Those who were trying to organize the peace were hardly conscious that fighting in Europe had ended, no doubt in part because we were facing the Pacific, where the war was raging bloodily.

Any unilateral move to give Kosovo its independence is likely to unfreeze them fast and bloodily. And such potential bloodshed on Russia s border may give Vladimir Putin the pretext he may desire to extend his rule beyond its constitutionally mandated end next March.

CAMBRIDGE As its army confronts, ever more bloodily, the Taliban in the Swat Valley, Pakistan is fighting for its very soul. The army appears to be winning this time around, in marked contrast to its recent half hearted confrontations with Taliban forces in neighboring tribal areas.

ATHENS The centrality of Germany to Europe and, more widely, to world affairs has been amply, and often bloodily, demonstrated over many centuries. Indeed, Germany s strategic position at the heart of Europe, as well as its huge economic and military potential, made it first a prize to be sought, and then, following Otto von Bismarck s completion of German unification in 1871, a nation state to be feared.