"Unity over Kosovo took West by surprise"

The ICG, which is a mouthpiece for the KLA, is still insisting on Ahtisari's greater albania plan. They just like to keep flogging that dead horse. I look forward to more and more voices of reason coming out, just like Dan Burton's yesterday.
I would advise the Kosovo albanians to go get their Serbian passports if they want to go on vacation somewhere. In case they haven't been paying attention, greater albania is dead.

When any problem seems to have no solution, the premises or viewing angle are wrong. It is interesting how esteemed Proffessor does not consider the fourth, the most obvious option, - U.S. and EU should abandon Albanian extremists and bail out from botched armed robbery of Serbian territory because it did not worked.

Building up Albanian terrorists and using them to create pretext to attack Serbia only allienated Russia and caused rise of Russia on the international scene after NATO's aggression.

Without American and EU support to Albanian extremists, normal Albanians and Serbs would come to some kind of workable solution in the next 10 years. With U.S./EU support to land grab, it is not likely to happen. However, U.S/EU know too well they can not make land grab legal and lasting.
It seems that more trouble is a part of their script - peaceful solution obviously is not.

The peace to the Balkans can be brought only in Washington, D.C. and London, when they stop their support to terrorism.

The article ends by saying the "genie of ethnic conflict" will be released again. But this time any threat of violence is coming exclusively from the Albanian side which is making threats of war almost daily.

So the Western response should be rather quite simple. If the predicted conflict erupts again, determine the instigator of that violence and then bomb the hell out of them with air strikes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Attack the Albanian infrastructure, their bridges, power plants, roads, TV stations and rail lines, preferably with a train or two packed with civilans.

Of course that won't happen, but it illustrates the absurd double standard the West applies in the Balkans.

The omnly practical and effective solution an the one which has already been manifest on the ground, is division. Split the province and call it a day. The Albanians may be upset, but its a fair solution and if they attack, the Serb Army has more than enought power to easily handle any attempt to grab land back.

And for the ISG, it's little more than a zealous, anti-Serb organization which has never condemned nor attacked another ethnic group in the Balkans. It's exclusively anti-Serb and as a result has no credibility.

"The problem for the international community, and particularly for NATO, is that it is impossible to imagine a truly independent Kosovo from which it can withdraw, and which won’t require the presence of international forces."
Surely we can have a truly independent Kosova without the presence of international forces. All we need to do is to restore the balance of power in the region.

Feud
Sure by removing NATO from an autonomus Kosovo and letting the Serbs control the area.

"If Kosovo explodes because the independence issue is mishandled, the regional risks would include that eight years worth of international resources and prestige dedicated to managing the crisis would be lost," the report said.

1. “Kosovo explodes” – Kosovo is very unlikely to physically explode due to acts of God. What the ICG means to say is; The Kosovo Albanian leadership will instigate large scale violence, including military style attacks on NATO. That will place NATO in the awkward position of having to fight back.

2. “because the independence issue is mishandled” – The Kosovo issue was mishandled the minute certain actors started making promises they were not in a position to make. Kosovo and Metohija is a province of Serbia. Only Serbia can decide what will happen with its province. Too bad for those that thought they owned Kosovo and Metohija but aren’t even on the same continent.

3. “eight years worth of international resources and prestige dedicated to managing the crisis would be lost” – It is not Serbia’s job to preserve someone else’s resources and prestige.

I have no sympathy for people that are supposedly intelligent and able to make informed choices getting it wrong. The ICG should grow up and give it up. Stop beating a dead horse. They are writing this tripe well after everyone else has moved on.

Serbia will not voluntarily give up one square centimetre of sovereign territory.

If some parties wish to collude to deny Kosovo Albanians a future simply based on their ethnicity, by consigning them to a life in the twighlight zone of perpetual legal limbo, that is their problem, not Serbia's.

For eight years NATO did nothig but look while albanians were killing and burning anything Serbian.And now they are afraid that there would be more of it.
Give me a break-savage is a savage,you gents are happy for as long as your paycheck was on time.Who cares about the real picture of kosovo.

Cleve
I definitely did not mean that. What I meant was that the armament of Kosova is a rational feasibility in the light of Serbia’s position and the West’s reluctance to stay there. I am sure that the Serbs would think twice faced with a more equal opponent.
It is Fuad by the way.

Shock horror - UK proffesor surprised by Serbian unity with regards it's province - Kosovo & Metohija. He can't be a very good analyst if he is surpised to find that Serbians are united in not being robbed of their cultural and historical heartland. Dear me where do they find these "analysts" all he needed to do was ask some of the many thousands of British Serbs for a bit more insight! Serbia is willing to compromise and find a solution that respects interantional laws and the UN obligations that the US and a 'few' EU countries have formulated and agreed surely it is about time that these anlysts understood the message!

The Italian foreign policy expert Sergio Romano wrote basically the same, that the Kosovo question is an equation which has no solution (at least from the West point of view), many months ago on the Corriere della Sera.

Serbs DID have control of the area, and we all know what happened!
(nikshala, 21. August 2007 16:41)

Exactly, YOU invaded it.

What peaceful solution in 10 years you talking about?
The Albanian's try that for 10 years 1989-1999 and we all saw the Serbs response to that.
There was no NATO aggression against Serbia, but the protection off the innocent civilian against the ethnical cleansing by the Serb government. And that West use the NATO only after all the diplomatic and other peaceful attempts to resolve the situation fell to materialise. You lot seems to bury you head in the sand and ignore all the facts.
Personally the West is been weak dealing with Kosovo status. Is been dragging for years and this only add more false hope to the extremists in Serbia that somehow they can reverse the time back and forget all the pain and suffering that the people in Kosova went through.
Kosovo should had the independence in 1999, after the war. The EU need to be strong and talk open and simple to the Belgrade, not to follow the "politically correct" language. The EU cannot expect every time U.S. to intervene in the face of Russia bulling.

Tex
I even recomended your post. Because it implies that there is something albans could do to stop us. Ask US to give u some nukes and see what they say. There will be no war because albans have no military capabilities. So if US says sit down and be quiet you will sit down and be quiet. If they say jump u will jump. If they say no independence, autonomy it is. Maybe a few renegades here and there but thats not to say they are capable of taking on Serbia.

Cvele

Serbs DID have control of the area, and we all know what happened!

Cvele how INCOMPREHENSIBLE you are, Kosovo Albanians are against these forces, no chance for any return of Serbian forces in kosova.

Hi Dragan
to the best of my knowledge a Serbian passport is about as much use as one from Turkmenistan. You still need permission to travel to the west and if you were unfortunate to be stranded in Italy you would have sleep on the airport.
Tracy

“I must say that the Americans and Europeans have been surprised by Koštunica and Tadić’s united front, not to mention the overall Serbian political scene vis-à-vis Kosovo. That unity, allied with the threat of a Russian or Chinese veto, has led to the current round of talks and, at the very least, the delay of what NATO and the EU had been expecting,”

quite interesting, are they REALLY surprised???

seems like they wasted a lot of time by not listening to statements serbian officials or even private persons have said, not reading what Serbs have written in the last years...
there is no such thing like independence of Kosovo.
Albanians will accept that sooner or later if their "friends" tell them to forget about that.
otherwise there will be a serious conflict again, and this time we all know who will start it.
( the same bunch of chicken-thieves that started it in ´99 anyway )

Fuad, don´t dream about the kla being militarily supported again, and even less of becoming an equal power towards Serbia.
it´s ridiculous, writing something like that...
better stick to some ARGUMENTS...

Absolutely right Fuad. Serbian intransigence should be challenged head on. If BG is unwilling to acknowledge that independence is a foregone conclusion other options should be open to the new state. I am sure Kosovars would be able to safeguard their own independence given the chance.

Fuad wrote;
The armament of Kosova is a rational feasibility in the light of Serbia’s position and the West’s reluctance to stay there. I am sure that the Serbs would think twice faced with a more equal opponent.
Agree with you Fuad 100%.

Albanians have hoped that after Milosevic’s regime was over we would come to some sort of agreements peacefully with Serbs, but that seems not possible now.
The only viable solution left is NATO arming Kosovo’s army, than we will come to some sorts of peaceful agreements with those Serbs.
Not to forget Madeline’s words “Serbs only understand the language of force”

From the attached 2005 article on the ICG...
"But let's imagine the ideal world in which, year by year, more and more government funds would come with no strings attached whatsoever. Are non-governmental people leading ICG?

No, they are not. Among its board members we find Gareth Evans President & CEO, Former Foreign Minister of Australia and Lord Patten of Barnes, former European Commissioner for External Relations, Co-Chairman. Two pro-Kosovo-Albanian Americans, Morton Abramowitz, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Stephen Solarz, former U.S. Congressman. And George Soros. Among other names that catch the "independent, non-governmental" eye you find: ambassador Kenneth Adelman (US), Wesley Clark (former NATO-commander who lead the destruction of Yugoslavia in 1999) (US), Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor to the President, Ruth Dreifuss, former President, Switzerland, Leslie H. Gelb, former President of Council on Foreign Relations, U.S."

http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/1043/9/

Hey Roger7
Did you know that
Mr Ahtisaari was,until 2004, Chairman of the International Crisis Group (ICG)and he has retained a position as chairman emeritus of the organisation?
The ICG has been at the forefront of efforts to promote an independent Kosovo.
Another ICG member is Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who led the bombing of Kosovo, who has also written several pieces supporting independence and was endorsed by the US Albanian community in his run for the US presidency in 2004.
(Civilitas)
Politics without Principle!

Serbian news last night reported that Tadic has lost his patience with Kostunica and his followers. He has heavily criticised Kostunica for his politics that are leading to another isolation of Serbia.

ICG?
Rather bizarICG?
Rather bizarre bunch!
The predominate prefix in all the titles is “former”… It is telling.
What is their motive? What drives them?
Probably the very same things that drove them prior to becoming a “former”.

What peaceful solution in 10 years you talking about?
The Albanian's try that for 10 years 1989-1999 and we all saw the Serbs response to that.
There was no NATO aggression against Serbia, but the protection off the innocent civilian against the ethnical cleansing by the Serb government. And that West use the NATO only after all the diplomatic and other peaceful attempts to resolve the situation fell to materialise. You lot seems to bury you head in the sand and ignore all the facts.
Personally the West is been weak dealing with Kosovo status. Is been dragging for years and this only add more false hope to the extremists in Serbia that somehow they can reverse the time back and forget all the pain and suffering that the people in Kosova went through.
Kosovo should had the independence in 1999, after the war. The EU need to be strong and talk open and simple to the Belgrade, not to follow the "politically correct" language. The EU cannot expect every time U.S. to intervene in the face of Russia bulling.

Fuad wrote;
The armament of Kosova is a rational feasibility in the light of Serbia’s position and the West’s reluctance to stay there. I am sure that the Serbs would think twice faced with a more equal opponent.
Agree with you Fuad 100%.

Albanians have hoped that after Milosevic’s regime was over we would come to some sort of agreements peacefully with Serbs, but that seems not possible now.
The only viable solution left is NATO arming Kosovo’s army, than we will come to some sorts of peaceful agreements with those Serbs.
Not to forget Madeline’s words “Serbs only understand the language of force”

For eight years NATO did nothig but look while albanians were killing and burning anything Serbian.And now they are afraid that there would be more of it.
Give me a break-savage is a savage,you gents are happy for as long as your paycheck was on time.Who cares about the real picture of kosovo.

Cvele

Serbs DID have control of the area, and we all know what happened!

Cvele how INCOMPREHENSIBLE you are, Kosovo Albanians are against these forces, no chance for any return of Serbian forces in kosova.

"The problem for the international community, and particularly for NATO, is that it is impossible to imagine a truly independent Kosovo from which it can withdraw, and which won’t require the presence of international forces."
Surely we can have a truly independent Kosova without the presence of international forces. All we need to do is to restore the balance of power in the region.

Absolutely right Fuad. Serbian intransigence should be challenged head on. If BG is unwilling to acknowledge that independence is a foregone conclusion other options should be open to the new state. I am sure Kosovars would be able to safeguard their own independence given the chance.

The ICG, which is a mouthpiece for the KLA, is still insisting on Ahtisari's greater albania plan. They just like to keep flogging that dead horse. I look forward to more and more voices of reason coming out, just like Dan Burton's yesterday.
I would advise the Kosovo albanians to go get their Serbian passports if they want to go on vacation somewhere. In case they haven't been paying attention, greater albania is dead.

When any problem seems to have no solution, the premises or viewing angle are wrong. It is interesting how esteemed Proffessor does not consider the fourth, the most obvious option, - U.S. and EU should abandon Albanian extremists and bail out from botched armed robbery of Serbian territory because it did not worked.

Building up Albanian terrorists and using them to create pretext to attack Serbia only allienated Russia and caused rise of Russia on the international scene after NATO's aggression.

Without American and EU support to Albanian extremists, normal Albanians and Serbs would come to some kind of workable solution in the next 10 years. With U.S./EU support to land grab, it is not likely to happen. However, U.S/EU know too well they can not make land grab legal and lasting.
It seems that more trouble is a part of their script - peaceful solution obviously is not.

The peace to the Balkans can be brought only in Washington, D.C. and London, when they stop their support to terrorism.

Feud
Sure by removing NATO from an autonomus Kosovo and letting the Serbs control the area.

Cleve
I definitely did not mean that. What I meant was that the armament of Kosova is a rational feasibility in the light of Serbia’s position and the West’s reluctance to stay there. I am sure that the Serbs would think twice faced with a more equal opponent.
It is Fuad by the way.

Serbs DID have control of the area, and we all know what happened!
(nikshala, 21. August 2007 16:41)

Exactly, YOU invaded it.

From the attached 2005 article on the ICG...
"But let's imagine the ideal world in which, year by year, more and more government funds would come with no strings attached whatsoever. Are non-governmental people leading ICG?

No, they are not. Among its board members we find Gareth Evans President & CEO, Former Foreign Minister of Australia and Lord Patten of Barnes, former European Commissioner for External Relations, Co-Chairman. Two pro-Kosovo-Albanian Americans, Morton Abramowitz, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Stephen Solarz, former U.S. Congressman. And George Soros. Among other names that catch the "independent, non-governmental" eye you find: ambassador Kenneth Adelman (US), Wesley Clark (former NATO-commander who lead the destruction of Yugoslavia in 1999) (US), Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor to the President, Ruth Dreifuss, former President, Switzerland, Leslie H. Gelb, former President of Council on Foreign Relations, U.S."

http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/1043/9/

The Italian foreign policy expert Sergio Romano wrote basically the same, that the Kosovo question is an equation which has no solution (at least from the West point of view), many months ago on the Corriere della Sera.

The article ends by saying the "genie of ethnic conflict" will be released again. But this time any threat of violence is coming exclusively from the Albanian side which is making threats of war almost daily.

So the Western response should be rather quite simple. If the predicted conflict erupts again, determine the instigator of that violence and then bomb the hell out of them with air strikes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Attack the Albanian infrastructure, their bridges, power plants, roads, TV stations and rail lines, preferably with a train or two packed with civilans.

Of course that won't happen, but it illustrates the absurd double standard the West applies in the Balkans.

The omnly practical and effective solution an the one which has already been manifest on the ground, is division. Split the province and call it a day. The Albanians may be upset, but its a fair solution and if they attack, the Serb Army has more than enought power to easily handle any attempt to grab land back.

And for the ISG, it's little more than a zealous, anti-Serb organization which has never condemned nor attacked another ethnic group in the Balkans. It's exclusively anti-Serb and as a result has no credibility.

"If Kosovo explodes because the independence issue is mishandled, the regional risks would include that eight years worth of international resources and prestige dedicated to managing the crisis would be lost," the report said.

1. “Kosovo explodes” – Kosovo is very unlikely to physically explode due to acts of God. What the ICG means to say is; The Kosovo Albanian leadership will instigate large scale violence, including military style attacks on NATO. That will place NATO in the awkward position of having to fight back.

2. “because the independence issue is mishandled” – The Kosovo issue was mishandled the minute certain actors started making promises they were not in a position to make. Kosovo and Metohija is a province of Serbia. Only Serbia can decide what will happen with its province. Too bad for those that thought they owned Kosovo and Metohija but aren’t even on the same continent.

3. “eight years worth of international resources and prestige dedicated to managing the crisis would be lost” – It is not Serbia’s job to preserve someone else’s resources and prestige.

I have no sympathy for people that are supposedly intelligent and able to make informed choices getting it wrong. The ICG should grow up and give it up. Stop beating a dead horse. They are writing this tripe well after everyone else has moved on.

Serbia will not voluntarily give up one square centimetre of sovereign territory.

If some parties wish to collude to deny Kosovo Albanians a future simply based on their ethnicity, by consigning them to a life in the twighlight zone of perpetual legal limbo, that is their problem, not Serbia's.

Shock horror - UK proffesor surprised by Serbian unity with regards it's province - Kosovo & Metohija. He can't be a very good analyst if he is surpised to find that Serbians are united in not being robbed of their cultural and historical heartland. Dear me where do they find these "analysts" all he needed to do was ask some of the many thousands of British Serbs for a bit more insight! Serbia is willing to compromise and find a solution that respects interantional laws and the UN obligations that the US and a 'few' EU countries have formulated and agreed surely it is about time that these anlysts understood the message!

Tex
I even recomended your post. Because it implies that there is something albans could do to stop us. Ask US to give u some nukes and see what they say. There will be no war because albans have no military capabilities. So if US says sit down and be quiet you will sit down and be quiet. If they say jump u will jump. If they say no independence, autonomy it is. Maybe a few renegades here and there but thats not to say they are capable of taking on Serbia.

ICG?
Rather bizarICG?
Rather bizarre bunch!
The predominate prefix in all the titles is “former”… It is telling.
What is their motive? What drives them?
Probably the very same things that drove them prior to becoming a “former”.

Hey Roger7
Did you know that
Mr Ahtisaari was,until 2004, Chairman of the International Crisis Group (ICG)and he has retained a position as chairman emeritus of the organisation?
The ICG has been at the forefront of efforts to promote an independent Kosovo.
Another ICG member is Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who led the bombing of Kosovo, who has also written several pieces supporting independence and was endorsed by the US Albanian community in his run for the US presidency in 2004.
(Civilitas)
Politics without Principle!

“I must say that the Americans and Europeans have been surprised by Koštunica and Tadić’s united front, not to mention the overall Serbian political scene vis-à-vis Kosovo. That unity, allied with the threat of a Russian or Chinese veto, has led to the current round of talks and, at the very least, the delay of what NATO and the EU had been expecting,”

quite interesting, are they REALLY surprised???

seems like they wasted a lot of time by not listening to statements serbian officials or even private persons have said, not reading what Serbs have written in the last years...
there is no such thing like independence of Kosovo.
Albanians will accept that sooner or later if their "friends" tell them to forget about that.
otherwise there will be a serious conflict again, and this time we all know who will start it.
( the same bunch of chicken-thieves that started it in ´99 anyway )

Fuad, don´t dream about the kla being militarily supported again, and even less of becoming an equal power towards Serbia.
it´s ridiculous, writing something like that...
better stick to some ARGUMENTS...

Serbian news last night reported that Tadic has lost his patience with Kostunica and his followers. He has heavily criticised Kostunica for his politics that are leading to another isolation of Serbia.

Hi Dragan
to the best of my knowledge a Serbian passport is about as much use as one from Turkmenistan. You still need permission to travel to the west and if you were unfortunate to be stranded in Italy you would have sleep on the airport.
Tracy