Why Kosovo Wasn’t Worth It

Russia warned that Kosovo's independence would create a dangerous precedent. Georgia shows how it did.

In February, with U.S. backing, Kosovo declared its independence—nine years after NATO went to war to end Serbia's thuggish behavior in the province. Shortly after Kosovo hoisted its new national flag, Russia, Serbia's patron, warned (in the words of its foreign minister) that the theory of secession used to strip away Kosovo had "created a precedent" applicable elsewhere. Now, in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Georgia—supposedly for the protection of separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia—it's a good time to pause and ask, was Kosovo worth it?

A recent visit to the tiny country underscores how difficult life can be for a microstate. The good news is that Kosovo has a young pro-Western population that speaks English, has strong tech skills and is excited at the thought of creating a new government.

But there is plenty of bad news. The unemployment rate for young people is 60 percent. The landlocked, mountainous country has a long growing season and could serve as a garden for Europe, but it lacks any transport beyond two-lane roads, a rusting rail line and expensive air links.

More than 15,000 NATO troops remain on duty in the tiny state. But NATO forces failed to control ethnic riots the last time they broke out, in March 2004, with disastrous consequences, including eight reported deaths, 900 injured, the destruction of hundreds of Serb homes and the burning of churches and priceless artifacts. NATO countries have since loosened the rules of engagement that hamstrung the troops, but they remain soldiers, not police, and it's not clear whether they have the tools for nonlethal riot control.

FreeReign, I don’t know about here, but almost *every* single Serb-American I know stands with the Georgians now and vice versa (and I’m not Serb myself).

The Serbs generally sympathize with the Georgians, and vice versa, as fellow residents of a “vulnerable small country” screwed over by a big power and used as a pawn. Because that’s who’s getting screwed here in this big power BS— Serbs and Georgians both.

I think the point that the pro-Serb posters are making here, is that Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton opened the door to Russia by unnecessarily starting this foolish Kosovo precedent in the first place in 1999.

A blunder which, of course, Jorge Bush and Condi Rice then compounded with their recognition of Kosovo in 2008 on the heels of the ABM provocation, which foolish Juan McCain heartily supports— even though the Kosovo precedent has nasty implications for our own Southwest as “Aztlan,” not to mention Florida and the Sioux territories. And Putin *did* specifically warn both Clinton and Bush, that splitting Kosovo from Serbia would be a “red line” that would prompt retaliation.

But at the same time, I’ve never met anyone who supports what Russia is doing in Georgia, either— they just cynically see that Russia is spiting the current Administration the same way both Bill Clinton and Jorge Bush spited Russia by attacking Serbia, except that in both cases, it’s the little nations that suffer.

The hope now, is that Russia is ultimately just using South Ossetia as a bargaining chip, to force NATO to snap out of its idiotic delusion about a supposedly viable Kosovo. IOW, an object lesson on the idiocy of invading sovereign states on false pretenses and recognizing a rump state, even on sacred ground for Serbs. (OTOH truthfully, South Ossetia is far more peripheral for Georgia, so the analogy doesn’t even work that well.)

Serbia will never forsake Kosovo since it really is the cradle of the Serb nation. The only sensible way for this fiasco to conclude, is for both of the big powers to back down. NATO got this whole mess rolling by arrogantly insulting Russia in Kosovo, for no strategic gain— carving out an Islamofascist narcostate in Kosovo, that actively assisted al-Qaida in perpetrating the 9/11 attacks. The world has not recognized Kosovo and never will, so we should back away and withdraw recognition for Kosovo.

In turn, Russia needs to back off Georgia and withdraw recognition for South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Both sides need to exchange peacekeepers, and defuse this needless crisis.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Seems that even after his sorry administration is over, Bill Clinton still gets protection over Blowjobgate. Yet the fact remains that he’s the one who started this mess.

Kosovo has become a genuinely bipartisan snafu. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright got it started. Then George W. Bush, Condi Rice and John McCain continued it.

It’s another reason that I’ll never be voting for McCain and in fact, neither will most of my friends. Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr and gaining increasing support daily.

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