Byzantine Blog

G8 Agrees to Delay Vote on US Resolution in the UN

G8 Summit in Heiligendamm has once again confirmed that Russian President Putin is not interested in bargaining over the Serbian back, as constantly insinuated by the less-than-well-meaning Western mainstream media and a number of Western administrators. Instead, Vladimir Putin remained principled, patiently explaining to his Western colleagues numerous pitfalls their drive to amputate Kosovo-Metohija province from Serbia presents.

The good news is that the Western powers seem to have agreed to delay a vote at the United Nations on U.S. State Department resolution granting independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo. According to reports, an agreement has been reached that U.S. resolution will not be introduced at the UN Security Council, in order to seek a joint solution that will take into account Russian stance.

Forcing a vote that would invoke Russian veto would clearly lead to further divisions, while serving as a green light to Albanian Muslim separatists in Kosovo-Metohija to declare independence unilaterally. Such a move would trigger a chaotic chain reaction, with some states recognizing and most others refusing to recognize independent status to the province, for fear of encouraging such lawless, wild new ‘states’ mushrooming throughout and being similarly recognized by a handful of their allies and rejected by everybody else.

Sarkozy’s Attempt to Outsmart Putin: Independence in Six Months

The bad news comes in the form of the new French President’s suggestion: Nicolas Sarkozy seems to believe he can outsmart President Putin with a proposal that Russia “accepts the inevitability” of severing Kosovo province from Serbia in exchange for entirely useless six-months extension, during which Serbs should attempt to hammer a deal with Albanian separatists occupying their southern province. If they are unsuccessful, says Sarkozy, then Ahtisaari plan would be enshrined in the UN Security Council resolution and Russia gets to renounce its veto, backing the Finn’s plan after all, along with U.S., UK and France.

While opening direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina is the right way forward, boxing them in any timeframe at the end of which Ahtisaari plan—now with added support of Russia—sits is the safest way to ensure failure of every possibility of real negotiations. It means that Kosovo Albanian separatists would have to pretend they are negotiating once again, biding their time until the clock strikes and then just embrace what they were waiting for all along: independence on a silver platter, fortified with Russian signature. It means Serbian Kosovo-Metohija would not be officially severed in June, but in December, after another round of mock-negotiations, undoubtedly even more farcical than the one Ahtisaari led.

There are no indications Russian President Putin intends to spend a single second on Sarkozy’s bait which, by the way, only shows the new French President is equally Serbophobic as his Anglo-Saxon colleagues and unwilling to go anywhere near the essence of the problem, or consider abiding by the international law for a change, respecting the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act or the UN SC Resolution 1244.

French Daily: At Least Half a Dozen EU States Also Oppose Kosovo Independence

At the same time, Tanjug news agency reports that, according to Parisian daily Liberation, at least half a dozen EU member-states oppose the independence of Serbian Kosovo province along with Moscow, because they fear that severing of the Serbian province would set a dangerous precedent that might also affect them. No kidding! As Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs said today: Precedents are not declared — they happen, like it or not, and they certainly cannot be erased by a decree either.

The tenacious position of Moscow, which rejects any form of independence for Kosovo-Metohija cannot be explained only by historical solidarity with Serbia, Slav and Orthodox, but also by fear that the precedent might give an impetus to Chechen separatists, Liberation said in an article headlined “Great Fear of a Precedent.”

For the same reasons, China — which is concerned about Tibet and Taiwan — also has “a hardheaded position” on Kosovo province and is opposed to the Western plans of granting it independence, the Parisian daily added.

At least half a dozen EU members strongly oppose amputation of Serbian province, Liberation said, noting that these are Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Spain — states that all have minorities that might one day demand independence, or are already doing so (Basques in Spain, for example).

However, what is interesting is the behavior of Great Britain, a country that is already facing growing separatism in its midst. “The British authorities are keeping a cool head, not believing that the independence of Kosovo might incite the independence of Scotland,” the Parisian daily said.

Or are they just pretending the two are not connected, keeping mum about the whole issue in hope it goes away, being that justifying, covering up and burying the vicious NATO aggression on sovereign Serbia seems far more important to Blair’s entourage than losing Ireland, Wales and everything except London along with Scotland?