BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) -- NATO chief Javier Solana has his finger on the alliance's trigger, poised to launch cruise missiles against Yugoslavia to try to bring an intransigent President Slobodan Milosevic to heel over the crisis in Kosovo.
But he is not fazed at the prospect of taking NATO into war for the first time against a sovereign state fighting its own internal battles.The former Spanish foreign minister knows who he is up against, having provided critical support within the alliance for a U.S. plan in August 1995 to use NATO airstrikes against Bosnian Serbs.
His diplomatic skills have helped him hold the alliance together for military intervention over Kosovo despite cold feet on the part of some allies.
Solana proved an effective leader as NATO emerged from the Bosnian war only to lurch into the Kosovo crisis while still preparing to expand beyond the old Iron Curtain.
He took over as secretary general at the end of 1995 and was immediately charged with getting Bosnian leaders to implement the Dayton peace accords and with convincing former Cold War enemy Russia that it would not be threatened by NATO's expansion into Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
His blend of patience and toughness won praise on both sides of the Atlantic.