Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiwi
I hope you realise I'm not biased in this. I like Albanians no more than Serbians, so that is not the reason I think Kosovo's independence is good for the Balkans. The only bias I have is that of peace before war, and I can see that the only outcome that will possibly not cause war, is the independence of Kosovo.
Now, you could take the land back by force. You could. But what would this achieve? You would have to wipe out most of the Albanian population in Kosovo, or force them to flee to Albania. NATO would intervene again, and more innocent Serbian civilians would die from bombings in Kosovo. The Albanian rebels would survive, and probably strengthen. The Albanian Mafia would survive. Civilians in Kosovo would die, a lot of them. Many more would have no homes, no families.
The KLA would attack Serbian forces, and even civilian tergets in large Serbian cities. More dead. All the people who want to hurt Serbia would still be alive. It would take a complete annihilation of the whole Balkans to remove those dangerous people by force.
Now let's assume Serbians decided to concede Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians would be happy, living in their own region. As long as they didn't have prejudice towards the Serbians in Kosovo, and Serbians had the chance to be in the government, then many Serbians there would be happy. The KLA, the Mafia, everyone who wants to harm Serbia, would be content, and attack less. They would not be provoked. It is true that Serbia would not have it's land. If Serbians were still allowed to live there in peace, why is that so much of a problem?
I'm in no way suggesting that the Albanians are the only victims here. The innocent Albanians, the ones who undertook no violent acts against Serbia, but were cleansed and driven from their homes and families; they are the victims. The innocent Serbians who were brutally murdered and cleansed by the KLA in revenge; they are the victims.
I know some of you have probably suffered immeasurably, and I can't say I know what it feels like. But the most important thing is that it does not happen again. I don't like to preach to everyone about this, but I think we can all agree on it. Does anyone here want more Albanians and Serbians dead? There can't be one without the other.
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I know you are not biased, neither was I referring to you.
The Serbian side offered Albanians this principle: more than autonomy, less than independence. But their western mentors with military and economic interests in the Balkans told them to reject that and go for total independence.
Why? Because Uncle Sam knows very well which people in the Balkans is fond of being a servant. History proved that numerous times, from Turkey to Austria and Germany, from Hitler to Stalin. That's why Uncle Sam chose to make friends with them in order to fulfill his own interests, knowing he can't be sure with the Serbs, and knowing Serbs would throw him out and send him back to wherever he came from.
That is the true reason.
There was peace and there would be peace if Kosovo remained a protectorate of the UN (which it is
de facto even now, after claiming independence). After some time, wounds would heal and everything would be brought back to normal, with Milosevic dead and Serbia in the EU.