Word: kosovo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...nearly two centuries, hundreds of thousands of Gurkhas have been plucked from the foothills of the Himalayas to serve primarily in the British and Indian armies. They have often been given dangerous frontline duties in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, the Falklands, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. The British army has awarded more than a dozen Victoria Crosses to Nepalese soldiers over the years, but despite the job's prestige at home, Gurkhas have long complained of being treated differently from native soldiers. For decades, Gurkhas have struggled with the British government for parity of pay, pensions, and perks, and more recently...
...press conference held Monday at the Spanish naval base of Rota, Chacón denied any mistakes in the Kosovo incident and emphasized that the decision to withdraw was "intractable...
...That something was apparently communication. The decision to pull Spain's troops from Kosovo seemed to be made both suddenly and without previously discussing it with Spain's allies. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer expressed his disapproval on Friday. "Any significant change in the size or structure of KFOR should be the result of a decision within the Alliance," he said through a spokeswoman. U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood went further, saying, "We are deeply disappointed by this decision taken by Spain." Coming almost exactly five years after Zapatero's decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq...
...answer, says Antonio Remiro, professor of international law at Madrid's Autonomous University has to do with what's going on in Kosovo now. "NATO is starting to help form the embryo of an independent Kosovan army," he says. "They're reinforcing civil institutions too. It's become more and more contradictory for Spain to be a part of that since they don't recognize Kosovo's independence...
...adults' table of foreign affairs, this embarrassing episode makes Spain look a little amateurish. But the withdrawal is not likely to permanently undermine the country's rapprochement with the U.S., says Sartorius of the Alternatives Foundation think tank: "Obama and Zapatero have a lot more in common than Kosovo...