Location: Another part of the world about which Americans know nothing
Source: From the French News Service AFP's story:
PRISTINA (AFP) — Kosovo on Sunday declared independence from an angry and anxious Serbia on Sunday, completing the conflict-strewn breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
Tens of thousands of flag waving people in central Pristina erupted in cheers as the Kosovo parliament formally voted to break from Serbia, which has vowed to never recognise the move.
"We are now an independent, free, sovereign and democratic country," announced Kosovo parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi.
But the jubilation gave way to violence as an explosion rocked the flashpoint northern town of Mitrovica -- which is divided between ethnic Albanians and Serbs -- echoing the deadly past of the volatile Balkans.
The blast occurred near a UN court and where a future mission of the European Union will be located, a police source told AFP.
...
Independence brings down the curtain on the long and brutal break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s that followed the demise of communism in Europe and witnessed the continent's worst atrocities since World War II.
About 10,000 people died in the 1998-1999 war as Serb forces tried to put down ethnic Albanian separatists. A NATO air war against late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic halted the conflict and Kosovo has since been under UN administration.
"We've been waiting for this day for such a long time," said Sherife Bajrami, a Pristina doctor. "We'll celebrate with dignity, with respect for minorities, for all to live happily in the land of Kosovo."
The declaration started a 120-day transition period and the deployment of a 2,000-strong European Union police and judicial team to help the transition.
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu called on "all the countries of the world" to recognise Kosovo's independence.
The European Union is split over independence. Britain, France, Germany and Italy are expected to officially give recognition on Monday.
Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Bulgaria have all opposed independence.
The breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia plan to ask Russia and the UN to recognise their independence following Kosovo's move, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted leaders in the two regions as saying.
Kosovo's constitution is expected to be based on a blueprint for "supervised independence" proposed by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
Russia blocked the Ahtisaari plan at the United Nations and Kosovo's independence was declared without UN Security Council approval. The council was to meet again Sunday at Russia's demand, diplomats said.
The United States reaffirmed its strong backing for an independent Kosovo however.
"On Kosovo, our position is that its status must be resolved in order for the Balkans to be stable," US President George W. Bush said.
Do we care, should we care?
Well...
- Kosovo is in the Balkans, the part of the world where WWI started.
- The mess there was caused by a centuries old clash of empires, ethnic and religious cleansing, etc. between the Ottoman Turkish empire and others.
- Kosovo is on the north-western edge of the former Ottoman Empire and was part of a state cobbled together after WWI by the victorious allies from several disparate peoples.
- The south-east corner of the Ottoman empire is modern day Iraq, another nation "invented" by the West after WWI...
So... yes... maybe we should, but I doubt much anyone will.
Should I be wrong, the Wiki article is a good place to start, and its been updated today to reflect these events.
8 comments:
Kosovo once rivaled Serbia as an independant state during the middle ages. It's about time they left the Serbian fold. One of the cruel ironies of the Bosnian conflict is that we forced Kosovo to stay under the tyrannical Serbian regime as part of "Runt Yugoslavia". One of the bone we tossed Russia I suppose.
Kosovo is known for it's tolerant society as much as Serbia is not. I think they are a welcome addition to the ship of nations as much as the new Iraq and Afghanistan we are creating are probably also not.
Quite so Dean... Kosovo was (is?) the Switzerland of the Balkans. While I hate to label any nation or people as innately undemocratic or disposed towards despotism... you don't see much else in Serbia's history, do you?
I think it was an act of supreme arrogance and ignorance for us [us being the N.W. Europeans & U.S.] to go drawing lines across maps all over the world and creating and destroying nations willy-nilly.
You see this in Africa too, where national boundaries often more closely correspond to the competing French, Dutch, and English imperial interests than they do to geographical congruity or historic continuity.
Dead on! It's as though the adjectives "arrogant" and "ignorant" and "imperialistic" have morphed into the same meaning.
Sorry ,My English is horrible, I am Spanish (Europe)
It is necessary to know Europa's, much more complex than history that of USA.The Americans you do not know europa's history
Kosovo always has been a part of Serbian
His unilateral independence is illegal according to all the international laws
Mariajosé - your English is far better than my Spanish!
While I agree Americans don't generally know much about world history, with honesty and humility... I do.
Many countries have existed in that area, and not always Serbia has controlled Kosovo. Mostly the area and the provinces and peoples in it has been like a football kicked around by bigger powers and empires, and when the Serbs got power, they did a lot of kicking... the worst crimes against humanity in Europe since Hitler and Stalin.
If the Colonies could break away from England over taxation... then genocide seems a pretty good reason for the Kosovans to break away!
Genocide is the worst breaking of international law, which is why the worst penalties are applied to it. If the worst that happens to Serbia for their war crimes is losing Kosovo... they're getting off easier than my cousins in Germany did!
Wachet auf, Listig!
I meant "Kosovars" - I've been up many hours studying Spanish. Much more of this, I'll start slipping in Mandarin and Biblical Greek and Hebrew!
Not if I have expressed correctly
I need the help of a dictionary
I will express in Spanish
En ningún momento he querido ofender a los americanos cuando he dicho que no conocen bien la historia de Europa, si ha sido así le pido disculpas.
Admiro a los USA. Algunos miembros de mi familia han vivido temporalmente (trabajo, estudios) en USA; y su experiencia ha sido fantástica.
En cuanto a la independencia de Kosovo, estoy de acuerdo en todo lo relativo al genocidio, pero los serbios no han sido los únicos genocidas en los Balcanes. Esa no es la razón de la independencia, si bien es cierto que hay un motivo étnico.
Pero estamos en el S.XXI y no en el SXVIII. Hay leyes internacionales que son para todos y hay que respetarlas. Otros países europeos se han independizado en los últimos años y lo han hecho pacíficamente y sin traumas acogiéndose a la normativa internacional.
Todo esto es un precedente muy grave en Europa, cualquier región que nunca ha sido un país independiente puede declarar su independencia de forma unilateral. Muchos países europeos tienen problemas graves con el nacionalismo (España, Bélgica, Reino Unido …)
Y además está la desunión que ha creado en la Unión Europea dividida en dos bloques: los que apoyan la independencia de Kosovo y los que no.
Pardon, I have still had it a bit long. I am sure that her Spanish is very good
Certainly, the page is very good
I'm in Spanish 101, and I have a big test Thursday, so I just had babelfish.altavista.com translate it.
Well thought out, I may have more to say after my big exam. But basically the area's a big mess, and the Serbs are reaping what they've sewn. I know Spanish history well enough to know that the last genocide which happened on the Iberian Penn. was 500 years ago during the reconquista, so Kosovo fleeing genocide does not ipso facto give all disaffected groups the same prerogative.
Here's the machine rendered xlation.
. I admire to the USA. Some members of my family have lived temporarily (work, studies) in the USA; and its experience has been fantastic. As far as the independence of Kosovo, I agree in all the relative one to the genocide, but the Serbs have not been the only genocidas in the Balkan Mountains. That is not the reason of independence, although it is certain that there is an ethnic reason. But we are in the S.XXI and not in the SXVIII. There are international laws that are for all and are necessary to respect them. Other European countries have become independent years in the last and they have pacifically done it and without traumas take refuging in the international norm. All this is a very serious precedent in Europe, any region that never has been an independent country can declare its independence of unilateral form. Many European countries have serious problems with the nationalism (Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom...) And in addition it is the lack of unity that has created in the divided European Union in two blocks: those that support the independence of Kosovo and those that no.
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