news analysis:
NATO's war in Kosovo over human rights has far-reaching effects

A firefighter battles a blaze in Pristina, Kosovo, in late March that Serb TV reported was caused by NATO air strikes

ALSO Senior International News Editor Rob Golden reviews the world headlines of 1999

By Christiane Amanpour CNN Chief International Correspondent Special to CNN Interactive

(CNN) -- The most important international story of 1999 was unquestionably the Kosovo War. It was not only dramatic, but also it had far-reaching, significant implications for international policy-making.

Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic had been cracking down on Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for 10 years, stripping the province of autonomy, jailing political activists and prompting the dismissal of tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanians. But in 1998 the Kosovo Liberation Army, a guerrilla force, began to fight back.

The Yugoslav army and special paramilitary forces launched a savage crackdown, killing not only members of the KLA, but also thousands of civilians.

A girl wears a target during an anti-NATO rally in Belgrade in late March

Soon the world was witnessing the kind of carnage that had taken place in Bosnia, which declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1992. But this time the international community was not going wait as long as it did to end the bloodshed in Bosnia.

By 1999 it was clear Milosevic and his regime in Belgrade would not negotiate seriously to end the conflict, so in March NATO went to war to protect Kosovo's Albanians.

It was NATO's first war, and the first war ever waged not for national or economic interests, but for human rights. By early June, NATO had bombed Milosevic into suing for peace. Yugoslav-Serb forces withdrew, Kosovo's Albanians went back home, and NATO and Russian forces went into keep the uneasy peace.

Balkans lessons applied in East Timor

The effect of the Kosovo campaign was quickly felt in East Timor. The people had voted for independence in August, but the Indonesian Army and militia fought a bloody battle to stop the people from claiming their independence.

This time the international community acted even faster than it did in Kosovo. Within weeks a U.N. peacekeeping force was in, the Indonesian Army was out, and the East Timorese were venturing back to build their new independent state. It was hailed as another victory for human rights at the end of the 20th century.

This new focus on human rights has been made possible by the end of the Cold War -- the end of geopolitics and strategic interventions. This year saw the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dramatic event that ushered in this new era of global politics.

It is ironic that the former Soviet Union and all the Communist countries of Eastern Europe have switched to a more democratic form of socialism, except Serbia, which is still ruled by an authoritarian regime.

It is especially ironic since during the Cold War the former Yugoslavia, including Serbia, was considered the most liberal, developed and pro-Western country of the European Communist world. The end of this year, the end of this century, sees the opposition in Serbia in an uncertain fight to oust Slobodan Milosevic.

Freedom movement building in Iran

Dramatic events are unfolding in Iran, site of the world's first Islamic revolution, and say some, this century's last great revolution.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami

Millions of young Iranians are demonstrating for more freedom. There is a real battle between the majority who support a more open democratic Iran and those conservative hard-liners who want to keep a closed, strictly religious state. A freedom movement is building momentum in Iran. Its most visible face is the moderate President Mohammad Khatami, elected in a landslide two and a half years ago.

Revolutionary Iran has had a tremendous impact on world politics during the last 20 years of this century. Early in the 21st century Iranians will go to the polls in crucial parliamentary elections, a vote that will decide whether reformers or hard-liners win, a vote that will decide the shape of the future Iran.

Christiane Amanpour is CNN's chief international correspondent and co-anchor of CNN's The World Today, weeknights 8-9 p.m. (ET). Her most recent assignments have sent her to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Haiti, Algeria and Rwanda. No U.S. network correspondent has reported as continuously from the ethnically torn Balkans.