Chaos In Kosovo



Belgrade is burning.

If logic prevailed -- and not nostalgic sentiment -- Serbian nationalists would understand the need for an independent Kosovo. And, if logic prevailed, Serbian nationalists -- so willing to take personal credit for all that is good in Serbia, but no individual responsibility for their part in attempted genocide -- would grant Kosovo its independence as a just reparation for their crimes against the ethnic Albanians, or their failure to stand up and stop it in the first place.

Unfortunately, hot-headed rhetoric like "Kosovo will always be a part of Serbia" has inflamed the smouldering chaos presently working itself out in the nascent nation. The fact is that the majority of the population of Kosovo is ethnic Albanian, and the fact is Serbians cannot be trusted to govern Kosovo fairly. Since 1999, the United Nations has been governing Kosovo as a protectorate. The independence of Kosovo, while admittedly early, was, ultimately, the only solution to a problem started by the Serbians.

The Corsair would have liked Kosovo's independence to have occurred, say, 5-10 years from now so that the Serbians could acclimate themselves to the new political reality. But what is done is done. There is no going back.

Let's hope well-meaning Serbs -- and there are multitudes -- will embrace that logic to counteract the pandemoniacal hot-heads who are presently attacking NATO and the United Nations peacekeepers.

Russia, of course, will take advantage, pulling Serbia into its nefarious web of influence. And Europe, of course, will reap the whirlwinds of the political instability in its backyard.

Let's hope next time we get a President better suited to deal with the new, malevolent Russia than this one.