Since November 1989, profound political changes have taken place in Eastern Europe, which have radically improved the security environment in Europe. In Balkan Peninsula, there had been multiple conflicts along with the former Yugoslav dissolution since the Cold War was over. The ethnic conflict in the Balkan Peninsula can be divided largely into three stages. The first stage is Yugoslav civil war during 1991-1992. The second is the Bosnian conflict during 1992-1995. This war took on the characteristics of Serbs' 'ethnic cleansing', also the civil war was ended by Dayton Peace Agreement on November 21, 1995. Meanwhile, the Kosovo Liberation Army appeared in earnest in this civil war. The last one is Kosovo war in 1998-1999. The Serbian nationalism which tried to establish Greater Serbia was the root cause of the Kosovo conflict and President Slobodan Milosevic who intended to stay in power by Serbian nationalism sparked the Kosovo conflict. The end of the Cold War and the change of international regime according to the collapse of socialism were catalysts for Kosovo Albanians' independence movement. And the U.S.'s strategic interests to exercise its enduring influence in Europe by using NATO and its selective intervention policies were decisive factors which caused the Kosovo conflict.
Considering causes of these conflicts, the western countries' failure of responses to the Yugoslavian conflict at an early stage and the failure of the cooperative policies in the European Community brought out the expansion of the ethnic conflict. After the European countries' failure, the practical hegemony for the peace plan for Balkan was handed over the U.S. Actually, the U.S.'s intervention in the Bosnian civil war has a significant meaning in that it provided an important bridgehead for expansion of its diplomatic influence in the Balkan Europe.
Europe's efforts for peace about the Yugoslavia and Bosnia civil war eventually turned into a failure, and the issue was handed over to the UN, however even the UN did not make a great achievement. Since then, the U.S. which considered itself as a world police state intervened in the issue of Bosnia in earnest. And then, U.S. and NATO agreed to make efforts for immediate end of acts of violence and to make diplomatic efforts which might grant more autonomy to Kosovo, and had a conference in Rambouillet near Paris. However, the New Federal Republic of Yugoslavia rejected the plan. Eventually, the failure of Rambouillet peace talks left the U.S. and NATO little choice, and left only initiating military operations against Serbia according to the threat of use of force that they frequently used.
The U.S.'s intent which claimed 'comprehensive human rights issues' in the name of preventing Serbs' ethnic cleansing to Kosovo Albanians and infringement of human rights for NATO's air raid on Yugoslavia in the Kosovo conflict was evaluated as more insubstantial than the cause that the U.S. claimed in the Gulf War, and indeed, it was just superficial background. In fact, the U.S.'s true intention of the air raid is generally evaluated to reinforce its leadership in Europe. Even in the post-Cold War, Europe is the most important region for the U.S. security, and reinforcement of the U.S.'s leadership in Europe is to secure a bridgehead for that the United States maintains its position as the world's only superpower in the 21st century. In addition, unlike many NATO members, the U.S. set the scope of expansion of NATO as all countries in Europe including Eastern Europe countries, three Baltic Republics and the Former Soviet Union. The intent of the U.S. is thought to remain NATO as the only military body among various security bodies in Europe.
The official purposes of NATO's intervention in the human rights issue of Serbia's mass killings of Kosovo residents and forced deportation included expression of NATO's will to construct a peace system in Europe. However the strategic intent of the U.S. which led the NATO's military action was very complex.
The start of war of the U.S. and NATO cannot be explained at the level of 'respect of human rights' against the 'ethnic cleansing'. NATO's military intervention in Yugoslavia would bring about serious political results in the level of the entire Europe, which might be more important to the U.S. than the fate of Kosovo Albanians. In this point of view, the strategic background of that the U.S. started Kosovo war can be organized as follows: If the U.S. succeeds in Kosovo interventions, it will effectively check Germany's hegemony in the Balkan Peninsula and decisively strengthen the U.S.'s political-military hegemony in Europe. Furthermore, considering the launch of Euro, unified European currency, in opposition to dollar, global currency, and increasing trade conflict between the U.S. and Europe, the war conducted under the baton of the U.S. would help the U.S. strengthen its hegemony in Europe and secure the unity of NATO alliance. In addition, if NATO succeeds in Kosovo war, it will contribute to making NATO which lost the meaning of its being when the Cold War ended reconstructed as a central axis of a newly created international order. This will ultimately solidify the dominant position of the United States in the international order in 21st century.
The U.S. infringed upon sovereignty of Yugoslavia in Kosovo war in order to realize NATO's new strategy and attempted to disable the capacity of settling problems of international organizations including the UN and OSCE(Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). Exclusion of the UN from the settlement of disputes is a significant mistake which moves international order of 21st century into instability.