Llewellyn
King
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February 18, 2008
Kosovo: Now a Muslim
Country in Europe
A new country limped onto the world's stage on Feb. 17. It is
Kosovo. And, true to its Balkan heritage, Kosovo is a problem for most
of Europe and Russia. It is also a problem for the United States, which
is expected to recognize Kosovo, though mutedly.
Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia has
infuriated Russia, which immediately called for an emergency session of
the United Nations Security Council. Some European countries, including
Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia, have told the European Union that they
will not recognize Kosovo in essence a successful separatist movement
in Europe.
Serbia is predictably
apoplectic. It claims that Kosovo is the heart of Serbia, although
less than 20 percent of Kosovo's two-million population is Serbian.
Serbia blames the United States, the European Union and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization for the loss of Kosovo. In fact, these
entities have been tirelessly trying to find an answer to the Kosovo
question. No one wanted to see the last remnants of Yugoslavia broken
up, not least because of the fuel Kosovo's independence provides to
other separatist groups. Think Scotland, Northern Ireland, Spain's
Basque region, France's Corsica or Canada's Quebec province.
Another problem is that Kosovo will be the first Muslim
country in Europe. Much of its population was converted to Islam under
Ottoman Turkish rule. And European security officials worry that Kosovo
will provide a safe haven for Muslim extremists across Europe.
The new government says that minorities will be protected in
Kosovo. But it was the Kosovar authorities' disinclination to protect
minorities that gave rise to the atrocities against the Kosovars by the
Serbians under Slobodan Milosevic. This, in turn, led to the bombing by
NATO and the de facto independence of Kosovo as a UN-administered
territory. Now the UN will withdraw its forces, and an EU peacekeeping
force will go to Kosovo.
Russia's anger derives
from its fight against separatists in Chechnya, the mainly Muslim region
that borders Georgia, and its historic alliance with the Serbians. The
Russians are hinting that they will now give material support to two
breakaway regions of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and
Transdniestria, which split from Moldova. Russian rhetoric toward the
West heated up as it became apparent that many Western countries would
recognize an independent Kosovo.
A big country, with many ethnic divisions like Russia, has
reason to fear the whole concept of separatism. It is not just that the
Russians want to make trouble for the West. They genuinely believe that
there is mortal danger for Russia if the concept of separatism gains
international acceptance. Even in the time of the tsars, a primary goal
of Russian administrations was to hold Mother Russia together. Moscow
has been fighting Chechen separatists for 150 years.
The Balkans are yet another test for the U.S. policy of
embracing any democratically expressed will without regard to historical
alignments or future viability. Sickly Kosovo, with its endangered
Serbian minority and its history of intolerance, is not a credit to
democracy, even though the democratic will of the people is for
independence from Serbia. Kosovo is the current sick man of Europe
poor, resource-challenged and with a bitter ethnic history.
Unfortunately, Kosovo sees the United States as its vaccine against the
Serbs and the Russians.
© 2008 North Star
Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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