The hundreds of Serb and Albanian civilians killed by Nato bombs have been expunged from the record. The train at Grdelica, the two hospitals, the Chinese embassy, the bridge at Varvarin – with its beheaded priest and its female high-school student with her stomach torn out – the housing estates in Nis, Surdelica and Cuprija, and the Albanian refugee convoy destroyed in April – all must now be forgotten. The evil we now uncover makes such matters irrelevant, even if most of that evil had not yet been committed when we began our blitz against Yugoslavia.Having witnessed much of the war – far too much of the war – I am convinced it was unnecessary; that there must have been some way of avoiding Nato’s brutal bombardment and the wickedness that Serb forces unleashed against the Albanians once that bombardment began. True, their “cleansing” of Kosovo had already started, but on an infinitely smaller scale. And Nato General Wesley Clark’s assertion that the post-attack onslaught against the Albanians was “entirely predictable” still seems to be the height of cynicism.I wonder, in the future, whether we can allow a European army to be driven by the United States.

It was America, courtesy of Madeleine Albright, that pushed for this war. It was an American air force that took the leading role in bombing a European nation.While the Albanians were being assaulted, US Defence Secretary William Cohen was referring (on 1 April) to “our gallant forces serving on the front line” – forces that were sitting on their bottoms in Albania doing nothing. And when the time came for Nato troops to move into Kosovo, what was America’s role? It wanted the safest bit of the province to control, and wasted so much time arguing about its right to arrive along with the British that the Russians moved in to capture Pristina airport.Nato unleashed a war that produced a refugee exodus on a Biblical scale. It went on to slaughter hundreds of civilians in order to return the refugees, most of whom were in their homes when the blitz began. And then it watched the exodus of half of Kosovo’s other population – the Serbs – whom it was also meant to protect.

And it then proclaimed a victory.This may go down well in the United States, but I don’t think Europe should suffer this kind of treatment. I don’t believe that American generals should be in charge of the destruction of a European nation, however barbaric its ruler. I don’t think think the European Union should tolerate any repeat performances.Yes, we Europeans are weak. We prefer to let the Americans wield the big stick, and to fall into line behind their generals. But if we are going to control our own destinies, our future, those much trumpeted “values” that Tony Blair keeps talking about, and our defence, we’ve got to do it ourselves. Which means the end of Nato and the creation of a real European defence force, one which cannot be accused of obeying American orders; a brigade, or a division, or an army which – if it really intends to protect the innocent and keep the peace – has the moral courage to go in on the ground to save life, rather than wait until the lives are lost and then punish those responsible.There was a moment back in April, early in the bombing campaign, when Nato’s lie became obvious. “Had we not acted,” said President Clinton, “the Serb offensive would have been carried out with impunity.”And there we have it Ours was a punishment campaign, not a preventive action.

It was intended to avenge the Albanians, not to save them – and to revenge ourselves on the Serbs, I have no doubt, for the humiliation we suffered at their hands in Bosnia. The Albanian refugees will now return to their “predictably” burned homes and the “predictable” mass graves of their loved ones. The Serbs will continue to flood out of the province that Nato had sworn to preserve.And the Americans will continue to make the decisions Europe deserves better So do the Kosovo Albanians So do the Serbs.. THERE IS nothing grander than for a girl to marry a prince. But it is essential for the monarchy that the new Earl and Countess of Wessex are not grand. They appear to be an ordinary couple intent on continuing with their careers.

As we enter the next millennium that should be the image a modern Royal Family strives to project. Sunday People
THE ROYAL Family is a masterful inventor of “traditions” which appear to be sanctified by antiquity when they are little more than modern stunts to dazzle the gullible. Normally the showmanship works, but we wonder whether the Palace’s decision to appropriate the dark ages by naming Edward Windsor and Sophie Rhys-Jones Earl and Countess of Wessex might backfire.The ObserverTHE WEDDING of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones – now to be known as the Earl and Countess of Wessex – was a celebration of something very simple: the love of two young people for one another. It is easy to subject such events in national life to precious over-analysis. The truth, however, is that this wedding has little to tell us about the great scheme of things.The Sunday TelegraphTHE MONARCHY cannot afford another marriage failure.