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The Washington Times Letters to the editors 3 February 2008 U.S. should not recognize Kosovo Thank you for publishing "Warning light on Kosovo," (Commentary, Thursday). Given the plethora of long-running conflicts in the Balkans (some many decades old) I don't understand why at this particular moment the United States and Germany find it so urgent to destroy international law by illegally recognizing Kosovo against Serbia's wishes. Kosovo's non-Albanian residents (Serbs, Gypsies, Turks, etc.) have suffered horribly from extremist Albanians, with thousands slaughtered, hundreds of thousands ethnically cleansed and more than 150 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed — and with NATO doing next to nothing to stop the violence. Kosovo is not ready for independence, regardless of any "promises" made by U.S. leaders at the expense of the Serbs. After the Serbs have been betrayed numerous times, Serbia has no faith in the West and will not be interested in joining the European Union regardless of what hollow "promises" are proffered. Serbia is a democratic nation that is giving the Albanians of Kosovo every opportunity to participate in this process. All we are doing here is reversing all of Serbia's positive progress in the past decade by encouraging extremists and telling Serbs that the West had it in for them from day one. To add further perspective, the Russian company Gazprom has purchased Serbia's oil monopoly. Thus, oil will be transported from Russia to Bulgaria to Serbia and then probably travel via the Danube up to Western European markets. This will be by far a better means of transporting energy than going through the treacherous and terrorist-infested mountains of Kosovo, Albania and then the Adriatic Sea. It's time for the United States to start making friends with the Serbs by reversing its irrational anti-Serbian policies. Serbia, with its strategic central location in the Balkans and large population, can be a tremendous anchor of stability for a tumultuous region. The United States and Germany are creating a dangerous precedent that will irreversibly damage relations with Russia and encourage separatists the world over. We should think very carefully before we let arrogance and ignorance trump logic and moderation. MICHAEL PRAVICA Henderson, Nev.
