revisiting the issue
Posted by popkitchen | Filed under politics
Of Kosovo. I promise not to turn the blog into a crusade for Serbian cause. The frequency of posts on this topic is purely coincidental.
From a slightly different perspective – a post bellow is my emotional reaction to something I perceive as injustice, this post is about a talk entitled Kosovo’s Independence and the Balkans: regional implications and challenges, held at London School of Economics two weeks ago.
Interestingly enough, the talk was held a day after Kosovo’s Government rejected six points related to the deployment of Eulex, new civil mission to Kosovo, led by the EU. The conditions presented by Serbia were accepted by the EU and remain to be discussed in the UN. The plan was swiftly rejected by Kosovo authorities, which viewed it as a breach of its sovereignity. Since, there were no progress on the issue (the session of the UN Security Council is still to take place, most likely this Wednesday), it is worth presenting the themes and atmosphere of these talks.
The speakers first gave their opinion on the state of Kosovo, several months after the independence, after which they took questions from the audience.
Anna di Lellio (Professor of Political Science at New School University in NYC, former Political Advisor at UNMIK in Pristina, author of the book The Case for Kosovo: The Passage to Independence)
Di Lellio stated that since there has never been any strategy for Kosovo by the international community, which she blames for the state of “permanent negotiations” and lack of accountability, the period after independence can be regarded as success, as Kosovo now has its own Constitution and it on the way to fully introduce the rule of law. Current situation, in her opinion, plays into the hands of Serbian nationalists, as half-deployment of EULEX will not help Kosovo’s Government to develop.
Daut Dauti (Albanian journalist, former Spokesperson of Kosovo Government)
Dauti spoke about the changed expectations of the people of Kosovo and disappointment over the demand of international community to accept six points, presented by Belgrade authorities, claiming that it presents the trampling of the sovereignity of Kosovo’s elected officials. According to him, international community was surprised as “they expect Pristina to accept anything coming from Brussels of US). Furthermore, he emphasized that Serbs are “once again” favored by the international community.
Jelena Bjelica (Editor-in-Chief of Serbian newspaper Glasnik, author of several books on human trafficking and organized crime)
The independence of Kosovo brought the division among the Serbian community, still living in the province, Bjelica claims. Serbs from the North of Kosovo being close to the Belgrade authorities and people living in enclaves, having no one to turn to solve their practical, everyday problems. She thinks that Serbian community in Kosovo is a hostage of Serbian Government in Belgrade, which uses this issue to reinforce Serbian identity, once again employing Kosovo as symbol, instead of moving towards a closure on this issue. On the other side, the ethnic segregation in Kosovo is deepending.
Tim Judah (reporter of Economist magazine, expert on the Balkans, author of books such as The Serbs: 
History, Myth, and the Destruction of Yugoslavia and Kosovo: War and Revenge)
Judah views the situation as more successful than anyone expected, demonstrating that none of the fears people thought Kosovo independence will make real did so (there was no mass exodus, Serbian nationalist did not gain, in fact we are witnessing the division of the strongest nationalist party – Serbian Radical Party and Serbia has never had a more pro-European Government. He does not see a link between the Western support for the independence of Kosovo and the recent conflict in Georgia.
//personal reflections//
#1: Di Lellio is obviously pro-Albanian, throughout the talk she repeated “Kosovo is independent” at least ten times. She is joined by Dauti in the claim that Serbian side has won another concession from the international community.
#2: Who would have thought that Serbian Government is so powerful? On the other side, Serbia feels humiliated by the biggest powers in the world, abandoned and branded as the aggressor once again. The fact that certain conditions were accepted (six points for deployment of EULEX) does not change this feeling widespread among Serbian society.
#3: Rightly, Kosovo Albanians are expecting to exert full sovereignity over their territory and it can not be expected from them to perceive their independence as a illegal act, which was because of its dubious nature never presented in front of the Security Council of the United Nations, but left for individual countries to recognize it. Most likely, Kosovo is seen as a project of international community, which still has vested interest in the area and despite promises will not yield (real) power over to Albanians so lightly.
#4: Tim Judah is the biggest pragmatist among the speakers – balancing the gains between Albanian and Serbian side. He thinks that deployment of EULEX would benefit them both. Asked what he thinks Serbian will gain by making demands and continuing its involvement with Kosovo, Judah retorted that such course of action would give Serbian President Tadic an excuse to “keep doing what he is doing, presenting it as Serbian best efforts, but in reality he will get rid of Kosovo as an issue and would be able to focus on other more pressing areas – such as EU integration”. Judah is among those who say that Serbian officials in situations “off-the-record” freely admit that Kosovo is a lost case, but they can not do it publicly yet “being reminded of the assassination of former Prime Minister Djindjic” and the role that secret services, its unreformed part, play in Serbian politics. Can not say that Judah is pro-Serbian, but he definitely has sympathies for current Government in Belgrade, praising the new Ministry for Kosovo (Serbian Government) for cooperating with the authorities in Pristina on practical problems, an issue which is not reported in either Serbian or Kosovar media.
……
The questions ranged from ridiculous (a UK-born Serb which started to talk about the plan of the Catholic Church and the Vatican to exterminate one third of Serbian population), to banal (Albanian girl asking “How can EULEX be deployed effectively?”, does it mean the division of power, basically a state of affairs persisting in this region for at least last 25 years) and informed (law student who challenged the speakers to explain how the unilateral recognition of independence of Kosovo will not impede with the existing international law and set a dangerous precedent for the future).
Overall, the atmosphere was constructive, minus cheering on both sides, depending on the arguments heard. Makes me wonder whether similar thing would be possible in Belgrade or Pristina, without any major disruption. I am afraid not for a long while.
Tags: kosovo, lse, politics, serbia, tim judah
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 pm
yep