DD,
Let's get something straight. NATO (or more appropriately, the US administration) screwed up by not being more proactive in undermining Milosevic nationalist and disruptive policies which resulted in the breakup of Yugoslavia. There were many courses of action that could have been taken that would strengthened Milosevic's opponents and weakened his grip on power, primarily economic incentives.
Now we will spend billions of dollars and Euros rebuilding the entire region in hopes of stabilizing the region and assisting the various ethnicities in the region to defend themselves from each other, while trying to heal the reopened wounds of ethnic hatred that the Serbian leadership permitted and encouraged to forment.
The sovereignty of Yugoslavia was destroyed when Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia seceded. After that it was a free for all to grab geography and expand their borders as far as possible with all sides using techniques of "ethnic cleansing" to reshape the boundaries. So saying that we violated the sovereignty of Serbia is a mistatement since their sovereignty over Kosovo was based solely on mythological and religious reasons, and not upon the more rational basis of demographic dominance.
If Kosovo had seen ethnic Serbs as the largest percentage of inhabitants, I would say you have case, but you can't tell me that a 10% minority can justifiably claim sovereignty over a 90% majority and strip away and forever exclude that majorities right to limited self-government within a federation.
Look at the history of Serbia during the past 10 years under Milosevic. Under his rulership Bosnian Serbs were deliberately frightened into believing that their Bosnian Muslim neighbors, whom they have been living with peacefully for decades, were suddenly going to launched a surprise attack against them. Serbian leaders fed on this fear, armed the Bosnian Serbs to defend against a false threat from unarmed Muslims and instigated the terrible conflict that Bosnia suffered for years. All in the name of greater Serbia and maximizing Serbian national borders.
As for the Quebecois, if I'm not mistaken Canada is a confederacy and with majority approval, Quebec could secede from Canada anytime they wished. At least they have the right to vote to secede if they feel their Anglo-Canadian counterparts are ignoring their concerns. The Kosovars were denied that right, having had their previous autonomy stripped by Milosevic's gov't.
Btw, the KLA was not even a truly viable force until 1995-6 when it became obvious that the Serbian gov't was unwilling to recognize the concerns of the Kosovar Albanian majority. Suppress the people enough and they will migrate to whatever group, no matter how unsavory or politically bankrupt, in order to strike back at their oppressors.
So you shouldn't try to play this legal mumbo-jumbo in regards to Kosovo in claiming that Serbia has some legal claim over Kosovo. It has the same legality as Serbia's former claims of sovereignty over Bosnia and Croatia.
Sovereignty does not come from the barrel of a gun. Revolution does (to quote Mao).
Thanks for the link. I have it bookmarked now.
Regards,
Ron |
