It is a well known fact that if a game of poker is played under less than civilized circumstances, a hand that consists of two sevens and a knife always wins against a hand that consist of just about any combination of cards without a knife. High-power politics, to say nothing about war-games are different than poker, and I can see that you are asking yourselves: so where the cabbage is the analogy?

Well, if high-power politics, to say nothing about war games are played under less than civilized circumstances, the side that has in its arsenal thousands of war-heads, thousands of missiles, rockets, spy satellites, AVACS planes, radar jamming planes, bombers, destroyers, submarines, attack helicopters, and an easy access to cigarettes is always right and is always telling the truth. This simple fact has somehow escaped the Serbs.

Unfortunately, the same fact has somehow escaped the Americans. For some strange reason, they feel compelled to prove that they are not only the mightiest, but also morally right and that they are the ones that are telling the truth. Not only that Milosevic never read Machiavelli, arrogant that he is he probably thought that Machiavelly should learn from him, but the Clinton administration was probably collectively cutting classes when the teacher was discussing THE PRINCE. Otherwise they would've found out that when faced with the dilemma should the leader be loved or feared, Nicollo nicely said that it would be nice to have it both, but since that is not likely to happen too often, the Prince should always try to make people afraid of him.

Milosevic is paying the price for not reading his classics. And as for Americans, the time is running out for them as well. They are still trying to appear just and well intentioned. But mostly they come across as not only equally arrogant as Milosevic, but also as people who are not even aware that they are perceived as the ones with no taste, to say the least. I am sure that the sounds of bombs and cruise missiles falling on Belgrade would be much easier to bear for its citizens, have they not been accompanied by the tasteless and hypocritical speeches of both Mr. Clinton and Mrs. Albright.

So please Mr. President, have mercy, keep bombing and do not address the poor people of Serbia. Feel free to talk to Mr. Milosevic, though, because apparently you understand each other pretty well.