This is from Information Clearing HOuse.
I was not aware that the U.S. has ever occupied the moral high ground. However, this article does point out the obvious double standards of the U.S. in the contrast between its treatment of Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkazia and its own recognition of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. Russia warned the west then of the consequences for separatist movements in Georgia. No one paid the least attention.
Personally I think that the situation in Kosovo had gone too far to re-integrate Kosovo but into Serbia but it also seems that the same is true of Abkazia and South Ossetia. In any event Russia will simply ignore the objections of the west just as the west ignored Russia's objections about Kosovo. Canada delayed recognition for a time and then gave in perhaps to U.S. pressure. Russia however may not be able to get even allies to support the independence of Abkazia and South Ossetia since many of those allies in the SCO group such as China also have separatist problems just as Georgia does. See this article in the Globe and Mail.
Double Standards on Russia-KosovoRussia, Georgia, and the Kosovo ConnectionBy J. Victor Marshall"By selectively turning principles into propagandist slogans for scoring points, the United States no longer occupies the political high ground. Washington’s lectures sound like hectoring, not sincere admonitions that could sway international public opinion and restrain Russian actions."27/08/08 "MMN" -- - In Russia even more than in America, “Kosovo” rhymes with “I told you so.”Many Americans don’t realize that the former Serbian province of Kosovo, which broke away in 1999 after US-led NATO forces bombed Serbia for 78 days, helped set the stage for the recent conflict between Russia and neighboring Georgia.But Russian leaders, who like most leaders care intensely about what happens at their borders (Georgia) and to their longtime allies (Serbia), warned earlier this year that support for Kosovo’s independence would set a precedent that could trigger separatist conflicts in places like Georgia.It was a warning that Washington and several of its European allies foolishly, even recklessly, failed to heed.In negotiations over the final status of Kosovo, which had been under United Nations jurisdiction since 1999, Serbia promised the province autonomy but not independence.While many observers questioned Kosovo’s readiness for independence, given corruption in its civil administration and the murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing waged by Albanian nationalists against Serbs in their midst, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence on February 17.Although Kosovo’s move arguably violated UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which recognized Serbia’s ultimate sovereignty, many NATO countries including the United States sided with Kosovo.“The Kosovars are now independent,” declared President Bush.Humiliated by NATO’s military intervention in 1999, Russia now chafed at the political intervention of NATO countries in favor of Kosovo’s secession, which Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as “immoral and illegal.”Russian leaders warned that unilateral recognition of Kosovo’s independence would open a “Pandora’s box” by appearing to support similar claims by other separatist movements in some 200 regions of the world.The Russian Foreign Ministry declared, “Those who are considering supporting separatism should understand what dangerous consequences their actions threaten to have for world order, international stability and the authority of the U.N. Security Council's decisions that took decades to build.”Outside of NATO, many countries sided with Russia’s statement of principles.Surprisingly, one of the most outspoken was Russia’s hostile southern neighbor, Georgia. And the reason wasn’t hard for experts to fathom.As Richard Weitz at the Hudson Institute noted at the time, Russia could seize upon Kosovo as a precedent for fomenting separatist movements in the former Soviet republics, including South Ossetia’s drive for independence from Georgia in the Caucasus.Jonathan Eyal, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, warned similarly, “if the Kosovo precedent is used, the Russians can also recognise ethnic Russian enclaves in places such as Georgia or Moldova. What's good for Kosovo is good for other places as well.”Their unheeded warnings have just come to pass, at the expense of thousands of dead and wounded.Just as NATO justified its intervention in 1999 as a humanitarian defense of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians against Serbian atrocities, so Russia said it came to the defense of South Ossetia, which suffered terrible atrocities at Georgian hands in the early 1990s, after Georgian troops shelled its capital earlier this month.In addition to Kosovo, Russia can justify its intervention on behalf of South Ossetia by pointing to any number of other precedents set by the United States: the Bush administration’s doctrine of preemption, its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, its silence in the face of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, and many more.What difference do all these precedents and broken principles make?By selectively turning principles into propagandist slogans for scoring points, the United States no longer occupies the political high ground. Washington’s lectures sound like hectoring, not sincere admonitions that could sway international public opinion and restrain Russian actions.In short, by squandering its moral authority, the United States has unilaterally disarmed itself of “soft power” that was once one of our greatest weapons. And Kosovo was one of the fields upon which the United States laid down its moral arms.
Showing posts with label Kosovo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kosovo. Show all posts
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, December 17, 2007
When it comes to Kosovo , Canada's in odd company
This article simply ignores the Kosovan ethnic cleansing of Serbs. There is a long history of that. See this TV clip. After the NATO bombing there was again reverse ethnic cleansing. It included others than Serbs, for example gypsies. See this site.
The contrast between the mosque and the church gives visual expression to the last six years of Kosovo's history. Since the end of the NATO bombing in 1999, over 200,000 Serbs have been driven from Kosovo, and roughly 3,000 killed. Of those who left, only 12,500 have returned. Most found their homes either torched--as in Orahovac's no man's land--or occupied by Albanians. Not one of the Serbs we have met in Kosovo feels safe, and almost all say they will leave Kosovo if it becomes independent--the likely outcome of negotiations that are expected to begin later this year.
The article is no doubt correct that Canada will not recognise Kosovo because of the implications for Quebec separatism. However, the whole NATO bombing of Serbia was unwarranted and another case of interventionism justified only by "success".
When it comes to Kosovo, Canada’s in odd company
The Telegram
By Richard Gwyn
Among the close to 200 member states of the United Nations, it’s hard to find any that have less in common than do Canada and Georgia, tucked away down in the Caucasus.
Georgia is small; we are huge, geographically at least. Georgia is poor; we are rich. We are part of the New World; they are of the Old World.
Yet on one crucial issue of the day, we and they think alike, even though this leaves both of us in a pretty small minority at the UN.
This issue is the bid by Kosovo, a province, to break away from Serbia to be a nation-state on its own.
The reason for Kosovo’s urge to go it alone is that more than 90 per cent of its population is ethnic Albanian. Serbia’s attempt in the mid-1990s
to ethnically cleanse its southern province Kosovo of Albanian Kosovars led to armed intervention by NATO (including by Canada) and the recreation of Kosovo as a UN protectorate even while leaving it nominally part of Serbia.
This week, the United Nations will issue a report that formally declares that its attempt to find an amicable and peaceable way for Kosovo to separate from Serbia has failed.
From this point on, everyone has to figure out what to do — including Canada and Georgia. Serbia itself resolutely refuses to accept that Kosovo has a right to secede. Serbia’s diplomatic weight is relatively modest. Behind it, though, is Russia, which has made it clear it will block the move by exercising its veto in the UN Security Council.
One way exists to end the stalemate. As Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has already declared he intends to do, Kosovo can make a unilateral declaration of independence. The probable date this will happen is sometime in late January.
Most of the global players that matter, including the United States and the European Union, have made it clear they will recognize Kosovo once it declares itself independent.
The arguments for accepting Kosovo’s independence do seem overwhelming. All of its 2 million people are ethnic Albanians but for some 200,000 Serbs in the north. True, Kosovo was the spiritual birthplace of the Serb nation but that historical legacy was cancelled out
by dictator Slobodan Milosevic’s attempt at ethnic cleansing.
Nevertheless, Georgia won’t be exchanging ambassadors with the new nation-state of Kosovo. And neither, it’s safe to guess, will be Canada.
Georgia’s motive is easy to identify. Within Georgia there are a couple
of ethnically distinct statelets, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and both aspire to be independent. Both are likely to use what happens to Kosovo as a precedent they can use. (Behind the scenes, Russia, now in a prolonged quarrel with Georgia, supports these independence movements.)
Canada’s motive is more complex. Remember the Clarity Act enacted by former prime minister Jean Chrétien in response to the near-defeat of federalism in Quebec’s 1995 referendum? This legislation proclaims that a pro-separation majority in any future referendum would not give
a Parti Québécois government the right to declare independence unilaterally.
Instead, and as confirmed by the Supreme Court, any separation-bound PQ government would have to negotiate first with the Canadian federal government of the day.
Accepting Kosovo’s right to declare independence unilaterally would ensnare us into accepting Quebec’s right to do the same. In fact, we will not be entirely alone with Georgia. China leans the same way (because of Tibet) and likewise Cyprus (because of the breakaway Turkish region in the north or the island). Spain is worried about a precedent that might apply to Catalonia.
Russia is the strongest opponent of all, even if its real purpose is to make the United States and the European Union pay attention to it.
Given a free choice, there’s no doubt Canada would support Kosovo’s independence.
Instead, we’re going to stand among the naysayers, while looking embarrassed.
The contrast between the mosque and the church gives visual expression to the last six years of Kosovo's history. Since the end of the NATO bombing in 1999, over 200,000 Serbs have been driven from Kosovo, and roughly 3,000 killed. Of those who left, only 12,500 have returned. Most found their homes either torched--as in Orahovac's no man's land--or occupied by Albanians. Not one of the Serbs we have met in Kosovo feels safe, and almost all say they will leave Kosovo if it becomes independent--the likely outcome of negotiations that are expected to begin later this year.
The article is no doubt correct that Canada will not recognise Kosovo because of the implications for Quebec separatism. However, the whole NATO bombing of Serbia was unwarranted and another case of interventionism justified only by "success".
When it comes to Kosovo, Canada’s in odd company
The Telegram
By Richard Gwyn
Among the close to 200 member states of the United Nations, it’s hard to find any that have less in common than do Canada and Georgia, tucked away down in the Caucasus.
Georgia is small; we are huge, geographically at least. Georgia is poor; we are rich. We are part of the New World; they are of the Old World.
Yet on one crucial issue of the day, we and they think alike, even though this leaves both of us in a pretty small minority at the UN.
This issue is the bid by Kosovo, a province, to break away from Serbia to be a nation-state on its own.
The reason for Kosovo’s urge to go it alone is that more than 90 per cent of its population is ethnic Albanian. Serbia’s attempt in the mid-1990s
to ethnically cleanse its southern province Kosovo of Albanian Kosovars led to armed intervention by NATO (including by Canada) and the recreation of Kosovo as a UN protectorate even while leaving it nominally part of Serbia.
This week, the United Nations will issue a report that formally declares that its attempt to find an amicable and peaceable way for Kosovo to separate from Serbia has failed.
From this point on, everyone has to figure out what to do — including Canada and Georgia. Serbia itself resolutely refuses to accept that Kosovo has a right to secede. Serbia’s diplomatic weight is relatively modest. Behind it, though, is Russia, which has made it clear it will block the move by exercising its veto in the UN Security Council.
One way exists to end the stalemate. As Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has already declared he intends to do, Kosovo can make a unilateral declaration of independence. The probable date this will happen is sometime in late January.
Most of the global players that matter, including the United States and the European Union, have made it clear they will recognize Kosovo once it declares itself independent.
The arguments for accepting Kosovo’s independence do seem overwhelming. All of its 2 million people are ethnic Albanians but for some 200,000 Serbs in the north. True, Kosovo was the spiritual birthplace of the Serb nation but that historical legacy was cancelled out
by dictator Slobodan Milosevic’s attempt at ethnic cleansing.
Nevertheless, Georgia won’t be exchanging ambassadors with the new nation-state of Kosovo. And neither, it’s safe to guess, will be Canada.
Georgia’s motive is easy to identify. Within Georgia there are a couple
of ethnically distinct statelets, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and both aspire to be independent. Both are likely to use what happens to Kosovo as a precedent they can use. (Behind the scenes, Russia, now in a prolonged quarrel with Georgia, supports these independence movements.)
Canada’s motive is more complex. Remember the Clarity Act enacted by former prime minister Jean Chrétien in response to the near-defeat of federalism in Quebec’s 1995 referendum? This legislation proclaims that a pro-separation majority in any future referendum would not give
a Parti Québécois government the right to declare independence unilaterally.
Instead, and as confirmed by the Supreme Court, any separation-bound PQ government would have to negotiate first with the Canadian federal government of the day.
Accepting Kosovo’s right to declare independence unilaterally would ensnare us into accepting Quebec’s right to do the same. In fact, we will not be entirely alone with Georgia. China leans the same way (because of Tibet) and likewise Cyprus (because of the breakaway Turkish region in the north or the island). Spain is worried about a precedent that might apply to Catalonia.
Russia is the strongest opponent of all, even if its real purpose is to make the United States and the European Union pay attention to it.
Given a free choice, there’s no doubt Canada would support Kosovo’s independence.
Instead, we’re going to stand among the naysayers, while looking embarrassed.
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