Word: kosovo
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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...
Vujovic was hardly alone in embracing that cause. Since Kosovo's declaration of independence on Feb. 17, thousands of demonstrators across Serbia and Kosovo have taken to the streets. They have thrown grenades at the United Nations courthouse in northern Kosovo, destroyed two customs posts, and clashed with ethnic Albanian police. Student demonstrators have rallied daily along the Ibar River that divides Serb from Albanian areas in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, chanting, "Kosovo is Serbia!" and "Kosovo is ours!" For Marko Jaksic, head of the Serbian National Council in Mitrovica, such action is not optional; a failure...
...targets of this latest round of Serb bitterness are the mostly Western countries - around 20, so far - that have officially recognized Kosovo as a new state. The Serbian government itself, diplomats say, may have indirectly sanctioned the brazen attack by hooded protesters on the U.S. embassy and other Western embassies. Belgrade is also taking steps to undermine the fledgling state itself by encouraging the partition of Serb-dominated areas in northern Kosovo. Though a new Balkan war seems unlikely, Kosovo's birth is proving messier than its backers expected. And Serbia, which had been edging toward membership of the European...
...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...