Bosnia

Russia's apparent willingness to work more closely with the Western allies in seeking a settlement to the Bosnian war is by far the most hopeful development to come out of the bloody siege of Gorazde. It is now a full member of a newly formed "contact group" consisting of the U.S., Britain, France and Germany that will be in and near Sarajevo this week in a major thrust to restart negotiations among the Serbs, Croats and Muslims.This could be a landmark step toward a peace imposed by the major outside powers.

President Clinton's sudden return to a policy threatening the use of force in Bosnia has the dual purpose of goading Serbs, Croats and Muslims into a peace agreement and protecting his administration from the domestic fallout that would result from the fall of Sarajevo.Although polls have consistently shown that Americans do not want to get involved militarily in the terrible Balkan struggle, Mr. Clinton is politician enough to anticipate how public opinion could change if Sarajevo falls, precipitating what his advisers call "the ultimate humanitarian nightmare."

The finest tribute to the three American officials killed last weekend as they sought to negotiate a settlement among Serbs, Croats and Muslims in the former Yugoslavia would be a rapid and successful conclusion to their mission. President Clinton's determination to pursue such a course after attending their funeral yesterday reflects a new spirit of leadership and optimism in U.S. circles.If a peace settlement can be obtained before the onset of winter puts the U.N. peacekeeping effort in doubt, it will be a far cry from the multi-ethnic Bosnia envisaged at the start of the conflict.

The daring rescue yesterday of an American pilot shot down by Bosnian Serbs six days earlier is testimony, once again, to the bravery and resourcefulness of those who serve in the armed forces.Under new Pentagon orders, no longer will F-16 pilots like Capt. Scott F. O'Grady have to fly over hostile territory unprotected from Serb surface-to-air missiles. They will be accompanied by bombers, enhanced radar detection and minute-to-minute pictures of enemy installations. And if that isn't enough, the United States should consider an air strike to obliterate the SAM sites altogether.

BROADWAY, Virginia -- Should we support the sending of American troops to help enforce the peace agreement in Bosnia? I say, emphatically, yes.Those who oppose this mission argue that the war in Bosnia does not jeopardize any vital American interests. They argue further that American lives should not be risked if our own vital interests are not at stake. I disagree with both points.The moral climateWe should recognize that we have interests at stake in the moral climate of our civilization -- in such questions as whether might makes right and whether crime pays -- just as vital as our more material interests in access to Arabian oil.Just think of how much our image of our civilization, our vistas of what is possible in this post-Cold War world, our sense of ourselves as a species have been degraded by the past four years as mass murder, ethnic cleansing and systematic rape have been perpetrated before our eyes in the heart of Europe while the world just stood by.But even if we grant that it would not affect our vital interests for thousands more to be raped, dispossessed or murdered in Bosnia, I would challenge the idea that therefore we should not make sacrifices and take risks to rescue a few million people from this nightmare.

Washington -- WHEN I WAS in Croatia and Bosnia last spring, I discovered an amazing story: The Russian "peacekeeping" troops in the U.N. forces in East Slavonia had gone over to the Serbian side so totally that they were actually training the Serbs.The Russian commander, a busy man named Litvinov, was happily riding around his U.N.-protected area in a white Mercedes given him by the properly grateful Serbs. Soon he resigned from the Russian army and reappeared as an adviser to the Serbs at the negotiating table.

Paris -- The officials of Western governments now take refuge in thickets of blather, having abandoned Bosnia. They promise vTC reform of their institutions of cooperation so that never again will there be a tragedy like the former Yugoslavia's.U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher last week promised ''a strengthened CSCE'' to deal ''more effectively and more soundly'' with future cases of international aggression. NATO is ''fundamentally sound,'' according to Dee Dee Myers at the White House.

Before Americans raise their hopes about the Clinton administration's peace offensive in Bosnia, they should remember the pitfalls that have tripped up other peacemakers in this brutal two-year conflict of the Muslims, Croats and Serbs.There is reason for satisfaction over the lifting of the Serbian siege of Sarajevo and the cease-fire between Muslim and Croat forces under an agreement to form a federation linked to the Republic of Croatia. But the hard issues remain, and will not disappear easily even if the Russians act in good faith in putting pressure on the Serbs.

Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have now worked out a clever routine that achieves what official diplomacy cannot. In North Korea, it was avoidance of war by bribing the Pyongyang regime to give up its nuclear weapons potential. In Haiti, it was saving face for the junta before sending its generals on their way. Now, in Bosnia, Mr. Carter has pulled off a delicate cease-fire that offers Mr. Clinton cover for a major policy retreat.In each instance, White House and State Department officials have leaked the message that they consider Mr. Carter an annoying and naive meddler in affairs that require the expertise of professionals.