"Moscow will stand its ground on Kosovo"

IF (if!) Kosovo illegally declares independence of course Serbia should send in its army to prevent this.

If not: stay out. And work towards a peaceful reintegration in Serbia.

Of course Serbia is free to seek Russian militairy aid? Why not?

Serbia is an independent state. Kosovo is just a Serbian province!

Kosovo (not Kosova) should remain part of Serbia as it has been for hundreds of years.

For ethnic Albanians to call for independence would be the same as for ethnic Mexicans to declare independence in southern California, I doubt the Russians would support them as the US supports the ethnic Albanians.
Needless to say, the Albanians were not happy coexisting with the Serbs since they became the majority in the region, who is to say that gaining independence can make them happy for Serbs still do live in Kosovo. Independence for Kosovo is absurd and should have never been supported by the west to begin with and the west should withdraw and let Serbia govern itself, all of itself.

Those who migrated into the Kosovo region from Albania have the option to return to their motherland if they are not happy in their current host country, instead they choose to upset the peace of this country and cry out for help from the west who so eagerly wants to demonstrate its military power to countries approximately 1/100th it’s size in both power and territory.

Russia has not considered a military presence in Kosovo until now. If Serbia demanded something like that then it would be a possibility.

Sounds pretty clear to me that Russia will be ready to fight in any way needed. Is the US ready to really fight or just drop bombs? Last time Russia fought seriously against America, i.e. Vietnam they took it all the way with a good result.

This time Russia will have the people they support very prepared and able to defend their country just like they did then. Seriba's neightbours will not turn their back on Serbia either. How will NATO be able to control the situation with all this going against it?

I am thinking they will not be taking on something that has no clear outcome.

Russia is a part of Europe, there fore it has far more say in Kosovo than the US. :)

Peter, permit me to correct you when you stated that Serbia and Kosovo are European countries. Kosovo is NOT a country. When did you start considering Kosovo a country?

Serbia alone is a European country with Kosovo as a province.

Also one of the previous posters said that Russia should mind their own business. Maybe this is their business as much as it is America's business. When America decides to mind their own business then you can say the same for Russia.

Both countries are looking after their own iterests. Besides I don't think Russia is going to take advice from anyone posting here.

the serbian constitution is very clear on this.

don´t fool around, the issue is too serious.

Craig: let ben dream of whatever he wants...he will wake up, that´s something we can be sure of.

Peter: what´s your point, actually?

Serbia will join the EU, together with Kosovo, since it is an integral part of it´s territory.
but, when this will happen, depends on what the K-albanians, or let´s better say the US-"smart-guys" are gonna do in the near future.

let´s see what future brings.

The U.S. is not for the Albanians, it is for a giant free airbase free of any foreign control from stronger, smarter citizens in the area. That is why they've allowed the Serbs and other pro-Serbian minorities ethnically cleansed (300,000 of them) from Kosovo. They desparately want an independent Kosovo. Citizens that think are not welcome.

Russia is very European and is attempting to save Europe from more of its follies, like WWI and WWII. Too bad they're too arrogant to see it. Others like Indonesia, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Romania understand.

It appears that the EU will soon "get it."

"It was very simple to me, since when i was a child, Serbs are with Russians, Albanians with US. "

Actually Ben, Albania was always hardline communist... Mao Chinese communist.

Peter,

if there should be a Schengen-solution some day,...the Albanians in Serbia do not need independence. it´s so simple.

but nevertheless...,

Serbia will enter the EU, sooner or later.
Kosovo will do that only as an integral part of the serbian state ( for obvious reasons ).

every other way leads the whole region to trouble, and ...that means, a wait-loop...for a longer period.

and, that depends on the moves that will be made by the K-albanians, or let´s better say on the orders they are given from the white house.

whatever happens, Serbia will make the best of it, I am convinced of that.

and I also believe that some, not only here in this forum, but also in some western capitals haven´t indeed grasped what they are dealing with.
I am not 100 % in conformance with that previous article by that StratFor-analyst, but some thoughts are quite clever and I think something similar.

several of those "western" assumptions seem to be very "rosy" to me... and given that so far, they have misjudged the developement so comprehensively... I come to the conclusion that the Russians and the Serbs with them, are two steps further all along.

the Albanians here live in a state of denial, that´s understandable to a certain extent, but you are not an Albanian, you should be capable of looking beyond the limited views of fanatized kids.

I share one thought with that stratfor-guy: the Russians have bent over themselves too far. they won´t back down on this. and if that analysis hits the point...then the Albanians are really in a quite sad position. they can only put hope in another violent clash in which they would very likely lose more than they could gain with a compromise.

but that´s something those Albanians here are not able to understand at all - they are just too indoctrinated.

some will have a rude awakening as it seems, but I do not expect it to be the Serbs or Russia...

but, let us just sit back and look what future brings!

Leave it to Albanian posters here to try to argue that Russia is not part of Europe.
I can understand Albanians wanting to make the Kosovo land grab official but you seem to be so Ultra-nationalist that you cannot even face simple well known facts.See Albanians have no left right and center (I do not try and offend this is how it is)Ultra national is the normal starting point so this is why it makes it impossible to rationally negotiate.Rugova seemed to be as close as we will come to moderate in Kosovo.Moscow does not need to put up too much in man power just military hardware.Maybe a few thousand troops and
a lot of S-300s and some Sukhois to borrow.Lets us use the hardware and we Serbs can do the rest.After Tadic took office Serbia got rid of a large amount of out surface to air missles.Our air defence was weakened significantly thanks to the US amb in 2000 and on.

Kosova was rewarded to Serbia by the Great Powers thanks to the determinant Russian support.

If Albanians had a loyal supporter like the serbs have/had in Russia, Kosova would have never been part of Yugo/Serbia.

It was very simple to me, since when i was a child, Serbs are with Russians, Albanians with US.

Russia will not have access to the 'hot waters' her influence will be limited to her backyard- the dictators have no future.

Kosova will be the diplomatic Afghanistan for Russia.

Kosova is an European issue and Russia should look after its own massive problems otherwise it can expect a Western lesson or as they might call it "a humiliation"

Actually Ben, Albania was on the losing side of the two world wars...twice! And being collaborators with the Nazis who killed 6,000,000 Jews, Albania didn't receive any concessions. They were the losing party.

I am an American, born and raised, and have no affiliation with either side of this dispute, but I do know about Kosovars from being in Kosovo and I am not impressed with their love for America. It seems to be a love of convenience. When it is convenient, Kosovars will love whoever appears to have the upper hand, hence their alliance with Nazi Germany. Please don't run under my flag when it suits you.

EA, Russia is European too. Kosovo is in their backyard, not mine so I would say they have a more vested interest than the US. KS, I have never heard Russians say that they think Russia is its own continent. Russia is also considered European, not Asian. The majority of it's population lies on the west side of the Urals, which split the European half of the country with its Asian half. Please cite your sources when making these allegations.

Coci, The American budget takes care of 300 million people. Russia's population is a little under 150 million. They don't have a need to spend a lot like the US when they aren't getting their nose in everyone's business. Russian GDP, which is a better gauge of economic strength is $1.7 trillion. That's the eighth largest in the world. That tells me that they aren't something to sneeze at. They are just smarted in letting us police the world and spend our wealth while they build up their wealth. I would also rather spend my budget on my people, not yours. The Russians can do whatever they want with their new found wealth as long as I can do what I want with mine. I don't need my government to run up bills and end up $10 trillion in debt because my government wants to give away the money I work for.

How do you figure that Russia is in Europe? Almost all Russians consider their country a continent---not to mention that over 95% of the territory is located in Asia.
(KS, 21 December 2007 04:35)

KS, where on earth do you come with this baloney?
I've never heard anyone
from Russia refer to their country as a continent. Furthermore, even if only 5% of Russia's territory is inside europe, this still means that Russia is indeed part of europe.

Tell me KS what percentage of USA's territory is inside Europe? Absolutely ZERO!

Here's another fact for you KS, Russia's total territory
equates to roughly 7 million
square miles. 5% of this is
350,000 square miles, which is still a larger area than
that of every other European country, except for Ukraine.

KS: Clearly Russia is indeed part of Europe, and your insistence on denying this indisputable fact makes you look incredibly ignorant.

"Kosova is an European issue and Russia should look after its own massive problems otherwise it can expect a Western lesson or as they might call it "a humiliation"
(EA, 20 December 2007 21:52)"

I agree with you here EA, but the same must go for the US. Their mismanagement of the Iraq situation cannot be repeated here. Serbia and Kosovo are European countries, therefore European issues.

Ideally, both will in the future have good relations with both Russia and America, but I think Kosovars must put more trust in the EU than US.

Hi all,

I would like to remind you people that Russia had its troops all ready in Kosovo but they withdraw their troops before four years ago… the main reason fro withdrawal of Russian troops was lack of budget…
So people be more realistic look at USA Budget $2.407 trillion for the year 2006 and lets have a look the budget of Russia $230.7 billion for the same period of time. So we should be more open minded and more mature on this matter not to argue who is stronger and who is weaker, I thing personally the budget talk its self all ready. USA only in military wise spends more than the whole Russian budget; guy’s time for Serbian political elite is to be more realistic to don’t cheat its people that Russia will send the troops in Serbia or back to Kosovo.

I hope this helps!

Coci

peggy

Let's be realistic peggy, it doesn't appear on the map yet, but Serbia has no power over the region. Of course, Kosovo is highly reliant on Serbia for power and trade, considering it is still legally a part of Serbia, but I do not see it being a part of Serbia next year. Whether I agree with it or not is a totally different issue, but the reality is that Serbia will lose Kosovo. It may or may not acknowledge independence, but how Serbia intends to keep Kosovo without force is something I don't see. One can pretty much consider Kosovo a country. A very poor and disfunctional one, but a country it will become nontheless, it would seem.

Jovan

One day when Serbia and Kosovo are in the EU and Schengen Zone it will make no difference whther they are separate or not. This is why I see the independence issue as somewhat pointless given the fact that one day it will make little difference with borders serving more as guidelines rather than anything else, but as is apparent, the situation cannot remain as is and needs a permanent solution, one way or the other, because as things stand, the Kosovo province needs stability to grow.

KS

About 100 million of the 140 million of the people of Russia live in what all major organizations recognize as Europe. Their culture and history is distinctly European, despite what they might say as a result of their new rising nationalism, they are a European nation (they are probably distancing themselves from Europe because of the EU connection). The fact that much of their territory (not 95%, just to add) is in Asia is only because of their expansions, but this does not make them an Asian country at all. Most of the population is also European (either Slavic, Finno-Ugric or Baltic), not much is Mongol or Turkic either.

"How do you figure that Russia is in Europe? …"

Eastern border of European continent are Ural mountains. Take a look at the map, compare the size of part of Russia west of the Ural and rest of Europe.

"How do you figure that Russia is in Europe?"

I don't figure. I know. Eurasia is a big continent. However, all one has to do is to look at history. History clearly shows that Russia is European. Mores so than Albania by far.

How do you figure that Russia is in Europe? Almost all Russians consider their country a continent---not to mention that over 95% of the territory is located in Asia.

Well its about the damn time. Lets see that "EU" mission arrive now. CCCC

Peter, I certainly respect your opinion and you do make a lot of valid points, but you seem to have resigned yourself to the idea that Serbia has lost Kosovo.

Even if that was true, please don't refer to Kosovo as a country. Please leave that for the future if indeed that's what the future is. I don't see that as the future at all.

Serbia has said they will not intervene militarily in Kosovo. The reason they will not intervene is because foreign troops are in there supposedly doing the job of protecting the remaining Serbs. When these troops become the occupying force Serbia along with Russia will intervene militarily. Kosovo will remain Serbian one way or another. Can you honestly say that Serbia will not fight for their land if they are forced to?

Albanian posters here have already renamed that region to Kosova and are calling it a separate country. I don't think you mean to join them in insulting Serbia by saying that Kosovo is independent. Like I said, please reserve that for later IF it happens.
This has nothing to do with my wishes or yours but all to do with reality and that reality is that Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Let's not jump the gun.

We know very well that Russia has not got the power as it had it in a comunist era.Just imagine how many countries left the red pact,why is that?........
If Russia was that good as some posters say than probably many of you would be in Russia and not in UK,Germany,Swiss,US etc.

EU,US know by now that Russia does not care about improving the lifes of Europians (just look people in Russia living in poverty, coruption, escaping every day hunderds into EU by Putins regime).
Belgrad must think and do the right move before they get traped by Russia.

Let’s look at the facts here guys. You have NATO, EU and US on one side, and then you have Serbia and Russia on the other side. Forget about Zimbabwe etc. Plus, at the end of the day Serbia will have no choice but come to terms with the reality otherwise it can wave goodbye to EU membership. And like Mr Jeremic and Tadis have said numerous times; EU membership is Serbia’s nr 1 priority.

I don’t think it is very likely Russia will do anything else but use diplomacy.

====

Dan and Peggy, relax this is not some kind of official meeting. So whether you call it Kosovo, Kosova, or even UNMIKistan doesn’t make a real difference. Or whether you call it a province, autonomy, state or even a planet.

To American Eagle> extract of an article at The Economist

"The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel records 63 Albanians as “Righteous Among the Nations”, a title recognising those who risked their lives to save Jews. Romania has 53 such honourees, from a population six times Albania's. Russia has 124." http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9321421

Ask Serbs how many Serbs are remembered in The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial? since they were in the "right" side like cetniks (the ideology from which was inspired Milosevic and Kostunica) or Drazists the one prefered by Vuk Draskovic- were they in the winning side?

The albainas that joined with nazis in the 2 WW were those who believed that they will help them to get rid of teh serbs not because they had an idea what nazi philosophy was...

You can also see in teh above article the support of the US President Woodrow Wilson for Albania, not very successfully when kosova was left out form Albania..

Again it is very simple Serbs will never ever be american friend they are in fact russians...

I don't believe in love but in respect and US and EU respects our culture, history and our legitimate rights- hence they have all my loyalty.

Kosova was rewarded to Serbia by the Great Powers thanks to the determinant Russian support.

If Albanians had a loyal supporter like the serbs have/had in Russia, Kosova would have never been part of Yugo/Serbia.

It was very simple to me, since when i was a child, Serbs are with Russians, Albanians with US.

Russia will not have access to the 'hot waters' her influence will be limited to her backyard- the dictators have no future.

Kosova will be the diplomatic Afghanistan for Russia.

Kosova is an European issue and Russia should look after its own massive problems otherwise it can expect a Western lesson or as they might call it "a humiliation"

Russia is a part of Europe, there fore it has far more say in Kosovo than the US. :)

Hi all,

I would like to remind you people that Russia had its troops all ready in Kosovo but they withdraw their troops before four years ago… the main reason fro withdrawal of Russian troops was lack of budget…
So people be more realistic look at USA Budget $2.407 trillion for the year 2006 and lets have a look the budget of Russia $230.7 billion for the same period of time. So we should be more open minded and more mature on this matter not to argue who is stronger and who is weaker, I thing personally the budget talk its self all ready. USA only in military wise spends more than the whole Russian budget; guy’s time for Serbian political elite is to be more realistic to don’t cheat its people that Russia will send the troops in Serbia or back to Kosovo.

I hope this helps!

Coci

How do you figure that Russia is in Europe? Almost all Russians consider their country a continent---not to mention that over 95% of the territory is located in Asia.

"Kosova is an European issue and Russia should look after its own massive problems otherwise it can expect a Western lesson or as they might call it "a humiliation"
(EA, 20 December 2007 21:52)"

I agree with you here EA, but the same must go for the US. Their mismanagement of the Iraq situation cannot be repeated here. Serbia and Kosovo are European countries, therefore European issues.

Ideally, both will in the future have good relations with both Russia and America, but I think Kosovars must put more trust in the EU than US.

We know very well that Russia has not got the power as it had it in a comunist era.Just imagine how many countries left the red pact,why is that?........
If Russia was that good as some posters say than probably many of you would be in Russia and not in UK,Germany,Swiss,US etc.

EU,US know by now that Russia does not care about improving the lifes of Europians (just look people in Russia living in poverty, coruption, escaping every day hunderds into EU by Putins regime).
Belgrad must think and do the right move before they get traped by Russia.

Kosovo (not Kosova) should remain part of Serbia as it has been for hundreds of years.

For ethnic Albanians to call for independence would be the same as for ethnic Mexicans to declare independence in southern California, I doubt the Russians would support them as the US supports the ethnic Albanians.
Needless to say, the Albanians were not happy coexisting with the Serbs since they became the majority in the region, who is to say that gaining independence can make them happy for Serbs still do live in Kosovo. Independence for Kosovo is absurd and should have never been supported by the west to begin with and the west should withdraw and let Serbia govern itself, all of itself.

Those who migrated into the Kosovo region from Albania have the option to return to their motherland if they are not happy in their current host country, instead they choose to upset the peace of this country and cry out for help from the west who so eagerly wants to demonstrate its military power to countries approximately 1/100th it’s size in both power and territory.

The U.S. is not for the Albanians, it is for a giant free airbase free of any foreign control from stronger, smarter citizens in the area. That is why they've allowed the Serbs and other pro-Serbian minorities ethnically cleansed (300,000 of them) from Kosovo. They desparately want an independent Kosovo. Citizens that think are not welcome.

Russia is very European and is attempting to save Europe from more of its follies, like WWI and WWII. Too bad they're too arrogant to see it. Others like Indonesia, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Romania understand.

It appears that the EU will soon "get it."

To American Eagle> extract of an article at The Economist

"The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel records 63 Albanians as “Righteous Among the Nations”, a title recognising those who risked their lives to save Jews. Romania has 53 such honourees, from a population six times Albania's. Russia has 124." http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9321421

Ask Serbs how many Serbs are remembered in The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial? since they were in the "right" side like cetniks (the ideology from which was inspired Milosevic and Kostunica) or Drazists the one prefered by Vuk Draskovic- were they in the winning side?

The albainas that joined with nazis in the 2 WW were those who believed that they will help them to get rid of teh serbs not because they had an idea what nazi philosophy was...

You can also see in teh above article the support of the US President Woodrow Wilson for Albania, not very successfully when kosova was left out form Albania..

Again it is very simple Serbs will never ever be american friend they are in fact russians...

I don't believe in love but in respect and US and EU respects our culture, history and our legitimate rights- hence they have all my loyalty.

IF (if!) Kosovo illegally declares independence of course Serbia should send in its army to prevent this.

If not: stay out. And work towards a peaceful reintegration in Serbia.

Of course Serbia is free to seek Russian militairy aid? Why not?

Serbia is an independent state. Kosovo is just a Serbian province!

Russia has not considered a military presence in Kosovo until now. If Serbia demanded something like that then it would be a possibility.

Sounds pretty clear to me that Russia will be ready to fight in any way needed. Is the US ready to really fight or just drop bombs? Last time Russia fought seriously against America, i.e. Vietnam they took it all the way with a good result.

This time Russia will have the people they support very prepared and able to defend their country just like they did then. Seriba's neightbours will not turn their back on Serbia either. How will NATO be able to control the situation with all this going against it?

I am thinking they will not be taking on something that has no clear outcome.

"It was very simple to me, since when i was a child, Serbs are with Russians, Albanians with US. "

Actually Ben, Albania was always hardline communist... Mao Chinese communist.

Peter, permit me to correct you when you stated that Serbia and Kosovo are European countries. Kosovo is NOT a country. When did you start considering Kosovo a country?

Serbia alone is a European country with Kosovo as a province.

Also one of the previous posters said that Russia should mind their own business. Maybe this is their business as much as it is America's business. When America decides to mind their own business then you can say the same for Russia.

Both countries are looking after their own iterests. Besides I don't think Russia is going to take advice from anyone posting here.

Let’s look at the facts here guys. You have NATO, EU and US on one side, and then you have Serbia and Russia on the other side. Forget about Zimbabwe etc. Plus, at the end of the day Serbia will have no choice but come to terms with the reality otherwise it can wave goodbye to EU membership. And like Mr Jeremic and Tadis have said numerous times; EU membership is Serbia’s nr 1 priority.

I don’t think it is very likely Russia will do anything else but use diplomacy.

====

Dan and Peggy, relax this is not some kind of official meeting. So whether you call it Kosovo, Kosova, or even UNMIKistan doesn’t make a real difference. Or whether you call it a province, autonomy, state or even a planet.

the serbian constitution is very clear on this.

don´t fool around, the issue is too serious.

Craig: let ben dream of whatever he wants...he will wake up, that´s something we can be sure of.

Peter: what´s your point, actually?

Serbia will join the EU, together with Kosovo, since it is an integral part of it´s territory.
but, when this will happen, depends on what the K-albanians, or let´s better say the US-"smart-guys" are gonna do in the near future.

let´s see what future brings.

Well its about the damn time. Lets see that "EU" mission arrive now. CCCC

peggy

Let's be realistic peggy, it doesn't appear on the map yet, but Serbia has no power over the region. Of course, Kosovo is highly reliant on Serbia for power and trade, considering it is still legally a part of Serbia, but I do not see it being a part of Serbia next year. Whether I agree with it or not is a totally different issue, but the reality is that Serbia will lose Kosovo. It may or may not acknowledge independence, but how Serbia intends to keep Kosovo without force is something I don't see. One can pretty much consider Kosovo a country. A very poor and disfunctional one, but a country it will become nontheless, it would seem.

Jovan

One day when Serbia and Kosovo are in the EU and Schengen Zone it will make no difference whther they are separate or not. This is why I see the independence issue as somewhat pointless given the fact that one day it will make little difference with borders serving more as guidelines rather than anything else, but as is apparent, the situation cannot remain as is and needs a permanent solution, one way or the other, because as things stand, the Kosovo province needs stability to grow.

KS

About 100 million of the 140 million of the people of Russia live in what all major organizations recognize as Europe. Their culture and history is distinctly European, despite what they might say as a result of their new rising nationalism, they are a European nation (they are probably distancing themselves from Europe because of the EU connection). The fact that much of their territory (not 95%, just to add) is in Asia is only because of their expansions, but this does not make them an Asian country at all. Most of the population is also European (either Slavic, Finno-Ugric or Baltic), not much is Mongol or Turkic either.

Actually Ben, Albania was on the losing side of the two world wars...twice! And being collaborators with the Nazis who killed 6,000,000 Jews, Albania didn't receive any concessions. They were the losing party.

I am an American, born and raised, and have no affiliation with either side of this dispute, but I do know about Kosovars from being in Kosovo and I am not impressed with their love for America. It seems to be a love of convenience. When it is convenient, Kosovars will love whoever appears to have the upper hand, hence their alliance with Nazi Germany. Please don't run under my flag when it suits you.

EA, Russia is European too. Kosovo is in their backyard, not mine so I would say they have a more vested interest than the US. KS, I have never heard Russians say that they think Russia is its own continent. Russia is also considered European, not Asian. The majority of it's population lies on the west side of the Urals, which split the European half of the country with its Asian half. Please cite your sources when making these allegations.

Coci, The American budget takes care of 300 million people. Russia's population is a little under 150 million. They don't have a need to spend a lot like the US when they aren't getting their nose in everyone's business. Russian GDP, which is a better gauge of economic strength is $1.7 trillion. That's the eighth largest in the world. That tells me that they aren't something to sneeze at. They are just smarted in letting us police the world and spend our wealth while they build up their wealth. I would also rather spend my budget on my people, not yours. The Russians can do whatever they want with their new found wealth as long as I can do what I want with mine. I don't need my government to run up bills and end up $10 trillion in debt because my government wants to give away the money I work for.

"How do you figure that Russia is in Europe? …"

Eastern border of European continent are Ural mountains. Take a look at the map, compare the size of part of Russia west of the Ural and rest of Europe.

"How do you figure that Russia is in Europe?"

I don't figure. I know. Eurasia is a big continent. However, all one has to do is to look at history. History clearly shows that Russia is European. Mores so than Albania by far.

How do you figure that Russia is in Europe? Almost all Russians consider their country a continent---not to mention that over 95% of the territory is located in Asia.
(KS, 21 December 2007 04:35)

KS, where on earth do you come with this baloney?
I've never heard anyone
from Russia refer to their country as a continent. Furthermore, even if only 5% of Russia's territory is inside europe, this still means that Russia is indeed part of europe.

Tell me KS what percentage of USA's territory is inside Europe? Absolutely ZERO!

Here's another fact for you KS, Russia's total territory
equates to roughly 7 million
square miles. 5% of this is
350,000 square miles, which is still a larger area than
that of every other European country, except for Ukraine.

KS: Clearly Russia is indeed part of Europe, and your insistence on denying this indisputable fact makes you look incredibly ignorant.

Peter,

if there should be a Schengen-solution some day,...the Albanians in Serbia do not need independence. it´s so simple.

but nevertheless...,

Serbia will enter the EU, sooner or later.
Kosovo will do that only as an integral part of the serbian state ( for obvious reasons ).

every other way leads the whole region to trouble, and ...that means, a wait-loop...for a longer period.

and, that depends on the moves that will be made by the K-albanians, or let´s better say on the orders they are given from the white house.

whatever happens, Serbia will make the best of it, I am convinced of that.

and I also believe that some, not only here in this forum, but also in some western capitals haven´t indeed grasped what they are dealing with.
I am not 100 % in conformance with that previous article by that StratFor-analyst, but some thoughts are quite clever and I think something similar.

several of those "western" assumptions seem to be very "rosy" to me... and given that so far, they have misjudged the developement so comprehensively... I come to the conclusion that the Russians and the Serbs with them, are two steps further all along.

the Albanians here live in a state of denial, that´s understandable to a certain extent, but you are not an Albanian, you should be capable of looking beyond the limited views of fanatized kids.

I share one thought with that stratfor-guy: the Russians have bent over themselves too far. they won´t back down on this. and if that analysis hits the point...then the Albanians are really in a quite sad position. they can only put hope in another violent clash in which they would very likely lose more than they could gain with a compromise.

but that´s something those Albanians here are not able to understand at all - they are just too indoctrinated.

some will have a rude awakening as it seems, but I do not expect it to be the Serbs or Russia...

but, let us just sit back and look what future brings!

Leave it to Albanian posters here to try to argue that Russia is not part of Europe.
I can understand Albanians wanting to make the Kosovo land grab official but you seem to be so Ultra-nationalist that you cannot even face simple well known facts.See Albanians have no left right and center (I do not try and offend this is how it is)Ultra national is the normal starting point so this is why it makes it impossible to rationally negotiate.Rugova seemed to be as close as we will come to moderate in Kosovo.Moscow does not need to put up too much in man power just military hardware.Maybe a few thousand troops and
a lot of S-300s and some Sukhois to borrow.Lets us use the hardware and we Serbs can do the rest.After Tadic took office Serbia got rid of a large amount of out surface to air missles.Our air defence was weakened significantly thanks to the US amb in 2000 and on.

Peter, I certainly respect your opinion and you do make a lot of valid points, but you seem to have resigned yourself to the idea that Serbia has lost Kosovo.

Even if that was true, please don't refer to Kosovo as a country. Please leave that for the future if indeed that's what the future is. I don't see that as the future at all.

Serbia has said they will not intervene militarily in Kosovo. The reason they will not intervene is because foreign troops are in there supposedly doing the job of protecting the remaining Serbs. When these troops become the occupying force Serbia along with Russia will intervene militarily. Kosovo will remain Serbian one way or another. Can you honestly say that Serbia will not fight for their land if they are forced to?

Albanian posters here have already renamed that region to Kosova and are calling it a separate country. I don't think you mean to join them in insulting Serbia by saying that Kosovo is independent. Like I said, please reserve that for later IF it happens.
This has nothing to do with my wishes or yours but all to do with reality and that reality is that Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Let's not jump the gun.