There is virtue in clarity
That’s the best I can say for today’s meeting of the Presidents of Serbia and Kosovo. President Nikolic made it clear that he does not and will never accept the independence of Kosovo. President Jahjaga made it clear she does not accept anything less.
The issue, as regular readers will know, is not really independence, which is relative and political. The real issue is sovereignty, which for these purposes is absolute and juridical. I think of it as based in a monopoly over the legitimate means of violence, recognized by other sovereign states.
If the two presidents remain apart on this issue, I imagine there won’t be many more meetings. Each meeting, including this one, confirms what everyone in the world–including in Belgrade–knows: Serbia will not be able to exercise sovereignty (a monopoly over the legitimate means of violence) over Kosovo. Anyone who thinks it will hasn’t been there in a long time. It is no surprise that Nikolic didn’t seem keen on continuing to meet.
The internationals will of course insist that the meetings continue at the more productive political level of prime ministers and below. This is a good idea. Pristina and Belgrade have made some progress on real issues and need to get to the difficult work of implementing what they have agreed. It is particularly important that they begin to resolve the vexing problem of northern Kosovo, where Serbia continues to defy the UN Security Council resolution that it incorrectly claims preserves some vague semblance of Serbian sovereignty.
I do not mean to imply that Nikolic’s reassertion of Serbian authority is irrelevant. To the contrary, a claim of sovereignty over Kosovo’s territory has to be taken very seriously, not only by the Kosovo authorities but also by the international community. Today it is the NATO-led KFOR presence in Kosovo that prevents this claim from assertion by force. KFOR wants out. It is unlikely to remain at all in five years. If Kosovo is to remain sovereign, it had better figure out some combination of diplomatic, political, military or other means to protect its claim. It is not that I doubt Serbia’s pledges not to use force. They are sincere. But they are also insufficient.
I had visits today and yesterday from two Serbs. One said Serbia would never recognize Kosovo’s independence. The other looked forward optimistically to reintegrating the north with the rest of Kosovo, where he is a politician participating in the Pristina institutions. I suggested they get together for a chat.
It is unlikely to be any more productive than today’s meeting between the two presidents. But there is virtue in clarity.
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4 thoughts on “There is virtue in clarity”
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If Kosovo wants to remain sovereign all it was to do is trade northern Kosovo for Albanian inhabited areas of the presevo valley and Serbia will formalize relations with pristina.
Do not confuse the interests of petty souls working for their own well-being with the intentions of a country working for it’s own well-being.
Arguably, both can do good and bad things, but that doesn’t mean that the agenda you wish to be true will be any closer to reality if the two meet.
As for Albanians all over the region, they’d be wise to stop the saber rattling, pissing off every country you share a border with is considered bad for health in more ways then one.
As you said eloquently, KFOR won’t be there forever (to provide a semblance of protection to Kosovo Serbs, I might add), and that also means that NATO won’t be amused forever as well (Kosovo was a fluke).
Being that you are peace oriented, I’d be happy if you’d advise your Albanian friends to be a tad bit more diplomatic with the other countries.
As a side note, I just noticed that Kosovo has that sovereignty problem as well. For as long as Kosovo is a drag on Serbia, North will be a drag on Kosovo as well.
The sooner you understand how the wind flows, the better.
It is very well known to the public and political centers in EU and World that the cause of Serbia fighting for the rights of the Serbs in the northern Kosovo is fake and is not fundamental. The population in northern part of Mitrovica is about 35.000 where the majority of the Serb population is living in Kosovo proper.Therefore the only reason for all these efforts is the Lake and the Minerals of Trepca,
The issue of Kosovo is not that big as it seems by some people, if I can say hardliners, who still think that the military action will bring to any solution, definitely it will not, as now it is not that problematic as it used to be in the 1998 and 1999 where Kosovo Albanians had to face a military force that was built over 50 years or more, without having the chance of arming themself for the well-known reasons; they were hermetically locked and military supplies were not possible at the time. Now things have changed and if Serbia is to take the course of Military solution to deal with Kosovo, I believe that is such a stupid Idea, they know quite well that in very short time Kosovo will be able to assemble a quick reaction force and on a mid-term Kosovo will be able to mobilize a force of more than 300.000 man between age 18 and 35, whereas Serbia will not be able to confront such force and with short period of time will have to deal with defending its own territory. This is the most logical course of events.
I do believe that this situation would have been solved through talks, and this should be taken as the only solution, to come to a peace and except the fact and become good neighbors, and work on how to create better living conditions for the people of two countries.
Autonomy prescribed by Ahtisaari plan is good enough. Though, if I was to negotiate on behalf of Serbia I would ask for similar regional autonomies south of the river Ibar. They wouldn’t be ethnically clean (and even better) but would allow better participation of Serbs on Kosovo in Kosovo’s institutions taking into the account vast majority of ethnic Albanians on Kosovo if Kosovo is to be only one electoral region.