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JAKARTA POST (INDONESIA) LETTERS Kosovo's independence I strongly disagree with your editorial, "Another nation is born", (Feb. 19) which advocates Kosovo's illegal independence. Some of the first tests for nationhood include: Treatment of minorities and respect for law and meting of justice, respect for the property of citizens, economic viability, UN recognition and can the nation defend itself? On all accounts, Kosovo fails miserably. For the past 60 years, Kosovo's non-Albanian residents have suffered horribly from extremist Albanians and more than 150 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries have been destroyed. NATO, the self-proclaimed "peacekeeper" of the Serbian province, has done next to nothing to prevent the "Krystal nacht" endured by Serbs, gypsies and other non-Albanians. The current leaders of Kosovo are war criminals sought by Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church owns much of the land upon which Kosovo is situated. Thus far, there has been no success in efforts to return this land to its rightful owner. Thousands of Kosovo Serbian homes have been torched. Kosovo has a roughly 50 percent unemployment rate with the highest birthrate in Europe and a thriving economy based on drug running and the sex trade. The UN will never recognize Kosovo as Russia realizes that the primary efforts to steal Kosovo from Serbia pertain to maintaining an indefinite NATO military presence in the province (Camp Bondsteel) to act against a resurgent Russia. Finally, the Kosovo Liberation Army never succeeded against the Serbian army except when it had NATO as its air force, mercilessly bombing civilians in 1999 in NATO's vicious and illegal war against the Serbian people. Kosovo will never survive as an independent state without a foreign army protecting it. The Post should seriously reconsider its position on Kosovo as international law has now been destroyed and terrorists the world over are beginning to use the Kosovo precedent. The Serbian perspective of this tragic story has not been told by the Western "free and fair" media but needs to be understood before we all continue down the spiral toward World War III. MICHAEL PRAVICA Henderson, Nevada
