Byzantine Blog

Are These Bureaucrats Idiots?

During few hundred “consultations,” various meetings, conferences, summits, formal and informal gatherings where different Western bureaucrats alleged they were trying to “narrow the gap” between the U.S. State Department’s fanatical drive to sever Serbian province from Serbia, declaring Kosovo-Metohija an independent state, and Russian firm insistence on the respect for the international law — the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and existing UN SC Kosovo Resolution 1244, we now know that all they were actually doing is trying to find a trick to make Russia give up, letting the Western officials have their way.

There were absolutely no attempts by the Western bureaucrats to make any concessions that would enable Russia to continue that dialogue and meet them half way: led by the U.S. State Department, the Western representatives have been nothing but dishonest, arrogant, belligerent and rotten all along, ignoring Serbia like a useless leprous slave they can shoot at will and treating Russia like an impossible child that needs to be tricked into obedience for long enough to sign on the dotted line.

Every time the issue of Kosovo-Metohija was discussed—and it was discussed formally or informally almost every single day for the past six months or so—Russians have repeated their principled position that dismemberment of a sovereign, democratic state against its will is not only illegal and impermissible, but also a dangerous precedent that is bound to create numerous problems elsewhere, while not solving even that one case it is allegedly trying to resolve. Therefore, said Russians, being that the Ahtisaari plan is fundamentally flawed, it needs to be rejected, the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina have to be continued and the current legally binding Resolution 1244 has to be fulfilled — if the international community indeed wants to solve the problem, rather than perpetuate it, making the bad situation worse.

At the same time, a number of highly respected Western analysts have been saying more or less the same, that the issue is not as simple as it may seem and it has to be approached responsibly, taking into account very real, serious concerns. So this is clearly not the case where Russia should be blamed, as most of the Western press seems to believe, this is State Department and UK bureaucracy cutting its nose to spite its face.

But does anyone in the Western power centers actually listen? No, of course not. Being spoiled, arrogant and semi-moronic, they just want what they want when they want it (exactly like Albanian Muslim separatists, by the way, no wonder they are allies — it’s a match made in heaven) and that’s about all the reason, logic and arguments they are guided by.

Here Comes Tomatho, Following the Earlier Served Potatho, To Complete the Meal

So, since the Russians kept rejecting the entire retarded concept, here comes UK to the rescue with a set of totally retarded, insulting tomatho-concessions:

The revised draft "supports" rather than "endorses" the provisions of Mr Ahtisaari's plan for supervised independence for Kosovo, and "calls for its full implementation".

The new text also "demands" rather than "underscores the importance" that Kosovo comply in full with obligations to implement UN-specified democratic standards.

Finally, there is a call for a special envoy to help refugees, many of them Serbs, who left Kosovo after the fighting eight years ago.

This is really hard to believe, one wouldn’t know whether to laugh or to cry — that’s how stupid and offensive it is. And the U.S. State Department wants it “discussed”... Our world is run by the evil idiots and it is scaring the wits out of me.

Which Part of the Word “No” Do They Not Understand?

The response that could have been predicted well before the UK geniuses bothered to exert all that mental energy was swift, cold and dead serious.

Russia will not back a retouched Western draft resolution on Kosovo-Metohija, Russia’s permanent representative in the United Nations Vitaly Churkin has said.

“We do not intend to work according to the American-European text,” Churkin said, adding that the corrections introduced in the text are of purely cosmetic nature and do not offer an answer to any of the basic concerns Russia voiced earlier.

“The approach needs to be changed,” Churkin said. “Instead of endorsing the Ahtisaari proposal, which has not been agreed by the two sides (Belgrade and Pristina), we should encourage the parties to continue negotiations.”

Russia is not satisfied with the new resolution on Kosovo-Metoija, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on Friday, adding that Moscow’s position on the Kosovo issue remained unchanged.

We do not find as satisfactory the new variant of the resolution on Kosovo, he said in an interview for Interfax infomation agency, expressing belief that the work on the issue would be continued.

We argue in favor of continuation of negotiations and of such an outcome that will be satisfactory for both sides (Serbs and Kosovo Albanians), the representative of official Moscow said. For Russia, the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 continues to be valid and it is essential that it be fully implemented, Kamynin said.

“The question how UN Security Council Resolution 1244 will be implemented is to be settled by Belgrade and Pristina. We are for continuing the talks,” Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said.

Kosovo-Metohija Minister: Forcing the Failed Plan is Futile

Commenting the latest variation of the U.S. State Department’s draft resolution on Kosovo-Metohija province that was presented in New York on Thursday by the United States and UK, and the reiterated opposition of Russia, Serbia’s Kosovo-Metohija Minister Slobodan Samaradzic told Tanjug that there were no real changes in the draft and that 99 percent of the text was exactly the same as in the draft resolution presented two weeks ago.

He assessed it was impossible to reach a minimum of agreement between UN SC members, particularly among permanent members, since the views are diametrically opposite, Tanjug reports.

“Consequently, we are once again at the beginning. We need to start a new process in a real, sincere and open way, a new stage in resolving the issue of Kosovo and Metohija,” Samarzic said.

At this stage, Ahtisaari’s main elements — those that propose the independence of Serbian province — would be dropped, said Kosovo-Metohija Minister.

Slobodan Samardzic pointed out that participants in the process of resolving the issue of southern Serbian province have to turn to more realistic solutions, which involve a compromise solution, the participation of Belgrade and Pristina and respect for the international law.

“Now is the time to realize that it is impossible to change by force the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and that it is impossible to work to the detriment of international law on which the international order rests,” Samardzic said.