Did James Blunt prevent World War 3 ?

kspence92

During the Kosovo War in 1999 Russian troops took over Pristina airport , and apparantly US Army general Wesley Clark ordered British and French paratroopers to seize it by force. James Blunt, now a well known British singer was a British Army captain at the time, and in command of a contengient of UK forces in the area.

Both NATO and Russia acted calmly and no shots were fired, and ultimately Captain Blunt did not act on the order from General Clark to seize the airport.

But...what if he did follow the order, for whatever reason. and British and French soldiers engaged the Russians ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Pristina
 

Fellatio Nelson

That's because the overall British commander - was it Mike Jackson, I forget? - said he'd have nothing to do with getting into a pointless Mexican stand-off with any Russian paras. Not Blunt's decision, although I suppose Blunt could've started firing unilaterally, for shits and giggles, but not WW3 in any event.

Just read the article and it was Mike Jackson. My memory is okay then after all these years.



"Michael Jackson and James Blunt Prevent WW3"... what a headline.
 

Garrison

Donor
kspence92 said:
During the Kosovo War in 1999 Russian troops took over Pristina airport , and apparantly US Army general Wesley Clark ordered British and French paratroopers to seize it by force. James Blunt, now a well known British singer was a British Army captain at the time, and in command of a contengient of UK forces in the area.

Both NATO and Russia acted calmly and no shots were fired, and ultimately Captain Blunt did not act on the order from General Clark to seize the airport.

But...what if he did follow the order, for whatever reason. and British and French soldiers engaged the Russians ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Pristina
Click to expand...

Well as your linked article points out you also have to butterfly away General Sir Michael Jackson. Even if the General was being melodramatic and it didn't start WWIII then it guarantees that the situation in the balkans drags on because the Russians will now back the Serbs to the hilt. The bigger diplomatic consequences might be felt in the Middle East where Russia may be more inclined to contest/ignore the sanctions regime on Iraq, and it would probably derail the ISS program as well.
 

Garrison

Donor
Some Bloke said:
But did Jackson support Blount's refusal or back it up after the fact?
Click to expand...

Well my reading is that Blunt refused the order, Clark tried to route it Jackson and Jackson backed Blunt, allegedly with the comment; 'I'm not going to start the Third World War for you'.
 

The Uchronian

kspence92 said:
During the Kosovo War in 1999 Russian troops took over Pristina airport , and apparantly US Army general Wesley Clark ordered British and French paratroopers to seize it by force. James Blunt, now a well known British singer was a British Army captain at the time, and in command of a contengient of UK forces in the area.

Both NATO and Russia acted calmly and no shots were fired, and ultimately Captain Blunt did not act on the order from General Clark to seize the airport.

But...what if he did follow the order, for whatever reason. and British and French soldiers engaged the Russians ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Pristina
Click to expand...

Don't know about WW3, TBH. But he certainly prevented what could very well have been a significant re-escalation of the war.
 

Fellatio Nelson

I can't see any decent officer engaging the Russians in such a situation - i.e. where there is no direct threat and they aren't shooting at your side - without first seeking explicit clarification from his own boss.
 

Garrison

Donor
Fellatio Nelson said:
I can't see any decent officer engaging the Russians in such a situation - i.e. where there is no direct threat and they aren't shooting at your side - without first seeking explicit clarification from his own boss.
Click to expand...

You really have to wonder what General Clark was thinking? At a minimum its a diplomatic nightmare and the Balkans war is reignited. At the worst everyone escalates in a series of tit for tat exchanges and it really is World War III.
 

kspence92

Garrison said:
You really have to wonder what General Clark was thinking? At a minimum its a diplomatic nightmare and the Balkans war is reignited. At the worst everyone escalates in a series of tit for tat exchanges and it really is World War III.
Click to expand...

The British/French force would probably manage to overrun the Russians at the airport, which would be easy enough since they were outnumbered and outgunned by the number of NATO forces in the region, plus the fact that the US government was able to convince neigbouring countries to refuse Russian military craft to enter their airspace to bring in reinfocements.

The question is, how does Russia respond to having 200 of their soldiers killed /captured by NATO and unable to send in more ground forces ? They wont take kindly to such humiliation thats for sure.
 

Fellatio Nelson

Garrison said:
You really have to wonder what General Clark was thinking? At a minimum its a diplomatic nightmare and the Balkans war is reignited. At the worst everyone escalates in a series of tit for tat exchanges and it really is World War III.
Click to expand...

Because you don't do what a US general wants. They've got better of late, but back then, no way; at that stage they were still all "who wants some?" in indoctrination. (In much the same way as European generals were too dove-like)
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
No, James Blunt didn't prevent WWIII. He may yet cause it, though, for his music is so bad that the human race may decide to obliterate its own world rather than allow such sounds to continue existing in the Milky Way Galaxy.
 
tonsofun

tonsofun

James Blunt likes to think he stopped WW3 but he didn't. Bit like any world leader saying they prevented WW3 because they chose not to fire a load of nukes.
It seems it was Jackson that prevented it. But you can't blame the pop star for wanting a bit more glory.
 

Angel Heart

Banned
Garrison said:
You really have to wonder what General Clark was thinking? (...)
Click to expand...

We're talking about a gentleman who during the war deliberately ordered strikes on civilian targets. In my opinion Fellatio Nelson described it the best.
The moral of the story: Psychopaths have always been both unpredictable and unrealiable.

@Topic: With all due respect to Jackson, but I would give most of the credit for preventing World War III to Tony Blair. The only way Jackson could have told Clark to bugger off was because his resistance was backed by Blair. Had Tony been in favor of taking the airport by force, I suppose Jackson would have been sacked and replaced by someone who was just as a nutbar as Clark.

Anaxagoras said:
No, James Blunt didn't prevent WWIII. He may yet cause it, though, for his music is so bad that the human race may decide to obliterate its own world rather than allow such sounds to continue existing in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Click to expand...

His music may not be my taste but I've heard worse. ;)
 

Arachnid

Captain Blount was at the end of the day a Captain and I don't think he was even the most senior officer on the ground. General Jackson stopped WW3.
 
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