"U.S., EU may have to apply brakes to Kosovo promise"

Everyone knows Newsweek is a Serbian propaganda mouthpiece, right?

In any case, the most likely 'solution' to the problem George and Tony created for the world is to declare that autonomy is 'effective independence', without challenging Serbia's sovereignty over the whole of its territory.

I'll bet that most responsible politicians and diplomats are starting to rue the day they allowed Albright and Holbrooke to hijack policy towards Serbia.

Don't worry, Tony, Jamie, Richard and Madeline are out of the picture and cooler heads will prevail.

How lucky for the US and UK that Kosovo is run by warlords ripe for the Hague. They can always arrest Thaci and Ceku if they want to discredit the pro-independence extremists and put an end to the whole sorry saga.

Serbia will not roll over and give up, and thats a pain in the pro-indep sides neck. The EU wants Serbia more than Serbia wants the EU. And this maybe the sound of the table turning in Serbias favor. Stick to your position and never give up Serbia.

I am very proud of Serbia for telling the EU to stuff it if they go ahead with their illegal and immoral 'greater albania' plan. Serbs are not like others who beg and plead to be members of corrupt organizations such as the EU and NATO, but are showing that they are free and independet people, as they have always been.
A club is only worth joining if all members are treated equaly. If some are 'more equal than others', then let's not join. Let them decide if they want to follow the path of international law, truth, and justice, or if they follow Germany's plans to destroy Serbia so they can control the entire Balkans. We are like a bone in their throat, and let's keep it there.
Cheers!

I expected that kind of comments, like Doni´s ...

a few days ago, I posted the link to Mr. Lyons statement...

nobody took care of it.

then, it was mentioned here... and all the Albanians had to contribute was something like "who is Lyons anyway"... now, perhaps they will be a little bit less loud in their remarks.

it´s not only spouting up...it´s already there, my dear friends.

statements of Mr.Lyons or Eagleburger are not made coincidentally...

There is no need to make any further comment since this article said everything. However, I believe that Albanians won't get any form of indepndence. As it was stated the EU and USA may continue with promises but that's all what Albanians will get-just empty promises while the EU observe so called independence and works on its own agenda. The promises will be in the form of "please have patience, you are not ready yet for full independence, don't worry it will be soon, it is importnat that you are not under Belgrade" and so on to eternity.

Money quote:

"With so much at stake, the West must ask itself whether a free Kosovo is worth further humiliating a volatile, Russia-backed Belgrade in the heart of the Balkans,"

This, I think, will make cool heads prevail in the end. Serbia may not get everything it wants, and either will be the Albanians, but it seems that regardless of what talking heads are saying, Kosovo's most likely outcome is a glorified northern Cyprus status. It's refreshing to finally see these reports being printed in US media, and while I may not agree with everything written (the jihadist part is arguable at best), it definitely shows that the EU approach of waving a carrot in front of the percerived stupid Serbian donkey is not going to make him move.

It would be something if Serbia negotiated her own way to Brussels and not the other way around. Don't think that can happen? Belgrade is geographically situated at the crossroads of most of the major highways and waterways of southeastern Europe. Serbia, by being where it is, is the lynchpin for bringing the entire region into a united European market. To the Eurocrat, Belgrade is prime real estate, and many in Belgrade are starting to realize this.

NATO's bad policy is slowly starting to get some attention and thought. It's about time the world starts to recognize Albanian Kosovo for what it is, bad policy. It's about time the public starts to recognize the Kosovo Albanian leadership for what it is, a Jihadist group responsible for the desecration and destruction of over 150 european churches and for the ethnic cleansing of approximately 300,000 minorities. It's all due to support by Russia (mostly), China, and the others, especially those in the Balkans for their efforts to maintain an order of world peace through the respect for international law by pushing back against the unilateralism of those alliances.

Love to see how our Albanian friends will spin this!

News Week is one of maybe 3 or 4 most respected American News medias.

Independence is not going to happen next month or next year. Even the Slovenians are changing their minds, so that now makes Spain, Slovakia, maybe the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, maybe Bulgaria, certainly Romania, Greece and Cyprus and Germany is far from a certain bet, no one really knows what they will do and what ever they do Italy will follow them like a little puppy dog.

Doesn't look good for Independence.

"it seems, has flipped the tables on the EU; for the first time, a European country outside the EU is not clamoring to be let in, but, on the contrary, making demands of its own, insisting Europe continue negotiations over Kosovo until an agreeable solution to all parties is met."

- strangly enough it would not be surprising now that the Croatian government is formed they don't start acting is an equally tougher manner too! They have done all that was told of them but do they have a date yet? I think they will push their right to protect fishing stock from over fishing and eradication but the EU threaten Croatia to slow down EU admission but this is all an excuse to cover for the lack of progress in the EU itself!

Slovenia To Block Croatia’s Accession Negotiations
http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=111527

Maybe Croatia should push the boundaries and toss the ball back to the EU - uphold our sovereign right to gurantee our Ecology & fishing stock for the future or maybe we will also reconsider our future in such a dictatorial based union! In many ways Croatia is equally well placed to take advantage of economic progress offred by processing down the upgrading of its institutinal basis via the SAA process that requires overhall but might give greater advantage in not actually joining - what could the EU do then since no one is being forced are they?

This piece by Newsweek is very interesting indeed. This magazine is well known to be politically very conservative and extremely close to the US establishment.

Does this signal a rethink in Washington? When such senior figures as Misters Lyons and Eagleburger are publicly saying these things, one can only hope that it does.

Let's await developments, but maybe, finally, good sense and justice are about to break through.

no Mospyt,

the strongest argument the Serbs have is,

that...they are absolutely right!

on the other side, the Albanians have neither moral or political nor historical or legal rights to demand something that never was theirs.

so, your statement is just abosolutely absurd.

(your comment sounds as if you don´t know history or current ruling law... )

Michael John,

News Week has a readership of over 27 million readers, of which most are domestic US readers.

If I were you or especially an Albanian I would take notice what News Week has to say and be worried about it because it obviously has a large US following.

This is typical. This story was planted in Newsweek by Bush Administration officials who want to set up an escape clause in case they have to back away from recognizing a Kosovo UDI. After all of the political blah-blah, I think it is the GAZPROM-NIS deal that is scaring the EU. This shows you that the US government does not care about people, only money.

Hmm Newsweek... interesting, a lot of ifs and buts though.

Obviously the Kosovo Albanian position is still ahead in terms of achieving aims. However, if the Serb side can keep clinging on - perhaps push any decision back again and if Obama wins the US election then all bets could be off. As I understand it the Greek lobby has been active in its support of Obama.

I wonder what would happen if Nikolic was elected President of Serbia. Would some Western countries use this as an excuse to push through Kosovo independence immediately? Or would the alarm bells start ringing in Western capitals about what the loss of Kosovo could trigger in Serbia - a possible SRS government and the inherent financial, political and potential military instability caused by it. Does that pose a greater threat to regional stability than an unrecognised Kosovo?

These questions will be posed.

Newsweek in not a conservative publication. We have the subscription and IMHO it's one of the very few ones in the US worth reading. I am also pleasantly surprised about Hungary being mentioned in the list - finally they have a stance what IMHO makes sense, bravo.

At this point I think nothing does matter for Albanians here. So I humbly ask all critical to KosovO independence to keep silent a bit. Let instead Albanians speak "unilaterally" and prove they are right. Probably the most vehement Serbs will be convinced and walk away in defeat after reading some convincing Albanian essays how they imagine the life in their dream: free, independent "Country of KosovA".

Please list it out... economical benefits, political benefits, travel benefits (easy visas), jobless rate going into single digits, salaries into four digits / month, infrastructure rebuilt, foreign representations set up, manufacturing up, and so on. So simple.

A sample convincing essay could be somewhat like that:

"Our jobless rate of over 70% will be down to 4% within 6 month period because General Motors, Suzuki, IBM, Acer, Apple, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony are all waiting to build their plants here (sources named). Our jobless rate is so high because Serbs regularly beat our skilled workers on their way to work - so they have to stay at home (sources named). With independence we will be able to protect our borders and foreign investment from these Serb hooligans looting Prishtina"

Of course without real business plan I also can declare my independence. Just not sure from whom and why.

From the News Week article >> "To the Serb on the street, it's a perfectly rational move. When they look toward the EU's newest members, Romania and Bulgaria, they see their neighbors, admitted in 2007, with crumbling infrastructure and a lower average monthly income than the Serbs themselves. In a recent poll, 75 percent of Serbs rejected giving up Kosovo in exchange for EU membership."

I have been saying this for months, the EU benefits only 6 or 7 of its members, and those members bleed dry all the others. Just a few days ago I wrote here on B92 that I spent time in Romania and Bulgaria and noticed their standard of living is the same as Serbia even though they are in the EU. Slovenia was bled dry by Yugoslavia and now its happening again but this time by the EU. Slovenia is a constant victim of someone else taking advantage of her, much like a abused wife that does not seek help.

In addition to Eagleburger and Lyons, it shoudl also be remembered that John Bolton, who is very close to Bush, Cheney et al. has also spoken out against independence and criticised State Department officials for their pro-Albanian/anti-Serbian positions. He is anything but an old Bush Sr. official with no influence.

I see it with growing amusement, how the K-albanians are trying to belittle the men, they once called their friends... only because now they say something different...

Albanians, don´t you see that this is childish?

come to reason as long as you have the opportunity for it.

This article doesnt make sense.
What albanians have to do with jihadists, or muslims or islamic country not be allowed in Europe.

Bosnia by the way is more likely what he describes, they are muslims and they have a country in the heart of Europe. And nobody complained about it.

So this cheap paid propaganda is not relevant to albanians. Everything has to do with albanians and reseources in kosova, nothing else except these two.
So, the old pan-Slav(serb) propaganda doesnt work with the world regarding albanians.
Say it clearly, it has to do with using resources and people and albanians in general, and lets leave out the the garniture

Stand for something or fall for anything.

The world is FINALLY waking up & re-assessing the status of the albanian camp. T

Let's be realistic. If Albania was supporting financially & theoretically their albanian camp within the borders of Serbia, there would be a shred of the validity claim of independence. Albania doesn't care, nor have they shown ANY interest - why should anyone else?

Let's compare apples to apples.

Mospyt,

the mere fact that you are writing here...shows that it is indeed Ataman´s business.

or let´s be more precise: the business of all who respect the rule of law, justice and reason.
you could also just name it: Serbia.

Which newspaper is that "The name"
Or maybe the name is "The othodox Daily"

Both Lyons and Eagleburger are hardly leading mainsteam politicians or have ever been and are no longer in politics. Their utterings are considered by many in Gov't as excrescent.

Lyons was a military man that was eased out of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because he had exhibited poor judgement on several occasions i.e. he had too many crackpot ideas and was becoming an emmbarassment for the Gov't. Eagleburger no longer holds a post in the State Dept. and is essentially retired. He has, therefore, been out of the political loop for some time. Larry Eagleburger was considered a grumpy old man by the younger diplomats in the Dept. of State.

Newsweek is considered to be a rather conservative publication. The magazine had earlier supported Duke Cunningham, a US Rep. from the South who had accepted money from the Greek and Serbian Lobbies to speak against the war in Kosovo. He is now serving time in the Federal Penitentiary for illegal conduct while office as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Dear Canadian

You may not know that Slovenia was a predominantly rural country until the sixties, last century. Than the Tito's economy decided to slowed down Serbian economy and bust up Slovenian economy in order to 'balance' overall federal economy. Complete factories from Serbia were dismantled and relocated to Slovenia. In the years that followed Slovenian economy was released of many federal contributions. Slovenia never bleed for Yugoslavia, on the contrary Slovenia was an enfant terrible sucking up the rest of Yugoslavia, often excepted from the shared propositional hat.
Once Yugoslavia was not any longer of big use to Slovenia, they left it cowardly killing unarmed federal army solders/boys on the streets of her capital. Let alone never paid part in Yugoslavian foreign depts, where a major part went for building of Krsko nuclear power station in Slovenia.
Slovenian economic miracle rested primarily on Serbian and Federal shoulders.
At present there are 300 Slovenian companies in Serbia while none Serbian company is allowed to open in Slovenia.
kind regards

This report is a creation of propaganda compatible with disires of Ratko Mladic, Karadjic,Seselj,Nikolic and Kostunica.Reporting that Kosovo will be a Taliban State is an AUTRAGE, AMD A MALICE THAT ONLY MILOSECVIC COULD HAVE CREATED,AND HIS FALLACY HAS NO MERIT WHATSOEVER.This propaganda in the end is so unbeleaveble that no one outside of Serbia would beleave,as nobody beleaved that Bosnian Muslims bombarded Sarajevo.Killing other people because are not of Srb nation by SERBIAN STATE APARATUS ,AND FINDING HAPPINESS IN THIS ACTS IS UNBELEAVEBLE.HOWEVER THIS CONDUCT IS FOUND IN MENYEY OTHER PLACES,SUCH AS IN DARFUR.

@Mospyt
The links between Global Jihadists and KLA is old and clear. See this Washington Post article from May 1999.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7006/KLA-drugs.html

By the way, it's not true that Albania has shown no interest towards Kosovo.

Let's see:

1. The Albanian PM has been speaking up in every major conference there has been, he even got his statement in UN shown live on CNN...with the famous words "The Ahtisaari plan grants the Serb minority extensive priviledges, which in fact are far too great compared to the Albanians in the Presevo Valley."

2. The Albanian delegations have lobbied in every Western capital for the independence of Kosovo whenever they had diplimatic meetings.

3. The highway linking Albania to Kosovo has become the main priority for the Albanian government. So much so that all other road projects are either being stalled or put on hold. Companies are being asked to work 3 shifts to get things done faster.

4. Albania has pledged to completely open borders with Kosovo in case of an embargo.

5. Albania is very very much interested in Kosovo's outcome, so much so that right when the Serbian elections will happen...the Albanian president will be visiting Kosovo with a delegation of 100 business and political elite members.

Kosovo will be anything BUT an isolated landlocked country.

In fact, I could name another country whose prospectives seem to be leaning that way...

Lazer... They are in Afghanistan, an actual Taliban state, if they are there why wouldn't they want to be in a Taliban like area.

Michael John says...Larry Eagleburger was considered a grumpy old man by the younger diplomats in the Dept. of State.

On what authority do you base this statement and several others in your posted comment?

I continue to be amused by posters who attempt to represent themselves as experts while having limited knowledge of the subject.

First off, we know who the opposing dissident countries are...

Let's put 2 articles on a scale:

1. US, GERMANY, UK, ITALY, FRANCE WILL RECOGNIZE KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

2. SPAIN, SLOVAKIA, CYPRUS, GREECE, ROMANIA, HUNGARY OPPOSE KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

Come on, don't tell me you're still not sure which way the scale will tip.

'Cuz if you're not, all you have to do is wait a few more weeks and find out for yourselves.

This article reminds me of the good Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park coming up in regular intervals. Here too on B92 if it is time to cheer up the Serbian side after a lot of bad news we can read about the opinions of such pro-Serbs as Lyons, Eagleburger or Neewsweek. It is no surprise that Neewsweek was already quoted here several times. And as somebody tries to make belief here that this magazize is close to the US government thinking is totally ridiculous. So if the Jovans base their hopes on statements of such pro-Serbian persons or magazines it just shows that times get desperate.

For those who still name France as pro-independence, two simple steps to change your mind:

1) Find Corsica on the map
2) Read the news

It's precisely my business, Mospyt. In the future (this year) we would need a small manufacturing outlet. Would you guarantee, the workers won't steal everything from us in next few days? Would you dare to provide a service to your customers and take care about them if your car would be vandalized and equipment stolen? No? Sorry, than it will be made somewhere else. :-(

The strongest argument pro-Serb lobbies have against KosovA independence is that it would create a pro-jihadist state. This was the mainstay of Milosevic's justification for his wars and no one believes this anymore for two reasons. First, the Albanians have never had anything to do with jihadists or any foundamentalism of the three religions they belong to, Roman Catholicism, Christian Orthodox and Islam. Second, you can hardly expect Belgrade politicians to loose sleep over extremist threat to Europe and the US. Grow up and don't delude yourselves. A week after Serb presidential elections Kosova will declare independence. Any argument whether its a real or not is academic and irrelevant. To the Albanian will be very real, as it will be to the Belgrade government.

Newsweek is wrong about at least one thing in that article for certain - the Hungarian government has already (quietly) announced (in Hungarian dailies) that it will recognize an independent Kosovo - after U.S., Germany, France. Whoever wrote that article was relying on old and now inaccurate information (Hungary's position shifted at the end of the Summer). I'm not sure about Spain, but have heard they will do the same.

I think this article is having its intended purpose - excite Serbs. According to Newsweek's, the ruling coalition is doing a good job of keeping Kosovo. Serbs will re-elect them because they are the only ones who in addition to keeping Kosovo will prepare Serbia to enter the EU. I think that's a good thing for Serbia.

Please visit this particular news story by February 15th. The different environment you'll be in, will give you a different perspective on the events that happened.

It's foolish to believe that Kosovo will not be independent. For God's sake the western allies and Albanians of Kosovo know the day when they will declare independence. You expect the U.S. and major EU countries to take back their promises? I don't think they want more war, and especially to discredit their humanitarian help during the 1990's. They went and helped poor Albanians to survive, and now after 8 years they put them under the same rule. Impossible

One thing keeps puzzling me though: Why does the EU need Serbia, really? I can see that it would not like Russia Jr in Europe, but when you think about it, would Serbs like to live under Russia rather than the EU? I highly doubt it. Comparing the life of an EU citizen with that of a Russian citizen, it's clear that Serbia's threat is empty and not credible.

Yawn. "albanian camp T" I wonder what that T stands for.

This is a link to that article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/91617

The comments by Lyons and Eagleburger, that is all its quoted.
A Taliban like State???
Would Nato been there or would US had a Military base if it was a Taliban like State???
Give me a break!!!

Nice try!!!

To our fellow posters (from K.Albanian fans) who don't see any relevance etc. in the Newsweek article, here is the link to the quoted article, by James Lyons, U.S. Navy retired admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet - who is even (I would say) more specific in his pointing to the problematic nature of KIM independence:
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/COMMENTARY/244153955
I believe that time is no friend of independence project. There will be more and more influential people in the West who think along similar lines. Especially so if Obama becomes next US president.

These are old complaints by old losers and has beens of old govt. drones of Bush Sr administration.

How do all the Serbs here and Lyons and Eagleburger feel about Jeremic's warnings and quite clear message of impending independence of Kosova? The article is in today's B92 list. This is its title: "Jeremić warns of possible Kosovo partition
18:54 | Source:B92, Beta, Tanjug"

Goes to show how mixed messages are all over the place, only to quickly move towards the independence move for Kosova.

Canadian,
As I recall Newsweek is the same gossip magazine who made the false reports (later retracted) about flushing the Quran in the toilets of Gitmo. They admited the blunder after some 300 people died in the protests.....When you can't report the news, you create them!
It is the same magazine who predicted in the '70 about GLOBAL COOLING in 2000....In 2005 they issued an "apology"...
As an Albanian I'll wait for their apology for their "mispredictions" in ....2040!

AHA! that's where Serbia is spending it's PR money, on FORMER politicians.

Ataman,
Your concern about how an independent Kosova will cope is very touching. But don't you worry, as it is not your business.

This report is a creation of propaganda compatible with disires of Ratko Mladic, Karadjic,Seselj,Nikolic and Kostunica.Reporting that Kosovo will be a Taliban State is an AUTRAGE, AMD A MALICE THAT ONLY MILOSECVIC COULD HAVE CREATED,AND HIS FALLACY HAS NO MERIT WHATSOEVER.This propaganda in the end is so unbeleaveble that no one outside of Serbia would beleave,as nobody beleaved that Bosnian Muslims bombarded Sarajevo.Killing other people because are not of Srb nation by SERBIAN STATE APARATUS ,AND FINDING HAPPINESS IN THIS ACTS IS UNBELEAVEBLE.HOWEVER THIS CONDUCT IS FOUND IN MENYEY OTHER PLACES,SUCH AS IN DARFUR.

This article doesnt make sense.
What albanians have to do with jihadists, or muslims or islamic country not be allowed in Europe.

Bosnia by the way is more likely what he describes, they are muslims and they have a country in the heart of Europe. And nobody complained about it.

So this cheap paid propaganda is not relevant to albanians. Everything has to do with albanians and reseources in kosova, nothing else except these two.
So, the old pan-Slav(serb) propaganda doesnt work with the world regarding albanians.
Say it clearly, it has to do with using resources and people and albanians in general, and lets leave out the the garniture

These are old complaints by old losers and has beens of old govt. drones of Bush Sr administration.

How do all the Serbs here and Lyons and Eagleburger feel about Jeremic's warnings and quite clear message of impending independence of Kosova? The article is in today's B92 list. This is its title: "Jeremić warns of possible Kosovo partition
18:54 | Source:B92, Beta, Tanjug"

Goes to show how mixed messages are all over the place, only to quickly move towards the independence move for Kosova.

Which newspaper is that "The name"
Or maybe the name is "The othodox Daily"

The strongest argument pro-Serb lobbies have against KosovA independence is that it would create a pro-jihadist state. This was the mainstay of Milosevic's justification for his wars and no one believes this anymore for two reasons. First, the Albanians have never had anything to do with jihadists or any foundamentalism of the three religions they belong to, Roman Catholicism, Christian Orthodox and Islam. Second, you can hardly expect Belgrade politicians to loose sleep over extremist threat to Europe and the US. Grow up and don't delude yourselves. A week after Serb presidential elections Kosova will declare independence. Any argument whether its a real or not is academic and irrelevant. To the Albanian will be very real, as it will be to the Belgrade government.

This is a link to that article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/91617

The comments by Lyons and Eagleburger, that is all its quoted.
A Taliban like State???
Would Nato been there or would US had a Military base if it was a Taliban like State???
Give me a break!!!

Nice try!!!

Newsweek is wrong about at least one thing in that article for certain - the Hungarian government has already (quietly) announced (in Hungarian dailies) that it will recognize an independent Kosovo - after U.S., Germany, France. Whoever wrote that article was relying on old and now inaccurate information (Hungary's position shifted at the end of the Summer). I'm not sure about Spain, but have heard they will do the same.

By the way, it's not true that Albania has shown no interest towards Kosovo.

Let's see:

1. The Albanian PM has been speaking up in every major conference there has been, he even got his statement in UN shown live on CNN...with the famous words "The Ahtisaari plan grants the Serb minority extensive priviledges, which in fact are far too great compared to the Albanians in the Presevo Valley."

2. The Albanian delegations have lobbied in every Western capital for the independence of Kosovo whenever they had diplimatic meetings.

3. The highway linking Albania to Kosovo has become the main priority for the Albanian government. So much so that all other road projects are either being stalled or put on hold. Companies are being asked to work 3 shifts to get things done faster.

4. Albania has pledged to completely open borders with Kosovo in case of an embargo.

5. Albania is very very much interested in Kosovo's outcome, so much so that right when the Serbian elections will happen...the Albanian president will be visiting Kosovo with a delegation of 100 business and political elite members.

Kosovo will be anything BUT an isolated landlocked country.

In fact, I could name another country whose prospectives seem to be leaning that way...

I think this article is having its intended purpose - excite Serbs. According to Newsweek's, the ruling coalition is doing a good job of keeping Kosovo. Serbs will re-elect them because they are the only ones who in addition to keeping Kosovo will prepare Serbia to enter the EU. I think that's a good thing for Serbia.

Please visit this particular news story by February 15th. The different environment you'll be in, will give you a different perspective on the events that happened.

It's foolish to believe that Kosovo will not be independent. For God's sake the western allies and Albanians of Kosovo know the day when they will declare independence. You expect the U.S. and major EU countries to take back their promises? I don't think they want more war, and especially to discredit their humanitarian help during the 1990's. They went and helped poor Albanians to survive, and now after 8 years they put them under the same rule. Impossible

One thing keeps puzzling me though: Why does the EU need Serbia, really? I can see that it would not like Russia Jr in Europe, but when you think about it, would Serbs like to live under Russia rather than the EU? I highly doubt it. Comparing the life of an EU citizen with that of a Russian citizen, it's clear that Serbia's threat is empty and not credible.

Newsweek in not a conservative publication. We have the subscription and IMHO it's one of the very few ones in the US worth reading. I am also pleasantly surprised about Hungary being mentioned in the list - finally they have a stance what IMHO makes sense, bravo.

At this point I think nothing does matter for Albanians here. So I humbly ask all critical to KosovO independence to keep silent a bit. Let instead Albanians speak "unilaterally" and prove they are right. Probably the most vehement Serbs will be convinced and walk away in defeat after reading some convincing Albanian essays how they imagine the life in their dream: free, independent "Country of KosovA".

Please list it out... economical benefits, political benefits, travel benefits (easy visas), jobless rate going into single digits, salaries into four digits / month, infrastructure rebuilt, foreign representations set up, manufacturing up, and so on. So simple.

A sample convincing essay could be somewhat like that:

"Our jobless rate of over 70% will be down to 4% within 6 month period because General Motors, Suzuki, IBM, Acer, Apple, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony are all waiting to build their plants here (sources named). Our jobless rate is so high because Serbs regularly beat our skilled workers on their way to work - so they have to stay at home (sources named). With independence we will be able to protect our borders and foreign investment from these Serb hooligans looting Prishtina"

Of course without real business plan I also can declare my independence. Just not sure from whom and why.

I expected that kind of comments, like Doni´s ...

a few days ago, I posted the link to Mr. Lyons statement...

nobody took care of it.

then, it was mentioned here... and all the Albanians had to contribute was something like "who is Lyons anyway"... now, perhaps they will be a little bit less loud in their remarks.

it´s not only spouting up...it´s already there, my dear friends.

statements of Mr.Lyons or Eagleburger are not made coincidentally...

First off, we know who the opposing dissident countries are...

Let's put 2 articles on a scale:

1. US, GERMANY, UK, ITALY, FRANCE WILL RECOGNIZE KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

2. SPAIN, SLOVAKIA, CYPRUS, GREECE, ROMANIA, HUNGARY OPPOSE KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

Come on, don't tell me you're still not sure which way the scale will tip.

'Cuz if you're not, all you have to do is wait a few more weeks and find out for yourselves.

This article reminds me of the good Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park coming up in regular intervals. Here too on B92 if it is time to cheer up the Serbian side after a lot of bad news we can read about the opinions of such pro-Serbs as Lyons, Eagleburger or Neewsweek. It is no surprise that Neewsweek was already quoted here several times. And as somebody tries to make belief here that this magazize is close to the US government thinking is totally ridiculous. So if the Jovans base their hopes on statements of such pro-Serbian persons or magazines it just shows that times get desperate.

Both Lyons and Eagleburger are hardly leading mainsteam politicians or have ever been and are no longer in politics. Their utterings are considered by many in Gov't as excrescent.

Lyons was a military man that was eased out of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because he had exhibited poor judgement on several occasions i.e. he had too many crackpot ideas and was becoming an emmbarassment for the Gov't. Eagleburger no longer holds a post in the State Dept. and is essentially retired. He has, therefore, been out of the political loop for some time. Larry Eagleburger was considered a grumpy old man by the younger diplomats in the Dept. of State.

Newsweek is considered to be a rather conservative publication. The magazine had earlier supported Duke Cunningham, a US Rep. from the South who had accepted money from the Greek and Serbian Lobbies to speak against the war in Kosovo. He is now serving time in the Federal Penitentiary for illegal conduct while office as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives

NATO's bad policy is slowly starting to get some attention and thought. It's about time the world starts to recognize Albanian Kosovo for what it is, bad policy. It's about time the public starts to recognize the Kosovo Albanian leadership for what it is, a Jihadist group responsible for the desecration and destruction of over 150 european churches and for the ethnic cleansing of approximately 300,000 minorities. It's all due to support by Russia (mostly), China, and the others, especially those in the Balkans for their efforts to maintain an order of world peace through the respect for international law by pushing back against the unilateralism of those alliances.

Stand for something or fall for anything.

The world is FINALLY waking up & re-assessing the status of the albanian camp. T

Let's be realistic. If Albania was supporting financially & theoretically their albanian camp within the borders of Serbia, there would be a shred of the validity claim of independence. Albania doesn't care, nor have they shown ANY interest - why should anyone else?

Let's compare apples to apples.

Serbia will not roll over and give up, and thats a pain in the pro-indep sides neck. The EU wants Serbia more than Serbia wants the EU. And this maybe the sound of the table turning in Serbias favor. Stick to your position and never give up Serbia.

There is no need to make any further comment since this article said everything. However, I believe that Albanians won't get any form of indepndence. As it was stated the EU and USA may continue with promises but that's all what Albanians will get-just empty promises while the EU observe so called independence and works on its own agenda. The promises will be in the form of "please have patience, you are not ready yet for full independence, don't worry it will be soon, it is importnat that you are not under Belgrade" and so on to eternity.

"it seems, has flipped the tables on the EU; for the first time, a European country outside the EU is not clamoring to be let in, but, on the contrary, making demands of its own, insisting Europe continue negotiations over Kosovo until an agreeable solution to all parties is met."

- strangly enough it would not be surprising now that the Croatian government is formed they don't start acting is an equally tougher manner too! They have done all that was told of them but do they have a date yet? I think they will push their right to protect fishing stock from over fishing and eradication but the EU threaten Croatia to slow down EU admission but this is all an excuse to cover for the lack of progress in the EU itself!

Slovenia To Block Croatia’s Accession Negotiations
http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=111527

Maybe Croatia should push the boundaries and toss the ball back to the EU - uphold our sovereign right to gurantee our Ecology & fishing stock for the future or maybe we will also reconsider our future in such a dictatorial based union! In many ways Croatia is equally well placed to take advantage of economic progress offred by processing down the upgrading of its institutinal basis via the SAA process that requires overhall but might give greater advantage in not actually joining - what could the EU do then since no one is being forced are they?

Yawn. "albanian camp T" I wonder what that T stands for.

no Mospyt,

the strongest argument the Serbs have is,

that...they are absolutely right!

on the other side, the Albanians have neither moral or political nor historical or legal rights to demand something that never was theirs.

so, your statement is just abosolutely absurd.

(your comment sounds as if you don´t know history or current ruling law... )

Love to see how our Albanian friends will spin this!

News Week is one of maybe 3 or 4 most respected American News medias.

Independence is not going to happen next month or next year. Even the Slovenians are changing their minds, so that now makes Spain, Slovakia, maybe the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, maybe Bulgaria, certainly Romania, Greece and Cyprus and Germany is far from a certain bet, no one really knows what they will do and what ever they do Italy will follow them like a little puppy dog.

Doesn't look good for Independence.

I see it with growing amusement, how the K-albanians are trying to belittle the men, they once called their friends... only because now they say something different...

Albanians, don´t you see that this is childish?

come to reason as long as you have the opportunity for it.

AHA! that's where Serbia is spending it's PR money, on FORMER politicians.

Canadian,
As I recall Newsweek is the same gossip magazine who made the false reports (later retracted) about flushing the Quran in the toilets of Gitmo. They admited the blunder after some 300 people died in the protests.....When you can't report the news, you create them!
It is the same magazine who predicted in the '70 about GLOBAL COOLING in 2000....In 2005 they issued an "apology"...
As an Albanian I'll wait for their apology for their "mispredictions" in ....2040!

Ataman,
Your concern about how an independent Kosova will cope is very touching. But don't you worry, as it is not your business.

Hmm Newsweek... interesting, a lot of ifs and buts though.

Obviously the Kosovo Albanian position is still ahead in terms of achieving aims. However, if the Serb side can keep clinging on - perhaps push any decision back again and if Obama wins the US election then all bets could be off. As I understand it the Greek lobby has been active in its support of Obama.

I wonder what would happen if Nikolic was elected President of Serbia. Would some Western countries use this as an excuse to push through Kosovo independence immediately? Or would the alarm bells start ringing in Western capitals about what the loss of Kosovo could trigger in Serbia - a possible SRS government and the inherent financial, political and potential military instability caused by it. Does that pose a greater threat to regional stability than an unrecognised Kosovo?

These questions will be posed.

Everyone knows Newsweek is a Serbian propaganda mouthpiece, right?

In any case, the most likely 'solution' to the problem George and Tony created for the world is to declare that autonomy is 'effective independence', without challenging Serbia's sovereignty over the whole of its territory.

I'll bet that most responsible politicians and diplomats are starting to rue the day they allowed Albright and Holbrooke to hijack policy towards Serbia.

Don't worry, Tony, Jamie, Richard and Madeline are out of the picture and cooler heads will prevail.

How lucky for the US and UK that Kosovo is run by warlords ripe for the Hague. They can always arrest Thaci and Ceku if they want to discredit the pro-independence extremists and put an end to the whole sorry saga.

This piece by Newsweek is very interesting indeed. This magazine is well known to be politically very conservative and extremely close to the US establishment.

Does this signal a rethink in Washington? When such senior figures as Misters Lyons and Eagleburger are publicly saying these things, one can only hope that it does.

Let's await developments, but maybe, finally, good sense and justice are about to break through.

@Mospyt
The links between Global Jihadists and KLA is old and clear. See this Washington Post article from May 1999.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7006/KLA-drugs.html

From the News Week article >> "To the Serb on the street, it's a perfectly rational move. When they look toward the EU's newest members, Romania and Bulgaria, they see their neighbors, admitted in 2007, with crumbling infrastructure and a lower average monthly income than the Serbs themselves. In a recent poll, 75 percent of Serbs rejected giving up Kosovo in exchange for EU membership."

I have been saying this for months, the EU benefits only 6 or 7 of its members, and those members bleed dry all the others. Just a few days ago I wrote here on B92 that I spent time in Romania and Bulgaria and noticed their standard of living is the same as Serbia even though they are in the EU. Slovenia was bled dry by Yugoslavia and now its happening again but this time by the EU. Slovenia is a constant victim of someone else taking advantage of her, much like a abused wife that does not seek help.

Money quote:

"With so much at stake, the West must ask itself whether a free Kosovo is worth further humiliating a volatile, Russia-backed Belgrade in the heart of the Balkans,"

This, I think, will make cool heads prevail in the end. Serbia may not get everything it wants, and either will be the Albanians, but it seems that regardless of what talking heads are saying, Kosovo's most likely outcome is a glorified northern Cyprus status. It's refreshing to finally see these reports being printed in US media, and while I may not agree with everything written (the jihadist part is arguable at best), it definitely shows that the EU approach of waving a carrot in front of the percerived stupid Serbian donkey is not going to make him move.

It would be something if Serbia negotiated her own way to Brussels and not the other way around. Don't think that can happen? Belgrade is geographically situated at the crossroads of most of the major highways and waterways of southeastern Europe. Serbia, by being where it is, is the lynchpin for bringing the entire region into a united European market. To the Eurocrat, Belgrade is prime real estate, and many in Belgrade are starting to realize this.

I am very proud of Serbia for telling the EU to stuff it if they go ahead with their illegal and immoral 'greater albania' plan. Serbs are not like others who beg and plead to be members of corrupt organizations such as the EU and NATO, but are showing that they are free and independet people, as they have always been.
A club is only worth joining if all members are treated equaly. If some are 'more equal than others', then let's not join. Let them decide if they want to follow the path of international law, truth, and justice, or if they follow Germany's plans to destroy Serbia so they can control the entire Balkans. We are like a bone in their throat, and let's keep it there.
Cheers!

This is typical. This story was planted in Newsweek by Bush Administration officials who want to set up an escape clause in case they have to back away from recognizing a Kosovo UDI. After all of the political blah-blah, I think it is the GAZPROM-NIS deal that is scaring the EU. This shows you that the US government does not care about people, only money.

Lazer... They are in Afghanistan, an actual Taliban state, if they are there why wouldn't they want to be in a Taliban like area.

Michael John,

News Week has a readership of over 27 million readers, of which most are domestic US readers.

If I were you or especially an Albanian I would take notice what News Week has to say and be worried about it because it obviously has a large US following.

Dear Canadian

You may not know that Slovenia was a predominantly rural country until the sixties, last century. Than the Tito's economy decided to slowed down Serbian economy and bust up Slovenian economy in order to 'balance' overall federal economy. Complete factories from Serbia were dismantled and relocated to Slovenia. In the years that followed Slovenian economy was released of many federal contributions. Slovenia never bleed for Yugoslavia, on the contrary Slovenia was an enfant terrible sucking up the rest of Yugoslavia, often excepted from the shared propositional hat.
Once Yugoslavia was not any longer of big use to Slovenia, they left it cowardly killing unarmed federal army solders/boys on the streets of her capital. Let alone never paid part in Yugoslavian foreign depts, where a major part went for building of Krsko nuclear power station in Slovenia.
Slovenian economic miracle rested primarily on Serbian and Federal shoulders.
At present there are 300 Slovenian companies in Serbia while none Serbian company is allowed to open in Slovenia.
kind regards

Michael John says...Larry Eagleburger was considered a grumpy old man by the younger diplomats in the Dept. of State.

On what authority do you base this statement and several others in your posted comment?

I continue to be amused by posters who attempt to represent themselves as experts while having limited knowledge of the subject.

To our fellow posters (from K.Albanian fans) who don't see any relevance etc. in the Newsweek article, here is the link to the quoted article, by James Lyons, U.S. Navy retired admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet - who is even (I would say) more specific in his pointing to the problematic nature of KIM independence:
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/COMMENTARY/244153955
I believe that time is no friend of independence project. There will be more and more influential people in the West who think along similar lines. Especially so if Obama becomes next US president.

For those who still name France as pro-independence, two simple steps to change your mind:

1) Find Corsica on the map
2) Read the news

Mospyt,

the mere fact that you are writing here...shows that it is indeed Ataman´s business.

or let´s be more precise: the business of all who respect the rule of law, justice and reason.
you could also just name it: Serbia.

In addition to Eagleburger and Lyons, it shoudl also be remembered that John Bolton, who is very close to Bush, Cheney et al. has also spoken out against independence and criticised State Department officials for their pro-Albanian/anti-Serbian positions. He is anything but an old Bush Sr. official with no influence.

It's precisely my business, Mospyt. In the future (this year) we would need a small manufacturing outlet. Would you guarantee, the workers won't steal everything from us in next few days? Would you dare to provide a service to your customers and take care about them if your car would be vandalized and equipment stolen? No? Sorry, than it will be made somewhere else. :-(