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The status of Kosovo |
International Herald Tribune
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2005
| Hashim
Thaci argues that Albanians in Kosovo are entitled to independence
from Serbia ("My people deserve their independence," Views, Nov.
26).
Thaci's main argument
for independence is that his Albanian people have suffered so much.
But while Slobodan Milosevic's policies were indeed ruthless and
indefensible, Thaci's historical account lacks vital elements of
Albanian nationalism and separatism, including the fact that Serbs
and other minorities in Kosovo have suffered over the last six
years.
Thaci claims that
minorities will be protected in an independent Kosovo. But the
percentage of Serbs left in Kosovo has dropped dramatically in
recent decades - including the nearly 200,000 Serbs who left the
province in the wake of the 1999 war. Thaci was a leading politician
at the time. In contrast, Serbia has remained multi-ethnic. The "old
nationalism" that Thaci blames on the Belgrade of today is not
exactly eradicated in today's Kosovo.
The world has about 200
countries and thousands upon thousands of ethnic groups. Should we
have thousands of new countries, one for each ethnic group? Thaci
mentions Serbian war criminals, but there are indicted
Kosovo-Albanian war criminals too.
Thaci would like Kosovo
to join the European Union with protection from NATO as part of a
demilitarized area. The idea of demilitarization is news to us.
Jan Oberg, Lund, Sweden
Aleksandar Mitic, Brussels
Hashim Thaci had
the nom de guerre Snake. That, in itself, is very telling.
Thaci, a former leader
of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was once branded a terrorist
group by the U.S. government, has now apparently morphed into a sage
purveyor of advice via your prestigious newspaper. So, what is
behind this sudden transformation?
It is more than obvious
that the ongoing terror tactics against the Serbs and other
minorities in Kosovo, perpetrated first by the KLA and then by its
successor criminal offshoots, continues to be ignored and disguised
by the West's mainstream media and politicians. Why? Because, they
have no other way to justify NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia in
1999.
If Thaci's people have
"earned" sovereignty, then the criteria for independence are murder,
mayhem and barbarism. Is Europe ready and willing to embrace an
intolerant and terrorist-supported Islamic state in its underbelly?
L.M. Milanovich
Edmonton, Canada
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