Threats to the Western World, and Geopolitical Intelligence
PRISTINA, Kosovo | Days before the West begins one of the most ambitious nation-building experiments in modern history, profound questions remain about how the day-to-day governance of Kosovo will be handled.
Kosovo now has its own government. But the U.N. mission that effectively ruled the former province of Serbia since 1999 is still here.
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Video: Kosovo: [...]
‘It Is not Us but Europe that Needs to Face Reality’
The next Serbian government could include Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the ultra-nationalists. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, he shows himself uncompromising on the question of Kosovo and even raises the spectre of a new war in the Balkans. more…
Serbian Election: A Setback for [...]
A more plausible explanation of Russia’s propaganda offensive and increase in the numbers of both regular and irregular forces in Abkhazia is not fear of a Georgian attack, but plans for the opposite: an attempt to retake the Kodori Gorge. This would humiliate, perhaps topple, Georgia’s pro-Western president, Mikheil Saakashvili. Russia would see it as [...]
Europe’s youngest nation already has problems. Violent Serbs in Belgrade are protesting Kosovo’s independence, and the Serbian government has demanded €220 billion in damages. Can the little state last? By Rüdiger Falksohn and Renate Flottau more…
Breakaway Role Model: Separatist Movements Seek Inspiration in Kosovo
Ephemeral Enlargement: False EU Promises for the Balkans
KREMLIN CONTINUES TO BLAST THE [...]
Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on Sunday creates dangerous problems on multiple fronts. The decision by Washington and the major EU countries to encourage Kosovo’s secession will go down as a colossal foreign policy blunder.
Pristina’s unilateral declaration sets a worrisome precedent in an international system with an abundance of regional secessionist movements. Major countries [...]
Russia’s ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, has warned that Russia could use military force if the Kosovo independence dispute escalates.
“If the EU develops a unified position or if Nato exceeds its mandate set by the UN, then these organisations will be in conflict with the UN,” he said.
In that case Russia would “proceed on the [...]
What is the hardest to believe — but is, of course, possible — is that Putin simply will allow the Kosovo issue to pass. He clearly knew this was coming. He maintained vocal opposition to it beforehand and reiterated his opposition afterward. The more he talks and the less he does, the weaker he appears [...]
American flags flutter almost everywhere in Kosovo, a symbol of how — through successive Democratic and Republican administrations — the U.S. has long been a friend of this nation in the making.
But Washington’s stalwart support of statehood in recent months in the face of fierce resistance from Russia has raised the stakes in its increasingly [...]
Russia backed its ally Serbia on Sunday in condemning Kosovo’s declaration of independence and called for the United Nations to annul the move, which the Serbian prime minister said had been accomplished to further U.S. military goals.
The immediate U.S. response to the long-anticipated decision to formally split from Serbia was muted by comparison, with the [...]
Russia held a high-level meeting with the leaders of two breakaway republics in Georgia on Friday, and vowed to increase its support for the separatists if Kosovo declared its independence and was recognized by the West.The meeting, coupled with vocal warnings in Russia’s Parliament that it would react strongly to a declaration of independence by [...]
A tense quiet holds in Kosovo a few days before the expected declaration of independence. NATO peacekeepers say they have the situation under control. And the EU mission, which is supposed to foster social harmony, is already standing at the ready. By Erich Rathfelder in Pristina more…
Pro-Western Incumbent Wins Presidency: Tadic Victory Could Topple Fragile Coalition in [...]
Eager to wield power, Moscow warns against the Serbian province’s independence bid, but seems to be ignored.
The looming independence of Kosovo and promises of quick U.S. and European recognition have undercut and infuriated Russia at a moment when this oil-rich behemoth is eager to show that its global clout has been restored, analysts say.
Russian officials [...]
Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, which looked like a diplomatic done deal just a few weeks ago, is under increasing fire from critics in the United States and Europe as the expected declaration of independence draws near.
The Bush administration and the European Union yesterday both warmly welcomed the election of Serbian moderate Boris Tadic over an [...]
Attempting to impose a settlement on Serbia would be a direct challenge to the Russian Federation, which opposes any Kosovo settlement not accepted by Belgrade.
We believe an imposed settlement of the Kosovo question and seeking to partition Serbia’s sovereign territory without its consent is not in the interest of the United States. The blithe assumption [...]
Russia warned the United States and European Union on Monday that it would take a series of unidentified measures if Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence.
Russia’s Kosovo negotiator, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, declined to give any details about the steps, but said a recognition of Kosovo’s independence by the West would lead to a humanitarian [...]
Memory fades quickly. Just shy of 10 years ago, the images of the Balkans filled the front pages and television screens with the horrors of ethnic cleansing. Then those images became dimmer in the public consciousness, until the conflict became frozen in place. No resolution of unresolved problems has been in sight during the intervening [...]
BELGRADE, January 2 (Itar-Tass) - President Boris Tadic rules out a possibility of Serbia’s military interference in Kosovo.
“Serbia’s armed forces will act in compliance with domestic and international legislation,†Tadic said on Wednesday. He visited military facilities in the security area adjacent to the administrative border with Kosovo.
“We’ll never send our soldiers to senseless [...]
Russia on the other hand, sees the situation very differently. Moscow has warned it will not accept independence for Kosovo. Mr. Putin has put his prestige on the line. He cannot afford to back down as Boris Yeltsin did. And therein lies the crisis.
This is an “optional” crisis. We cannot overlook the fact that the [...]
Kosovo appears to be an archaic topic. The Yugoslavian question was a 1990s issue, while the Kosovo issue has appeared to be one of those conflicts that never quite goes away but isn’t regarded very seriously by the international community. You hear about it but you don’t care about it. However, Kosovo is getting very [...]
Russia warned the West on Monday that recognising a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) by Kosovo could set off a “chain reaction” of problems in the Balkans and beyond.
“I want to stress that UDI of Kosovo and recognition of such independence will not remain without consequences,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the day [...]
Kosovo is expected to declare independence within the next month. Russia says this could trigger instability in other nearby breakaway regions.
After more than eight years under a UN protectorate, and centuries of ethnic wrangling, Kosovo seems on the verge of settling its political status—sort of. On December 10, a UN deadline for settling the [...]
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