Kosovo News

Hashim Thaçi: Kosovo, a country that is safe for all of its citizens

2009-06-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

At the opening of the 62nd meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi congratulated the members of his Cabinet for their commitment and work in fulfilling their obligations as part of the government’s program.

“The Government of the Republic of Kosovo has continued to take responsibility and to be committed to returning all of its citizens to their property. Part of this commitment is the rebuilding of houses destroyed in the north of Mitrovica,” said Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi.

Prime Minister Thaçi expressed the position of the Kosovar Government for continuing its commitments in this direction and invited all Kosovar citizens to return to their property.

“Kosovo is a country that is safe for all of its citizens,” said Prime Minister Thaçi, in his speech.

International community Serbia’s only partner in Kosovo

2009-06-17T06:31:00.001-07:00

Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic stated that Serbia is not fully pleased with the EULEX mission in Kosovo, adding that the international community is the Serbian government’s only partner in the province.

Bogdanovic told the Beta news agency that the government accepted the deployment of EULEX on the entire territory of Kosovo, adding that unfortunately, it is not satisfied with its activities.

He said suspicions in EULEX’s work were raised by the latest events in Brdjani residential area in northern Kosovska Mitrovica where Serbs are protesting because of the breach of the agreement to prevent the renovation of Albanian houses in a certain part of the residential area.

He said the government must cooperate with someone in Kosovo, that is, with the international community representatives, EULEX, UNMIK and Kfor, despite the fact they showed partially on a number of occasions.

The Minister said that electricity supply in Serb inhabited areas in the province has been an open issue for ten years.

He said Serbs are not against paying electricity bills, which they showed by starting to pay them off.

He explained that the issue must be resolved systematically and not from one village to another, adding that it is unacceptable that the Kosovo Energy Corporation or anyone else blackmails Serbs with electricity.

He said Serbs and other non-ethnic Albanians are constantly under pressure in the province, adding that the Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija offered to pay electricity bills for the most vulnerable groups in the southern Serbian province.

Germany, Kosovo strengthen economic cooperation

2009-05-01T11:13:00.001-07:00

A large delegation from the German business community are in a two day visit in Kosovo meeting with Kosovar business community, Kosova Chamber of Commerce and Kosovo Government economic and trade officials.

Businessmen from Germany have arrived in Kosovo with a clear purpose to learn about the economic environment and investment opportunities, first in manufacturing.

During the meeting was stressed the support of the initiative the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce to establish the Kosovar-German Business Association. Also was noted the necessary assessment to be applied to use all resources aiming to broaden and deepen the economic cooperation between the two countries.

Incidentally, the need to use the potentials and professional expertise of members of the Kosovo Diaspora who live and work was stressed in Germany as well.

Deputy German Ambassador to Kosovo Eckart Blaurock pledged that his country's embassy will have as a high priority economic cooperation between the two countries.

Kosovar Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Union of German Chambers of Trade and Industry with their office in Skopje, organized yesterday the presentation of the SES - Senior Service expert from Germany.

SES is a non-profit organization which is supported by industry and the Federal Government of Germany. The German government sends these experts in small enterprises and medium-sized enterprises with the aim to support and promotion of their business.

Representatives of the business community from Kosovo who attended the presentation expressed interest for the realization of collaboration with imminent business from Germany.

Greece to recognise Kosovo independence

2009-05-01T11:12:00.002-07:00

Greece will recognise Kosovo's independence in the ''not-so-distant future,'' Kosovo's Premier, Hashim Thaci, said.

Greece is one of the four EU member states which has not recognized Kosovo’s independence but has instead recognized its passports.

Until recently, Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis has been firm that her country would not recognize Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008 and has since been recognized by 58 nations around the world.

Serbia expects no more countries to recognise Kosovo

2009-05-01T11:12:00.001-07:00

Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic stated today in Havana at the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that Serbia expects no more countries to recognise Kosovo’s independence and that Kosovo will not be allowed attendance or membership of international organisations.

Jeremic told the FoNet news agency that Serbia managed to have the assessment of the legality of the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo-Metohija by the International Court of Justice included in the final document of last year’s NAM conference in Tehran.

We got great support from NAM countries during the voting on Serbia’s resolution in the UN. We will use this opportunity in Havana to present them with the latest events related to Kosovo-Metohija, said Jeremic.

He announced that the global economic crisis will be one of the crucial topics in Havana.

Also, the Minister will have a number of bilateral meetings to discuss possibilities of economic cooperation with other NAM countries.

The conference is attended by 118 countries, which is almost two-thirds of the number of countries in the UN.

Serbia is taking part as a monitor and guest of Cuba.

Minister Jeremic will take part in the inaugural plenary session and the general debate and will hold bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of other NAM countries.

Tear gas used to disperse Serb protests as Kosovo tensions rise

2009-05-01T11:11:00.001-07:00

Tear gas was again used against Serb protesters in Kosovo on Thursday as NATO forces and EU police tried to control around 50 people demonstrating in the divided city of Kosovska-Mitrovica.

The Serbs are protesting against the return of ethnic-Albanians to homes in predominantly Serb areas of the city, which the European Union's EULEX security mission started to push ahead with this week. They were dispersed by tear gas after trying to cross into an Albanian area.

Kosovo's minority Serb population, which is dominant in the north of the territory, began to protest last week in Brdjani, where the EU mission is trying to rebuild houses belonging to Albanians that were razed during the 1999 war.

The Serbs demand a ban on the return of ethnic Albanians until the same opportunity is provided to Serbs in the southern, Albanian-majority part of Mitrovica, which is split into mainly Albanian and Serb sections by the Ibar River.

"Several years ago the Serbs and Albanians agreed to draw a 'yellow line' dividing the Albanian Sukhoi district and the Serbian Brdjani district," a police official in Kosovo told RIA Novosti. "They agreed to do nothing without agreeing with each other, but the Albanians didn't follow the agreement and started rebuilding their homes, ignoring the agreement."

According to the official, the Serbs insist the agreement is honored and oppose the Albanians crossing the yellow line.

"That's why these incidents have been going on for several days," he said, adding: "I'm afraid that these [protests] will become much larger."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said on Wednesday that there is a growth in the destabilization of northern Kosovo that could lead to an escalation of tensions throughout the region, adding that "balanced actions in the interests of all parties are needed."

"The use of international police and activities against Serbs is unacceptable," Nesterenko said.

Local Serb representative Sinisa Lazic said that the Serbs are not against the Albanians returning to Serbian soil if the Albanians agree to the return of Serbs to their homes in Albanian areas.

"That's why we are holding these protests and plan to continue them," Lazic said.

It is estimated that some 300 people will participate in Friday's protests.

Tensions flared on Monday when EU police, backed by the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR, fired teargas at Serbian demonstrators attempting to enter an ethnic-Albanian area of Mitrovica.

"We had a couple of incidents today in Mitrovica - one in Brdjani, one at the bridge - and afterwards two hand grenade attacks - one against our police officers and another against KFOR," Christophe Lamfalussy, a EULEX spokesman in Kosovo, was quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying on Monday.

KFOR took control of Brdjani on Monday, entering the area with tanks and heavy machinery.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, but has only been recognized by 56 of the 192 UN member states.

KFOR, Serbs in northern Kosovo reach agreement on Brdjani conflict

2009-05-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Serbs in Mitrovica and KFOR commanders agreed on Tuesday (April 28th) that peacekeeping troops blocking the roads to the Brdjani district will withdraw. KFOR personnel will leave, while Serbs and Albanians, involved in sporadic clashes since Friday, will be able to return to their homes. Tensions rose when several Albanian families tried to start restoring houses in a disputed area near the unofficial border that separates the divided town of Mitrovica into the Serb-dominated north and the Albanian-dominated south.In other news, the Independent Judicial and Prosecutorial Commission has begun re-appointing judges and prosecutors, according to local media reports Wednesday. The aim is to remove unprofessional, corrupt officials or judicial staff members with dubious pasts. The process is expected to take a month.

Slovenia names Kosovo ambassador

2009-03-04T08:53:00.001-08:00

Hleb, a former head of protocol in the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, said that he was pleased to be representing his country in the independent and sovereign state of Kosovo.

“Slovenia and Kosovo are old friends, and that is why I believe that my task will be easy, because it will be facilitated by the excellent relations between our countries,” Hleb said in Priština.

He added that he would support the continuing improvement of relations between Slovenia and Kosovo.

Sejdiu also commended the support of the Slovenian people and institutions in championing Kosovo’s freedom and independence, adding that he also hoped that ties between “the two countries” would become even deeper.

The Slovenian parliament recognized Kosovo independence on March 6, 2008.

Princess Anne visits Kosovo

2009-03-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Britain's Princess Anne has become the first member of the royal family to visit Kosovo since it declared independence.

The 58-year-old royal was met at Pristina airport by the Kosovo foreign minister Skender Hyseni on Wednesday (04.02.09).

During the trip, Anne visited an Albanian compulsory school in Gnjilane before going on to visit a Serbian compulsory school called Prince Lazar in Dobrotin near Lipljani.

At Prince Lazar, she was greeted by about 20 members of the Independent Liberal Party as well as 100 pupils and staff members.

Minister for return in Kosovo Government Sasa Rasic said: "She has not promised anything but we were assured by a representative of the British Embassy in Pristina that the school shall be completely equipped in this year."

In line with protocol, the princess has not released a statement.

However, the British embassy has said she was planning to "meet a variety of people from different communities within Kosovo" during the trip.

Kosovo seceded from Serbia on February 17 2008.

France to transform its Kosovo force

2009-01-30T08:26:00.001-08:00

France to transform its Kosovo force

January 29, 2009 – 11:25 am

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that France will seek to transform the KFOR troops that are keeping peace in Kosovo into a “reassurance force”.

Fillon said that such transformation needs to occur quickly.

Fillon comments came during a parliamentary debate on the French troop reduction in Kosovo, Chad, Central African Republic and Ivory Coast.

French Prime Minister did not specify whether French will pull out of Kosovo all together.

France has 1,800 soldiers in Kosovo and 146 civilians working with the EUs EULEX mission.

The French parliament and Senate should state their view on the extension of military missions abroad by the end of the day.

Earlier this month, NATO expressed willingness to redraft the military agreement they made with Serbia in 1999 that governs NATOs presence in the region.

Yesterday, Serbian and Danish Defense Ministries announced that they will continue their successful cooperation in the field of civilian military relations.

In 2009, Denmark will provide assistance to the development of the search and rescue service in Serbia and realization of a project for the specialization of redundant military staff.

Kosovo Army commander a war criminal, official

2009-01-30T08:25:00.002-08:00

The chief of the so-called Kosovo Security Force, or the KSF, is a war criminal says the leader of Serbia’s Demochristian Party Vladan Batic.

The commander of the KSF troops, Sulejman Selimi also known as the Sultan, is a man with a criminal past and is involved in numerous war crimes says Vladan Batic.

In 2001, says Batic, the Hague war crimes court approached the Serbian Ministry of Justice for evidence on crimes Selimi committed.

THe Hague court at the time, told the Serbian ministry that they are investigating Selimi for crimes committed while he was in the Kosovo Liberation Army or the KLA.

KLA was on the US list of terror organization until suddenly Washington decided that they are not.

Batci says that Selimi was a commander of the KLA units in the village of Lipovac.

KLA was engaged in murder, torture and ethnic cleansing of Serbs through out Kosovo.

Selimi was approved by NATO to lead the KSF.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai has welcomed Serbs to join the KSF and has a plan to find a Serb who can act as a deputy commander of the force.

The head of the KSF recruitment team, French Major Stephan Mari, has stated that no Serb has registered for the new formation.

KFOR Commander Lieutenant General Giuseppe Emilio Gay stated that dissatisfaction and open reacting against the manner in which the candidates were recruited was demonstrated only a few days after the forming of the Kosovo security forces.

Gay said that all ethnic communities in Kosovo have a “moral obligation” to join KSF.

In past few days, three ethnic Albanians have resigned from the KSF claiming lack of recruitment “transparency”.

NATO insists that KSF is not a Kosovo army. Kosovo Albanian separatist media, however, refers to the new military formation as an Albanian army.

Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin said that the formation of the KSF means remilitarization of Kosovo and said that only the UN Security Council could regulate the organization of the system in Kosovo, including security.

Konuzin expects the Security Council “to discuss the so-called Kosovo security forces when considering the UN secretary-general’s next declaration on Kosovo’s status,”

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has said that he will hold consultations in New York regarding the scheduling of a Security Council session to discuss the regular United Nations report on the developments in Kosovo.

“The Kosovo Security Force would be one of the most important items on the agenda of this session,” Jeremic said.

Famous Kosovo Actor Emigrates To Albania

2009-01-30T08:25:00.001-08:00

Kosovo actor Enver Petrovci, one of the most prominent actors of the former Yugoslavia, said he would be moving to Albania for a better life as he doesn’t see any future for himself in Kosovo.

Petrovci lived in Belgrade for most of his life, acting in numerous plays and films. Towards the end of his career he returned to Pristina to found Dodona Theatre and teach at the Art Faculty of the University of Pristina. After the end of the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict, he founded Teatrin e Babes (Daddy’s Theater), but today is largely unemployed.

“The situation in our cultural environment is my primary reason which pursued me to take this step. I don’t see any perspective in Kosovo and I hope I will make use of my ambitions in Albania”, Petrovci told reporters.

Petrovci said he has been offered to work in a play at the National Theater of Tirana. He also asked the Art Academy of Tirana about work there as a professor.

A senior official from the Ministry of Culture told Balkan Insight that the decision to leave the country is a personal choice.

“The ministry cannot prohibit anybody from leaving the country. I don’t know why this issue is getting blown up, as Petrovci will still be within the Albanian community”, said the official who wanted to remain anonymous.

Last of alleged criminals from Kosovo war being tried in Hague

2009-01-29T09:42:00.002-08:00

The trial against Vlastimir Djordjevic, former Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs and Head of the Department for Public Safety in the Government of Serbia began yesterday at the International War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) in the Hague.

Djordjevic is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes against Kosovo Albanian civilians in a broad campaign of terror committed during 1999. The prosecution initially read the accusations against Djordjevic saying that he has voluntarily participated in the joint criminal undertakings of the Serb forces, killing hundreds and expelling 800,000 Albanians from Kosovo.

After almost four years on the run, Djordjevic was arrested on 17 June 2007 in Montenegro and transferred to the Tribunal.

The charges read that Djordjevic has commanded and effectively controlled Serb police units acting in Kosovo.

The charges give details of hundreds of murders of Albanian civilians amongst which the killings which took place in 1999 in Theranda (Suva Reka) near the southern city of Prizren.

Serb forces led a group of 50 members of the Berisha family into a coffee shop and opened fire towards the people and then threw explosive devices inside the shop killing at least 47 people, including women, children, babies and old people. Others were severely wounded. The remains of the victims were then dumped in several places, one being the Batajnica mass grave near the Serbian capital Belgrade.

It is also stated that forces commanded by Djordjevic have raped women, robbed and burned, dynamited, and shelled many houses, cultural monuments and Muslim sacred sites.

The prosecution is also accusing Djordjevic for other crimes against Albanians in the Meja massacre where more than 300 Kosovo Albanian men went missing and other locations throughout Kosovo.

The accused Vlastimir Djordjevic in his opening statements denied the accusations saying that he did not know of the crimes Serb forces committed and that, according to him, the army, police and the Serb leadership defended national interests to prevent the creation of the Republic of Kosovo.

The trial is continuing today with the first of the witnesses of the prosecution, Kosovo publicist Veton Surroi. Surroi is reporting on the general political situation in Kosovo starting with the time the constitutional status of Kosovo was abolished by Serbia, the expulsion of Albanian students from educational institutions, attempts for negotiations with Milosevic and the beginning of war crimes and crimes against hummanity.

Serbia seeks backing in international campaign against Kosovo independence

2009-01-29T09:42:00.001-08:00

Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic, who will be in New York on January 29 2009 for talks with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and other top UN officials, has sent letters to about 80 countries asking them to write to the International Court of Justice stating their rejection of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

At the UN, Jeremic will also meet the permanent representatives of a number of countries, Serbian news agency Tanjug reported.

It was expected that at his meeting with the Secretary-General, Jeremic would raise the issue of the newly-formed Kosovo Security Force, a move that Serbia rejects as an unacceptable military force and as tantamount to the "remilitarisation" of Kosovo.

In 2008, Serbia, from which Kosovo unilaterally broke away on February 17 2008, won UN General Assembly backing for a resolution asking the International Court of Justice for its opinion on the validity or otherwise of Kosovo independence.

Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti reported that Jeremic's letter told recipients: "I would kindly ask you to consider submitting a written statement to the Court of Justice expressing your country's official position on this matter of paramount importance by April 17 2009, at the latest".

The ICJ's ruling would "establish a powerful premise with far-reaching ramifications for the UN system," Jeremic said in the letter.

"The outcome will: either strongly discourage other separatist movements from attempts at secession, or will bring a result that could encourage them to act similarly," he said.

The "attempt at secession by the Albanian authorities is a clear violation of the UN Charter that guarantees sovereignty and territorial integrity to all internationally recognised states, including Serbia," Jeremic said.

The newspaper said that Spain and Russia had confirmed officially that their legal teams were preparing statements for the ICJ, while Venezuela and Cyprus were also about to follow suit.

Central and local institutions in Kosovo remain the most corrupted

2009-01-29T09:41:00.001-08:00

Corruption continues to be a reality in Kosovo, mainly affecting central and local institutions, judiciary and public enterprises, said the head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Hasan Preteni, during a debate on the subject: “Corruption in Kosovo”.

This round-table was organized by the media center in Caglavica.

Kosovo Minister for Labor and Social Welfare, Nendad Rasic, backed up the government by confirming its engagement for zero tolerance towards corruption and other negative phenomena.

Corruption is one of the most concerning phenomena’s in Kosovo. The head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Preteni said that the energies and the activities of all should be focused in the war against corruption since it is known that this occurrence is frequent in Kosovo.

He said that his agency will be engaged maximally to become a barrier against corruption and it will direct its work towards the completion of the legislation, the fighting and preventing of corruption.

Preteni also said that the officials of the agency will be working with the officials of the government for the amendment of the law against corruption, the law for the declaration of wealth and control of ownership as well as the one for the preventing of the conflict of interest.

Kosovo Minister of Labor on the other hand said that unfortunately, for now there are no adequate legal measures against corruption since after all that the people of Balkan’s have been through, a number of people thinks that corruption is normal.

But what can be done through the government is to ratification of laws and in this direction, all the segments of the government will be engaged in the war against corruption.

Minister Rasic added that the motto of the government is zero tolerance for corruption and other negative phenomena and it will continue in the future.

On the other hand the representative of the Kosovo Democratic Institute Merita Mustafa said that some international organizations are more credible through their reports they have come to conclusions that corruption is a very serious problem.

According to the head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Preteni, during the first six months of the previous year the agency has forwarded 68 information to the prosecution. Meanwhile the reformations which have began in the Kosovo judiciary is considered very important in favor of the war against this phenomenon.

Hackers post Kosovo flag on Serb official site

2008-09-16T11:43:00.001-07:00

Hackers posted the Kosovo flag on the Serbian parliament website in an action to block Serbian government sites, a Belgrade radio station has reported.

The "Kosova Hackers Group" told visitors to the parliament website that it had also attacked other official sites on Wednesday, including the Serbian army's.

The site looked normal on Thursday and parliament had no comment on the incident.

Serbia does not recognise the independence of its former province of Kosovo and objects to the use of its symbols at international gatherings.

"Those hackers are using programmes that are freely accessible on the Internet and can be downloaded free of charge," Slobodan Markovic, an advisor in the Serbian telecommunications ministry, told Radio B92.

Markovic said Serbian government sites do not have a unique security system but that each ministry decides how to protect the data.

The Daily Press said several other official Internet sites were also under "Kosovo Hackers" attack on the same day, including the Defence Ministry, Commercial Court and Serbian Business Registers Agency.

EU Will Pressure Serbia over Kosovo

2008-09-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Moscow says Serbia will benefit from EU membership but warns that Brussels will increase pressure on Belgrade to recognise Kosovo’s independence.

Aleksandar Konuzin, Russia’s ambassador to Serbia, told the Belgrade Ekonomist magazine that pressure would mount as a consequence of Moscow’s own recognition of the two Georgian breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia has been a staunch ally of Serbia's in opposition to the independence of Kosovo, declared in February, and has pledged to continue its backing despite Belgrade’s refusal to follow Moscow’s call for international recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"Serbs can rest assured that Russia is ready to join forces with them in the fight against double standards... and in preserving Serbia’s territorial wholeness and sovereignty," he said. The diplomat said it was a "wrong approach to present Serbia’s ties with Europe as an alternative to its friendship with Russia".

The diplomat argued that the "price Belgrade is asked to pay" for integration into Europe was a separate issue, adding that Serbia "will benefit from [EU] membership equally as have other Eastern European countries".

Konuzin continued: “Russia looks at the Kosovo issue as an attempt to forcibly divide Serbia against the people’s will, by violating international law, including the UN Charter and the UN Security Council decision".

On Wednesday, the US former envoy to the Balkans, Richard Holbrooke, said "Russia's aggressive campaign" was to blame for the fact that only 46 countries have so far recognised the independence of Kosovo.

ITT to pull force protection duty in Kosovo

2008-09-16T11:18:00.001-07:00

U.S. troops helping to preserve the peace in Kosovo will get help on the ground from ITT Corp. through a contract established by U.S. Army Europe.

Employees of the White Plains, N.Y., contractor will help protect members of Task Force Falcon stationed at Camp Bondsteel in southeast Kosovo and the overall security of the installation. The contract could be worth as much as $39 million over a three-year period.

Under the contract, ITT will provide services that include physical and electronic security, quality assurance and supply management, company officials said in an announcement. The force protection assistance will enable warfighters involved in Task Force Falcon to focus on mission-critical tasks, they said.

Task Force Falcon is the U.S. component of NATO’s Kosovo Force. The U.S. troops assist with peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance and related aid so that Kosovo’s civilian government can firmly establish itself. ITT has provided support at the facility since 2003.

ITT, a provider of high-technology engineering and manufacturing services, ranks No. 14 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.

Abkhazia: We could recognize Kosovo

2008-09-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

Abkhazian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergej Basma, said he is ready to recognize Kosovo's independence.

"If Kosovo agrees to recognize our own (Abkhazia) independence, we will certainly recognize them as well", said Basma.

The desire for recognition is there, though Basma added he very much doubt such thing will happen because "authorities in Pristina are very much depended on NATO and US in their decision making process".

Skopje will recognize Kosovo Sept 23, writes Pristina daily

2008-09-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

Macedonia will recognize Kosovo on September 23rd. That’s according to the Serbian B92 radio station, which cites a Pristina daily – the Zeri.
Macedonia has bound the recognition with border demarcation issue, but the Zeri claims “this was settled in the recent days, mainly in the sensitive region of Debalde,” the radio says.
The daily writes also that “with a view to the internal political situation in Montenegro it is not quite certain whether Podgorica will immediately follow” Macedonia’s steps in recognizing Kosovo’s independence.

Kosovo 1999 to Georgia 2008

2008-09-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

The present crisis over South Ossetia has virtually no parallels with the Cold War which it historically predates.

To understand its nature it is better to train our binoculars on the last 10 years - not to seek out villains, but to piece together a series of interlinked decisions. Most of these were understandable at the time but have cumulatively produced a dangerous gulf of incomprehension between Washington and Moscow.

From the invasion of Kosovo in 1999 to the invasion of Georgia in 2008, a series of misunderstandings and a refusal to sufficiently respect each others' national interest has led to a political divide, fed by a polarized presentation in each country's media.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was virtual unanimity in Moscow and Washington that everything possible should be done to avoid changing historic national boundaries in Europe.

Though Russia disliked the Clinton administration's decision to extend NATO membership to some of the newly independent states, the policy worked in part because the West respected Russia's sensitivity to NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia.

Russia also cooperated extensively with NATO in the dismantling of the former Yugoslavia. It was only in 1998, as the situation in Kosovo deteriorated, that a real difference began to develop between Russia and NATO in the Balkans.

In a sense, this was inevitable as Slobodan Milosevic had no intention of restoring the autonomy that he had removed from Kosovo in 1989. As the American line hardened, Russia could see that NATO was likely to intervene and that Kosovo would secede from Serbia, so it distanced itself from the West's policies.

Despite this history of cooperation and mutual respect, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney all along wanted to offer Georgia early NATO membership, not calculating the practical reality that NATO would be obliged to come to Georgia's defense under the NATO Charter.

It was always on the cards that the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, would decide - as he did - to "restore constitutional order" to the separatist province of South Ossetia. Had Georgia been a member of NATO on Aug. 7, when Georgia launched missiles and tanks against South Ossetia, NATO would have suffered a devastating blow had it not responded to Russia's counterattack.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was right not to commit either NATO or the EU to restoring the territorial integrity of Georgia as part of the EU cease-fire initiative.

In the Western democracies, our politicians and press now talk only of the Russian invasion and ignore the Georgian military attack. To liken South Ossetia to the Soviet Union's military action in Hungary in 1956 or Czechoslovakia in 1968 is neither serious history nor realistic politics.

There are sound reasons why NATO membership cannot be handed out to any country that asks. A would-be member's democracy first has to be proven, and its foreign policy must be stable and aligned with that of the other member states. And wherever possible, the national boundaries of a new member should be accepted by its neighbors.

For some years it has been clear that the wise course has been to put EU membership for Georgia and Ukraine ahead of their membership in NATO. The first lesson from the fighting in Georgia is to speed up EU membership for both, and not to advance NATO membership so long as boundary disputes remain.

The other key lesson is to make EU membership for Turkey a priority. Turkey is the one country which can help the EU seriously diversify its gas and oil supply. Turkey, along its entire length, can and should have a gas and oil pipeline to supply Europe - not just from the Caspian Sea and the countries surrounding it, but eventually from Iraq and Iran as well.

Turkey must be a partner in this EU energy enterprise and it will be far more committed to the project when it sees that objections to its EU entry from France and to a lesser extent Germany have been put to rest and that there is a reliable timetable for entry into the Union.

This is not an anti-Russian proposal. Diversity of energy is a national interest for Russia as well as European nations - a diversity of customers for Russia, a diversity of suppliers for Europe.

Russia is building an oil pipeline to the Far East, with very substantial financial funding from Japan. A gas pipeline will eventually follow. Russia is also pledged to build an oil pipeline into China and it is moving into shipping liquefied natural gas.

There is much hard diplomacy ahead for Moscow, Washington and Brussels over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which will probably have to await a new U.S. president. It will have to be based on realpolitik - Washington and Moscow will have to halt mutual recriminations and accept that exceptional, though different, circumstances in Serbia and Georgia have led both countries to invade others without UN sanction.

A settlement of these issues will not be asy, but it is an international interest that it be achieved in 2009.

David Owen, chancellor of the University of Liverpool, was Britain's foreign secretary in 1977-79 and a European Union peace negotiator in the former Yugoslavia 1992-95. This article was adapted from Lord Owen's address to the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in Potsdam, Germany.

At UN, Indigestion at Request for Court Ruling on Kosovo Independence

2008-09-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

On Serbia's UN resolution to seek a ruling by the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, the European Union is in a conflicted position. On September 4, Inner City Press asked Jean-Maurice Ripert, the Permanent Representative to the UN of France, which currently holds the EU Presidency, what the EU will go in the upcoming General Assembly meetings. Ambassador Ripert said it is still being considered, but "we do not contest" Serbia's right to "address the General Assembly and we will even facilitate it." But question is what position the EU will take on voting on the resolution, not Serbia's right to present the resolution.

An EU diplomat who insisted on being identified as such because not authorized to be quoted in his own name told Inner City Press that EU consultations are still ongoing. Some, he said, are urging EU support for the resolution as a way to support Serbia's pro-EU government by helping them "park" this burning domestic issue in the Hague. The downside, he said, is that the pendency of such a case would slow down if not halt other countries' recognition of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

Costa Rica's Ambassador Jorge Urbina said that his country, even though it has already recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, will be voting in favor of getting ICJ review. Ambassador Urbina rhetorically asked Inner City Press, how can we oppose a member state which has lost a province getting a court ruling?

Inner City Press asked U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff how the U.S. will vote on the resolution. We haven't reached a decision on that yet, Ambassador Wolff replied.

Inner City Press asked Serbia's Ambassador Pavle Jevremovic if he thinks his country's resolution will pass. He nodded, and said, "We're trying to keep things uncontroversial." Some cynics even speculate that Serbia's current government might want to lose the case, or at least wouldn't mind losing it, because then the Serbian public could be told, "We tried everything possible, now let's get on with the business of business." Among the evidence presented for this theory is Serbia's foreign minister's statement that if the ICJ rules against his position, Serbia will have to respect it. Meanwhile, even if Serbia won, the ruling would only be advisory. The theory goes, why would anyone start a court case they could lose, but couldn't meaningfully win, unless they want to lose?

Another diplomat not authorized to be quoted by name said it will be difficult for his African country not to support the resolution, and he wonders how the United States could justify not supporting it. We'll see.

Footnote: Meanwhile the UN Mission in Kosovo's position becomes more and more untenable. Without any Security Council authorization, it is passing buildings and cars to the EU's EULEX. The former chief legal officer of UNMIK, Alexander Borg-Olivier, is getting paid by the EU, through the UN Development Program, to advise the Kosovo government, despite legal ethics and UN "post employment" rules. (Inner City Press has formally asked the UN to explain why these rules wouldn't apply to Borg-Olivier, who was involved in UN procurement).

Ban Ki-moon's political advisor Nicholas Haysom, just back from Pristina, was brooding his colleagues in the UN's basement cafe on September 4. Perhaps they can explain how l'affaire Borg-Olivier is consistent with the UN's claims to be status neutral on Kosovo.

Give Russia respect it's due

2008-09-04T22:54:00.001-07:00

Viewed through Moscow's eyes, the West's response to Georgia looks hypocritical. Remember Kosovo? Russia does

Western political leaders have reacted with outrage attoward the Russian incursion into Georgia. But there is another way of looking at the situation, especially if we compare Western policies toward Kosovo and Russian actions in Georgia.

From the Russian point of view, Europe and the United States first militarily attacked Russia's ally Serbia on behalf of breakaway Kosovo, and then helped the Kosovars obtain their current state of independence. ButAnd yet, when Russia intervenes in South Ossetia to establish that breakaway region's independence from Western oriented Georgia, the United States and Europe react with shock and anger. In Russian eyes, the position of the United States seems to be that intervention is OK when we do it, but not when you do it.

The tensions surrounding these events are greatly increased by America's recent agreements with the Czech Republic and Poland to place missile monitoring radars in those countries. Despite protestations by the United States that its intentions are purely defensive, one only needs to consider what any American government's reaction would be to the placement of Russian radars in Mexico to defend against a rogue Latin American state in order to grasp why the installations make the Russians nervous.

During the decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States did not take Russia seriously. Even today, we continue to chastise the Russians for human rights abuses, for "misusing" their oil and gas resources for political purposes and for obstructing our wishes in various international venues.

What did we expect? That a great country with an educated work force just starting to feel its economic oats would be content to play second fiddle forever? It was just a matter of time before the Russians reappeared as a strong state on the international scene. They have now arrived, and it is in everyone's interest if we begin to deal with them like the great power they are.

Indeed, European stability demands a stable relationship between Russia and the West. Punishing Russia for its incursion into South Ossetia by dropping it from G-8, for example, would only undermine stability.

There is a reasonable solution to the situation, however. Both Ossetians and Abkhazians, just like Kosovars, see no other solution to their political desires than independence, as they have shown in repeated (if flawed) referenda and elections. Ossetians constitute about two-thirds of the population of that region, with most of the rest being Russians. Abkhazians make up about the same proportion of Abkhazia, with most of the rest being Georgians. In other words, if the ethnic principle works in Kosovo (as it seems to have worked in France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, etc.) why not in these regions?

In fact, one of the primary threads of European history since 1850 has been the redrawing of state borders along ethnic lines. Georgia's position on the matter is much like Serbia's on Kosovo — Georgians do not want to live in these areas, which are not particularly viable economically, but the government of Georgia cannot conceive of "giving up" territory, despite its inability to exercise its rule there. But just as stability will come to the Balkans as the Kosovo settlement becomes increasingly integrated into European structures, so the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia would help with the stabilization process in the Caucasus.

Such an outcome would not end ethnic strife there. Azeris and Armenians have been talking lately under Russian auspices, but relations remain fraught. And there is always the question of Chechnya. But agreement on South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be a step in the right direction.

What are the outlines of a solution? However it might be presented in diplomatic language, it is basically this: the West accepts the independence of the two regions including Russian "peacekeepers"; and the Russians accept the independence of Kosovo, including a NATO and EULEX (European Rule of Law Mission) presence. The two entities enter the United Nations and Russia stops vetoing the Kosovo solution in the Security Council.

The beneficiaries? Improved US/EU-Russian relations, increased stability in the Balkans and the Caucasus, and a resolution that the majority populations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia appear to want.

Kosovo and Georgia aren't the same, despite what Russia says

2008-09-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

While it is almost certainly true that Moscow's action in the Ossetian and the Abkhazian enclave of Georgia has been revenge for the independence of Kosovo (on Feb. 14, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Western recognition of Kosovar independence would be met by intensified support for irredentism in South Ossetia), it is important to bear in mind that this does not permit us the moral sloth of allowing equivalence between the two dramas.

Perhaps one could mention some of the salient differences.

1) Russia had never expressed any interest in Ossetian or Abkhazian micronationalisms, while Georgia was an integral part of the Soviet Union. It is impossible to avoid the suspicion that these small peoples are being used as "strategic minorities" to negate the independence of the larger Georgian republic and to warn all those with pro-Russian populations on their soil of what may befall them. This is like Turkish imperialism in Cyprus, Thrace and Iraq, where local minorities can be turned on and off like a faucet, according to the needs of the local superpower.

2) Kosovo was never manipulated as part of the partition or intervention plan of another country and, for a lengthy period, pursued its majority-rule claims by passive resistance and other non-violent means. NATO intervention occurred only when Serbian forces had resorted to mass deportation and full-dress ethnic cleansing. Whatever may be said of Georgia's incautious policy toward secessionism within its own internationally recognized borders, it does not deserve comparison with the criminal behaviour of the Slobodan Milosevic regime.

3) Does anybody remember the speeches in which the Russian ambassador to the United Nations asked the General Assembly or Security Council to endorse his country's plan to send forces deep into the territory and waters of a former colony that is now a UN member state? I thought not. I look at the newspaper editorials every day, waiting to see who will be the first to use the word "unilateral" in the same sentence as "Russia." Nothing so far. Yet UN Resolution 1441, warning Saddam Hussein of serious consequences, was the fruit of years of thwarted diplomacy and passed without a dissenting vote.

4) The six former constituent republics of Yugoslavia, which all exercised their constitutional right to secede from rule by Belgrade, are seated as members of the UN, as is Georgia. Twenty out of 27 states of the European Union have also recognized the government of Kosovo as an entity de jure as well as de facto. The Kosovar population is estimated at 2.1 million. Does anyone seriously imagine that Russia ever even remotely intends to sponsor statehood claims for the tiny local populations of Ossetia and Abkhazia? On the contrary, these peoples will be re-assimilated into the Russian empire. Any comparison with Kosovo would have to be to its potential absorption and annexation by Albania. Nobody has even proposed this, let alone countenanced the unilateral stationing of Albanian armed forces on Kosovar soil.

5) The emphasis of Western policy in the Balkans has been on de-emphasizing ethnic divisions; subsidizing cities and communities that practise reconciliation; and encouraging Serbs and Albanians to co-operate in Kosovo. This policy would stand up to any comparison with Russian behaviour in the Caucasus (and indeed the Balkans), which is explicitly based on an outright appeal to sectarianism, nationalism and confessionalism.

6) The fans of moral equivalence may or may not have noticed this, but the obviously long-meditated and co-ordinated military intervention in Georgia comes in the same month as threats to the sovereignty of Poland and Ukraine, and hard on the heels of a Russian obstruction of UN action in the case of Zimbabwe. Those who like to describe Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev as reacting to an "encirclement" of Russia may wish to explain how Kosovo forms part of this menacing ring of steel, or how the repression of the people of Zimbabwe can assist in Moscow's breakout strategy from it.

I agree with the critics who say the Bush administration garnered the worst of both worlds by giving the Georgians the impression of U.S. support and then defaulting at the push-comes-to-shove moment. The Clintonoids made that mistake with Serbian aggression, giving the Bosnians hope and then letting them be slaughtered until the position became untenable -- and then repeating the same dithering errors in Kosovo.

This argues quite convincingly that there was no deliberate imperial design involved. Will anyone say the same about Putin's undisguised plan for the forcible restoration of Russian hegemony around his empire's periphery?

It would be nice to think there was a consistent response from Washington, but I would not bet on the idea, which is what President George W. Bush has given the strong impression of doing in the last two weeks.

Christopher Hitchens is an author and columnist for Vanity Fair and Slate Magazine (www.slate.com), where this column originally appeared.

Foreign minister: Kosovo expects new recognitions

2008-09-04T11:40:00.001-07:00

Kosovo Foreign Minister, Skënder Hyseni, in an interview for Radio Free Europe ba sed in Prague stated that "in the coming days, weeks more recognitions [of Kosovo independence] are expected."

Hyseni, in an official visit to the Czech Republic where he met Deputy Prime Minister Aleksander Vondra and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, stated that his visit comes at an opportune contextual movement for Kosovo, and for t he relations between the two countries.

He explained that he has agreed with his Czech homologue to have a epresentative of Kosovo government present at the Czech Ministry of oreign Affairs. Czech Republic will take the leadership of the uropean Union on 1 January 2009.

"We have agreed that during the Czech presidency, we will place a liaison officer from the Foreign Ministry of Republic of Kosovo at the Czech Foreign Ministry, to serve as daily, systematic link between our two ministries," said Hyseni.