(cross-posted to The Agonist)
Bush: UN must act now on Kosovo
Bush gets hero’s welcome in Albania
For One Visit, Bush Will Feel Pro-U.S. Glow
TIRANA, Albania (CNN) — Setting up possibly another showdown with Russia, U.S. President George W. Bush has said “the time is now” to grant independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo and called on Moscow not to slow down the process…. “I happen to believe it’s important to push the process along,” Bush said Sunday at a joint news conference with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha…. “The question is whether or not there’s going to be endless dialogue on a subject that we have made up our mind about. We believe Kosovo ought to be independent.”…. Bush is the first sitting president to visit the Balkan state that was once a closed, communist society but is now a close ally of the United States.
Finally…an issue Our Glorious and Benvolent Leader © can’t POSSIBLY (&^% up…right?? Hard to believe, I know, but The Worst President EVER © may have just managed to find the ONE country in the world where he’s not universally and justifiably reviled. The fact that he’s got a no-lose issue in front of him (independence for Kosovo) doesn’t hurt. (If immigration reform is political hardball, independence for Kosovo is the political equivalent of tee-ball.)
Having lived in Kosovo myself, I’ll admit to not exactly being the most objective voice in this debate. Having observed first-hand what decades of Serbian rule has done to Kosovo, however, I can’t imagine that there could be a morally-relevant argument made against granting Kosovo indpendence. Yes, there are and will continue to be legitimate arguments about Kosovo’s economic viability as an independent nation, but then East Timor isn’t exactly an economic powerhouse, is it?
After decades of despotic, repressive Serbian oppression, Kosovars deserve the opportunity to chart their own course if that’s what they choose. Having living among the Kosovars, I can tell you that independence is indeed what they want. Despite Serbian historical claims on Kosovo (the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389 is a classic example of how a resounding defeat can, through the effectively application of nationalistic propaganda, be turned into a glorious victory for Mother Serbia), Kosovo’s majority-Albanian population wants to go it alone. They should have and be given every opportunity to make their own way in the world. Yes, grasping the day to day realities of capitalism and respresentative democracy will present challenges, but what newly independent nation doesn’t experience growing pains? It seems to be we have the same sorts of problems back in the day…and at least Kosovars don’t have to worry about Indian attacks.
I experienced Kosovo as a repressive Serbian police state, a place in which I was constantly on guard, fearing not so much for my own safety, though that was certainly part of the equation, but for the safety of those many Albanian Kosovars I worked and came into contact with. I was willing to take risks because I was fairly certain that, as an American citizen, the Serbian government wouldn’t mess with me. What I wasn’t so certain about was how those I travelled amongst and with would fare.
There was one incident that I’ve never been able to confirm, but that, given my experiences in Kosovo, I have no reason to do the truth of. I visited a small mining village in the north of Kosovo near Mitrovica called Stari Trg. Travelling as I was with my Albanian translator, I was always conscious of not placing her in situations that might potentially jeopardize her safety. After all, with a husband and a small child, she had better things to do than to risk her neck for my sake.
When we arrived in Stari Trg, a couple of armed Serbian policeman eyed us menacingly and hovered around our car as we went about our business in the village. As we were leaving, they began to move towards us. Perhaps noticing that I was an American (I kinda stood out), they backed off and allowed us to leave undisturbed, though the incident did put me on edge a bit.
A couple days later, about the time I’d managed to put the incident out of my mind, I learned that shortly after we’d left, the police had ransacked a few houses and killed a couple of Albanian villagers. I was never able to confirm the story, but given what I’d learned and experienced of Serbian hospitality in Kosovo, there seemed no reason not to believe it.
What happened in Stari Trg was just the barest glimpse of what day-to-day life was like for Albanians under Serb rule. I could regale you with a few more stories, but you get the point. Serbs loathe Albanians, and though few Serbs have any desire to live in Kosovo, neither do they want to be forced to give it up to Albanians, either. Serbia’s historically tenuous but tenacious hold on Kosovo, fueled mostly by the late Slobodan Milosevic’ aggressive, hateful Serbian nationalism, has fueled virtually every decision made by the Serbian government.
The 1999 war finally proved to be the final blow to Serbian hegemony. Operation Horseshoe, which triggered the NATO bombing of Belgrade, was designed to once and for all cleanse Kosovo of the province’s 2 million Albanian residents. No longer could the West stand by while Milosevic and his thugs killed and mistreated what were still at that time still (unwillingly) Yugoslav citizens. Since the end of the war, Kosovar Albanians have been a de facto independent state, albeit occupied and administered by the United Nations.
Now it’s time to allow Kosovo to determine it’s own direction and it’s own fate. Yes, it’s going to be awhile before an independent Kosovo find it’s legs, and the country will require a lot of assistance, expertise, and aid from the West. Nonetheless, they deserve this chance, and it’s about time we in the West assisted them in acheiving full and functional independence.
And for those of you who are thinking Hell just froze over, yes, I just completely and wholeheartedly supported a postion advocated by Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © . Go figure.
