Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Waging War, Public Opinion and Ethnic Cleansing - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Missiles targeted the ministry of interior in downtown Belgrade and then focused on electrical grids
      - On 23 April, NATO attacked media outlets
        
        they bombed the Serbian TV station in Belgrade run by Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic
        
        eleven civilian employees were killed in the strike
        
        the station was being used to disseminate war propaganda and was being considered a legitimate target.
  - - - They were off by 400 meters and ended up bombing the Chinese embassy and killing three journalists.
        
        The US government blamed the mistake on outdated maps
        
        US government had to pay 28 million USD in compensation for the damage
        
        The Chinese reaction was swift and severe
        
        US embassies and businesses in China were
        attacked and protests took place in Chinese cities.
        
        they continued for four days until President Clinton made a public apology on Chinese television
        
        Situation worsened NATO, Chinese and Russian relations
  - - - Rugged terrain of Kosovo and southern Serbia and poor weather worked in their favor
      - Troops were placed under bridges and near civilians to make it harder to attack
        
        Local reports of civilians spotting soldiers travelling in civilian convoys
      - They used Red Cross Vehicles to be able to transport military equipment.
- - - - This Angered some in the military who saw NATO fighting a war with one arm behind their back
        
        However all government in the west were concerned with public opinion.
        
        public opinion was critical of the west throughput the war but in the end the conduct of the war and the media campaign were balanced to achieve support from NATO countries
      - General Short commented that force was only going to be used as a last resort, with lethal overwhelming force.
  - - - Milosevic though that if he could stand firm and resist then the pressure would be on NATO and allied forces to stop bombing
        
        this plus support he though he would from Russia if Serbia stood firm pushed him to resist.
- - - - However, he used the NATO bombing to coverup and continue the ethnic cleansing
        
        Western analysts became critical of NATO as the bombing only brought more misery to refugees
        
        The frustration and resentment Serbs felt during the campaign also attributed to the atrocities committed.
        
        Identity cleansing.
        
        at the borders, many refugees were stripped of their valuables and as well as personal belongings such as identity cards and even car license plates.
        
        This made it harder for them to return home
        
        it also made it look like it was a deliberate policy carried out by the government.
        
        Operation Horseshoe
        
        Name of the plan of ethnic cleansing.
        
        the operation would be done in two phases
        
        Destroy the KLA
        
        Cleansing Kosovo of Ethnic Albanians
        
        this would be done by squeezing Albanians by three sides and forcing them to leave southwest into Albania and Macedonia
        
        German Foreign Ministry received information about this from Nadezhda Neynski, the former Bulgarian foreign minister
        
        Serbs denied there being a plan for ethnic cleansing and accredited the mass movement of refugees to NATO bombing.
        
        after the war, International criminal tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) brought charges against for Milosevic and government officials for forcible population displacement
        
        the existence of Operation Horseshoe has never been clearly proven
      - By Day 4 of the campaign there was amass exodus of people leaving Kosovo
        
        Operation Allied Harbour - Humanitarian assistance from the allies, during and after the conflict.
        
        The bombing of Belgrade in April accelerated the process of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo with evidence of large scale operations throughout the province.
        
        Within three weeks over half a millions refugees had left Kosovo. total of 850,000 Kosovar Albanians
      - The Images coming out of Kosovo of lines of refugees leaving the country, tarnished the image of the Serbian government