Kosovo Declares Independence

quote:

Kosovo's parliament declared the disputed territory a nation on Sunday, mounting a historic bid to become an "independent and democratic state" backed by the U.S. and European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.

I'm so excited about this! Damn, I hope they'll make it.

Don't count on it. Yeltsin's made it pretty plain that he isn't going to let Russia lose any more territory. It might seem senseless, but a dictator can't let an insult pass.

Sorry to break it to ya, but Yeltsin is letting a lot pass these days... including himself.

check his dates :-)

Anything that sees Russia loosing territory is a good thing, the Russian government is hardly Democratic and Kosovo deserves to have their own democratic rights.

It'd be great to see the eastern world fall into more civil independent states than regimes IMO.

However the worst that could happen would be Civil War, but this would also weaken Russia's relations with the west.. since Kosovo is recognized by the UN now as a Sovereign state.

This is good news indeed and I hope it lasts for a long time.

quote:

Anything that sees Russia loosing territory is a good thing, the Russian government is hardly Democratic and Kosovo deserves to have their own democratic rights.

It'd be great to see the eastern world fall into more civil independent states than regimes IMO.

No, it is not nice and it is not great to have a myriad of micro states, inviable from the economic point of view and, worse than that, with nuclear/biologic weapons.

Just remember Afghanistan: they were of good use in screwing the Soviet Union. Lately they have been a drain of US resources and a paradise for heroin dealers.

BTW, Kosovo does not belong to Russia so, Putin has nothing to do with this business. And to hear Yeltsin's opinion on the subject, we would have to make a spiritualist "white table".

CB is correct. Kosovo was a part of Serbia. When they tried to become independent in 1998 Serbia, like Serbia is wont to do, invaded them. This capped the rollicking good time that was collectively known as The Balkan Wars.

Putin's concern isn't for Kosovo or Serbia it's for the precedent this may send in other, still Russian, territories. Because if another Russian territory breaks away they are obliged to invade it as well.

As for the US, we're just pleased to see foreigners waving American flags without Zippos.

Me awaits the Kremlin to invade Kosovo to make an example of them. Anyone play World in Conflict?

Here we go, here we go, here we go again...

quote:

It'd be great to see the eastern world fall into more civil independent states than regimes IMO.

Like Japan? South Korea? Thailand? Australia? Indonesia? Malaysia? Brunei? New Zealand? Singapore? Russia? Czech Republic? Poland?

Same here, Rob.

Reportage from Kosovo on boingboing.

It's odd to think of, say, Ohio, just deciding to go be the Independent State of Ohio. Would Illinois citizenry living there throw rocks at, you know, whatever people deem important in Ohio?

It is corn? It's corn isn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by Mr_Cyberpunk:
Anything that sees Russia loosing territory is a good thing, the Russian government is hardly Democratic and Kosovo deserves to have their own democratic rights.

It'd be great to see the eastern world fall into more civil independent states than regimes IMO.

However the worst that could happen would be Civil War, but this would also weaken Russia's relations with the west.. since Kosovo is recognized by the UN now as a Sovereign state.

This is good news indeed and I hope it lasts for a long time.

See this is why so many people dislike and distrust "the West".

The bit where we decide our way is the best way and support dangerous political plays to inflict damage on our rivals with some foolish third-worlders without a viable and independent economy to play the part of our witless catspaws.

The economy of Kosovo is one of the poorest in Europe.

I wonder how much thought Hashim Thaçi put into how his people were going to get themselves on the road to prosperity by antagonizing Serbia and Russia. But what the heck, what's bread matter if you've got yourself an expression of nationalist fervor instead.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Witness,

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
It's odd to think of, say, Ohio, just deciding to go be the Independent State of Ohio. Would Illinois citizenry living there throw rocks at, you know, whatever people deem important in Ohio?

I'm guessing they'd throw rocks at the refugees.

quote:

Putin's concern isn't for Kosovo or Serbia it's for the precedent this may send in other, still Russian, territories. Because if another Russian territory breaks away they are obliged to invade it as well.

Yes... and with the knowledge of the "official position" of US and EU on this kind of subject and with the precedent of Tchecheny, Russia will make sure that "pacification" is quick and permanent.

To EU it is of the greatest interest that Russia marches towards being a member country (mineral resources plus technology plus workforce plus the control of their nuclear arsenal). US doesn't see such integration as desirable. This is one of the reasons why they don't care about tensions in Eastern Europe.

IMO, instead of encouraging wars in East, US should take more attention to the Americas. If they don't, soon enough they'll see countries like Brazil (which is not like Iraq that they can invade and screw at their will) making agreements with EU.

Without knowing terribly much about it, there have been such a lot of ethnic and nationalist problems down there, I'm hoping things might get better if there's a border between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia. As I said, I don't know much about it, though.

Thanks for the link, Witness. And Minx,

Kosovo/Serbia/Yugoslavia was never part of the Soviet Union/Warsaw pact/Russia.

Hah. Yeah... Sometimes i'm really curious as to what the map of the world looks like in other people's heads.

Tito was a hardline communist, even if he didn't go along with the USSR. His death in 1980, coupled with the fall of the USSR led to the breakup.

There's quite a big difference between being a hardline communist and having your country be russian territory. Last i heard, Cuba wasn't Russia either.