Word: kosovo
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...Serb, I empathize with my compatriots' anger and frustration over losing Kosovo. But as a reporter who witnessed the atrocities against ethnic Albanians in the '90s, I can understand that the vast majority of them would under no circumstances accept living under Serbian patronage, even though Milosevic is dead and Serbia is now a democracy. And as for setting a precedent, I don't think that Kosovo's independence would have much effect on the rest of the world - and frankly, I don't really care...
...deeply concerned about something else: what kind of country has just been created, and what kind of life its citizens will have. Kosovo holds three European records: it has the highest unemployment, the worst infant-mortality rate and the lowest living standards on the Continent. The latest Human Rights Watch report chronicles widespread oppression and discrimination of non-Albanian ethnic minorities - Serbs, Turks and Roma - along with organized crime, rampant corruption and a dysfunctional justice system...
...that's not enough, Kosovo already faces its own separatist movement: Serbs in northern Kosovo, many of whom were evicted from their homes in revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians, don't accept being dominated by Pristina for exactly the same reasons Pristina refuses to be dominated by Belgrade. With the backing of the Serbian government, they are resolved to keep their territory - some 15% of Kosovo - within Serbia...
...instead of stabilizing the Balkans, the creation of Europe's youngest state could be paving the way for future troubles. How things turn out largely depends on the European Union, which just decided to dispatch some 2,000 police officers, prosecutors and judges to Kosovo. Their goal, in essence, is to establish the rule of law in Kosovo so that the 15,000 NATO peacekeepers currently deployed there can go home. The E.U. must also keep an angry and frustrated Serbia on the path toward European membership, because that prospect is just about its only inducement to good behavior toward...
...dearly hope that E.U. officials know what they're doing, and that they're up to this challenge. Declaring Kosovo's independence was easy, but making it a decent place to live will be a long haul. The price of failure will be paid in the lost lives and torched homes that have become a tragic pedal note to recent Balkan history. And this time, it would not be quite as easy to blame the Serbs...