U.S. takes note, Russia wants declaration scrapped
WASHINGTON, MOSCOW -- The United States took note of the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanians.
Source: B92, Beta, DPA
Close the entire text of the article here
The United States welcomes the Kosovo government's "clear commitment" to carry out provisions of Ahtisaari's plan that aim to protect ethnic minority communities in Kosovo, McCormack said Sunday.
He repeatedly mentioned the U.S. commitment to safeguarding the rights of the Serb minority, outnumbered nine to one by ethnic Albanians.
The U.S. administration is reviewing Kosovo's move and discussing it with its European partners, McCormack said in a statement.
"The United States calls on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and to refrain from any provocative acts," McCormack said.
The Bush administration has staunchly backed the Ahtisaari plan despite opposition from Russia and Serbia.
But Russia has reacted with a strong condemnation of today's move by Priština, and sought urgent session of the UN Security Council on Monday, where it wishes to see "decisive and efficient measures taken in order to return the Kosovo question to the political level."
A statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the unilateral declaration of independence breached Serbia's sovereignty, the UN Charter, Kosovo's constitutional framework, and agreements made within the Contact Group.
Russia wholeheartedly supports the Serbian authorities' reaction and their just demands to renew the country's territorial integrity, the statement said.
In the meantime, President Vladimir Putin's press service said that any state that may recognize Kosovo Albanians' unilateral declaration of secession will be committing an illegal act, and that Russia will "no doubt activate all possible international mechanisms to counter this."
Russia paid the price of international law as we know it today with 20 million Russian lives. Serbians lost 1/4 of their population in WWII fighting for the same cause. US and EU are very shortsighted if they think that warnings from Russia or small but defiant Serbia mean nothing. For those people this law is written in blood and has more weight than an average not well read western diplomat can understand. Unleashing the ideas that killed the league of nations before WWII is going to be very painful for the west. The politics in the west is still being created by few rich families that carry the same ideas they had 70 years ago, look at allies and policies, and victims (Serbians again, from the same enemies like in WWII) and it will be clear.
(Anand, 18 February 2008 09:40)
Dear albs,
what do you think those govnts that stated that they might not recognise kosovo at an early stage meant?
That they want to see where the wind blows and then act. They want to maximize their good relations with everybody!
Well, this "wind" blows east ;)
(Pyrros, 18 February 2008 09:12)
"Just a note to Albanians - don't count on UN seat - both Russia and China have the veto power.
In fact, do not count on joining ANY international body where Russia has a veto power."
What are you so worried about then? Why are you still kicking and biting? You have the "mighty" Russia in your side, you shouldn't worry about a thing!! And China too!!
Is anyone paying for the damage at Slovenian embassy? After all there was no cause for all this commotion since you believe that Kosova is Serbia. Or maybe those thousands people that ransacked the embassy are the only ones that think otherwise!
(miri, 18 February 2008 05:51)
Guys,
USA and the EU are playing very dangerous game with Russia.I know that people (USA and EU) don't care too much for the Serbian in a way that they will not take seriously any kind of serbian plans for the Kosovo (even if they are military) because, face it guys...we,Serbia, are small country and we can't change a lot in this matter, however, HOWEVER, Russia and China are worlds great powers, and they can change the face of the world for good. It's just sad that USA still thinks that it has superiority over Russia when Russia has technology that is above the US's...telling about this from the engineer perspective. Once again, USA and EU are playing very dangerous game here and I hope we all don't live to see the aftermath of all of this.
(PP, 18 February 2008 05:15)
I don't know about China. China got in the UN through the repeated efforts of Albania. No matter how small or big effect Albania's lobbing had to make China a member of the UN it was through one of Albania's yearly proposals that China made it to the UN. When things get calmer a couple of years from today they might return the favor. As for Russia to be realistic I see Kosova/o becoming a UN member only in the case of a restructuring of the UNSC where no members holds a veto, other than that the chances for the foreseeable future are very close to zero. However what really matters to us Albanian is not the UN, although we would like to be part of it. What matters to us is that we got rid of Serbia's clutches.
(johny, 18 February 2008 05:03)
I absolutely agree. Scrapping good relations with Russia over Kosovo will very soon look like an extremely high price to pay.
Just a note to Albanians - don't count on UN seat - both Russia and China have the veto power.
In fact, do not count on joining ANY international body where Russia has a veto power.
(BKK, 18 February 2008 00:00)
Well, looks like stage 2 has started. This is where Serbia and Russia need to diplomatically blitzkrieg the front that supports Kosovo independence. This should make those sitting on the fence think twice! Lets see which nations are law abiding and which are not!
It seems that Serbia and Russia want to flex its muscles to the rest of the world in the name of "international law".
We all know how much Russia has "invested" in Kosova, financially and politically and now it time to tell Russia to "mind its own business".
(EA, 17 February 2008 23:18)
I absolutely agree. Scrapping good relations with Russia over Kosovo will very soon look like an extremely high price to pay.
Just a note to Albanians - don't count on UN seat - both Russia and China have the veto power.
In fact, do not count on joining ANY international body where Russia has a veto power.
(BKK, 18 February 2008 00:00)
Well, looks like stage 2 has started. This is where Serbia and Russia need to diplomatically blitzkrieg the front that supports Kosovo independence. This should make those sitting on the fence think twice! Lets see which nations are law abiding and which are not!
It seems that Serbia and Russia want to flex its muscles to the rest of the world in the name of "international law".
We all know how much Russia has "invested" in Kosova, financially and politically and now it time to tell Russia to "mind its own business".
(EA, 17 February 2008 23:18)
I don't know about China. China got in the UN through the repeated efforts of Albania. No matter how small or big effect Albania's lobbing had to make China a member of the UN it was through one of Albania's yearly proposals that China made it to the UN. When things get calmer a couple of years from today they might return the favor. As for Russia to be realistic I see Kosova/o becoming a UN member only in the case of a restructuring of the UNSC where no members holds a veto, other than that the chances for the foreseeable future are very close to zero. However what really matters to us Albanian is not the UN, although we would like to be part of it. What matters to us is that we got rid of Serbia's clutches.
(johny, 18 February 2008 05:03)
Russia paid the price of international law as we know it today with 20 million Russian lives. Serbians lost 1/4 of their population in WWII fighting for the same cause. US and EU are very shortsighted if they think that warnings from Russia or small but defiant Serbia mean nothing. For those people this law is written in blood and has more weight than an average not well read western diplomat can understand. Unleashing the ideas that killed the league of nations before WWII is going to be very painful for the west. The politics in the west is still being created by few rich families that carry the same ideas they had 70 years ago, look at allies and policies, and victims (Serbians again, from the same enemies like in WWII) and it will be clear.
(Anand, 18 February 2008 09:40)
Guys,
USA and the EU are playing very dangerous game with Russia.I know that people (USA and EU) don't care too much for the Serbian in a way that they will not take seriously any kind of serbian plans for the Kosovo (even if they are military) because, face it guys...we,Serbia, are small country and we can't change a lot in this matter, however, HOWEVER, Russia and China are worlds great powers, and they can change the face of the world for good. It's just sad that USA still thinks that it has superiority over Russia when Russia has technology that is above the US's...telling about this from the engineer perspective. Once again, USA and EU are playing very dangerous game here and I hope we all don't live to see the aftermath of all of this.
(PP, 18 February 2008 05:15)
Dear albs,
what do you think those govnts that stated that they might not recognise kosovo at an early stage meant?
That they want to see where the wind blows and then act. They want to maximize their good relations with everybody!
Well, this "wind" blows east ;)
(Pyrros, 18 February 2008 09:12)
"Just a note to Albanians - don't count on UN seat - both Russia and China have the veto power.
In fact, do not count on joining ANY international body where Russia has a veto power."
What are you so worried about then? Why are you still kicking and biting? You have the "mighty" Russia in your side, you shouldn't worry about a thing!! And China too!!
Is anyone paying for the damage at Slovenian embassy? After all there was no cause for all this commotion since you believe that Kosova is Serbia. Or maybe those thousands people that ransacked the embassy are the only ones that think otherwise!
(miri, 18 February 2008 05:51)
I absolutely agree. Scrapping good relations with Russia over Kosovo will very soon look like an extremely high price to pay.
Just a note to Albanians - don't count on UN seat - both Russia and China have the veto power.
In fact, do not count on joining ANY international body where Russia has a veto power.
(BKK, 18 February 2008 00:00)
It seems that Serbia and Russia want to flex its muscles to the rest of the world in the name of "international law".
We all know how much Russia has "invested" in Kosova, financially and politically and now it time to tell Russia to "mind its own business".
(EA, 17 February 2008 23:18)
Well, looks like stage 2 has started. This is where Serbia and Russia need to diplomatically blitzkrieg the front that supports Kosovo independence. This should make those sitting on the fence think twice! Lets see which nations are law abiding and which are not!
Dear albs,
what do you think those govnts that stated that they might not recognise kosovo at an early stage meant?
That they want to see where the wind blows and then act. They want to maximize their good relations with everybody!
Well, this "wind" blows east ;)
(Pyrros, 18 February 2008 09:12)
"Just a note to Albanians - don't count on UN seat - both Russia and China have the veto power.
In fact, do not count on joining ANY international body where Russia has a veto power."
What are you so worried about then? Why are you still kicking and biting? You have the "mighty" Russia in your side, you shouldn't worry about a thing!! And China too!!
Is anyone paying for the damage at Slovenian embassy? After all there was no cause for all this commotion since you believe that Kosova is Serbia. Or maybe those thousands people that ransacked the embassy are the only ones that think otherwise!
(miri, 18 February 2008 05:51)
Guys,
USA and the EU are playing very dangerous game with Russia.I know that people (USA and EU) don't care too much for the Serbian in a way that they will not take seriously any kind of serbian plans for the Kosovo (even if they are military) because, face it guys...we,Serbia, are small country and we can't change a lot in this matter, however, HOWEVER, Russia and China are worlds great powers, and they can change the face of the world for good. It's just sad that USA still thinks that it has superiority over Russia when Russia has technology that is above the US's...telling about this from the engineer perspective. Once again, USA and EU are playing very dangerous game here and I hope we all don't live to see the aftermath of all of this.
(PP, 18 February 2008 05:15)
I don't know about China. China got in the UN through the repeated efforts of Albania. No matter how small or big effect Albania's lobbing had to make China a member of the UN it was through one of Albania's yearly proposals that China made it to the UN. When things get calmer a couple of years from today they might return the favor. As for Russia to be realistic I see Kosova/o becoming a UN member only in the case of a restructuring of the UNSC where no members holds a veto, other than that the chances for the foreseeable future are very close to zero. However what really matters to us Albanian is not the UN, although we would like to be part of it. What matters to us is that we got rid of Serbia's clutches.
(johny, 18 February 2008 05:03)
Russia paid the price of international law as we know it today with 20 million Russian lives. Serbians lost 1/4 of their population in WWII fighting for the same cause. US and EU are very shortsighted if they think that warnings from Russia or small but defiant Serbia mean nothing. For those people this law is written in blood and has more weight than an average not well read western diplomat can understand. Unleashing the ideas that killed the league of nations before WWII is going to be very painful for the west. The politics in the west is still being created by few rich families that carry the same ideas they had 70 years ago, look at allies and policies, and victims (Serbians again, from the same enemies like in WWII) and it will be clear.
(Anand, 18 February 2008 09:40)