Kosovo to delcare independance tomorrow

[BeBMan]

I don't see any alternative to an independence here. Not that it would mean the end of all probs on the Balkan though.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

independent Texas

[Cort Haus]

There be gold in them thar hills.

February 15, 2008 10:30 AM
TORONTO, ONTARIO

Lydian International Ltd. (TSX: LYD), a diversified U.K. mineral exploration and development company, today announced positive results from soil and trench sampling from its Rahovec project in Kosovo. The initial soil sampling program indicated a 1.5km long gold anomaly, which remains open to the north. The highest reported soil samples returned 1.87 g/t gold.

.....

"This is an exciting new gold discovery in an area that was previously known only for its Ni-Co-Cu-(PGE) potential," said Tim Coughlin, President and CEO. "The soil geochemistry has defined a large and drill-ready target area."

Linqi

[Cort Haus]

Independent Krajina (with returned refugees )

[Wezil]

re - Kosovo to delcare independance tomorrow



As long as it is tomorrow we won't have to deal with it today.

[Andemagne]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Independent Krajina (with returned refugees )

[BeBMan]

Done:

Kosovo's parliament has unanimously endorsed a declaration of independence from Serbia, in an historic session.

The declaration, read by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, said Kosovo would be a democratic country that respected the rights of all ethnic communities.

The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognise Kosovo on Monday.

Serbia has threatened Kosovo with diplomatic and economic sanctions, but not force. Its ally, Russia, also opposes Kosovan independence.

See a map of Kosovo's ethnic breakdown

Correspondents say the potential for trouble between Kosovo's Serbs and ethnic Albanians is enormous.

Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica condemned the declaration, calling Kosovo a "false state".

A number of his ministers have travelled to Kosovo to show their support for Serbs living there.

Search for equality

The declaration was approved with a show of hands. No-one opposed it.

"We have waited for this day for a very long time," Mr Thaci told parliament before reading the text, paying tribute to those who had died on the road to independence.


KOSOVO PROFILE
Population about two million
Majority ethnic Albanian; 10% Serb
Under UN control since Nato drove out Serb forces in 1999
2,000-strong EU staff to take over from UN after independence
Nato to stay to provide security

In pictures: Celebrations
Kosovo youths eye future
Serb and Albanian views

"The independence of Kosovo marks the end of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia," the prime minister said - Kosovo was a unique case that should not set a precedent.

He said it would be built in accordance with the UN plan drawn by former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari - at the end of negotiations which did not produce a deal.

The international military and civilian presence - also envisaged by the Ahtisaari plan - was welcome, he added.

There should be no fear of discrimination in new Kosovo, he said, vowing to eradicate any such practices - and conveying a similar message in Serbian. President Fatmir Sejdiu had a similar pledge - also addressed in Serbian.

The declaration was then signed by all the MPs present.

Kosovo's top leaders are due to go to a sports hall later where the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra is expected to play Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

They are also due to sign their names on giant iron letters spelling out the word "newborn" which was to be displayed in Pristina.

Fireworks and street celebrations will follow. Thousands of people have poured onto the streets.


Ethnic Albanians write graffiti thanking Croatia for support, in Gnjilane, Kosovo, 16 February 2008

UK soldiers on standby
Legal furore over recognition
Analysis: Anxious Balkans

Some ethnic Albanians, who make up the majority of Kosovo's population, earlier laid flowers on the graves of family members killed by Serbian security forces during years of conflict and division.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica says local and UN police, as well as the Nato troops, are maintaining a high profile to reassure all the citizens of Kosovo that they have nothing to fear.

Limitations

The declaration approved by Kosovo's parliament contains limitations on Kosovan independence as outlined in Mr Ahtisaari's plan.

Kosovo, or part of it, cannot join any other country. It will be supervised by an international presence. Its armed forces will be limited and it will make strong provisions for Serb minority protection.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Unfortunately today Kosovo and Serbia are to become two dispensable chess-pieces of EU/NATO and Russia

Mat, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Send us your comments

Recognition by a number of EU states, including the UK and other major countries, will come on Monday after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, says the BBC's Paul Reynolds.

The US is also expected to announce its recognition on Monday.

Three EU states - Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia - have told other EU governments that they will not recognise Kosovo, says our correspondent.

Russia's foreign ministry has indicated that Western recognition of an independent Kosovo could have implications for the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The UN has administered Kosovo since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 drove out Serb forces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7249034.stm

[Barnabas]

Not that it matters, but I hope Latin American nations dont recognize Kosovo.
I feel sad for Serbia.

Like Afghanistan in the 80´s the USA ended up helping islamic terrorism, altough in Kosovo it was the whole NATO

[BeBMan]

Yeah, they should just have done nothing, ignore the experience from the other Balkan wars before, take some 100000s refugees (like we did during the Bosnian war), and watch a regional conflict spinning out of control again, with more loss of life and an even bigger potential for creating a failed state and a constant and much more serious hotbed for terrorism.

[Barnabas]

Dont you remember what the newspapers were saying back then?

That serbs had killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Finally, none of that was true

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Barnabas
Dont you remember what the newspapers were saying back then?

That serbs had killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Finally, none of that was true

There were a lot of stories flying around, and as we observed in other wars, some were indeed untrue, but enough was too true, like Sebrenica. Serious sources today estimate the bodycount of the Bosnian War at ca. 200000. Yes, there are other estimates, but none of them so low that they'd assume that there was no significant loss of life and some of the most serious warcrimes since WWII there. It's also true that it wasn't all the Serbs fault, but that doesn't change my assessment of the situation I posted above.

[Barnabas]

I meant the 1997-1998 war

Clinton was saying that hundreds of thousands of kosovars were missing and possibly dead. Finally less than ten thousands civilians died, no mass graves, nothing.

[Wezil]

less than 10,000 dead civilians

[BeBMan]

The entire point there was *not* to wait for a 100000 deaths before you do something esp. with the experience from previous wars in the region. I kinda doubt Clinton claimed there were 100000 or more deaths at the start of the conflict.

And btw there were mass graves (mass grave means primarily that there are multiple people buried, there is no "official" number saying it's a mass grave from 10, 100, or 1000 etc. death bodies on) found in Kosovo, often with 10-100 death bodies in it.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by BeBro
There were a lot of stories flying around, and as we observed in other wars, some were indeed untrue, but enough was too true, like Sebrenica. Serious sources today estimate the bodycount of the Bosnian War at ca. 200000. Yes, there are other estimates, but none of them so low that they'd assume that there was no significant loss of life and some of the most serious warcrimes since WWII there. It's also true that it wasn't all the Serbs fault, but that doesn't change my assessment of the situation I posted above.

This has to do what with Kosovo?

Fact is, there was as much a "humanitarian disaster" in Kosovo as WMDs in Iraq.