Byzantine Blog

U.S. Can Only Grant Independence to its Own States

Angry reactions to Bush’s outrageous statements given in Albanian capital Tirana continue to pour, filling the Serbian press.

On Sunday Srdjan Djuric, an adviser to Serbia’s Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, reminded that “the future status of Kosovo-Methija province is not in the hands of the United States, but those of the United Nations Security Council.”

On Monday, Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic stressed that “the US may only decide whether one of its own federal units or states will become independent, but it may not make any decisions regarding the territory of other countries, especially not sovereign and democratic ones.”

“The US fait accomplis policy, according to which a decision has already been reached that contrary to Resolution 1244 and by bypassing the UN Security Council 15 percent of territory be snatched away from Serbia, represents the most brutal violation of all current norms of international law,” the Presidency of the Democratic Party of Serbia underscored Wednesday.

“No one could have authorized the US president to make a decision in Tirana that Kosovo province should be independent,” Serbia’s Democrats said. “Only the people of Serbia get to decide on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, just like it is the US people that can decide on the American territory,” the DSS Presidency underlined, assessing that this represented the most basic principle of international order.

Earlier, Democratic Party of Serbia spokesman Andreja Mladenovic said that “if the United States gives a green light to Albanian separatists in Kosovo-Metohija to proclaim unilateral independence, contrary to Resolution 1244, this directly means that America bombed Serbia in 1999 so that 15 percent of our territory could be snatched away.”

“United States can decide the fate of Texas, California and other federal units that form USA, but it cannot seize territories from other states and give them to someone else,” said Mladenovic at the press conference.

He added that “while the U.S. is one of the most important members of the UN Security Council and one of the most significant factors in creating the international politics in the UN, at the end of the day, the U.S. also has only one vote, just like all the other UN SC member-states. Therefore, they get to grant independence only to those federal units US of A is comprised of.”

Castro: The Tyrant Visits Tirana

In a commentary titled “The Tyrant Visits Tirana,” which was published in the Cuban press, Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to Serbian-language edition of BBC, severely criticized Bush for having declared himself in favor of the independence of Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province, “without showing the least respect for the interests of Serbia, Russia and some other European countries, all sensitive to the fate of the province which was the scenario for the latest NATO war.”

“He lectured Serbia that it would receive economic aid if it would support the independence of Kosovo, the birthplace of that country’s culture. You can take it or you can leave it,” Castro’s statement said. “Bush is craving for affection. He fully enjoyed his reception without protests in Bulgaria. He spoke with that country’s soldiers who took part in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He tried to commit them further to spill generous blood in those peaceful wars,” the statement added.