Julia Gorin: Silence is golden

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080425/EDITORIAL/15078464/1013/EDITORIAL

WASHINGTON TIMES (USA)

OPINION

FORUM: Silence is golden

April 25, 2008

By Julia Gorin - Penn State's student newspaper The Daily Collegian reported
on Ann Coulter's hour-long speech there this month: For possibly the first
time in her career the conservative commentator, had nothing to say about a
political issue. "I have no opinion," she told a student who asked her about
Kosovo and Ukraine. That may be the first time those words have passed my
lips.

During her hour-long speech to a crowd of more than a thousand in HUB Alumni
Hall last week, though, Ms. Coulter spoke candidly about her opinions on a
variety of controversial subjects ranging from the war in Iraq to global
warming to terrorism. The usual, in other words. The easy stuff. And on the
easy, day-to-day stuff, every conservative loudmouth in America has a strong
and ready opinion. But on the fact that in the Kosovo giveaway of 2008 weve
just repeated the Munich surrender of 1938 nothing.

While Americans can't be expected to have strong opinions on whether the
Ukraine gets an invitation to NATO or not, the Kosovo question is a
different story. So let me see if I have this non-opinion on Kosovo
straight: The U.S. is aggressively creating another Muslim state in Europe,
openly calling for a heightened Islamic presence on the continent, and Ms.
Coulter has no opinion.

In the case of Kosovo, it's a Muslim state whose leaders and inhabitants
have killed or cleansed most of the Christians (and Muslims who didn't mind
being part of a larger Christian nation) from its borders. But Ms. Coulter
has no opinion.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, investigators flew to Albania after
discovering a cell there that was connected to the hijackers and she has no
opinion.

In the weeks before 9/11, six Albanian-American fundamentalists arrived in
the Kosovo village of Skenderaj, telling locals that the U.S. would soon be
attacked, and Ms. Coulter has nothing to say about it. (Not coincidentally,
Skenderaj was a stronghold during the 1998-99 war of Americas past and
present ally, the KLA.) Less than a year ago, 4 out of 6 jihadists arrested
for planning to massacre American soldiers at Ft. Dix were Albanian; the
weapons provider among them (Agron Abdullahu) having been sheltered at Ft.
Dix during the 1999 resettlement process. And still Ms. Coulter has no
opinion on whether this kind of behavior deserves American-enforced
independence for Abdullahus horde. That we fought alongside this former
Kosovo sniper in Bill Clinton's war of aggression is for some reason
insignificant to this and all other pundits.

We're well post-9/11, and President Bush has been replicating and completing
a strong-arm war of might-makes-right started by Mr. Clinton whom Ms.
Coulter distrusts and despises and it elicits a shrug from this opinionist.

After we helped the ultranationalist Albanians with the Kosovo leg of their
jihad, they moved on like clockwork to de-stabilize Macedonia and southern
Serbia using the same terrorist provocations they employed in Kosovo, in
Macedonia winning U.S. support but Ann has no opinion.

Osama Bin Laden set his sights on, and traveled throughout, the Balkans in
the 90s, meeting with Albanian leaders (as he did with Bosnian ones), and
assigning al Qaeda capos to different areas there including Ayman
al-Zawahiris brother Mohammed. Today, America solidifies this radical base
for bin Laden, while presiding over the construction of 400 new Saudi and
UAE-financed mosques amid systematic church destruction. But this isnt
significant enough for Ms. Coulter to have an opinion on.

The U.S. is redefining the concept of the nation-state along ethnic
boundaries, with implications for every region of the globe including
Southern California and every other state of the Union that has majority
ethnic enclaves, but don't look to Ms. Coulter to have an opinion on that.

The U.S. is dismantling principles of the international order that have
guided and protected statecraft for sixty years, which is CURRENTLY being
used as a precedent from India to Sri Lanka to Catalonia in Spain to the
Galilee in Israel to Quebec to Vermont, but this isn't opinion-worthy,
apparently.

The American-backed prime minister of Kosovo oversaw the butchering of
civilians for their organs during this war for independence and against
genocide among countless other creatively brutal exploits by the
U.S.-anointed KLA but Ms. Coulter doesn't have an opinion on that either.

Of course, I have no opinion on that sums up the negligence of the whole of
American punditry, and explains why we have arrived at this staggering but
ignored precipice in history. If even the intelligentsia both right and left
has no opinion on a matter of such grave consequence to the free world, on
issues as vital as the sovereignty of countries with minority populations
and the challenges to a basic principle of international law, what hope is
there for the rest of the country? Busy trying to out-clever one another on
the election-oriented petty issue du jour, the commentators haven't noticed
that the bottom has just fallen out from under Western civilization before
their very eyes, as the international order is dismantled under their noses.

Once again, as in 2001 when we decided to back Albanian rebels against the
Westward-facing, multi-ethnic nation of Macedonia which took in 400,000
Albanian refugees from Kosovo we see that it's possible for America to be at
war without its public or the public's hard-nosed messengers noticing.
Indeed, if our war on behalf of Muslims is against the expendable Slavs,
it's more than possible. It's applauded.

Never do our thinkers stop to ask: Why all the sweating by world powers
foremost by the U.S. over such a small, seemingly insignificant Balkan
province? Why the absolutist approach (e.g. Condi Rice: Kosovo must be
independent; Nicholas Burns: Independence is the only solution)? After all,
everyone seemed to get the joke last June when President Bush found his only
friend on the planet in Albania. The answer is that the United States of
America is being blackmailed in Kosovo. The U.S., bitten by the Balkan bug,
today serves as a mafia enforcer for the criminal gang that is Greater
Albania. Such is the position we have allowed ourselves to be placed in.

Whether you like her or not, Ms. Coulter is considered an informed American.
Her no opinion on Kosovo speaks volumes about how much the rest of our
populace knows or cares about this underappreciated catalyst for the demise
of Western values and civilization. I'm reminded of the time I pitched a
book project to a conservative imprint at a major publishing house, about
the fallout and implications of Americas taking all the wrong sides in the
Yugoslav wars. The editor replied, Try a European publisher. Americans
aren't interested in other countries.

Julia Gorin, a contributing editor to JewishWorldReview.com and is an
advisory board member of the American Council for Kosovo.

letters@washingtontimes.com

How Many Kosovo Albanians Are There Really?

http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2008/04/numbers-game.html

BYZANTINE SACRED ART (CANADA)

The Numbers Game

How Many Kosovo Albanians Are There Really?

One would be hard pressed to find a single Western media article about
Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija without the brief passage stating,
in one way or the other, that there are some 2 million ethnic Albanians in
the province. This most commonly repeated falsity has been so firmly
ingrained in the minds of the Western politicians and public, that no one
even thinks of questioning the veracity of the claim.

Playing with numbers to boost one side's quasi arguments in the absence of
real ones is the all-times' favorite game of the propagandists. It is
virtually impossible to verify in most cases, it is almost undetectable and
the easiest type of manipulation-you simply state and keep repeating that
Serbs have "executed" 7,000 "Muslim men and boys" in Srebrenica and killed
10,000 Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija province, that 500,000 Muslim women were
raped in Bosnia, that Serbs just killed 100,000 Albanians in a football
stadium in Pristina, that 500,000 Muslims were killed during the Bosnian
civil war... that there are 2 million, or 90 percent of Albanians in Kosovo
province.

Since no one is expected to go there after reading about it in NY Times,
Washington Post, London Times et al and count those who were allegedly
executed, killed, raped and stuffed in mysterious mass graves no one has
been able to find after ten and 18 years of digging, or count the actual
number of ethnic Albanians in southern Serbian province, such outright lies
remain the most stubbornly repeated, unquestioned Western mainstream media
staples.

In November 2007, after the UNMIK-organized elections, viewed as a form of
referendum where Kosovo Albanians were expected to vote in droves to confirm
their dedication to Kosovo independence, Western MSM reported a "record-low
turnout", citing the OSCE observers and UNMIK chief administrator Joachim
Ruecker, who said that "only between 40-45 percent of ethnic Albanians
voted". That would mean that only some 800,000 Albanians out of 2 million
took part in the elections they considered crucial.

However, adviser of the Serbia's prime minister Aleksandar Simic pointed
this was clearly not the case of a "low turnout", but the case of the
exposed number rigging, since there are no more than 1,1 - 1,2 million of
ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province, including the illegal immigrants
who are continually freely crossing the non-existent border between Albania
and Kosovo-Metohija province, which NATO was supposed to guard. Therefore,
the actual turnout in these elections was as high as expected, with more
than 70 percent of ethnic Albanians taking part. Of real ethnic Albanians,
not the imaginary ones.

No More Than 1,2 Million of Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija Province
Responding to a recent article in Serbian media which cited the same
disinformation about the number of ethnic Albanians in Serbian province,
Zvonimir Trajkovic, a political commentator, reporter and adviser to several
Yugoslav and Serbian presidents wrote:

"There has never been, nor is there today more than 1,2 million Shiptars
[ethnic Albanians] in Kosovo and Metohija province, so please be careful not
to naively adopt Shiptar propaganda that there are 2, or even 2,5 million of
them.

"There are six cities in Kosovo and Metohija, or rather small towns:
Pristina with 180,000 residents, Mitrovica with 75,000 residents, Pec -
60,000, Prizren - 55,000, Gnjilane - 45,000 and Urosevac - 40,000. Each of
these includes the suburbs and surrounding municipalities, because the data
covers the total number of municipal residents. Those are the estimates from
1998, since Shiptars boycotted and obstructed every census in
Kosovo-Metohija from 1971 till present, precisely in order to be able to
continuously exaggerate their ethnic presence in the province.

"Before the mass ethnic cleansing in 1999, there were 320,000 Serbs in
Kosovo-Metohija, 45,000 Roma, 17,000 Gorani (Slavic Muslims, loyal to
Serbia)... At the same time [right before NATO marched in allowing massive
pogroms and expulsion of non-Albanians], 38 percent of the residents of
province's capital Pristina were Serbs.

"If we add to this the fact that Kosovo and Metohija is an area almost twice
smaller than Vojvodina [northern Serbian region with population of 2
million], where have those 1,9 million Shiptars you are talking about
squeezed in? If their electoral lists contains 1,08 million voters,
including the deceased Shiptars and the illegal immigrants who came from
Albania alongside NATO, then it follows that there are 820,000 Shiptar
children. Then calculate how many schools should there be for so many
children, and there is a total of 6 of them in Pristina, with classes
consisting not of 200 children each, but around 30, like in Belgrade.

Roaming "Residents": Using Old Yugoslav IDs to Rig the Numbers in the Region
"In order to gain the right to become a constitutive nation in Macedonia,
they needed to cross the 25 percent of the population threshold. There are
between 17 and 19 percent of Shiptars in Macedonia, but they managed to rig
that number up to 26,3% through the Western-orchestrated census.

"So, how are they doing it? Being that they have the old [Yugoslav] ID
cards, whenever there is a census or elections in Macedonia, half of the
Kosovo-Metohija and Presevo Albanians surge to Macedonia to be counted or to
vote. When there is a similar thing happening in Kosovo-Metohija, all the
Shiptars from surrounding areas of former Yugoslavia [Montenegro, Macedonia,
Presevo region in Serbia] go to Kosovo province to cast their votes.

"In conclusion, don't buy the Shiptar propaganda which aims to present its
population as numerically absolutely dominant, with the purpose of
justifying their claims upon others' territories. Listed as Shiptars in the
books of Yugoslav citizens in Kosovo-Metohija are 830,000 ethnic Albanians
and that is the realistic number, perhaps with additional 50-100,000. But
talking about millions is entirely incorrect and a pure propaganda which can
serve only the Shiptars, who wish to send a totally distorted picture into
the world.

"Therefore, I appeal to all to refrain from publishing completely false data
which is harmful to Serbia. This is written by a man who was born in
Pristina and who lived there until 1982. I was also an adviser to several
presidents, in a position from which I had access to all the data state has
to make public. This is not being done today, because a number of the
politicians in power have failed to realize the importance of making this
sort of information publicly available in regular, orderly fashion. Our
current leadership is not publishing this data at present, because it does
not suit the Western agenda, so even our own-let alone the foreign-public is
unaware of the real figures and facts."

Cartoon by Aleksandar Klas (Serbia)

Posted by BBlog Staff on April 10, 2008 10:20 PM

Bridging the great divide

http://torontosun.com/News/World/2008/04/12/5265631-sun.html

TORONTO SUN (CANADA)

April 12, 2008

Bridging the great divide

Contested Kosovo span is a symbol of international failure

By SCOTT TAYLOR

MITROVICA, Kosovo -- All seems quiet at the north end of the bridge. A pair
of NATO patrol vehicles, a handful of French soldiers, a couple of UN
policemen and several rolls of barbed wire block access to the roadway.

I take some photographs and start walking back into the Serbian sector of
the city.

It is only then that I spot a group of young Serbs lingering in the shade of
a kiosk.

These young men are known as the "bridgewatchers," and since the Kosovo
conflict began in June 1999, they have maintained a 24-hour vigil on the
Serbian side of this contested span across the Ibar River.

In the summer of 1999, as NATO forces deployed into Kosovo and Serbian
security forces withdrew, nearly 800,000 Albanian Kosovars came flooding
back into the province after they were displaced during the 78-day NATO
bombing campaign.

This in turn generated an exodus from Kosovo of approximately 200,000 Serb
and non-Albanian minorities who fled in fear of Albanian reprisals.

It was here in Mitrovica that the flood of Serb refugees halted at the Ibar
River and defiantly laid claim to the northern portion of Kosovo, which is
an entirely ethnic Serbian enclave connected to the Republic of Serbia.

Numerous violent encounters have taken place across the Mitrovica bridge
between Albanians, Serbs and NATO troops. Located next to the Republic of
Serbia, this entirely ethnic Serbian enclave has come to symbolize the
failure of the international community to overcome the divide of ethnic
hatred in Kosovo.

Following the Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence on Feb. 17,
the Serbs of the Mitrovica pocket and other protected enclaves have refused
to accept the authority of the newly proclaimed state of "Kosava."

To demonstrate their resolve, the Serbs took control of the Mitrovica
courthouse and installed their own officials. It was this occupation of
regional offices by the Serbs that led to a bloody confrontation with NATO
troops on March 17.

When UN police and NATO vehicles rolled in to arrest the violators, the
bridgewatchers sounded an air raid siren to summon other Serbs to the scene.
The angry crowds clashed with the international security forces and vehicles
were set ablaze, shots were fired.

One Ukrainian soldier died, 63 NATO soldiers were injured, and an
undetermined number of Serbs were seriously wounded.

In a scathing internal memo to his superiors, UN regional representative
Jerry Gallucci described the debacle as an "ill-conceived operation (that)
has led to the disappearance of law and order in the north (of Kosovo)."

Gallucci was particularly incensed that the international community chose
March 17 to launch their operation, as this date coincided with the
anniversary of the 2004 pogrom in which three dozen people were killed and
Albanians torched more than 800 Serbian homes.

In Gallucci's opinion, this timing coupled with the heavy-handed tactic of
arresting and transporting the courthouse squatters "seemed almost designed
to inflame Serbian sentiments."

In the leadup to, and in the immediate aftermath of Kosovo's declared
independence, a large number of UN field officers voiced their concerns
about the international community turning a blind eye to the reality of the
situation on the ground.

Last year, a number of UN observers took the unprecedented step of compiling
an independent analysis, which they published and circulated without
filtering it through the chain of command.

The stated intention of the anonymous authors was to illustrate "the divide
that exists between (their) first-hand knowledge ... and the rosy picture of
the overall situation that is officially presented by top UN officials."

The facts presented in the report show that over the past nine years, the UN
has failed to achieve its stated objectives in virtually every category.

To illustrate the international community's failure to provide a secure
environment for non-Albanians in Kosovo, they point to the fact that there
have been more than 1,000 abductions of Serbs and other minorities since
1999.

Of that number, only 253 bodies have been discovered, and yet not a single
person has been found guilty for these crimes.

Under the terms of UN Resolution 1244, which facilitated the entry of NATO
into Kosovo, the international community was to take full responsibility for
the protection of Serbian heritage religious sites.

Despite the presence of more than 20,000 security personnel over the past
nine years, Albanian extremists have managed to destroy more than 150
Serbian churches and monasteries -- many dating back to the 11th century.

One of the most alarming assessments in the UN field officers' report is
that the criminal leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrilla
force, which was supposed to be disbanded, has instead assumed positions of
power at all levels of Kosovo society. According to their summary, the KLA
has simply "transformed into criminal structures, carrying out organized
crime activities of drugs and weapons trafficking and prostitution."

As one field officer stated, those guerrillas "are the real power in Kosovo
and many of their leaders are now politicians at all levels -- including
Prime Minister (Hashim Thaci)."

The Kosovo police service is described as "poorly competent" and that, in
turn, has resulted in a "culture that promotes intolerance with little or no
moral obligation to non-Albanians."

The assessment of life in Kosovo for ethnic minorities is one of limited
freedom of movement and constant fear. Also cited in the report is the fact
that the international community has failed to protect non-Albanian language
rights and that they have allowed the flag of the Republic of Albania to fly
on most public institutions since 1999.

In their report's conclusion, the UN officers point out that the Pristina
sports stadium is emblazoned with "an enormous picture of an armed, bearded,
combat-uniformed KLA leader."

Such an image, they argue, runs counter to the UN's original mission of
making Kosovo a secure environment for all residents.

Failure to remove the provocative poster demonstrates that the international
community is in fact "bowing to the dictates of extremists and warlords."

Although this blunt assessment of the Kosovo situation was presented as a
briefing note to the fact-finding delegation of the UN security council, the
recommendation that the granting of independence would be an "irresponsible
act" has now been superseded by the Albanians' Feb. 17 unilateral
declaration.

Senior officials working with the UN in Kosovo confirmed that the analysis
of this report was accurate, and they are frustrated and disappointed with
the sudden elimination of their mandate.

"The original role for the (NATO-led Kosovo troops, or KFOR) was to enforce
UN Resolution 1244 -- which clearly recognized the Serbian sovereignty over
Kosovo," explained Edward Tawii, a Canadian adviser to the UN interim
administration police, who has spent the past eight years based there.

"Now they say that KFOR will be responsible to provide a secure environment
in support of the independence declaration."

While the UN mission continues to function in this interim period, the
administrative oversight in Kosovo is slowly being assumed by the European
Union.

The EU will monitor and assist the newly proclaimed independent Kosovar
government and oversee the operation of the Kosovo police service.

KFOR troops will remain in place for the foreseeable future, and NATO will
continue to train and equip the Kosovo defence forces.

Since Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence, the government
continues to administer services such as the issuing of pension cheques to
those residing in non-Albanian enclaves.

Despite the presence of so many foreign troops and police officers -- 20,000
in a region of only two million inhabitants -- this overlapping of
responsibility has generated a lot of confusion.

In many cases, the various and diverse national interests of the
contributing NATO and non-NATO security forces have been exploited by the
criminal elements of the Albanian population.

In the village of Orcusa, in the southern Kosovo mountainous region known as
Gora, Norbert, a German master warrant officer, pointed out that the border
to Albania here is wide open.

"Between us and the Albanian towns across the valley there is not even a
checkpoint, let alone any barriers." According to the German officer, NATO
soldiers in this sector refer to the Kosovo border police as the traffic
police, since their purpose seems to be in assisting the flow of contraband,
rather than impeding it.

In addition to the drugs and weapons smuggled across this border, there are
vast tracts of deforested hillside where the Albanians crossed into Kosovo
to cut down trees.

According to the German, this uncontested exploitation of Kosovo's resources
and the open conduit for illegal trade could easily be curtailed.

"We have reconnaissance vehicles with incredible surveillance capability,"
he said. "Our cameras would be able to pick up the colour of the
woodcutter's eyes -- right across the valley. And one platoon of troops
would suffice to close the border."

Asked why, over the past nine years, this has never been done, Norbert
shrugged and said, "because somebody higher than my rank level wants it to
remain open."

While international observers on the ground may be highly critical of the
way events are unfolding in Kosovo and remain hard-pressed to explain the
often contradictory policies and mandates they are asked to enforce, the one
thing that is quite clear is that another confrontation is imminent and
unavoidable.

A second showdown with the Serbs in Mitrovica is likely to erupt when NATO
attempts to make good on their public promise to arrest the Serbian
ringleaders of the March 17 incident.

Such a policy would ignore the recommendations of UN regional representative
Jerry Gallucci. In his report, Gallucci urged his colleagues to offer the
Serbs some "contrition or recognition of the mistake (the international
community) made."

Instead, it seems that NATO wants to force submission on the Mitrovica Serbs
as quickly as possible.

One reason for this is that the Serbian parliament has been suspended and an
election is scheduled for May 11.

The primary battle cry in that campaign for both the Serbian Democratic
Party and the nationalist Radical Party is "Kosovo is Serbia."

A solution imposed on Mitrovica while the Serbian leadership is in limbo
would encounter far less opposition than after the next government is
formed -- especially if they're elected with a pro-Kosovo mandate.

The clock is also ticking towards the next general assembly meeting at the
UN in September.

So far, 34 countries, including Canada, have recognized Kosovo's
independence. However, it is Serbia's intention to gain a consensus at the
UN assembly that will declare Kosovo's unilateral independence illegal.

"We will be seeking a solution which will accommodate everyone and still
uphold the UN Charter," said Serbian ambassador to Canada Dusan Batakovic
from Belgrade.

Following Canada's recognition of Kosovo, Batakovic was recalled to the
Serbian capital.

"While we are firm on Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo, we are willing to
discuss a power-sharing arrangement," he said, "and we want a renewal of
multilateral discussions under UN auspices."

As for Canada's position on Kosovo, Batakovic was disappointed there was no
parliamentary debate before Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the
decision.

"What exactly is independent about Kosovo? The UN resolution covering its
status remains valid, there are thousands of international troops deployed
to provide security, and significant numbers of non-Albanian Kosovo
minorities are defying this decision."

As the international community engages in a war of words and diplomatic
manoeuvring, the bridgewatchers in Mitrovica continue to monitor NATO
activity on the far river bank.

According to a senior NATO intelligence officer, the next confrontation is
expected to occur within a matter of "days or weeks -- not months."

Advance warning of 'final solution' in Kosovo

Scott Taylor will be known by many who have followed the Balkan wars and so this report has to be taken seriously.
The more people who hear about this in advance the more difficult it will be to bring it off...

Glas Javnosti (“The Public Voice”) is a Belgrade daily.

Scott Taylor Interview from Glas Javnosti, 03 April 2008, translated into English
http://www.glas-javnosti.co.yu/clanak/glas-javnosti-03-04-2008/nato-sprema-blic-krig

INTERVIEW: Scott Taylor, Regarding a Secret Plan by the Western Alliance for Kosovo

NATO IS PREPARING A “BLITZKRIEG”

During the next few weeks there will be an artificially provoked attack, bigger than 17 March [2008], the borders around Kosovska Mitrovica will be closed, Serbian leaders arrested, the Serbs disarmed, the city handed over to the Albanians in the KPS, claims a well-known Canadian reporter and author of a number of books about the Balkans.

- NATO is preparing a blitzkrieg on Kosovo which will enable them to tear down the Serbian resistance in the whole area and as early as the next few weeks will artificially provoke another attack, bigger than 17 March [2004], will close the borders around Kosovska Mitrovica, arrest the Serbian leaders, disarm the Serbs and then hand over the city to the Albanians in the KPS. Since the border between Kosovo and Albania doesn’t exist, after this plan the northern part of “Greater Albania” will definitely be secured. American and Albanian leaders have come to a “deal” that NATO secures new borders and everything that I have seen in this, my most recent, visit to Kosovo proves that such an agreement, about which we found out from secret UNMIK papers, really exists – says Scott Taylor during his interview with Glas, a reporter from Canada who has followed the Kosovo crisis for years and who, based on more than twenty visits to the province, claims that nothing quite like this has happened before. UNMIK and NATO know the truth about the suffering of the Serbs and the creation of a Greater Albania, but they intend to listen to the dictate of America, says Taylor and he adds:

- This time I met a number of people in UNMIK who know the truth and who have evaluated the situation, who pass on their advice, but their suggestions are ignored. They know what really happened on 17 March [2004] and they were critical about it, and now they are seeing that a new plan exists, which will give rise to even more violence and they are impatient to let others know what is ahead – maybe to soothe their own consciences. This is what they are saying…

- They were expelled, and the customs buildings were burned. Now they have come back, and the American and French troops are in place and preparing to close the customs borders. They intend to use UNMIK’s police with the consent of KFOR to arrest the Serbian leadership, so that the Serbs will be provoked. Their aim is a response, a reaction – we can recall how it was the last time, but now they want to respond with more force. For this action they will use Polish and Ukrainian troops who will move in an aggressive military attack on Mitrovica. The goal is to eliminate the Serbian leadership, to elicit a provocation in order to pronounce what is called “martial law” when they close the Serbian part of Mitrovica and disarm the Serbs while the borders are closed. And then, under those conditions, to hand over Mitrovica to the KPS.

THE TAKEOVER PLAN

The Galluci document (UNMIK’s head for the Mitrovica sector) states that there are not even attempts to enable the return of the Serbian KPS police; that was an open and later forgotten issue. They know that the Serbs will fight against this and they want just that kind of provocation, which will give them the excuse to use additional force. But they came to this idea of using the Poles and Ukrainians because they have shown sympathy to the Serbs. If the Serbs fight back, which is the idea, then this will blacken the image of Serbs in the Ukraine and Poland. Therefore, they have come up with a plan which brings them gains from every perspective – and will leave the Serbs without leadership as well as undermine international support for Serbia, says Taylor.

Serbian Elections are going the way they want.

- The elections are coming and Kosovo is an important question for all sides. If they close that question by closing the borders, deploy the Albanians and maintain KFOR reinforcements at customs, there is no Serbian politician who can win with a campaign of fighting NATO. Serbs might be self-destructive, but not to that extent. That’s why they want to finish this quickly. Going into the enclaves, one by one, is a long process, and if they eliminate Mitrovica, the enclaves are finished, because they will shrivel up and die.

“Wild West”

- In Kosovo the situation is such that nobody knows who is in charge. UNMIK is practically finished, it has no mission any more because its assignment is to enforce Resolution 1244, and that no longer exists. KFOR having entered with the task of protecting the UN and Resolution 1244 has converted into the protection of independent Kosovo. The German NATO soldier with whom I spoke, and who is in his third tour in Kosovo, says that NATO will securely remove itself from Kosovo only after a minimum of another ten years because there is still no progress. Eulex has the manpower, but wants the area cleaned up before they take over.

May Elections are Kosovo Elections

- The reason for these elections is that Kosovo should remain part of Serbia. The Americans know that, if the Serbian electorate shows that nationalism is alive and well, taking away something from somebody will only make that person even more determined. Therefore, they are counting on the window they have from Election Day until June or September, that is, until a strong enough government has been formed to take over this action in the UN. They have the whole summer to take care of such cleansing. Russia is an unknown to them, because if she commits again the same kind of thing as at Pristina airport, it could take them out of the equation. Even now we have countries that recognize, those who do not recognize and those that are undecided about Kosovo. That, to Americans, Germans and the British, is a problem because they are in the minority in a big world. The Muslim world has not accepted their embroilment in Kosovo. Next to every Kosovo flag is the American flag. How would the Arabs, who so hate the “great Satan,” like the creation of this American satellite? Even the Albanians won’t disassociate themselves from the U.S. On the hotel in the middle of Pristina is a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

The brain behind this operation is the same man who planned 17 March. The goal of that attack was to test the Serbs, in order to better plan strategy for the final takeover of Mitrovica and crushing of the Serbian struggle in the whole of Kosovo and Metohija?

- Everyone now looks toward the battlefield of Mitrovica, what the Serbs can do, whether they will offer a fight and how far they will go, what are their chances? NATO, that is, the Americans lead the project, but Larry Wilson of UNMIK’s police is the ringleader. He was an assistant, then head of the operation, and now he is the “boss.” Seventeen March was his plan, and now he’s come up with a new one. To support my words, I have a Galluci document, which describes the old tactics of counting arms: you commit a small attack and you see where the guns are. Then you make a plan. That is how they provoked the Serbs, tested them, and now they know how long it will take you to react, how many people you can get out into the streets, what you are prepared to do and they know what to expect. But the attack is likely during the next few days or weeks.

Do you have evidence that UNMIK and NATO are actively and consciously creating a Greater Albania?

- We hear about it, but every official in the world will cover his ears and say that he knows nothing about a Greater Albania. However, when you look around in Kosovo, you can see that every flag is Albanian. Very few represent Kosovo, and even then, next to them are much bigger Albanian ones. It is very clear what is going on and the Albanians, themselves, have never lied about their intentions, just as they now proclaim their plans for southern Serbia and Macedonia. Their leaders have made agreements with the Americans, and our sources have confirmed to us that Hashim Thaci, together with the regional leadership, including Alija Ahmatija in Macedonia, was convinced at a meeting with the Americans to give NATO a chance. That is how they came to agree that the Albanians should keep a low profile, and that NATO would take over control of the borders. Everything that I have now seen in Kosovo supports this story and the work that NATO has done as its part of the bargain.

Essentially, Mitrovica is the main test for the creation of a Greater Albania, that is, the fall of the whole province?

- I hope that there won’t be any fatalities, but there will certainly be a big attack, because they cannot throw the Serbs out of Mitrovica unless they conquer them. A big test is coming – if Mitrovica falls, the enclaves fall with it.

That would then be the northern border of Kosovo, and the southern border would, in fact, no longer exist as such, because the way would already be opened to a Greater Albania?

- I have seen that the southern border does not exist, that it’s completely open, I went down to the place where one should be able to see it, but KFOR, who should be acting as border police, behave like traffic conductors, just as one of them, a German, joked, himself. He says that every vehicle goes through freely, and their only concern is to avoid traffic congestion. The roads are open wide, drugs pass through freely. We were in Gorani villages, in Orchusa, for example, where we were unsuccessful in trying to find any kind of border limit. There is nothing, no line, no fence, nothing, just one German soldier who went to the place where there should be a border, gestured in plain air where the border should be.

The Creation of a Greater Albania

What did the Gorani say, are they loyal citizen of the southernmost tip of Serbia or are they in the middle part of a Greater Albania? How does UNMIK treat them?

- Yes, loyal to Serbia and they get their pensions from Belgrade, but it is obvious that Kosovo and Albania are one country, Albanians, from Albania, mind you, not only steal their stock from Kosovo, cows, horses, and what is very significant, they freely cut forests. If Kosovo regarded Albania as an adjoining country, not the same country, they would protect their resources, but I saw for myself that the Albanians have no problem freely taking the Gorani’s forests and in destroying the region, and it tells me that this is Greater Albania. NATO knows what is happening and they said that they have vehicles that can go up hills where they can see those that steal well enough to see the color of their eyes. We could stop this, but nobody will – that’s what they told me. NATO, if it wanted, could, but cannot act independently of Kosovo’s parliament, that is, the Albanian leadership. Everybody knows there are no borders, but nobody will close them. We have the same information in secret documents we have received from our sources in UNMIK.

Are there Russian volunteers such as the Albanian media writes about? Are there Albanian “volunteers?” How do these fit into the plan for Mitrovica?

- There are no Russian volunteers, but NATO needs provocations in order to create an attack and that is why on the Albanian side we have the coming together of “undesirables.” In the past there were extremists on both sides, and I believe that the Albanian paramilitary formations were started in opposition to the enclaves, should the Serbs in Mitrovica form a resistance. But I think that that would work against NATO’s strategy and that the world would see through this – if the media showed the truth. But NATO will renew its principle with which it succeeded on 17 March when one Ukrainian died, and another 63 from NATO were injured. That was shown immediately, but the violence against Serbs was not shown. Even now the focus will stay on Mitrovica and the Serbs who throw stones.

The international community has easily accepted what UNMIK and NATO did to the Serbs on the 17th of March [2004], will the same deceit succeed in the case of a larger attack?

- That day they tested the world community. Attacking Serbs did not touch many and the sympathy was entirely with the wounded NATO soldiers. They now know that they can do it again.

You say that NATO is in a hurry to seal the “blitzkrieg” on Mitrovica. If they run into unexpected problems, it could become prolonged? You, yourself, say that the Russians are inclined to spoil their plans.
- Well, Russia maintains the strong position that only 34 countries have recognized Kosovo, and the rest have not. The general meeting of the UN is in September, and if NATO doesn’t succeed now with its plans, there is a chance for Serbia that the talks will resume about the partitioning of Kosovo. It will hurt the U.S. position – if Serbia brings up a cooperative resolution and shows that she still pays pensions to people in Kosovo…

Author:
Diana Miloševic

Major General (ret'd) Lewis MacKenzie: West's stance on Kosovo hypocritical

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8533

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON GLOBALIZATION (CANADA)

War Crimes and the Recognition of Kosovo: Observations on the current
political leadership in Kosovo

By Major General (ret'd) Lewis MacKenzie

Global Research, April 3, 2008

Statement to The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies, The Rockford Institute Center for International Affairs and the Montreal Rally against the Recognition of Kosovo "Independence", March 30th, 2008.

I regret that I was not able to attend this event due to other commitments. I thank the organizers and Ambassador Bissett for giving me the opportunity to say a few words. The Balkans are not easy to understand and I do not consider myself an expert by any stretch however starting in 1992 with the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina I witnessed the beginning of international anti-Serb bias based in no small part due to the efforts of professional North American based public relations firms hired by two sides in a three sided civil war. The Bosnian Serbs were slow off the mark, hired
no one and have paid the price.

This anti-Serb bias and sympathy for their "victims" was exploited by the Kosovo Liberation Army, (KLA), an internationally recognized terrorist organization at the time when it commenced killing Serbian security personnel in the late 90s. The KLA hired the same North American PR firms employed by the Bosnian government and successfully won the PR war in spite of the fact their organization initiated the armed conflict. No one could ever accuse the Serbs of treating the Kosovar's with kid gloves; however, discrimination in civil service and university hiring procedures is hardly
justification for armed resistance with independence and the creation of Greater Albania as a goal.

Canadians should be concerned regarding Kosovo's current leadership. The current Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was the leader of the KLA. He has admitted that the KLA orchestrated the infamous Racak "massacre" dressing their KLA dead in civilian clothes, machine gunning them and dumping them in a ditch and claiming it was a Serbian slaughter of civilians. NATO bought into the ruse and on its 50th birthday looking for a role in the post cold war world the alliance became the KLA's air force and bombed a sovereign nation from the safety of 10,000 ft. No one in NATO was hurt.

His predecessor as Prime Minister was Agim Cheku. He was in command of Croatian Forces in the Medak Pocket where Serb families were burnt alive in their cellars necessitating intervention by Canadian soldiers and he was also in charge in 1995 during Operation Storm when the Croatian Army cowardly shelled and over- ran Canadian peacekeeping positions. For both of those actions Canada called for the indictment of Cheku for war crimes.

Canada should remain united with the approximately 157 member countries of the United Nations and with the leaders of the vast majority of the world's population, India, China, the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, Russia, Argentina, Greece, Cyprus and 149 others in not recognizing Kosovo's illegal unilateral declaration of independence. Independence has to be earned by a group meeting specific criteria and in accordance with legal protocol. Kosovo does not even come close to qualifying for such recognition.

Maj. General Lewis MacKenzie is the former UNPROFOR Commander in Bosnia

Need a Liver? Kill a Serb.

http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=1524

REPUBLICAN RIOT (USA)

March 30th 2008 05:30:59 PM

Need a Liver? Kill a Serb.
Posted by Julia Gorin under Republican Riot

Well well well. For perhaps the first time in history, the mainstream media
have deemed the dismemberment of Serbs newsworthy. More accurately, they
have deemed newsworthy the dismemberment of the Serb and non-Serb victims of
our friends, and almost all living Albanians' great heroes, the KLA. (Recall
the crowds cheering "KLA! KLA! KLA!" last month from Tirana to Pristina to
Times Square. Below is just a taste of one of the many KLA activities they
were cheering.) The new information is revealed in the forthcoming book The
Hunt by Carla Del Ponte, former chief prosecutor for the Hague Tribunal. A
few reports, starting with - gasp - the AP (which both the International
Herald Tribune and Fox News deigned to carry):

Albanian trafficking in organs of killed Kosovo Serbs investigated

"Serbia's war crimes prosecutor is looking into reports that dozens of
Serbs captured by rebels during the war in Kosovo were killed so their
organs could be trafficked, the prosecutor's office said Friday.

"The Serbian prosecutor's office said it received 'informal statements'
from investigators at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, that
dozens of Serbs imprisoned by Kosovo Albanian rebels were taken to
neighboring Albania in 1999 and killed so their organs could be harvested
and sold to international traffickers.

"Bruno Vekaric, the Serbian prosecutor's spokesman, said later on B92 radio
that Serbian war crimes investigators have also received their own
information about alleged organ trafficking, but not enough for a court
case. Vekaric said Serb investigators also received reports suggesting there
might be mass graves in Albania containing the bodies of the Serb victims.

"Serbian media reported that the issue was brought into the open in a book
written by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that is to be
published in Italy on April 3.

"According to Serbia's Beta news agency, which carried parts of the book in
Serbian, Del Ponte said her investigators had been informed that some 300
Serbs were killed for organ trafficking.

"The Beta report quoted Del Ponte as saying in the book that her
investigators were told the imprisoned Serbs were first taken to prison
camps in northern Albania where the younger ones were picked out, and their
organs were later sold abroad.
...
"Beta reported that Del Ponte says in her book that tribunal investigators
looking into alleged war crimes by the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army were not
able to complete a case on the organ trafficking claims and bring it to
trial.

The Beta report:

"The Hague Prosecution learned while investigating war crimes committed by
the Kosovo Liberation Army against Serbs and other ethnic communities that
people that disappeared in 1999 in Kosovo were subjected to surgery in which
their kidneys and other organs were taken from them and then the smugglers
were selling them to foreign clinics, Carla Del Ponte, former chief
prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal wrote in her book 'Hunt'.

"'The victims were most likely abducted after [the] NATO bombing when
international peace-keeping forces were already deployed in Kosovo.' Even
high KLA members were involved in the operation of smuggling of organs, Del
Ponte writes but [does] not specify their names.

"She further writes that a group of 'reliable' journalists told the
investigators and UNMIK officials that in [the]summer of 1999 Kosovo
Albanians transported by trucks about 300 abducted non-Albanians in camps in
Kukes and Tropoja in the north of Albania. Younger and healthy prisoners
were medically examined and detained in Burel and in the neighborhood.

"In one room that was used as an operating theatre, the surgeons were
taking organs from the victims. Via Rinas airport near Tirana the organs
were transported to clinics abroad for clients that paid for them. One
source claimed to have personally participated in one of such deliveries at
the airport.

"The victims left with one kidney were kept locked and later on killed for
other organs.

"'Other prisoners in the barrack knew what was to happen to them', Del
Ponte wrote. Among female prisoners there were women from Kosovo, Albania,
Russia and former Yugoslav republics. Two sources claimed to have been
helping in the burial of victims at a nearby cemetery."

Byzantine Sacred Art blog has more: A Glimpse at the Harrowing Truth: What
happened to Kosovo Serbs Kidnapped by KLA?

The Real Women in Black: Serbian women seek the truth about their children,
brothers, sisters and husbands missing in Kosovo province

"Over 1,300 Kosovo Serbs, in addition to those.whom we know have been
killed and whose remains were handed over to their families by the UNMIK
during the past 8 years, are still listed as missing. In some cases the
entire families were kidnapped by the KLA/UCK at some point during the
1998-1999 war and after UN/NATO took over the administration and security of
the southern Serbian province.

"Over the years, we have learned that a number of kidnapped Kosovo Serb
girls and women have been used as sex slaves, kept under the lock and key in
the dark, moldy cellars of Albanian bar and brothel owners, underfed,
repeatedly raped and beaten, until they are deemed no longer useful and
killed like dogs.

"There were also reports in the Serbian media about Kosovo Serb boys and
men being forced to work in unsecured, illegal private mines, but with
uncooperative UNMIK and indifferent KFOR (NATO) no investigation was ever
initiated, and Serbian families of the Kosovo-Metohia missing are still
without answers.

"Now, however, the much discussed Carla del Ponte's book "The Hunt" offers
a harrowing detail, revealing why Serbian men [have] been kidnapped
throughout Kosovo province during past years instead of being killed on the
spot, as is the usual KLA treatment for all non-Albanians, especially those
of Serbian ethnicity: because they were used as a livestock for organ
harvesting in the illegal trade with human organ transplants.

"According to Glas Javnosti, writing about one of the failed investigations
regarding the fate of around 300 abducted Kosovo Serbs who were taken to
northern Albania, Del Ponte says that the kidnapped young men were not
beaten and were well fed. There was an improvised surgery room in one of the
houses, where young Serbs had their internal organs removed to be shipped
over the Tirana airport "Mother Teresa" abroad, where the organs of the
healthy young Serbs were sold.

"The victims who had only one kidney removed during the first carve-up were
sutured and returned to imprisonment, to live until they would get killed
for their other vital organs, when the right buyer is found. According to
Carla del Ponte, the Serbs held in this monstrous human stable Josef Mengele
would envy, begged to be killed.

"Sworn Serbian enemy, Del Ponte describes Kosovo-Metohia province under the
KLA/NATO rule as a land with no laws and institutions, [a] land of blood
feuds, ruled by the thugs who present themselves as heroes of the "suffering
Albanian people". She claims that UNMIK and KFOR officials, and even some
ICTY judges in the Hague, are fearful for their lives if connected to the
KLA/UCK crime investigations, and feel threatened by the 'Albanian reach'.

"In her book, Del Ponte says that those few and far between investigations
of the terrorist KLA were the hardest during her appointment as the ICTY
chief prosecutor, that her researchers were confronted by the clans,
vendettas and political pressures, and that "policemen from Bern and
Brussels and all the way to Bronx" are well aware about the insurmountable
difficulties when it comes to the attempts to investigate Albanian organized
crime."

Del Ponte traveled in 2003 to the alleged sites of the crime:

"'We are checking some informal statements we obtained through operative
work that, in 1999, two trucks carrying imprisoned Kosovo Serbs were sent to
Albania,' said War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic.

"He said that the informal information had been obtained from Hague
Tribunal investigators. According to those sources, there are unregistered
mass graves with bodies of murdered Serbs in Albania.
...
"One group was held in barracks behind a yellow house some twenty
kilometers to the south of that town [Burel, Albania], states the former
prosecutor.

"One room in that yellow house, according to the journalists, served as an
operation room where doctors extracted prisoners' organs.
...
"Daily Vecerenje Novosti brings more details from the book, which says that
the Hague and UNMIK investigators, and several journalist, along with an
Albanian prosecutor, made a trip to the yellow house in 2003.

"'It was now white,' Del Ponte writes. 'Despite the fact that investigators
discovered traces of yellow paint on it, the owner denied it was ever
repainted.'

"In its vicinity, investigators also found pieces of gauze, used syringes,
two plastic IV solution bags, 'petrified in mud', empty medicine bottles,
including muscle relaxants used during surgeries. [Thank god for Greater
Albania's waste-disposal problems!]

"Inside the house itself, forensics discovered traces of blood on the walls
and on the floor in one of the rooms. A section of the floor, sized 180 by
60 centimeters, was clean.

"'The owner of the house offered a series of explanations to the
investigators when it came to the origin of the blood traces. First, he said
that his wife gave birth in that room many years ago. But when the wife made
her statement and said that all their children were born elsewhere, he
claimed that his family used the room to slaughter animals in order to
celebrate a Muslim holiday,' Del Ponte writes.

"As for the Albanian prosecutor who accompanied them, the former chief
Hague prosecutor says he at one point bragged he had cousins who were KLA
members.

"'There are no graves of Serbs here,' the Albanian official said. 'But, if
they took the Serbs from the Kosovo border and killed them, they did the
right thing'.

"Del Ponte writes that detectives had had to give up on this case because
further investigation had proved 'impossible'."

Related: Kosovo PM admitted atrocities, prosecutor

"UN personnel feared for their lives in Kosovo while some of the judges
presiding over the Hague Tribunal for former Yugoslavia were in fear from
Kosovo Albanians that have committed atrocities against Serbs and that is
why very few cases of Kosovo Albanian war criminals have been prosecuted,
writes Carla Del Ponte, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN Tribunal, in her
new book.

"'I am sure that some of the top UNMIK and even KFOR officials feared for
their lives and the lives of their missions' members,' says Del Ponte.'I
think that some of the judges of the Tribunal for Yugoslavia were afraid
that the Albanians might come and get them,' writes Del Ponte.

"In her book, Del Ponte details her meeting with the current so-called
Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, at the 5th Anniversary of the Dayton
Peace Treaty that ended the Bosnian conflict and says that, while sitting at
a table, Thaci admitted to her that Kosovo Albanians committed atrocities.
...
"'I looked him in the eyes and told him that I have launched the
investigation over crimes that the Albanians had committed in Kosovo. I have
not said a word implying indictment against him, but Thaci certainly
concluded that I had done so since his face turned into stone,' Del Ponte
writes.

"Del Ponte also notes in her book Hashim Thaci and Agim Ceku are considered
by UNMIK and KFOR as 'more than dangerous in the peaceful efforts in the
Balkans'.

"'Thaci and Ceku, in theory can stir up the minority Albanian rebels, to
start violence in Macedonia, South Serbia and other regions,' writes Del
Ponte in her book reports news agency BETA."

If one were to follow any of the proceedings at the Hague court, he or she
would be amazed to see just how nicely the Serb-hanging intent of that
tribunal backfired. (While still hanging a few Serbs, guilty or not.) Del
Ponte's revelations are only the tip of the iceberg.

When we carved up Yugoslavia (though I could use the present tense), we also
carved up actual people. Way to go, America. As we continue to enable
brutality against the people who were the second-most brutalized party
during WWII*, I say to my fellow Americans: Enjoy your new Albanian friends.
You've earned them. But not to worry: As long as we keep feeding them Serbs,
American organs should be safe. However, whether we keep our new masters - I
mean, friends - happy or not, their plan is indeed to move on with the
Greater Albania project which, as Ms. Del Ponte said, includes western
Macedonia, southern Serbia, but also Montenegro and parts of Greece. So what
happens when America and the international community call it quits on that
project? Will we finally figure out that spilled Serbian blood is followed
by the spilled blood of the rest of Western civilization?

*The reason that the Croatians didn't kill as many Serbs and Jews in the
Jasenovac camps as the Germans killed Jews and others in the German-run
camps, is that rather than gassing or gunning down the Serbs, Croatians were
savoring each kill by hand. From The Jerusalem Post, International Edition,
week ending December 21, 1991:

"Goebbels lives - in Zagreb"

"While not using the sophisticated extermination methods of the Germans,
the Ustashi, the Croat Fascists, greatly outdid the Germans in their
cruelty. Most of the killings were done with cold steel; if there was enough
time, the Ustashi would also dismember their victims using handsaws."

Above: More Serbs wondering about the fates of their family members. Note:
In the wake of Kosovo's declared independence, the three-finger sign of the
raised Holy Trinity seen here was referred to by at least one reporter
(Catherine Philp of the London Times) as the Serbs giving a "Nazi salute":
"There, as in Mitrovica, they chanted 'Serbia forever' as they raised their
hands in a Nazi salute."

The Trinitarian affirmation is Christian, not Nazi (though journalists often
don't see a difference between those two either). Swiss guards at the
Vatican hold their hands the same way when they take their oath of service.

Aside from Nazi references, other requisite terms for describing Serbs,
currently being recycled, include projections such as Serbian "extremists"
and "nationalists" - with no mention of the Albanians' hyper-nationalist
nature, their Nazi history or extremist ties. It all adds up to a newly
paved road for the next round of Kosovo-Serb organ harvesting. The shots
have already been fired.

U.S. blunders by recognizing Kosovo independence

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080331/OPINION02/803310308/1070

DETROIT FREE PRESS (USA)

COMMENT

U.S. blunders by recognizing Kosovo independence
BY JAMES A. PALMER

March 31, 2008

The United States' decision to recognize the independence of Kosovo is the
most recent in a series of mistakes regarding the breakaway Serbian
province. America has been making ill-fated decisions in the Balkans for at
least a decade and a half. What separates this bungling of Kosovo from its
prior decisions is that the recognition of Kosovo's independence will have
deleterious effects on international law and cause consequences in the
region and beyond.

The main problem is that Kosovo's independence undermines a system of
international law that America helped create and from which it benefits
greatly. The United Nations Charter enshrines the inviolability of state
sovereignty. In recognizing Kosovo without a UN Security Council resolution,
the United States and its European allies have weakened two of the
fundamental principles of international law: that states are free to
determine their internal composition and that their territorial integrity
must be respected.
To make matters worse, the United States and the European Union have adopted
a wildly expansive interpretation of Security Council Resolution 1244, which
placed Kosovo under UN administration and provided for Kosovo's autonomy
within Serbia. Under this interpretation, administrative authority is being
transferred from the UN-sanctioned mission in Kosovo to an EU mission that
has no legal mandate in the province and whose prospects for success rely on
Serb participation, which is far from guaranteed. Already, ethnic divisions
are hardening into a de facto partition of the territory between Albanian
and Serb-controlled areas.

Another problem caused by Kosovo's independence is the precedent it sets for
ethnic enclaves within other sovereign states. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice's claim that "Kosovo cannot be seen as a precedent for any
other situation in the world today" misses the point. It is doubtful that
separatists from Xingjian to Catalonia will accept the niceties of Rice's
argument that Kosovo is exceptional due to its political and legal history.
It is much more likely that these separatists will view the conflict for the
precedent that it is: the carving off of a sovereign state's territory in
favor of an ethnic and religious minority threatening violence -- a model to
be replicated elsewhere.

Russia has been particularly outspoken against Kosovo's independence because
of its concern that its restive Caucasian provinces will follow the Kosovo
precedent. The United States currently requires Russian cooperation on two
issues of great strategic importance to America: counterproliferation
efforts against Iran and the implementation of new missile defense systems
in Central Europe. Irritating Russia and spending useful political capital
on a tiny, economically stagnant, breakaway region will only make Russian
cooperation less likely -- even on issues that concern its security.

Finally, Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence has only reinflamed
the divisions and enmities of the 1990s -- not a time that any of us should
want to revisit in the Balkans. The declaration of Kosovo's independence has
emboldened Albanians in Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia in their calls for
the creation of "greater Albania."

There is also the possibility that the largely Serbian north of Kosovo will
decide to secede and ask its Serbian kinsmen to protect it. Will America
defend Kosovo's sovereignty after having destroyed Serbia's?

The decision to recognize Kosovo's independence was foolish. In doing so,
the United States and its European allies have undermined international law
and opened the door to separatist movements worldwide to follow suit.
Relations with Russia are being strained at a time when America needs
Russia's cooperation. Most disturbing of all, the Balkan tinderbox could be
reignited at any point. No amount of wishful thinking by our foreign policy
leadership will fix the damage that's been done.

JAMES PALMER, 26, grew up in Royal Oak, attended Dondero High School, has a
degree in political science from Denison University in Ohio, and is a
student in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in
Medford, Mass. He can be reached by e-mail at james.palmer@tufts.edu.

Is Kosovo the End of Europe?

http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article606.html

MAINSTREAM (INDIA)

Vol XLVI, No 15

Is Kosovo the End of Europe?
Saturday 29 March 2008, by Ash Narain Roy

Rene Magritte, the celebrated Belgian surrealist painter, once painted an
apple and wrote on it, "This is not an apple." He did the same on a pipe.
Today, he could as well paint his country, Belgium, and certainly Kosovo,
the youngest nation in the world, and write, "This is not a country."
Belgium is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions, with its
majority Dutch-speaking, many French-speaking and few German-speaking
citizens unable to decide what and for whom the state stands for. Kosovo is
a self-inflicted pain and the world will not be able to withstand it given
the can of worms its creation has opened. Mitrovica, witnessing intense
violence, may emerge as a flashpoint of new conflict. Serbia is thinking of
inviting Russian troops into Serb-dominated northern Kosovo as peacekeepers
that may undermine the authority of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission,
creating the potential for conflict leading to the partition of Kosovo.

Kosovo's independence has dealt a blow to the nation-state. Many wonder if
the nation-state in the 21st century is going out of fashion and whether a
model of multi-cultural living, the hallmark of the nation-state, is on way
to redundancy. In any case, China and Russia seem moving towards 19th
century-style nationalism, militarism and assertive-ness. Many states would
follow them.

Kosovo's declaration of independence has won enthusiastic to grudging
approval from some and vociferous to mild disapproval from others depending
on which side of the fence one is sitting. But it has placed India on the
horns of a dilemma. New Delhi is only studying the evolving situation as
there are "several issues" involved in the declaration. There was a time
when India took pride in being right than in being diplomatic. Today hard
realities of "national interests" and pragmatism have become the main
yardstick of its foreign policy. Silence and discretion are in, moralising
is out. That perhaps explains what Shashi Tharoor says, why India feels
comfortable with the "Burmese junta, than its janata". India's flirtations
with the US and the desire to occupy the UN high table with the help of
Washington are also coming in the way of taking a principled stand on global
issues.

But New Delhi's virtual silence on Kosovo is fraught with far-reaching
consequences. It is unfortunate that even on an issue that concerns its own
minorities and sub-national movements, India has chosen to look the other
way. As the CPI-M mouthpiece People's Democracy says, "at least on such a
vital issue as the sovereignty of countries with minority populations and
the challenges to a basic principle of international law, India should speak
up." Kosovo has created a new precedent and twisted international law that
separatists all over the world would use to further their interests.
Kashmiri separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shabbir Shah and Yasin
Malik have already said that they see Kosovo as a ray of hope. North-East
militants and the Naxalites would not be far behind in extracting some
mileage out of Kosovo. Spain's Basque and Catalan separatists have also
welcomed Kosovo's independence with a banner like, "Today Kosovo. Tomorrow
Catalonia". Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia have also intensified their
autonomy demands, an obvious road to independence. Many believe the upsurge
of violence in Tibet is not unrelated to Kosovo.

WHAT is the American gameplan in Kosovo? Russia certainly sees a red signal.
Kosovo is a dress-rehearsal for redrawing boundaries in Eurasia and the
Middle East. It is a new balkanisation, part of American and German
geo-strategic plan, to tame Russia. The goal is to drive a wedge in the
Balkans to advance a spurious form of European integration. A clear pattern
is discernible. Since the former Yugoslavia was a thorn in the
American-German flesh, it has been systematically targeted. The NATO bombing
of Yugoslavia in 1999 was a well-devised plan. It was no coincidence that
Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided along ethnic and religious lines-Serb, Croat,
Bosniak, Christians and Muslims. To these ethnic-religious divides have been
added further sectarian divisions within Christianity-Eastern Orthodoxy
versus Roman Catholicism.

Facts speak for themselves. Bosnia's Constitution was written at a US Air
Force base in Dayton, Ohio by American and European experts. Efforts are now
on to establish a Greater Albania which will bring together what are now
Albania and Kosovo as well as adjacent parts of Serbia and Montenegro,
Western Macedonia and the north-western regions of Greece.

Kosovo has created a new divide even in the ranks of European states. While,
Germany, Britain, Italy and France have recognised Kosovo, countries like
Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus have opposed Kosovo's
independence. There is a perception among multinational, multi-ethnic and
multicultural states that Kosovo's independence will give a new lease of
life to separatists in their own midst-Basques in Spain, Tiroleans in Italy,
Hungarians in Romania and the like.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reacted most vehemently calling
Kosovo's independence as the "beginning of the end of Europe". Moscow is
right in maintaining that Kosovo's independence will rekindle fire in the
frozen conflict zones-Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria etc. Way back
in 1992, South Ossetia had declared independence from Georgia. Only thanks
to the presence of Russian peacekeepers a bigger conflict was avoided.
Russia has not recognised South Ossetia as yet, but it could exercise that
option. Moscow has also hinted that the Kosovo precedent could be invoked in
Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In fact, Moscow has decided to
withdraw from a CIS treaty imposing sanctions against Georgia's breakaway
region of Abkhazia. It is not hard to imagine what happens if Russia decides
to use the Kosovo approach to resolving conflicts in its own backyard. Even
supposing Russian troops are sent to Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, it
could create a flashpoint of conflict.

Is the US trying to appease the Muslim world by its support for Kosovo and
thus seeking to make up for the folly of the Iraq war? It is possible that
some Muslim regimes may see the American gameplan in that light. But what
kind of message is Washington conveying to the Iraqi Kurds? The US says it
is backing a federal Iraq where Arabs, Kurds, Turkomans, Assyrians as also
Shias and Sunnis could live together. Can Iraqis be blamed for thinking that
the federal formula is a cover to break the country?

The West's stance is inconsistent and self-contradictory. If it supports
Kosovo's independence, why does it oppose the independence of Flanders in
Belgium? Few believe Kosovo will actually be free; it will become a
protectorate of the EU. What is worse, Kosovo is likely to see the
Serb-dominated parts walking away. In pursuing their geo-strategic
interests, the US and Germany may end up reviving old chauvinist passions
and creating a monster that may turn their dream into a nightmare. It is too
dangerous to fiddle with the Balkans' fault lines. The US smiles at Kosovo
only to frown at Russia. Come on America! Your bare teeth are showing.

The author is the Associate Director, Institute of Social Sciences, New
Delhi.

Bold steps to Europe

Bold steps to Europe

Vuk Jeremic

March 28, 2008 11:30 AM

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/vuk_jeremic/2008/03/vuk_jeremic_serbia_kosovo.html

Five weeks ago, the provincial authorities in the Serbian province of Kosovo unilaterally and illegally declared their independence. Around 30 countries have recognised this illegitimate and destabilising act, setting back the region's European membership perspective.



The vast majority of UN member states are not following suit,
uncomfortable with a precedent that is making the international system
unstable. International law has been grossly violated, and a revival of
the global debate about the legitimacy of internationally recognised
borders has been triggered. This needs to be addressed, not wished
away. For there are clearly dozens of Kosovos throughout the world,
happy that an attempt has been made to legitimise unilateral secession
in the international system - and pleased to have been provided with a
detailed plan on how to achieve success. Accordingly, many existing
conflicts may escalate and new ones could be instigated. Already the
recognition of Kosovo has increased the danger that the doctrine of
imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts will be legitimised, that the
right to self-determination will be transformed into an avowed right to
independence.



Recent events
in Kosovo, triggered by Pristina's unilateral declaration of
independence, suggest that the situation is dangerously close to
escalating beyond control. It is important to realise that we are all
in this together, and that we must find a way forward together.

The first step requires talking to one another honestly and
respectfully. We have to address the real life concerns of the
province's most vulnerable, and we have to pay attention to the human
cost of our actions. The alternative is a frozen conflict solidified by
entrenched, maximalist positions that only perpetuate the continuation
of defensive, self-preservationist moves that drive us further apart.
We must therefore work to instil the confidence necessary for all the
western Balkans to once again take bold, historic steps to full EU
membership.



This brings me to the second step. Serbia's president, Boris Tadic,
spoke recently of his willingness to sign the stabilisation and
association agreement
with the EU immediately. Were that to happen, Serbia and the rest of
the region would be put back on the EU membership fast-track, justly
gaining entry into one of the world's greatest political projects.

The third step involves the tricky question of the future status of
Kosovo. Sooner or later, responsible stakeholders will realise that it
cannot achieve sustainable prosperity without Belgrade. Once this sinks
in, an opportunity will be created in which, perhaps for the first
time, a true negotiation can take place between the parties - one that
leads to a mutually acceptable compromise.



This will not be easy. But the alternative is for Kosovo to remain in
limbo, unattractive to foreign investment, unresponsive to the rule of
law and unable to control its freefall into failure.



The formula for success revolves around finding a way to satisfy the
right of Kosovo's Albanian community to substantial self-governance
while remaining under a common sovereign roof with Serbia. Anything
less than that constitutes a fundamental threat to our democratic
development, the European future of southeast Europe and the legitimacy
of the international system that has brought unprecedented prosperity
to the world since 1945.



Serbia is ready to take all three of these steps, because we believe
that Serbs and Albanians must find the courage to act in wisdom and in
conscience, propelled by a hope that beckons us on in this time of
trial. To build on this hope is a bold and solemn purpose. It requires
men and women confident in their strength, compassionate in their
hearts, clear in their minds and steady in their vision. The time is
ripe for daring.

NATO's Balkan Destiny

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120658092416867333.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA)

OPINION

NATO's Balkan Destiny

By ANTONIO MILOSOSKI

March 27, 2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia

The NATO summit in Bucharest is less than a week away. Yet Macedonia's bid
to join the trans-Atlantic alliance hangs in the balance. Strangely, the
problem is the name of my country, which Greece doesn't recognize, and not
our record on civil and military reforms, which Macedonia has been
diligently pursuing.

Seven years ago, Macedonia was a net security consumer. We're now a net
provider with 3.5% of our troops engaged in security missions abroad --
mainly in Afghanistan. Ninety percent of our citizens support NATO
membership, a rarity in this region. Support for the alliance unites the
multiethnic Macedonian society and cuts across ethnic, party and social
lines.

Our close cooperation with NATO goes back to its 1999 intervention against
the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. Macedonia was the key country in
the region in assisting the alliance, providing infrastructure and logistics
for NATO combat operations. We also opened our doors to 380,000 Kosovo
refugees who found a shelter in Macedonia. Some stayed on to make their
lives in Macedonia.

Kosovo remains a pressing security issue today, and Macedonia is honoring
its end of the bargain. We are the host country of the logistics
headquarters for KFOR, the Kosovo stabilization force. It is operated by the
Macedonian army and financed through our budget.

Kosovo's independence last month changed the security and political outlook
for the Balkans. We still don't know what the end game will look like. Much
progress was made in the recent years in the Western Balkans in terms of
keeping stability and expanding our economies. This has been achieved in no
small part thanks to the positive roles played by the EU and the U.S. in our
region in the last decade.

But there are numerous potential sources of instability. Political
structures in Kosovo are underdeveloped. Political cohesion in the region is
weak. From a security perspective, NATO is still needed, particularly in and
around Kosovo to help administer borders and keep a close watch on
trafficking and organized crime.

Positive messages from the EU and the U.S. on integration into NATO and the
EU are vitally important. NATO membership is a staple of progress in our
region. To this extent, progress, stability and prosperity will be enhanced
in the Balkans if Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are invited to join NATO
next week in Bucharest.

The more states from the Balkans we have joining NATO, the less NATO we will
need in the Balkans. The alliance would then be freed up to cope with
challenges further a field

Considering what's at stake, Macedonia's NATO membership shouldn't be held
hostage to a bilateral dispute with Greece over my country's name. But
that's just what has happened in recent months.

Our soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan shoulder to shoulder with the
Greek, Americans, the Dutch, and others. No one minds the label "Macedonia"
on their uniforms. Macedonia was asked to fulfill the Membership Action Plan
(or MAP) criteria to be considered for NATO membership. This we did.

Our issue with Greece is a bilateral one. We are prepared to settle it
together with our Greek friends. We are ready to compromise. But we won't be
pushed into accepting a solution concerning our name as a condition of
getting into NATO.

My country remains committed to the 1995 Interim Accord where we agreed --
with the UN serving as the guarantor -- that neither Macedonia nor Greece
will block the other's membership in international organizations.

NATO membership and the start of the accession talks with the EU are the two
bottom-line priorities for Macedonia -- no matter who's in power. But
Macedonia will not yield to pressure.

NATO isn't where the name issue should be decided. Let's keep the alliance
focused on security. With that in mind, it should be clear that excluding
Macedonia from the club will do nothing to boost security in the Balkan
region. It may even bring about the opposite result.

Mr. Milososki is foreign minister of Macedonia.

wsj.ltrs@wsj.com

Will Kosovo be turned over to the Pentagon?

Will Kosovo be turned over to the Pentagon?
19:59 | 25/ 03/ 2008


MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti international commentator Tamara Zamyatina) - Predictions made by experts before Kosovo's illegal declaration of independence are coming true - the territory seized from Serbia is turning into a big military base of the United States and NATO.
Thus, George W. Bush ordered arms shipments to Kosovo. Because of this, Moscow insisted on an emergency session of the NATO-Russia Council - it will be held in Brussels on March 28.
Incidentally, Bush issued this order two days after the Moscow visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who urged Moscow to promote cooperation, expand consultations, and display more openness in general.
The haste with which the Pentagon is trying to take the fledgling Kosovo under its wing demonstrates the West's lack of confidence that peace will come to the Balkans after Kosovo's cessation. But the West was actively using this rhetoric - the need to put an end to the Yugoslav crisis - in order to justify its support for the Kosovo separatists. There can be no peace when one side is being equipped with weapons against the other. This means pouring more fuel on the fire...
The Serbs have already got the message. In the city of Kosovska Mitrovica (in northern Kosovo), they desperately rushed to defend their last shelter - a courthouse. Previously, it was the venue of Serbian justice, but now it is occupied by international lawyers who will turn it over to their Albanian colleagues. Blood was spilled there during clashes with peacekeepers. There are numerous rallies in Belgrade supporting the Serbian minority in Kosovo.
The city divided into Albanian and Serbian parts by the Ibar River will be a bone of contention for a long time to come. Belgrade has already sent an appeal to the UN, demanding that Kosovo's northern region adjacent to Kosovska Mitrovica with a compact Serb population be returned to Serbia. These people primarily need physical protection, but the advocates of Kosovo's independence are not likely to be worried about that. In the first half of the 1990s, Western countries shut their eyes to the expulsion of 300,000 Serbs from Croatia. They won't bother about a mere hundred thousand. People in Belgrade say that if 300,000 birds suddenly left a region, the world would be alarmed, but it did not even notice the Serbian tragedy.
One of the reasons behind Washington's decision to supply Kosovo with arms is its intention to keep Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo, because it is a turbulent and strategically important Serbian city. But the main goal is to give Kosovars carte-blanche to suppress the protests in Serbian enclaves on Kosovo's entire territory. This opinion is held by Yelena Guskova, head of the Balkans Crisis Center at the Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Arms shipments to Kosovars are designed to legalize future Albanian efforts to oust the Serbian minority from the province. In other words, the Kosovars are given a chance to complete what they have started - drive non-Albanians out of the province, but with their own hands so as not to cast a shadow on the NATO-led KFOR peace keepers, not to mention the United States.
It seems that Kosovo will be the first state under NATO's complete protection. The KFOR peacekeepers have been a guarantor of order in the province for nine years now. Considering the intentions of Albania, Macedonia, and Croatia to join the North Atlantic alliance at its summit in Bucharest on April 2-4, Kosovo may become NATO's most powerful support in the Balkans. The Pentagon has already built the world's biggest military base on its territory - Camp Bondsteel. Now it has started the construction of a second military base, Guskova said.
Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, is convinced that Washington, at least under the current administration, does not need stability in the Balkans or the rest of Europe: "The United States cannot influence events in a stable situation. If it is calm in Europe, the United States has nothing to do there. U.S. political strategy is based on control through chaos." He mentioned that as far as he knows, initially Washington will supply Kosovo with small arms and armored vehicles without heavy equipment. Subsequently the Albanians will be trained for air force and tank units.
Under the circumstances, there is little Russia can do. Guskova and Ivashov believe that in addition to humanitarian aid to the Serbian enclaves in Kosovo, the Kremlin could suggest bringing Russian peacekeepers into the district of Kosovska Mitrovica. Russian experts are actively discussing the introduction of Russian peacekeepers into Serbia's southern regions bordering on Kosovo. But pro-Western President Boris Tadic is not likely to turn to Russia with such a request. Hence, Russia will have to use only diplomatic levers. As for economic levers - Kosovo's participation in the South Stream gas project - Russia either did not want to use them, or failed to do so.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080325/102208039.html

Serb PM accuses NATO bombers of cynical land grab

Serb PM accuses NATO bombers of cynical land grab

By Douglas Hamilton
Reuters
Monday, March 24, 2008; 9:21 AM

BELGRADE
(Reuters) - Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica marked the anniversary of
NATO's bombing of Serbia on Monday with an attack accusing the West of
cynically grabbing territory in the name of humanitarian intervention.

"Now
it is more than obvious that the cruel destruction of Serbia during the
NATO bombardment had only one aim: to turn the province of Kosovo into
the world's first NATO state," he told the state news agency Tanjug.

NATO
began bombing strategic targets in Serbia on March 24, 1999, and kept
it up for 78 days until the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic agreed to
pull his forces from Kosovo and end the killing of Albanian civilians
in a counter-insurgency war.

Launching the first war in its
history, and freighted with a failure to act in Bosnia, the alliance
said it would not stand by and watch another bloodbath in the Balkans
by Serb forces.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and
patrolled by NATO troops since June 11, 1999. Its 90 percent Albanian
majority declared independence on February 17 with Western support.

The
European Union, which Serbia wants to join, plans to deploy a
supervisory mission in the country, following a blueprint set out by
United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

"The illegal construction
of the huge American military base Bondsteel and Annex 11 of the
Ahtisaari plan -- which enshrines NATO as the ultimate authority in
Kosovo -- reveal the true reason why Serbia was mindlessly devastated
and why on February 17 a NATO state was illegally declared," Kostunica
said.

When Serb voters toppled Milosevic in 2000 and elected
Kostunica, the West greeted him as a reformist. But Kostunica is now
the loudest voice of Serb nationalism, leaning to Russia for support and strongly anti-Western in his daily rhetoric.

"UNPATRIOTIC" LABELLING

Kostunica's
10-month-old coalition government collapsed this month under the strain
of deep divisions over Kosovo. President Boris Tadic would not agree to
freeze Serbia's EU aspirations as Kostunica wants, until it revokes its
recognition of Kosovo.

Serbia faces a May 11 election with this as the key issue.

"The
next two months are going to be potentially very difficult, if not
dangerous," said former U.S. ambassador to Serbia, William Montgomery,
in a weekly commentary.

He predicted Kostunica and fellow
"isolationists" would try to keep Kosovo centre stage by means of
provocations and confrontations with NATO and the United Nations.

"The
Prime Minister will continue his tactic of taking hard, nationalistic
positions and forcing his political opponents to choose between meekly
swallowing their objections and following his lead like sheep or
appearing 'unpatriotic'," he wrote.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a guerrilla in the 1998-99 conflict, said NATO fought for the right reasons.

"The
people of Kosovo express their life-long gratitude to NATO and all
countries that supported this just war...in support of the highest
values of western civilization -- freedom, peace and democracy," he
said in a statement. "Today Kosovo is free."

Kostunica on Sunday
accused NATO troops and U.N. police of using "snipers and banned
ammunition" to quell a riot in the Kosovo Serb stronghold of Mitrovica
last week.

A Ukrainian U.N. policeman was killed by a Serb
grenade and a Serb rioter badly wounded. The United Nations and NATO
say the violence was instigated by Belgrade.

Defense Minister
Dragan Sutanovac, of Tadic's pro-EU party, said the start of NATO
bombing was "the saddest day in the recent history of our nation, when
we showed that we didn't understand the world, and the world understood
us even less."

"I hope we've learned the lesson from those
events, that we think much more in political not military terms, and
that it's better to negotiate for 100 years than to have a day of war."

(Edited by Ibon Villelabeitia)

© 2008 Reuters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032400902_pf.html

Kosovo a Month After: Quo Vadis?

http://www.mw.ua/1000/1600/62441/

ZERKALO NEDELI (UKRAINE)

28 March 2008

Kosovo a Month After: Quo Vadis?

Author: Nazar BOBITSKI

It has been a month since unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence.
During that time the eyes of the international media have been fixed on the
dramatic protests of the Serbs of Northern Kosovo, a seemingly unstoppable
but geographically limited stream of international recognitions and frantic,
mostly diplomatic efforts by Belgrade to stem it. Ukraine and other
countries anxiously reacted to attempts by other separatist regions to use
Kosovo events as a 'road-map' to advance their own cause. So far these
attempts in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia have amounted to nothing
more than mere copycats of public appeals by Kosovar leaders to third
countries and international organizations. A far-reaching step was taken by
Moscow to withdraw from the CIS sanctions against Abkhazia and legalize its
long-standing trade ties with the region.

The media fixation on the situation in Mitrovica and Belgrade has pushed to
the background some other events which yet may play a decisive role in the
fate of Kosovo. On February 28 in Vienna representatives of 15 countries
which recognized Kosovo held the first session of what was called the
founding meeting of the "International Steering Group for Kosovo". Along
with the US delegates, the session was attended by representatives of 12 EU
Member States as well as Turkey and Switzerland. The group derives its
mandate from the provisions of Ahtisaari Plan. According to the Plan, were
it approved by the UN Security Council, the governance of the province would
have been discharged by the international steering group of countries which
would appoint an 'international civil representative' for this purpose. The
international civil representative would at the same time hold the post of
the EU special representative for Kosovo.

However, the next day after the group's session the UN Secretary General
received the letter from the Serbian Minister for Foreign Affairs pointing
out at the lack of legality in the status of the 'international steering
group' and its 'international civil representative'. In the opinion of
Serbia, it renders illegal the activities of the group and its
representative in Kosovo as they constitute the breach of sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Serbia. Belgrade also considers as illegal attempts
to transfer the governing powers from the UN Mission in Kosovo, which it
considers legitimate under the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, to the
'international steering group'. On the same day, February 29, the Serbian
position was officially supported by Russia in the UN Security Council. As a
result the UN Secretary General was obliged to officially notify the
government of Slovenia as a current EU Presidency about objections of
certain UN Security Council Members against the transfer of powers of the UN
Mission in Kosovo to the EU Special Representative.

These developments may help shed light on the profound problem of governing
Kosovo which currently stays in the shadow of other events. With the absence
of the decision of the UN Security Council on Kosovo status, in particular,
on the fate of Ahtisaari Plan, the status of the EU special representative -
'the international civil representative' has murky legal grounds. Therefore,
it casts doubt on the status of the EU special mission to Kosovo sent there
to assist the EU special representative. This doubtful position raises the
question of the ability of the mission to fulfill its primary task -
implementation of Ahtisaari Plan which in essence is about bridging the
unbridgeable - granting independence to Kosovo while securing the greatest
possible autonomy and safeguarding the interests of the province's Kosovo
Serb community. The attempts by the EU mission to implement the Plan will
inevitably meet resistance from the newly-made sovereign Kosovo authorities.
Their resistance will only grow with realization of the fact that Kosovo
independence came about not as a result of the will of the international
community through the UN Security Council decision but as a result of their
sovereign choice as a people in accordance with the principle of
self-determination.

We can only ask ourselves whether the Albanian leaders of Kosovo will be
responsible and wise enough to accept the EU way even if it leads to
considerable devolution of their power in favour of their old adversaries,
the Serb minority. The entire history of interethnic relations in the
region speaks against it. In the pessimistic scenario the EU special
representative and the mission will be forced to regularly adapt the
Ahtisaari Plan to the realities on the ground. However, with each and every
compromise and derogation the relevance and hence legitimacy of the Plan
will be undermined and along with it - the mandate of the EU
representatives. Once again the European Union will find itself in a
situation of a hostage of those for whose fate it has assumed
responsibility. The gravity of the situation is further compounded by the
fact that the EU primary political weapon to deal with instabilities in the
region - the promise of membership, is currently out of reach for Kosovo as
the EU still lacks internal consensus to recognize a new state, let alone to
negotiate new contractual links for trade, political association and so on.

In these circumstances the best course of action for Serbia and the Serb
inhabitants of Kosovo seems to be cessation of acts of violent dissent which
only divert the international opinion and turn them into the villains of the
situation. Instead, Belgrade should pressure the EU as a de-facto authority
in the province to take all necessary measures to protect human rights and
rights of Serbian minority in Kosovo. It should emphasize that any further
progress in bilateral dialogue as well as peace in Northern Kosovo will
obviously depend on it. This approach does not in any way entail Serbia's
approval of Ahtisaari Plan or the surrender of its sovereignty over Kosovo.
The time will show to what extent the Serbian government will be able to
adopt a more rational posture and not build its position mostly on the basis
of emotions.

On top of that, in the absence of the 'blessing' by the UN Security
Council, the continued activities of the 'international steering group for
Kosovo' may lead to certain controversial outcomes elsewhere. The group has
a clearly regional (West European) mould which limits her moral authority to
speak on behalf of 'the international community'. At the same time, it shows
the way for similar 'regionalized' settlements of other 'frozen' conflicts.
For instance, another 'steering group' can be easily propped up by the
countries of another region or a regional grouping of Europe to assume
interim governance of breakaway provinces without much need for
international legitimacy. However, the probability of the second group is
quite low as its potential sponsors will soon painfully discover their true
position in the international pecking order of power of influence as
measured in the number of international recognitions. This is why one should
not expect any time soon any new steps by Russia towards recognition of
Abkhazia or South Ossetia. It is much more profitable politically for Moscow
to play a role of the defener of primacy of international law and the
exclusive role of the UN Security Council to settle regional conflicts
rather than pursue a dubious course of wrecking the Georgian state.

For Ukraine this situation, riddled with controversies, dictates to refrain
from any actions leading to recognition of Kosovo's independence. At this
stage it seems more beneficial, as well as right from the point of view of
international law, to call the parties in question to respect the UN Charter
and the exclusive powers of the UN Security Council. Ukraine should also
protest vigorously against any attempts to use Kosovo as a precedent for the
settlement of the other 'frozen conflicts' around the world.