My earlier post envisioned both possibilities of Albanian and/or Serbian insurgencies depending on how international recognition of an independent Kosovo went. It would appear that the latter is, at least, a growing possibility as Serb's rise up and create havoc in Kosovo;
Serb demonstrators attacked international peacekeepers with rocks, grenades and Molotov cocktails Monday, setting off the worst violence in Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last month.
The Serbs traded gunfire with U.N. and NATO forces in hours of clashes that wounded at least 62 U.N. and NATO forces and 70 protesters outside a U.N. courthouse.
The clashes began when the U.N. stormed the courthouse in the Serb stronghold of Mitrovica just before dawn to pull out protesters who had occupied it for three days to protest Kosovo's independence.
This is bad news as sectarian conflicts evolve from two internationally recognized sovereignty's. I'm thinking the international sanction of Kosovo's independence might turn out to be a bit hasty...
4 comments:
"Insurgency" began a long time ago when ethnic Albanians vowed to create a "greater Albania" by emigrating to and taking over surrounding nations. Yes, they have more than one wife, many children, and as a result, over many years, they take over an area merely by populating it. It happens in neighbourhoods in our cities where you see one ethnic group merge into a particular area. This is just a greater version of it. People blame the Serbs for moving out. However, when you become a minority in a province of your own nation, it's easier to move than to continually be targetted by an ethnic group with its own agenda. It's not politics; it's just how things were and are. Now that many western nations have shown support for Kosovo's usurption by ethnic Albanians, they should allow ethnic groups in their nations to take away chunks of land: Mexicans in the USA, French in Canada, and the freedom of Northern Ireland from English ownership. Think they're ready?
This is what happens when you rely upon the UN and fake liberals to oversee a country's progress.
Short term gains, long term disaster. As opposed to Iraq, which is short term disaster, long term gains.
I've been worried about the same possibility for awhile. While there were no other good options besides giving Kosovo it's independence, the threat of a Serbian insurgency against the UN/EU can be used as leverage by the Serbs to force a partition, and the annexation of northern Kosovo into Serbia. Faced with such an insurgency, I don't think we can expect any sort of counterinsurgency or pacification to work given that hostile Serbia will never give up on Kosovar Serbs. If the violence continues and the Serbs threaten with full-blown insurgency, Kosovo will have to be partitioned.
anon, points well taken and I think further analysis for the "why" of various western support should be conducted. I suspect it's not wholly based on sympathy. I suspect it may entail a want for a western friendly, Islamic majority state. But I'm just at the tip of this iceberg and will need to look deeper before I can offer more than baseless conjecture.
Ymarsakar, I agree, the UN as a geo-political entity is an abject failure. Hundred's of thousands of Sudanese might agree but they're no longer breathing and so...
"As opposed to Iraq, which is short term disaster, long term gains." I hope like hell you're right.
Steve, what you speak of bears a spooky resemblance to another decades long bloody saga. I have to say, I envisioned an Israeli-Palestinian like mess as well. It's unlikely that Serbia will mount a real military effort to annex northern Kosovo. Instead we'll likely see an extensive and protracted guerilla resistance. Maybe it'll be a bit like Afghanistan (1980's) only this time the Russians fuel the insurgency? A bit far out, at this point, but I was and remain very skeptical.
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