Agreement on medicines to Kosovo

Okay, so the aid is now on its way to getting to the Kosovo Serbs. Good for them. The political message by Russia is well understood: politicize aid delivery so as to sabotage and deligitimize the government of an independent Kosovo.

Will it achieve that aim? Of course not. Kosovo's statehood is propped up by the West, not Russia. This is nothing new. Except that a few Kremlin people and DSS guys in Serbis will use it to turn aid into a political weapon, so as to strengthen Kosovo Serb vote in the May 11 elections.

Will this aid delivery somehow diminish Kosovo's independence? No.

One of the Russian aims was to 'contrast' its actions with the US plan to arm Kosovo. Thus, its a battle of perceptions: the Russians are the good guys, since they deliver medicine; the Americans are the bad guys, since they send in weapons.

Regardless of these tactics, Kosovo's independence is a fact of life in the region.

Looks like the Russo-American global bargaining game is bearing some fruit: Russia has been staunchly opposed to Kosovo's independence as its frontline tactic in order to preempt American plans to extend NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia. This is what actually does make sense as being a direct threat to Russian national security, as they perceive it. So, keeping firm on Kosovo conveyed a sense of Russian seriousness on other issues. The missle defence is a somewhat middle issue: there seems to be some sort of a compromise emerging there, at least privately. It could be that down the road in a few years time, Kosovo becomes a point of agreement, rather than antagonism b/w Russia and the US. But, with Kosovo widely recognized as independent by the West, Russia knows it can't undo that fact. So, in the chessboard game of geostrategic influence, it is likely that Russia will decide to compromise over Kosovo so that it protects its more immediate interests centering around its borders.

The issue is: the Serbs would have lost plenty of time relying on Russian support, which is by no means open-ended. Serbia will again find itself late in the coming to get itself back on track to move towards EU integrations - its only viable/practical alternative.

So this was all about setting up the correct procedures for transporting medicine after all.

Not that this wasn't obvious from the beginning, but it is ironic that a few posters here tried to twist this incident into a case of "gross abuse of Serbs' human rights by the criminal Albanians."

I guess these folks will have to learn to read without prejudice.

Okay, so the aid is now on its way to getting to the Kosovo Serbs. Good for them. The political message by Russia is well understood: politicize aid delivery so as to sabotage and deligitimize the government of an independent Kosovo.

Will it achieve that aim? Of course not. Kosovo's statehood is propped up by the West, not Russia. This is nothing new. Except that a few Kremlin people and DSS guys in Serbis will use it to turn aid into a political weapon, so as to strengthen Kosovo Serb vote in the May 11 elections.

Will this aid delivery somehow diminish Kosovo's independence? No.

One of the Russian aims was to 'contrast' its actions with the US plan to arm Kosovo. Thus, its a battle of perceptions: the Russians are the good guys, since they deliver medicine; the Americans are the bad guys, since they send in weapons.

Regardless of these tactics, Kosovo's independence is a fact of life in the region.

Looks like the Russo-American global bargaining game is bearing some fruit: Russia has been staunchly opposed to Kosovo's independence as its frontline tactic in order to preempt American plans to extend NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia. This is what actually does make sense as being a direct threat to Russian national security, as they perceive it. So, keeping firm on Kosovo conveyed a sense of Russian seriousness on other issues. The missle defence is a somewhat middle issue: there seems to be some sort of a compromise emerging there, at least privately. It could be that down the road in a few years time, Kosovo becomes a point of agreement, rather than antagonism b/w Russia and the US. But, with Kosovo widely recognized as independent by the West, Russia knows it can't undo that fact. So, in the chessboard game of geostrategic influence, it is likely that Russia will decide to compromise over Kosovo so that it protects its more immediate interests centering around its borders.

The issue is: the Serbs would have lost plenty of time relying on Russian support, which is by no means open-ended. Serbia will again find itself late in the coming to get itself back on track to move towards EU integrations - its only viable/practical alternative.

So this was all about setting up the correct procedures for transporting medicine after all.

Not that this wasn't obvious from the beginning, but it is ironic that a few posters here tried to twist this incident into a case of "gross abuse of Serbs' human rights by the criminal Albanians."

I guess these folks will have to learn to read without prejudice.