http://thechronicleherald.ca/Columnists/1076341.html
Georgia shows Canada was rash on Kosovo
By SCOTT TAYLOR On Target
Tue. Sep 2 - 5:36 AM
BACK ON March 18 when Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would
recognize Kosovos unilateral declaration of independence many decried this
decision as a violation of the United Nations charter.
It was without a UN mandate that NATO had intervened in the clash between
Serbian security forces and Albanian separatist guerrillas in 1999. However, it
was UN Resolution 1244 that brought a ceasefire to the disputed province, and
although NATO troops were to replace Serb forces in providing security, Kosovo
was to remain the sovereign territory of Serbia.
It was obvious that Harpers Conservatives understood the implications of
recognizing the secession of a province based on a unilateral declaration of
independence by an ethnic majority of that territory, as it took a full month
for Canada to concede to recognition of the new state.
The U.S. and the British had been the primary pilots steering Kosovo towards
independence in this manner, as they knew that Russia and China would block any
further efforts to achieve a consensus on this issue through official United
Nations channels.
Under tremendous pressure from the U.S. State Department, Harper finally
buckled and joined the small number of nations that had already recognized
Kosovos independence. At that juncture some three dozen countries had followed
the American lead, and despite George Bushs best efforts, that number has
topped out at just 46.
A similar number of nations have rejected Kosovos independence outright and
the remaining 100 UN members continue to sit on the fence.
At the time that Harper reluctantly agree to the recognition of Kosovo, he
claimed that this particular Balkan province was a "unique case" and therefore
violating the UN charter, which deems national sovereignty to be inviolate,
would not set any sort of precedent.
As witnessed by recent events in the Republic of Georgia, the breakaway
territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have wasted little time in proving
Harper wrong. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, three new
countries Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia emerged in the strategically
important region known as the Caucasus.
While much of the western medias attention was focused on events in the
violent breakup of Yugoslavia, an equally brutal series of wars was being
conducted in this region. The end result was a number of unresolved frozen
conflicts with sovereign territories occupied by belligerent nations such as
the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which is still being held by
Armenian troops and regions such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia that refused
to join Georgia when it separated from Russia.
Armed with U.S. assurances and military aid, American-educated Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili decided on Aug. 7 to flex his muscles and attempt
to exert control by force over South Ossetia. The Russians were not caught
napping and they responded immediately and forcefully.
The Georgian troops were hurled out of South Ossetia back into Georgian
territory and Saakashvili immediately took to the airwaves to call upon the
international community to save him from Russian aggression.
Back in April at the NATO summit in Bucharest, it had been Canada and the U.S.
who had pushed forcefully for Georgias inclusion into the alliance.
Thankfully, the central European nations rejected both Georgia and Ukraines
admission to NATO as it could unnecessarily provoke the Russians.
Had Canada and the U.S. been successful, as a NATO member, Saakashvilis cry
for support would have plunged the alliance into a military showdown with
Russia.
It has now become clear that the Russian bear may be reawakening in terms of
military might, but its intention in the Caucasus seems limited to recognizing
South Ossetia and Abkhazia as separate states not reoccupying all of Georgia.
What is hypocritical beyond belief is Bush and Condoleezza Rice claiming that
by recognizing these two small states as independent, Russia is setting a
dangerous precedent for others to ignore the UN charter.
That would be the same UN charter that the U.S. ignored when it bombed Serbia
in 1999, when they invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and when they invaded Iraq in
2003.
Canada made a grave mistake in the recognition of Kosovo, and we should not be
so quick to leap on board the Bush bandwagon when it comes to determining a
policy on the Georgian crisis.
Like the Americans, we no longer have the moral authority to denounce Russias
present actions.
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