Escalation of the Conflict in Kosovo - Another War in the Balkans?

Can Obama please step on his ambassadors toes?

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

The State Department is claiming that they had no involvement there. Maybe they're lying, though we must keep in mind that what I said about the ambassador are still rumors.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

For now it seems that goods are entering the Serbian north via trucks again and the Serbs allowed the KFOR to move freely. The talks between the Serbs and the KFOR are still going on.

I ♥ the VRS

As I understand it, the real issue here isn't “we disagree on where the border should be drawn,” but “the two groups of people mixed together on the area in question are engaged in ethnic cleansing.” The only way to fix the problem is to stop all efforts toward effecting a purge.

Eric,

Okay, an update. There has been a series of negotiations, none of which seemed to move the issue in any particular direction. However, Angela Merkel, while on her visit to Belgrade, said that if Serbia wanted to join the EU, it would have to hand over its institution in the North to Albanians, which was, of course, dismissed by the Serbian government.

Yesterday, Kosovar special forces, probably encouraged by her stance, attempted to make an assault on Leposavić, one of the largest Serbian towns in the North, without consulting KFOR or EULEX beforehand. They were stopped by the local population, and when confronted by the international mission, they claimed that it was "only a drill". Two Albanian paramilitary terrorist organizations, the Albanian National Army and the Armed Forces of Ethnic Albania, have said that if Kosovar institutions don't immediately extend its rule over the North, they will have to do it themselves. This situation is really getting serious.

edited 25th Aug '11 5:47:32 AM by MilosStefanovic

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

...and everything seemed to go so well only two months ago.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Well take care of yourself, man.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

I will. Thank you.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Damn it.

This really isn't far away from war is it?

Really hope you don't get wrapped up in this Milos.

Merkel doesn't exactly seem to have done the situation any favours.

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

Serbia does its best to keep a pacifist approach, maybe even a bit too much, in my opinion. However, if those Albanian paramilitaries take the matters into their own hands, war might be a distinct possibility.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Serbia's pacifistic route, unfortunately, seems to have been damn unsuccessful. Might makes right in the world. If we had just sent our armies down to the border, without taking any violent action, it would give us some bad points with the West, but probably still prevent this from happening. Basically, we lost, and who knows what will happen to those people now?

Yesterday, KFOR and EULEX took control of the border posts by helicopter action, thus avoiding barricades laid down by the Serbian population, and handed over their control to Kosovar customs officials, who immediately enacted customs tarrifs to goods coming from Serbia, greatly reducing the traffic of goods. Still, Serbs reinforced the barricades even further to prevent the complete takeover of North Kosovo, effectively blocking them from goods coming from the Albanian-held parts of Kosovo, too. Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, says "Let them starve." A bit later, EULEX opperators have impeded the signal of Serbian phone providers. The situation is currently stable, apart from Albanian civilians stoning the Serbs at one of the barricades last night.

The Serbian government keeps silent on the issue and is repeating the exactly same rhetoric as before, but has responded with blocking the traffic of goods coming from Kosovo as a sign of protest. Like it will accomplish something.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

What exactly is going on, are the Serbs at the barricades effectively under siege now or is North Kosovo essentially totally blockaded?

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

I don't think that "under siege" is really the best term to use, since Kosovar authorities still don't want to take any directly violent action against Serbs, and are hoping that they will eventually tire, but you could call it that way. Basically, they have managed to take control of the administrative line with Serbia proper and enacted customs, but still don't have complete control because of the barricades, though I'm afraid that it's bound to change soon.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

You see, This is why I hate american news sometimes. i didn't hear about this AT ALL until i was on Google News the other days.

Luckily, from what i've seen the E.U. Acted quick and put some troops on the border to stop them from going to war

I'm baaaaaaack

There's no turning back on independence, and Serbia has its hands tied. If Serbian delegates show up on debate, they have no choice but to accept it, that's the the only way for the Serbia-Kosovo relationship to move on. That's why it keeps delaying it. Why? Because they know, there is no turning back on independence.

edited 26th Sep '11 6:36:45 PM by drdeathray

Eh, they won't abandon the North Kosovar Serbs so quickly. I think they would accept conditions if they were allowed to take back the north. Kosovo should just accept that deal since it gets everything else.

If they don't, could this reescalate or not I wonder...

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

Shit's getting even messier.

Yesterday, KFOR attempted to remove one of the barricades by dispersing the Serbs with tear gas. The Serbs reacted by throwing rocks, so KFOR soldiers opened fire "in self-defense". Seven Serbs are in the hospital, having sustained serious injuries - one of them is in critical condition. KFOR claims that they were using rubber bullets. This has caused another stop in the negotiations, the official position of the Serbian government is as spineless as ever, doing nothing except continuing to call for peace and restraint, while the EU protests the Serbian behaviour, and has halted Serbia's integrational process.

edited 27th Sep '11 11:44:05 PM by MilosStefanovic

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Just how popular is the current Serb government in general among the people? I get that they're being spineless for the sake of EU integration, but how popular is that idea or their handling of it?

More importantly, when are the next elections and do they have much chance of even remaining in power?

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

Recent events have made the general population pretty Eurosceptical, and the government and its general measures are pretty unpopular. Since the main merit for their popularity was the implied ability to quickly get us into the EU, and the negotations with them are getting nowhere, it's almost impossible that they'll win the next elections at the beginning of 2012, unless they make a coalition with the radically pro-EU Liberal Democratic Party, which believes that Serbia should recognize Kosovo's independence in order to speed up deals for joining the EU. The most probable winner is a coalition based around the center-right Serbian Progressive Party, which is still pro-EU, but with a little more hardline approach towards Kosovo.

edited 28th Sep '11 12:08:12 AM by MilosStefanovic

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

I read that another attempt to negotiate failed, because Serbia insisted in talking about a whole other subject than the one planned.

Yeah, I heard such rhetoric before. It annoys me how Serbia's involvement here is reduced almost to the level of a passive observer who barely has a right to complain. I might be able to reply to that if given specific information, since the negotiations had been stopped for several times.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

The latent price of the EU: sovereignty means so little to people these days.

Protest the superpowers and you can't join the club, dooming you to a failure of an economy. Go along with it and you're a doormat. Damned if you do...

I am now known as Flyboy.

I agree, it does have this right. But apparently, not in this the meeting. The meeting was for other things. Do you know what it was supposed to be for?

Wow, Germans really hate Serbs.

They're willing to let Serbia get into the EU only if they consent to the Serbs in Kosovo being massacred by the Albanians. If Serbia does as much as protest, Germany freezes their EU application. That's wrong on so many levels, I feel physically queasy.

edited 29th Sep '11 4:04:39 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.