This is even more important of an issue for the world do to US domestic affairs atm....


If Obama is elected Putin and Jiabao will use him like the idealistic twit he claims to be. To their and their allies advantage.

If Hillary is elected they probably won't try it and she will probably stand up to them in a broad sense.

If McCain is elected they probably won't try it and its a given he will stand up to them.

__________________
McCain/Palin 2008
"We make war that we may live in peace"
"Peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
"Keep that faith,keep your courage,stick together, stay strong,do not yield,do not flinch,stand up,we're Americans,we'll never surrender they will"
http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A

I'm not sure about the other two, but I think tension would escalate if another republican, McCain, were elected to office simply because of their standpoint on the Iraqi war. McCain has also expressed interest in involvement in Iran...

__________________
"Gimme some truth, now whose side are we on? Whatever you say, turn on the boob tube I'm in the mood to obey" Jack Johnson

So you'd rather have less tension at the expense of US allies and US interests then more tension as a result of the US defending its interests?

Thats to be blunt is the road to US subjugation at least poltically to foreign powers.

Dangerous game out there and if you show you'll only play it half way or not at all the other players will destroy you.

__________________
McCain/Palin 2008
"We make war that we may live in peace"
"Peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
"Keep that faith,keep your courage,stick together, stay strong,do not yield,do not flinch,stand up,we're Americans,we'll never surrender they will"
http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A

Last I checked, we were not at war with Russia or Britain (for example). What makes one our 'ally' and the other not? Even though tensions exist with one, we should treat affairs of state with both the same - in an open minded fashion. In the event one wishes to break ties, then we break. But we should not induce that break or we run out of options very quickly.

Call me cynical or un-American, but I believe ties with Russia are more important than Kosovo. It's a dog eat dog world.

__________________
"Gimme some truth, now whose side are we on? Whatever you say, turn on the boob tube I'm in the mood to obey" Jack Johnson

The ties of import in this are with Italy Germany Greece Turkey Bulgaria Hungaria Spain some French guy the UK and a dozen others besides!

Its not minor.


Hungarians would like Vojvodina back if they can do it via a vote..well fine lets cut it off.....thats the main "international legal" problem this independence of kosovo is causing.
+
Albania want to annex Kosovo and Kosovo Albanians want to be annexed by them(like a Minature version of the Germany/Austria unification drive 1919-1938 going on with those two)



Ethnic breakup of the region.






Here is Serbia today if you accept kosovo being detached which they have declared nul.






IMO we're just chopping up the Balkans beyond the point of rectificaton without some really bad war there and that could easily go continental.

Russia has territorial ambitions in other parts of Europe that could be "solved" with a quick war. With its relationship pretty much on an acceptable Sphere of Influence with China and now China threatening Taiwan over recongizing Kosovo..etc etc etc etc etc

Its a mess that could go south really fast.
(I'll give it a 75% chance of a guerilla sized war in Kosovo by the end of the year.)

Its almost like Europe is posturing to fight again BUT nobody knows it atm..like a storm coming in suddenly.



Its only February..not even near August..plenty of time.

__________________
McCain/Palin 2008
"We make war that we may live in peace"
"Peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
"Keep that faith,keep your courage,stick together, stay strong,do not yield,do not flinch,stand up,we're Americans,we'll never surrender they will"
http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A

I'm not sure the situation will diffuse so rapidly. I think it is only a beginning to a means of cooperation among certain players for the future. It's hard to conceive a major war any time soon from these happenings.

__________________
"Gimme some truth, now whose side are we on? Whatever you say, turn on the boob tube I'm in the mood to obey" Jack Johnson

Europe's new jihadist statelet?
THE WASHIGTON TIMES EDITORIAL

After Sunday's Kosovar independence declaration comes President Bush's stamp of approval for a Republic of Kosovo and the nod of the four major European Union powers: France, Germany, Britain and Italy. In all likelihood, the result will be Europe's 46th legally sovereign government, with a population that is 90 percent Muslim. What is far less clear is whether a weak, perpetually dependent Kosovar statelet — and make no mistake, this will be a toothless, weak and impoverished state — is in the United States' best interest.

The answer is no. Lawlessness and terrorism are likely to fester inside Kosovo — which is rife with organized criminal gangs and plagued by corruption. Slavic rešentments emanating from neighboring Serbia and Russian revanchism are a certainty. Much as the Bush administration and European governments favor independence, it creates new problems where old ones lay dormant,

There is really only one potentially positive result from an independent Kosovo: some measure of self-determination for a long-oppressed people. But at this time it is questionable whether independence is the right way to achieve this. Given the territory's recent history, it is difficult to imagine independence occurring without serious jeopardy to U.S. and European interests, at least in the short term.

With terrorism and international criminal activity being the United States' two greatest concerns in this region, Kosovo's independence surely cannot redound favorably to either. Remnants of the old drug-smuggling, arms-trafficking terrorist organization calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) are still active. Indeed, many of this al-Qaeda-linked organization's alumni are alive and well in positions of influence. The KLA was among the first international terrorist groups linked to al Qaeda in the late 1990s. Western intelligence agencies observed its members training at al Qaeda terror camps a decade ago and more. Look for its veterans and their sympathizers in government to achieve a new prominence in a Kosovo freed from Serbia.

Loose European talk of incorporating the entire Balkans one day into the European Union should frighten EU citizens in this context. Then they will consider the economics of inclusion. Kosovo's 2004 per capita income is under $3,000. Unemployment is thought to hover near 40 percent. Foreign assistance comprises approximately one-third of GDP. In short, Kosovo cannot possibly sustain itself economically or militarily in the present. Indeed, it may never be able to do so.

Outside Kosovo's borders, complications are materializing, beginning with more serious Russian and Serbian resistance than previously anticipated. Yesterday, Serbia formally protested the European Union's mission to Kosovo, a 2,000-strong force of police and rule-of-law experts who officially began operations the day before Kosovo's independence declaration. But Russian obstructionism at the U.N. Security Council is a very possible second act to Serbia's opposition. Unhelpful declarations of sympathy and support, or perhaps even diplomatic recognition, for breakaway movements in ex-Soviet satellite states such as Georgia's Abkhazia region, where rebels control of an unrecognized command state, now become more easy for Moscow to justify. As former senior U.S. diplomats John Bolton, Lawrence Eagleburger and Peter Rodman, critics of independence for Kosovo right now, wrote three weeks ago in The Washington Times: „[T]he United States should not prompt an unnecessary crisis in U.S.-Russia relations.”

Of course, the long-term reason to wonder about Kosovar independence is the U.S. troop commitment there. Independence actually means perpetual dependence on NATO and other foreign forces, which will likely continue for decades. As of the fall, about 1,500 U.S. service members were deployed there. Presently, the 2,000-strong E.U. contingent shows a commitment to Kosovo's security well into the future. But at a moment when reciprocity of security commitments among NATO partners in Afghanistan is nowhere to be seen, and U.S. forces are overstretched in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, no one should bet on Europe's will to persevere a decade hence. And yet, independence creates the conditions for the United States to be called upon to stave off chaos in the event that some future roster of European leaders go „Afghan” on Kosovo.

http://washingtontimes.com/article/2...322739956/1013

Large Potential Albanian Oil and Gas Discovery Underscores Kosovo's Importance

by Stephen Lendman

Global Research, February 19, 2008


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On January 10, Swiss-based Manas Petroleum Corporation broke the news. Gustavson Associates LLC's Resource Evaluation identified large prospects of oil and gas reserves in Albania, close to Kosovo. They are in areas called blocks A, B, C, D and E, encompassing about 780,000 acres along the northwest to southeast „trending (geological) fold belt of northwestern Albania.”

Assigned estimates of the find (so far unproved) are up to 2.987 billion barrels of oil and 3.014 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. However, because of their depth, oil deposits may be capped with a layer of gas. If so, Gustavson calculates the potential to be 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and up to 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Further, if only gas is present, the discovery may be as much as 28 trillion cubic feet. In any case, if estimates prove out, it's a sizable find.

In its statement, Gustavson reported: „The probability of success for a wildcat well in a structurally complex area such as this is relatively high (because) it is in a structurally favorable area (and) proven hydrocarbon source and analogous production exists only 20 to 30 kilometers away.”

Currently, the Balkans region has small proved oil reserves of about 345 million barrels, of which an estimated 198 million barrels are in Albania. Proved natural gas reserves are much larger at around 2.7 trillion cubic feet.

In December 2007, Albania's Council of Ministers allowed DWM Petroleum, AG, a Manas subsidiary, to assist in the exploration, development and production of Albania's oil and gas reserves in conjunction with the government's Agency of Natural Resources.

This development further underscores Kosovo's importance and the cost that's meant for Serbia. Since the 1999 US-led NATO war, it's been all downhill for the nation, the region and its people:

--Kosovo is part of Serbia; at least it was; since 1999 it's been a Washington-NATO occupied colony stripped of its sovereignty in violation of international law;

-- it's been run by three successive US-installed puppet Prime Ministers with known ties to organized crime and drugs trafficking;

-- it's the home of one of America's largest military bases in the world, Camp Bondsteel; the province/country is more a US military base than a legitimate political entity;

-- its part of Washington's regional strategic objective to control and transport Central Asia's vast oil and gas reserves to selected markets, primarily in the West;

-- on February 17 during a special parliamentary session, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence; the action violates international law; Kosovo is as much part of Serbia as Illinois is one of America's 50 states; to no surprise, Washington and dominant western countries support it; opposed are Serbia, Russia, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus;

-- might makes right; the issue is a fait accompli; the February 17 declaration ignores EU division pitting one-third of its 27 members in opposition; and

-- unilateral western-supported independence mocks the 1999 UN Security Council Resolution 1244; it only permits Kosovo's self-government as a Serbian province; the resolution recognizes the „sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;” only a new UN resolution in compliance with international law can change that legally; nonetheless, it happened anyway on another historic day of infamy when Washington again trashed international law and the rules and norms of civil society.

Global Research Associate Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at www.lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on www.RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussion of world and national topics with distinguished guests.


Stephen Lendman is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Stephen Lendman

from the BBC link :

So it seems that the Serbs are causing voilent acts and invading a new soverign country.

Why can not the Serbian Government control the actions of its citizens? Unless of cause this action was encouraged by the Serbia State?

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Russian Imperialism is a greater danger to the World today than AlQueda terrorism

These are not Serbs from Serbia but Serbian minority in Kossovo.