All Roads Lead to Belgrade
Part of Belgrade skyline — Victor
Misquotitis Spreading Like Wildfire
As the UN Security Council’s fact-finding mission to Serbian Kosovo province is approaching, Belgrade is quickly turning into Europe’s main destination hosting, this week alone, the highest representatives of a number of states, including China, Russia, Norway, Greece and Austria.
Being that Kosovo-Metohija province has turned to be as indispensable to the U.S. State Department as it has been to Serbian nation for the past ten centuries, if not more, it shouldn’t be surprising that at the very time when Serbia’s diplomatic activity aimed at preserving its borders and territorial integrity has shifted into a high gear, the pressure on Serbian government officials to relinquish the cradle of their state has also been brought to the point of a searing heat. The only problem is that it seems Western officials exerting the most pressure would prefer to have their thuggish activities kept away from the public as much as possible, and reserved for Serbian officials alone, along with the initiated bureaucratic circles from which the pressure can be steadily increased.
Since this wish of theirs can’t be fulfilled, we end up in a cheap political burlesque over Kosovo-Metohija province where boorish statements and countless threats are being hurled at Serbia from various Western strongmen, only to be immediately withdrawn as soon as they hit the headlines — all of a sudden, everyone seems to be misquoted, misunderstood and misinterpreted.
Burns: That’s Not What I Said! (Although I Meant It)
The latest self-proclaimed “victim” of media zeal is the U.S. State Department’s Nicholas Burns, quoted telling the Council on Foreign Relations U.S. will unilaterally recognize independence Kosovo Albanian separatists demand in case Ahtisaari’s proposal for “supervised independence” fails to get support in the United Nations (“asked [...] whether the United States would rule out unilateral recognition of Kosovo” Burns said “We will support a declaration of independence by the people of Kosovo”).
As soon as the AP carried Burns’ threat across the globe and Serbian government responded equally firmly in a public statement (“Resolution 1244 explicitly establishes and confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia in Kosovo-Metohija [...] Serbian government is giving a timely warning that Belgrade will reject any recognition of the independence of Kosovo-Metohija as invalid, since it will be nothing but direct interference in Serbia’s internal affairs”), Mr. State Department retracted his statement addressing Serbia’s national TV station RTS, saying that’s not what he said or, if he did, it’s not what he meant. Or something like that (“I am sorry I was misquoted and you can help me rectify this in Serbia”).
Russia: State Department Engages in Wishful Thinking
Russian officials, on the other hand, are puzzled by Burns’ suggestion that Russia also backs amputation of Serbian Kosovo province, claiming that “after analyzing the position of the UN Security Council member states following the continuation of the debate on the issue, the United States has come to a conclusion that all governments believe that independence is the right solution” (emphasis added).
“This wishful thinking is puzzling, because Burns cannot be accused of lacking information. The United States knows our position, and the positions of other countries, that a legal and stable solution to the Kosovo issue cannot be found without the consent of both parties to the conflict,” a high-ranking source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax Tuesday. “We oppose double standards, according to which the principle of territorial integrity is maintained in some situations, while in the case of Kosovo it is ignored,” the source said.
President Putin: Serbian Kosovo Province Refugees Greatest Concern
Before his upcoming visit to Belgrade scheduled for April 18-19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov conferred with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. Following the meeting, Russia’s President said the UN Security Council fact-finding mission should determine how Resolution 1244 is being implemented, including the return of refugees, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported. Lavrov underscored that the Security Council mission would deal with the implementation of Resolution 1244 from all its aspects, and added that the issue of refugees was one of the most important concerns.
Today, however, as the language used by the U.S. State Department has become sharper and more threatening, Russian daily Vremya Novostei announced in rather strong terms that “Russia is prepared to veto a draft resolution on the independence of Kosovo in the UN Security Council.”
Kosovo Precedent, a Most Serious Threat to Israeli State
The paper recalled that Russia maintains its previous position on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija province and is opposed to hasty solutions that contain the threat of creating a dangerous precedent not only for the former Soviet republics. “No one is proposing the speedy creation of a Palestinian state without the agreement of the conflicting sides under the guise of avoiding violence in the Palestinian territories, although this applies much more to the Palestinians who have been pressing for their own state since 1947, than to Kosovo,” Vremya Novostei said.
In a text titled “What Do Kosovo and Palestine Have In Common,” the daily said that the key argument of the Western countries advocating speedy independence of Serbian province is that chaos could break out in the province, because the Albanian separatists can no longer wait, which is nothing but pure blackmail by the international community.
The parallels between the “Palestinian” and “Kosovar” issue, including the identical means these two separatist groups have been employing for decades in order to achieve their goals have been already drawn very successfully by Western journalists, emphasizing the dangers of a precedent-setting “solution” that would reward violence with integral parts of internationally recognized states.
Chinese Vice Premier to Visit Belgrade — China Strongly Opposes Imposed Solutions
Finally, among the most important guests Belgrade is about to host on April 18 is China’s Vice Premier Hui Liangyu. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, strongly opposes imposing a solution for Kosovo-Metohija province and believes that only a negotiated settlement can lead to a positive outcome, high official of the Chinese Parliament Pan Janlin said earlier. Announcing an official visit to Belgrade of his country’s Deputy PM, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Guobang told Tanjug Saturday that Beijing advocates resumption of dialogue and finding a compromise solution for southern Serbian province that would be acceptable to both Belgrade and Pristina.
An inadequate solution would endanger peace and stability in the Balkans and the entire Europe, said Ambassador Li Guobang in an exclusive interview to Serbian news agency. Patience and wisdom are needed for resolving the issue of Kosovo-Metohija province and China is opposed to a hasty or imposed settlement, he said.
China advocates resumption of dialogue and finding a compromise solution which would be acceptable to both Belgrade and Pristina and which can get wide support. This will be useful for a successful settlement of the Kosovo issue and for lasting peace and stability in the Balkans, Li said. China also advocates the protection of equal rights and interests of all communities in Kosovo-Metohija and believes that the need for implementing standards should be kept in mind in the process of discussing the future status of the province, he said.