Great powers and separatism

the Serbs should all return to their province of krajina which they were evicted illegally that is Serbian land and their autonomy should be recognised and respected.

Parastates appear to have become an unwanted, yet unavoidable, reality. So much for that "unique case" everyone tried to attribute to Kosovo Province.

I think Judah has it right.

International Law has consistently been ignored for years and will no doubt continue to be so. Serbia gets bombed over Kosovo but Russia is left untouched over Chechnya. As Judah poignantly reminds us, Croatia wipes out its Serbian minority with US backing. One could go on and on with examples.

Which is why the battle for Kosovo is basically lost. I frequently think of Taiwan as a similar of case -- not officially independent, but essentially treated as such. Will the world really care what the Serbs think?

As for Krajina -- Gajo, you can forget about it.

First the link to original article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-judah17-2008aug17,0,687679.story

That the mighty do what they want is the problem of all international law. See how the US ignored it when they were condemned by the ICJ for their support to the contras in Nicaragua.

What worries me more is that there is not even a legal principle how one should proceed both when a province gets independence and when it is reabsorbed. Instead we see opportunistic principles that only make things worse like the "principles" of the Kosovo Contact Group.

Some principles might be:
- a home for everyone; if for example Croatia or Abchazia want some territory without the people who used to make up the majority they should loose the right to the land after some time.
- violent retakes like Operation Storm and the present Georgian operation in South-Ossetia with their scorched earth strategy are not allowed. If countries resort to such destructive policies other countries (like Serbia or Russia) have the right to interfere.

Such rules will not settle the question. You will always keep the problem that everyone interprets a situation to his own advantage. But having some generally accepted principles might make the discussion more honest and help the people in the contested areas.

the Serbs should all return to their province of krajina which they were evicted illegally that is Serbian land and their autonomy should be recognised and respected.

I think Judah has it right.

International Law has consistently been ignored for years and will no doubt continue to be so. Serbia gets bombed over Kosovo but Russia is left untouched over Chechnya. As Judah poignantly reminds us, Croatia wipes out its Serbian minority with US backing. One could go on and on with examples.

Which is why the battle for Kosovo is basically lost. I frequently think of Taiwan as a similar of case -- not officially independent, but essentially treated as such. Will the world really care what the Serbs think?

As for Krajina -- Gajo, you can forget about it.

Parastates appear to have become an unwanted, yet unavoidable, reality. So much for that "unique case" everyone tried to attribute to Kosovo Province.

First the link to original article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-judah17-2008aug17,0,687679.story

That the mighty do what they want is the problem of all international law. See how the US ignored it when they were condemned by the ICJ for their support to the contras in Nicaragua.

What worries me more is that there is not even a legal principle how one should proceed both when a province gets independence and when it is reabsorbed. Instead we see opportunistic principles that only make things worse like the "principles" of the Kosovo Contact Group.

Some principles might be:
- a home for everyone; if for example Croatia or Abchazia want some territory without the people who used to make up the majority they should loose the right to the land after some time.
- violent retakes like Operation Storm and the present Georgian operation in South-Ossetia with their scorched earth strategy are not allowed. If countries resort to such destructive policies other countries (like Serbia or Russia) have the right to interfere.

Such rules will not settle the question. You will always keep the problem that everyone interprets a situation to his own advantage. But having some generally accepted principles might make the discussion more honest and help the people in the contested areas.