The argument against Kosovo
One Nation, IndivisibleThe case against recognition is based not only on the Security Council’s 1999 resolution reaffirming Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo, but also founded on the view that the international system has, as a result of this hostile act by the Kosovo Albanians, become more unstable, more insecure and more unpredictable.
Here’s why. Recognizing the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia legitimizes the doctrine of imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts. It legitimizes the act of unilateral secession by a provincial or other non-state actor. It transforms the right to self-determination into an avowed right to independence. It legitimizes the forced partition of internationally recognized, sovereign states.
It violates the commitment to the peaceful and consensual resolution of disputes in Europe. It supplies any ethnic or religious group that has a grievance against its capital with a playbook on how to achieve its ends. It even resurrects the discredited cold-war doctrine of limited sovereignty. Comment: Russell Means and company are also guilty of unilateral secession. Even if they had the right, which they don't, what if other Lakotas didn't want to secede? Who gave Means the right to decide on their behalf?
Unless there's a vote on the matter, any secession is morally if not legally invalid.
Here’s why. Recognizing the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia legitimizes the doctrine of imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts. It legitimizes the act of unilateral secession by a provincial or other non-state actor. It transforms the right to self-determination into an avowed right to independence. It legitimizes the forced partition of internationally recognized, sovereign states.
It violates the commitment to the peaceful and consensual resolution of disputes in Europe. It supplies any ethnic or religious group that has a grievance against its capital with a playbook on how to achieve its ends. It even resurrects the discredited cold-war doctrine of limited sovereignty.
Unless there's a vote on the matter, any secession is morally if not legally invalid.
posted by Rob at 11:09 AM
1 Comments:
The Kosovo situation should be looked at as an example of a colonized territory breaking free of the country that conquered it. From Wikipedia
"[1912] Many Albanians fled into the mountains and numerous Albanian and Turkish houses were razed. The reconquest of Kosovo was described as retribution for the 1389 Battle of Kosovo."
During the 1920s, Serbia proceeded with an ethnic cleansing campaign against Kosovo's indiginous population, much like they did during the 1990s.
Kosovo is now pretty much free of the unwanted and usually brutal foreign occupation and plunder by its neighbor Serbia, which began less than 100 years ago. It has had a tougher time of recognition due to the mistake, when Yugoslavia was created, of forcing Kosovo to be part of Serbia instead of treating it as a sub-state of equal status (like Croatia, Montenegro, etc. were).
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