort of left-wing members of parliament to keep Italy out of the conflict -- which, given the history of the Italian left, is a dog-bites-man story -- the country stands to play a major role in the Kosovo conflict simply by virtue of its geographical proximity. In effect, the wave of refugees that Italy was nervously awaiting this week is merely the intensification of a phenomenon that has been going on for more than a year. Long before NATO began to make threats to Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic, the effects of his aggressive military campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were washing up on Italian shores. Since the violence began, thousands of Kosovars -- no one knows exactly how many -- have fled their homes and crossed into neighboring Albania, where they pay smugglers about $600 for passage in a rubber raft across the Adriatic into Italy. The trip can take as little as 75 minutes. Prior to last October's peace agreement, it was common for police in Italy's southern coastal region of Puglia to round up several hundred Kosovars at once. Often, entire families with infant children were found huddled along the shore. On Thursday, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said that 443,500 people, or one in four Kosovo residents, had been displaced by fighting. For this reason, Italy has been acutely sensitive to potential fallout from any NATO military operation. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that during a White House meeting with President Clinton earlier this month, D'Alema asked what NATO would do if Milosevic refused to back down after the planned bombing raids. According to the Post report, Clinton was silent and then turned the question over to National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, who replied, "We will continue the bombing." That is exactly the type of policy that Italy fears most. Worried that after the jets return home, Italy will be left to clean up the refugee mess, D'Alema and his foreign minister, Lamberto Dini, have appealed to everyone from the European Union to NATO to help share the burden. N E X T+P A G E+| Pirates of the Adriatic