THE LORD BYRON FOUNDATION FOR BALKAN STUDIES PRESS CONFERENCE "KOSOVO, A PREVENTABLE DISASTER" Held on December 5, 2007 Charles Lynch Room, Parliament Hill, Ottawa
Ambassador James Bissett, Chairman of The Lord Byron Foundation, former head of Canada's Immigration Service, and former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, will host the event H.E. Dr. Dusan Batakovic, Serbia's Ambassador in Canada Dusan Prorokovic, MP; Deputy Minister for Kosovo and Metohija, Government of Serbia Dr. Serge Trifkovic, Executive Director of The Lord Byron Foundation and foreign affairs editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=gMrM-P_ZjHQ&feature=PlayList&p=12F2C6F7C0D51DA C&index=2 ************** KOSOVO, A PREVENTABLE DISASTER Interview with Dr. Srdja Trifkovic of The Lord Byron Foundation By Boba Borojevic Ottawa - December 2007 - The Contact Group troika, comprising the representatives of Russia , the European Union and the United States will submit its report next week to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, about the failed negotiations it has conducted for the past four months on the status of Kosovo. Amidst the growing uncertainty about the future of Serbia's restive southern province, The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies - an independent research institution founded in 1994 - organized a press conference on Parliament Hill last Wednesday, followed by a public briefing ("Kosovo: A Preventable Disaster") at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. This was one of several public events on the vexed problem of Kosovo that the Foundation has organized, in five countries and three continents, over the past few months. "For some years now the Foundation has advocated a position that is in line with the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and the tradition of state sovereignty and territorial integrity that had harks back to the Peace of Westphalia of 1649," explained Dr. Srdja Trifkovic, Executive Director of The Lord Byron Foundation and foreign affairs editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. "Being a research institution devoted to a value-neutral comprehensive study of southeast European issues, the Foundation has consistently advocated an approach to the problem of Kosovo that would be free from ideological bias, or from the tendency to support one side or another in various Balkan conflicts that has been apparent in the U.S. and Western policy since the early 1990s. Our associates include several people who may differ on the particular aspects of the solution to the problem of Kosovo. Most of them advocate some form of the extensive autonomy with the nominal Serbian sovereignty, whereas others may prefer a compromise based upon de facto partition or dual sovereignty. None of our associate support the simplistic and deeply flawed notion that taking away a large part of Serbia 's sovereign territory against that democratic state's will could produce anything other than instability and open Pandora's box of similar conflicts all over the world." What was the goal of the two events in Ottawa ? Trifkovic: At the press conference on Parliament Hill we wanted to acquaint the media with some relatively unknown aspects of this issue, and to encourage a more nuanced approach to the problem of Kosovo. We had four presenters, Ambassador James Bissett, chairman of the LBF; Dr. Dusan T. Batakovic, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Canada ; Dusan Prorokovic, Secretary of State in the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija in the government of Serbia ; and me. We've tried to provide a comprehensive picture of the Kosovo problem that has been seldom discussed in those terms in the Canadian media. Ambassador Bissett outlined the need for Canada to respect international law and to adhere to her long-term commitment to the principles to the UN. He warned that any deviation from those principles would run counter to the tradition of Canadian foreign policy, would undermine international legality and the principles upon which the international system has rested for almost six decades. Ambassador Batakovic eloquently outlined the tragic state of non-Albanian ethnic groups in Kosovo. The majority of non-Albanians have been expelled from Kosovo by the KLA after NATO occupation in the summer of 1999, and those who remain live in pitiful ghettoes. He presented a grim picture of crime-ridden, violent, intolerant society, controlled by a coterie of Mafiosi with jihadist connections who are eminently ill-suited to run anything, let alone a putative state. Secretary of State Prorokovic explained to the Canadian media that there are alternatives to independence - contrary to what we are constantly told by many Western politicians who claim that there is no alternative. He explained that the government of Serbia is advocating a comprehensive package that would be based upon on the most advanced forms of autonomy in other democratic countries, including the model of the Ĺland Islands in the Gulf of Finland , inhabited by the Swedes yet under Finish sovereignty. He also mentioned the Hong-Kong model where you have the recognition of Chinese sovereignty but nevertheless a completely different legal, economic and political system within the former British colony. He concluded by appealing on the decision-makers in the Western world to realize that rushing headlong into support for Kosovo independence, without giving due regard to the Serbian position, would be a long-term mistake that all concerned would come to regret. Finally, in my own presentation the focus was the mendacity of the US foreign policy vis-ŕ-vis the Balkans. What we have witnessed over the years, and in particularly over the past four months during the "troika" mission, is the absence of meaningful negotiations. The Albanian side was not motivated to negotiate on anything at all, by virtue of the US upfront commitment that the outcome of the negotiating process should be independence and the promise of recognition. Therefore the Albanians were simply sitting back, biding their time and refusing to engage in a serious dialogue. In my opinion the only way we can reach a comprehensive and viable long-term settlement in Kosovo is if all outside parties refrain from indicating a "desirable" outcome of negotiations and accept that the outcome may be something other than independence. The subsequent presentation at Library and Archives Canada later that evening revealed that there is no real endgame in sight as yet. Everybody is talking about this looming deadline of December 10th, but for as long as the US government feels that it does not have sufficient support of other countries - and in particular for as long as it realizes that it does not have a majority of the EU behind it in supporting Kosovo independence -- Washington will not give the green light to the Albanians to go ahead with the UDI. In the first instance, the US will probably postpone their proclamation of independence by insisting that is should not happen before the presidential election in Serbia, because, the US would like Boris Tadic to get re-elected. They feel that any precipitous action by the Albanians would undermine Tadic's position. In the longer term the crucial issue is position of Germany , which is a solid member of the Western community, both of the EU and of the North Atlantic Alliance, but which also has a special relationship with Russia . Most German energy needs are satisfied by Russian gas and oil. In geopolitical terms the developing Berlin-Moscow axis in some ways makes the position of Germany rather special within the Western community. Taking into account Russians views and Russian concerns is much higher on the German list of priorities than is the case with the US or the UK . The event at Library and Archives Canada ended with a lively question-and-answer session. Many issues, including the likely scenarios, the risk of violence, the legal issues involved with recognition, the possibility of Serbia retaliating by economic means or imposing blockade, were all considered. The discussion proceeded in the spirit of free exchange of views and comprehensive analysis that is still sadly lacking in the Western discourse on Kosovo in general. Except for the CBC and CPAC no other mainstream media was present at the conference. Why do you think that the mainstream media shies from the massage that you want to put across? Trifkovic: Because the mainstream media follow a form of editorial straight jacket that is highly reminiscent of the agitprop in the old Soviet block. Whatever does not fit into a preconceived framework is simply ignored. If the editorial policy of a major newspaper or a broadcast network is that there is no alternative to Kosovo independence, that in the long term the Serbs will budge and Russians will cave in, they do not want to disturb their "reality" with inconvenient facts. They do not want to be burdened with the complexities of this multifaceted issue that would undermine their nicely packaged, simplistic view of Kosovo as a budding member of the "international community," capable of respecting minority rights and following democratic principles and neo-liberal principles of the Western world. That, of course, will never happen and cannot happen for structural reasons, for cultural reasons, for historic reasons. As we have seen with many other issues concerning the former Yugoslavia - or, for that matter, with the challenge of Islam to the Western world - the mainstream media is following a strictly ideological approach that is not amenable to rational argument. Boba Borojevic [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://serbianna.com/columns/borojevic/ http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/pertep (613) 852-1971 Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
