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NATO's intervention in Kosovo was controversial. It lacked UN Security Council approval, making it legally questionable, but many argue it was morally justified to prevent ethnic cleansing. It highlighted the tension between sovereignty and humanitarian intervention, setting a precedent for future conflicts.

-Ezinwanne Onyebuchi

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While I believe it was morally justifiable as they were trying to stop an ethnic cleansing I do believe that it fails to meet the requirement of legal justification as they did not have SC approval nor was it out of self defense which are the only two valid exceptions under international law - Katie Murray

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NATO's intervention in Kosovo, despite lacking UN Security Council approval, can be seen as justified under the principle of humanitarian intervention. NATO believed that the intervention was necessary to prevent genocide and massive human rights violations by Serbian forces. So it was morally correct.

-Aaliyah

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No (legally), they did this to achieve their anti-USSR objectives and not for true humanitarian reasons. It also hypothetically set the stage for future NATO interventions without being approved. Morally, it was justified to prevent possible genocide and ethnic cleansing. - R Jarrar

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NATO's intervention was not justified in this case but rather I see it as an escalation.. In the case of not being justified, it was necessary for the ethnic cleansing to be put to an end but their intervention only led to an escalation of the civilian casualities. Thought, it was unintentional.on the part of NATO to cause more casualties. This did not fulfill any of the two principles on the use of force as they were not directly involved in the conflict. I belive the intervention of NATO further escalated it and had no impact on bringing the ethnic cleansing to an end. I believe this further aggravated Yugoslavia and Serbia's actions. This turned this regional conflict into a global battleground. By Oluwadunbarin Akinwande.

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It was justified as there was a mass violence problem within these boarders, and the UN has a track record of not interfering when they should, for example; there lack of contribution in Rwanda. The intervention of NATO was a justified use of force as if they didn’t, things could have been even worse. This may or may not have been in violation of international law where they should follow these situations in accordance with the UN, but when talking about the justification primarily, I would say it was.

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If NATO had to get approval from the UN under article 51, and didn’t, their objective was not carried out properly according to proper legal procedures. Although peacekeepers later entered and still saw tensions in the country, it may have been a better option than sending NATO if NATO worsened the ethnic cleansing. However, like said in class before, this is easier to see in hindsight.

Daniela

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Politically, it set a precedent for humanitarian intervention without explicit UN Security Council approval, shaping future Western military engagements.

Madeline McCallum

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I think that the NATO intervention in Kosovo, while motivated by humanitarian concerns and the failure of diplomacy, was justified due to its lack of UN Security Council approval, raising questions about international law and the legitimacy of unilateral military action. While stopping immediate violence, the intervention also contributed to regional instability and unintended consequences, including the rise of Islamic extremism which itself and similar consequences are evidence enough to invoke intervention.

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Yes. NATO was justified in intervening because their ‘interests’ per se were in the right place and if it were not their intervention, who was going to intervene and prevent the ethnic cleanisng? Additionally, it pushes the idea that standing up for other nations does not need the approval by the UN, which is a body largely political in nature and tends to NOT intervene when the international community needs it most.

No, they were not justified due to the lack of LEGAL authorization. Based on the UN’s charter and also customary international law, intervention is largely prohibited. Further, their lack of authorization allowed them to intervene in ways that could not be properly regulated and actually led to more destruction.

-Isabella

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NATO’s intervention in Kosovo was justified despite the lack of the UN Security Council because there were responsibilities of the international community. When taking into account the ethnic cleansing that was occurring and many in the region were pushing for, many innocent civilians were at risk. While the UN may have had personal reasons for their actions, humanitarian aid was necessary first many civilians to survive.

Mia

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Yes It was justified because it prevented ethic cleansing, While international law prioritizes sovereignty, humanitarian crises like Rwanda shows the real dangers of not doing anything. NATOS, intervention was a legitimate moral imperative at the time, to prevent further war crimes and bring peace and stabilize the region. This was a monumental important decision and NATO made the right decision. However was not legally justified under strict international law due to the absence of UNS

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Regardless of the moral justification to intervene in something like ethnic cleansing (which there was), forgoing legal approval immediately negates a true justification on an international law standpoint. The power of international law is already somewhat unsteady with a lack of true solid enforcement and neglecting to follow the only existing regulations (needing Security Council approval for action) further chips at the legitimacy of international law itself in a way.

Reegan Picard

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Following what the article said NATO intervention was not justified without the approval of the security council and the shouldn’t have gone involved without the council’s approval

Christopher Gutierrez

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The long-term political and humanitarian consequences of NATO's intervention was that it impacted mostly civilians at the end. More people lost their lives as a result of this even though it was unintentional on the part of NATO, such as it's effect on the Belgrade embassy. Furthermore, I believe that NATO should have thought through the unintended impacts of their intervention before embarking on it. At the end, NATO's intervention did nothing to bring an end to the conflict, and this speaks to the fact that most military interventions often impact civilians at large not the government. This occured in this case which questions the need for more stringent limitations to the use of force in international law. This is because of the numerous lives lost and displacement of individuals because of this. By Oluwadunbarin Akinwande.

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The Kosovo intervention set a precedent for future military actions based on humanitarian grounds.

The big thing was that military force can be used without the UN authorization, actors under other organizations can use military force.

I think of the responsibility to protect and other sort of future conflicts that have arisen where the concern between convergent versus humanitarian necessity suggests that there is an important in intervention over sovereignty issues

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In regards to political and humanitarian consequences of NATO’s intervention in Kosovo, it depicts how the international community is reluctant to define things such as genocide and ethnic cleansing. After intervention many actions come to light and make actions by others controversial. For instance, when other states do not intervene in a genocide it may come to light that they did not act because they benefit more from the devastation. However, when states do intervene there is always the chance that they have other interests in the area that influenced their decisions. Overall, it shows that each event is looked at differently by individual states, actors, and organizations.

Mia

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I think NATO’s Kosovo intervention stopped ethnic cleansing but caused Serb displacement. In the political sphere, it led to Kosovo’s independence, though controversial, and left lasting ethnic tensions and regional instability in the region. Camila Silva

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I mean, it’s up to your geopolitical views. If you prefer a western hegemony, you’d probably argue that the lives saved justified the means. Legality doesn’t correlate with morality. However, it wasn’t okayed by the UN (security council), therefore legally, it was an unauthorized intervention in the eyes of international law, despite the lives of Kosovars being saved! Even though it wasn’t explicitly disallowed, you still need clearance to act, and this could create a precedent where states intervene in the affairs of others without the approval of the UN. It sorta has, with the norm of responsibility to protect (R2P) being unanimously adopted in 2005, where states have a responsibility to protect their populations from genocide. It has three pillars/rules, but the third that covers intervention does state that the UN Charter must be followed during said intervention(s). The rules aren’t being outright broken, but they’re definitely being bent for the sake of humanitarianism. Dax Josin.

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This intervention set the precedent that intervention without authorization can be dangerous and difficult to regulate or to prevent from escalating, especially that NATO is not an international body but an independent body.

Additionally, UN is a political body which acts according to the interests of the major states and that it is difficult to gain the support from the UN unless the security council agrees to it. Considering that conflicts between nations are never universally agreed upon, and external actors never truly know the realities of each side in the face of propaganda and the under development of the internet at the time, one state may support one side while another supports the other.

Although intervening on humanitarian grounds sounds morally pleasing and great, it is also difficult to outline how intervening bodies must act under these complex situations.

-Isabella

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As mentioned in one of my previous answers, this created a precedent for the practice of intervention for humanitarian purposes. The rules for these interventions were set out by R2P, which in turn points to the charter. Intervention and military action without UN approval was normalized. Dax Josin.

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While there is moral justification for NATO’s intervention in Kosovo because it was an attempt to stop ethnic cleansing, the lack of Security Council approval before intervening makes justification questionable when it comes to violation of international law. The legal process is important and that process was forgone

Maryam A

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NATO’s intervention in Kosovo set a precedent of military action without security council approval on humanitarian grounds. Additionally, it may also allow for the use of humanitarian grounds as a justification for NATO to intervene when it may not be necessary 

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NATO’s intervention in Kosovo set a precedent of military action without security council approval on humanitarian grounds. Additionally, it may also allow for the use of humanitarian grounds as a justification for NATO to intervene when it may not be necessary 

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Maryam A

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It set more precedent on identification of ethnic cleansing, as all cases end up doing, but ultimately negatively affected the civilians in the end. More people died, more people were displaced, and violence was overall heightened and the people were the ones to suffer and most likely still do.

There’s also the impact on relations with China and NATO (and others) following the bombing of the embassy, surely that created tension around the organization for years to come.

Reegan Picard

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Just thinking about use of force more broadly. I think that international laws seem to not value human life when it comes to use of force. The notion that a certain amount of deaths need to occur in order for NATO/other organizations to intervene seems lifeless. - Daisy

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Long term political consequences include:

Lasting tensions with Serbia

Possible tensions with Russia and China if they chose not to help

Regrowth of political groups in Kosovo once independent

Long term humanitarian consequences include:

trying to regain food stability, medical facilities, shelter, and good land for regrowth

Trying to regrow the population

Daniela

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From what I know, again, this intervention by NATO saved many lives, and human lives are something you can’t attach a value to. Sappiness aside, this pushed Serbia further into nationalism and further into the loving arms of the East, although they were already leaning towards the East. Yugoslavia was in a weird position during the Cold War, being somewhat friendly with both the Capitalist West and the Communist East. They were officially socialist, but the West still played nice with them and wanted them on their side. However, Yugoslavia and Serbia are not one and the same. Serbia has a history with Russia, being historical allies for quite a long period of time. Russia even stuck their necks out for them during the initial outbreak of World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian empire start annexing them, and then Serbian nationalists shot the duke, and then the chain of dominoes started to fall until WWI started. They’ve got history, and that history wouldn’t have gone away, but it still pushed them towards Russia and away from NATO/the Western World. Dax Josin.