Ban: Resolution 1244 remains in force

Oh, come on Mr Ban, be honest and say it as it is. Let’s call Kosovo’s IDU illegal, let’s use the right terms. Mr Ban, as long as the resolution 1244 is in force and as long as that resolution guarantees Kosovo as a part of Serbia and treats it that way, everything else is illegal. You know that and why hesitate to admit. Oh, come on, even Mr Rupel admitted today that Kosovo is Serbian province.

As for specific case, I just wonder why the journalist never asks back its calling party to explain the uniqueness. I mean, I just cannot see the uniqueness and not a one international political representative explained so far the Kosovo uniqueness. They just repeat unique, unique without saying a word what is so unique. Now, Mr Ban, changed it in specific and tried to sell us fog over here by saying because international community was intervening in the implementation of Serbian sovereignty in the province. So, what’s that supposed to mean? You could just do your job on the behalf of Serbia and than give it back in the right hands. Give it back where originally belongs to after UN's 100 years mission.

He said that Kosovo was different from other cases because, since 1999, the international community had been “intervening in the implementation of Serbian sovereignty in the province.”

that´s it, he´s right on that. but that won´t be possible in the same large-scale in the future.

and those countries that are playing around with "declarations" will have to reconsider their further moves.

He is clearly saying he is a tool. BAN dear BAN. Since it is up to indivedual UN members to decide on Kosovo it is on individual UN members to decide on Abhkazia, Catelogna, Basques, RS, etc. Those who prepped this speech for you are not to bright are they? Nor are you for reading it! A I was saying, this is the begging of the end for the UN. CCCC

There is nothing new about individual UN members recognising quasi entities. Look at Northern Cyprus and Taiwan. However, this does not give it legitimacy and they are not entitled to UN membership.

Also, none have a resolution in place that guarantees sovereignty. Remember 1244 was approved by the US and to go against it now (without UN agreement) is illegal. They have essentially flushed international law down the toilet.

All secessionist regimes thoughout the world are unique. There is nothing special about Kosovo - especially when both Serbia and Russia have the power to prove it.

I think the first step is to allow the International court to make a ruling whilst more and more pressure is put on Georgia and BiH. Whatever the IC rules, the Serbians and Russians should have a plan in place to win.

Pressure on the Krajina region in Croatia should also be stepped up. The hundreds of thousands of ethnically cleansed Serbs need to return to their homes and to be given some form of autonomy! If Croatia recognises Kosovo, then instead of autonomy, independence for Krajina should be the objective.

Dave

Russia has a veto and is entitled to use it when it sees fit. It was both Russia and China as permanent members who oppose independence and as it stands, the majority of the Security council agree with them. Also the overwhelming majority of the general assembly also oppose independence. Put simply, the world is against it!

This is more about US strategic interests than economic. The Albanians are just loyal servants to their new masters. Nothing more.

As I Read his (BAN) coments carefully, Ban is saying in a very simple terms that Kosova is a special case and UNSC cannnot in any way stop individual UN memeber countries to recognize the new state. read it carefully guys and don't jump to wrong conclusion.

Dave:

Hate to disapoint you but the US does indeed have another agenda in supporting K-albanian UDI.
And it's about.. you guessed it.. oil.

While Kosovo doesn't have any, a lot will be moving closely past it in the not too distant future in the form of a pipeline from the Caspian to the Albanian port of Vlora via Bulgaria & Macedonia - project is called AMBO.

Seems that will be a lot cheaper to transport it that way than to ship via the Bosphorus.

Strangely enough, the idea of a pipeline was first formally supported by the US in 1994, the year before KLA started its attacks (1995).

And now US has it's biggest foreign military base since Vietnam in the southern part of Kosovo - right next to Macedonia, and between the 'nasty' serbs & the proposed pipeline.

Is also why a lot of posts here stress that K-albanians will never be independent, but rather a US/EU 'colony'.

The US is the only "active" superpower in the world today, noting its participation in the middle-east, etc. The US could care less about Albanians in Albania or Kosovo - their only concern is that they get what they want. The US wants a sphere of influence in their control around Russia and closer to the middle-east, hence the largest US military facility in Europe, if not the world. Also, there is an OIL and GAS pipeline that will pass thru Kosovo and Albania to Vlore which will give oil for refining in the US much cheaper than it now gets elsewhere. During the Ramboulet agreements, Serbia was required to accept humiliating agreements, and did. That was not good enought, so one more was added and that was that the US have enire Serbia at its disposal to set up its military camps whereever they want and control of infrastructure. This Serbia denied and you know what followed. If you look at the "big picture" of world politics you will understand the new world order. Atrocities have occured on the African continent that is so horrible, many millions have died but the US did not go there because it was not in their interest (no oil or strategic placement, yet). Camp Bondsteel has about 5,000 Albanians working for them with pay being about 1 to 3 USD per hour - increasing their pay would disrupt the economy in the area. So all you posters there who think this is about freedom for Albanians in Kosovo - read other sources and realize what is really going on.

Ahmet Isufi:
"As I Read his (BAN) coments carefully, Ban is saying in a very simple terms that Kosova is a special case and UNSC cannnot in any way stop individual UN memeber countries to recognize the new state. read it carefully guys and don't jump to wrong conclusion. "

I wouldn't put it quite that way. Think Ban is trying to walk a 'political' tightrope with US influence on one side, & UN charter on the other. Anyway, here's my analysis.

1): Reaffirms 1244.

2): Distances himself from K-albanian UDI by emphasising 'safety of citizens' & 'stability of region'.

3): When asked about Kosovo as a precedent, doesn't answer, but calls Kosovo 'a very specific case' (Ahmet - not special). And goes on to say that when approaching other cases, must take into account their particularities.

Note the word 'unique' itself isn't used (may call this quibbling, but the speech-writers for these guys examine every word) & also raises spectre of 'other cases' being given consideration.

Think Ban is positioning the UN for what he thinks of as the reality on the ground in relation to Kosovo (ie: K-albanian 'pseudo-state' - recognised by some, not recognised by others), as well as in relation to other future intractable UDI's.

Regardless of 'uniqueness' status of K-albanian UDI, fact is that other break-away groups will see it as a precedent, & Ban is acknowledging this.

4): Then re-iterates 1244's mandate & Serbia's sovereignity of Kosovo (see what I mean about that tightrope).

5): And lastly says that UN has no say in recognition of UDI by individual countries, which is up to each individual country. Isn't the same thing as saying that such a group that makes a UDI will get membership of course. That is up to the UNSC.

Anyway, that's what I think.


miri:

And the point of your post was...

Secretary general has always been an US stooge - the u got rid of Secretary general Annan because he was independent and after he criticised Bush after he invaded Iraq - when it came to an extension of Annan's term the US veyoed it and got rid of him.
Obvioulsy Secretary General ban is thinking of his future tenure and is too gutless to stand up to the US and he may also be concerned if the US threatened to remove their troops out of South Korea if he did not toe the line.

Ban's talking cobblers. How can you have 1244 respecting Serbian sovereignty (an integral part of the rseolution), and then enable an illegal EU mission from an EU which is completely disjointed to somehow take over part of the mission?

The EU and UN have different aims and mandates, and only one of them should even legally be there. It's fast turning into farce.

Dave says.."No one in the states recognizing Kosovo obtains any economic or teritorial benefit from either supporting or rejecting Kosovo independence"

I strongly disagree with you Dave. I believe that if you do a bit of research you will find that the the interests of West and the EU are indeed economic.

They motivated by oil and are using NATO to achieve their goals.

Quoting from a piece I read...
"Clinton's Energy Secretary Bill Richardson spelled out America’s Balkan policy a few months prior to the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia:
"This is about America's energy security… It's also about preventing strategic inroads by those who don't share our values. We're trying to move these newly independent countries toward the West… We would like to see them reliant on western commercial and political interests rather than going another way. We've made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it's very important to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4130271.stm

In 2004 we read the pipeline will be built by the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation (AMBO).
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0215-05.htm

It is clear why there is interest in the Balkans, and it is not humanatarian.

Encouraging division of the countries throughout Europe so as to "divide and conquer", have them join NATO and then make them reliant on the West is the motive.

Unfortunatley the people of the Balkans are the ones who are suffering for it.

Illegal take over of anyones property can`t be just covered when it suits few.And now he just confirms what we already knew-they where in Kosovo so they could steal Serbian land.Not to protect people,we have seen how they protected Kosovo population in 2004 and now is even clearer why they let pogrom happen.
Shame on you BAN and they should BAN people like you from even publicly speaking.

I have to argue with the secretary; it is clear that for countries to recognise an independent Kosovo is illegal in terms of 1244.

Try this for a case:

Given that "the international civil presence" is no longer "Promoting the establishment, pending a final settlement, of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo". We can conclude that the "interim" stage is (de-facto) over.

Serbia (having withdrawn its troops and acted in good faith) has discharged its onerous responsibilities under 1244. Given the guarantee of territorial integrity within 1244 and the failure of the IC to establish an autonomous government, it can be concluded that Serbia is now legally free to reenter Kosovo to organise 'substantial autonomy' line with 1244.

In other words, if the Serbian army (sticking to the rules) re-entered Kosovo, it would be acting legally and anyone who resisted them would be acting illegally.
Realistically (for a while yet at least) Serbia will persue its current line in arguing for the overturning of the UDI, but I don't see much hope of this achieving much in the short term because of the belligerence and intransigence of the US.

However, I do think that Serbia should declare its right to re-enter Kosovo at some stage (and establish the terms with which it would do it) - even if it does not intend to do it within a foreseeable time scale.

It would be interesting to see how the world's free press would react to democratic Serbia LEGALLY thumbing its nose at NATO, EU and US.

Serbia has been treated incompetently by the EU and the US. They have taken no account of Serbia's internal politics and have risked its democratic future stupidly. The reward of a separate state for the Albanians in Kosovo is not appropriate or deserved and the idea of a collective punishment on the Serbian people is a despicable notion.

"Camp Bondsteel has about 5,000 Albanians working for them with pay being about 1 to 3 USD per hour - increasing their pay would disrupt the economy in the area. So all you posters there who think this is about freedom for Albanians in Kosovo - read other sources and realize what is really going on."
ljiljana

On the web site of nearby town to Bondsteel, Urosevac-Ferizaj, one can read that the camp Bondsteel is one of the major employer in the area. Further read discovers that the town's population is nearly 200 000.
Bondsteel major employer?!?
And further, take a look from Google Earth. I was brought up in a 35 000 town and am an urban planner. Considering Albanian natality and large number of members per household, prevailing living condition throughout Kosovo, Urosevac-Ferizaj can be a town to up to maximum 100 000.
Another comic and farce!

"Oh, come on Mr Ban,... Oh, come on, even Mr Rupel ...."

brumsila, haven't you learned yet how to address older people?
It's good that they are not hearing you or your parents might ground you for the day :)

KS

Technically I agree with you in that international law and the UN cannot be applied the same to every individual scenario in a universal way, but surely you agree that the world needs some kind of baseline upon which to maintain some kind of order.

Imagine the chaos if the UN did not exist, we would have what we had in times gone by: war, invasions, occupations, colonialism and slavery. Unless you consider that the EU and NATO are essentially the new UN, just more action-based, not theory.

Miri, typical childish comments comeing from you, but 1244 is 1244 and the UN still didn't recognise the illegal independence of Kosovo. It's as simple as that, little one. Isufi, please. 25-30 countries doesn't mean your independent.

Just an observation that seems to have been overlooked by many other commentators. The Security Council failed to reach a concensus on Kosovo because of Russian opposition to any move favoring Kosovo's independence which fits in rather nicely with Russia's current gloves off take to diplomacy which is mirrored in their use of their oil and gas supplies to blackmail many of their neighbors. I' don't mean to say that the West was right or wrong in their decision, but I do think it would be wise to consider Russia underlying in goals supporting Serbia on Kosovo - I'd sugest looking here

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL10263111

Keep in mind most of the people in Abkhazia have/had dual Georgian-Russian citizenship and you get a rather dubious picture. No one in the states recognizing Kosovo obtains any economic or teritorial benefit from either supporting or rejecting Kosovo independence but Russia almost certainly does in rejecting it.

Do the Serbs want to enforce Resolution 1244 forever. All the Serbs keep on saying Kosovo illegal declared independence and 1244 stands. No it supposed to stand for a short period of time and the Serbian politicans still dont get the point. It almost sounds like Ban is saying that the UN will give away its authority and Kosovo is not a precedent for other countries.

How about telling and convincing the UN, USA, Europe and the rest of the world that you can take control over Kosovo and have them live autonomous with out any force. Of course military personnel need to be there to prevent violence. Serbia should have started several years back to retake control of Kosovo, but have and still continue to lean on the UN's Shoulders. Now it may be too late.

I appreciate the candor of everyone's responses, I realize this is a subject which people feel passionate about and all the responses I've read so far here-in are well reasoned and without any overt malice. I cannot say what the future holds but the commentators here have my respect for their depth of character. The arena of international law has far less weight then it merits, but given time that will likely change though its to be hoped that it's goal of mediation will not.

I guess you are right Kosovars are loyal to their master (US) while Serbs are loyal to their master (Russia). I don't see your point. You don't have to be in the UN to be a country, there is now a new era. An era of traditional countries and new countries. The UN is an international organization, not God, not anything. It's a club that you can join or not.
What would happen if 20 UN countries such as America and Russia left the UN tomorrow? Nothing, it doesn't mean a thing.

" 25-30 countries doesn't mean your independent."

And those countries are:

The United States, France, Germany, Italy, UK,Australia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Slovenia, ALbania, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweeden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Malaysia (has stronger GDP than Russia, Turkey, Iceland...etc etc.This makes up 66% of the world's GDP accoroding the CIA factbook.
97% of the World's democracies.
There is going to be 123 countries that will recognize Kosova by the end of this year.
What Serbs are not realizing is that Ban is being very nice. He wants Serbia to join Democratic world.
The next move will be by Ban: "I urge countries to recognize it individually"..
It was a long path with a lot of hurdles but freedom pathways are open and we succeeded, perse!
Personally, I would want Serbia isolated to vote for SRS and Kostunica.

As I Read his (BAN) coments carefully, Ban is saying in a very simple terms that Kosova is a special case and UNSC cannnot in any way stop individual UN memeber countries to recognize the new state. read it carefully guys and don't jump to wrong conclusion.

"Oh, come on Mr Ban,... Oh, come on, even Mr Rupel ...."

brumsila, haven't you learned yet how to address older people?
It's good that they are not hearing you or your parents might ground you for the day :)

Oh, come on Mr Ban, be honest and say it as it is. Let’s call Kosovo’s IDU illegal, let’s use the right terms. Mr Ban, as long as the resolution 1244 is in force and as long as that resolution guarantees Kosovo as a part of Serbia and treats it that way, everything else is illegal. You know that and why hesitate to admit. Oh, come on, even Mr Rupel admitted today that Kosovo is Serbian province.

As for specific case, I just wonder why the journalist never asks back its calling party to explain the uniqueness. I mean, I just cannot see the uniqueness and not a one international political representative explained so far the Kosovo uniqueness. They just repeat unique, unique without saying a word what is so unique. Now, Mr Ban, changed it in specific and tried to sell us fog over here by saying because international community was intervening in the implementation of Serbian sovereignty in the province. So, what’s that supposed to mean? You could just do your job on the behalf of Serbia and than give it back in the right hands. Give it back where originally belongs to after UN's 100 years mission.

He said that Kosovo was different from other cases because, since 1999, the international community had been “intervening in the implementation of Serbian sovereignty in the province.”

that´s it, he´s right on that. but that won´t be possible in the same large-scale in the future.

and those countries that are playing around with "declarations" will have to reconsider their further moves.

He is clearly saying he is a tool. BAN dear BAN. Since it is up to indivedual UN members to decide on Kosovo it is on individual UN members to decide on Abhkazia, Catelogna, Basques, RS, etc. Those who prepped this speech for you are not to bright are they? Nor are you for reading it! A I was saying, this is the begging of the end for the UN. CCCC

I guess you are right Kosovars are loyal to their master (US) while Serbs are loyal to their master (Russia). I don't see your point. You don't have to be in the UN to be a country, there is now a new era. An era of traditional countries and new countries. The UN is an international organization, not God, not anything. It's a club that you can join or not.
What would happen if 20 UN countries such as America and Russia left the UN tomorrow? Nothing, it doesn't mean a thing.

Secretary general has always been an US stooge - the u got rid of Secretary general Annan because he was independent and after he criticised Bush after he invaded Iraq - when it came to an extension of Annan's term the US veyoed it and got rid of him.
Obvioulsy Secretary General ban is thinking of his future tenure and is too gutless to stand up to the US and he may also be concerned if the US threatened to remove their troops out of South Korea if he did not toe the line.

Just an observation that seems to have been overlooked by many other commentators. The Security Council failed to reach a concensus on Kosovo because of Russian opposition to any move favoring Kosovo's independence which fits in rather nicely with Russia's current gloves off take to diplomacy which is mirrored in their use of their oil and gas supplies to blackmail many of their neighbors. I' don't mean to say that the West was right or wrong in their decision, but I do think it would be wise to consider Russia underlying in goals supporting Serbia on Kosovo - I'd sugest looking here

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL10263111

Keep in mind most of the people in Abkhazia have/had dual Georgian-Russian citizenship and you get a rather dubious picture. No one in the states recognizing Kosovo obtains any economic or teritorial benefit from either supporting or rejecting Kosovo independence but Russia almost certainly does in rejecting it.

There is nothing new about individual UN members recognising quasi entities. Look at Northern Cyprus and Taiwan. However, this does not give it legitimacy and they are not entitled to UN membership.

Also, none have a resolution in place that guarantees sovereignty. Remember 1244 was approved by the US and to go against it now (without UN agreement) is illegal. They have essentially flushed international law down the toilet.

All secessionist regimes thoughout the world are unique. There is nothing special about Kosovo - especially when both Serbia and Russia have the power to prove it.

I think the first step is to allow the International court to make a ruling whilst more and more pressure is put on Georgia and BiH. Whatever the IC rules, the Serbians and Russians should have a plan in place to win.

Pressure on the Krajina region in Croatia should also be stepped up. The hundreds of thousands of ethnically cleansed Serbs need to return to their homes and to be given some form of autonomy! If Croatia recognises Kosovo, then instead of autonomy, independence for Krajina should be the objective.

The US is the only "active" superpower in the world today, noting its participation in the middle-east, etc. The US could care less about Albanians in Albania or Kosovo - their only concern is that they get what they want. The US wants a sphere of influence in their control around Russia and closer to the middle-east, hence the largest US military facility in Europe, if not the world. Also, there is an OIL and GAS pipeline that will pass thru Kosovo and Albania to Vlore which will give oil for refining in the US much cheaper than it now gets elsewhere. During the Ramboulet agreements, Serbia was required to accept humiliating agreements, and did. That was not good enought, so one more was added and that was that the US have enire Serbia at its disposal to set up its military camps whereever they want and control of infrastructure. This Serbia denied and you know what followed. If you look at the "big picture" of world politics you will understand the new world order. Atrocities have occured on the African continent that is so horrible, many millions have died but the US did not go there because it was not in their interest (no oil or strategic placement, yet). Camp Bondsteel has about 5,000 Albanians working for them with pay being about 1 to 3 USD per hour - increasing their pay would disrupt the economy in the area. So all you posters there who think this is about freedom for Albanians in Kosovo - read other sources and realize what is really going on.

Dave:

Hate to disapoint you but the US does indeed have another agenda in supporting K-albanian UDI.
And it's about.. you guessed it.. oil.

While Kosovo doesn't have any, a lot will be moving closely past it in the not too distant future in the form of a pipeline from the Caspian to the Albanian port of Vlora via Bulgaria & Macedonia - project is called AMBO.

Seems that will be a lot cheaper to transport it that way than to ship via the Bosphorus.

Strangely enough, the idea of a pipeline was first formally supported by the US in 1994, the year before KLA started its attacks (1995).

And now US has it's biggest foreign military base since Vietnam in the southern part of Kosovo - right next to Macedonia, and between the 'nasty' serbs & the proposed pipeline.

Is also why a lot of posts here stress that K-albanians will never be independent, but rather a US/EU 'colony'.

Do the Serbs want to enforce Resolution 1244 forever. All the Serbs keep on saying Kosovo illegal declared independence and 1244 stands. No it supposed to stand for a short period of time and the Serbian politicans still dont get the point. It almost sounds like Ban is saying that the UN will give away its authority and Kosovo is not a precedent for other countries.

How about telling and convincing the UN, USA, Europe and the rest of the world that you can take control over Kosovo and have them live autonomous with out any force. Of course military personnel need to be there to prevent violence. Serbia should have started several years back to retake control of Kosovo, but have and still continue to lean on the UN's Shoulders. Now it may be too late.

"Camp Bondsteel has about 5,000 Albanians working for them with pay being about 1 to 3 USD per hour - increasing their pay would disrupt the economy in the area. So all you posters there who think this is about freedom for Albanians in Kosovo - read other sources and realize what is really going on."
ljiljana

On the web site of nearby town to Bondsteel, Urosevac-Ferizaj, one can read that the camp Bondsteel is one of the major employer in the area. Further read discovers that the town's population is nearly 200 000.
Bondsteel major employer?!?
And further, take a look from Google Earth. I was brought up in a 35 000 town and am an urban planner. Considering Albanian natality and large number of members per household, prevailing living condition throughout Kosovo, Urosevac-Ferizaj can be a town to up to maximum 100 000.
Another comic and farce!

" 25-30 countries doesn't mean your independent."

And those countries are:

The United States, France, Germany, Italy, UK,Australia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Slovenia, ALbania, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweeden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Malaysia (has stronger GDP than Russia, Turkey, Iceland...etc etc.This makes up 66% of the world's GDP accoroding the CIA factbook.
97% of the World's democracies.
There is going to be 123 countries that will recognize Kosova by the end of this year.
What Serbs are not realizing is that Ban is being very nice. He wants Serbia to join Democratic world.
The next move will be by Ban: "I urge countries to recognize it individually"..
It was a long path with a lot of hurdles but freedom pathways are open and we succeeded, perse!
Personally, I would want Serbia isolated to vote for SRS and Kostunica.

Ahmet Isufi:
"As I Read his (BAN) coments carefully, Ban is saying in a very simple terms that Kosova is a special case and UNSC cannnot in any way stop individual UN memeber countries to recognize the new state. read it carefully guys and don't jump to wrong conclusion. "

I wouldn't put it quite that way. Think Ban is trying to walk a 'political' tightrope with US influence on one side, & UN charter on the other. Anyway, here's my analysis.

1): Reaffirms 1244.

2): Distances himself from K-albanian UDI by emphasising 'safety of citizens' & 'stability of region'.

3): When asked about Kosovo as a precedent, doesn't answer, but calls Kosovo 'a very specific case' (Ahmet - not special). And goes on to say that when approaching other cases, must take into account their particularities.

Note the word 'unique' itself isn't used (may call this quibbling, but the speech-writers for these guys examine every word) & also raises spectre of 'other cases' being given consideration.

Think Ban is positioning the UN for what he thinks of as the reality on the ground in relation to Kosovo (ie: K-albanian 'pseudo-state' - recognised by some, not recognised by others), as well as in relation to other future intractable UDI's.

Regardless of 'uniqueness' status of K-albanian UDI, fact is that other break-away groups will see it as a precedent, & Ban is acknowledging this.

4): Then re-iterates 1244's mandate & Serbia's sovereignity of Kosovo (see what I mean about that tightrope).

5): And lastly says that UN has no say in recognition of UDI by individual countries, which is up to each individual country. Isn't the same thing as saying that such a group that makes a UDI will get membership of course. That is up to the UNSC.

Anyway, that's what I think.


miri:

And the point of your post was...

Ban's talking cobblers. How can you have 1244 respecting Serbian sovereignty (an integral part of the rseolution), and then enable an illegal EU mission from an EU which is completely disjointed to somehow take over part of the mission?

The EU and UN have different aims and mandates, and only one of them should even legally be there. It's fast turning into farce.

Dave

Russia has a veto and is entitled to use it when it sees fit. It was both Russia and China as permanent members who oppose independence and as it stands, the majority of the Security council agree with them. Also the overwhelming majority of the general assembly also oppose independence. Put simply, the world is against it!

This is more about US strategic interests than economic. The Albanians are just loyal servants to their new masters. Nothing more.

Dave says.."No one in the states recognizing Kosovo obtains any economic or teritorial benefit from either supporting or rejecting Kosovo independence"

I strongly disagree with you Dave. I believe that if you do a bit of research you will find that the the interests of West and the EU are indeed economic.

They motivated by oil and are using NATO to achieve their goals.

Quoting from a piece I read...
"Clinton's Energy Secretary Bill Richardson spelled out America’s Balkan policy a few months prior to the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia:
"This is about America's energy security… It's also about preventing strategic inroads by those who don't share our values. We're trying to move these newly independent countries toward the West… We would like to see them reliant on western commercial and political interests rather than going another way. We've made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it's very important to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4130271.stm

In 2004 we read the pipeline will be built by the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation (AMBO).
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0215-05.htm

It is clear why there is interest in the Balkans, and it is not humanatarian.

Encouraging division of the countries throughout Europe so as to "divide and conquer", have them join NATO and then make them reliant on the West is the motive.

Unfortunatley the people of the Balkans are the ones who are suffering for it.

Illegal take over of anyones property can`t be just covered when it suits few.And now he just confirms what we already knew-they where in Kosovo so they could steal Serbian land.Not to protect people,we have seen how they protected Kosovo population in 2004 and now is even clearer why they let pogrom happen.
Shame on you BAN and they should BAN people like you from even publicly speaking.

I have to argue with the secretary; it is clear that for countries to recognise an independent Kosovo is illegal in terms of 1244.

Try this for a case:

Given that "the international civil presence" is no longer "Promoting the establishment, pending a final settlement, of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo". We can conclude that the "interim" stage is (de-facto) over.

Serbia (having withdrawn its troops and acted in good faith) has discharged its onerous responsibilities under 1244. Given the guarantee of territorial integrity within 1244 and the failure of the IC to establish an autonomous government, it can be concluded that Serbia is now legally free to reenter Kosovo to organise 'substantial autonomy' line with 1244.

In other words, if the Serbian army (sticking to the rules) re-entered Kosovo, it would be acting legally and anyone who resisted them would be acting illegally.
Realistically (for a while yet at least) Serbia will persue its current line in arguing for the overturning of the UDI, but I don't see much hope of this achieving much in the short term because of the belligerence and intransigence of the US.

However, I do think that Serbia should declare its right to re-enter Kosovo at some stage (and establish the terms with which it would do it) - even if it does not intend to do it within a foreseeable time scale.

It would be interesting to see how the world's free press would react to democratic Serbia LEGALLY thumbing its nose at NATO, EU and US.

Serbia has been treated incompetently by the EU and the US. They have taken no account of Serbia's internal politics and have risked its democratic future stupidly. The reward of a separate state for the Albanians in Kosovo is not appropriate or deserved and the idea of a collective punishment on the Serbian people is a despicable notion.

KS

Technically I agree with you in that international law and the UN cannot be applied the same to every individual scenario in a universal way, but surely you agree that the world needs some kind of baseline upon which to maintain some kind of order.

Imagine the chaos if the UN did not exist, we would have what we had in times gone by: war, invasions, occupations, colonialism and slavery. Unless you consider that the EU and NATO are essentially the new UN, just more action-based, not theory.

Miri, typical childish comments comeing from you, but 1244 is 1244 and the UN still didn't recognise the illegal independence of Kosovo. It's as simple as that, little one. Isufi, please. 25-30 countries doesn't mean your independent.

I appreciate the candor of everyone's responses, I realize this is a subject which people feel passionate about and all the responses I've read so far here-in are well reasoned and without any overt malice. I cannot say what the future holds but the commentators here have my respect for their depth of character. The arena of international law has far less weight then it merits, but given time that will likely change though its to be hoped that it's goal of mediation will not.