The self-styled declaration of independence of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo last Sunday once again underlined the double standards in modern-day politics. Having bombed Serbia nine years ago under the auspices of NATO, the world's leading democracies then pushed to install a U.N.-administered rule in the breakaway province. The new adminstrators' mandate was officially confirmed by a U.N. Security Council resolution that still recognized Kosovo as part of Serbia.
Fourteen months later, the man whose regime NATO was trying to overthrow, accusing him of "ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians" lost an election that saw him cede power to Serbia's democratic forces. In 2001, Slobodan Milosevic would end up in The Hague to stand trial for his alleged wrongdoings. Five years later, he would die in his prison cell, in the midst of a lengthy courtroom battle during which he often seemed to defeat his accusers. With Milosevic dead, Serbian troops long withdrawn from Kosovo, and its ethnic minority living in fear of reprisals, it would be fair to expect that international community would try to restore fundamental principles of civil society in the province, making it a safe and secure place for all Kosovo citizens regardless of their ethnic background.
None of this happened. Taking advantage of a long-standing political impasse between Belgrade and Pristina, foreign mediators kept pushing the two sides to clinch a deal they knew would never be reached. To solve a decades-long conflict, the two parties got three months - a laughable term by all standards, especially when compared with the similarly complex Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which seems to run interminably. During those three months of talks in late 2007, a myriad of different autonomy concepts - all under a common slogan "More than autonomy, less than independence" - offered by Serbia to Kosovo leaders was rejected each time by Pristina negotiators. They pursued full independence - something their Western sponsors, led by the United States, had promised them on the heels of a NATO bombardment in 1999.
On Sunday, Kosovo declared its independence and it was recognized by Washington the next day. A host of other nations, including Albania, followed suit, but the sweeping recognition that Pristina was counting on is still missing. The decision divided the European Union as several of its member nations have potential flashpoints of interethnic violence and separatism. Monday's extraordinary session of the U.N. Security Council produced one of the most humiliating moments in the body's 63-year history as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon awkwardly dodged the question regarding his attitude toward Pristina's move before saying it was an affair of each country to decide on its own. The weak posture of the U.N. chief further minimizes the role of this organization, which has seen its reputation of a just international arbiter shrink in the past decade in a world dominated by one global superpower. Encouraging Kosovo's independence bid didn't cost Washington much - its image of a global promoter of democracy was lovingly embraced by local separatists, while (in case the recognition of a self-styled state triggers another major Balkan crisis) it will be Serbia and Europe having to deal with the consequences.
In a wider context, this issue will serve as a litmus test: in order to promote Kosovo into a fully fledged member of international community, its U.S.-led sponsors will need to by-pass again the aforementioned U.N. resolution from 1999 that still considers it part of Serbia. To accede to such bodies as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the International Olympic Committee and many others, Kosovo needs to become a U.N. member first. This time, it will take more than Ban Ki-moon's awkward mumbling to mandate such membership. This will put to test the supreme rule of international law, which in the past was a beloved mantra of Western promoters of peace and democracy.
Should the U.N. once again bow to pressure from Washington, it may be just the right time to consider scrapping it for good. After all, it's going to hurt less than watching hypocrisy triumph again.
PS: While burning KFOR checkpoints may not be the best of ways for Kosovo's ethnic Serbian minority to express its anxiety and anger over recent events, global democratic leaders should think twice before voting to award a chair to Kosovo on New York's East River. In the Basque country, Quebec, Belgium, northern Cyprus, Georgia and many other places across the globe, they have TV sets, too, and are watching. Telling them Kosovo is different and unique won't work. That's the price you pay for being a hypocrite, I guess.
By Bojan Soc
