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The Washington Times
31 August 2007
Kosovo's tethers
David Binder's excellent column on Kosovo needs additional clarification
("Kosovo's grim future," Op-Ed, Wednesday). There is an elephant in the
middle of Kosovo, and everyone pretends not to see it. The U.N. Mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK) is getting the blame, but let's be clear: UNMIK is only the
umbrella. NATO is the real power in Kosovo. Kosovo's criminal leadership
regularly consults with NATO and comes to the United States for in-depth
consulting with the administration and key political figures that publicly
support them. In fact, one administration official was so oblivious to the
reality of Kosovo as to suggest that Iraq and Afghanistan should emulate
Kosovo.
Kosovo is a deeply criminalized society. Opening doors to the European Union
will not change that. The United States and the European Union should stop
supporting, financially and politically, Kosovo's drive for independence and
arrest the well-known criminals.
NATO cannot continue its presence in Kosovo as UNMIK subcontractor because
NATO is not in a habit of taking orders from anyone. Let UNMIK appoint an
international force and finally implement the provisions of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1244. Under the resolution, Serb forces should have
entered Kosovo immediately after the conflict to control the borders and
work with UNMIK in preparation for political dialogue. This was delayed at
first because of political instability in Serbia and later simply was
ignored. By siding with one party in the conflict and mindlessly defending
the "right" of Kosovo to independence, the United States and the European
Union have painted themselves into a corner.
There is a simple reason Kosovo's leadership does not want to negotiate the
offers of autonomy within Serbia. The leaders' hold on power and criminal
enterprise can only be maintained by Kosovo's remaining a ward of NATO and
the European Union. It hurts the West's standing in the world by insisting
on gifting independence to the province. Russia's principled stand for
international law is resonating with other countries and has increased
Russia's stature in the world at the expense of the West.
During this round of negotiations, the United States should make it clear
that the only course of action for Kosovo is to negotiate autonomy within
Serbia. Such a change would free the United Nations to form an international
peace force to work with the Serbian government and start a difficult but
inevitable journey back to restoring the province to normal life.
Supervised independence is just another name for status quo. The European
Union and United States (through NATO) would continue to shell out money to
feed the populace. This is why Kosovo's leadership likes it so much.
BRANKA AL-HAMDY
Alexandria, Va.
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