Dealing With Reality
The BBC reports on reality: Kosovo MPs proclaim independence
Kosovo’s parliament has unanimously endorsed a declaration of independence from Serbia, in a historic session.
Celebrations went on into the night after Prime Minister Hashim Thaci promised a democracy that respected the rights of all ethnic communities.
Serbia’s PM denounced the US for helping create a “false state”.
A split later emerged at the Security Council, when Russia said there was no basis for changing a 1999 resolution which handed Kosovo to the UN.
This was going to happen as soon as Slobodan Milošević refused to offer anything to the moderates in Kosovo, and the people turned to the Kosovo Liberation Army. If Milošević had even pretended to compromise and hadn’t sent in the military, the people wouldn’t have to turned to the KLA and demanded independence. A map of ethnic groups makes it obvious that the Serbs didn’t want to live there, no matter what politicians many claim about the “historic heart of Serbia”.
It isn’t unexpected that Vladimir Putin has picked up the Pan-Slavic banner of Tsar Aleksandr I to declare solidarity with the Serbs, as he is always attempting to expand the influence of Russia [to expand his own power].
The ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have no intention of ever living under Serbian rule again. The sooner the Serbs accept that and move on, the better for all concerned, but it isn’t likely to happen.
