Here’s NATO’s Next Turf War With Russia
- Bosnian leaders at odds after alliance extended invitation
- Serbs don’t want NATO, Muslims and Croats welcome offer
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NATO edged out Russia in the struggle for influence in Europe’s former communist east once this year. Now it’s heading for another showdown at the site of the continent’s worst violence since World War II.
After accepting the Adriatic state Montenegro as a member, the military alliance now has its eyes on Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country where it launched its first combat operation in 1995. While NATO’s intervention helped stop the fighting between Muslims, Serbs and Croats -- at least 100,000 died here during the bloody breakup of former Yugoslavia -- ethnic tensions have remained at risk of boiling over.