Failure. ⇒
22 February 2008, early afternoon
"A true cause for celebration in Kosovo would involve Serbs acknowledging the reality of Albanian dominance in the provice, and Albanians acknowledging the preciousness of Kosovo to the Serbs — and reaching a compromise based upon autonomy and respect rather than secession and pain." (I've been posting lots of links on Kosovo, as I think this is pretty interesting. This short post sums up my opinion on the matter.)
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
It’s a really interesting thing to happen. I haven’t followed it closely but I saw a piece on the news where they were interviewing random people in Kosovo and getting their reaction.. They seem genuinely happy and full of optimism. I don’t know enough about the politics/ethnic issue to comment but that was nice to see…people feeling empowered, ‘in command of their own destiny’ as one of them put it. I hope it works out for them.
by Ananthan on February 23 2008, 6:15 pm #
Ram…I wish that could happen too…the unfortunate thing is that people of the Balkans hold grudges. And how can you not when members of your family are butchered? Cultures of the East have long and hard histories…
Ananthan, they did it on the bloody backs of Serbs. There is a whole real side that the west is not privy to. Serbs suck at propaganda…but the US is excellent at it.
The good thing is that internet is providing a forum for discussion and reporting by regular people to share information and opinions. In many cases more reliable than the general media.
Don’t kid yourself, no one is innocent in Kosovo.
In war, the first casuality is the truth.
Albanians are not downtrodden and victims of Serbian nationalism…if they were, how did they get to be a majority?
These are some seriously common sense questions people don’t ask.
You see how in this city we allow little enclaves of culture to flourish? With signs in their own language, excluding the language of the land they live in?
This is how it starts…and then next thing you know, you’re a foreigner in your own land in certain parts of the city or country.
Canada needs to think long and hard about Kosovo…because we have Quebec.
by radmila on February 24 2008, 11:15 am #
the unfortunate thing is that people of the Balkans hold grudges. And how can you not when members of your family are butchered?
This is the problem in Sri Lanka and so many other places. At some point you are just fighting just for the sake of fighting. Maybe one can make the case for killing the particular person that killed your family member; trying to make the case that whatever ethnic group the murderer belonged to is culpable as a whole from now till the end of time just doesn’t make any sense. It’s stupid nationalism that stops any sort of reconciliation. I think in particular the Balkans would be a much different place if not for Milosovic and his nationalist agenda.
Serbia knew that Albanians were pushing for independence for some time now. There seems to have been no effort made to try and keep the country together. Maybe that’s just my view of things from the West.
Albanians are not downtrodden and victims of Serbian nationalism
I agree you can’t make the case Albanians are downtrodden within Kosovo, but you probably can with respect to the larger region.
by Ramanan on February 25 2008, 11:02 am #
Human Rights Watch has lots of articles on how various minority groups in Kosovo are currently being treated.
by Ramanan on February 25 2008, 1:51 pm #
I think we can agree that eastern countries have a hard time interpreting human rights…especially since most are coming out of socialist or communist regimes..which is ironic, don’t you think?
I think that sometimes we get confused about what we preceive as a human right and what is an individual right.
No doubt that Albanians are not treated well outside of Kosovo, because of Kosovo…however, non Albanians are not treated so hot by Albanians in Kosovo.
I agree that everyone should “just get along”, but it’s hard to do with mob mentality that has fuel that is so fresh.
But, I don’t have to tell you that seeing that you understand the situation in Sri Lanka from your own family’s experiences and perceptions.
It’s easy for me to look from over here in my comfortable home with no fear for my life, and no blackouts or sanctions. But, anyone can be tipped into mob thinking when we’re pressured by circumstances, and politics.
We’re Canadian…we just don’t do that sort of thing.
by radmila on February 25 2008, 7:50 pm #