by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Feb. 18, 2008
All Rights Reserved.

olliding with Russia and China in the U.N. Security Council, the U.N.-controlled Kosovo government declared independence Feb. 17 from Serbia. While euphoria hit the streets in the capital of Pristina, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin fumed over implications of another breakaway republic, watching the Soviet Union disintegrate since the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989. Kosovo seeks official international recognition from the European Union but has problems in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China promise to veto any attempt at statehood. Kosovo has historic ties to Serbia dating back to the Middle Ages, when Slavic tribes ruled Kosovo independently from the Byzantine Empire. Kosovo was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1389 AD, updating the modern conflict that 92% of the population are Muslim, ethnic Albanians.

      President Bill Clinton together with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombed Kosovo in 1999, driving out Slobodan Milosevic from what was described as “ethnic cleansing” or genocide. From March 24 to June 11, 1999 over 850,000 ethnic Albanians were driven from Kosovo to neighboring countries while NATO launched a relentless bombing campaign. Milosevic had battled the Kosovo Liberation Army, an Albanian separatist group, since 1996. Before the U.S. and NATO bombed Kosovo, concerns were raised about the conflict spreading to Europe. Europeans recall the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand June 28, 1914 by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip starting WW I. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire attacked Serbia, the war spread quickly to other European countries. Clinton and NATO viewed Milosevic as the aggressor in a war of “ethnic cleansing” or genocide.

      Serbs had lived for centuries with hostilities from Ottomans in which Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries and properties were routine torched. Modern Serbs battled ethnic Albanians, whose liberation forces fought for autonomy, desecrating ancient Serbian churches, monasteries and artifacts. “The Kosovars are now independent,” said Bush in Dar es Saalam, Tanzania, giving U.S. support and pitting the U.S. directly against Putin and the Russian Federation. Bush “responded affirmatively” to Kosovo's declaration of independence, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “The establishment of these relations will reaffirm the special ties of friendship that have linked together the people of the United States and Kosovo,” causing major PR nightmare for Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups convinced that the U.S. persecutes modern Islamic states.

      Supporting Kosovo's independence validates the creation of a Muslim state in the heart of the Balkans, dominated by the old Byzantine Church or modern Orthodox sect. When Clinton led a bombing campaign against Milosivic, it was designed to protect ethnic Albanians from “ethnic cleansing,” eventually jailing Milosevic at the Hague for war crimes. Milosevic died of a “heart attack” while in custody at the war crimes detention facility, a victim of his own defiance, when he was give plenty of opportunity to back down from Kosovo before the March 24, 1999 U.S-led NATO bombing campaign. Milosevic was an ultra-nationalist with close ties to the Kremlin and Yugoslav's ex-communist dictator Josip Bros Tito, holding power in Serbia from May 8, 1989 to Oct. 5, 2000. He couldn't reconcile centuries-old hatred toward Muslim ethnic Albanians

      Since the U.S.-NATO airstrikes ended Milosevic's reign, Kosovo remained under U.N. Resolution 1244, establishing United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), an independent authority from Serbia. While Serbia never accepted Kosvo's autonomy, many U.N. countries viewed Kosvo's statehood as inevitable. Sixteen-thousand NATO-led U.N. peacekeepers remain in Kosovo, virtually preventing Belgrade from stopping Kosovo's secession. Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. all support's Kosovo's statehood, drawing objections from Spain, worried that support would signal a change of heart to Basque separatists. Kosovo's declaration was “a great success for Europe, a great success for the Kosovars and certainly not a defeat for Serbs,” said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Brussels, Belgium, ignoring Putin's objections on the U.N. Security Council.

      Serbia vowed to never accept Kosvo's independence, despite the reality that they have no power to stop it. “The so-called Kosovar state will never be a member of the United Nations,” said Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, convinced Putin would veto any Security Council resolution granting statehood. Before Putin acquiesces to the overwhelming support on the Security Council, he'll need more reassurances and concessions for the possible breakaway republics of Chechnya and Georgia. Sending out 192 letters of support, Kosvo has the blessings of most European countries and elsewhere, establishing the first Muslim state in the Balkans since the Ottoman Empire. While Serbia and Russia object today, Kosvo enjoys nearly unanimous support from the U.S. and Europe. Nine years after U.S.-led NATO airstrikes toppled Miloscevic, Kosovo finally gets its independence.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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