THE QUIET RUSSIAN
By Eric Walberg
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October 15, 2008
Kosovo’s Independence Vote Goes to the ICJ
Last week Serbia ‘s neighbours Montenegro and Macedonia recognised
Kosovo, the world’s newest country — leaving aside South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, bringing the number of its official friends to 48. However,
after expelling Macedonia’s ambassador in a huff, Serbia was soon all
smiles as the United Nations General Assembly supported its request
that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rule on the legality
of Kosovo’s independence — by an impressive vote of 77-6.
The court’s opinion on Kosovo, which experts say could take one to
three years, is not binding, but it will put a break on further
efforts to integrating Kosovo into the world community as an
independent country.
The move was a much-needed victory for Serbia, which lobbied heavily
during the build-up to the vote. Despite the fact that 90 per cent
of Kosovars are nominally Muslim and despite the popular image of
Serbia as anti-Muslim, Egypt, Algeria, Indonesia and Iran supported
Serbia, showing that this is not a Muslim issue. Seventy-four
nations abstained, including most European and Muslim nations,
strange bedfellows, but understandably so.
The Europeans don’t want to oppose a legitimate recourse to
international law. Some European and most Muslim nations have
separatist movements like Indonesia , which has to deal with ethnic
conflicts in Aceh and Irian Jaya, and Azerbaijan , with its Armenian
breakaway enclave Nagorno-Karabakh. Separatist concerns also lie
behind the reluctance of some European Union countries to recognise
Kosovo. Only 20 of the union’s 27 members have done so, with those
opposed to the move including Spain , Cyprus and Romania .
It was also a victory for Russia, which has been explaining to the
Muslim world ever since Kosovo declared independence in February what a
dangerous precedent it is. In mid-March, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said before beginning a Middle East visit that Moscow was urging Muslim
states to withstand pressure to recognise Kosovo, a state he said had
been "illegally formed. I would like to warn against the temptation
to give in to calls from non-Arab and non-Islamic states addressed to
Islamic countries to show Islamic solidarity and recognise Kosovo,"
he told Rossiiskaya Gazeta. Lavrov also pointed to unrest taking
place in Tibet at the time, suggesting that Kosovo’s breakaway had
helped to trigger the "disorder" there.
In contrast to Kosovo, which was an integral part of Serbia until
NATO bombed Serbia and invaded Kosovo in 1999, Georgia’s secessionist
provinces had been functioning as independent countries from 1991-2
and South Ossetia was invaded by the Georgian army and its capital
flattened by Georgian20bombs, which the Serbs never did to Kosovo. So
despite the contrary view of the two tragic incidents in the Western
media, Serbia and Russia ‘s arguments against Kosovo have found a
sympathetic ear.
Only six members of the 57-state Organisation of the Islamic Conference
(OIC) have recognised its independence. The day after the independence
declaration, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu issued a
statement declaring "our solidarity with and support to our brothers
and sisters there. There is no doubt that the independence of Kosovo
will be an asset to the Muslim world and will further enhance joint
Islamic action." But at an OIC summit in Dakar , Senegal , a month
later, OIC heads of state resisted a Turkish initiative and merely
voiced "solidarity", leaving recognition up to individual member
states. The only six to have taken the step so far are Turkey ,
Albania , Afghanistan , Burkino Faso , Sierra Leone and Senegal .
"We strongly believe that the support we got from the international
community to gain our freedom is the largest miracle of Allah and the
largest sign of his mercy towards his people in Kosovo," Blerim Gashi,
public information officer of the Kosovar-Arab friendship and economic
cooperation chamber, wrote on the Al-Arabiya television channel’s
website. "We do hope that our brothers in faith will take their
rightful place on our side." It is the poorest country in Europe ,
notorious for drug, arms and human smuggling, and with an unemployment
rate of 40 per cent. Kosovo authorities have no control over about
15 per cent of its territory where about 200,000 Serbs live. Local
Serbs in those areas recognise only the Serbian government, despite
opposition from Kosovo’s UN and European Union administrators.
On his way to New York for last minute lobbying, Kosovo Foreign
Minister Skender Hyseni visited OIC headquarters in Jeddah , Saudi
Arabia , where he met with Ihsanoglu and "expressed the hope that more
OIC member states would recognise the independence of Kosovo." While
the Kosovar was in Jeddah at the OIC, his Serbian counterpart, Vuk
Jeremic, was in Cairo at the Arab League — all 22 of whose members
are also in the OIC.
As if to emphasise where Kosovo’s interests really lie, US Defense
Secretary Robert Gates was in Pristina at about the same time,
the first US Cabinet member to Kosovo since the country declared
independence, where he met with the president and prime minister
of Kosovo and lunched with the 1,600 US troops at Camp Bondsteel
. He just happened to be on his way to nearby Hungary for a meeting
of NATO defence chiefs. The US pledged $400 million at a donors’
conference earlier this year.
Gates dismisses Russia ‘s vehement opposition as sour grapes, an
attempt to "exorcis e past humiliations", but a less tendentious look
reveals a sophisticated diplomatic offensive by Russia with regards,
not so much Kosovo, as the Muslim world in general. Russia sees Kosovo
as a US-EU invention with dangerous implications for the world. It
views the war in Iraq in a similar light, is increasingly critical
of the war in Afghanistan , and as such is being actively courted by
Arab countries, not to mention Iran .
Moscow’s new friends include Syria, eager for Russian arms and more
than willing to restore the old Soviet naval base at Tartus, and Hamas,
which went so far as to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia, putting
it in league with Russia’s close friend Nicaragua. Moscow is seen as
less beholden to Israel , and has shown it is eager to be considered
an even-handed broker in the Palestinian issue, having hosted a peace
conference last June for the first time.
As president, Vladimir Putin visited Iran last October, Saudi
Arabia in January, and Libya in April, his last official visit as
president. Recently Russia , with its large Muslim population, has
expressed interest in joining the OIC. This thaw in relations has been
a two-way street. Russia signed a deal to build a railway in Saudi
Arabia and another on gas production in Libya , forgave Iraq $12
billion in Soviet-era debt, and has forgiven past Saudi and Iranian
support to Chechen rebels.
Arab nations see in Russia not only an important ally and counterweight
to the US , but a role model of sorts. Political analyst Abdel-Fattah
Mady at Alexandria University writes at IslamOnline.net, "Arab
countries fail to define a framework for their common national
security. Unfortunately, Arab regimes cannot distinguish between their
peoples’ interests and those of the United States . Russia teaches
Arabs a very important lesson: Arabs must settle their internal
divisions if they want to join the club of nations that defend their
interests without fearing the US . Unfortunately, Arabs lack strong
leadership with a clear vision of national security. Neither do they
have the political determination to change facts on the ground."
Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach him at