"If the EU develops a unified position or if Nato exceeds its mandate set by the UN, then these organisations will be in conflict with the UN," he said.
In that case Russia would "proceed on the basis that in order to be respected we need to use brute force", he said.
Many EU members have recognised Kosovo, but several oppose recognition.
Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, backs Serbia, which has condemned the independence declaration issued by the Kosovo parliament on 17 February.
On Tuesday members of the Serb minority in Kosovo attacked two border posts staffed by UN personnel and Kosovo police.
The violence led the Nato troops in Kosovo - known as K-For - to reinforce the border with Serbia.
Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians are following a plan drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari for "supervised independence", which was rejected by Serbia.
The EU will soon deploy 2,000 officials to strengthen law and order in Kosovo, which has a population of about two million. Russia argues that the mission has no legal basis.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7258801.stm
Troubling. I am not sure what the best course of action might be. Serbia is showing little interest in controlling nationalist protesters--the Serbian president for example has refused to condemn the attack on the US embassy, saying essentially that the US got what it deserved. The EU and US seem to have done little to appease Serbia's anger over losing an important chunk of their country. And Russia is acting bellicose in support of its ally and in an attempt to show the West it can still throw its weight around. It will be interesting to see whether Serbia accepts this dismemberment and moves toward the West and closer to EU membership or bucks the whole program and cozies back up to Russia.
5 comments:
What a sticky situation here... I mean, there is definitely no clearcut right or wrong in this particular debate.
Maybe we could go back in time and stop the killing of Archduke Ferdinand?
But seriously, I think that right now the best thing that could happen is that all the parties come to the table and discuss this issue and at least try to come to some agreement before it escalates anymore.
And I think that the guys who attacked the US embassy should be treated as vandals and criminals and dealt with in the criminal court system as per whatever arrangement via international law. They are common criminals at this point and should be dealt with accordingly.
Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else smell a setup, here?
The ties between the Russians and Serbs have always been very strong, and I don't think it would be out of the realm of plausibility for Russia to be setting up the dominos (or at least letting the Serbs do it for them, who have a history of being all too willing to play that part) so it can flex its muscle on the international stage... Especially since the U.S. is not in a position to really do anything about it with help from our NATO allies.
After all, this whole "military intervention" thing is a bit out of left field. It just isn't a very appropriate or helpful response to the current situation unless its in the context of "a means to another end". But that's just my intuition speaking.
But if things keep moving in this direction, we might soon be asking ourselves another question: if Russia looks like it's going to send its troops into the area, particularly Kosovo, and the Kosovars ask the EU and NATO for help, what should we do?
Not a pleasant prospect.
Russia is definitely using this as an excuse to flex some muscle and show the West it is still relevant. For it's part, the West seems to be doing the same thing, it's just using this as a way to show Russia that it is not relevant that the way forward for all states in the former Soviet sphere--and likely Russia as well--is to get on board with the West.
I don't know if the intervention is really that far out of nowhere. Serbia and Russia have an alliance, so it is not necessarily surprising that Russia would come its aid if Serbia feel its territorial integrity is being violated. The US might well come to the aid of Israel if Palestine declared unilateral independence and the word rushed to recognize it. Same with Turkey. Not that that is the "right" course of action. But it is the way international politics go. Beck, you are a realist, this is the sort of thing to expect. Everyone is trying to one up everyone else and always willing to jump at a chance to do it.
Now, now, I have a healthy dose of realism in my outlook, yes, but it does not define my entire political philosophy.
Regarding the Israel or Turkey scenario: No... I seriously doubt the U.S. would send troops to either situation unless the breakaway state was being fortified by another threatening power, like Russia, China, etc. We might openly condemn it, but send troops? I just don't think so. It's not a proportionate response to the situation.
No one is sending armored divisions into Kosovo to fortify it and strengthen it's bid for independence. Russia's response *is* disproportionate and not all together rational unless the intent is specifically to rub our nose in it.
So the question stands: If Kosovo asks for our help, what should we do?
1) Since when does the US rely on proportional response to threat?
2)There are troops in Kosovo and have been since 1999. NATO has about 16,000 ground troops in Kosovo.
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