Otherwise whatever the objections of France in particular Washington would be happy to see the

Otherwise whatever the objections, of France in particular, Washington would be happy to see the less well-equipped Muslim army “professionalised and retrained,” as Pentagon jargon has it.Mr Perry’s readiness – if all else fails – to beef up Bosnia’s forces, is partly designed to sell the peace deal to a wary US Congress that only six weeks ago was poised to force an end to the UN arms embargo.But Nato hopes its recent bombing campaign has convinced the Serbs that it means business. Perhaps, as the British Defence Secretary, Michael Portillo, said: “The knowledge we’re ready to arm Bosnia will be a strong incentive for the others to do a deal.”. Belgrade – Night after night he pops up on the television news, sitting in his armchair like a monarch on his throne The voice-over pays tribute to his achievements. He gazes with seigneurial tranquillity while his visitors look smiling or poker-faced Nowadays, there are more smiles than there used to be. Slobodan Milosevic, who used to be seen as a war criminal, is enjoying his rebirth as Balkan peace-maker. The Serbian president remains an enigma – just as he has always been.

More remarkably, he remains a winner – just as he has always been, even when he had no cards left.
Following this week’s announcement of a 60-day ceasefire, the new, peace- loving Mr Milosevic has emerged strengthened, yet again.Mr Milosevic rose to power by stirring the nationalist pot in the province of Kosovo, where there is an Albanian majority. In the early Nineties, he encouraged armed Serb rebellion in Croatia and “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia – or to put it another way, he helped to defend Serbs from Croat genocide and Islamic fundamentalism.When I met him in 1992, he seemed astonished that he might be regarded as a war criminal. He reacted as if he was hearing this extraordinary suggestion for the first time. He very much wanted war criminals to be prosecuted, he said; he was in favour of peace. When I asked him why Arkan, an infamous “ethnic cleanser”, could live in Belgrade without being arrested, Mr Milosevic became irritable. That line of questioning was closed.His insistence that his hands were clean was an obvious lie even then – and is now acknowledged as such. But I doubt whether it has killed any trees in Britain since the decline of heavy oil as a domestic fuel 30 years ago.

Green walls of young elm again border elm- lined lanes; elm disease still smoulders on, but regrowth is usually gaining on it. Ancient woods, which 20 years ago I said were irretrievably wrecked by replanting, have come back to life as the original trees recover from felling and poisoning.Acid rain has done many evils: nearly 400 years ago it was recognised as dissolving Old St Paul’s Cathedral. Next came the great drought of 1975-76 and others in the 1980s, along with rumours of deterioration from acid rain. The great storms of 1987 and 1990 were followed by cleaning- up operations more destructive than the storms themselves.
Not all these are new – the Victorians grubbed out woods and were worried about air pollution and Dutch elm disease – but the 20th century has unquestionably been destructive.Are matters worse in 1995? After one of the four great droughts of the century, the trees that are chiefly suffering are recently planted ones, which have not rebuilt their roots after being dug up; also beeches and sycamores, most of which are planted trees put in the wrong place. Among oaks, the great dieback of the 1920s was not repeated in the 1970s; although some oaks have fared badly in dry years since, 1995 looks like being a good year.Many storm-damaged woods – where not subsequently ravaged by tidying- up – are full of horizontal trees which have now got used to the new direction of gravity and will be objects of wonder and delight for centuries to come.