It is easier to get forgiveness than permission. Grace Murry Hopper Adm USN
Wednesday 23 December 2009 SERBIA
Serbia has made an official request to join the EU. Serb President Boris Tadic submitted his country's application in Stockholm to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Sweden occupies the EU's rotating presidency. Serbia faces several obstacles to becoming an EU state. One is its position that Kosovo remains part of Serbia. All but five EU states have recognized its independence. A second obstacle is the failure of Serbia to hand over to the International criminal Tribunal the Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, who is accused of genocide during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Monday 16 November 2009 People in Kosovo voted on Sunday for the first time since the ethnic Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia last year. Electoral officials say that about 45 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots for mayors and local representatives. Serbia considers Kosovo to be a renegade province and attention focussed on Kosovo's 120,000 Serbians. Serbia and the influential Serbian Orthodox Church called on them to boycott the polls. One-third of Kosovo's Serbs who live in the north near the Serbian border massively boycotted the vote. The polls were being monitored by 3,000 local and international observers.
Monday 19 October 2009 14:17 MACEDONIA
Two neighbouring European states, Macedonia and Kosovo, have established diplomatic relations. The move on Sunday comes one year after Macedonia recognized Kosovo's independence from Yugoslavia. Diplomatic relations were delayed until the two states came to an agreement on demarcating their 150-kilometre border.
Waving the flag: On Feb. 17, Kosovo celebrated the one-year anniversary of its self-declared independence from Serbia. Thousands of Kosovars took to the streets, and restaurants in the capital, Pristina, offered free champagne. In the city's Mother Teresa Square, vendors sold Kosovo's blue and yellow flag, as well as flags of Albania and the United States, both strong backers of Kosovo's independence. Above, a girl waves the red Albanian flag, with the blue and yellow Kosovar flag in the background, during a celebration in Pristina Feb. 17. The mood may have been largely celebratory, but Kosovo faces many challenges ahead.
Wednesday 18 February 2009 Thousands of residents of Pristina took to the streets to celebrate the first anniversary of Kosovo's independence from Serbia. Fifty-four countries, including the U.S. and most EU states, recognize Kosovo's independence. Serbian President Boris Tadic said in Belgrade that his country will never accept the loss of Kosovo, although it won't try to recover it through violence. Russia continues to support its ally Serbia in the matter.
Saturday 11 October 2008 Montenegro and Macedonia have recognized the independence of the formerly Serbian territory of Kosovo, bringing the total of nations recognizing Kosovar independence to 50. Kosovo unilaterally seceded from Serbia in February and has been run by the UN since 1999. Serbia reacted by expelling Montenegro's ambassador. Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Rocen says the move isn't directed against its neighbour Serbia but it only the recognition of a "political reality" in the Balkans.
Sunday Jun 29, 2008 Hatred is never far below the surface
You'd like to think Serbia is over the hump. Certainly, there are things to be positive about. Most notably, just last week, the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party finally agreed to form a coalition government that will bring some stability to this over-stressed nation.
Serb leaders in Kosovo on Saturday formed their own parliament, defying Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian majority. The move in the Serb-controlled half of the divided town of Mitrovica is the Serbs' attempt to split the disputed territory. The new assembly consists of 45 representatives elected in local elections in Kosovo in May. Serbs make up about 10 per cent of Kosovo's two million people. The assembly declared that Kosovo is an inseparable part of Serbia. Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate in 1999. Ethnic Albanians declared unilateral indendence earlier this year.
Monday 16 June 2008 Kosovo's new constitution became law on Sunday, four months after the Balkan nation formally split from Serbia. The new charter sets the stage for Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to take over governing from the United Nations, which has administered the province for the past nine years. A new European Union police and justice mission will take over from the U.N. The force hopes to allay tensions between the country's Albanian and Serbian ethnic populations. Serbia considers the Kosovo constitution to be illegal.
Sunday 25 May 2008 About 200 British peacekeepers have arrived in Kosovo to help improve security there. Four hundred more British soldiers will be sent later to Kosovo's tense north. Kosovo's government is preparing to take control of the country from the United Nations on June 15, almost four months after declaring independence from Serbia. Germany, Italy and Britain are each providing a battalion of around 600 troops to back up NATO and European Union forces in the Balkans. NATO has about 16,000 troops in Kosovo.
Thursday 20 March 2008 Three of Serbia's neighbours, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria, have announced their recognition of Kosovo as an independent state. In a joint statement issued in Zagreb, Budapest and Sofia, the three countries also mentioned the importance of protecting the Serb minority in Kosovo. Serbia has responded by recalling its ambassadors to Croatia and Hungary for consultations. Serbia's pro-Western foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, says that countries that recognize Kosovo cannot have good ties with Serbia. Thirty-two countries, including Canada, have recognized Kosovo since its declaration of independence last month.
KOSOVO'S QUESTIONABLE PRECEDENT by Daniel
Casey March 19, 2008
Calculating the relative right of peoples to nationhood is a
messy and inconsistent process, but one that has become seemingly
necessary ever since Woodrow Wilson enchanted Europe with his vision of a
liberal international order at the peace conference in Versailles in 1919.
What seemed at the time to be a brave and forthright vision now looks like
an inchoate attempt to weld the then-recent triumph of the nation-state to
the existing system of state sovereignty, and the high-minded liberal
principles carefully inserted into post-First World
War constitutions, intended to protect the rights of minorities, were
joyfully tossed overboard as unstable postwar governments fell to
authoritarian or outright fascist movements during the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
In this process, Yugoslavia was a handy grab-bag in which to toss various
restive “south Slav” ethnic groups, whose grievances were
assumed to stem from a similar lack of recognition from the creaking
Austro-Hungarian Empire, but were judged unworthy of states of their own.
After a vicious interlude of fighting between Nazi sympathizers and
Communist partisans during the Second World War, a federal Yugoslavia
managed to get along in relative calm under Marshal Tito. Until, of
course, everything fell apart, and the inter-ethnic violence that Europe
thought was dead for good was shown only to be resting.
Kosovo’s path to statehood is, therefore, the outcome of decades of
struggles between rival Balkan peoples and rival global powers; anything
but the dispassionate application of noble idealism. That Canada has
decided to recognize the independence of Kosovo, following
the lead of the US and most key NATO allies, is an acceptance
of reality and not an attempt to preemptively shape it. Still, Foreign
Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier is at
great pains to define Kosovo as a “unique case” that
“does not constitute any kind of precedent.” Serbian
ambassador Dusan Batakovic and Parti Québécois MNA Daniel Turp are in a
kind of wry
agreement, noting that this decision in fact violates precedent at
every turn, dismembering a
unitary state over its own objections and retroactively ratifying
NATO’s fateful decision to side with pro-independence militias
nearly a decade ago. The real precedent, though, offers hope and caution
in equal measure. When peoples like those of Quebec and Catalonia ponder
independence in peace and prosperity, the outcome is a debate that
reinvigorates civic life, rejuvenates regional culture, and forces us to
give real substance to our judgments on our political future. When
grinding ethnic violence prevails, as it has in Northern Ireland, Cyprus,
the Balkans, and the Palestinian territories, it only reconfirms that
repression and the manipulation of resentments will beget misery, poverty
and more repression. These precedents show that, while independence is
often elusive, peace and self-determination are the true prizes; run by
the UN and faced with a furious Serb minority, Kosovo has yet to claim
them.
Wednesday 19 March 2008 OTTAWA: GOVT. RECOGNIZES KOSOVO
Canada has recognized Kosovo as an independent state. Serbia has reacted by recalling its ambassador, who will deliver a formal protest on Wednesday. Dusan Batakovic predicts the decision will cause domestic problems for Canada and will affect "many separatist movements...starting from the last corner of southeast Asia to the northernmost parts of North America. The recognition of Kosovo from Serbia has been a troubling issue for Canada's Conservative government because of the independence movement in the mainly French-speaking province of Quebec. There has been speculation that the recognition of a unilateral declaration of independence could encourage Quebec separatists to declare themselves independent if they elected another government. Canada was part of the NATO force that intervened militarily in Kosovo five years ago to stop Serbian attacks on Kosovo's mainly ethnic Albanian population.
Tuesday 18 March 2008 Prime Minister Hasim Thaci has accused the government of Serbia for having inspired the violence that left more than 100 people injured on Monday, 63 of them international security force members. The violence erupted when UN and NATO forces moved in to end the occupation by ethnic Serbs of a UN-run court in the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica. Earlier, the UN police were forced to withdraw from the Serbian part of the city. Mr. Thaci says the Serbian government still has not understood that it cannot achieve its goals through violence. Police and hospital officials say that fifty-three Serbs were arrested and 80 others suffered injuries, some from gunshots.
Wednesday 12 March 2008 Serbia says it won't seek to punish Kosovo for having seceded through an economic embargo. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has told the UN Security Council that it is in Serbia's best interests that all of Kosovo's communities prosper. Before the declaration of independence last month, the Serbian government warned it would use all economic, political and diplomatic means at its disposal to prevent secession. Mr. Jeremic also called on all nations which have recognized Kosovo's independence to rescind their decisions.
A senior Russian official has said that if Georgia joins NATO its breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will secede. Russia's UN ambassador, Dmitri Rogozin says the territories have no intention of joining the Western alliance and that as soon as Georgia obtains the prospect of joining NATO, the secession process will begin. The territories have run their own affairs since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 but enjoy no international recognition. The ambassador says that in the event that South Ossetia and Abkhazia declare independence, Russia could throw its diplomatic weight behind recognition. The remarks come three weeks after Kosovo seceded from Russia's ally Serbia, a development which angered Moscow.
Tuesday Mar 11, 2008 Serbia calls election
Serbia's coalition government, torn by division over the loss of Kosovo, was formally dissolved yesterday...
The coalition government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was dissolved in Belgrade at a cabinet meeting on Monday. On Saturday, the prime minister said that the coalition could no longer continue due to disagreement among its members between defending Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo, which declared its independence last month, and the pursuit of a place in the EU. President Boris Tadic will now disband parliament and set a date for an election, a likely one being May 11. The campaign will be a close race between the Democrats and the nationalist Radicals.
Sunday 09 March 2008 Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, announced on Saturday that he will call elections after Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica dissolved his cabinet earlier the same day. Mr. Kostunica declared that he could no longer lead the government because legislators had failed to agree on a common policy toward Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia last month. Kosovo's ethnic Serb population strongly opposed the decision, and Serbia indicated that it would not recognize Kosovo as a nation. No date for Serbia's election was announced. Mr. Kostunica is urging early elections later this month.
Tuesday 04 March 2008 The Serbian government says it has retaken control of 50 kilometres of railway in northern Kosovo in defiance of its new, independent government. The claim comes two weeks after Kosovo declared independence. Serbian workers have refused to work for Kosovo's railway company, while Serbian police officers are quitting. After the former Serbian territory's declaration of independence, the Serbian government instructed Kosovo's Serbian minority to shun contact with the new government and rather work directly with Serbia. Belgrade has long claimed ownership of such Kosovar infrastructure as railways and power plants.
Friday 29 February 2008 One-hundred-and-seventy of the 800 ethnic Serbian police officers have either quit or not shown up for work since Kosovo declared independence on Feb. 17. The police force had been praised as one of the few institutions in which ethnic Albanians and Serbs co-operated. The Serbian government has been encouraging ethnic Serbs to boycott the new government. The government in Belgrade intends to take legal action against any government which recognizes an independent Kosovo. Meanwhile in Vienna, the International Steering Group for Kosovo comprising nations backing its independence met for the first time. The group will help guide the new authorities in Pristina.
The issue of Kosovo was the principal topic at talks on stability in the Balkans on Wednesday. Both the Serbian foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, and Kosovo's representative, Besim Beqaj, stuck to their countries' respective position on the question of Kosovo's independence. The issue has divided the region. Albania and Turkey have supported the new state and Bulgaria and Greece are set to follow suit. Romania and Moldova have taken sides with Serbia by rejecting Kosovo's sovereignty. Macedonia hasn't taken a position, while Bosnia-Hercegovina's foreign minister, Sven Alkalaj, says his country won't recognize Kosovo for fear of setting a precedent for its Serbian Republic.
2007
Wednesday 27 February 2008 Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has pledged that his government will guard jealously every inch of the new country. Mr. Thaci says the government will never allow the territorial integrity of the now internationally recognized nation to be endangered. There has been speculation that the 10 per cent of Kosovo's population which is ethnically Serbian might try to secede to join Serbia. Poland became the latest European nation on Tuesday to recognize Kosovo. Police Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says he hopes the move will hasten the entry into the EU of both Kosovo and Serbia. In Belgrade, meanwhile, an advisor to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has called on Washington to annul its recognition of the "phoney state," threatening as well to sue the U.S. government before "all international courts."
Monday Feb 25, 2008 Serbia blames U.S. for Balkan crisis
Serbia went back on the offensive over Kosovo's independence yesterday by blaming the United States
Sunday 24 February 2008 Serbs in the capital, Belgrade, held a mass protest against Kosovo's independence on Saturday for the sixth consecutive day. The United States has called on Serbia's government to increase its security operations following attacks against the U.S. embassy. On Thursday, protesters set fire to part of the building. Some major countries such as the United States and Britain have recognized Kosovo's independence, but China and Russia have refused. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has warned the West about the consequences of recognizing Kosovo's independence. He says the decision by some Western countries to recognize Kosovo will cause them problems in the long term. Mr Putin's comments were the strongest he has made since Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders issued their declaration of independence from Serbia last Sunday.
Sunday 24 February 2008 TORONTO: CANADIAN SERBS PROTEST KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE
Canadians of Serb origin on Saturday staged more public protests against Kosovo's independence. About 350 people demonstrated outside the U.S. consulate in Toronto. Police increased security. Protests were also scheduled in Ottawa and three other cities on Saturday, and in Ottawa and Montreal on Sunday. Canada's government is still considering whether to recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia.
Saturday 23 February 2008 Serbia's anger over Kosovo's declaration of independence is taking a violent turn. Rioters broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade today, setting fire to the facade. The United States is one of 15 countries that have recognized Serbia's former province as a separate nation. The storming of the embassy came as 100-thousand people staged a noisy demonstration against Kosovo's independence. Police used armoured vehicles and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Elsewhere, a group of Serbs crossed into Kosovo and fought with police at a border checkpoint. Canada is still deliberating whether to recognize Kosovo.
Saturday 23 February 2008 MONTREAL: RUSSIA WARNS AGAINST KOSOVO RECOGNITION
Russia's ambassador to Canada, Georgiy Mamedov, has advised Canada not to support independence for Kosovo because such a step could encourage separatists in the largely French-speaking province of Quebec. Mr. Mamadov calls Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on Sunday a violation of international law. Canada has so far declined to take a stand on the issue, although such allies as the U.S., Britain and Germany have recognized Kosovo as a state. Russia, a longtime ally of Serbia, is fiercely opposed. The Russian government has threatened in response itself to support separatists in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Thursday 21 February 2008 RUSSIA
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has bitterly denounced Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence last Sunday as "gross violation" of international law. According to Mr. Lavrov, "the whole world" knows that the negotiations between the Kosovar and Serbian governments were artificially interrupted by foreign influence. The minister likewise criticized the decision by the EU to send a "Rule of Law Mission" to Kosovo comprising 2,000 people who will train and mentor police, judges and customs officials. Mr. Lavrov the "Law Mission" is itself a violation of international laws. Serbia and its ally Russia opposed independence for Kosovo, the U.S. and other Western powers favouring it.
Thursday 21 February 2008 OTTAWA: GOVT. RESISTS PRESSURE TO RECOGNIZE KOSOSO
Pressure is growing for Canada to recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia but Canadian government officials say they will not make a decision under pressure. Meanwhile, Serbia's ambassador to Canada, Dusan Batakovic, says Canada has not announced a position on Kosovo because its unilateral declaration of independence last Sunday is a dangerous precedent for separatist movements worldwide. He claims there are hundreds of Kosovos in Asia, in Europe, even in North America. Mr. Batakovic has asked Canada not to recognize Kosovo, calling its declaration of independence illegitimate. The leader of Canada's official opposition Liberal Party, Stéphane Dion, says Canada should follow the example of the United States, Britain, France and Germany and recognize Kosovo as a country.
Tuesday 19 February 2008 OTTAWA:
GOVT. ASSESSES KOSOVO SITUATION
The Canadian government says it's evaluating the situation in Kosovo after it unilaterally declared independence over the weekend. One official said that Canada has promoted a peaceful solution to the question and has urged all parties to remain calm. In 1980 and 1995, separatist governments in the largely French-speaking province of Quebec held and lost referendums on sovereignty. Some analysts have suggested that if Ottawa were to recognize Kosovo's independence, it would set a dangerous precedent if there were a third referendum. Meanwhile, opposition Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion has called on Canada to recognize the independence of Kosovo. Mr. Dion says other nations have done so and Canada should follow their lead. He dismissed the idea that there is a comparison between the Kosovars and the Quebec separatists. Mr. Dion says that independence requires a population asserting it unanimously. The separatists in the largely French-speaking province have suggested that other countries could recognize Quebec independence without the federal government's approval, but Mr. Dion says Quebec sovereignty would be considered a purely internal matter-.
The UN Security Council had a second day of emergency debate concerning Kosovo's weekened declaration of independence from Serbia. The U.S., Britain, germny and France have already recognized the former Serbian territory as independent. But Serbian President Boris Tadic warned the Council that Kosovo represents a precedent that will be imitated elsewhere and do irreparable damage to the world order, saying there are "dozens of various Kosovos in the world..." and that they're merely waiting for Kosovo's separation to move themselves toward secession. Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the Council that the "illegal steps" taken by the Kosovar leadership will destabilize the Balkans and that Russia will continue to recognize Serbia in its internationally recognized borders. Earlier, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic pledged that his country would block Kosovo's membership in international organizations like the UN and told the ambassadors of Turkey and France to leave Serbia within 48 hours.
Tuesday Feb 19, 2008 After Kosovo, who's next?
Canada stayed on the fence yesterday as the United States led Western recognition of Kosovo's unilateral...
Sunday 17 February 2008 As Kosovo Rebuilds, U.N. Hurries to Return Property
By DAN BILEFSKY
Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo can tell tales of property theft and other misdeeds stretching back decades, if not centuries. The U.N. is trying to right the most recent of those wrongs.
The European Union decided on Saturday to send a delegation of 1,800 police and justice officials to Kosovo to monitor the Serb state's transition to independence. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership will formally declare Kosovo's independence on Sunday. The E.U. delegation will replace United Nations forces now in Kosovo. Security in the capital, Pristina, was tightened in advance of an independence ceremony on Sunday. Thousands of residents of neighbouring Albania entered the city, blaring car horns and waving the Albanian flag. It's expected that Serbia will create obstacles to a smooth transition. Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo could move to create a de facto state. Demonstrators in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, protested angrily on Saturday against Kosovo's move. Russia's government opposes the E.U. delegation, saying that the United Nations has not authorized it. Some E.U. countries such as Spain, Romania and Greece have come out against Kosovo's independence. On Monday, E.U. foreign ministers will hold talks to try to arrive at a common policy on Kosovo.
Sunday 17 February 2008 Albanian triumph, Serb anger as Kosovo secedes PRISTINA -- Kosovo Albanians will proclaim independence from Serbia on Sunday, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia but cementing a bitter ethnic frontline in the Balkans.
The connected world
Kosovo will proclaim independence today, to Serbia's fury and Albania's joy. It's the final chapter in the often bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The web has much on the conflict.
First of all, where is it? These excellent maps were provided by the British Ministry of Defence during the 1999 Kosovo crisis. They include a map showing the site of mass graves.
NATO has had a military force in Kosovo - KFOR - since 1999, when it went in under United Nations direction. This site details KFOR's activities.
The facts on Serbia
It's just a very drily-written rundown on Serbia, but, as usual, the CIA World Factbook is up to date. It probably won't take long to have a Kosovo section.
(Strategic Forecasting Inc.) Kosovo, Russia and the West
2007 saw the resurgence of a long-dormant issue: independence for Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo. The tiny region is a key pressure point on the fault line between Russia and the West.
Wednesday-Night.com on Serbia & Kosovo
WN’s special connection to Serbia, Misha Crnobrnja
February 9, 2008
(WSJ) Let’s Avoid Another Kosovo […]
Tuesday Feb 5, 2008 For a brief moment, we glimpsed a few items on the presidential vote in Serbia and what it will mean for the independence of Kosovo. This should be of particular interest to Wednesday Nighters as we are fast approaching the time for Misha Crnobrnja’s annual visit - it could even be this week. Sadly, there will not be an opportunity for a repeat of last year’s Tom & Misha Show.
An EU police and justice mission to Kosovo has been agreed by all 27 member states within 24 hours of Serbia's presidential election coming to an end.
No launch date has yet been given although that is likely to be decided by EU foreign ministers on 18 February.
The BBC's Oana Lungescu says the mission was approved in writing before a Monday deadline so as not to interfere with the polls in Serbia.
Thursday Jan 17, 2008 We won't resort to violence: Serbia
Serbia will never recognize an independent Kosovo, but will not use violence to prevent the country'...
Saturday 22 December 2007 Russia's foreign minister says Moscow intends to use its veto at the United Nations to block western plans to declare Kosovo an independent state. Sergei Lavrov made the comment during an interview with the newspaper Vremya Novostei. Kosovo's majority Albanian population is expected to declare unilateral independence from Serbia within weeks. It is widely expected that the European Union and the United States will recognize such a declaration. However, Mr. Lavrov says Russia will work through the United Nations to block western plans for Kosovo. These include sending a police force from the European Union to ensure security for Kosovo.
Saturday Dec 22, 2007 more Russia eases conditions on Kosovo deployment
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signalled yesterday that Moscow could accept the idea of a European...
Thursday 20 December 2007 The United States and European Union say the potential for a negotiated solution for the Serb territory of Kosovo is now exhausted. The statement comes after the United Nations Security Council failed to come up with a solution to the question of Kosovar independence. Russia says there is still room for negotiation but any move toward unilateral independence for Kosovo would be outside the limits of international law. The European Union is now expected to take the lead in charting the future for Kosovo, The population of Kosovo is 90 per cent ethnic Albanian and wants independence.
Saturday 15 December 2007 The president of the Serbian territory of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, says it will declare independence from Serbia within days, without specifying a declaration day. The president predicts that the declaration will be recognized by the U.S., the EU and other democratic countries. A spokesman for the Kosovar authorities said last week that independence would be declared in the first months of 2008. Minority ethnic Serbs have threatened either to move to Serbia or to concentrate their numbers in northern Kosovo and demand its annexation by Serbia. International mediation failed to resolve the situation which will now revert to the UN Security Council, where Russia, an ally of Serbia, has threatened to veto any move to recognize independence for the largely ethnic Albanian territory.
The delicate diplomacy over the handling of Kosovo's looming independence
A JOKE has been circulating among diplomats concerned with the Balkans. The reply to the question, “what comes after December 10th?” is “December 11th.” And so it has proved. The 10th was the deadline for a mission led by ambassadors from the European Union, America and Russia to report to the United Nations on the outcome of negotiations between Serbia and its breakaway province of Kosovo. In the event, the talks produced so little that the report was handed in early.
Tuesday 11 December 2007 Thousands of Kosovars marched through the streets of Pristina on Monday, the UN deadline for agreement on the Serbian territory's future. Four months of negotiation between the Kosovar government and Serbia with mediation by the U.S., Russia and the UN failed to reach an agreement, the Kosovars insisting on independence the Serbs offering autonomy. EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said all 27 EU states except Cyprus agreed the territory should gain independence. In Belgrade, the Serbian government said it would request that the UN Security Council seek a legal opinion from the International Court of Justice, the world body's principal judicial body.
Monday 10 December 2007 Kosovo will go it alone within months With status talks between the Serbian government and the Kosovan Albanian leadership exhausted, the stage is set for Kosovo soon to declare independence rather than receive a universal recognition of its statehood via the UN. This independence declaration will be co-ordinated with and recognised by the US and the leading EU states. However, it will create a troubling precedent internationally and is likely to destabilise the Balkans, at least in the short term.
Sunday 09 December 2007 nyt slideAudio show from 1998 A short visual history of the conflict in Kosovo, from war to the verge of independence. NATO Says It’s Prepared to Keep Peace in KosovoSKENDERAJ, Kosovo, Dec. 5 — NATO commanders in Kosovo say they are ready to shut down any violence in the wake of the province’s expected secession from Serbia. The scorched frescoes and shattered roof tiles at the Serbian Orthodox monastery of St. Joanikije testify to how difficult that task might be.
Saturday Dec 8, 2007 World handed problem as Kosovo talks fail
Mediators on Kosovo's future dumped the problem on a divided international community yesterday, saying...
Sunday Nov 18, 2007 Kosovo heading for grand coalition after election PRISTINA, Serbia -- Kosovo was heading for a likely grand coalition on Sunday to lead the province into a final showdown with Serbia on the ethnic Albanian majority's demand for independence. A senior official in Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party (PDK), which claimed victory in Saturday's parliamentary election, told Reuters a coalition with the second-placed Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) was "the most likely, since there's no other option."
World handed problem as Kosovo talks fail
Mediators on Kosovo's future dumped the problem on a divided international community yesterday, saying...
Friday 02 November 2007 GERMANY
A Kosovar politician predicts that the Serbian territory will be independent within 100 days. Veton Surroi says that the territory's legislature should make a decision by Christmas on an independence date regardless of whether there's international agreement on the matter. Mr. Surroi told a symposium in Berlin on governance organized by Germany's intelligence services that the real question is whether the independence process will be smooth, an outcome which he described as unlikely. European, American and Russian negotiators are sponsoring ongoing talks between the Kosovars and the government of Serbia which so far have achieved nothing. Serbia refuses to accept Kosovo's independence, a position backed by Russia. The Serbs are prepared only to grant Kosovo autonomy. Kosovo has been governed by the UN since 1999 when NATO militarily expelled the Serbs from the territory.
Wednesday 17 October 2007 Serbia's prime minister accuses the United States of blocking a compromise for the breakaway province of Kosovo. Vojislav Kostinica says U.S. officials instead are pushing independence for Kosovo. The official news agency Tanjug quotes Mr. Kostunica as saying that the U.S. policy is an extension of NATO's 1999 bombing of Serbia which amounts to taking away 15 per cent of Serbia's territory. NATO says its intervention was aimed solely at ending atrocities by Serb forces. Kosovo is currently an international protectorate under the United Nations. The U.S. state department says that if talks between the Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo don't end in an agreement by the Dec. 10, then independence is the solution.
Wednesday 10 October 2007 BRITAIN
The prime minister of the Serbian territory of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, says his government will declare independence within days of the end of the present negotiations with the Serbian government on Dec. 10 in the absence of a mutual accord for that outcome. At a news conference at the foreign ministry, Mr. Ceku says he would like to have the agreement of all EU states but won't wait for it to happen after Dec. 10. The negotiations which are taking place under the sponsorship of the EU, Russia and the U.S. have so far made little if any progress. The U.S. has supported a UN plan for Kosovo's independence under UN tutelage initially, while Russia backs Serbia's refusal to countenance a loss of national territory.
Tuesday 14 August 2007 Envoys of Russia, the United States and European Union were in Kosovo Saturday. Their visit was billed as a last-ditch diplomatic mission to decide on the Albanian majority's demand for independence from Serbia. On Friday, the diplomats were in Belgrade, where Serb leaders reiterated opposition to independence for UN-run Kosovo. Western diplomats admit the latest round of diplomacy and talks stand little chance of success. If the attempt fails, they say it is only a matter of time before Kosovo's two million Albanians declare independence unilaterally and seek recognition from the major Western powers
june 8, 2007 rci SERBIA
Russia's foreign minister says Moscow supports Serbia's decision to continue talks over Kosovo. Sergei Lavrov says Russia will not agree to any unilateral imposition of a decision on Belgrade to allow Kosovo to become independent. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority is impatient for independence and has the backing of the United States and the European Union. Serbia views Kosovo as its spiritual heartland and says broad autonomy is the most it can offer. more
Tuesday 13 February 2007 Background
Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when bombs drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities in a two-year war with guerrillas.
A UN plan unveiled this month, if adopted by the UN Security Council, would set the province on the path to independence supervised by the
Western powers and Kosovo Albanian leaders have welcomed the plan, which provides for a powerful European overseer and broad self-government for the remaining 100,000 Serbs.
But some Kosovo Albanians say it does not go far enough in ending Kosovo's limbo status and will leave Serbia with a permanent foothold in the territory. Kosovo minister resigns over deadly protest
A final round of Serb-Albanian talks are due to begin in Vienna on February 21. Ahtisaari hopes to present the final version to the council in late March. Envoy presents U.N. plan for Kosovo to Serbia U.N. delays Kosovo talks again to accommodate Serbs Defensive Serbia to hold crisis talks over Kosovo Kosovo says Yes to U.N. plan, Serbia says No Opinion: Kosovo is a Challenge for the EU
Diana Thébaud Nicholson
Editor
Sunday Feb 11, 2007
Kosovo leaders urge calm after clashes kill two
PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - Kosovo
Albanian leaders appealed for calm on Sunday after two people died in
clashes between police and Albanians protesting a U.N. plan they say
falls short of full independence from Serbia.
At least two other
protesters were in serious condition after Saturday's clashes in which
U.N. and Kosovo police used tear gas and rubber bullets against
Albanians trying to break through barricades around the parliament in
Pristina.
The violence underscored Western fears of mass unrest
if a decision on the Albanian majority's demand for a Kosovo state does
not come soon.
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku met
opposition leaders on Sunday and issued a statement condemning the
protests, which had brought 3,000 people onto the streets of the
capital before turning violent.
They called on "all Kosovo citizens to contribute to the stability of the country, as they have done so far."
"Events such as yesterday's may have negative consequences for the process of forming the Kosovo state," they said.
A
U.N. plan unveiled this month by former Finnish president Martti
Ahtisaari would, if adopted by the U.N. Security Council, set Kosovo on
the path to statehood, eight years after NATO bombs drove out Serb
forces and the United Nations took control.
Continued...
BBC
Kosovo Declares Its Independence February 17, 2008
Watch: Independence declared
Serbia Enlisting Some Unlikely Faces December 24, 2007
NATO Says It’s Prepared to Keep Peace in Kosovo December 9, 2007 
Kosovo heading for grand coalition after election
What price independence? Apr 3rd 2007 
