Posted on 12/12/2005 4:36:07 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Independence for Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo would open up a Pandora's box of separatism and lead to new ethnic conflicts in Europe, the foreign minister of Serbia-Montenegro said on Monday.
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when 78 days of NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities against civilians while fighting an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Last month, U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari started shuttle diplomacy aimed at reconciling two opposing visions -- the Albanian majority's demands for independence on the basis of self-determination, and Serbia's insistence on sovereignty.
Speaking on the sidelines of an OSCE ministerial meeting in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, Vuk Draskovic said that giving Kosovo independence could jeopardise stability in the Balkans.
Breaking up Serbia and changing its borders would breach international law, bolster the hopes of separatists elsewhere and fuel new wars.
"If the U.N. charter is crushed, it will become a cancer that spreads quickly," Draskovic said.
"What will then happen with the Turkish part of Cyprus, with the Albanians in Macedonia? Would Bosnia be able to survive? What about the Basques, Northern Ireland, Ossetia?".
Draskovic repeated that Serbia's best offer was broad autonomy that fell short of formal independence.
"Kosovo can have independent representation internationally, everywhere except at the United Nations and other organisations that stand for state sovereignty," he said.
"Serbia does not want to rule the Albanian majority in Kosovo. But majority rule cannot include intimidation and murder and destruction of churches."
SPORADIC VIOLENCE
Ethnic Albanians' impatience for independence has fuelled sporadic violence against minority Serbs. The 100,000 who stayed on in the province after about as many fled in 1999 say they face constant intimidation. Nineteen people died in March 2004 in riots that took Kosovo's 17,000 peacekeepers by surprise.
The talks on Kosovo's status are expected to wrap up by late 2006. Diplomats warn more violence should be expected in the province if negotiations stall, or a solution is seen as unfair.
Almost 70 percent of the province's 2 million people are unemployed and blame Kosovo's legal limbo for the lack of investment that would create jobs.
Draskovic said the international community should not grant Kosovo independence in order to placate extremists.
"(They) should say no to the ultimatums of Albanian extremists, that the remaining Serbs and the international military and police will be targets of terror if Kosovo is not given the status of an independent state," he said.
"Crime as the foundation of a state, a state as the reward for crime -- such an ultimatum is a blow to the moral and legal foundations of Europe."
On the other hand, California might just believe this is its big chance...
Why does the UN need to "reconcile" this? It's Serbia's territory. Does the UN intend to give diplomatic status to every separatist group throughout the world?
A little late, Mr. Foreign Minister. There were plenty of ethnic conflicts in the 1990s as the various entities of the former Yugoslavia were tripping all over each other getting away from Belgrade: first Slovenia, then Croatia & Bosnia & Macedonia & Kosovo. Next year Montenegro is holding a referendum on breaking away and if the Serb nationalists keep it up in their remaining province of Vojvodina, the ethnic-Hungarian minority there will be next to go.
The Russians are planning to use the Kosovo precedent for as an excuse for their support for separatists in Georgia and Moldova, and tomorrow in Ukraine.
So that's a reason to fuel even more of them?
Russia has UN "peacekeepers" propping up narco-terrorist separatists in Georgia.
We are endowed with those "inalienable rights," as Thomas Jefferson proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, not by kings or despots, but by our Creator. The sovereignty of nations must be respected. But nations derive their sovereignty -- their legitimacy -- from the consent of the governed. Thus, it follows, that nations can lose their legitimacy when they rule without the consent of the governed; they deservedly discard their sovereignty by brutally oppressing their people. Slobodan Milosevic cannot claim sovereignty over Kosovo when he has murdered Kosovars and piled their bodies into mass graves. Neither can Fidel Castro claim that it is his sovereign right to oppress his people. Nor can Saddam Hussein defend his oppression of the Iraqi people by hiding behind phony claims of sovereignty. And when the oppressed peoples of the world cry out for help, the free peoples of the world have a fundamental right to respond.
Unfortunately, the main political embodiment of Milosevic-style policies, the Serb Radical Party, is still the largest party in Serbia's parliament. Based on the endemic theme of extremist nationalism in Serbian politics and their failure to police up war criminals Karadzic & Mladic, the United States has already ruled out any return of Kosovo to its pre-1999 status under Serbia.
Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, Condi's second man down, laid out the U.S. position on Kosovo in his testimony to Congress a few months ago:
In order to preserve our role as facilitators of a negotiated solution, the United States and our partners in the Contact Group [USA, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Russia] have not advocated any specific outcome for status talks, but we have identified some basic principles that should guide a settlement of Kosovo's final status. We ruled out a return to the situation before March 1999 and made clear that Kosovo's final status must enhance regional stability and contribute to the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Balkans.
Accordingly, Kosovo's final status must:
-- Be based on multi-ethnicity with full respect for human rights including the right of all refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes in safety;
-- Offer effective constitutional guarantees to ensure the protection of minorities;
-- Include specific safeguards for the protection of cultural and religious heritage; and
-- Promote effective mechanisms for fighting organized crime and terrorism. Additionally, the Contact Group told the parties that we believe that Kosovo's final status must:
-- Not be decided by any party unilaterally or result from the use of force;
-- Not change the boundaries of the current territory of Kosovo, either through partition or through a new union of Kosovo with any country or part of any country after the resolution of Kosovo's status;
-- Fully respect the territorial integrity of all other states in the region;
-- Ensure that Kosovo continues to develop in a sustainable way both politically and economically; and
-- Ensure that Kosovo does not pose a military or security threat to its neighbors.
Milosevic is not in power anymore so what is Albanian excuse for killing, torturing and ethnically cleansing non-Albanians now? There was no Milosevic 1941, 1915 or during those long black years of muslim terror and occupation, but that did not prevent Albanian muslim to kill, steel and destroy – did not it?
Kosovo and Metohija is the full name of Serbian province Albanians are trying to steel. Metohija is word used to describe property belonging to the Church. Milosevic left so what prevents your tribe from returning to Serbian Orthodox Church its rightful property? Milosevic is not in power, so why you keep killing old men and women, destroying churches and monasteries and desecrating graveyards?
When Albs got independence, like their Chechen cousins, they were not able to live in peace. Instead they start killing and expelling minorities and exporting Islam revolution. If you are really ancestors of ancient Illyrians and European people why don’t you show that you can respect lives and property of Serbs, Macedonians, Turks, Roma…?
Albanian terror and crimes, oppression of non-Albanians and mass murder rob you of any right on Kosovo and Metohija. Your misdeeds clearly demonstrate that Albanians are stranger to the Kosmet. Your tribe in unable to treat non-Albanians like human beings- with dignity and respect for their individual right. One day - Inshallah - Serbs will take back what was stolen from them, until that enjoy.
Hmmm, where have we heard these terms before?
Let's use the MSM translation manual...
"insurgents": Muslims slaughtering innocents as they try to take territory they claim as their own, rightly or wrongly...
"atrocities": when Christians defend themselves, or put panties on the heads of Muslims...
"NATO bombing": bombing ordered by a Democrat President who doesn't want to take responsibility for his actions.
Now we get: Clinton bombed Christian forces trying to turn back Muslims from taking over their homes and gang-raping and beheading their children.
Much closer to the truth than anything you'll read in the MSM.
Serbia is projecting. Kosovo, a place that has nothing in common with Serbia, except mutual loathing, is a sui generis trend. Serbia really sucks at PR.
And spare us the great Serb Christian versus Muslim B.S. The Serbs destroyed more Christian churches & monasteries than anyone else in the Balkans and Milosevic is indicted for more warcrimes against the Christian Croats than against any other nationality in the Balkans.
Markie
Slovenia DOSEN`T even have border with Serbia :)))
As I know,
Serbia borders with
1. Macedonia - No war
2. Bulgaria - No war
3. Romania - No war
4. Hungary - No war
5. Croatia Civil war by UN claim
6. Bosnia - Civil was by UN claim
7. Italy - Maritime border NO war
8. Albania - N war even during NATO agression.
Where the hell is Slovenia there?
Mar, go to sleep, it is winter, you know...
Without some percentages, that statement is completely meaningless. The CIA World Factbook lists these parties for Yugoslavia:
Democratic Party or DS [Boris TADIC]; Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Vojislav KOSTUNICA]; Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro or DPS [Milo DJUKANOVIC]; Democratic Serbian Party of Montenegro or DSS [Bozidar BOJOVIC]; G17 Plus [Miroljub LABUS]; New Serbia or NS [Velimir ILIC]; Liberal Party of Montenegro or LSCG [Miodrag ZIVKOVIC]; People's Party of Montenegro or NS [Dragan SOC]; Power of Serbia Movement or PSS [Bogoljub KARIC]; Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Tomislav NIKOLIC]; Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC]; Serbian Socialist Party or SPS (former Communist Party and party of Slobodan MILOSEVIC) [Ivica DACIC, president of Main Board]; Social Democratic Party of Montenegro or SDP [Ranko KRIVOKAPIC]; Socialist People's Party of Montenegro or SNP [Predrag BULATOVIC]
I count fourteen in all. That means it's entirely possible for the "largest" of them to have less than 10% of the seats in Parliament. The real issue is whether or not Serbian policies have actually changed significanly for the better since Milosevic's departure. Is there any doubt in your mind that they have?
Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, Condi's second man down [and Clinton administration holdover], laid out the U.S. position on Kosovo in his testimony to Congress a few months ago:
The Bush administration has been talking out of both sides of its mouth on this. Its heavily trumpeted position is that democracies are the antidote to extremism and terror, and yet it shows no confidence at all in the Serbian democracy to maintain charge of its own country. Milosevic was an easy target because he was a "dictator", which implies that he was not acting with the consent of his governed, which would further imply that his subjects were not the ones to blame for his actions (whatever they were). But now that he's gone, there's still this sort of "collective guilt" that's hanging over the Serbs. Isn't that the same attitude that we were supposedly fighting against during the Balkan wars of the '90s?
The difficulty with framing the Balkans conflicts as Serb Christians versus Muslims or the Serbs as victims is that almost every entity of the former Yugoslavia, Christian & Muslim alike, broke away from Belgrade as soon as they were able:
Christian Slovenia, declared independence in 1991 followed by a short war ending in 1991.
Christian Croatia, declared independence in 1991 followed by a long war ending in 1995.
Mostly Muslim Bosnia, declared independence in 1991 followed by a long war ending in 1995.
Mostly Christian Macedonia, declared independence in 1991 while Serbia was occupied up north with Croatia and Bosnia. In 1993 U.S. troops were sent to Macedonia and posted along its northern border with Serbia as a deterrent.
Mostly Muslim Kosovo declared independence in 1991, fought war in 98-99 with NATO bombing intervention in 1999.
Mostly Christian Montenegro has scheduled a referendum on breaking away from Serbia in 2006.
Again, if Serbia was so wonderful, why has every entity--Christian & Muslim alike--broken away? And if Serbs are victims, why is it that it they attacked Sarajevo, Pristina, and Zagreb; but no Bosnians, Albanians or Croats attacked Belgrade?
“... I can’t say that I regret terrorist attacks against the USA” the leader of the Serbian Radical Party told the Beta news agency.
And here's the leader of Serbia's largest party on other topics:
"We're not fascists, we're just chauvinists who hate Croats"
"I am going to spite them, to tell them that the Serbian people will never give up the liberation of Serb Dubrovnik, Serb Dalmatia, Serb Lika, Serb Banija, Serb Kordun, Serb Slavonija, Serb Baranja, Serb Bosnia, Serb Hercegovina, Serb Kosovo and Serb Metohija."
"We must recognise with honour and respect the steadfastness of Iraq - the nation and the government - under the guidance of their president, the great fighter Saddam Hussein, in the face of a merciless embargo and frequent and continued aggression on that country."
"We shall realize the boundaries of Greater Serbia when we assume power at the federal level. As Serbia is now, as a federal unit, it does not have the competence to initiate this. But as a political party, we shall never give up this goal."
And my personal favorite:
"I do not speak English." (Shouting at a US journalist who addressed him in English at a news conference, May 1999)
There are reasons to be concerned about the state of democracy in Serbia.
Less than two months after the March 12, 2003 murder of Serbia’s reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian police, declaring the case solved, have charged some 45 people with various levels of involvement in the assassination plot. Those charged include ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, now on trial at The Hague, underworld crime figures, and security officials responsible for protecting the late prime minister. The police investigation points to a joint plot of the so-called Zemun crime gang and political groups once allied with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Markie
Slovenia DOSEN`T even have border with Serbia :)))
As I know,
Serbia borders with
1. Macedonia - No war
2. Bulgaria - No war
3. Romania - No war
4. Hungary - No war
5. Croatia Civil war by UN claim
6. Bosnia - Civil was by UN claim
7. Italy - Maritime border NO war
8. Albania - N war even during NATO agression.
Where the hell is Slovenia there?
Mar, go to sleep, it is winter, you know...
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