Well done John Bosnitch - it's difficult to get a comment in
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3716662.ece April 11, 2008 Envoys fear UN chief Ban Ki Moon may go soft on Kosovo James Bone in New York and Tony Halpin in Moscow Ban Ki Moon is mounting a charm offensive on a three-day trip to Moscow after Russia threatened to block him from serving a second term as United Nations Secretary-General because of his stance on Kosovo. Western diplomats fear that the UN chief may hand Russia significant concessions on the newly independent Kosovo, which Russia refuses to recognise. The Kremlin is pressing Mr Ban to ignore, or at least prolong, a proposed 120-day transition period to Kosovan independence from Serbia that expires on June 16. Mr Ban may also be pressured into naming a facilitator to attempt to renew talks between the Serbs and Kosovans, diplomats say. There is speculation that Mr Ban will name Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the departing French head of UN peacekeeping, to such a post. The result would be that, despite its <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3390760.ece> declaration of independence on February 17, and recognition by dozens of other nations, Kosovo could find itself in another “temporary period” with an uncertain status. RELATED LINKS * Guerrilla <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3678209.ece> leader Ramush Haradinaj is set free * Kosovo <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3586851.ece> hunts for friends to back independence * Serbs <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3390760.ece> vent anger at Kosovo declaration Mr Ban, a conciliatory former South Korean Foreign Minister, is caught in a tussle between the leading powers over Kosovo. He cannot avoid the issue because the UN, which has administered the breakaway Serb province since a Nato air campaign against Belgrade in 1999, has to stand down and transfer its policing duties to a 2,000-strong EU mission. According to diplomats and UN sources, the Kremlin began threatening the pro-Western Mr Ban last summer when it felt that he was favouring Kosovan independence. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia has veto power and could block Mr Ban’s appointment for a second five-year term starting in 2012. Dmitri Medvedev, the President-elect, used the visit to attack what he called attempts to ignore UN resolutions on issues such as Kosovo, an implicit criticism of Mr Ban’s neutrality. Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister, underlined the Kremlin’s determination to hold Mr Ban to a hard line at a joint press conference in Moscow. He said they had agreed that “it is important to act based on Resolution 1244, and that it is necessary to strictly follow the mandate of the UN mission in Kosovo”. He added: “I think there is mutual understanding that our combined efforts to defend this approach have potential. Recent history proves that unilateral actions that bypass the UN only create new and serious problems.” The message was reinforced by the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin. However, diplomats and UN officials said that there was no evidence that Russia had withdrawn its co-operation with Mr Ban. The Secretary-General has appeared almost apologetic since arriving in Moscow on Wednesday, acknowledging the hosts’ annoyance at the length of time it has taken for his first visit. Describing the Foreign Minister as “my dear colleague”, he said that he was “always grateful for the strong support and co-operation” of Russia in the work of the UN. He added: “I also hope that Russia can do more. This is what I have expressed to the Russian leadership.” Mr Ban is having an unusually broad range of meetings in Moscow, holding talks with Russian businessmen, members of parliament and Patriarch Alexiy II of the Orthodox Church. As a token, he will today name a Russian as the UN high-level co-ordinator for the return of Kuwaiti nationals and property seized by Iraq in the 1990 invasion. The appointment may backfire because the Russian official, Gennady Tarasov, was once a Soviet diplomat at the UN who was expelled by the United States in 1986 as a suspected KGB spy. Mr Ban has already caused splits among his own mission in Kosovo by siding with a UN official who is considered pro-Serb. Gerrard Gallucci, the American running the United Nations Mission in Kosovo in the Serb enclave of north Mitrovica, wrote a cable to UN headquarters criticising his immediate superiors for asking UN police and Nato troops to retake a courthouse seized by Serb protesters, leading to a gunfight. Joachim Rücker, the UN representative in Kosovo, and his deputy, Lawrence Rossin, argued that Mr Gallucci should be dismissed for insubordination, sources say, but Mr Ban refused their request. Official visits Ban Ki Moon has visited four of the five permanent members of the Security Council — the US, Britain, France and Russia — but not China. He has made ten official visits to the US, three to France and one each to Britain and Russia Source: United Nations * HAVE <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3716662.ece#comme nts-form> YOUR SAY What a good article! Bekim, refreshing for an Albanian to admit to what's going on in Kosovo today, under the watchful eye of UNMIK. Joan Moira Peters - did you not know that Madeleine Albright said to Boutros Boutros Ghali that he should remember who is paying his salary (the US) when he didn't want to follow her orders. Then she had him replaced by Kofi who was putty in their hands. It is disgraceful what the "International community" has done to Serbia and yet they claim to be her friends. With "friends" like these you certainly don't need enemies! Hopefully the government in Serbia will have had enough of being slapped by their "friends". Seka, London, UK one puppet was replaced by other american puppet. if Kosovo is declared independant country, then palestine, Kashmir, Azkabia and kurdistan must to be given independance too. all united natio is controlled by America. Shakur Khan, London, UK Good say, Filip. The Kosovo issue is nothing more than continuing appeasement to European Islamists. Serbia has been vilified without ever considering its side. Removing Kosovo Polje from Serbia proper is like removing the Eiffel Tower from French territory. I'm not a fan of the Putinised Russia, but he's correct on this issue. Richard, Savannah, Ga, USA If one wants to implement UN charter there can be no balanced approach to illegal "Kosova" entity . Null and void this quasilend is and should be declared by the UN as such. Zoran, Beograd, Surely it's good if he gets someone to renew the talks between the Serbs and Albanians, then there will be more chance of a settlement acceptable to both sides? And given that Serbia is being treated so appallingly it's good that there is a bit more balance on the UN attitude to the issue. Nice one Mr Ban. rach, reading, Why do you claim that the UN has to step down for the EU to replace it? No where in Resolution 1244 does it give a mandate to the EU to replace UNMIK. However as Resolution 1244 has clearly been broken by NATO, as well as the Helsinki Act and the UN Charter, any country now has the right to do whatever it wants. It is shown that only 38 countries have recognised Kosovo since February, whilst 60 have clearly stated they will not. This makes it impossible for Kosovo ever to join the UN, making it a sovereign state. Its not only Russia against the Independence, but China, India, Brazil these are very important countries globally, which the US may not believe are in the "International Community". Every country is part of the International Community no matter what their regime or democracy is. Filip, Serbia, If Kosova brings down UN it would be the greatest victory for humanity since the fall of Hitler. An organization where dictatorships like China and Russia have veto power is mildly put , insane. The only thing that UNMIK has done in Kosova is giving a boost to crime, from child rapists to killers and here is the kicker they all have immunity. Bekim, Mitrovica, Kosova But its ok to sell out the people of Serbia for Camp Bondsteel right? The UN needs to remain neutral and to stop allowing itself to be blackmailed by the United States, I dont blame Russia one bit. PM, Sydney, Australia Like it or not the advantage has already moved to Russia's favour. The UDI in Kosovo has galvanised slavic sentiment in the region. Serbs (Tadic has a much reduced majority) increasingly look back to Moscow. The Kremlin has its trojan horse Bulgaria firmly implanted in the EU. FYROM to follow. Gazprom's proposed pipeline routes, e.g. south-stream (vs. ambo) and its foreign acquisitions give a hint of what's to come. Congratulations Russia on your better understanding of the EU than its divided members - Italy firmly in bed with the Kremlin over gas supplies, Spain fretting over a potential UDI at home, Greece in a pickle over both Cyprus and the Macedonian appellation, etc. And very few words these days in the west about the Caucasus region. The Balkans supplant Afghanistan in a New Great Game. (The Old one's not going too badly for Russia either). The UN now seems similarly affected. Not the world's great chess players for nothing. Mr Ban, however, appears to be no grandmaster. Mikhayl , Moscow, Russia According to the article Ban Ki Moon "plays into Russia's hands", but it's not true. Firstly he tries "to play into the hands" of the UN. The Kosovo case may finely bury the UN as a whatever decision-making centre. Finamrus, N.Novgorod, Russia It is yet again a clear example of how panslavic propaganda works. By demonising the albanian people of Kosova serbian government has since 1912 succeeded on keeping their genocide towards albanian as a"serbian matter". Now they keep howling around the world about the so called "albanian genocide" towards serbs. It is absurde that once again many in the West do fall on that propaganda stuff. They have killed approximattely 100 thousand people between 1912-1913, documented by many newspapers at the time, documentet by many human right activists at the time. They expelled hundreds of thousands of albanians from 1920-ies until 1968. They have used the "religion card", "the uneducated albanians card" and many many many albanian demonising cards. West as times and times again fallen into that propaganda. Now the times have changed. The unjustice made to albanian people in 1878, 1913. 1919 is about to be corrected, you may not back down. We lived under killergovernment for too long. Cub GjakovA, GjakovA, Republic of Kosova Gallucci was there, at some desk in Washington DC. People with dreamy ideas of an independent west-facing Kossovo should listen to the men who are actually there. Gallicci should NOT be fired just because he expressed his «educated» opinion. Have some respect for the opinion of those who see things first-hand. Rui, Laranjeiro, The fact that Ban has gone along as much as he already has with the illegal declaration of independence by the Albanians in Kosovo has made him an accomplice to the genocidal drive by Albanians to rid the place of every last non-Albanian. They have killed or driven out not just Serbs, but Roma, Gorani, Turks, Croats and Jews, and others. UNSC Resolution 1244 clearly states that the UN Mission in Kosovo is to respect the sovereignty of Serbia over the territory, yet Ban has ignored it completely. His collusion in the laughable efforts to create a fake Kosovo flag to replace the black double-headed eagle of Albania, and to create fake nationalities like "Kosovar" and "Kosovan" when the locals (who call themselves Albanians) don't use those terms themselves, and to pretend that Kosovo independence is consistent with the promises made to Serbia about Kosovo, all add up to a simple truth: the U.N. is now a puppet organization of the U.S. and Ban is merely the chief marionette. John Bosnitch, Washington, USA If the UN secretary general sells out the people of Kosova, who have only just after 9 long years of limbo, got some small measure of certainty into their lives, he should not be allowed to continue as Secretary General. It is not fair to play with the future of the Kosovans in Russian meeting rooms in Moscow. Let them run their own lives. Jake, london, UK It is hard to believe the suggestion that anyone appointed to the responsible post of United Nations Secretary-General, whose decisions have far reaching effects on the lives of citizens of the planet, would allow his policy decisions to be influenced by considerations, for example, even as trivial as to whether or not any decision he makes might adversely affect the likelihood of his being granted a second term in office. That idea is simply preposterous and makes a mockery of the United Nations and all it stands for. However, if there is any possibility that could be the case, one might as well give a well-informed taxi-driver the job or at least limit the appointment of Secretary-General to one five-year term. Joan Moira Peters , Whangarei (UK Citizen , temp. o/seas)
