[AlbClub] Kalendar: "Independent Kosova: Regional Implications"

[era18 at aol.com]

The Balkans Series event:





 





Independent Kosova: Regional Implications





 





Monday, 28 January 2008, 12:00pm–1:30pm





Columbia University
1219 International
 Affairs Building
420 West, 118 Street
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212-854-9713







 





Elez Biberaj, Managing Director, Voice of America Eurasia
Division





 





With the collapse of the Troika mediation efforts and the UN
Security Council’s inability to agree to a solution of Kosova’s
final status, Albanians are poised to declare the region’s independence.
Hashim Thaci, the former rebel leader who was elected prime minister on January
9, 2008, has indicated that Kosova will take this momentous decision within the
next several weeks – most likely after the Serbian presidential elections
– and in close coordination with the United States and leading European
Union members that have expressed support for Kosova’s independence. Serbia, supported by Russia,
strongly opposes Kosova’s independence and is insisting on further
negotiations, although it is clear that neither Belgrade nor Prishtina seem willing to
compromise on the fundamental questions of sovereignty over Kosova.





 





The imminent declaration of Kosova’s independence
raises serious questions. How will Serbia react to the loss of Kosova?
Will the declaration of Kosova’s independence strengthen Serb
nationalists’ arguments for northern Mitrovica’s secession from
Kosova and Srpska’s from Bosnia?
Will an independent Kosova lead to regional stability, as Albanians and their
supporters argue, or will it lead to confrontation and regional
destabilization? Is an independent Kosova a viable state? Will Kosova serve as
a precedent for Abkkhazia, South Osssetia, and
other potential secessionist regions?





 


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