Western Experts on Kosovo Province
London Kings College: Independence Against EU Principles
James Gow, Dept of War Studies expert at Kings College in London, has assessed that the European Union’s decision to recognize a unilateral declaration of independence of Serbian province of Kosovo, would be an act contrary to its historical activity and its professed values.
The EU had always tried to avoid situations that favor war, by trying to resolve the issue of borders within a wider partnership. However, it now intends to take away part of a territory of a sovereign state, allegedly in a bid to move towards peace, Gow said in a statement to the London BBC.
Such an approach could end in disaster, the British expert cautioned, recalling that in the past 350 years the international order developed in the direction of efforts to avoid war, in a way that borders are not changed without agreement and consensus.
German International Law Expert: Declaration of Independence a Clear Violation of International Law
German international law expert Hans-Joachim Heintze has said that unilateral declaration of the independence of Kosovo and Metohija province would be a clear violation of international law and would cause problems in the international sphere.
Speaking to the Deutsche Welle radio, Henitze said that in the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo was an autonomous province, and not a republic so that, therefore, it is not entitled to secede from Serbia by declaring independence.
According to him, state borders can be changed on the basis of the Helsinki Final Act, but only if the two sides in question agree, in a peaceful manner and in keeping with international law, which is obviously not the case with Serbian province.
Commenting the often repeated justification by certain western governments that the 1998-1999 war has lost Serbia the right to maintain sovereignty over Kosovo, Heintze pointed out that human rights violations occurred in a number of other regions as well, but that they did not result in punishment in the form of seizure of territories.
Cartoon by Zoran Matic Mazos (Serbia)
Comments
Svetlana,
Fantastic site! I make sure to check it daily.
Just wanted to point out that the professor from Kings College you referred to is James Gow (Gao is probably the Serbian transliteration). It's interesting that *he* thinks an independent Kosovo would be bad for everyone, as he has a mixed record when it comes to writing about Serbs.
Anyway, please keep up the great job! You are one of the few shining lights in the mad darkness of the present.
V
Posted by: Vlad | December 17, 2007 04:28 PM
The Serbs know better than any of their neighbors what freedom means! They have shown many times that they are prepared to defend their freedom against any odds and at overwhelming cost to their lives.
The Serbs know very well from their present and the past that without freedom, the Serb culture can expect the same destiny as their numerous destroyed churches and monasteries in NATO/Albanian controlled parts of Kosovo. Unfortunately, the Serbs are now exhausted from three wars with NATO (in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia) during last two decades to confront NATO yet again in a marriage of convenience between USA (read NATO) & Muslim Albanians in Kosovo.
The Serbs now need to pose and look at all options to prevent the designed final solution for them that has been cooked in the “West”. How they may respond? Krajina (Croatia), and Srpska (ex-Bosnia) should secede immediately in coordination with Serbia and Russia, but only in case Russia, China and others fail to stop USA from amputating Kosovo from Serbia. The minority of Serbs who pretend to still love the EU (except true lovers aka Cedo et al), but not NATO, will have to give up their pretence (as if NATO is not a core organization of EU).
Posted by: Tide | December 17, 2007 06:29 PM
Fixed, thank you, Vlad! (Not enough time to always double check the English spelling of the names in Serbian press ;-))
Posted by: Svetlana![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.byzantinesacredart.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 17, 2007 07:30 PM