http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090218/120201629.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 18, 2009
Protectorate of Kosovo
Andrei Fedyashin
MOSCOW - Kosovo surprisingly quietly celebrated the first anniversary of its
independence - a year ago, on February 17, a former Yugoslav and later a
Serb territory announced its autonomy. It was supported by the United States
and the EU, but not wholly.
A telegram from the new U.S. president, Barack Obama, stood out among other
messages. Obama promised to continue supporting its independence.
The telegram's tone was reserved, but Hashim Thaci, the prime minister of
the half-recognized state, declared in reply that "the whole world will soon
acknowledge us."
Today, 54 countries have recognized Kosovo, including 22 European Union
members. It is not that many, considering that 200 countries are UN
members....
Now even the European Union admits that democracy inoculations administered
to Kosovo, despite all external markings (elections, a parliament, a EU
trained police force, an army, courts, etc.), have not come any closer to
the declared result. European standards do not work here. They just can't.
Even Brussels now agrees that it is too early to speak of Kosovo's complete
independence. A strange new term, supervised independence, whose mention
cannot be found in any state law (perhaps except colonial law), has been
invented for Kosovo. Peter Feith, an EU official representative from the
Netherlands, used it on Independence Day.
"We are still at the stage of supervised independence," he told the European
Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, which has been trying to sort out
the current status of Kosovo. "The basic modalities for independence have
not been fulfilled yet. These are the establishment of a single legislative
and judicial system throughout the entire territory of Kosovo, long-term
stability, and good relations with its neighbors," he said.
Since last December, an EU legal mission known as EULEX has been in direct
control over the police, judiciary and customs in Kosovo.
The police and the army are manned by Kosovars, and few or no minority Serbs
belong to their ranks. Kosovo's security force numbering 3,000 men, backed
by the EU and NATO, is seen by Serbs in Kosovo as an open insult, as special
battalions for keeping down the Serb minority.
"This force is a direct threat to national security, peace and stability in
the region," said Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic. Indeed, what else
can it be if it is staffed almost entirely by members of the "disbanded"
Kosovo Liberation Army, a semi-guerilla nationalist formation, which waged
war on Serbia and is responsible for mass killings of Serbs during the war
in the province?
The official viewpoint is this: all is not going according to plan in
Kosovo, but it is moving in the right direction. No one knows when the
ultimate objective will be reached. Meanwhile, the EU continues to allocate
a quarter of a million euros monthly for the needs of the judiciary, the
police and other bodies to establish law and order.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
