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Kosovo prepares for independence declaration »

Posted by: TechnologyExpert 6 months, 2 weeks ago

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A decade after Serbia sent in troops to crush a rebellion, Kosovo prepared to declare independence on Sunday - a bold and historic move to carve a new country out of a corner of Europe long bloodied by ethnic strife.

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    gamahuche6 months, 2 weeks ago

    It will happen later today, with the support of the US and the EU and the opposition of Serbia - and the Serbian population of Kosovo - and Russia.

    This will be a tiny country, with very little hope of sustaining itself economically, guaranteeing that its "independence" will be solely political, at best, and it will continue to be a lightning rod for internal and external political tensions for the indefinite future - 1000 years, perhaps - and another fresh wedge between the world's super-powers.

    Today there'll be plenty of singing and dancing and drinking, probably some symbolic firing of guns into the air and some literal fireworks.

    Tomorrow the repercussions will commence with some much less pleasant fireworks anticipated. The hostilities of hundreds of years are not suddenly going to disperse; the rainbow will fade swiftly. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to be offering this gloomy diagnosis and prognosis!

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      Radiofreeeuropa6 months, 2 weeks ago

      Well gloomy it is. It's an unfortunate reality.

      Did the "cold war" go away? Or merely mutate? What is likely to happen in Kosovo may be unavoidable however.

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      Varadinum6 months, 2 weeks ago

      Yep, remember US supported Osama as well. The actuall PM of Kosovo is a former terrorist. The borders of the Old Europe is changed by who? How? With violence, killing, tears, blood...

      PEOPLE, MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!

      I hope so this "independence" will not be payed with another "blood tsunami".

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    doppich6 months, 2 weeks ago

    Whether in the states of the former Yugoslavia or today's Iraq or in the Sudan or... It seems the easiest route to power is to exploit and exacerbate ethnic and religious animosity and to let the blood flow, and there are always those ready to take that route.

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      Macas6 months, 1 week ago

      You're in many things right what you saying ...

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      rdy2rck6 months, 2 weeks ago

      I firmly believe radio that the Cold War has just mutated and get criticized for this comment all the time.

      As for Kosovo I'll admit I Know only the basics of the historical perspective of the region.Unfortunately I agree with doppich also but I do hope the different "tribes" in the region have enough people who just want to have peace.

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        Mdiar6 months, 2 weeks ago

        Gee, isn't the Cold War over? Ahhh anyway, Russia has a valid point when it states that this could encourage more separatist regimes to... well, separate. At the same time I have no issue with groups wishing to break off... including, believe it or not, the secession of the Southern states from the Northern states if they still wish to! Ya never know, they just might! So really, they can separate all they wish to... I have no issue with it. I encourage groups that wish to separate to do so, including those who wish to leave the EU, the US, the UN or any other union. Guess I'm just a fool for "self-determination"!

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          rdy2rck6 months, 2 weeks ago

          I want Ohio to become a territory like Puerto Rico. I want all the benefits but no taxes.Gimme-gimme-gimme:)

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          StarLord6 months, 2 weeks ago

          Putin's complaint was not about Kosovars seeking independence, it was about US encouragement of Kosavar independence, while hte US is at the same time discouraging self-determination in other countries, most of them coincidentally near Russia's borders.

          Ultimately, the US goal in such cases is to keep pro-US governments in power, and to keep them strong by not ceding independence to regions. This is not inherently bad (and is in US interests), but it is a little precious to then take the opposite tack elsewhere.

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          canadianrancher576 months, 2 weeks ago

          I saw this on the National news last night and the first thing that I thought of was the movie Terminal with Tom Hanks. On a more serious note though I always have mixed feelings on events like this, Living in Canada we seem to on occasion face the threat of Quebec wanting to leave our Country, Some people just say let them go and others say if they try to leave we are supposed to send in the military. Actions like this seem to always be supported by many countries in the west as it is seen as a way of promoting democracy but I wonder how countries like the U.S. wuold feel if a state like Texas or Alaska decided to leave the country, also I wonder how outside recognition would be viewed. This area is not new to war and I have a bad feeling this will lead to if not a military conflict surely it will lead to an ethnic conflict.

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            rdy2rck6 months, 2 weeks ago

            I agree Canada and if my memory serves me right the last secession vote was very close.Also it applies here. I don't see how Quebec leaving would benefit anybody especially with peaceful coexistance for so long.

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              bill29366 months, 2 weeks ago

              Just remmeber that Quebec is French Dominated. So if they tried and the rest of Canada sent the military in would the Quebec force fight like their French Forefathers?

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              Varadinum6 months, 2 weeks ago

              Kosovo was for more than 1500 year a Serbian territory, until the war began

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                rdy2rck6 months, 2 weeks ago

                Yeah and it's sad to say just like Iraq was, it took a cruel dictator to hold it together for as long as it did.

                But I do hope and pray.

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                  Macas6 months, 1 week ago

                  I hope that history wont happened again :(

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                  earthlingerer6 months, 2 weeks ago

                  How would you like it if some people moved into your country, and decided that it was theirs, and not yours any longer?

                  Just to clarify... they always mention "ethnic ALBANIANS" when they talk about Kosovo, which IS historically SERBIAN.

                  I hope the Serbs have the wherewithall to hold on to what is theirs, including a seaport, after the UN has allowed so much to be stolen from them.

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                    Shadowolf6 months, 2 weeks ago

                    Remember the Alamo???

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                  Sock_Puppet6 months, 2 weeks ago

                  I hope they don't become extraneous Chess pieces in the World Game. =D

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                    texangelwings6 months, 2 weeks ago

                    My fear is that, we may be looking at our future! The same as the past, when our forefathers chose to fight for the freedoms we have had here in America. Freedom comes with a price and once a country has freedom, it is a fight to keep the freedom.

                    I admire their courage and the tenacity!

                    Good article, thanks gamahuche!

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                      eugenegerard6 months, 2 weeks ago

                      This is a happy time in Kosovo. The Russian bear is threatening WWIII over this.

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                        earthlingerer6 months, 2 weeks ago

                        Of course it's happy. They've just suceeded in stealing a province from Serbia, for now.

                        Russia certainly isn't threatening anything but UN security council vetoes.

                        I don't hope that Kosovo remains Albanian for long.

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                        bill29366 months, 2 weeks ago

                        So the Albanian Muslims after ethnically cleasing of the Christian Serbs from Kosovo will now expand the Albanian state. It is not indepence when they go out and waive the Albanian Flag.

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                          hyperbola6 months, 1 week ago

                          Here is a different opinion about the reasons for Kosovo.

                          NATO's Kosovo Colony

                          Do No Evil รข;; Across this last weekend, the Western propaganda machine was working overtime, celebrating the latest NATO miracle: the transformation of Serbian Kosovo into Albanian Kosova. A shameless land grab by the United States.

                          http://donoevil.propeller.com/story/2008/02/18/...

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                            nostalgia6 months, 1 week ago

                            From another article on Kosovo:

                            Since Europe has proclaimed without grace that the European economic union is limited to Christian countries, Kosovo's best (and perhaps only) chance to join Europe's economy is to ride in as a part of Serbia.

                            Instead, Kosovo's secessionist leadership may well join the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, as Albania already has done. This may bring financial assistance from the OIC, but the West should worry -- with aid comes political influence.

                            Kosovo's proclamation of independence would destabilize America's other friends in the Balkans. Bosnia will face a new attempt by the self-styled "Serbian republic" to leave the Dayton structure. Macedonia's restive ethnic Albanian minority may again ask why it is stuck in a state with Orthodox Slavs.

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                              nostalgia6 months, 1 week ago

                              The effect in Central Europe would not be benign. Hungary, Romania, Ukraine & Greece are home to minorities who dream of redrawing maps. Nicosia faces a self-proclaimed "independent" Turkish republic of northern Cyprus. Georgia, which we seek to bolster against Russian ambition, faces the claims of Abkhazia, a breakaway Muslim region in the north.

                              Human rights activists in Serbia -- who stood up to Milosevic when it was dangerous to do so -- act with consistent principle in reporting the difficulties and dangers that will be imposed on Kosovo's substantial Serb minority.

                              There should be no false optimism or halcyon view of the province following the events of March 2004. Three ethnic Albanian children were killed in the town of Mitrovica, and afterwards anti-Serb rioting spread across the province - death of 19 civilians, 1000 civilians injured, and widespread burning of Serb houses, churches & monasteries. Independence will not cure this antipathy.

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