"EU membership bid in first half of 2009"

When you tout as victories:
1. Resolution by UN general assembly for permission to ask a non binding opinion of the IGJ (which had a 0% chance of not being granted regardless of the question)
and
2. The introduction of a Rule of Law mission into Kosovo, that Serbia had spent the last 2 years fighting against.
You are scraping the barrel to say you had victories.

USA,
Some of what you say is true. Serbia will do everything possible to keep Kosovo from succeeding.
It is going to be a long road for Kosovo to develop, especially since all the infrastructure was destroyed in the 80s-90s. Which is why USA and the west insisted on a supervised version of independence in return for a committment of support.
As far as the political power struggle and criminal organizations, there is very little differenct in Kosovo and Serbia in those respects.

My original view was that some type of confederation deal was the best for Kosovo to succeed. But the more I learned of this situation and through many comments on this site, I became more convinced that the Serbian interest was that of preventing any type of success for the Albanian population than creating a prosperous life for all.
Independence became the only opportunity for Kosovo to survive as the USA firmly believes.

pss,

You are being short-sighted. Serbia's victory will be more of a long-term achievement in that the illegal independence of Kosovo will fail. Serbia will do everything in its power to ensure that this is the case, but even more certain is the reality that Kosovo cannot survive on its own. For one, when the big powers cease to financially and politically support Kosovo, everything will fall apart. The other factor is the continuous struggle for political power and the prevalance of criminal organizations. These are factors that will always prevent a new state from becoming a successful project in Kosovo. Time will prove my points. Happpy new year!

The US is fully aware that with over a 90% majority, Serbia can do very little to make life difficult for the civilian population in Kosovo. Also, Serbia is one of the most diverse countries in eastern Europe in terms of demographics. This is and has always been attributed to the tolerance that Serbia shows towards its inhabitants. Gypsies, Albanians, Turks, Chinese, Hungarians just to name a few are enjoying a peaceful existence in Serbia. It is therefore unreasonable to think that Serbia is attempting to make life difficult for civilans in Kosovo.

Serbia is doing everything in its power to make independence difficult, however. When a province within a country gets taken away, no one is willing to go down without a fight. If the hispanics in some western US states decided to vouch for independence from Washington because they make up the majority population, would Washington allow that to happen? I think not.

USA,
Some of what you say is true. Serbia will do everything possible to keep Kosovo from succeeding.
It is going to be a long road for Kosovo to develop, especially since all the infrastructure was destroyed in the 80s-90s. Which is why USA and the west insisted on a supervised version of independence in return for a committment of support.
As far as the political power struggle and criminal organizations, there is very little differenct in Kosovo and Serbia in those respects.

My original view was that some type of confederation deal was the best for Kosovo to succeed. But the more I learned of this situation and through many comments on this site, I became more convinced that the Serbian interest was that of preventing any type of success for the Albanian population than creating a prosperous life for all.
Independence became the only opportunity for Kosovo to survive as the USA firmly believes.

When you tout as victories:
1. Resolution by UN general assembly for permission to ask a non binding opinion of the IGJ (which had a 0% chance of not being granted regardless of the question)
and
2. The introduction of a Rule of Law mission into Kosovo, that Serbia had spent the last 2 years fighting against.
You are scraping the barrel to say you had victories.

The US is fully aware that with over a 90% majority, Serbia can do very little to make life difficult for the civilian population in Kosovo. Also, Serbia is one of the most diverse countries in eastern Europe in terms of demographics. This is and has always been attributed to the tolerance that Serbia shows towards its inhabitants. Gypsies, Albanians, Turks, Chinese, Hungarians just to name a few are enjoying a peaceful existence in Serbia. It is therefore unreasonable to think that Serbia is attempting to make life difficult for civilans in Kosovo.

Serbia is doing everything in its power to make independence difficult, however. When a province within a country gets taken away, no one is willing to go down without a fight. If the hispanics in some western US states decided to vouch for independence from Washington because they make up the majority population, would Washington allow that to happen? I think not.

pss,

You are being short-sighted. Serbia's victory will be more of a long-term achievement in that the illegal independence of Kosovo will fail. Serbia will do everything in its power to ensure that this is the case, but even more certain is the reality that Kosovo cannot survive on its own. For one, when the big powers cease to financially and politically support Kosovo, everything will fall apart. The other factor is the continuous struggle for political power and the prevalance of criminal organizations. These are factors that will always prevent a new state from becoming a successful project in Kosovo. Time will prove my points. Happpy new year!