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Kosovo can get independence by the end of
May, says a top American official. Serbia, Russia and several members of
the European Union disagree. Other unrecognized countries in Europe
watch the Kosovo outcome as a precedent that will apply to them, too.
ZAGREB (Tiraspol Times) - In an attempt to
railroad Kosovo independence through the United Nations with as little
discussion as possible, US State Department cheerleaders are promising
Kosovo its independence within the next couple of weeks.
" - We will be circulating today with our
European allies a resolution in the Security Council that we believe
will lead to the independence of Kosovo by the end of this month," US
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Friday while on a visit to
the Croatian capital Zagreb.
Kosovo could be granted independence from
Serbia by the end of the month, Burns told journalists while refusing to
comment on doubts raised by other members of the United Nations Security
Council as well as by allies witin the European Union.
If granted independence, Kosovo would
become the latest Muslim country inside Europe. Independence would bring
international power to Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku, an ex-militant
formerly known as "Commander Ceku" or "Commander Zero" who is listed in
the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base and tied to KLA-led war crimes. Muslim
Kosovo militants are allied with other groups of Islamist Jihadists
worldwide, including sleeper cells inside the United States. Earlier
this week, six suspected terrorists - the majority of them Kosovars -
were arrested in a plot to blow up Fort Dix, a US Army base in New
Jersey and kill American soldiers.
" - The United States is strongly
supporting the independence of Kosovo," said Nicholas Burns, speaking
after meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
European Allies not on board
Not everyone agrees with the glib-talking
Burns. Slovakia, a non-permanent member of UN Security Council, also
resists the American-backed plans. Robert Fico, Prime Minister of
Slovakia, recently said that the independence plan was unacceptable and
the content would have to be changed.
Jan Skoda, spokesperson for the Slovak
ministry of foreign affairs, said Bratislava would not be changing its
position fast. “We stress our appreciation of the efforts made by Mr
Ahtisaari during his mission but we don’t support his plan”, Skoda told
Balkan Insight.
Romania, too, is not on board. Prime
Minister Calin Tariceanu said Friday that Romania does not want the way
in which the Kosovo issue will be solved to set a precedent for other
areas with frozen conflicts, the Rompres news agency reported. His new
foreign minister Adrian Cioroianu is aware that is Kosovo is given
international recognition against the wishes of Serbia, then
Pridnestrovie - or Transnistria, as it is called in Romanian - will be
next in line to get recognition against the wishes of Moldova.
" - Our main and only concern is that the
Kosovo solution should not become a precedent for other frozen conflicts,"
the foreign minister of Europe's newest member country said. The Balkan
Investigative Reporting Network, in an article published this week,
reported that divisions among the 27 EU member states are obvious, but
that Brussels is trying to cover them up.
Russia has asked for more talks, pointing
out that previous UN resolutions on Kosovo have not been adhered to.
Vladimir Putin - whose country is one of the UN Security Council's
permanent five veto-wielding members, along with Britain, France, the US
and China - was quoted by Britain's Financial Times newspaper as saying:
"If we find the solution for Kosovo unacceptable, we will not hesitate
to use our veto right in the UN Security Council."
Putin reportedly said that the same
yardstick should be applied to Kosovo and the former Soviet republics.
" - If a precedent is set, it will
negatively reflect on the post-Soviet region and it will be difficult to
explain to the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia why Albanians (in
Kosovo) can breakaway from Serbia and they cannot," he stated, quoted in
the Financial Times. He thinks if Kosovo is granted a independence then
countries as Abkhazia, South Ossetia (formerly in Georgia) and
Pridnestrovie (Transdnistria, between Moldova and Ukraine) wants it too.
Experts see Kosovo precedent for
Pridnestrovie
" - If Kosovo gets independence without
Belgrade’s consent, but solely on support of some world powers, the
secessionist republics would have the right to get advantage of such a
precedent," confirms Maria Patrasco, a political analyst specializing in
cross-cultural communications in ethnic conflicts in the Balkans.
" - Kosovo's independence would grant the
same rights to the people of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia in the former Soviet republic of Georgia," said Elena Guskova,
a Russian academic and an expert on Balkans. Pridnestrovie was not
included in her statement, since it is not technically a breakaway
republic of anything. Pridnestrovie declared independence from the
now-dissolved Moldavian SSR (MSSR), which was a component part of the
Soviet Union. Pridnestrovie's independence declaration took place in
1990. By the time the current Republic of Moldova announced its own
independence declaration, in 1991, Pridnestrovie had already been
independent - albeit unrecognized - for a full year. At no time in
history was Pridnestrovie ever part of any independent Moldovan or
Romanian state.
If Kosovo gets independence, by the same
logic other states in similar situations have the same equal right to
secede.
A country facing the loss of a part of its
territory has to consider how willing it is to impose its rule by force:
How many people are you willing to kill for the right to govern people
who don't want to be governed by you? Will forcing them to remain lead
to the destruction of the country as a whole? Is there more stability in
working out a compromise, or letting the status quo remain in place?
" - The answers to these questions
are not obvious, and vary from case to case," says an American
commentator who wishes to remain anonymous. "Peaceful separations as
well as peaceful unions are the best, and only happen where people
respect one another. Unions and separations brought about by war are
bound to be ugly, and can only be justified if the alternative is worse."
(With information
from wire services)
05.12.2007 The Tiraspol Times
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