Posted on 02/23/2008 2:00:25 AM PST by kronos77
Russia's ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, has warned that Russia could use military force if the Kosovo independence dispute escalates.
"If the EU develops a unified position or if Nato exceeds its mandate set by the UN, then these organisations will be in conflict with the UN," he said.
In that case Russia would "proceed on the basis that in order to be respected we need to use brute force", he said.
Many EU members have recognised Kosovo, but several oppose recognition.
Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, backs Serbia, which has condemned the independence declaration issued by the Kosovo parliament on 17 February.
On Tuesday members of the Serb minority in Kosovo attacked two border posts staffed by UN personnel and Kosovo police.
The violence led the Nato troops in Kosovo - known as K-For - to reinforce the border with Serbia.
Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians are following a plan drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari for "supervised independence", which was rejected by Serbia.
Russian media outcry
The EU will soon deploy 2,000 officials to strengthen law and order in Kosovo, which has a population of about two million. Russia argues that the mission has no legal basis.
There has been a furious reaction in some Russian media to Kosovo's declaration of independence.
A commentary in the Vesti Plus analytical programme, on state-run television, called the assassinated former Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, a Western puppet who had "received a well-deserved bullet".
It said Djindjic had sold national heroes to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
The programme concluded that Serbia - and not only Serbia - must now decide whether to acquiesce in what has happened, or resist.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Ping!
whatever the outcome, it seems clear Putin has a plan long in place wrt how to react to this. I would expect it fits in with the other re-assertions of soviet military power projection capability, limited as it may be.
Here we go, back to WW1.
This will certainly fuel MEChA, ETA, Taiwan, Kurds, islamic sharia law, etc. Thanks Slick, Jorge, et al.
Would not suprise me if Russia takes action on Kosovo because remember that Russia is Serbia’s most important allie.
I guess you missed the part yesterday when Foreign Minister Rogozin explicitly said that Russia had no plans to start a war over Kosovo.
Nice try at fear-mongering, though.
Hey, if Russia attacked moslem Kosovo, what is the downside? Russia would only be doing what the EU didn’t have the gonads to do.
How are they going to get all the kit into Serbia or even Kosovo. Take a look at a map!
Serbs have been important allies of the US for many years.
Serbs have been at war against the invading Islamic wave much longer than most people realize.
They [Serbs] know that Islam has been at war against the non-believers since the beginning.
It is with much disgust that we have to acknowledge that freakin' Clinton supplied the air
support for the invading swarm of locust from across their border.
Self determination for goups of people is an essential part of freedom. The Western World should embrace it. We have nothing to fear from free democratic peoples.
It is the oppressive Communistic, and their allied States which face dis-integration.
Self determination is the route to destruction of the hegemony of Russia and China, and the redrawing of the post Colonial African and other maps alomg tribal and ethnic lines.
Tis a pity that the USA itself prevents secession of States from the Union. It is itself a form of oppressive Federal Imperialism. I say this as a friend of the USA.
Point of information. Did the original Charters for each State have anything to say about joining the Union?
Just quoting the man. Guess he better get his story straight.
seems to be talking out of both sides of his a##.
Thanks for pointing out the fear-mongering. You are clearly on top of the real issues here. This internal dispute is just part of the continued struggle that has plagued the region for centuries. Comments by the major leaders are pretty much obligatory.
On a more cynical note: Did I miss it? I’m almost sure I didn’t see the the phrase Clinton Quagmire used anywhere in this article. Saber rattling is nothing new when leaders need to solidify their base or when somebodies wife failed to stamp out some rumors about a blue dress.
There is absolutely no lack of surrogates to fire the first shot. Neither Russia or Germany fired the first shot in WWI either.
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