Yeah, Mike. I have real admiration for Clinton's diplomatic abilities.
He still had to go NATO to get international cover for the Kosovo operations because the UN was an impossibility. His diplomatic skills didn't fail him. The situation did.
If Colin Powell couldn't get UN approval for this action, no one could. I do not believe Clinton could have. I don't think anyone in the past few decades was as good as George Bush Sr. was diplomaticaly (former ambassador to the UN) and I don't even think he could have pulled this off today either.
The UN security council is the defacto body you'd like to get support for such actions but it is not available most of the time as getting the 5 permanent members on the same side are pretty slim. When it is not one goes to another international body or creates cover under a "coalition of the willing".
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