"Kosovo to be part of Serbia in name only"

A Serb, a Albanian and a Roma all from Kosova are captured by Taliban in Afganistan. They are all give a last wish as they are to be executed in a few hours. The Serb asks for a gusla to sing a long epic to the heroics of Kosova’s Battle, Prince Lazar and Milos Obilic. The Albanian requests a sharkia as he too will sing a long epic to League of Prizren and to heroes that followed starting from Azem Bejtja and others.
In the end the Roma is asked for his last wish.
Ohhh for God’s Sake he says … just shoot me first.

“That means we’ve reached a position where anyone at all can govern the territory, and that all that matters to us is that when our grandchildren start drawing maps of Serbia, they’ll still be able to include Kosovo.,“ - Thats the most childish and pathetic argument against indepenendnce I have ever heard!

Serbian childred can keep drawing Kosovo after independence, as part of Serbia as long as they like, if that makes them happy.

everybody should keep in mind how the whole conflict started...

with terrorist attacks on yugoslav citizens of serbian, but also of albanian ethnicity... by albanian terror-fanatics.

this should not be rewarded at all!

Svilanović is not the one who should step up for the serbian cause, since he has made the problem even bigger.

Sure in the future when the world is preoccupied with some other idiocy. Serbs will march in and fix those pesky Albanians. How dared to defy Serbian oppression. Could you imagine they also wanted their freedom and did not see it the Serbian way. Because it was still part of Serbia and not independent country.The Serbs said they had every right to do what ever they like because it was still part of Serbia.

Nikshala: "Serbian childred can keep drawing Kosovo after independence, as part of Serbia as long as they like, if that makes them happy."

But if it actually is stll part of Serbia and being drawn that was across the world it's a little different.

Besides which it's a euphamism, Nikshala. They are talking about physically keeping the territory but allowing it to be self governed.

Jess, I do not understand you logic.

If the west like the serbian proposal, that means that they are giving something to Serbia, hence there is no need for rewards (SAA).

Do you not think its more likle that this agreement is being signed to make serbs less bitter about Kosovo's imminent independence? That sounds much more logical.

According to this. There is absolutely NO one that is hoping you declare unilateral independence more then the Serbs. Because we know UN will NEVER recognise you. This was a direct threat at the West. Asking them how long they want this problem.

Clean Cut,

If Kosovo gets independce, it will not be the end, it will be the beginning. Why the Serbs and Croats should stay in Bosnia?

Why the Albanians should stay in Macedonia?

We do not even send troops to Darfur and for Kosovo we will even break international law. NO WAY!!!

Do you not think its more likle that this agreement is being signed to make serbs less bitter about Kosovo's imminent independence? That sounds much more logical.
(nikshala

Do you think that Serbs are such fools to sell Kosovo out only for signing the agreemnt. We could give indpendence to southern part of Kosovo only for Srpska. I doubt that this Serbian government would sign any agreement on future EU joining if Kosovo status is not the one acceptable for Serbia.

I think this might be a compromise. Serbia has their territorial integrity (in terms of maps, which means that the threat of Serbian nationalism toward Kosovo is minimized), Kosovo has its self-determination (in the form of self-rule, which means they may have their own government, language status, currency, passports, army, anthem, flag etc.), I think the international community should show a little more support for this idea.

This way we have no precedent, economic development occurs separately (like China/Hong Kong or China/Macau) and people get on with their own lives! Or is Kosovo the object of some Serbian vs. Albanian game where status is the objective and not the stability of the Balkan region? Remember people, in this scenario: Serbs get their borders, Albanians control their own destiny... what could be better? I am sure the Troika is sick to death of this stupid, childish, nationalist bellyaching of both Belgrade and Pristina, there are far bigger problems in the world, I really hope they see this as a realistic answer to this whole issue.

Then Serbia with Kosovo can have a smooth transition into the EU, NATO and WTO. America and Russia should back off from this whole thing.

None of you Serb supporters mention Serb population of Kosova in your postings, shame. Do you really think that by children drawing the borders of Kosova inside Serbia will make Kosova more Serbian or keep K-Serbs in Kosova, they are leaving Kosova at fast pace. Guys,what makes you think that K-Serbs in future won’t be sick of children drawings and games of current Serbia politicians, Kate’s Jovan and Pricnips. Last postings of Serbs and their supporters tell that they are confused and don’t know what they want.

Kate; I think your right with the euphemism, but don't you think that the children of Kosova can draw there own country better then some kid in Belgrade.

I understand the History which has gone in our favour and vice versa but the fact is that you cant expect to 90% of the population who have in way or another been affected with the killings, massacres (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7082309.stm) and rule with a iron fist for 100 years and expect to get Kosova to go back. its unrealistic, hence why I disagree with your comments (current/past).

I think the best solution is to separate (official) and join the EU where there will be no more boarders and people in serbia and Kosova DONT NEED TO LIVE UN BREAD AND BUTTER.

When Serbia gets over its macho nationalist movement the hole region will develop and grow to be more profitable the Italy/Greece etc etc as we where once.

If we look at history, we see that the Hong-Kong model would mean that Serbia would get the property back after 100 years!

It is a reasonable compromise - lease it and charge a fair rent.

On renewal, either the property is returned to the owner, or a lease extension is negotiated.

The rent can be reviewed every three years in the light of inflation and increased property values.

olf,

Do you mean the Serb people who are living behind wires - in their own country - thanks to albanian terrorism and nato occupation of our country? Is this what you meant to say?

Sorry Mike, your latest suggestion (at 14:58 ) will NOT make "everyone" happy, at least not the Albanians. It is not a gentleman's draw as you would like to have us believe. The only thing that will make the Albanians happy will be independence!

And Kate NO there's not gone be a physical Serb presence in Kosova anymore and NO there won't be any other type of relations between us besides international relations.
(teni

Finally you said it out loud. This means every Serb in Kosovo will be killed after the final status. Now you Albanians should understand why Serbs wont give you independence. And yet they still blame Serbs for their own misery on the filed of social conditions.

Sooo pathetic!

Nikshala, signing the SAA is not much of a carrot. If it were full EU membership, maybe....just maybe Olli Rehn might find someone in Belgrade who would take the bait.
But an SAA to soothe the "imminent" loss of Kosovo? I doubt it. Anyway, signing the document is more of a commitment from Belgrade to the EU to work on raising standards and cooperation....not the other way around. It's like a memorandum of understanding....that's all.
My point is this: Since 2000, the west has repeated the same mantra over and over again ad nauseum. Mladic, Karadzic, Hague Cooperation, cooperate w/UNMIK, Sebian intransigence, blah blah blah. All of this to keep Kosovo Albanians "on point" and faithful in the hope of independence. Because of this, the west has put themselves in a position where now that belgrade has at the very least introduced an interesting idea about the future status of Kosovo, they cannot publicly admit that the idea has some merit. Wouldn't want to offend those politicians in Kosovo who have basically sold their soul to us.
In the absence of real communication coming from the west in response to Belgrade's ideas and proposals, this is the way that diplomacy "speaks" without offending the Kosovo Albanians. Just my opinion.

This is getting weirder and weirder by the day. Why insist and risk so much simply for a map? And what happens if Serb children want to draw maps of Yugoslavia for instance? And above all why in the world should we care about hurting the cartographic feelings of the Serbs?
And Kate NO there's not gone be a physical Serb presence in Kosova anymore and NO there won't be any other type of relations between us besides international relations.

Kosova is de facto Independent since 8 years. It will be de jure so in just a few weeks, and everyone in the Balkans will be happy that this status quo finally ended.


After that, we Albanians will provide anyone in the Balkans with free pencils and lots of paper so all of you can draw as many maps and immaginary Kingdoms for as long as you live. Good luck!

What's the point of keeping Kosovo in name only? Ego? Grandchildren drawing maps? What is this, Sesame Street? Since when does the ego of a nation trump the will of people?

Sorry, not a good enough reason.

Yesterday: "Hong Kong" model introduced definitively
Today:SAA signed

I think somebody from the west likes the idea....

It's just a matter of time when Serbia will come with new idea after Hong Kong one : King Kong & Godzilla !!!

From January 1, 2002, Hong Kong residents and visitors to Hong Kong can watch the Chinese flag raising ceremony at 08:00 everyday.
Imagine,everyday in Pristina the Serbian Flag is raised followed by National Anthem!!!
That's not possible,never!
Next move,they will talk about possibility of partition,they will try to buy more time,but until when?!
A country run by EU,why not,we want only to be free from Serbia!!!
No hard feelings!

bmrusila: you are either too quick to jump at conclusions or have a very short memory. I don't know which one is the case but I would appreciate it if you would not put words into my mouth. The Troika said that there will not be a "physical Serb presence" in Kosova and it refers to Serbs rule over the province. So don't get sentimental over it alright?
And as for you Serbs giving us independence, well we are not asking you for anything are we now? We have de facto independence and Kosova will be part of Serbia in your dreams only.

to lili's note on "the hong kong reference is strange here,but symptomatic!
Does Serbia consider herself as great britain ?then Serbia acknowledges the fact that kosova was taken off from albania ,just as hongkong was taken off from china and the only hong kong deal here is to have kosova joining albania and keeping its own parlement!one country,2 systens then and only in these case!
Seems serbs are telling the truth at the end,volens nolens,:they grabbed kosova just as gb did for hong kong!"

If you think about what you wrote then Albanians would be considered the English by coming to Serbia and taking Kosovo i Metohija which is Serbian, NOT Serbia taking land from Albania.

The only thing that will make the Albanians happy will be independence!
(Michael John, 7. November 2007 16:09)

Well I hate to break it to you, but I just don't see that happening. No one is really jumping to the thought of giving you independence in the formal sense, and if we've been hearing for the past few months now about a compromise, and a way to keep both Serbs and Albanians happy, the only way forward would be to find a compromise that gives most of what each side wants, but not everything. Serbia doesn't keep Kosovo, but you don't gain independence. That's what a compromise is all about, and that's what I think the EU will finally agree to. To be perfectly honest, it is both impossible to make both sides completely happy, and downright foolish to make one side happy at the expense of the other.

It's so confuse what is really going on. I still don't get what Serbia's "Hong Kong" means but, look like we are getting somewhere. I think it is time to settle this thing down and move on with your lifes.

As silly, as symbolic, and as "flimsy" as it may sound, it kind of makes sense in a Balkan surrealistic way.

Think about it: since the beginning of these negotiations, all Serbia' really wanted was to look at a map and see that Kosovo, in whatever symbolic form, was still a part of Serbia, even though no serious efforts have been, or will be, made to govern it from Belgrade.

This actually sets Kosovo up for EU Mandate status, which is what will happen post December 10, and what most EU countries will sign on to, rather than give Kosovo formal political and territorial independence.

So Kosovo is governed by the EU, with officials in Pristina effectively having maximum authority over local and daily concerns. Serbs in Kosovo are protectd by the AP, and by not giving the province de jure independence, Serbia gets its way too. and here's the best part: Serbia gets what it wants, so Russia backs down. You can even put this for a vote in the UNSC!

Everyone's happy, we move on, EA and I share both a koniak and shljivovitsa (I've upped the ante from wine to shljivovitsa, EA) in a gentleman's draw, and look to the future.

Cvele,
You might want to take a refresher course on propaganda and spin because you are failing miserably in your attempts. You're very trasparent indeed!

Very FLIMSY.

Hahahahaha, that was too funny village-bey :)

the hong kong reference is strange here,but symptomatic!
Does Serbia consider herself as great britain ?then Serbia acknowledges the fact that kosova was taken off from albania ,just as hongkong was taken off from china and the only hong kong deal here is to have kosova joining albania and keeping its own parlement!one country,2 systens then and only in these case!
Seems serbs are telling the truth at the end,volens nolens,:they grabbed kosova just as gb did for hong kong!

Does everyone remember that I have kept on saying that all the time in here...."Serbia is ready to "give" Kosovar Albanians 99 per cent of independence just for just for Kosovar Albanians to accept to be Serbian citizens". ))))

you are either too quick to jump at conclusions or have a very short memory. I don't know which one is the case but I would appreciate it if you would not put words into my mouth. The Troika said that there will not be a "physical Serb presence" in Kosova and it refers to Serbs rule over the province. So don't get sentimental over it alright?
And as for you Serbs giving us independence, well we are not asking you for anything are we now? We have de facto independence and Kosova will be part of Serbia in your dreams only.
(teni

I am not juping quickly at the conclusions (maybe sometimes) neither I have short memory. As far as I remember Troika stated that there will be no presence of Serbs governing Kosovo but I do really not remember if they used the term "No physical Serb in Kosovo". If they really used that term in that case journalists and our government should address Troika seeking the explanation. No physical Serb in Kosovo sounds really way to heavy and has certain meaning. It allude on dissapearance by slaughtering or expeling Serbs from the Province in best case. I ask you nicely if you can pass the link with the original citation. And when it comes to your de jure independence I would say just wait and see hence nothing is yet certain and if it happens I will congartulate

Touché, village-bey! I'm sure any frequent reader of the comments on this site can sympathise with the roma. :)

"This is getting weirder and weirder by the day. Why insist and risk so much simply for a map?"

if it is so weird, why do you want to change the maps...???

what is so important about it for you, that you are even threatening with violence???

who is weird here, actually?????

"Kosovo to be part of Serbia in name only"

Names change. Our will change with a DIVORCE.

.

“That means we’ve reached a position where anyone at all can govern the territory, and that all that matters to us is that when our grandchildren start drawing maps of Serbia, they’ll still be able to include Kosovo.,“ - Thats the most childish and pathetic argument against indepenendnce I have ever heard!

Serbian childred can keep drawing Kosovo after independence, as part of Serbia as long as they like, if that makes them happy.

Very FLIMSY.

Yesterday: "Hong Kong" model introduced definitively
Today:SAA signed

I think somebody from the west likes the idea....

Sooo pathetic!

Jess, I do not understand you logic.

If the west like the serbian proposal, that means that they are giving something to Serbia, hence there is no need for rewards (SAA).

Do you not think its more likle that this agreement is being signed to make serbs less bitter about Kosovo's imminent independence? That sounds much more logical.

everybody should keep in mind how the whole conflict started...

with terrorist attacks on yugoslav citizens of serbian, but also of albanian ethnicity... by albanian terror-fanatics.

this should not be rewarded at all!

Svilanović is not the one who should step up for the serbian cause, since he has made the problem even bigger.

Nikshala: "Serbian childred can keep drawing Kosovo after independence, as part of Serbia as long as they like, if that makes them happy."

But if it actually is stll part of Serbia and being drawn that was across the world it's a little different.

Besides which it's a euphamism, Nikshala. They are talking about physically keeping the territory but allowing it to be self governed.

A Serb, a Albanian and a Roma all from Kosova are captured by Taliban in Afganistan. They are all give a last wish as they are to be executed in a few hours. The Serb asks for a gusla to sing a long epic to the heroics of Kosova’s Battle, Prince Lazar and Milos Obilic. The Albanian requests a sharkia as he too will sing a long epic to League of Prizren and to heroes that followed starting from Azem Bejtja and others.
In the end the Roma is asked for his last wish.
Ohhh for God’s Sake he says … just shoot me first.

This is getting weirder and weirder by the day. Why insist and risk so much simply for a map? And what happens if Serb children want to draw maps of Yugoslavia for instance? And above all why in the world should we care about hurting the cartographic feelings of the Serbs?
And Kate NO there's not gone be a physical Serb presence in Kosova anymore and NO there won't be any other type of relations between us besides international relations.

Sorry Mike, your latest suggestion (at 14:58 ) will NOT make "everyone" happy, at least not the Albanians. It is not a gentleman's draw as you would like to have us believe. The only thing that will make the Albanians happy will be independence!

It's just a matter of time when Serbia will come with new idea after Hong Kong one : King Kong & Godzilla !!!

From January 1, 2002, Hong Kong residents and visitors to Hong Kong can watch the Chinese flag raising ceremony at 08:00 everyday.
Imagine,everyday in Pristina the Serbian Flag is raised followed by National Anthem!!!
That's not possible,never!
Next move,they will talk about possibility of partition,they will try to buy more time,but until when?!
A country run by EU,why not,we want only to be free from Serbia!!!
No hard feelings!

bmrusila: you are either too quick to jump at conclusions or have a very short memory. I don't know which one is the case but I would appreciate it if you would not put words into my mouth. The Troika said that there will not be a "physical Serb presence" in Kosova and it refers to Serbs rule over the province. So don't get sentimental over it alright?
And as for you Serbs giving us independence, well we are not asking you for anything are we now? We have de facto independence and Kosova will be part of Serbia in your dreams only.

Cvele,
You might want to take a refresher course on propaganda and spin because you are failing miserably in your attempts. You're very trasparent indeed!

What's the point of keeping Kosovo in name only? Ego? Grandchildren drawing maps? What is this, Sesame Street? Since when does the ego of a nation trump the will of people?

Sorry, not a good enough reason.

Does everyone remember that I have kept on saying that all the time in here...."Serbia is ready to "give" Kosovar Albanians 99 per cent of independence just for just for Kosovar Albanians to accept to be Serbian citizens". ))))

It's so confuse what is really going on. I still don't get what Serbia's "Hong Kong" means but, look like we are getting somewhere. I think it is time to settle this thing down and move on with your lifes.

Sure in the future when the world is preoccupied with some other idiocy. Serbs will march in and fix those pesky Albanians. How dared to defy Serbian oppression. Could you imagine they also wanted their freedom and did not see it the Serbian way. Because it was still part of Serbia and not independent country.The Serbs said they had every right to do what ever they like because it was still part of Serbia.

Do you not think its more likle that this agreement is being signed to make serbs less bitter about Kosovo's imminent independence? That sounds much more logical.
(nikshala

Do you think that Serbs are such fools to sell Kosovo out only for signing the agreemnt. We could give indpendence to southern part of Kosovo only for Srpska. I doubt that this Serbian government would sign any agreement on future EU joining if Kosovo status is not the one acceptable for Serbia.

Nikshala, signing the SAA is not much of a carrot. If it were full EU membership, maybe....just maybe Olli Rehn might find someone in Belgrade who would take the bait.
But an SAA to soothe the "imminent" loss of Kosovo? I doubt it. Anyway, signing the document is more of a commitment from Belgrade to the EU to work on raising standards and cooperation....not the other way around. It's like a memorandum of understanding....that's all.
My point is this: Since 2000, the west has repeated the same mantra over and over again ad nauseum. Mladic, Karadzic, Hague Cooperation, cooperate w/UNMIK, Sebian intransigence, blah blah blah. All of this to keep Kosovo Albanians "on point" and faithful in the hope of independence. Because of this, the west has put themselves in a position where now that belgrade has at the very least introduced an interesting idea about the future status of Kosovo, they cannot publicly admit that the idea has some merit. Wouldn't want to offend those politicians in Kosovo who have basically sold their soul to us.
In the absence of real communication coming from the west in response to Belgrade's ideas and proposals, this is the way that diplomacy "speaks" without offending the Kosovo Albanians. Just my opinion.

Kate; I think your right with the euphemism, but don't you think that the children of Kosova can draw there own country better then some kid in Belgrade.

I understand the History which has gone in our favour and vice versa but the fact is that you cant expect to 90% of the population who have in way or another been affected with the killings, massacres (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7082309.stm) and rule with a iron fist for 100 years and expect to get Kosova to go back. its unrealistic, hence why I disagree with your comments (current/past).

I think the best solution is to separate (official) and join the EU where there will be no more boarders and people in serbia and Kosova DONT NEED TO LIVE UN BREAD AND BUTTER.

When Serbia gets over its macho nationalist movement the hole region will develop and grow to be more profitable the Italy/Greece etc etc as we where once.

If we look at history, we see that the Hong-Kong model would mean that Serbia would get the property back after 100 years!

It is a reasonable compromise - lease it and charge a fair rent.

On renewal, either the property is returned to the owner, or a lease extension is negotiated.

The rent can be reviewed every three years in the light of inflation and increased property values.

olf,

Do you mean the Serb people who are living behind wires - in their own country - thanks to albanian terrorism and nato occupation of our country? Is this what you meant to say?

And Kate NO there's not gone be a physical Serb presence in Kosova anymore and NO there won't be any other type of relations between us besides international relations.
(teni

Finally you said it out loud. This means every Serb in Kosovo will be killed after the final status. Now you Albanians should understand why Serbs wont give you independence. And yet they still blame Serbs for their own misery on the filed of social conditions.

the hong kong reference is strange here,but symptomatic!
Does Serbia consider herself as great britain ?then Serbia acknowledges the fact that kosova was taken off from albania ,just as hongkong was taken off from china and the only hong kong deal here is to have kosova joining albania and keeping its own parlement!one country,2 systens then and only in these case!
Seems serbs are telling the truth at the end,volens nolens,:they grabbed kosova just as gb did for hong kong!

According to this. There is absolutely NO one that is hoping you declare unilateral independence more then the Serbs. Because we know UN will NEVER recognise you. This was a direct threat at the West. Asking them how long they want this problem.

Kosova is de facto Independent since 8 years. It will be de jure so in just a few weeks, and everyone in the Balkans will be happy that this status quo finally ended.


After that, we Albanians will provide anyone in the Balkans with free pencils and lots of paper so all of you can draw as many maps and immaginary Kingdoms for as long as you live. Good luck!

"Kosovo to be part of Serbia in name only"

Names change. Our will change with a DIVORCE.

.

I think this might be a compromise. Serbia has their territorial integrity (in terms of maps, which means that the threat of Serbian nationalism toward Kosovo is minimized), Kosovo has its self-determination (in the form of self-rule, which means they may have their own government, language status, currency, passports, army, anthem, flag etc.), I think the international community should show a little more support for this idea.

This way we have no precedent, economic development occurs separately (like China/Hong Kong or China/Macau) and people get on with their own lives! Or is Kosovo the object of some Serbian vs. Albanian game where status is the objective and not the stability of the Balkan region? Remember people, in this scenario: Serbs get their borders, Albanians control their own destiny... what could be better? I am sure the Troika is sick to death of this stupid, childish, nationalist bellyaching of both Belgrade and Pristina, there are far bigger problems in the world, I really hope they see this as a realistic answer to this whole issue.

Then Serbia with Kosovo can have a smooth transition into the EU, NATO and WTO. America and Russia should back off from this whole thing.

None of you Serb supporters mention Serb population of Kosova in your postings, shame. Do you really think that by children drawing the borders of Kosova inside Serbia will make Kosova more Serbian or keep K-Serbs in Kosova, they are leaving Kosova at fast pace. Guys,what makes you think that K-Serbs in future won’t be sick of children drawings and games of current Serbia politicians, Kate’s Jovan and Pricnips. Last postings of Serbs and their supporters tell that they are confused and don’t know what they want.

As silly, as symbolic, and as "flimsy" as it may sound, it kind of makes sense in a Balkan surrealistic way.

Think about it: since the beginning of these negotiations, all Serbia' really wanted was to look at a map and see that Kosovo, in whatever symbolic form, was still a part of Serbia, even though no serious efforts have been, or will be, made to govern it from Belgrade.

This actually sets Kosovo up for EU Mandate status, which is what will happen post December 10, and what most EU countries will sign on to, rather than give Kosovo formal political and territorial independence.

So Kosovo is governed by the EU, with officials in Pristina effectively having maximum authority over local and daily concerns. Serbs in Kosovo are protectd by the AP, and by not giving the province de jure independence, Serbia gets its way too. and here's the best part: Serbia gets what it wants, so Russia backs down. You can even put this for a vote in the UNSC!

Everyone's happy, we move on, EA and I share both a koniak and shljivovitsa (I've upped the ante from wine to shljivovitsa, EA) in a gentleman's draw, and look to the future.

Hahahahaha, that was too funny village-bey :)

to lili's note on "the hong kong reference is strange here,but symptomatic!
Does Serbia consider herself as great britain ?then Serbia acknowledges the fact that kosova was taken off from albania ,just as hongkong was taken off from china and the only hong kong deal here is to have kosova joining albania and keeping its own parlement!one country,2 systens then and only in these case!
Seems serbs are telling the truth at the end,volens nolens,:they grabbed kosova just as gb did for hong kong!"

If you think about what you wrote then Albanians would be considered the English by coming to Serbia and taking Kosovo i Metohija which is Serbian, NOT Serbia taking land from Albania.

The only thing that will make the Albanians happy will be independence!
(Michael John, 7. November 2007 16:09)

Well I hate to break it to you, but I just don't see that happening. No one is really jumping to the thought of giving you independence in the formal sense, and if we've been hearing for the past few months now about a compromise, and a way to keep both Serbs and Albanians happy, the only way forward would be to find a compromise that gives most of what each side wants, but not everything. Serbia doesn't keep Kosovo, but you don't gain independence. That's what a compromise is all about, and that's what I think the EU will finally agree to. To be perfectly honest, it is both impossible to make both sides completely happy, and downright foolish to make one side happy at the expense of the other.

Touché, village-bey! I'm sure any frequent reader of the comments on this site can sympathise with the roma. :)

Clean Cut,

If Kosovo gets independce, it will not be the end, it will be the beginning. Why the Serbs and Croats should stay in Bosnia?

Why the Albanians should stay in Macedonia?

We do not even send troops to Darfur and for Kosovo we will even break international law. NO WAY!!!

you are either too quick to jump at conclusions or have a very short memory. I don't know which one is the case but I would appreciate it if you would not put words into my mouth. The Troika said that there will not be a "physical Serb presence" in Kosova and it refers to Serbs rule over the province. So don't get sentimental over it alright?
And as for you Serbs giving us independence, well we are not asking you for anything are we now? We have de facto independence and Kosova will be part of Serbia in your dreams only.
(teni

I am not juping quickly at the conclusions (maybe sometimes) neither I have short memory. As far as I remember Troika stated that there will be no presence of Serbs governing Kosovo but I do really not remember if they used the term "No physical Serb in Kosovo". If they really used that term in that case journalists and our government should address Troika seeking the explanation. No physical Serb in Kosovo sounds really way to heavy and has certain meaning. It allude on dissapearance by slaughtering or expeling Serbs from the Province in best case. I ask you nicely if you can pass the link with the original citation. And when it comes to your de jure independence I would say just wait and see hence nothing is yet certain and if it happens I will congartulate

"This is getting weirder and weirder by the day. Why insist and risk so much simply for a map?"

if it is so weird, why do you want to change the maps...???

what is so important about it for you, that you are even threatening with violence???

who is weird here, actually?????