Serbia's FM urges just solution for Kosovo

OK, here's a question for those of you that are suggesting that Kosovo be reintegrated within Serbia:

How exactly will Serbia govern this province? The majority of the people don't want to be part of Serbia (which brings up another question for all those constantly slamming "the Albanians" - if they become citizens of Serbia will you consider them as Serbian or Albanian?) and as such another full-scale war is a risk.

Is it really worth it, because whether it's just or not, NATO will presumably enter into the fray again and Serbia's allies in Moscow and Beijing aren't going to launch WWIII over Kosovo. They will give you political support, and maybe some weapons but they're not going to physically fight for you. With no disrespect to the Serbian armed forces, they won't seriously be able to defeat a NATO force.

The reality, whether it's fair or not, is that Serbia cannot regain Kosovo. It's politically unworkable and would lead to astonishing levels of violence.

"This is not about stubbornness, acrimony, revisionism, or wanting to be a nuisance"

gah..of course it is. how can serbs stand to be represented by this guy?

".... Kosovo's UDI, in light of the court's findings"

kosovo's declaration of independence was Legal... he cant even bring himself to say it.

so sad. so sad.

So sad so sad is it AdamNYC?

I'd suggest its not as sad as a chap who think that the recent court decision on Kosovo's UDI make that UDI 'legal'. It shows a painful limit to intellect. I cant help but feel lofty against people with interpretations of international law that are simple and child like.

"'This is not about stubbornness, acrimony, revisionism, or wanting to be a nuisance'

'gah..of course it is. how can serbs stand to be represented by this guy?'" (AdamNYC)

-- Actually, it's not. Any country would do the exact same thing in Belgrade's shoes. Even Pristina hasn't given up on "integrating" the north. Key Western powers actually expected Serbia to throw in the towel years ago. Much to their annoyance, Vuk continues to provide a formidable obstacle - though I really have to question even this logic since the US never really had a plan for Kosovo other than throwing bags of money at it and hoping for the best (FADURK anyone?).

And how is Vuk's wanting to be a nuisance any different from Pristina's worn out efforts at trying to take northern Kosovo or simply saying "recognize us" in international forums in the absence of any willingness to compromise? These rumors of possible "autonomy" for the north was a possible effort at starting dialogue, but since then Dell, Thaci, and the rest denied such an offer was on the table. So I really have to ask where the real stubborness and intransigence lies: Belgrade, with its repeated offers of negotiated settlement and compromise, or Pristina, with its repeated "demands" for recognition behind the wall of US diplomacy.

Vuk won't get everything he wants in the end, but dammit the man says all the right things - which makes it considerably hard for Western powers to ignore Belgrade.

The Albanians can get on Jeremic all they want - they can call him names, make fun of him, ridicule him, but he is obviously doing his job, otherwise the Albanians here would not comment on him so much. Can you name one American diplomat that is as effective as Vuk? No you can't. The Americans just chirp the same old tired State Dept. talking points, year after year - and they have not moved forward with their land grab project in the Balkans one bit. Are there any Albanian diplomats that can come close to Vuk? No! The reason the albos dislike Jeremic so much, is because they wish they had someone like him. BTW, what is Hyseni's background? What famous college did he attend? What are some of his successes diplomatically, done on his own, that is? None!

This guy is really amazing! Its hard to understand how capable he is to twist and present things as it pleases him. I really wonder what would he (and the pro Serb camp in here) have to say if the ICJ had ruled and said something like “the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did violate international law”.
The pro Serb camp are fooling themselves once again by believing the Serbian FM interpretation of the court’s opinion. As I have noticed, there is no more mentioning in this forum of 1244 having been violated , as it used to be everyday before the court’s ruling. So, now I’m afraid that it will take you guys some few years (or until some International body gives an interpretation of the court’s opinion) for you to see that Vuk Jeremic is only playing with words and spinning everything just to save his face.
I don’t know what version of the court’s opinion you are reading, but the one I downloaded from the ICJ website says nowhere anything close to Jeremic’s interpretation. I’ll copy paste some key paragraphs for you to judge yourself.

“THE HAGUE, 22 July 2010. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has today given its Advisory Opinion on the question of the Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo (request for advisory opinion).
In this Opinion, the Court unanimously finds that it has jurisdiction to give the advisory opinion requested by the General Assembly of the United Nations and, by nine votes to five, decides to comply with that request.
The Court then responds to the request as follows:
“(3) By ten votes to four,
Is of the opinion that the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.”
Reasoning of the Court
At the end of its reasoning, which is summarized below, the Court concludes “that the adoption of the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 did not violate general international law, Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) or the Constitutional Framework [adopted on behalf of UNMIK by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General]”, and that “[c]onsequently the adoption of that declaration did not violate any applicable rule of international law”.”

Below paragraph/s is (are) related to the claims that Jeremic says that the court “opted to narrowly examine” the question:

“…The Court observes that the task which it is called upon to perform is therefore to determine whether or not the declaration in question was adopted in violation of international law. It points out that it “is not required by the question it has been asked to take a position on whether international law conferred a positive entitlement on Kosovo unilaterally to declare its independence or, a fortiori, on whether international law generally confers an entitlement on entities situated within a State unilaterally to break away from it”.”
“The Court first turns its attention to certain questions concerning the lawfulness of declarations of independence under general international law, against the background of which the question posed falls to be considered, and Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) is to be understood and applied. In particular, it notes that during the second half of the twentieth century, “the international law of self-determination developed in such a way as to create a right to independence for the peoples of non-self-governing territories and peoples subject to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation” and that a “great many new States have come into existence as a result of the exercise of this right”. The Court observes that there were, however, also instances of declarations of independence outside this context and that “[t]he practice of States in these latter cases does not point to the emergence in international law of a new rule prohibiting the making of a declaration of independence in such cases”.”
Another part on the issue of Kosovo being a special case:
“After recalling that several participants have invoked resolutions of the Security Council condemning particular declarations of independence (see, inter alia, Security Council resolutions 216 (1965) and 217 (1965), concerning Southern Rhodesia; Security Council resolution 541 (1983), concerning northern Cyprus; and Security Council resolution 787 (1992), concerning the Republika Srpska), the Court “notes, however, that in all of those instances the Security Council was making a determination as regards the concrete situation existing at the time that those declarations of independence were made; the illegality attached to the declarations of independence thus stemmed not from the unilateral character of these declarations as such, but from the fact that they were, or would have been, connected with the unlawful use of force or other egregious violations of norms of general international law, in particular those of a peremptory character (jus cogens)”. “In the context of Kosovo”, the Court continues, “the Security Council has never taken this position. The exceptional character of the resolutions enumerated above appears to the Court to confirm that no general prohibition against unilateral declarations of independence may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council.””
See the entire link :
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/16012.pdf?PHPSESSID=c60a39336d00e3bc21295b2106c15aa8
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/15987.pdf?PHPSESSID=c60a39336d00e3bc21295b2106c15aa8

AdamNYC - The declaration and nothing else. At least he isn't blatantly lying like the private individual Hyseni who claims that the ICJ ruled that Kosovo is independent. Either he can't read English or someone has given him false information!

Sorry, you lowered the bar so low, you can't breathe under it. A victory for kosovo is admission to the UN and you ain't getting in with your attitude. Eleven years since HATO fought for you and you haven't really moved an inch. You can make up phony declarations and fake constitutions and shoot off your mouths, but you depend on america for everything and america is running out of money. You come up with these stupid predictions of flood of recognitions that don't materialize - everybody is on vacation. Serbia won't give up - you are trapped in limboland.

Nick KS - The game's already over if you've bothered to read the ICJ ruling and heard what the Russia said at the UN today - No UN seat for Kosovo - EVER. The US, EU + whoever else can continue to claim that Kosovo is independent, but that's all it'll ever be - talk. Checkmate.

I merely pointed out that the courts findings on the issue of a UDI's doesn't support an independent Kosovo. My humble opinion seems to be born out as i am yet to be crushed by the avalanche of recognitions across the globe.

All the aggression on here tut tut. China and Russia will stop any ambitions that Kosovo will ever be a legit independent sovereign state. Serbia will need to hang in there for the duration (possibly decades until the people who fight weak, little and sickly Kosovo's battles have new agendas and grow weary of Pristina's street names getting ever more abstract... Chelsea Clinton Avenue and Cherie Blair Boulevard?)

Kosovo will never be a byword for UDI's or right to determination.

I wonder what Vuk will do when he losses again at the UNGA!! Resign and go back to school probably.

When will Serbs finally understand that they are not in position to demand or urge any kind of talks? What exactly makes them think that the Kosovar Albanians are willing to engage in talks that could compromise Kosovo's independence? Serbs won't accept our independence, but we should accept Serbia's plan "more of autonomy, less of independence"? Where is the logic in that?
If Serbia really is committed to international law and justice, then they must learn to accept international court decisions like that of the ICJ that said Kosovo's independence did not violate the international law and that it was in full accordance with Resolution 1244. Since Serbia refuses to do so, shows how much they respect the International law.  

The Kosovo status issue is not about Serbs and Albanians, it's about the Serbs and the US and Britain. The imperialists want to push their land grab through, proclaiming it independent, when no court said it was, only that you have the right to "proclaim it". The Empire will get its way, they have the biggest guns, but it is good to see that a great part of the planet is not agreeing with their unilateral actions. And please, America, don't mention anything about international law, you have broke it, ignored it, trampled on it, as you chose fit. When this bully (US) is one day weakened, true international law will be respected.

"Serbia's FM urges just solution for Kosovo"

Partial justice to Kosovo has been done by gaining full independence, but more has to come (Presevo, Nis, then appologies, reparation etc) to find the REAL and 'just solution for Kosovo'

Me and Vuk, agree on the text but probably not on the interpretation.

Nevertheless, I truly believe from the historical context my alternative by far more real and JUST solution for Kosovo.

JUST SOLUTION: Stop trying to steal Serb land you conquered by Ottoman-era expulsion & assimilation and we give you back your former status as most priveleged minority that you squandered. And while you're at it: stop stealing Obilic & Skenderbeg and claiming Illyrian descent since genetics has already nullified that and start considering a more recent migration from the Caucasus for your Albanian roots. Oh and where are those new recognitions, hm?

It is funny to hear Jeremic calling for a just solution. He asked ICJ for a just solution and they complied. They answered the question that he asked. There is no higher court than ICJ. Who else are you going to ask now? Perhaps the aliens?

Allez, you do not attend Harvard, why are you claiming you do? As for the Albanians now enrolled at the school, fine, but who cares? That is, unless they are more open to dialogue than the criminals in Pristina. Do you understand, the only way to resolve the Kosovo situation, is for more forward looking people, that will there, than the old school thugs that now control Pristina. Please admit, that that the KLA leaders in Pristina are thugs, they are criminals. If you do not admit that, then there is NO discussion. The Balkans knows the story, the west ignores it. Belgrade will never talk with KLA that killed Serbian citizens, can we agree on that

The Albanians can get on Jeremic all they want - they can call him names, make fun of him, ridicule him, but he is obviously doing his job, otherwise the Albanians here would not comment on him so much. Can you name one American diplomat that is as effective as Vuk? No you can't. The Americans just chirp the same old tired State Dept. talking points, year after year - and they have not moved forward with their land grab project in the Balkans one bit. Are there any Albanian diplomats that can come close to Vuk? No! The reason the albos dislike Jeremic so much, is because they wish they had someone like him. BTW, what is Hyseni's background? What famous college did he attend? What are some of his successes diplomatically, done on his own, that is? None!
(winston, 4 August 2010 17:47)

Ok winston by your analogy since I graduated from Harvard as well I am smarter better then you??

Vuk is a good diplomat but he is way over his head nothing wrong with that but what I dont like about him is he changes his stand and he plays dirty fine but when others do he complains.

I am not Albanian but I would say Suroi is better choice than Hyseni, i know for fact that there are 4 albanias from Kosovo in Harvard right now some bright minds and going to same classes as VUK went so give them time they will catch up.

Aleks,

The link you provided is yet another private interpretation of the ICJ ruling. You can find many interpretations going in favour or against the both sides. The important thing and fact we should look at is the ICJ ruling itself, not private interpretations.
If we closely look at what Mr. Jeremic says regarding the ICJ ruling on the asked question is really nonsense. The question was: “Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo” and the answer to that question was: “(3) By ten votes to four, is of the opinion that the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.” What is unclear here??

Now Mr. Jeremic says that:
“Moreover, the court neither endorsed the view that Kosovo's UDI was a unique case, nor Priština's claim that Kosovo is a state. Lastly, the court failed to approve the province's avowed right of secession from Serbia, or any purported right to self-determination for Kosovo's ethnic Albanians," said Jeremić.

When you go to a shop and ask, let’s say for a pair of jeans, do you expect the shop keeper to come back to you with a pair of shoes?? I don’t think so.
Same happened with the issue in question.

"The ICJ clearly reaffirmed that Kosovo remains subject to the interim administration of the United Nations, and that resolution 1244 (1999) and UNMIK's Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo remain in force and continue to apply. It is therefore evident that the province is still a territory subject to an international regime mandated by the Security Council," he said, and noted that "this could produce extensive and deeply problematic consequences for the international community".

Where does the ICJ ruling say anything close to this. He, on one side says: "This has unfortunately left room for a dangerous misinterpretation of the court's view…” while on the other hand he himslef does a dangerous misinterpretation and you guys believe him.

highduke,

Scanderbeg is Serbian and Albanians have settled to Balkans from Caucasus??!! Wow! Speechless! Regarding new recognitions, don’t you worry too much, they are on their way. Where are the “at least 15 withdrawals of recognitions” that were supposed to happen after the ICJ ruling?

Anthony Manchester UK

What about statement by the ICJ on the "interim" nature of 1244?

What about the statement by the court that the Helsinki Convention only applies to states in relation to each other?

What about the recognition of Ahtisaaris role in the negociations?

What about the references to "remedial secession"?

Please do not pretend to be an expert in legal interpretation before you analyze these facts and paragraphs of the ICJ decision.

To Pz, AdamNYC and others who still don't really get what the ICJ said and didn't say as well as the implications of their non-binding opinion, read the following from the official western propaganda outlet for balkans news,
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/comment/29723/

Kosovo Ruling Reveals World Court’s Darker Side

28 July 2010 | By Matthew Parish

So sad so sad is it AdamNYC?

I'd suggest its not as sad as a chap who think that the recent court decision on Kosovo's UDI make that UDI 'legal'. It shows a painful limit to intellect. I cant help but feel lofty against people with interpretations of international law that are simple and child like.
(Anthony Manchester UK, 4 August 2010 11:57)
What a simple mind that can say that which is not illegal is not legal. The opinion is as it is, there is no international law that makes this UDI illegal. Bruising of Serbian pride has never been a violation of international law.
As far as Goran's comments there is no checkmate, as said before the country of Kosovo can exist and function without UN membership, it can be a frustrating consequence of the Russian-Serbia relationship but at this point it has enough support for functionality.
There will be dialogue or discussions or negotiations, whether directly or indirectly and there will be something given to Serbia in exchange for sometype of acceptance of an Independent Kosovo.
The mistake the international community has made is in trying to win Serbia by carrots, instead of treating Serbia as a land of frozen conflict that will remain stagnate until resolution. But I think that error is beginning to see light.
No one is saying Kosovo's road is going to be an easy one, but the bridge to Serbia has forever been destroyed and shall not travel that way again.

JUST SOLUTION: Stop trying to steal Serb land you conquered by Ottoman-era expulsion & assimilation and we give you back your former status as most priveleged minority that you squandered. And while you're at it: stop stealing Obilic & Skenderbeg and claiming Illyrian descent since genetics has already nullified that and start considering a more recent migration from the Caucasus for your Albanian roots. Oh and where are those new recognitions, hm?
(highduke, 4 August 2010 13:59)

JUST SOLUTION: Stop trying to insult our inteligence with falsification of history. All the world knows that Scanderbeg is albanian hero. Also know that Kosovo had, has and will have 90% albanian majority and the land can never be stolen.

Aleks,

I’m not giving an interpretation to the ICJ ruling, simply presenting it as it is, without twisting and spinning as it pleases me, and nor did I comment anything on the article under the link you provided apart saying that it is a private interpretation of somebody who I never heard of.
You should not believe me, believe the ICJ ruling, where I took those picks not to suit my interpretation but rather to contradict the FM’s claims. Go read the ICJ ruling from the very beginning and I’m sure it will become clearer to you than believing somebody’s private interpretations.

who cares, allenz? who cares if there are abanians at harvard? the problem is that there is no agreement between Serbia and pristina. That is the problem. The west cannot solve this issue, regardless of the fact they used military force. Status talks with Belgrade is the ONLY solution, if you do not agree, then you are waiting for America to solve the issues of the Balkans. Do you really like that?

Peggy
If you are so sure that NATO will protect what it won 11 years ago and Russia and China will go to war for Serbia then why do you suppose Serbia does not intervene in Kosovo right now?
(Simpatiku, 5 August 2010 12:38)

Simpatiku, Serbia will not go to war over Kosovo. Both Jeremic and Tadic have said that quite explicitly. China or Russia will not go to war with the US over Kosovo. They have already said that too. Isn't it ironic that all the talk of peaceful, meaningful dialogue and compromise has been coming from Belgrade while all the hot air seems to be eminating from Pristina

Lets face it dude, Uncle Enver should never have broken off with Chairman Mao in the 60's. Think of it if you lot had kept up the good relations with Beijing, ye lads would be sitting nice and pretty now. Look now what has happened. Those pesky Serbs up the road have stolen your thunder and have got all luvvy duvvy with the Chinese.

Well at least ye still have thousands of those concrete bunkers dotted all over the place all thanks to Uncle Enver :)

Not much of a realist are you?
What makes you so sure that NATO will enter into it again? Look how well they are doing in Afghanistan. That surely must give them heaps of confidence. Also, what makes you so sure that Russia and China will not enter into this? They don't have to roll their tanks in to stop NATO. They have other means available to them now. It's been a decade since that attack and people are a lot more educated about the situation there. NATO attcking Serbia again would be very unpopular world wide especially since Russia and China have interests there now. NATO country citizens themselves would not tolerate another war which Russia and China only have to threaten.
Do you recall how many times US apologised to China for simply bombing their embassy. Imagine bombing other Chinese projects there now.
(Peggy, 5 August 2010 01:02)

Peggy
If you are so sure that NATO will protect what it won 11 years ago and Russia and China will go to war for Serbia then why do you suppose Serbia does not intervene in Kosovo right now?

What makes you so sure that NATO will enter into it again? Look how well they are doing in Afghanistan. That surely must give them heaps of confidence. Also, what makes you so sure that Russia and China will not enter into this? They don't have to roll their tanks in to stop NATO. They have other means available to them now. It's been a decade since that attack and people are a lot more educated about the situation there. NATO attcking Serbia again would be very unpopular world wide especially since Russia and China have interests there now. NATO country citizens themselves would not tolerate another war which Russia and China only have to threaten.
Do you recall how many times US apologised to China for simply bombing their embassy. Imagine bombing other Chinese projects there now.
(Peggy, 5 August 2010 01:02)

Nail on the head as always Peggy :) The Albanian keyboard warrior hypernationalists dont realise that alot has changed in the world since 1999. Then Serbia was practically isolated and the US was a hyperpower acting unilaterally and thumbing its nose at the UN. Now things are different these days. Washington has got itself into a sorry old mess in Iraq and in Afghanistan and another war in the Balkans would be the final nail in the coffin of the US imperialist war machine.

China has invested billions of euro into Serbia into various infrastructure projects (bridges, roads, railways and electrical powerplants) and any destruction of these Chinese funded projects would piss Beijing off big time. You see, China has Uncle Sam by the short and curlies. After 3 decades of a Keynesian credit splurge, the US is broke and is leveraged up to its eyeballs in Chinese debt. That's right, Chinese debt. Hit Serbia and you hit the Dragon. It's as simple as that. Now China may not exactly send her troops to Serbia, but she has other ways to make its message loud and clear. If the Albanian hypernationalists think they can automatically get carte blanche approval from the US to invade the North, then they have another thing coming. Serbia may be a small country on paper, but it has powerful friends, mess with Belgrade and you have China and yes I forgot, Russia :)

My message to the Serbs, brush up on your Russian and get learning Mandarin Chinese. You'll need it. To my Albanian friends, quit your delusions and start living in the real world. Be pragmatic for a change.

Have a nice day all.

Pz,

So then yYu provided your own 'private interpretation' of the ICJ ruling which is better? His article is much more balanced, better argued and actually cogent and doesn't talk about jeans either. The guy in the link worked for the OHR in Bosnia and knows it from the inside.

What is your expertize and why should I believe you from the parts of the ICJ opinion that you cherry picked to suit your interpretation over someone else with much better knowledge and is neither albanian/serbian/balkanite?

Who are you kidding? Yourself maybe. Nothing is resolved.

The purpose of posting the link was to show that it is not just the Serbs/pro-serbs who say the judgment is stupid. Anyone (and many legal experts) who has spent some real time on it are seriously concerned because the ICJ opinion is inherently contradictory. Where there is confusion there is opportunity to be taken.

In the end, it does not matter what you say but what countries and secessionists say and actually do. It is much too early to tell what will happen.


To the 'NATO victory guy',

Sir Michael Rose on Kosovo & NATO (via the BBC):

WASHINGTON'S WAR
By Gen Sir Michael Rose

http://tinyurl.com/2u796tn

"...In spite of their confident assertions, the use of military force in Kosovo also failed to achieve its declared political, humanitarian or military objectives. On 24 March 1999, Javier Solana, then Secretary General of NATO, stated that the objectives of NATO's war against Milosevic were to halt the ethnic cleansing and stop further human suffering in Kosovo. In spite of the most intensive eleven and a half weeks of bombing hitherto experienced in the history of war, 10,000 people were killed and one million people were driven from their homes. When judged on a humanitarian basis, it is clear that the mission failed entirely. At the same time, General Wesley Clark, the commander of NATO, announced that NATO air power would progressively 'disrupt, degrade, devastate and destroy' the Serb military machine to prevent it from carrying out any further ethnic cleansing. Yet, despite the fact that the Serb Army was equipped with 1950s Soviet technology and that it was exhausted by eight years of war, NATO completely failed to live up to General Clark's expectations. It is estimated that less than twenty Serb armoured vehicles were destroyed in the bombing, and the ethnic cleansing continued at an accelerated pace. When the bombing finally halted, the Serb Army withdrew into Yugoslavia, 'an undefeated army', in the words of the senior British commander on the ground. Bombing simply had not worked. Moreover, NATO failed to deliver any political goals. For it never obtained the freedom of movement throughout Yugoslavia that it had sought at the Rambouillet talks in January 1999. All NATO's other demands had been agreed to by Milosevic. For British politicians to claim today that the war in Kosovo was a success because NATO 'did, after all, succeed in getting rid of Milosevic', is to indulge in propaganda worthy of Milosevic himself....Both Bosnia and Kosovo have become, in effect, protectorates of Europe...."

Go read the rest at the link

Serbia won't give up - you are trapped in limboland.
(JohnBoy, 4 August 2010)

What makes you think we will? You know what comes from limboland? Albanian unification. I for one wish you never recognize.

The interesting thing about the ICJ ruling is that before the ruling experts were predicting that it would render and opinion that both sides would be able to claim victory. But everyone said that not much would change by the ruling.
Part of that was true. Not much changed with the ruling as predicted-however, Kosovo was able to claim victory and Serbia was left to cite technical issues as to why Kosovo was not victorious but unable to claim any victory.
The so-called Serbian resolution which must pass both the GA and the UNSC will go no where. We know it will not survive the UNSC, and doubtful in the GA.
Any resolution will probably be generic in that it will call for dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo. It will not detail issues and it will be up to the parties to decide on what issues are up for negotiations which brings us back to square one, Kosovo will not consent to any discussion on status and Serbia will not consent to discussions of anything else.
Open negotiations will have no chance, behind the scenes negotiations will be the only way to solve the issue where the public is only informed of the final outcome.

allenz, keep in mind, jeremic is doing a lot better at the UN than the albanians, is that what troubles you? I support Vuk, he is a strong diplomat, you must admire that, and he is exposing America's unilateral agenda, in world affairs. You have to applaud that, if you want Kosovo to be a democratic society.

Nick KS - The game's already over if you've bothered to read the ICJ ruling and heard what the Russia said at the UN today - No UN seat for Kosovo - EVER. The US, EU + whoever else can continue to claim that Kosovo is independent, but that's all it'll ever be - talk. Checkmate.
(Goran V, 4 August 2010 13:30) It will be very true if UN is "made of Russia" but is NOT......

Is it really worth it, because whether it's just or not, NATO will presumably enter into the fray again and Serbia's allies in Moscow and Beijing aren't going to launch WWIII over Kosovo. They will give you political support, and maybe some weapons but they're not going to physically fight for you. With no disrespect to the Serbian armed forces, they won't seriously be able to defeat a NATO force.

The reality, whether it's fair or not, is that Serbia cannot regain Kosovo. It's politically unworkable and would lead to astonishing levels of violence.
(Realist, 4 August 2010 16:24)
===================
Not much of a realist are you?
What makes you so sure that NATO will enter into it again? Look how well they are doing in Afghanistan. That surely must give them heaps of confidence. Also, what makes you so sure that Russia and China will not enter into this? They don't have to roll their tanks in to stop NATO. They have other means available to them now. It's been a decade since that attack and people are a lot more educated about the situation there. NATO attcking Serbia again would be very unpopular world wide especially since Russia and China have interests there now. NATO country citizens themselves would not tolerate another war which Russia and China only have to threaten.
Do you recall how many times US apologised to China for simply bombing their embassy. Imagine bombing other Chinese projects there now.

On a few of these posts,here, there is talk about whether the USA and NATO would attack the Serbs and Serbia if the Serbs tried to militarily take back Kosovo. I can tell you a few important factors: the USA/NATO first do a massive ariel bombing campaign to destroy a country's infrastructure and decimate those individuals who live and work around such infrastructure and of course to produce terror. Then the USA/NATO would send ground troops. This is where both sides have a chance to "slug it out". In the 1980's, in Afghanistan, the USA began to give the Taliban Muslim fighters portable, light weight,easy to aim, heat seeking missiles called "stinger missiles" to destroy Soviet aircraft. Back then, according to the USA, the Taliban Mujadeen Muslims were "the good guys" and the Russians; the Soviets "the bad guys". Of course, the Islamist al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center in New York City USA on Sept.11, 2001 showed that the USA backed the wrong group, which is nothing new for the USA. If the Serbs had heat seeking surface to air missles,and in a huge quantity,I could be wrong, but I honestly believe that Serbia would not have been bombed for the super long peroid of 78 days and that Kosovo would be still be under Serbia's rule. The air strikes from the USA/NATO were so effective against Serbia that I can't remember hearing about any USA/NATO ground troops fighting the Serbs, but I heard a lot about KLA ethnic Albanians attacking the Serbs, and the KLA had massive USA/NATO financial support and weapons support.

"This is not about stubbornness, acrimony, revisionism, or wanting to be a nuisance"

gah..of course it is. how can serbs stand to be represented by this guy?

".... Kosovo's UDI, in light of the court's findings"

kosovo's declaration of independence was Legal... he cant even bring himself to say it.

so sad. so sad.

So sad so sad is it AdamNYC?

I'd suggest its not as sad as a chap who think that the recent court decision on Kosovo's UDI make that UDI 'legal'. It shows a painful limit to intellect. I cant help but feel lofty against people with interpretations of international law that are simple and child like.

Sorry, you lowered the bar so low, you can't breathe under it. A victory for kosovo is admission to the UN and you ain't getting in with your attitude. Eleven years since HATO fought for you and you haven't really moved an inch. You can make up phony declarations and fake constitutions and shoot off your mouths, but you depend on america for everything and america is running out of money. You come up with these stupid predictions of flood of recognitions that don't materialize - everybody is on vacation. Serbia won't give up - you are trapped in limboland.

JUST SOLUTION: Stop trying to steal Serb land you conquered by Ottoman-era expulsion & assimilation and we give you back your former status as most priveleged minority that you squandered. And while you're at it: stop stealing Obilic & Skenderbeg and claiming Illyrian descent since genetics has already nullified that and start considering a more recent migration from the Caucasus for your Albanian roots. Oh and where are those new recognitions, hm?

The Albanians can get on Jeremic all they want - they can call him names, make fun of him, ridicule him, but he is obviously doing his job, otherwise the Albanians here would not comment on him so much. Can you name one American diplomat that is as effective as Vuk? No you can't. The Americans just chirp the same old tired State Dept. talking points, year after year - and they have not moved forward with their land grab project in the Balkans one bit. Are there any Albanian diplomats that can come close to Vuk? No! The reason the albos dislike Jeremic so much, is because they wish they had someone like him. BTW, what is Hyseni's background? What famous college did he attend? What are some of his successes diplomatically, done on his own, that is? None!

I wonder what Vuk will do when he losses again at the UNGA!! Resign and go back to school probably.

Allez, you do not attend Harvard, why are you claiming you do? As for the Albanians now enrolled at the school, fine, but who cares? That is, unless they are more open to dialogue than the criminals in Pristina. Do you understand, the only way to resolve the Kosovo situation, is for more forward looking people, that will there, than the old school thugs that now control Pristina. Please admit, that that the KLA leaders in Pristina are thugs, they are criminals. If you do not admit that, then there is NO discussion. The Balkans knows the story, the west ignores it. Belgrade will never talk with KLA that killed Serbian citizens, can we agree on that

"'This is not about stubbornness, acrimony, revisionism, or wanting to be a nuisance'

'gah..of course it is. how can serbs stand to be represented by this guy?'" (AdamNYC)

-- Actually, it's not. Any country would do the exact same thing in Belgrade's shoes. Even Pristina hasn't given up on "integrating" the north. Key Western powers actually expected Serbia to throw in the towel years ago. Much to their annoyance, Vuk continues to provide a formidable obstacle - though I really have to question even this logic since the US never really had a plan for Kosovo other than throwing bags of money at it and hoping for the best (FADURK anyone?).

And how is Vuk's wanting to be a nuisance any different from Pristina's worn out efforts at trying to take northern Kosovo or simply saying "recognize us" in international forums in the absence of any willingness to compromise? These rumors of possible "autonomy" for the north was a possible effort at starting dialogue, but since then Dell, Thaci, and the rest denied such an offer was on the table. So I really have to ask where the real stubborness and intransigence lies: Belgrade, with its repeated offers of negotiated settlement and compromise, or Pristina, with its repeated "demands" for recognition behind the wall of US diplomacy.

Vuk won't get everything he wants in the end, but dammit the man says all the right things - which makes it considerably hard for Western powers to ignore Belgrade.

"Serbia's FM urges just solution for Kosovo"

Partial justice to Kosovo has been done by gaining full independence, but more has to come (Presevo, Nis, then appologies, reparation etc) to find the REAL and 'just solution for Kosovo'

Me and Vuk, agree on the text but probably not on the interpretation.

Nevertheless, I truly believe from the historical context my alternative by far more real and JUST solution for Kosovo.

When will Serbs finally understand that they are not in position to demand or urge any kind of talks? What exactly makes them think that the Kosovar Albanians are willing to engage in talks that could compromise Kosovo's independence? Serbs won't accept our independence, but we should accept Serbia's plan "more of autonomy, less of independence"? Where is the logic in that?
If Serbia really is committed to international law and justice, then they must learn to accept international court decisions like that of the ICJ that said Kosovo's independence did not violate the international law and that it was in full accordance with Resolution 1244. Since Serbia refuses to do so, shows how much they respect the International law.  

AdamNYC - The declaration and nothing else. At least he isn't blatantly lying like the private individual Hyseni who claims that the ICJ ruled that Kosovo is independent. Either he can't read English or someone has given him false information!

Nick KS - The game's already over if you've bothered to read the ICJ ruling and heard what the Russia said at the UN today - No UN seat for Kosovo - EVER. The US, EU + whoever else can continue to claim that Kosovo is independent, but that's all it'll ever be - talk. Checkmate.

Is it really worth it, because whether it's just or not, NATO will presumably enter into the fray again and Serbia's allies in Moscow and Beijing aren't going to launch WWIII over Kosovo. They will give you political support, and maybe some weapons but they're not going to physically fight for you. With no disrespect to the Serbian armed forces, they won't seriously be able to defeat a NATO force.

The reality, whether it's fair or not, is that Serbia cannot regain Kosovo. It's politically unworkable and would lead to astonishing levels of violence.
(Realist, 4 August 2010 16:24)
===================
Not much of a realist are you?
What makes you so sure that NATO will enter into it again? Look how well they are doing in Afghanistan. That surely must give them heaps of confidence. Also, what makes you so sure that Russia and China will not enter into this? They don't have to roll their tanks in to stop NATO. They have other means available to them now. It's been a decade since that attack and people are a lot more educated about the situation there. NATO attcking Serbia again would be very unpopular world wide especially since Russia and China have interests there now. NATO country citizens themselves would not tolerate another war which Russia and China only have to threaten.
Do you recall how many times US apologised to China for simply bombing their embassy. Imagine bombing other Chinese projects there now.

The Kosovo status issue is not about Serbs and Albanians, it's about the Serbs and the US and Britain. The imperialists want to push their land grab through, proclaiming it independent, when no court said it was, only that you have the right to "proclaim it". The Empire will get its way, they have the biggest guns, but it is good to see that a great part of the planet is not agreeing with their unilateral actions. And please, America, don't mention anything about international law, you have broke it, ignored it, trampled on it, as you chose fit. When this bully (US) is one day weakened, true international law will be respected.

This guy is really amazing! Its hard to understand how capable he is to twist and present things as it pleases him. I really wonder what would he (and the pro Serb camp in here) have to say if the ICJ had ruled and said something like “the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did violate international law”.
The pro Serb camp are fooling themselves once again by believing the Serbian FM interpretation of the court’s opinion. As I have noticed, there is no more mentioning in this forum of 1244 having been violated , as it used to be everyday before the court’s ruling. So, now I’m afraid that it will take you guys some few years (or until some International body gives an interpretation of the court’s opinion) for you to see that Vuk Jeremic is only playing with words and spinning everything just to save his face.
I don’t know what version of the court’s opinion you are reading, but the one I downloaded from the ICJ website says nowhere anything close to Jeremic’s interpretation. I’ll copy paste some key paragraphs for you to judge yourself.

“THE HAGUE, 22 July 2010. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has today given its Advisory Opinion on the question of the Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo (request for advisory opinion).
In this Opinion, the Court unanimously finds that it has jurisdiction to give the advisory opinion requested by the General Assembly of the United Nations and, by nine votes to five, decides to comply with that request.
The Court then responds to the request as follows:
“(3) By ten votes to four,
Is of the opinion that the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.”
Reasoning of the Court
At the end of its reasoning, which is summarized below, the Court concludes “that the adoption of the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 did not violate general international law, Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) or the Constitutional Framework [adopted on behalf of UNMIK by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General]”, and that “[c]onsequently the adoption of that declaration did not violate any applicable rule of international law”.”

Below paragraph/s is (are) related to the claims that Jeremic says that the court “opted to narrowly examine” the question:

“…The Court observes that the task which it is called upon to perform is therefore to determine whether or not the declaration in question was adopted in violation of international law. It points out that it “is not required by the question it has been asked to take a position on whether international law conferred a positive entitlement on Kosovo unilaterally to declare its independence or, a fortiori, on whether international law generally confers an entitlement on entities situated within a State unilaterally to break away from it”.”
“The Court first turns its attention to certain questions concerning the lawfulness of declarations of independence under general international law, against the background of which the question posed falls to be considered, and Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) is to be understood and applied. In particular, it notes that during the second half of the twentieth century, “the international law of self-determination developed in such a way as to create a right to independence for the peoples of non-self-governing territories and peoples subject to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation” and that a “great many new States have come into existence as a result of the exercise of this right”. The Court observes that there were, however, also instances of declarations of independence outside this context and that “[t]he practice of States in these latter cases does not point to the emergence in international law of a new rule prohibiting the making of a declaration of independence in such cases”.”
Another part on the issue of Kosovo being a special case:
“After recalling that several participants have invoked resolutions of the Security Council condemning particular declarations of independence (see, inter alia, Security Council resolutions 216 (1965) and 217 (1965), concerning Southern Rhodesia; Security Council resolution 541 (1983), concerning northern Cyprus; and Security Council resolution 787 (1992), concerning the Republika Srpska), the Court “notes, however, that in all of those instances the Security Council was making a determination as regards the concrete situation existing at the time that those declarations of independence were made; the illegality attached to the declarations of independence thus stemmed not from the unilateral character of these declarations as such, but from the fact that they were, or would have been, connected with the unlawful use of force or other egregious violations of norms of general international law, in particular those of a peremptory character (jus cogens)”. “In the context of Kosovo”, the Court continues, “the Security Council has never taken this position. The exceptional character of the resolutions enumerated above appears to the Court to confirm that no general prohibition against unilateral declarations of independence may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council.””
See the entire link :
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/16012.pdf?PHPSESSID=c60a39336d00e3bc21295b2106c15aa8
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/15987.pdf?PHPSESSID=c60a39336d00e3bc21295b2106c15aa8

So sad so sad is it AdamNYC?

I'd suggest its not as sad as a chap who think that the recent court decision on Kosovo's UDI make that UDI 'legal'. It shows a painful limit to intellect. I cant help but feel lofty against people with interpretations of international law that are simple and child like.
(Anthony Manchester UK, 4 August 2010 11:57)
What a simple mind that can say that which is not illegal is not legal. The opinion is as it is, there is no international law that makes this UDI illegal. Bruising of Serbian pride has never been a violation of international law.
As far as Goran's comments there is no checkmate, as said before the country of Kosovo can exist and function without UN membership, it can be a frustrating consequence of the Russian-Serbia relationship but at this point it has enough support for functionality.
There will be dialogue or discussions or negotiations, whether directly or indirectly and there will be something given to Serbia in exchange for sometype of acceptance of an Independent Kosovo.
The mistake the international community has made is in trying to win Serbia by carrots, instead of treating Serbia as a land of frozen conflict that will remain stagnate until resolution. But I think that error is beginning to see light.
No one is saying Kosovo's road is going to be an easy one, but the bridge to Serbia has forever been destroyed and shall not travel that way again.

OK, here's a question for those of you that are suggesting that Kosovo be reintegrated within Serbia:

How exactly will Serbia govern this province? The majority of the people don't want to be part of Serbia (which brings up another question for all those constantly slamming "the Albanians" - if they become citizens of Serbia will you consider them as Serbian or Albanian?) and as such another full-scale war is a risk.

Is it really worth it, because whether it's just or not, NATO will presumably enter into the fray again and Serbia's allies in Moscow and Beijing aren't going to launch WWIII over Kosovo. They will give you political support, and maybe some weapons but they're not going to physically fight for you. With no disrespect to the Serbian armed forces, they won't seriously be able to defeat a NATO force.

The reality, whether it's fair or not, is that Serbia cannot regain Kosovo. It's politically unworkable and would lead to astonishing levels of violence.

I merely pointed out that the courts findings on the issue of a UDI's doesn't support an independent Kosovo. My humble opinion seems to be born out as i am yet to be crushed by the avalanche of recognitions across the globe.

All the aggression on here tut tut. China and Russia will stop any ambitions that Kosovo will ever be a legit independent sovereign state. Serbia will need to hang in there for the duration (possibly decades until the people who fight weak, little and sickly Kosovo's battles have new agendas and grow weary of Pristina's street names getting ever more abstract... Chelsea Clinton Avenue and Cherie Blair Boulevard?)

Kosovo will never be a byword for UDI's or right to determination.

Anthony Manchester UK

What about statement by the ICJ on the "interim" nature of 1244?

What about the statement by the court that the Helsinki Convention only applies to states in relation to each other?

What about the recognition of Ahtisaaris role in the negociations?

What about the references to "remedial secession"?

Please do not pretend to be an expert in legal interpretation before you analyze these facts and paragraphs of the ICJ decision.

The Albanians can get on Jeremic all they want - they can call him names, make fun of him, ridicule him, but he is obviously doing his job, otherwise the Albanians here would not comment on him so much. Can you name one American diplomat that is as effective as Vuk? No you can't. The Americans just chirp the same old tired State Dept. talking points, year after year - and they have not moved forward with their land grab project in the Balkans one bit. Are there any Albanian diplomats that can come close to Vuk? No! The reason the albos dislike Jeremic so much, is because they wish they had someone like him. BTW, what is Hyseni's background? What famous college did he attend? What are some of his successes diplomatically, done on his own, that is? None!
(winston, 4 August 2010 17:47)

Ok winston by your analogy since I graduated from Harvard as well I am smarter better then you??

Vuk is a good diplomat but he is way over his head nothing wrong with that but what I dont like about him is he changes his stand and he plays dirty fine but when others do he complains.

I am not Albanian but I would say Suroi is better choice than Hyseni, i know for fact that there are 4 albanias from Kosovo in Harvard right now some bright minds and going to same classes as VUK went so give them time they will catch up.

The interesting thing about the ICJ ruling is that before the ruling experts were predicting that it would render and opinion that both sides would be able to claim victory. But everyone said that not much would change by the ruling.
Part of that was true. Not much changed with the ruling as predicted-however, Kosovo was able to claim victory and Serbia was left to cite technical issues as to why Kosovo was not victorious but unable to claim any victory.
The so-called Serbian resolution which must pass both the GA and the UNSC will go no where. We know it will not survive the UNSC, and doubtful in the GA.
Any resolution will probably be generic in that it will call for dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo. It will not detail issues and it will be up to the parties to decide on what issues are up for negotiations which brings us back to square one, Kosovo will not consent to any discussion on status and Serbia will not consent to discussions of anything else.
Open negotiations will have no chance, behind the scenes negotiations will be the only way to solve the issue where the public is only informed of the final outcome.

Pz,

So then yYu provided your own 'private interpretation' of the ICJ ruling which is better? His article is much more balanced, better argued and actually cogent and doesn't talk about jeans either. The guy in the link worked for the OHR in Bosnia and knows it from the inside.

What is your expertize and why should I believe you from the parts of the ICJ opinion that you cherry picked to suit your interpretation over someone else with much better knowledge and is neither albanian/serbian/balkanite?

Who are you kidding? Yourself maybe. Nothing is resolved.

The purpose of posting the link was to show that it is not just the Serbs/pro-serbs who say the judgment is stupid. Anyone (and many legal experts) who has spent some real time on it are seriously concerned because the ICJ opinion is inherently contradictory. Where there is confusion there is opportunity to be taken.

In the end, it does not matter what you say but what countries and secessionists say and actually do. It is much too early to tell what will happen.


To the 'NATO victory guy',

Sir Michael Rose on Kosovo & NATO (via the BBC):

WASHINGTON'S WAR
By Gen Sir Michael Rose

http://tinyurl.com/2u796tn

"...In spite of their confident assertions, the use of military force in Kosovo also failed to achieve its declared political, humanitarian or military objectives. On 24 March 1999, Javier Solana, then Secretary General of NATO, stated that the objectives of NATO's war against Milosevic were to halt the ethnic cleansing and stop further human suffering in Kosovo. In spite of the most intensive eleven and a half weeks of bombing hitherto experienced in the history of war, 10,000 people were killed and one million people were driven from their homes. When judged on a humanitarian basis, it is clear that the mission failed entirely. At the same time, General Wesley Clark, the commander of NATO, announced that NATO air power would progressively 'disrupt, degrade, devastate and destroy' the Serb military machine to prevent it from carrying out any further ethnic cleansing. Yet, despite the fact that the Serb Army was equipped with 1950s Soviet technology and that it was exhausted by eight years of war, NATO completely failed to live up to General Clark's expectations. It is estimated that less than twenty Serb armoured vehicles were destroyed in the bombing, and the ethnic cleansing continued at an accelerated pace. When the bombing finally halted, the Serb Army withdrew into Yugoslavia, 'an undefeated army', in the words of the senior British commander on the ground. Bombing simply had not worked. Moreover, NATO failed to deliver any political goals. For it never obtained the freedom of movement throughout Yugoslavia that it had sought at the Rambouillet talks in January 1999. All NATO's other demands had been agreed to by Milosevic. For British politicians to claim today that the war in Kosovo was a success because NATO 'did, after all, succeed in getting rid of Milosevic', is to indulge in propaganda worthy of Milosevic himself....Both Bosnia and Kosovo have become, in effect, protectorates of Europe...."

Go read the rest at the link

Peggy
If you are so sure that NATO will protect what it won 11 years ago and Russia and China will go to war for Serbia then why do you suppose Serbia does not intervene in Kosovo right now?
(Simpatiku, 5 August 2010 12:38)

Simpatiku, Serbia will not go to war over Kosovo. Both Jeremic and Tadic have said that quite explicitly. China or Russia will not go to war with the US over Kosovo. They have already said that too. Isn't it ironic that all the talk of peaceful, meaningful dialogue and compromise has been coming from Belgrade while all the hot air seems to be eminating from Pristina

Lets face it dude, Uncle Enver should never have broken off with Chairman Mao in the 60's. Think of it if you lot had kept up the good relations with Beijing, ye lads would be sitting nice and pretty now. Look now what has happened. Those pesky Serbs up the road have stolen your thunder and have got all luvvy duvvy with the Chinese.

Well at least ye still have thousands of those concrete bunkers dotted all over the place all thanks to Uncle Enver :)

allenz, keep in mind, jeremic is doing a lot better at the UN than the albanians, is that what troubles you? I support Vuk, he is a strong diplomat, you must admire that, and he is exposing America's unilateral agenda, in world affairs. You have to applaud that, if you want Kosovo to be a democratic society.

who cares, allenz? who cares if there are abanians at harvard? the problem is that there is no agreement between Serbia and pristina. That is the problem. The west cannot solve this issue, regardless of the fact they used military force. Status talks with Belgrade is the ONLY solution, if you do not agree, then you are waiting for America to solve the issues of the Balkans. Do you really like that?

What makes you so sure that NATO will enter into it again? Look how well they are doing in Afghanistan. That surely must give them heaps of confidence. Also, what makes you so sure that Russia and China will not enter into this? They don't have to roll their tanks in to stop NATO. They have other means available to them now. It's been a decade since that attack and people are a lot more educated about the situation there. NATO attcking Serbia again would be very unpopular world wide especially since Russia and China have interests there now. NATO country citizens themselves would not tolerate another war which Russia and China only have to threaten.
Do you recall how many times US apologised to China for simply bombing their embassy. Imagine bombing other Chinese projects there now.
(Peggy, 5 August 2010 01:02)

Nail on the head as always Peggy :) The Albanian keyboard warrior hypernationalists dont realise that alot has changed in the world since 1999. Then Serbia was practically isolated and the US was a hyperpower acting unilaterally and thumbing its nose at the UN. Now things are different these days. Washington has got itself into a sorry old mess in Iraq and in Afghanistan and another war in the Balkans would be the final nail in the coffin of the US imperialist war machine.

China has invested billions of euro into Serbia into various infrastructure projects (bridges, roads, railways and electrical powerplants) and any destruction of these Chinese funded projects would piss Beijing off big time. You see, China has Uncle Sam by the short and curlies. After 3 decades of a Keynesian credit splurge, the US is broke and is leveraged up to its eyeballs in Chinese debt. That's right, Chinese debt. Hit Serbia and you hit the Dragon. It's as simple as that. Now China may not exactly send her troops to Serbia, but she has other ways to make its message loud and clear. If the Albanian hypernationalists think they can automatically get carte blanche approval from the US to invade the North, then they have another thing coming. Serbia may be a small country on paper, but it has powerful friends, mess with Belgrade and you have China and yes I forgot, Russia :)

My message to the Serbs, brush up on your Russian and get learning Mandarin Chinese. You'll need it. To my Albanian friends, quit your delusions and start living in the real world. Be pragmatic for a change.

Have a nice day all.

Aleks,

The link you provided is yet another private interpretation of the ICJ ruling. You can find many interpretations going in favour or against the both sides. The important thing and fact we should look at is the ICJ ruling itself, not private interpretations.
If we closely look at what Mr. Jeremic says regarding the ICJ ruling on the asked question is really nonsense. The question was: “Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo” and the answer to that question was: “(3) By ten votes to four, is of the opinion that the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.” What is unclear here??

Now Mr. Jeremic says that:
“Moreover, the court neither endorsed the view that Kosovo's UDI was a unique case, nor Priština's claim that Kosovo is a state. Lastly, the court failed to approve the province's avowed right of secession from Serbia, or any purported right to self-determination for Kosovo's ethnic Albanians," said Jeremić.

When you go to a shop and ask, let’s say for a pair of jeans, do you expect the shop keeper to come back to you with a pair of shoes?? I don’t think so.
Same happened with the issue in question.

"The ICJ clearly reaffirmed that Kosovo remains subject to the interim administration of the United Nations, and that resolution 1244 (1999) and UNMIK's Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo remain in force and continue to apply. It is therefore evident that the province is still a territory subject to an international regime mandated by the Security Council," he said, and noted that "this could produce extensive and deeply problematic consequences for the international community".

Where does the ICJ ruling say anything close to this. He, on one side says: "This has unfortunately left room for a dangerous misinterpretation of the court's view…” while on the other hand he himslef does a dangerous misinterpretation and you guys believe him.

highduke,

Scanderbeg is Serbian and Albanians have settled to Balkans from Caucasus??!! Wow! Speechless! Regarding new recognitions, don’t you worry too much, they are on their way. Where are the “at least 15 withdrawals of recognitions” that were supposed to happen after the ICJ ruling?

JUST SOLUTION: Stop trying to steal Serb land you conquered by Ottoman-era expulsion & assimilation and we give you back your former status as most priveleged minority that you squandered. And while you're at it: stop stealing Obilic & Skenderbeg and claiming Illyrian descent since genetics has already nullified that and start considering a more recent migration from the Caucasus for your Albanian roots. Oh and where are those new recognitions, hm?
(highduke, 4 August 2010 13:59)

JUST SOLUTION: Stop trying to insult our inteligence with falsification of history. All the world knows that Scanderbeg is albanian hero. Also know that Kosovo had, has and will have 90% albanian majority and the land can never be stolen.

Not much of a realist are you?
What makes you so sure that NATO will enter into it again? Look how well they are doing in Afghanistan. That surely must give them heaps of confidence. Also, what makes you so sure that Russia and China will not enter into this? They don't have to roll their tanks in to stop NATO. They have other means available to them now. It's been a decade since that attack and people are a lot more educated about the situation there. NATO attcking Serbia again would be very unpopular world wide especially since Russia and China have interests there now. NATO country citizens themselves would not tolerate another war which Russia and China only have to threaten.
Do you recall how many times US apologised to China for simply bombing their embassy. Imagine bombing other Chinese projects there now.
(Peggy, 5 August 2010 01:02)

Peggy
If you are so sure that NATO will protect what it won 11 years ago and Russia and China will go to war for Serbia then why do you suppose Serbia does not intervene in Kosovo right now?

Aleks,

I’m not giving an interpretation to the ICJ ruling, simply presenting it as it is, without twisting and spinning as it pleases me, and nor did I comment anything on the article under the link you provided apart saying that it is a private interpretation of somebody who I never heard of.
You should not believe me, believe the ICJ ruling, where I took those picks not to suit my interpretation but rather to contradict the FM’s claims. Go read the ICJ ruling from the very beginning and I’m sure it will become clearer to you than believing somebody’s private interpretations.

To Pz, AdamNYC and others who still don't really get what the ICJ said and didn't say as well as the implications of their non-binding opinion, read the following from the official western propaganda outlet for balkans news,
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/comment/29723/

Kosovo Ruling Reveals World Court’s Darker Side

28 July 2010 | By Matthew Parish

It is funny to hear Jeremic calling for a just solution. He asked ICJ for a just solution and they complied. They answered the question that he asked. There is no higher court than ICJ. Who else are you going to ask now? Perhaps the aliens?

Nick KS - The game's already over if you've bothered to read the ICJ ruling and heard what the Russia said at the UN today - No UN seat for Kosovo - EVER. The US, EU + whoever else can continue to claim that Kosovo is independent, but that's all it'll ever be - talk. Checkmate.
(Goran V, 4 August 2010 13:30) It will be very true if UN is "made of Russia" but is NOT......

On a few of these posts,here, there is talk about whether the USA and NATO would attack the Serbs and Serbia if the Serbs tried to militarily take back Kosovo. I can tell you a few important factors: the USA/NATO first do a massive ariel bombing campaign to destroy a country's infrastructure and decimate those individuals who live and work around such infrastructure and of course to produce terror. Then the USA/NATO would send ground troops. This is where both sides have a chance to "slug it out". In the 1980's, in Afghanistan, the USA began to give the Taliban Muslim fighters portable, light weight,easy to aim, heat seeking missiles called "stinger missiles" to destroy Soviet aircraft. Back then, according to the USA, the Taliban Mujadeen Muslims were "the good guys" and the Russians; the Soviets "the bad guys". Of course, the Islamist al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center in New York City USA on Sept.11, 2001 showed that the USA backed the wrong group, which is nothing new for the USA. If the Serbs had heat seeking surface to air missles,and in a huge quantity,I could be wrong, but I honestly believe that Serbia would not have been bombed for the super long peroid of 78 days and that Kosovo would be still be under Serbia's rule. The air strikes from the USA/NATO were so effective against Serbia that I can't remember hearing about any USA/NATO ground troops fighting the Serbs, but I heard a lot about KLA ethnic Albanians attacking the Serbs, and the KLA had massive USA/NATO financial support and weapons support.

Serbia won't give up - you are trapped in limboland.
(JohnBoy, 4 August 2010)

What makes you think we will? You know what comes from limboland? Albanian unification. I for one wish you never recognize.