ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes some of the relevant aspects and mechanisms of the Kuwait crisis in an effort to clarify its impact on and legacy for the international system and Europe. It focuses on regional implications of the crisis and presents a discussion of the crisis as part of an international triple crisis. Further analysis suggests an interdependence between the Kuwait crisis and those in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The Kuwait liberation, the conflict in Yugoslavia, and the attempted coup in the Soviet Union all happened just before the European Community's Intergovernmental Conference held in Maastricht in December 1991. The Belgrade government certainly felt the implicit encouragement from France and the United States to maintain a unified Yugoslavia and deny secession. Indeed, during his visit to Belgrade on June 21, 1990, US Secretary of State James Baker indicated the US interest in preserving stability in Central Europe, particularly after the German unification, through a united Yugoslavia.
