Posted on 02/25/2008 8:04:59 PM PST by Doctor13
Europe: The removal of European Union officials from Kosovo, the newly independent former Serbian province, is bad news. Trouble is on the way, and once again the U.S. may be asked to clean up the mess.
The State Department's decision to back Kosovo's independence from Serbia will go down as a major mistake. Supporting a Muslim separatist movement within Europe strikes us as a fool's errand, one that could lead to similar uprisings around the world from aggrieved minorities.
Demonstrations and riots on Serbia's border with northern Kosovo -- which Serbs consider to be their nation's heartland -- have caused NATO forces in the area to seal off the border. Fearing violence, the EU has withdrawn 2,000 officials there.
This leaves NATO facing a very ugly decision, and soon: Use force to prevent an escalation of the rioting and anger by Serbs, who feel betrayed by Europe and the U.S., or stand back and let it happen.
Oops, did we say NATO? What we really mean is the U.S. Because it's only American forces that have the might to be able to impose themselves militarily over the restive Serbs. Ready for war there?
Recall the last time "NATO" got involved was in 1999, when President Clinton called in U.S. airstrikes to stop Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic from slaughtering his Kosovar foes.
The conflict was resolved by U.N. Resolution 1244, which put the U.N. in charge of Kosovo for the time being and guaranteed Serbia that its territory would be respected. That promise is now broken.
More violence seems inevitable. And if the U.S. has to quell it, we'll get no thanks -- just as in 1999, when the EU was humiliated by its own weakness. Ever since, it has tried to undermine the U.S. "hyperpower" in its war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those who expect Kosovo to be a model citizen are dreaming. As the Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick and others have noted, al-Qaida has operated in Kosovo since 1992. Now it has a Muslim nation inside Europe from which to operate. Good luck, Europe.
As such, many nations in the region find our support for Kosovo's independence as perplexing as it is appalling. We've undone a lot of good will built up in Eastern Europe since the Berlin Wall fell.
All around the world there are nascent independence movements that could result in countries being split apart. This process would be neither pretty nor nonviolent. We could see a proliferation of bloody civil wars not unlike the anti-colonialist, anti-Western uprisings of the late-1940s to early 1970s.
We wonder about those countries within Europe -- including France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark -- that have fast-growing and hard-to-assimilate Muslim populations. Do they become Balkanized, too, with Muslim mini-states?
What about Canada, Georgia, Russia, Cyprus, Romania and China, all with their own separatist groups? Carve them up as well? While we're at it, should the map of Africa be re-drawn based on tribal sovereignty, not states? Where does it all end?
We're not happy that Kosovars have been forced to be part of a political entity they want no part of. Nor are we happy with the anti-Americanism whipped up by Serbia's regime.
But, by both history and blood, Kosovo has less reason than many to be independent. Now, our support for it opens up the possibility of a return to the bad old days of territorial uncertainty and chaos.
If I wree Vladimir Putin or whoever’s running Serbia, I’d go for it; I don’t think there’s anything Jorge Bush, Kongaloser Rice, or our feral state department could do about it right now.
Well, Putin is invited to the NATO meeting in Bucharest in early April. Should make for a lively meeting!
By the way, Romania is also opposed to the recognition of Kosovo. If violence breaks out is NATO going to start bombing Romania? Some of the nuts that are permitted to post here will be pushing for that.
...this is right on the money...
Melanie Phillips makes some good points about the rush to recognise Kosovo.
Perplexing because there is no explanation offered from our President to enlighten us ignorant masses. While we're at it, let's give Michigan to the Islamists.
I thought that GWB would right the wrong done by the Wag-the-dog president soon after taking office. I just don't get it at all.
Bill Clinton supposedly has his reasons; wonder why no one cares to link him to this debacle, to ask him why he involved the U. S. that mess.
You one of the nuts?
didn’t they start bombing when the Lewinski inquiries started.
Like on the same day ...
And the media didn’t really cover it as real warfare.
They protected Clinton.
And Clinton broke posse comitatus...I think.
Supporting a Muslim separatist movement within Europe strikes us as a fool’s errand,”
I think you are smart enough to "get it", however.
Let's revisit: Bush came to office in January of 2001. Since that time what has occurred - the 9/11 attacks, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, problems with Iran, North Korea, and China, not to mention on the domestic side hurricanes such as Katrina and Rita, etc.
In short, what I'm saying is that the status of Kosovo never made Bush's daily agenda outside of a couple of speeches. Thus, in terms of the status of Kosovo, G.W. Bush et. al. have been operating on autopilot -- that is, following the lead of career level bureaucrats within the US State department.
Look, let's be realistic here, the *average* American couldn't even tell you what country Kosovo is (was) a part of. And, political advisers are fully of aware this - you don't see Kosovo mentioned at all in political debates, for example.
Note: In view of what I scribed above, I have to point out that I completely disagree with the US policy on this issue.
"The dog ate my homework" has more going for it as excuses go.
I can’t believe i am rooting for that thug putin.
Gosh this is crazy, but having an islamic nation in the middle of europe can’t be good.
Why would NATO bomb Romania for not recogizing Kosovo? And I dont think anyone here would back such a fruity idea either.
If Serbian tanks and troops overran Kosovo in a surprise blitzkrieg, who’s going to stop them? Or are we going to bring Wesley Clark back to bomb more civilians and turn Kosovo into a smoldering wasteland? Oh, well, sometimes you gotta kill people to straighten them out in the name of multiculturalism and tolerance. Wie Schade.
I’m not going to root for Putin but reason might be a good thing. It just makes me hate the Clintons more for what they did to my country. America. I am sick that George Bush is compounding the consequences of a Clinton crime. The whole thing is incredibly shameful.
“If I were Vladimir Putin or whoever’s running Serbia, I’d go for it; I don’t think there’s anything Jorge Bush, Kongaloser Rice, or our feral state department could do about it right now.”
Tadic (Serbia’s newly elected president) would never do it. He represents every Serb, at the least the part of them that tires of war, no matter what it happens to be about, and just wishes to “blend in” with Europe.
Then there’s Kostunica (Serbia’s Prime Minister). He represents the other half of the current Serb mentality, the side that is tired of being a scapegoat for everything in the Balkans and can’t stand hearing how Serbs are always to blame. He is dying for an opportunity to get Kosovo back, and will do whatever it takes.
The confusion lies in the people of Serbia. Their current feelings, like I stated, are a mixture of these two views. They have seen war for years on end, are weary, and probably can’t even remember the last time their lives were normal. Yet they know in their hearts that what they fight for is right. They’ve seen former allies go against them....allies they thought would always be on their side as history has shown.
What is going on in Serbia right now is utter chaos. The govt. is split, the people are enraged, yet what options do they really have? Go against US and NATO again?!? Too many of them have seen all those innocent civilians die in the previous bombings to wish to take that path again. Anyone who’s been to Serbia since ‘99 has seen the towns and villages that never were rebuilt, a standing memory of the betrayal by the US and NATO.
I would say there is one word to describe their current mood....appalled. What happens next is anybody’s guess. Even the Serbs don’t know as of yet what their next move, if any, will be.
“Why would NATO bomb Romania for not recogizing Kosovo? And I dont think anyone here would back such a fruity idea either.”
Why not? I’m sure they’ll find oil or coal in Romania if they dig deep enough.
Many people in the US didn’t agree with the “fruity” idea of bombing Serbia in 1999, yet here we are still trying to sort the mess out.
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