Serbs Struggle to Understand Western Support for Kosovo

I got this in an email today and thought it was every interesting. There is to side to every issue, as we all know. I happen to agree with Mr. Smajlovic, I can see why one would be pissed off. You do everything that would that nato stated to do, US preaches at you and you do that. Then US and others turn the cheek and support Kosovo after Serbia bent over backwords... They changed we should right there supporting them, but US and other are no where to be found. Practice what you preach As always, love to hear the freeback from you wonderful here at blue blood.


Ljiljana Smajlovic
World Politics Review

As editor-in-chief of Serbia's oldest and most prestigious daily newspaper, Politika, I am at a loss to explain the West's stubborn support for Kosovo independence to my readers. Only nine years ago, my country was bombed for 78 days by the most powerful military alliance the world has ever seen, and the last thing I want is to pour oil over the fire of anti-Western sentiment. But the truth is, I find myself grappling with the same bitterness and resentment as most of my countrymen.

I was very much part of the democratic upheaveal that rid Serbia of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. We sought to come to terms with the past, put old quarrels behind us, make peace with our neighbors and become friends with the United States and European countries that bombed us in 1999.

We set up war crimes courts and tried suspected war criminals, while extraditing others to the Hague Tribunal, where we sent a score of ex-presidents, including Milosevic himself, and roughly half of the former Army leadership.

We signed peace and cooperation treaties, invited Western companies to invest in Serbia's economy, and NGOs to monitor our progress in democracy and human rights.

We elected democratic rulers with impeccable anti-Milosevic credentials who carried out responsible and moderate policies, to the applause of Washington and Brussels.

We oppressed no ethnic minorities and violated no universal declarations.

In the meantime, a very different storyline unfolded in our southern province of Kosovo. As soon as Serb forces left Kosovo in June 1999, a massive campaign of reverse ethnic cleansing against 200,000 non-Albanians took place under the noses of 50,000 NATO troops.

Rather than the multiethnic democracy U.S. President Bill Clinton invoked on the day he dispatched the bombers, Kosovo is nowadays one of the most ethnically pure regions in Europe. Hundreds of Serb medieval monasteries, churches and cemeteries have been desecrated, dynamited, burned or razed to the ground. The few Serbs left in Albanian-majority areas live in NATO-guarded enclaves, fearful for their lives. Lawlessness is pervasive, crime is rampant, intolerance is the norm. Compared to Kosovo, post-Milosevic Serbia is a multiethnic paradise.

Why, then, the unseemly rush to grant Kosovo independence? Western officials grasp at straws to explain their motives. We are told "Milosevic lost Kosovo", and that we should blame him for the fate of the thousands and thousands of our co-nationals who have been cleansed from the mythical "old Serbia." But Milosevic is six feet under, and in Belgrade we feel as if we're witnessing the resurgence of the notion of "fundamentally evil" groups.

I agree with a number of the points made by Smajlovic. Having said that, what's done is done. My only hope would be a partition to protect the serbian minority. In terms of my own country, this simply leads me to a more non-interventionist view of foreign policy. I believe these tragedies will continue until old wounds, rivalries, and grievances are resolved by the parties involved. I do not believe U.S. intervention is the answer in 99% of these cases.

OEC

Intervention, as military force I would agree isnt the thing to do OEC. Sometime words can be more powerful than any bomb. Political US At least it might open a better relation with that part of the world. Might even lead to better terms with the Russia, because of Serbia's long term relationship with Russia.

But you are also right only time will tell....