All, As you all know, Kosovo has declared its independence, a move backed by the US Administration. "Although the US formally recognised Kosovo's newly declared status, the 27-member European Union failed unanimously to recognise the former Serbian province as a nation state." (From The Independent, Feb 19, 2008. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/bush-hails-kosovo-independence-but-six-eu-states-voice-opposition-784036.html)
From a Fox News article. ""The Kosovars are now independent," President Bush said during a trip to Africa. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush "has responded affirmatively" to Kosovo's request to establish diplomatic relations. ... Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian most of them secular Muslims and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia."(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331018,00.html) A question I have posed to some students recently is, consider the move by Kosovo for sovereignty, a move based (in part) by the racial/religious fracture between the Albanians and Serbians, as a move supported by the US, and contrast this with the US's response to the declaration of independence recently issued by the Republic of Lakotah (http://www.republicoflakotah.com/). Also, contrast this with the will of the Tibetan people for independence, a declaration NOT supported by the US administration. Are they different? Is the underlying "right" to self-determination similar or different? How do you think the MOQ would answer these calls for independence? Similarly? Differently? Just some things to think about. Arlo Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
