TIME Magazine
Feb. 22, 2008
Birth of a Nation
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 By DEJAN ANASTASIJEVIC
There’s a famous saying that everyone is better off not seeing how
sausages and laws are made. The same applies to countries. In less
than two decades, I’ve seen no less then six new nations born in my
immediate neighborhood, the Balkans, and it was a messy process every
time. So please forgive me if I’m not greeting the latest one –
Kosovo, which declared independence on Sunday, Feb. 17 – with the
respect and admiration it probably deserves.
Just like its slightly older siblings – Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia,
Macedonia and Montenegro – Kosovo rose from the ashes of the former
Yugoslavia, whose destruction was caused by the brutal policies of
Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. But there are key differences.
Unlike the others, Kosovo was not a Yugoslav republic, but an
autonomous province within Serbia. It is mostly populated by ethnic
Albanians, while the other post-Yugoslav states have Slavic
majorities. And Kosovo has been effectively ruled by the United
Nations since 1999, when Milosevic’s troops were forced to pull out
under NATO bombs, although Serbia was allowed to retain a token
sovereignty over the province.
Now that this sovereignty is being voided by Kosovo’s elected
government, Serbia is furious, blaming the Kosovars and their Western
backers, especially the United States, one of the first countries to
recognize Kosovo’s independence. This anger reflects the special
place Kosovo holds in Serbs’ hearts and minds, as the birthplace of
their culture and religion. But it is fueled as well by memories of
the U.S.-led bombing campaign, described at the time as "humanitarian
intervention" but viewed in Belgrade as part of a cynical plan to rip
off a piece of Serbia.
Russia, China and several European countries claim that an
independent Kosovo sets a dangerous precedent, encouraging separatist
movements throughout the world, from Taiwan to Nagorno-Karabakh. To
this, the United States and its European allies reply that Kosovo is
a unique case, and that other regions would not be allowed to use it
as a precedent.
As a Serb, I empathize with my compatriots’ anger and frustration
over losing Kosovo. But as a reporter who witnessed the atrocities
against ethnic Albanians in the ’90s, I can understand that the vast
majority of them would under no circumstances accept living under
Serbian patronage, even though Milosevic is dead and Serbia is now a
democracy. And as for setting a precedent, I don’t think that
Kosovo’s independence would have much effect on the rest of the world
– and frankly, I don’t really care.
But I am deeply concerned about something else: what kind of country
has just been created, and what kind of life its citizens will have.
Kosovo holds three European records: it has the highest unemployment,
the worst infant-mortality rate and the lowest living standards on
the Continent. The latest Human Rights Watch report chronicles
widespread oppression and discrimination of non-Albanian ethnic
minorities – Serbs, Turks and Roma – along with organized crime,
rampant corruption and a dysfunctional justice system.
And if that’s not enough, Kosovo already faces its own separatist
movement: Serbs in northern Kosovo, many of whom were evicted from
their homes in revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians, don’t accept
being dominated by Pristina for exactly the same reasons Pristina
refuses to be dominated by Belgrade. With the backing of the Serbian
government, they are resolved to keep their territory – some 15% of
Kosovo – within Serbia.
So instead of stabilizing the Balkans, the creation of Europe’s
youngest state could be paving the way for future troubles. How
things turn out largely depends on the European Union, which just
decided to dispatch some 2,000 police officers, prosecutors and
judges to Kosovo. Their goal, in essence, is to establish the rule of
law in Kosovo so that the 15,000 NATO peacekeepers currently deployed
there can go home. The E.U. must also keep an angry and frustrated
Serbia on the path toward European membership, because that prospect
is just about its only inducement to good behavior toward its new
neighbor.
I dearly hope that E.U. officials know what they’re doing, and that
they’re up to this challenge. Declaring Kosovo’s independence was
easy, but making it a decent place to live will be a long haul. The
price of failure will be paid in the lost lives and torched homes
that have become a tragic pedal note to recent Balkan history. And
this time, it would not be quite as easy to blame the Serbs.
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