In 1990 a British prime minister sought to stiffen the spine of an American president trying to decide whether to reverse Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Margaret Thatcher’s famous injunction — “George, this is no time to go wobbly” — helped give President Bush the moral courage to take Americans to war against Saddam Hussein. Nine years later we see history repeating itself, but unfortunately only on the British side.

For the past few weeks, Tony Blair has been trying to convince Bill Clinton that the air campaign in Yugoslavia cannot succeed and that preparations must be made to send ground troops into Kosovo to drive the Serbs out. So far, Clinton has essentially told his good friend Blair to shut up.