Serbia Blocks Kosovo’s Independence
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Serbia’s parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution Wednesday that threatens to halt the country’s integration into the European Union and cut off diplomatic ties with Western countries if they recognize Kosovo’s independence.
The resolution—passed with 220 votes in favor, 14 against and three abstentions—also obliges Serbian officials to reject Kosovo’s statehood and denounces NATO for allegedly supporting the separatist Kosovo Albanians.
Ethnic Albanians, who account for about 90 percent of Kosovo’s 2 million people, have said they would proclaim independence early next year.
The U.S. and several E.U. states have said they would recognize Kosovo’s independence because it has not been under Serbia’s control since 1999, when NATO intervened to stop former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s military crackdown against the separatists.
Serbia, backed by Russia, insists Kosovo—considered the cradle of Serbia’s medieval state and religion—should remain part of its territory, and has urged more negotiations with Kosovo Albanians.
During a fiery debate in Parliament, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica accused the U.S. of blocking efforts to find a compromise with ethnic Albanians by its open support of Kosovo’s independence.
“America is openly striving for the destruction of the international order,” Kostunica told the parliament. “America, which once seemed like a symbol of freedom, now advocates the policies of force.”
{snip}
(Posted on December 27, 2007)
Comments
”..The only reason this isn’t happening is because of the Western influence…”
The only reason this isn’t happening is because of Western FORCE.
”..The very second US troops leave the area, there will be war…”
Posted by at 8:56 PM on December 27
There has always been war in this area and there is not much we can do to stop it—these tribes HATE each other and harbor unforgotten grudges going back centuries.
But now they are buying up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
The only thing that prevented war in the Balkans was the Kremlin which sat on the entire area BY FORCE for 70 years like a lid on a pressure cooker—until 1989 when the area exploded into warfare and ethnic cleansing.
It is NO business of ours and our meddling makes the situation much worse, creating new enemies, new coalitions for us to battle, creating terrorists who HATE the US more than they hate their ancient enemies.
This is why I am a card-carrying (but no open borders) Libertarian.
Harry Browne once said if he were elected president he would bring our troops home (that’s 700 foreign military bases,troops in 130 countries) before lunch—maybe to protect our own country, our own borders, our own people.
Bon
Posted by BonBon at 12:55 PM on January 1
If it is okay for Kosovo to break away from Serbia because it’s population is NOW (but not historically) majority Albanian, does that mean it is all right for parts of California and Texas that are (or soon will be) majority Mexican to likewise secede from America? How about the Lakota Indians? Cuban-dominated South Florida? Hawaii? Why should the U.S. (which for the very life of me I cannot understand why it is intervening in the Balkans) stop at Kosovo? Why not the Basque country in Spain? Or Catalonia? Or Galicia? And this is only one single country here. What happens if the Albanians in Macedonia want their independence too? Does the U.S. rush to their defence too? Is this what Americans elect thier presidents for? This anti-Lincolnian stand is at odds with all American history. The U.S. has unwittingly opened up Pandora’s box. Just out of curiousity does anyone KNOW how much money the U.S. has spent on Kosovo/Serbia just since 1999? Whatever the amount, Americans are poorer by it’s loss.
Posted by at 12:36 AM on January 2
The U.S. should never have gotten involved in the Balkans. This was a European problem, not an American one. It required a European solution, not an American one. The U.S. should have withdrawn all it’s military forces from Europe by say, 1994, when the USSR had fallen and eastern Europe was liberated. There was no reason at all for America to stick it’s nose in Serbia’s affairs. The U.S. was looking for a reason to keep it’s troops in Europe (god knows why). This very dangerous tendency on the part of Washington to keep fishing in troubled waters is going to come back on America BIG TIME someday. The Chinese aren’t kidding you know when they say they will use Nuclear weapons in a war with Taiwan. Are Americans really willing to engage in a nuclear exchange to honor the INSANE Taiwan straits defence act?
Posted by at 2:42 PM on January 2
The Serbs knowingly instigated the First World War, which the western world, including the US, may never recover from. Yeah, we really owe the Serbs.
Posted by at 3:20 AM on January 5
I admire the Serbs’ resistance to the Ottoman Turks and I know that Serbs are generally good people, but before we get all warm and fuzzy about Serbia, let’s not forget that Serbs not only slaughtered Muslims but also fellow white Christians in Croatia (hundreds of thousands of them) simply because they wanted to secede peacefully just as other Eastern European countries had done. Why did the Russians not slaughter the Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians? Why did the Czechs not slaughter the Slovaks?
Posted by at 4:40 PM on January 5
The Serbs were not responsible for the tragedy of WW1. Did the Serbs hold a gun to Woodrow Wilson’s head and make him declare war on Germany in 1917? Nor did they “slaughter” hundreds of thousands of Croatians. Rather the reverse was true. During WW2 the Croatian Ustasha launched a genocide against Serbs. But the real point is the USA should not be involving itself in these affairs which are not it’s concern. The USA should never have intervened in the Balkans. That’s the issue which so many of you just don’t get or seem to care about. This same mentality caused the war in Iraq. A generation earlier it caused the tragedy of Vietnam. The world is not going to be remade in America’s image. Contrary to what Hollywood and Washington think there is not an American citizen inside every third world person just waiting to get out once the marines go marching in. The USA must abandon it’s interventionist foreign polices. This is why you are despised. They don’t hate you because your “free”, (although your not ‘free’ to decide if you want to vacation in Cuba apparently) contrary to what that mental giant George Bush keeps telling you. What happened on 9/11 is just a taste of what is to come eventually. Are Americans really willing to accept a nuclear war with China on behalf of Taiwan for one example?
Posted by at 12:06 AM on January 6
Posted by at 12:06 AM on January 6
“The Serbs were not responsible for the tragedy of WWI.”
Gavrilo Princip, a Serb, ignited WWI by assassinating the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand. As I understand it, he had some help as well. If he and his cohorts weren’t responsible, then who was?
“Did the Serbs hold a gun to Woodrow Wilson’s head and make him declare war on Germany in 1917?”
Good point.
“Nor did they “slaughter” hundreds of thousands of Croatians.
Rather the reverse was true. During WW2 the Croatian Ustasha launched a genocide against Serbs.”
I was talking about the war in the early 1990s when Yugoslavia first broke apart, not WWII.
Posted by at 10:51 PM on January 6
10:51 PM POSTER:
I don’t think it’s fair to blame the Serbs. Princip’s rash act was just the catalyst that ignited the underlying fuse that had become pre-war Europe. There may be a loose correlation but this is not to confuse correlation with cause and effect. Suppose August 16th is the hottest day of the year. On that day air-conditioner sales are at their peak. So are deaths by drowning. If you were an air-conditioner salesman would you argue that more drowning deaths would increase sales? This is not cause and effect. Both events are merely correlations due to weather. Did Serbia make Italy declare war on the central powers? Surely if Italy declares war against another country that country must have the right to defend itself from Italian aggression. Did Serbia make Romania declare war in 1916? America in 1917? In one very indirect sense though you are partially right. The Balkans are not called the powderkeg of Europe for nothing. Bismarck wouldn’t touch this corner of Europe with a ten-foot pole, or rather the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier. The best U.S. Balkans strategy would be TO JUST LEAVE IT ALONE. But the U.S. DIDN’T DO THAT. The U.S. interfered where IT HAD NO BUSINESS DOING SO.
Posted by at 11:11 PM on January 7
Posted by at 11:11 PM on January 7
“Princip’s rash act was just the catalyst that ignited the underlying fuse that had become pre-war Europe.”
Europe may have been a powderkeg, but it is wrong to assume (as many do)that WWI would certainly have happened one way or another. Maybe it would have, maybe not.
“The U.S. interfered where IT HAD NO BUSINESS DOING SO.”
That may be true, but why confine that logic to just the Balkans? Let’s extend it to all of Europe and every corner of the world. We have just as much business in the Balkans as any other part of the world.
Posted by at 11:45 PM on January 8