Guardian .. February 19 2008 .. p15 of the International section.
A Kosovo Serb woman cries as she attends a rally against the independence of Kosovo in the town of Mitrovica, Kosovo. Photograph: Srdjan Ilic/AP
Europe's big countries and the US moved yesterday to seal Kosovo's future irreversibly as an independent country by promptly announcing the diplomatic recognition of the fledgling state.
While Washington recognised Kosovo as "a sovereign and independent state" last night, European foreign ministers spent hours wrangling over a common position. They eventually agreed a statement turning Kosovo into a European protectorate and enabling individual EU countries to establish diplomatic relations with Pristina following Sunday's declaration of independence.
Last night, Britain's representative to Pristina, David Blunt, went to the presidency building to exchange letters establishing relations with the new country. He was the first ambassador to present his credentials, followed by the French and US representatives.
Afterwards, Blunt said he had handed letters from Gordon Brown and the foreign secretary, David Miliband, to President Fatmir Sejdiu formalising UK recognition. "The United Kingdom will remain strategically engaged, but we want to support you as you tackle challenges ahead on your chosen route towards EU and Nato integration and as we together work for improving regional stability and economic development to benefit all communities in Kosovo," Blunt said.
France also announced it had recognised Kosovo as a state, while Germany said it would follow suit today. Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, released a statement saying: "The establishment of these relations will reaffirm the special ties of friendship that have linked together the people of the United States and Kosovo."
EU sources said around 17 of the union's 27 members would recognise Kosovo within days. However Spain, Cyprus and Slovakia said they would not acknowledge the new country.
Miliband said yesterday's session of EU foreign ministers in Brussels was "historic", and hoped the birth of the new country spelled an end to "two decades of violence and strife" in the Balkans.
Spain led the dissidents opposing recognition and exposed the serious divisions within the EU by calling the independence declaration illegal. "Spain will not recognise the unilateral act," said Miguel Angel Moratinos, the foreign minister. "This does not respect international law."
Madrid's argument echoed the denunciation of the Kosovo "fake state" in Serbia and Russia's furious criticism of western support for the breakaway. But despite the opposition, officials note that Spain has a contingent of police earmarked for the 1,800-strong EU mission being sent to Kosovo to replace the UN there.
The statement agreed by all 27 EU countries enables Brussels to press ahead with state-building operations in Kosovo, despite arguments over the legal basis and the lack of an explicit UN mandate because of Russian blocking tactics in the security council.
Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy supremo, wrote to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, requesting his vocal support for the European mission, but the UN chief is under strong pressure from the Russians to refuse any endorsement.
The developments of the past two days intensify the worsening standoff between Russia and the west on a host of issues.
The EU statement sought to dispel Russia's argument that recognition of Kosovo opened a pandora's box by encouraging secessionists in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. The EU statement said the Kosovo breakaway was unique, due to the wars in the 1990s that tore Yugoslavia into seven different countries. "Kosovo constitutes a sui generis case," it said.
At Spanish insistence, and with an eye to Basque and Catalan separatists, the statement also underlined the EU member states' "adherence to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Brussels also sought to sweeten the bitter pill for Serbia by talking up its potential for integrating with Europe.
An Act of Bravery: The Director of Archives Leaves a Record by Jared Israel
[March 6, 2008]
.. many links and references inside, where indication resides .. =======================================
Among the many questions generally overlooked in current media discussions of Kosovo’s so-called independence [1] are three concerning the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders, who now head Kosovo’s so-called government:
A) Are they rebels-turned-statesmen or racist killers in suits?
B) Are they representatives of a progressive independence movement or heirs to World War II Nazis, dug up, reassembled and given a liberal gloss by outside powers?
C) Did they have anything to do with the flight from Kosovo of approximately 300,000 Serbs and other Yugoslav loyalists, after NATO placed these KLA ‘independence fighters’ in power in the beginning of the summer of 1999?
These questions are answered in interviews Emperor's Clothes published in September 1999 and December 2000 with Čedomir Prlinčević, who was President of the Jewish Community and Director of Archives in Priština (Prishtina), Kosovo until he was driven from that city.
The first interview, conducted in two parts (posted below), challenges the media claim that NATO’s takeover of Kosovo was a victory for ethnic tolerance and human rights, and that the KLA was a progressive movement for ‘Kosovar’ self-determination, independent of NATO.
Even the Milosevic government, wishing to depict the 1999 war as ending in Yugoslav victory, avoided discussing the reign of terror against Serbs and other Yugoslav loyalists, launched when NATO marched into Kosovo.
Sanctuary for the five last Serb women from Djakovica
"I was with Poljka. We were doing some work in the yard. She went into the kitchen. I asked, Poljka, what's the matter? She was silent. What's the matter? She started to cry. Don't you hear it? They began to pound on the door as if mad. Oh, woe, what can we do. We wept, we racked our brains. The Italian that was there said don't be afraid. I said, you should let your headquarters know, brother. He called them. They came at once. They did not ask anything. They transferred us to Decani," says Jelena, a former postal clerk.
Danas daily, Belgrade March 22, 2005 By Jelena Tasic
Dragica Nikolic, Ljubica and Jelena Miovic, Poleksija Poljka Kastratovic, Nada Isailovic and Vasiljka Perovic were the six last Serb women who remained living there even after June 1999 and the arrival of international forces.
Nada Kastratovic lived in her brother's house, and other five lived in the churchyard of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos Church. Since March 17, 2004 they were protected around the clock by Italian KFOR troops, and looked after by Decani monks. They could not imagine that the Albanians would attack them, that they would transform another Orthodox church in town, Holy Trinity Church, into a field, and that they themselves would be forced to flee Djakovica. Now all of them except Ljubica live in Visoki Decani Monastery. They rarely go to Djakovica, and some not at all because they are bed-ridden.
"That church is 500 years old
Djakovica, March 19, 2004 - After setting fire to the church and the dormitory where the grandmothers lived, Albanian hooligans spent days removing the ruins until all that remained was an empty field. Photo taken from KFOR military helicopter
Poljka and Nada light candles in the former location of the altar (sanctuary) of the old church in Djakovica in summer 2004 (ERP KIM photo)
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