Word: kosovo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...after almost a decade of legal limbo and two years of unsuccessful international mediation, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. The U.S. moved swiftly to recognize the new country, and nearly 2 million ethnic Albanians celebrated their long-awaited freedom, dancing in city streets, releasing fireworks and waving flags. Having bristled under Serbian rule and then U.N. administration, Kosovars were elated by the prospect of at last controlling their own affairs...
...Serbs weren't quite so thrilled. On Feb. 21, some 200,000 protested in Belgrade, chanting "Kosovo is Serbia" and holding placards that read, RUSSIA, HELP. Rioters set the U.S. embassy on fire; Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed never to recognize Kosovo and threatened to support secessionist movements in Georgia and Moldova...
...long ago, the scenes of unrest would have inspired fears of the kind of ethnic violence that devastated the Balkans in the '90s. But these are different times. Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian leaders have belatedly tried to extend an olive branch to the province's aggrieved 120,000 Serbs. In addition to allowing Serbs in northern Kosovo to have their own police, schools and hospitals, Kosovo's new Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, did the unthinkable: he delivered part of his inauguration speech in the hated Serbian language. Even in Serbia, whose citizens feel genuine humiliation over losing Kosovo (which Serb...
...Kosovo matters to our future because it underscores three alarming features of the current international system. First, it exposes the chill in relations between the U.S. and Russia, which is making it difficult for the U.N. Security Council to meet 21st century collective-security challenges. Putin has used the Kosovo standoff as yet another excuse to flaunt his petro-powered invincibility, sending his likely successor, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, to Belgrade to sign a gas agreement. If a firm international response is to be mobilized toward Iran, Sudan or other trouble spots in the coming years, the U.S. will...
...many did. But it's not wholly by chance that Serb fury over Kosovo's secession has outstripped expectations. Serbia's nationalist leaders have been stoking confrontation. For example, surveillance cameras recorded police being ordered to leave their posts minutes before the crowd gathered for the attacks on foreign embassies; some did not return until 45 minutes after the first rocks began to fly. Yet Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica later declared himself satisfied with the performance of his police force, and Transport Minister Velimir Ilic even remarked that the damage done to the embassies pales next to Serbia...