"EU continues to prepare Kosovo mission"

According to Deutsche Welle radio, Bildt said that the situation was difficult and that everything "would have been much easier if an agreement between Belgrade and Priština were possible, and if a decision had been adopted at the UN Security Council, especially when the problem of Kosovo is viewed from the aspect of international law."


-Mr Buildt, if you are so generous and ready on compromise as you claim that everything would have been easier if Belgrade agreed on partitioning of its country, then give a piece of your country to Finland and make it up to them for 700 years of mistreatment and humiliation. When you do that Serbia might rethink and follow your example. I am sure that majority of the people do not know how badly Finnish sizable minority was treated in Sweden and Norway until late 80’s. They did not even have a right to communicate and use own language. They were discriminated on every occasion.

Mike,

is that not what the same US and "few" EU stated would happen under the UN ? After all the current French foreign minister Kouchner was indeed the 1st head of UNMIK - he said he was very succesful in his mission - cant help feeling the EULEX will fair any better given that it's legal basis is INLEX - latin for Lawless!!!

What is fundamentally wrong with the US and "few" EU who do not uphold international law and propose a truly lasting and stable solution that respects human rights for all Serbians irrespective of ethnicity and equally respects its Sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Gordian knot of Kosovo & Metohija is solved with the acceptance that false promises are undeliverable and relay that message to those to who the false promise was made. Ensuring then that a solution that is based upon reconcilation and trust for all Serbians looking forward to the EU would in all reality be the ideal that the US and "few" EU should be providing the world as an example of conflict resolution!

Lets be clear the imposition is a non starter and those imposing their will are teh ones who need to comprehend that they are soley accountable for all the predictable events that happen.

It's not as if they havent done their research - even if a imposed solution was imposed through the UN (i.e. Russia abstained) last year the message was that the EU mission seemed likely to fail;

"But even if the council imposes a solution, the future of the province is far from rosy. That, at least is the conclusion reached by a Berlin think-tank this month, saying the international community is largely to blame for ignoring the realities in Kosovo.

The planned "construction of a multi-ethnic society" has "failed" and does not exist "outside the bureaucratic statements of the international community," says the report, released by the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin."
The Failure of the West's 'Ostrich' Policy
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,471178,00.html

- talk about fatalist but the reality is in black and white but still oh what a tangled web we weave......

Stop speculating with UN Security Council. Under the UN resolution the Serb government have nothing to say in Kosovo internal affairs.
They do not make the decision about Kosovo for nearly 10 years now and I find it bizarre to ask for their opinion now.
Kosovo has a parliament and a democratic government elected by the people in Kosovo.
IF the government and parliament in Kosovo ask the EU to assist them with the building of the democratic institutions, who is to stop them? The parliament in Kosovo under the UN resolution has the right to declare independency which is the will of more than 90% of the population.
The Serbs politicians in Belgrade are playing and manipulating the people of Serbia.
Would they recognize the independency of Kosovo if the UN could come to an agreement?
I don’t thing so… It would have been some other bizarre justification.

The real purpose of the Kosovo misssion is to prevent "independent" Kosovo from eagerly joining Albania. And yet that will eventually happen anyway.

Just as Kosovo independence is happening after nine years of delaying the inevitable, it will now take another 5-10 years of delay before the eventual union of Kosovo with Albania is allowed to take place.

From the attitudes of Belgrade, it seems clear that their goal is to:

1. Stop EU from sending a mission in Kosovo.
2. With EU out of the way, militarily intervene in Kosovo after declaration of independence.

Of course, serbian politicians are deluded. Even more reason to declare independence quickly and end this soap opera now.

Finnish minority in Sweden may have been mistreated, but to compare it to Serbia's mess in Kosovo is simply out of this world. Just to give you an example, massgraves of murdered Finns have not been located near Stockholm's international airport. Please correct me if I am wrong, but the same is not true for K-Albanians and Nikola Tesla airport?
(Luke,

If there is no knowledge on the mass graves in Sweden it does not necessarily means that they do not exist. Don’t forget that Finns were under Swedes for 700 years. Of course you will say it was more than century ago and does not count. But is it so? Should we not count something that took place some century ago? In my opinion we must because the events that took place recently in modern age are much related to the past. All am saying is that if certain events did not happen in the far past they wouldn’t happen in near past because the war wounds never really heal. Nowadays, from time to time, some mass graves with Russian bodies are discovered in Finland. I guess this is how Finns revenged for Karelia.
Believe me; Finns do not speak so out loud about those mass graves. I don’t suggest that Serbs should keep quiet about its own mass graves but you cannot (you westerners) keep us responsible continuously for something we did. Certainly, you cannot punish us by ripping away 15% of the territory. In that case I ask you why then Germany did not pay out by its territory for the crime they committed. And their huge crime cannot be compared to the crimes that Serbia committed. Germans committed real genocide while Serbs did not commit genocide. After the WWII Germany stayed as a whole and it took her only 15 years to raise its economy and rebuild the country, meaning that Germany had huge external aid.

Btw. do you know how did it all start in Kosovo? Do you know what KLA done to our police forces, do you know what KLA did it to Serbian civilians, including Albanians loyal to Serbia? Do you suggest that Serbia should just seat and watch while the criminals are taking brutal actions against its citizens? I can see you apply some double standards for Serbs as well.

Mike,

now that is one hell of an assumption you state;

"Eurocrats are incredibly careful where they place their money and that is what I think an EU mission will be less corrupt and less lax about political policies than its UN predecessor."

- especially as I pointed out that Kouchner (French Foreign Minister) was the first UNMIK head and moreover look into the staffing of UNMIK officials and the quasi institions they have set up - a great deal of which are the very same EUROCRATS reality is they are the one and same !!!

Beyond which all planning of the EU mission was and is dependent upon LEGAL basis being passed in the UN which they have not been given and now they fudge to say they can do it without such legal standing.

Look back at all that has been mentioned with regards the EU mission - it is all based on a very clear legal basis which they do not have and thus without it is will be a far more destabilising situation - Status Quo will seem like paradise!

Waiting in the Wings – The civilian ESDP mission in Kosovo
Number 33, May 2007

"Currently, the EU Planning Team for Kosovo (EUPT Kosovo) is on the ground planning for a
smooth transition from UNMIK to the forthcoming ESDP mission. Before that mission can be
launched, however, a clear UN Security Council Resolution on the thorny issue of Kosovo’s
status is required. Although deep concerns have been expressed as to whether the international
community will be able to overcome the differences between the parties, some of those involved
in the Kosovo Contact Group negotiations3 are confident of finding an agreement on “supervised
independence”4 for Kosovo in the course of the summer. If this optimism proves justified, and
once the Security Council gives its green light, the EU mission will start to build full capacity
during a transition period of 120 days, before being in a position to deploy."
http://www.isis-europe.org/pdf/2007_artrel_28_esr33kosovomission.pdf

Beyond just this fact that the EU mission cannot enter Serbia without legal standing the UN SC and UNMIK is also obliged to immediatly nullify any ILLEGAL unilateral declaration of secession and Dependence and suspend PISG that attempts to.

Thus the result of such folly is only likely to hasten instability that apparently is used as the excuse to act against all international norms and laws
- but then when the US and "few" EU deceided to illegally wage war what exactly did they think would happen other then create an even greater problem that they would be held accountable for!

Oh what a tangled web we weave....

bmrusila,

..."then give a piece of your country to Finland and make it up to them for 700 years of mistreatment and humiliation"

Finnish minority in Sweden may have been mistreated, but to compare it to Serbia's mess in Kosovo is simply out of this world. Just to give you an example, massgraves of murdered Finns have not been located near Stockholm's international airport. Please correct me if I am wrong, but the same is not true for K-Albanians and Nikola Tesla airport?

For what it is worth, I support Serbia's integrity, but it sure would do good to have a reality check on your recent history to keep things in context.

Branko,

With all due respect, I think that our cultural heritage has no price, that cannot be for sale and must be preserved from further Albanization. Think about new plan that include removal of our heritage and think who is going to pay for such huge project.

Thanks

"But, we have to maneuver the resolution of this issue as much as the space allows," he(Bildt)added.

The use of the word “maneuver” is very telling here.

In other words, to maneuver, per the definition- Artful handling of affairs that is often marked by scheming and deceit.

Whether Kosovo becomes a formal independent state or not, an EU mission to the province is clearly needed. What is the alternative? A UDI Kosovo without any strong institutions to prop it up? The region would collapse into chaos. Therefore, I feel it expedient to put off formally classifying Kosovo as anything and get the EU mission in as soon as possible. Such a mission, I hope, will work to build sound socio-political institutions, help weed out the rampant corruption and nepotism that currently characterizes Kosovo institutions, and most importantly builds a modern education curriculum that relies less on emotionally-based historical narratives and more on sound reasoning and multi-ethnic co-existence.

Hello everyone. I have been following discussions and news lately about Serbia and Kosovo problem and came upon interesting idea. Now, pay attention to this because it seems to be a novel and good idea, think about this, talk about this, put it on the front page in the news and if all possible inform the leaders of both sides of this possible solution. So, here it is: to Serbia, come up with a price after you asses the value of the land it belongs to you and offer to sell it to Kosovo Albanians. To Kosovo Albanians, even though the world knows you can not afford to buy it, ask all your supporters in the world to loan you the money and buy the land and be the rightful owner. Everybody, think about this, Serbia will save face and dignity without spilling any blood over it and come out of this dilemma holding a good chunk of money to use for it's own economic growth and Albanians will put to test all their big supporters and have their land if their supporters are not lying. And if my idea is told to everybody in the world and it comes to pass, just call it Branko's Solution. Now; World... Put your money where your mouth is, or shut up and stay out of sovereign country's business. I dare all of you to dream about this solution.

Princip,

It's no secret UNMIK has been anything less than an institutional failure in the last 8 years when one looks at the entire picture. In fact I'd even go so far as to say that not only has UNMIK contributed to the degree of corruption of Kosovo institutions, it has actually helped it develop. But again, what are the alternatives to an EU mission? I definitely wouldn't want to see Pristina-based institutions go it alone. The province wouldn't last more than 6 months.

Eurocrats are incredibly careful where they place their money and that is what I think an EU mission will be less corrupt and less lax about political policies than its UN predecessor. I'm not saying the EU is going to turn Kosovo into the Scandinavia of the Balkans, but I'm suggesting that at the very least Brussels does two things:

1. Provide administrative oversight to one of the most unstable and institutionally weak areas of Europe

2. Steer Kosovo directly towards EU standards of economic and politcal maturity.

The UN was never set up to really develop institutions in Kosovo. It was set up to stop the violence the separate the two warring sides. It would be up to the EU with the responsibility to actually develop Kosovo, but also to undo the administrative mess left by UNMIK.

I can see no other alternative to Kosovo's immediate future. Yet at the same time, I am keen to get the EU into Kosovo without actually defining Kosovo's status.

good thing no romanians or cyprians in this mission

Whether Kosovo becomes a formal independent state or not, an EU mission to the province is clearly needed. What is the alternative? A UDI Kosovo without any strong institutions to prop it up? The region would collapse into chaos. Therefore, I feel it expedient to put off formally classifying Kosovo as anything and get the EU mission in as soon as possible. Such a mission, I hope, will work to build sound socio-political institutions, help weed out the rampant corruption and nepotism that currently characterizes Kosovo institutions, and most importantly builds a modern education curriculum that relies less on emotionally-based historical narratives and more on sound reasoning and multi-ethnic co-existence.

Stop speculating with UN Security Council. Under the UN resolution the Serb government have nothing to say in Kosovo internal affairs.
They do not make the decision about Kosovo for nearly 10 years now and I find it bizarre to ask for their opinion now.
Kosovo has a parliament and a democratic government elected by the people in Kosovo.
IF the government and parliament in Kosovo ask the EU to assist them with the building of the democratic institutions, who is to stop them? The parliament in Kosovo under the UN resolution has the right to declare independency which is the will of more than 90% of the population.
The Serbs politicians in Belgrade are playing and manipulating the people of Serbia.
Would they recognize the independency of Kosovo if the UN could come to an agreement?
I don’t thing so… It would have been some other bizarre justification.

From the attitudes of Belgrade, it seems clear that their goal is to:

1. Stop EU from sending a mission in Kosovo.
2. With EU out of the way, militarily intervene in Kosovo after declaration of independence.

Of course, serbian politicians are deluded. Even more reason to declare independence quickly and end this soap opera now.

bmrusila,

..."then give a piece of your country to Finland and make it up to them for 700 years of mistreatment and humiliation"

Finnish minority in Sweden may have been mistreated, but to compare it to Serbia's mess in Kosovo is simply out of this world. Just to give you an example, massgraves of murdered Finns have not been located near Stockholm's international airport. Please correct me if I am wrong, but the same is not true for K-Albanians and Nikola Tesla airport?

For what it is worth, I support Serbia's integrity, but it sure would do good to have a reality check on your recent history to keep things in context.

good thing no romanians or cyprians in this mission

The real purpose of the Kosovo misssion is to prevent "independent" Kosovo from eagerly joining Albania. And yet that will eventually happen anyway.

Just as Kosovo independence is happening after nine years of delaying the inevitable, it will now take another 5-10 years of delay before the eventual union of Kosovo with Albania is allowed to take place.

Princip,

It's no secret UNMIK has been anything less than an institutional failure in the last 8 years when one looks at the entire picture. In fact I'd even go so far as to say that not only has UNMIK contributed to the degree of corruption of Kosovo institutions, it has actually helped it develop. But again, what are the alternatives to an EU mission? I definitely wouldn't want to see Pristina-based institutions go it alone. The province wouldn't last more than 6 months.

Eurocrats are incredibly careful where they place their money and that is what I think an EU mission will be less corrupt and less lax about political policies than its UN predecessor. I'm not saying the EU is going to turn Kosovo into the Scandinavia of the Balkans, but I'm suggesting that at the very least Brussels does two things:

1. Provide administrative oversight to one of the most unstable and institutionally weak areas of Europe

2. Steer Kosovo directly towards EU standards of economic and politcal maturity.

The UN was never set up to really develop institutions in Kosovo. It was set up to stop the violence the separate the two warring sides. It would be up to the EU with the responsibility to actually develop Kosovo, but also to undo the administrative mess left by UNMIK.

I can see no other alternative to Kosovo's immediate future. Yet at the same time, I am keen to get the EU into Kosovo without actually defining Kosovo's status.

According to Deutsche Welle radio, Bildt said that the situation was difficult and that everything "would have been much easier if an agreement between Belgrade and Priština were possible, and if a decision had been adopted at the UN Security Council, especially when the problem of Kosovo is viewed from the aspect of international law."


-Mr Buildt, if you are so generous and ready on compromise as you claim that everything would have been easier if Belgrade agreed on partitioning of its country, then give a piece of your country to Finland and make it up to them for 700 years of mistreatment and humiliation. When you do that Serbia might rethink and follow your example. I am sure that majority of the people do not know how badly Finnish sizable minority was treated in Sweden and Norway until late 80’s. They did not even have a right to communicate and use own language. They were discriminated on every occasion.

Mike,

is that not what the same US and "few" EU stated would happen under the UN ? After all the current French foreign minister Kouchner was indeed the 1st head of UNMIK - he said he was very succesful in his mission - cant help feeling the EULEX will fair any better given that it's legal basis is INLEX - latin for Lawless!!!

What is fundamentally wrong with the US and "few" EU who do not uphold international law and propose a truly lasting and stable solution that respects human rights for all Serbians irrespective of ethnicity and equally respects its Sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Gordian knot of Kosovo & Metohija is solved with the acceptance that false promises are undeliverable and relay that message to those to who the false promise was made. Ensuring then that a solution that is based upon reconcilation and trust for all Serbians looking forward to the EU would in all reality be the ideal that the US and "few" EU should be providing the world as an example of conflict resolution!

Lets be clear the imposition is a non starter and those imposing their will are teh ones who need to comprehend that they are soley accountable for all the predictable events that happen.

It's not as if they havent done their research - even if a imposed solution was imposed through the UN (i.e. Russia abstained) last year the message was that the EU mission seemed likely to fail;

"But even if the council imposes a solution, the future of the province is far from rosy. That, at least is the conclusion reached by a Berlin think-tank this month, saying the international community is largely to blame for ignoring the realities in Kosovo.

The planned "construction of a multi-ethnic society" has "failed" and does not exist "outside the bureaucratic statements of the international community," says the report, released by the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin."
The Failure of the West's 'Ostrich' Policy
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,471178,00.html

- talk about fatalist but the reality is in black and white but still oh what a tangled web we weave......

"But, we have to maneuver the resolution of this issue as much as the space allows," he(Bildt)added.

The use of the word “maneuver” is very telling here.

In other words, to maneuver, per the definition- Artful handling of affairs that is often marked by scheming and deceit.

Mike,

now that is one hell of an assumption you state;

"Eurocrats are incredibly careful where they place their money and that is what I think an EU mission will be less corrupt and less lax about political policies than its UN predecessor."

- especially as I pointed out that Kouchner (French Foreign Minister) was the first UNMIK head and moreover look into the staffing of UNMIK officials and the quasi institions they have set up - a great deal of which are the very same EUROCRATS reality is they are the one and same !!!

Beyond which all planning of the EU mission was and is dependent upon LEGAL basis being passed in the UN which they have not been given and now they fudge to say they can do it without such legal standing.

Look back at all that has been mentioned with regards the EU mission - it is all based on a very clear legal basis which they do not have and thus without it is will be a far more destabilising situation - Status Quo will seem like paradise!

Waiting in the Wings – The civilian ESDP mission in Kosovo
Number 33, May 2007

"Currently, the EU Planning Team for Kosovo (EUPT Kosovo) is on the ground planning for a
smooth transition from UNMIK to the forthcoming ESDP mission. Before that mission can be
launched, however, a clear UN Security Council Resolution on the thorny issue of Kosovo’s
status is required. Although deep concerns have been expressed as to whether the international
community will be able to overcome the differences between the parties, some of those involved
in the Kosovo Contact Group negotiations3 are confident of finding an agreement on “supervised
independence”4 for Kosovo in the course of the summer. If this optimism proves justified, and
once the Security Council gives its green light, the EU mission will start to build full capacity
during a transition period of 120 days, before being in a position to deploy."
http://www.isis-europe.org/pdf/2007_artrel_28_esr33kosovomission.pdf

Beyond just this fact that the EU mission cannot enter Serbia without legal standing the UN SC and UNMIK is also obliged to immediatly nullify any ILLEGAL unilateral declaration of secession and Dependence and suspend PISG that attempts to.

Thus the result of such folly is only likely to hasten instability that apparently is used as the excuse to act against all international norms and laws
- but then when the US and "few" EU deceided to illegally wage war what exactly did they think would happen other then create an even greater problem that they would be held accountable for!

Oh what a tangled web we weave....

Hello everyone. I have been following discussions and news lately about Serbia and Kosovo problem and came upon interesting idea. Now, pay attention to this because it seems to be a novel and good idea, think about this, talk about this, put it on the front page in the news and if all possible inform the leaders of both sides of this possible solution. So, here it is: to Serbia, come up with a price after you asses the value of the land it belongs to you and offer to sell it to Kosovo Albanians. To Kosovo Albanians, even though the world knows you can not afford to buy it, ask all your supporters in the world to loan you the money and buy the land and be the rightful owner. Everybody, think about this, Serbia will save face and dignity without spilling any blood over it and come out of this dilemma holding a good chunk of money to use for it's own economic growth and Albanians will put to test all their big supporters and have their land if their supporters are not lying. And if my idea is told to everybody in the world and it comes to pass, just call it Branko's Solution. Now; World... Put your money where your mouth is, or shut up and stay out of sovereign country's business. I dare all of you to dream about this solution.

Finnish minority in Sweden may have been mistreated, but to compare it to Serbia's mess in Kosovo is simply out of this world. Just to give you an example, massgraves of murdered Finns have not been located near Stockholm's international airport. Please correct me if I am wrong, but the same is not true for K-Albanians and Nikola Tesla airport?
(Luke,

If there is no knowledge on the mass graves in Sweden it does not necessarily means that they do not exist. Don’t forget that Finns were under Swedes for 700 years. Of course you will say it was more than century ago and does not count. But is it so? Should we not count something that took place some century ago? In my opinion we must because the events that took place recently in modern age are much related to the past. All am saying is that if certain events did not happen in the far past they wouldn’t happen in near past because the war wounds never really heal. Nowadays, from time to time, some mass graves with Russian bodies are discovered in Finland. I guess this is how Finns revenged for Karelia.
Believe me; Finns do not speak so out loud about those mass graves. I don’t suggest that Serbs should keep quiet about its own mass graves but you cannot (you westerners) keep us responsible continuously for something we did. Certainly, you cannot punish us by ripping away 15% of the territory. In that case I ask you why then Germany did not pay out by its territory for the crime they committed. And their huge crime cannot be compared to the crimes that Serbia committed. Germans committed real genocide while Serbs did not commit genocide. After the WWII Germany stayed as a whole and it took her only 15 years to raise its economy and rebuild the country, meaning that Germany had huge external aid.

Btw. do you know how did it all start in Kosovo? Do you know what KLA done to our police forces, do you know what KLA did it to Serbian civilians, including Albanians loyal to Serbia? Do you suggest that Serbia should just seat and watch while the criminals are taking brutal actions against its citizens? I can see you apply some double standards for Serbs as well.

Branko,

With all due respect, I think that our cultural heritage has no price, that cannot be for sale and must be preserved from further Albanization. Think about new plan that include removal of our heritage and think who is going to pay for such huge project.

Thanks