Kosovo
I was surprised to hear Bush mention in passing while touring Africa that the U.S. recognized Kosovo’s claim to independence.
In normal times one would assume such an utterance was the result of much discussion and represented the consensus of the US foreign policy establishment. Perhaps even that the Kosovar claim was made only after getting a green light from Washington.
But given what Bush-Cheney have done to international relations and to regard for Washington, and given Bush’s record of casual incompetence, perhaps normal assumptions are risky.
Then again, here today, as the US embassy in Belgrade burns on TV, General Wesley Clarke (who led NATO in Kosovo in the 90s and ran for president as a Dem four years ago) is on the tube endorsing the Kosovar claim with some passion.
So perhaps Bush’s comment does reflect the considered US view.
We still have uniformed bodies on the ground there — Americans being the leaders of the 16,000 NATO force. I remember Gates (secy of defense) worrying about it a few months ago. Worrying about the possibility of escalating obligations there.
If Serb nationalist forces start shooting the peacekeepers, who of the western powers will send in the cavalry? The US seems no longer to have the horses — or is Kosovo our best Iraq exit strategy?
It will be interesting to see how Putin responds [see first comment posted below], and if China (fellow SCO member) sticks with Russia as the UN debate develops. Curious to see how the Bushwhacked NATO alliance will react to the likely unrest.
When, last month, Nicholas Burns abruptly announced he would resign from his perch atop the State Department, I wondered why. He was intensely involved in Yugoslavia in the 90s. Perhaps things returning to a boil in Kosovo had something to do with his move. ?? Perhaps — despite his sympathies — he thought simple recognition ill advised, and didn’t want to be detailed by Rice-Bush to attend to the mess that will now ensue?
I spent a fair amount of time in Bosnia and Croatia 1993-96, during the wars triggered by their secessions from Yugoslavia. Hard to think much has changed since in the mind of the Serb nationalists, for whom Kosovo is more sacred ground than anything west in Bosnia and Croatia.
The US/European backing of Kosovo launched protests in Banja Luka, a sick little city in northwestern Bosnia that practiced “normalized ethnic cleansing” throughout the Bosnian war then became the capital of the silly “Serb Republic” within Bosnia that fell out of the ill advised (but perhaps necessary) Dayton accord. Reuters reports:
In Banja Luka, capital of the Bosnian Serb Republic, protesters demanding Serb independence from Bosnia threw stones at U.S., French and German consulates. They chanted “Kill, Kill Shiptars”, a pejorative name for Albanians.
I confess that the Serb nationalist mind sickens me. As, for that matter, does the Likud mind. The two have much in common: militarism, racism, antique claims on real estate and, fundamentally, religious chauvanism.
This philosophical kinship found practical application during the early 90s, when it was an open secret that Israel was covertly arming the Serb nationalists in their war upon Bosnians (roughly 43% of whom were muslim) and Croatia (seat of the local nazi puppet regime during the early 40s). A wire story from 1/12/95 painted the picture:
“We don’t take sides in the conflict”, insists the [Israeli] Foreign Ministry spokesman, adding: “Because of anti-Semitic sentiments in (Croat president) Franjo Tudjman’s book and the Hizballah-Iran help to the Muslims, you may draw the conclusion where our sympathies lie.”
Today the US lacks not only horses but moral authority in this sphere, given, in particular, the blank check Bush-Cheney gave the Likud (contra Palestinians) as one of their first orders of business in 2001. I suspect Washington’s recognition of the new supposed state will prove largely empty, and that Kosovo will burn and be allowed to burn like Darfur.
Or perhaps we’ll see Russia and China take the lead, as the western powers recede?
ed says:
Re Russia’s reaction, CNN says today (the day after the US embassy burned):
QUOTE
Also Friday, Russia — which has not recognized Kosovo’s sovereignty — said it has not ruled out using force to resolve the dispute over the territory if NATO forces breach the terms of their U.N. mandate.
“If the EU works out a single position or if NATO steps beyond its mandate in Kosovo, these organizations will be in conflict with the U.N., and then I think we will also begin operating under the assumption that in order to be respected, one needs to use force,” Moscow’s ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said, in comments carried by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
A spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that Kosovo’s declaration would have a “negative impact.”
“What happened in Belgrade yesterday is regrettable. But we would want to draw your attention to the fact that the forces that supported the unilateral recognition of Kosovo’s independence should have realized the effects of the move,” spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told Interfax.
Russia, which has close ties with Serbia, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty, triggering a terse diplomatic standoff with the U.S. and several EU member states including the UK, France and Germany which have already recognized its independent status.
The U.S. Ambassador to NATO said Washington was “very disappointed” by Russia’s position on Kosovo, The Associated Press reported.
END QUOTE
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/22/serbia.kosovo/?iref=hpmostpop
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
ed says:
From a Reuters story, wherein the Serbian minister for Kosovo says:
QUOTE
“The U.S. is the major culprit for all troubles since Feb 17,” Slobodan Samardzic told the state news agency Tanjug, referring to the date when Serbia’s Albanian-majority southern province declared independence.
“The root of violence is the violation of international law. The Serbian government will continue to call on the U.S. to take responsibility for violating international law and taking away a piece of territory from Serbia,” he said.
END QUOTE
Using “int’l law” as a lever appeals broadly in a world that judges the U.S. reborn under Bush-Cheney a rogue state.
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 am