Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Double Standards on Russia-Kosovo

By J. Victor Marshall
August 27, 2008

In Russia even more than in America, “Kosovo” rhymes with “I told you so.”

Many Americans don’t realize that the former Serbian province of Kosovo, which broke away in 1999 after US-led NATO forces bombed Serbia for 78 days, helped set the stage for the recent conflict between Russia and neighboring Georgia.

Read on.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I fully agree with Mr. Marshall. I was wondering why nobody does a serious comparison between Kosovo with South Osetia, when they are very close situations.
Recognizing Kosovo was a very dangerous precedent. My country, Spain, didn't recognize it, but many others did.
Modifying frontiers is very risky, international law is based on the respect to every country sovereignity. I have always backed up US, even in Irak, because I believed the reasons Bush gave. But I am starting to feel a deep frustration with last US actions and decissions. Russia has only followed the way that US opened, and nobody that recognized Kosovo can now blame Russia, only what ones we warned against it.

Anonymous said...

I totally disagree with Marshal. Russia is rogue state bringing misery and systematic violation of human right within its borders and everywhere it reaches abroad. Those separatist territories are artificially created by Russia in order to increase its influence in energy-important Caucasus . See the Russian foreign ministry statement. They base the "right" for those region to exist on the USSR's Constitution, for Christ sake!. The USSR's constitution declares that the whole world should become part of USSR. And, after Russia took the international legal heritage of USSR, they haven't denounced this claim.
Please, awake!

Ivanov

Anonymous said...

Russia is not USSR, and in this case Georgia has been the "rogue" state at attacking a weaker region and killing many civilians. It surprises me how people, as Ivanov, forget, deliberately or not, who attacked the first.
What if Serbia attacked Kosovo and NATO fighted for protecting them?
The expansion of NATO to the eastern countries closest to Russia is a high risk play. What if Russia now signs some kind of alliance with Cuba, Venezuela, or the much more powerful Brasil? The fact is US and european countries can influence a lot on the evolution of Russia. It is easy to foresee that Russia could become an authoritarian country, but the question is if US and Europe are working for avoiding this future or for the contrary.

Sal

Anonymous said...

To Ivanov,

It'a amazing how you can be so narrow minded in ovelooking all the facts in order to justify your hate or antagonisam toward Russia.

Russia is rogue state, you said, by whose standards? USA government standards? Would you mind telling us what "international legal heritage" both Bushes and Clinton have had to wage brutal wars and occupy Iraq and Avganistan and bomb Serbia PROPER for 72 days until succeeding in occupying part of her teritory? To you it's justified to lie to American people that Serbians killed over 100,000 Kosovo Albanians so they "have to intervene", but coming up with less that 3,000 causalties of all ethnicity (not just Albanians) after the occupation of Kosovo. To you the government is not rogue if feeds lies to its citizens in order to justify killing over 2,000 innocent civilians by bombing NON military targets in Serbia such as hospitals, bridges, TV stations... the whole infrastructure of a country. But, also to you, Russia is rogue because she intervened AFTER Georgian govermnent bombed and physically INVADED South Otesia?
In your mind USA and NATO governments and major media are the most honest in the world, and Russians are just liars. Get real, please! Most likely you will never wake up, but you should, if you are seeking real truth.

Auriel Ragmon said...

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as my saintly grandmother used to say. But of course we think we are the biggest goose!

Anonymous said...

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as my saintly grandmother used to say. But of course we think we are the biggest goose!