Posted on 02/03/2006 1:04:27 AM PST by kronos77
At his massive annual press conference on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed his earlier statements that if Kosovo were to be granted independence, he would support applying the same principle to separatist states in Georgia. Under the argument that "principles have to be universal" the president said independence for Kosovo could justly be used as a model for Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
He had first commented on the "universality" of the Kosovo model a day before at a Russian governmental meeting and instructed his foreign minister to pursue this policy. On Tuesday, he made his point even clearer by responding to a Georgian journalist: "If someone believes that Kosovo can be granted full state independence, then why should we refuse the same to the Abkhaz or the South Ossetians?" He went on to clarify, "I don't want to say that Russia will also immediately recognize Abkhazia or South Ossetia as independent states, but such precedents exist in international life. I am making an assessment of these things right now, but in order to act fairly, in the interests of all people living in one territory or another, we need commonly recognized, universal principles for resolving these problems."
In recent months the use of the Kosovo model as a precedent for Georgian separatist states has frequently sent chills down the spines of official Tbilisi who is eagerly awaiting the days of reunification with South Ossetia and Abkhazia and is banking on Saakashvili's peace plans to secure this. That the president of Russia, a country that has deliberately sought to prop up the separatists states using its own officials, military and passports, would make a comparison with Kosovo makes the idea all the more repulsive for Tbilisi.
But before going any further, it must be said directly: to date there is no precedent for independence in Kosovo. As Putin himself acknowledged, a UN Security Council resolution confirms that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbia. Talks on the final status of Kosovo are expected to take place later this year and while there exist diplomatic blocks backing independence, talks have only been able to reach this point after 7 years of heavy international control in both peacekeeping and civil administration.
Even without Moscow's comparison, Tbilisi ought to look at some of the other precedents that have been made in Kosovo. It may be surprised at what it finds. First off, Kosovo's peace building process is being orchestrated by an extensive international presence, just the sort of presence Tbilisi wants to see in its breakaway territories. The state-building process for all intents and purposes is controlled by the United Nations and the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Unlike the smaller scale UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), UNMIK has a heavy presence in everything from policing to economic reconstruction to managing airlines and the rail system.
UNMIK has an annual budget of USD 252 million and a staff - including military observers, police, international civilians, local civilians and UN Volunteers - of 5,297 ; UNOMIG has a budget of USD 36 million and a staff of 430. Moreover, UNMIK has four main programs - Police and justice, Civil Administration, Democratization and institution building, and Reconstruction and economic development - the latter two of which are led by the OSCE and the EU respectively. Finally a genuinely international NATO force - KFOR, which as at times included Georgian troops - plays the role of peacekeeper in the region. Today Georgia can only dream of this level of international, specifically Euro-Atlantic, involvement it is conflict territories.
Contrary to the suggestions of the Russian president, the precedents for Georgia in Kosovo's peace settlement lay not in independence, but in the international coalition that has contributed to laying a foundation for future growth. Such a presence in Georgia would help abate some of the most harmful consequences of the current peacekeeping regime, particularly the spread of crime and smuggling and the lack of effective democratic governance. More importantly this would remove Russia from its self-serving and unchallenged role as chief negotiator and peacekeeper.
If Kosovo is able to develop a sustainable, autonomous government sometime this year - and there is no guarantee it will - it will owe most of the credit to the international presence that has invested so much in keeping peace and building local institutions. Georgia should look to that broad coalition and remind Moscow and the rest of the world of the international support necessary to create conditions for peace.
Getting bad?
sure.
And you Serbs are unhappy :)
More importantly this would remove Russia from its self-serving and unchallenged role as chief negotiator and peacekeeper.
Only UN could be so stupid to allow the Russians and only Russians to be both negotiators and peacemakers in Georgia. What a useless organization, should be liquidated!
Whe the forces of ethnic separatism and Balkanization start tearing Russia apart, it will just be chickens coming home to roost.
Russians know that, and they are mogga break sorrounding countries to proove to their own population how bad that is.
Politics.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.