Word: kosovo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Today the international community's deadline for the final attempt to hammer out a negotiated solution to the problem of Kosovo's future expired. The international "troika" overseeing talks between Kosovo Albanians, who want independence from Belgrade as soon as possible, and Serbs, who are willing to grant only a greater degree of autonomy, delivered their report on the talks' failure to the U.N. Security Council. The breakdown has raised fears of renewal of violence in the region. But while tensions are indeed rising, there are sound reasons why the worst-case scenarios - including new conflict in the Balkans - probably...
...Kosovo Albanian leaders are anxious to declare independence in coordination with the European Union, even if the U.N. Security Council remains blocked on the issue. The new country, if it is born, will rely heavily on E.U. backing and needs to maintain good relations with European capitals. Several Wstern powers, for their part, are fed up with Russia's and Serbia's refusal to budge on the question and have indicated a willingness to help Kosovo Albanians achieve their goal. And while Serbia has warned that it is prepared to implement tough measures against Kosovo if the province follows through...
...rampant kleptocracy and a series of geopolitical humiliations at the hands of the West. Rising oil prices have allowed Putin to oversee a dramatic turnabout in Russia's economic position, fueling an increasingly assertive, and domestically popular, economic and political nationalism. Whether challenging the U.S. and its allies on Kosovo, opting out of previous arms agreements with Washington to protest U.S. missile defense plans, or using energy exports as a pressure-point against former Soviet territories inclining towards NATO, Putin has had few reservations about standing up to the West. And if the creeping authoritarianism of the Putin...
What he is eager to speak out about is politics. Like most Albanians, Dani still loves the U.S., but "sometimes more the idea than the reality." He's noticed that some U.S. troops in Kosovo come after tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan and bring with them prejudices against Muslims. But his main focus is Kosovo, where he says the "status" question - of when and how to extend independence to the Albanian-majority nation - has become a way for political leaders to distract citizens from more concrete problems. Basic infrastructure is decrepit (electric power is cut twice...
...where you were born and grew up," says Radomir Stojanovic, 67, whose children and grandchildren are still in Serbia proper. "So far, we are free and safe to be back here. But we are still worried." With Dani translating from Serbo-Croatian, Stojanovic tells me the question of Kosovo's independence is by now a chess match between Russia and the U.S., while Serbs and Albanians want the same things: peace and work. He tells how he used to work in a state-owned corner store, and knew all the Albanian residents. "I've known some of them since...