Semantic shortfalls.

Your editorial evokes my own soul-searching over these issues; it reminds me of the days in my Master's program at Boston College. Professor John Heineman, the most magnificent lecturer I have ever known, would correct my papers on Central Europe, and I would say: "That's just semantics."

His invariable reply: "Semantics are important."

In your very well-written editorial, there are some semantic problems. Should your first noun about Slobodan Milosevic really be "arrogance"? How about "mendacity," "butchery," or "genocide"?

Perhaps, as that last noun becomes more obvious, you might also be wide of the mark to call NATO's unanimity "precarious." It seems not to be, thanks to the courage of leaders like Costas Simitis in Greece, but more to continent-wide revulsion, shared far beyond Europe, at the treatment of Kosovars.

I apologize for all the criticism; your editorial comes to a conclusion about this military action that I agree with wholeheartedly. But there's one more conclusion this observer of Mitteleuropa wants to share, and I didn't always feel this way. Kosovo should be allowed to join Albania.

This is not quite a "Greater Albania," since before this crisis Macedonia showed tremendous respect for its Albanian minority, who should stay in the Macedonian nation (though these days have not been Macedonia's finest hour). As Albania tries to build its democracy, often succeeding, there is very little to fear from a stable, larger Albania. Let Serbia have the small portion of Kosovo which is historically and spiritually significant; give Albania the rest.

Paul C. Grisanti

Bronx, N.Y.