Give Kosovo Independence

 President Bush, according to the Associated Press is “getting a hero’s welcome” in Albania. He is the first U.S. President to visit the largely Muslim and pro-American country. He was recieved very warmly, at the least, by the country, which issued three postage stamps with his likeness and renamed a street after him.

 While in Albania, Bush brought up a huge and controversial issue, the freedom of Kosovo, a semiautonomous province of Serbia. The province has been under UN administration and really has almost no relation to Sebia in terms of governance except for recognizing it’s sovereignty. The U.N. has been in the process of deciding the future of Kosovo since late in 2005.

 The Serbian government wants Kosovo to remain a highly autonomous part of Serbia and says that the UN making it independent would be a violation of Serbian sovereignty, but the government of Pristina (largest and capital city in Kosovo) says that all of the violence perpetrated by Milosevic towards Kosovo makes this impossible. The UN plan introduced in February 2007 gives Kosovo virtual independence without ever actually using the word, by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

 Since Serbia and Kosovo would come to no compromise on their demands, the UN Security council is now going to decide on the status of the province. During his visit to Albania, probably the next biggest party on the issue after Serbia and Kosovo, President Bush made it clear where he stands on the issue:

 ”At some point in time — sooner rather than later — you’ve got to say ‘Enough is enough. Kosovo is independent.’”

 Makes sense. Kosovo is, by most estimates, over 90% ethnic Albanian. Ninety six percent of those want independence for Kosovo (Serbs are the next largest ethnic minority, with an unsurprising 76% majority that is insignificant on a national scale in favor of autonomity within Serbia) and only two percent of those want to join with Albania, so it seems as though Kosovo wants independence, badly.

And of course, this would be easily done with a wave of a metaphorical UN Security Council magic wand and everyone but the Serbians would live happily ever after (You have to feel a bit bad for them, two reminders that communist Yugoslavia is no more, with Montengro first and now this, so close together must be painful), except one little problem: the council really can’t function that well if Russia feels like being difficult. And guess what? It does.

 Russia has decided that if Kosovo gains independence, other places will get the ridiculous notion into their heads that just because they’re completely different from their country, most people want independence, and their country is abusive of them, they can be free if they want to. This could happen to Russia, though it hasn’t quite happened yet, easily enough with somewhere like Chechnya.

 So Russia, (Depriving other countries of their freedom since 1922) , is going to veto the plan to make Kosovo independent, because of that and its strong alliance with Serbia. Which deprives thousands of people of the opportunity to be free and govern themselves completely and have a sense of national pride for a nation that represents them, and etc. I could see Serbia opposing the independence of what it sees as the heart of its historic homeland, that must be a blow to its national pride, but it is the only viable option.

 But Russia? Russia cannot exercise its will over the nations and peoples of Eastern Europe any more like it used to. Someone needs to tell comrade Putin and his neo-KGB cronies that the USSR ended in 1992.

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Oh, and, I would also like to introduce myself as a new blogger. I am interested in politics, religion, philosophy and such things, and my posts will reflect that. My personal philosophies are conservative. I look forward to more blogging.