Byzantine Blog

The US/UK Kosovo Scheme Has Blown Up in Their Face

Excerpt from the New York Times article by Nicholas Wood

A senior United States diplomat, speaking at a conference in Croatia over the weekend, cast doubt on a quick resolution of Kosovo’s future, suggesting that an agreement that would enable it to claim independence might not come until next year.

The assessment by Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, is likely to be seen as a setback for Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership. This spring, Western officials had held out hope that the future of the province, which technically remains part of Serbia, would be resolved within weeks. Mr. Fried told delegates at a conference on NATO’s enlargement in this seaside Croatian resort that he hoped Kosovo’s future could be resolved in the months leading up to the alliance’s summit meeting in Romania next April.

“I can’t give a precise date, but I suspect it will be a number of months before the Bucharest summit,” he said.

[...] “Britain and the U.S. thought the Russians would go along with this,” said a senior European politician with extensive knowledge of the Balkans, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of damaging the negotiations. “Now the entire strategy has blown up in their face.” But with the United States at odds with Russia over missile defense and other matters, Western officials also are conceding that the search for a resolution of the Kosovo issues may now be drawn out over many months.

“If you think that this is a passing phase in Russia, then you are dramatically wrong,” said Kai Eide, Norway’s senior diplomat and the author of a United Nations [Kosovo province] report in 2004.