Kosovo Declares Its Independence

[Jag]

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) -- Revelers fired guns, waved red-and-black Albanian flags and set off fireworks over Kosovo Sunday after parliament proclaimed independence in defiance of Serbia and Russia, which condemned the declaration of the world's newest nation.

A decade after a bloody separatist war with Serbian forces that claimed 10,000 lives, lawmakers pronounced the territory the Republic of Kosovo and pledged to make it a ''democratic, multiethnic state.'' Its leaders looked for swift recognition from the U.S. and key European powers -- but also braced for a bitter showdown.

Serbia called the declaration illegal and its ally Russia denounced it, saying it threatened to touch off a new conflict in the Balkans. Russia and Serbia called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, which met later Sunday.

In the capital, Pristina, the mood was jubilant. Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved subfreezing temperatures to ride on the roofs of their cars, singing patriotic songs and chanting: ''KLA! KLA!'' the acronym for the now-disbanded rebel Kosovo Liberation Army. They waved American flags alongside the red Albanian banner imprinted with a black, double-headed eagle.

Many dressed in traditional costumes and played trumpets and drums, and an ethnic Albanian couple named their newborn daughter Pavarsie -- Albanian for ''independence.''

''This is the happiest day in my life,'' said Mehdi Shehu, 68. ''Now we're free and we can celebrate without fear.''

By contrast, police in the Serbian capital Belgrade fired tear gas and rubber bullets in skirmishes with protesters who opposed the declaration. Groups of masked thugs ran through downtown Belgrade smashing windows and ransacking tobacco stands. At least 30 people were injured, about half of them police officers, hospital officials said.

Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade. Others broke windows at McDonald's restaurants and at the embassy of Slovenia -- which holds the European Union's rotating presidency. Later in the evening, police kept a group of protesters from approaching the Albanian Embassy.

In Switzerland, which hosts many immigrants from Kosovo, police estimated about 10,000 people gathered in Lausanne. Crowds also cheered in Bern, where Bundesplatz square quickly filled with a happy crowd, champagne corks popping. In the U.S., crowds in New York's Times Square also celebrated the declaration.

Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian -- most of them secular Muslims -- and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia.

The European Union and NATO, mindful of the Balkans' turbulent past, appealed for restraint and warned that the international community would not tolerate violence.

President Bush said the United States ''will continue to work with our allies to the very best we can to make sure there's no violence.''

''We are heartened by the fact that the Kosovo government has clearly proclaimed its willingness and its desire to support Serbian rights in Kosovo,'' Bush said while on a visit to Africa. ''We also believe it's in Serbia's interest to be aligned with Europe and the Serbian people can know that they have a friend in America.''

Underscoring fears of renewed unrest, an explosion lightly damaged a U.N. building housing a courthouse and a jail in Kosovo's tense north, home to most of its roughly 100,000 minority Serbs. No one was injured.

An unexploded grenade was found near a motel that houses EU officials.
In the ethnically divided northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbs vowed never to let Kosovo go.

''The Albanians can celebrate all they want, but this stillborn baby of theirs will never be an independent country as long as we Serbs are here and alive,'' said Djordje Jovanovic.

Kosovo is still protected by 16,000 NATO-led peacekeepers, and the alliance boosted its patrols over the weekend in hopes of discouraging violence. International police, meanwhile, deployed to back up local forces in the tense north.

Sunday's declaration was carefully orchestrated with the U.S. and key European powers, and Kosovo was counting on international recognition that could come as early as Monday, when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, Belgium.

But by sidestepping the U.N. and appealing directly to the U.S. and other nations for recognition, Kosovo's independence set up a showdown with Serbia -- outraged at the imminent loss of its territory -- and Russia, which warned that it would set a dangerous precedent for separatist groups worldwide.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for ''frozen conflicts'' across the former Soviet Union, where separatists in Chechnya and Georgia are agitating for independence.

Serbia's government ruled out a military response as part of a secret ''action plan'' drafted earlier this week, but warned that it would downgrade relations with any foreign government that recognizes Kosovo's independence.

Meanwhile, Serbia's government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, said Serbia would increase its presence in the roughly 15 percent of Kosovo that is Serb-controlled in an apparent attempt to partition the province.

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu sought to allay Serbs' concerns, telling them: ''I understand today is a fearful day for you all, but your rights and your property will be protected today as it will be always.''

At a special session of parliament boycotted by 10 minority Serb lawmakers and televised live nationwide, sustained applause erupted after the rest of the chamber unanimously adopted the declaration of independence, which was scripted on parchment.

They also unveiled a new national crest and a flag: a bright blue banner featuring a golden map of Kosovo and six stars, one for each of its main ethnic groups. Few of the new flags were seen Sunday on Kosovo's streets, where the old Albanian banner still dominated.

''We, the democratically elected leaders of our people, hereby declare Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state,'' the proclamation read.

''From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free,'' said Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a former KLA leader. ''We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do.''

''Our hopes have never been higher,'' he said. ''Dreams are infinite, our challenges loom large, but nothing can deter us from moving forward to the greatness that history has reserved for us.''

Like Sejdiu, Thaci reached out to ordinary Serbs, but he had stern words for the Serbian government.

''Kosovo will never be ruled by Belgrade again,'' he warned.

Thaci also signed 192 separate letters to nations around the world -- including Serbia -- asking them to recognize Kosovo as a state.

Kosovo's leaders signed their names on a giant iron sculpture spelling out ''NEWBORN'' before heading to a sports hall for a performance of Beethoven's ''Ode to Joy'' by the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra.

''I feel stronger,'' said Ymer Govori, 36, carrying his daughter on his shoulders to celebrations downtown. ''I have my own state and my own post code,'' he said, ''and it won't say Serbia any longer.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/worl...ewanted=2&_r=1

More trouble for us.....
Jag

[Segestan]

http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56134

An unlawful occupation to ensure a new Muslim state in the balkans and EU ... can we say 'Ottoman empire' . It's Treason!

[Jag]

Protesters break into U.S. embassy in Serbia

Support for Kosovo independence raised tensions with Balkan nation

	Protesters gather in front of the Serbian government building in Belgrade during a protest rally against Kosovo's declaration of independence on Thursday. View related photos
Nikola Solic / Reuters

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
updated 12 minutes ago


BELGRADE, Serbia - Protesters broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday and set fires, cheered on by crowds outside rallying against U.S. support for Kosovo's independence.

Doors were ripped off, set on fire and wedged in the embassy windows. Black smoke billowed from the building. Papers and chairs were thrown out of the windows.

One protester climbed up to the first floor, ripped the U.S. flag off its pole and briefly put up a Serbian flag in its place.

Some protesters jumped up and down on the embassy balcony, holding up a Serbian flag as the crowd below of about 1,000 people cheered them on, shouting "Serbia, Serbia".

The embassy had been closed in anticipation of the demonstration. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the only staff there were security personnel and Marine guards. He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been briefed. She was en route to the United States with President Bush after an six-day trip to Africa.

McCormick said the United States had asked the Serbian government to help protect U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Police had not been protecting the building, but riot police intervened after the attack began, firing tear gas and driving armored trucks down the street to clear the crowd.

The storming of the building came during a state-backed rally to protest at Kosovo's secession on Sunday attended by some 200,000 people, which was otherwise peaceful.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23277147

Jag

[American Patriot]

Kosovo Ripples Felt in Taiwan Strait, Former Soviet Union
CNS News ^ | 2/21/08 | Patrick Goodenough

The U.S. and other governments that are backing Kosovo's independence stress that it sets no precedent for other situations worldwide, but the move already is stoking the long-simmering sovereignty dispute between China and Taiwan.

In the aftermath of Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia early this week, Taiwan's government issued a statement welcoming the move. That drew a quick rebuke from the mainland government, which said that Taiwan, "as a part of China," has no right to recognize Kosovo's decision.

Undeterred, the Taiwanese government then went a step further, declaring in a statement its formal recognition of the new Balkan state.

"In no way should the independence of one nation be denied by another," Taipei's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Despite a multitude of barriers, the people of Kosovo have insisted on an ideal that they believe in, which is to peacefully pursue independence, without being threatened or scared away," it said.

Foreign Minister James Huang said the formal announcement followed the statements of recognition by the U.S. and European countries. It was not a reaction to China's angry remarks, which had come as "no surprise," the Central News Agency quoted him as saying.

Huang said bilateral contacts that had been underway over the past two years would continue, although it remains to be seen whether Kosovo will agree to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

The self-governing island has only a handful of remaining allies that have not given in to Beijing's demands to isolate Taiwan (China refuses to have diplomatic ties with any state that recognizes Taiwan, which China regards as a rebellious province.)

If Kosovo does recognize Taiwan, it would be a coup for Taipei: The Vatican is currently its only diplomatic ally in Europe; the remainder are mostly small, developing nations in Africa and the Pacific who benefit economically from their allegiance.

But Kosovo's hopes for the widest possible recognition and - if it can overcome Russian and Chinese opposition - eventual membership at the United Nations, makes it unlikely that Taiwan will obtain a new ally.

China wields significant economic and political clout in the international community, especially among developing and Islamic nations, and the pressure on Pristina to shun Taiwan will be considerable.

In what some Taiwanese worry may be a sign of things to come, a Web site that has been naming and thanking countries as they formally recognize the new state added, and then removed, Taiwan from its list, saying it had decided to only list those countries that are U.N. member states.

Although the site is not linked to the Kosovo government, Taiwanese media took note of the change. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said the ministry was glad Taiwan had appeared on the list at all, even briefly.

The China-Taiwan dispute could work in Kosovo's favor, giving the new state's government the opportunity to indicate to Beijing that Kosovo will recognize Taiwan unless Beijing recognizes it.

Thus, China would deny Taiwan another ally, while Kosovo would edge closer to a U.N. seat by having on its side a fourth permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

So far, however, China has shown no inclination to endorse Kosovo's declaration. Its ambassador to the U.N., Wang Guangya, told an emergency Security Council session that the action would "constitute a serious challenge to the fundamental principles of international law."

UN bid

The situation in the Balkans has been closely - and wistfully - watched in Taiwan, where many are engrossed in the bid for international respectability and U.N. membership. With 23 million people, Taiwan's population is more than ten times bigger than that of Kosovo. The island is also the world's 16th largest economy.

Taiwanese Information Minister Shieh Jhy-wey said that he hoped that Kosovo, as well as all countries supporting Kosovo, would also support Taiwan's desire for independence.

In one month's time, Taiwanese going to the polls to elect their new president will also take part in a referendum on whether their country should be allowed to join the U.N.

The pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party's vice-presidential candidate in the March 22 election, Su Tseng-chang, said Taiwan hoped to follow the path taken by Kosovo.

The referendum is a sore point for Beijing, which in 2005 passed an "anti-secession" law authorizing war if the island formally declared statehood. The Pentagon says China has deployed more than 900 ballistic missiles along its coastline targeting Taiwan.

Washington has also criticized the referendum plan, calling it unnecessarily provocative.

Taiwan's list of diplomatic allies has lengthened and shortened over the years, often as the countries are lured by economic incentives offered by each side in the dispute.

Most recently, the southern African nation of Malawi dropped Taiwan and set up ties with China, leaving the number of allies at 23. Others that have moved to Beijing in recent years include Costa Rica, Chad, Grenada and Liberia.

When Kosovo's southern neighbor, Macedonia, recognized Taiwan in 1999, China retaliation a month later by using its Security Council veto - for only the fifth time ever - to kill a resolution that would have extended a U.N. peacekeeping mission along Macedonia's tense borders with the former Yugoslavia. Macedonia restored relations with China, and ended then with Taiwan, in 2001.

'Kosovo model'

In supporting Kosovo's independence, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made it clear the U.S. regarded the situation as unique, citing the 1999 NATO war to end Serb aggression against the ethnic Albanian majority, and the U.N. supervision of the territory since then.

But countries grappling with secessionist struggles - Spain, Cyprus, Georgia Azerbaijan and Russia among them - are concerned that separatists in their neighborhoods may see things differently.

For Beijing, Taiwan is not the only concern. China also faces opposition to communist rule in Tibet, which it has occupied since 1951, and in the far-west Xinjiang region, home to Muslim Uighurs.

Meanwhile the separatist government of Transdniestra - a mostly Russian-speaking self-governing enclave of half a million people, within the internationally-recognized borders of Moldova -- said in a statement Kosovo should be "a new model for conflict settlement."

Transdniestra's 17 years of de facto independence should be recognized internationally, it said

The foreign ministry of Moldova rejected Kosovo's independence declaration, and said it had "no application to our region."

Another unresolved conflict born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union is one between Orthodox Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan, over the ethnic Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan rejected Kosovo's independence announcement, while the foreign minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh administration, Georgi Petrosian, was quoted as saying he was confident Kosovo's recognition would strengthen the territory's position.

Also on Russia's southern flank, representatives of two breakaway regions of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, also cited Kosovo as strengthening their case for recognition. South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said the two territories had more political, legal and historical grounds for claiming sovereignty than Kosovo.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said this week the Palestinians deserved independence more than Kosovo, and should make a unilateral declaration if negotiations with Israel failed, wire services reported.

Russian foreign ministry Mikhail Kamynin said Wednesday the Kosovo issue was "encouraging separatism in the world."