Little Kosovo Becomes Independent Nation

Posted by johnhouk on Feb 18, 2008
 John R. Houk
© February 18, 2008

Kosovo is a little spec of dust that has been a Province most recently controlled by Serbia. Under the former Serbian regime Slobodan Milosevic, an ethnic cleansing of Albanian Muslin Kosovars was undertaken.

Ethnic cleansing in the Balkans is nothing new. The Ottoman Turks did this very same thing to Orthodox Christians in Serbia. During World War II, Germany made allies of the Muslim populations in the Balkans who in turn exacted an ethnic cleansing (primarily directed toward Jews) against non-Muslims.

It is no excuse but it is no surprise that when Serbia achieved sovereign independence that new nationalist tendencies flamed into attempting to establish a Serbian hegemonic Balkan state. This resulted in the time honored practice of ethnic cleansing, this time the ugly practice was initiated by Serbs of an Eastern Orthodox back ground against Muslims. It was not pretty.

Milosevic first went after the Muslims in Bosnia and Croatia. Then later Milosevic went after Kosovo Muslims. As I mentioned before, ethnic cleansing is nothing new in the Balkans. The Muslims did their own version of ethnic cleansing against the minority Christians in Kosovo while Milosevic was committing his atrocities against Muslim Kosovars.

So now it has come down as part of American Foreign Policy (utilizing the United Nations to an extant) to recognize an independent sovereign Kosovo. This is a move which Serbia and Serbia’s traditional Slavic champion Russia are highly against.

Too late! TODAY President Bush recognized Kosovo’s declaration of Independence as a sovereign nation separate from Serbia.

JRH
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Bush Recognizes Kosovo's Independence

Feb 18, 8:09 AM (ET)
My Way News

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) - President Bush on Monday recognized Kosovo's historic declaration of independence, saying "The Kosavars are now independent."

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership announced its independence from Serbia over the weekend, and suspense gripped the province on Monday as its citizens awaited key backing from the United States and key European powers.

"It's something that I've advocated along with my government," Bush said in an interview on NBC's "Today."

By appealing directly to the U.S. and other nations for recognition, Kosovo's independence set up a showdown with Serbia - outraged at the imminent loss of its territory - and Russia.

Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, which killed 10,000 people.

In April 2007, U.N. envoy Ahtisaari recommended that Kosovo be granted internationally supervised independence. But talks that followed failed to yield an agreement between the ethnic Albanian leadership, which pushed for full statehood, and Serbia, which was willing to offer only autonomy.

"The Ahtisaari plan is our blueprint forward," Bush said. "We'll watch to see how the events unfold today. The Kosovars are now independent."
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 Little Kosovo Becomes Independent Nation
John R. Houk
© February 18, 2008
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Bush Recognizes Kosovo's Independence
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All right reserved.
© 2008 IAC Search & Media. All rights reserved.

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