http://media.www.udallasnews.com/media/storage/paper743/news/2008/02/26/Comm entary/The-Kosovo.Effect.Empowering.Separatists.Everywhere-3235555.shtml
UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS NEWS (USA) The Kosovo effect: Empowering separatists everywhere Independence to bring more violence By: Chris Black Posted: 2/26/08 Last Sunday, the province of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Among the Muslim Albanians (who make up around 90% of the population), there were scenes of fireworks, car horns, hugs, and dancing. The United States and the European Union immediately sent messages of congratulations and opened up diplomatic relations with the new country. An "era of freedom" had apparently come to the new nation. But Kosovo's independence is hardly something to celebrate about. In fact, this event marks a sad precedent whose repercussions could be devastating. Why? Look at the celebrations themselves. The flags that were being waved were not Kosovo flags, but Albanian flags. In fact, the flag that had been unfurled for Kosovo was not even announced until the day of independence. Slogans such as "---- off, Serbia" could be found on t-shirts. Meanwhile, the remaining Serbs (making up just under 10% of the population) were nowhere in sight. The few Serbian members of the Kosovo parliament had boycotted the independence declaration. They were clearly in mourning. The Serbs have good reason to mourn. Ever since the United Nations and NATO had been in charge of running Kosovo's affairs in 1999, almost 150 Serbian Orthodox churches, convents, and monasteries have been destroyed by Albanian mobs. Many priceless Byzantine frescoes dating back to the 13th century have been reduced to rubble. Meanwhile, hundreds of mosques have been erected and funded by rogue nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. But the most disconcerting aspect of all this is the fact that nationalism has been allowed to triumph yet again. Not only is this destroying the West's already-faltering relations with Russia (who has given strong support to Serbia), but it gives hope and justification to separatist groups all over the world. The U.S. and the E.U. may label Kosovo's independence as a "special case," but the fact of the matter is that Kosovo has no more of a "right" to statehood than do the Kurds, the Palestinians, the Tibetans, the Basques or Taiwan. No, this "special case" called Kosovo is really just a convenient lab rat for the West to prove to the Islamic world how much democracy and Islam are compatible. This Wilsonian fallacy is not only going to hurt the Serbs in the short term, but it will guarantee more military entanglements in the long term. What a shameful day for the West. (Contributing writer Chris Black is a senior history major)
