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Kosovo Independence

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somedude210:
I was reading fark.com (news site) and over the past two days, stories have popped up about Kosovo declaring its independence. I didnt even realize this was an issue. How long have they been thinking this?

will this turn into a repeat of the late 90s in bosnia?

any thoughts on this?

Kevin:
It's been in the news for 10 years now. Serbia, the main loser, can't do much about it. Maybe sponsor some "nationlistic activities" by ethnic Serbs. The Russians are p*ssed off, and could cause mischief by recognising places like a Kurdish homeland in Turkey.
Anyway, Serbian support for a nationlist movement with Russian backing hasn't kicked off a world war for nearly a hundred years, so nothing to worry about there.
All this has been achieved with US backing. Washington - the friends of successionists everywhere. Where are you now Abe?  :)

Bill Harry:
Here are two letters from yesterday's Daily Mail:

British foreign policy on Serbia has been a catalogue of deception. The Government was neither prepared nor honest enough to question how much was really fulfilled of UN Resolution 1244 concerning the Serbian province of Kosovo and Methohija.

It set out to achieve the terms of that resolution, but then went for 'standards before status', and now all is forgotten and no one talks of Resolution 1244, whose fulfillment had been a pre-condition for the final status of Kosovo.

No wonder the Serbs feel cheated.

In the past eight years, 7,743 acts of violence have been committed on minorities in Kosovo, mainly on the Serbs. In these 1,248 non-Albanians have been killed, with many more kidnapped, now presumed dead. Most of these crimes have not been resolved or the perpetrators brought to justice.

Of 158,000 Serbs officially recognised by UN bodies as 'ethnically cleansed', fewer than 5,800 have returned to their homes in Kosovo.

There are no-go areas in some parts of Kosovo. Serbs are living in ghettos: 151 spiritual and cultural monuments in Kosovo have been destroyed by Albanians and 213 mosques built with money from Saudi Arabia. Eighty per cent of graveyards have been destroyed or desecrated, with no response from the international community.

The Albanians have turned Christian graveyards into car parks, playgrounds and rubbish dumps. Anything relating to Serbia or Christianity - libraries, public records, books, names of places and even towns - have been wiped out whenever possible.

On this basis, can Serbs in the province be expected to believe they will be treated in any fair way under the new plans for a 'supervised independence' of Kosovo?

The other letter reads:

The UN is dismembering a part of Serbia and making it independent against the wishes of the vast majority of people in Serbia.
The UN justifies this by saying that most people in the Serbian province of Kosovo are Muslim and that they should be made independent so that they can 'preserve their culture'. This is political correctness gone mad.

The Serbs were our staunch allies in World War 2 and fought bravely on our side with many sacrifices, and the issue of whether Kosovo should be given independence should be based on a national referendum in which everyone in Serbia can vote in a secret ballot. That would be democratic.

The UN has no right to force any country to give up a large part of its sovereign territory. creating a new Muslim nation in the heart of Europe will sow the seeds for yet more strife and terroristm in the future.

There you have it, opinions from British people - although the British Government never takes notice of what its citizens think these days. China, Russian, India, other EU countries will not recognise Kosovo, but the British Government rushes in quickly to recognise it, because in a country with an increasing Muslim community, the British government is walking on eggs not to upset its Muslim citizens, which is why many Christian symbols in Britain are now being banned - crosses taken down from crematoriums, all reference to Christmas being taken from Red Cross charity shops, Christmas hymn services banned from many places, the  childrens story of 'The Three Little Pigs' being vetoed in case it offends Muslims, and even the Anglican archbishop advocating that Sharia Law should be introduced to parts of Brtiain!.

Kevin:
Hi Bill. While I agree that the whole thing has been very badly handled I'd take issue with some of the things raised.
I'm not sure that allowing all of Serbia to decide Kosovo's fate via a referendum is kosher. Would Britain accept a Spanish vote on Gibralta? How about all of Ethiopia deciding the fate of Eritrea, should all of Britain vote  in a referendum that concerned Northern Island or Scotland? Canada for Quebec? How about a pan Irish vote in 1921 on the fate of the Ulster provinces? No nation would ever win its independence if this was the decision making process.
I don't like the listing of Kosovian atrocities - no mention of the grudges held by Kosovo against Serbia (anyone remember ethnic cleansing). I'm not saying they don't occur, but I wouldn't accept such a one sided arguement. And to reduce it to an anti muslim thing....?
And to be fair to the old Archbishop, he didn't advocate Sharia law, he said it was inevitable. Not quite the same thing, and certainly didn't deserve all the hysteria it's misreporting aroused.

alexis:

--- Quote from: 1062 ---Here are two letters from yesterday's Daily Mail:...There you have it, opinions from British people - although the British Government never takes notice of what its citizens think these days. China, Russian, India, other EU countries will not recognise Kosovo, but the British Government rushes in quickly to recognise it, because in a country with an increasing Muslim community, the British government is walking on eggs not to upset its Muslim citizens, which is why many Christian symbols in Britain are now being banned - crosses taken down from crematoriums, all reference to Christmas being taken from Red Cross charity shops, Christmas hymn services banned from many places, the  childrens story of 'The Three Little Pigs' being vetoed in case it offends Muslims, and even the Anglican archbishop advocating that Sharia Law should be introduced to parts of Brtiain!.
--- End quote ---

How many of these things are hyperbole/exaggeration vs actually true? And if actually true, how are the MPs or Lords (forgive my ignorance) getting reelected if they sit in Parliament passing laws like these? Don't the "ordinary British folk" take umbrage to laws/regulations like those listed?

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