The formation of a second Albanian state in Europe – backed by the US and several European governments – on the heartland of a multiethnic, democratic country, and within in Serbia’s long-standing, internationally recognized borders, is in flagrant violation of international law, above all the UN Charter and its fundamental principle of sovereignty. Kosovo & Metohija are part of a sovereign state – the Republic of Serbia. That Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia has been reaffirmed by Resolution 1244 of the Security Council from 1999 that ended the NATO bombing campaign of Serbia’s civilian infrastructure, including the electric power grid, civilian factories, heating plants, refineries, and even the public TV headquarters and a passenger train. The radioactive depleted uranium used in the ammunition continues to cause abnormally high rates of cancer in the region (as well as having been the likely cause of hundreds of deaths of Italian soldiers). Apart from a small enclave in northern Kosovo where a small number of Serbian people remain, the once multi-ethnic province has been ethnically cleansed, and attempts to ethnically cleanse it completely have continued (e.g., pogrom 2004), under the direct watch of NATO and KFOR.
The deliberate shattering of international law by NATO’s illegal war not only sets a dangerous precedent – any minority, as the Kosovo Albanians are in Serbia, will invoke Kosovo’s example (use terrorist action against police and civilians to trigger a reaction by a state’s security forces) to further their cause. The US recognition of the illegal formation of a second Albanian state by dismemberment of an internationally recognized country will also further weaken US standing and influence in the world, as the United States are abandoning the Rule of Law for a Rule of Raw Military Power. The US support for the secession has set a disastrous precedent for the rest of Europe and the world.
While the main media outlets in most cases just rephrase the government’s pro-war propaganda– an unfortunate and dangerous tendency in corporate journalism that is very seriously undermining Western democracy – there are many possibilities to learn something that comes much closer to the truth, from sources everywhere in the political spectrum. Here is a, by no means extensive, list of links.
DISCLAIMER: This is my personal political opinion that is not in any way endorsed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Vladan Vuletić