PRISTINA, Serbia — Kosovo will declare independence on Sunday amid growing excitement among its ethnic Albanians, anger from its Serbs, and the launch of an EU mission to ease the birth of the world's newest state. "Tomorrow will be a day of calm, of understanding and of state engagements for the implementation of the will of the citizens of Kosovo," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said Saturday in reference to the breakaway ethnic Albanian majority.
Expectations of a Sunday declaration of independence have been running high for several days -- but Thaci's comments marked the first top-level confirmation that the long-awaited break with Serbia would come this weekend. By nightfall Saturday, tens of thousands of cheering Kosovars poured into downtown Pristina, filled with anticipation, as convoys of vehicles zipped through the streets, cheerfully honking their horns and waving Albanian, British, German, NATO and US flags.
Talking to reporters after a meeting with religious leaders, Thaci appealed for celebrations to unfold with "dignity ... on the day of the declaration of independence, on the big day, on the historic day ... a day of thanksgiving for a sovereign and independent Kosovo." Serbia, which sees Kosovo as the cradle of Serb culture and religion, and Russia, Belgrade's main ally on the world stage, has vowed never to recognize an independent Kosovo.
Excerpted
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwZvo3itxw3QnyFlgFAxol-BIyag
Islamic separatists begin celebration of self-recognition
February 15, 2008
PRISTINA - Serbia-Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo took to streets to celebrate the declaration of independence from Serbia expected to come this weekend. People gathered in groups in the outskirts of the province's capital, Pristina, late Friday, dancing in circles to the rhythm of drums and other traditional instruments.
"We are very, very happy, this is really happening," said Ahmet Jashari, an ethnic Albanian in the town of Lipljane who was draped in an American flag. "We have been waiting for this for a long time, for a century." The jubilant crowds honked car horns and waved flags as they drove by NATO peacekeepers in charge of security. On Friday, the NATO force, known as KFOR, increased its visibility in an effort to prevent any violence.
Excerpted
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2008/01354.shtml
Vladimir Putin has delivered perhaps his most menacing tirade against the West yet, repeating threats to train nuclear missiles on Europe and warning of unspecified retaliation if Kosovo declared independence.
SNIP:
In a vintage performance, the former KGB spy laced almost five hours of invective with crude insults, threats and admonitions often expressed in the argot of the Russian street.
SNIP:
Asked what had made him such a great leader, Mr Putin suggested that he had been anointed by God to make Russia a great state and boasted that he had made no mistakes during his eight years in power.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/15/wputin115.xml