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Article: The end of a false consensus
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 31, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Less than a month has elapsed since the House of Commons last
debated Britain's role in Bosnia, but during that period an era has
ended. It was the era of the false consensus, a long period when
Europe, the United States and Russia pretended to agree about
Bosnia but succeeded only in anaesthetising their conflict through
inaction.
Under these rules, the United Nations could not go forward nor
could it go back. The British and the French talked progress, but
shrank from offending their American allies. The American allies
talked tough, but worried about pushing the Russians too far. In
Moscow, they refused to abandon the Serbs, but declined to break
with the Western allies. All three sides ...