Kosovo-Metohija
is the very heart and soul of the Serbian nation. Kosovo province is to
Serbs what Westminster Abbey is to Britons, Paris is to the French or
Jerusalem is to the three world religions. It is not something the
Serbian nation is willing to surrender to NATO, Albanian Muslims or the
US State Department, however mighty they might think they are, and
however persistently they demand to steal it.
The
Serbian province of Kosovo, administered by NATO since June 1999, is
the fourth region with the highest corruption rate in the world, right
after Albania, according to a report from the organization Transparency
International, an anti-corruption watchdog based in Berlin.
Transparency International’s 2007 Global Corruption Barometer showed
that the Kosovo province under the NATO-imposed Albanian KLA criminal
gang, well known for illegal drug trade and human trafficking, is among
the most corrupt regions in the world today.
Unemployment
is high and the farcical “election” recently held generated an
extremely poor turnout showing that there is little effort or basis for
such a pseudo political process. Sixty-seven percent of Kosovo province
residents have stated they have to pay bribes to get services. The
criminal governance of Kosovo does not meet any criteria whatsoever for
a legal secession from Serbia.
They are not
self-sustaining, they have no viable political process, they have no
historical connection to the land, they were offered wide autonomy by
Serbia and they have no claims whatsoever regarding mistreatment by Serbian
authorities, so no legal condition exits by which such unilateral
action can be considered by the international community. Those who
would encourage such illegal action should also consider that Kosovo is
completely dependent on SERBIA for all its electricity and, like the
rest of Europe, Kosovo also needs Russian GAS for heating.
Unilateral declaration of independence would constitute a violation ofUN Security Council
Resolution 1244 as well as the UN Charter, and it will subsequently be
null and void in the UN. Russia, which holds a veto in the U.N.
Security Council, will demand that any such decision be cancelled or be
annulled. Washington and most EU member states support Kosovo
independence. Albanians say they will declare independence within
months. Without approval from the UN, any recognition given would
completely lack legitimacy or a legal basis.
Since
the NATO war of aggression was a crime against international peace and,
therefore, gives rise to international responsibility, the
international community is duty-bound to mount an appropriate response,
and that does not include allowing declarations of independence which
would slice away fifteen percent of Serbian territory. When all
peaceful options are exhausted, Serbia has a right under all provisions
of international law to force the aggressor out of its territory in
accordance with article 51 of the UN Charter. Yugoslavia was and Serbia
is a UN member state.
The UN Charter's
prohibition of member states of the UN attacking other UN member states
is central to the purpose for which the UN was founded in the wake of
the massive death and destruction of World War II: to prevent war. This
prevailing concern is also reflected in the Nuremberg Trials' concept
of crimes against peace, "starting or waging a war against the
territorial integrity, political independence or sovereignty of a
state, or in violation of international treaties or agreements..."
(crime against peace), was held to be the crime that makes all war
crimes possible.
The provision on the
inviolability of state sovereignty was elaborated in the Declaration on
the Principles of International Law adopted by the UN General Assembly
in 1970, which in particular defines aggression as follows:
"The
first use of armed forces by a state in contravention of the Charter
shall constitute prima facie evidence of an act of aggression..."
This is the Helsinki Final Act from 1 August 1975, upon which resolution 1244 calls: I Defining sovereignty: "The
participating States will respect each other's sovereign equality and
individuality as well as all the rights inherent in and encompassed by
its sovereignty, including in particular the right of every State to
juridical equality, to territorial integrity and to freedom and
political independence. They will also respect each other's right
freely to choose and develop its political, social, economic and
cultural systems as well as its right to determine its laws and
regulations."
In III Inviolability of frontiers: "The
participating States regard as inviolable all one another's frontiers
as well as the frontiers of all States in Europe and therefore they
will refrain now and in the future from assaulting these frontiers.
Accordingly, they will also refrain from any demand for, or act of,
seizure and usurpation of part or all of the territory of any
participating State."
In IV Territorial Integrity of States: "The
participating States will respect the territorial integrity of each of
the participating States. Accordingly, they will refrain from any
action inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of
the United Nations against the territorial integrity, political
independence or the unity of any participating State, and in particular
from any such action constituting a threat or use of force. The
participating States will likewise refrain from making each other's
territory the object of military occupation or other direct or indirect
measures of force in contravention of international law, or the object
of acquisition by means of such measures or the threat of them. No such
occupation or acquisition will be recognized as legal."
Russia
has warned the West that recognizing a unilateral declaration of
independence by Kosovo Albanians would set off a chain reaction of
problems in the Balkans and beyond. "I want to stress that a unilateral
declaration of independence of Kosovo and recognition of such
independence will not remain without consequences," Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to Nicosia. "It will create
a chain reaction throughout the Balkans and other areas of the world,"
he said, speaking through an interpreter after talks with Cypriot
President Tassos Papadopoulos.
What are the
real reasons behind the West strongly pushing this issue at this time?
Are they nostalgic for war in Europe again? Are they attempting to
force Russia to reciprocate in kind on Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Why
not just leave Kosovo's status as is and continue negotiations? How do
they explain to the people at home that they are fighting terrorists in
Afghanistan and Iraq, yet they have been protecting them in Kosovo and
Bosnia? Analysts warn that the Kosovo precedent may set into motion
separatists in Spain, Belgium and Britain.
Western
media has been claiming that there were two million Albanians in
Kosovo. They have also been underestimating the number of Serbs living
there, who constitute approximately twenty-five percent of the
population. The constant claim in the Albanian and Western press that
there are “close to two million ethnic Albanians” in Serbian province
is false, and the latest “elections“, where only around 43 percent of
Albanian voters have taken part (minus the Serbs of course), have
confirmed the earlier census data according to which there is no more
than 1.1 - 1.2 million ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
If
there is only around one million ethnic Albanians in the Serbian
province, that also means that there is at least 25 percent Serbs
remaining in Kosovo which is significantly more than the commonly
repeated number that 10 or even only 5 percent of Serbs remain in
Kosovo-Metohija.
The Danish People’s Party
broke for the first time with the VK [ruling coalition] government over
an essential foreign policy question. The party refused to support the
recognition of Kosovo.
The Danish People’s
Party wrote in a letter to the foreign minister that the international
community is setting out to do an injustice to Serbia, and the decision
to recognize Kosovo will violate the UN charter, which emphasizes the
member countries’ territorial integrity.
After
horrendous and incredible sacrifices during two world wars, Serbs have
been egregiously betrayed by former allies in favor of Albanians who
sided with and served Hitler and the Axis. Serbs have had to endure the
dissolution of the state of Yugoslavia in which they were not only
ethnically cleansed and purged from every one of the former Yugoslav
republics, but also falsely and wrongly singled out as both the
instigators of each of the civil wars and perpetrators of the worst
crimes conceivable.
Is this what the west, the empire, stands for?
Rewarding
criminals, terrorists and alliances with and services to Hitler? Does
international law get set aside and eliminated for the interests of
corporate elitists seeking power, control and enrichment? It would seem
that the lessons of history have been lost on them and that they have
forgotten why these laws were enacted and why the UN was created.
Lisa KARPOVA
PRAVDA.Ru
USA/CANADA
Source: 
