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Is Europe ready for military confrontation with Russia over Kosovo? | 87 comments (87 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (none / 0)
Here are the administrative borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina which clearly indicate the different privinces which I presume are still in place today. If not, there are two Republics, each with its own constitution, government and budget in Bosnia Herzegovina today, which is more in terms of statehood than what Kosovo has.

And here are the administrative borders of Kosovo which can likewise be used to delineate who gets what.

So I don't quite follow your point. If the Albanians can have the right to secede from Belgrade using internal Serb administrative borders as the yardstick to define their territory, why can't the Serbs also decide with whom they want to live and use those same administrative borders to define their territory?

Philosophical argumentation about what "gives people the creeps" will not lead to a peace agreement but to war - or at best, to severe tensions that will be a headache to Europe for many decades to come. It's time for realpolitik and some bold moves.

by vladimir on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 08:02:39 AM EST
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Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (none / 0)
vladimir:
So I don't quite follow your point. If the Albanians can have the right to secede from Belgrade using internal Serb administrative borders as the yardstick to define their territory, why can't the Serbs also decide with whom they want to live and use those same administrative borders to define their territory?

Of course that's what everyone has in mind. First Kosovo secedes, then we get separatist activity and possibly violence in the Serb.majority areas until they secede. But also note that people don't like the idea of Kosovo joining Albania into one "Greater Albania" so presumably they woulnd't like the region around Mitrovica joining Serbia.

Look, like I said, it makes not sense, and like I also said this taboo about redrawing borders is not a philosophical point and is causing more headaches than if people just sat down and redrew the damn borders with the agreement of the populations involved.

In my opinion you could have a referendum at the level of municipalities where each municipality chooses which side they want to be on, with some territorial transfers to ensure continuity of both territories and population exchanges. This was done in Schleswig as I mentioned, but the last time that border was touched was at the end of WWI.

As for population transfers, even when done by mutual agreement and presumably peacefully, the example of India and Pakistan shows that one would have to expect violence
Partition of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of deaths range around roughly 500,000, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 1,000,000.[5]
This is out of under 15 million people, half moving in each direction in a total population of several hundred million.

But, seriously, at this point I think a bold solution like the Partition of India or the final settlement of the Schleswig question would have to be considered.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 08:18:48 AM EST
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Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (none / 0)
Great, now that we have agreement on the principles I'll take the message to Kostunica, Frank can take it to Solana, FarEasterner can take it to Putin, Upstate NY can go see W, and we can sign an agreement this evening.

Err, who's gonna talk to Agim Ceku??

by vladimir on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 08:28:57 AM EST
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Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (none / 0)
I know who: Upstate NY ! :)
by vladimir on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 08:31:21 AM EST
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Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (none / 0)
We have at least 4 albanian ETers, and two of them have posted at one point or another. Upstate NY doesn't need to do two jobs. ;-)

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 08:46:58 AM EST
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Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (none / 1)
on second thoughts, if we really want a European solution, best to leave the Americans out of the negotiations.
by vladimir on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 11:01:12 AM EST
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Re: Is Europe ready for military confrontation wit (4.00 / 2)
Had a chat with Solano.  He wants the Irish to ratify the Reform Treaty first so he can get a bigger job and expense account.

PS I'm too busy campaigning for an independent republic of Wicklow so we can stop all those Dubliners stealing our water, despoiling our countryside, and ravishing our maidens.  UP WOLF - WicklOw Liberation Front.

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 at 09:18:21 AM EST
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Is Europe ready for military confrontation with Russia over Kosovo? | 87 comments (87 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)