“Peace at expense of law leaves us with neither”

“Peace at expense of law leaves us with neither”

"The sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Yugoslavia (now Serbia) were to be protected, while Kosovo was to be granted ‘substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration,’” Kober, a research fellow in foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute writes in an op-ed published by the International Herald Tribune.

“Now, it appears, these assurances will be repudiated,” Kober notes.

He reminds that the Serbian government and Russia have reacted negatively to the recently disclosed Kosovo status proposal, prepared by the UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, as have the Kosovo Serbs, even with “assurances of protection, while Serbia is being shown the carrot (and stick) of inclusion (or exclusion) in a broader Europe.”

“These inducements, however, do not seem to be having much effect. The Serbs in Kosovo would ‘resist as any occupied people would do,’ the head of the Serbian Orthodox church, Bishop Artemije, told an audience in Washington on February 8,” Kober writes.

“Then there is the problem of international law,” he continues, reminding that the 1999 NATO campaign was not endorsed by the UN.

“But the rule of law works by precedent, so what applies to one must apply to others. If NATO, as an international security organization, can act this way, why cannot other such organizations act similarly in the future,” Kober argues.

“That is why adherence to Resolution 1244 is so important. If 1244 is ignored, it is unreasonable to expect that our actions would not be treated as a precedent to ignore other UN resolutions in the future. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have both made this point.”

“Indeed, if we attempt to buy peace at the expense of law, we might find out we end up with neither,” Kober concludes.

He describes the conflicting points of Kosovo’s independence, Serbia's territorial integrity, legitimacy and law as Europe’s trains “hurtling toward each other,” adding that should Russians and the Chinese opt to oppose the revision of 1244, and the U.S. decide to ignore that and formally approve the Ahtisaari plan, “the reverberations will be felt well beyond the Balkans.”