BBC NEWS | Europe | Split EU meets to debate Kosovo
EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to seek a joint position on Kosovo's independence declaration.While the major European powers are widely expected to recognise Kosovo's independence from Serbia, several other countries have strong reservations.
Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Spain have expressed anxiety about the signal that recognition might send to separatists.
Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians celebrated with fireworks late into the night after parliament's declaration.
Slovenia's Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, chairing the EU meeting, said "I understand many of the member states will recognise" Kosovo.
His British and French colleagues insisted Kosovo was a unique case and called for EU unity on the issue, the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports.
La realidad es que no sabemos qué va a pasar a partir de ahora. En primer lugar porque Rusia apoya a Serbia y rechaza la independencia de la zona, lo que puede desencadenar otro enfrentamiento con Rusia (por si ya no había suficientes). En segundo lugar, EEUU, por un interés geoestratégico de desgaste del aliado de Rusia, apoya a Kosovo, exactamente igual que, por el mismo interés geoestratégico de control de Oriente Medio, apoya la entrada de Turquía en la UE. Ambos intereses, sin embargo, pueden ser totalmente penosos para Europa, como cuenta Aquiles:
este proceso de independencia paulatina logrado por Kosovo puede ser empleado (y aquí acierta Putin) por otros movimientos secesionistas existentes en otras partes del planeta para legitimar su causa, como puede ser aquí el caso vasco, en Francia el caso de los corsos, o el de los osetios en Georgia. No digo que sean situaciones equiparables, sino que puede ser empleado como argumentario por los movimientos secesionistas de otras partes de Europa y Asia ya que además esta “independencia” ha contado además con el apoyo de gran parte de los países occidentales.
Rusia ha comenzado a redireccionar el tráfico energético hacia el este (China, Japón y el este asiático), y Gazprom está dispuesta a financiar un gasoducto que enviaría gas desde Irán a Paquistán y La India. Este acuerdo Ruso-Iraní haría muy difícil la intervención de EEUU en caso de conflicto entre Irán e Israel.
Así, con la tripleta Rusia-China-Irán, y con la mitad de Europa sometida a los rusos mendigando su gas, EEUU estaría muy cerca de ver cumplida la profecía que el geopolítico inglés Sir Halford John Mackinder pronuncio en 1904: la Teoría del HeartLand.
What's the problem? That Russia is angry, not only because of Kosovo's independence, but also because of the Eastern European countries are going to be the soil to the US missile defense system, Poland having already agreed to it. So Putin is already redirecting gas reserves to China ( hmm ;) ), Irán (hmmmmm ;) ) and in general the Eastern Asian countries (India, Japan...), forming the new axis: Russia-China-Iran. An axis that is nothing but the worse thing that can happen: an autocrat, a communist and an "mystical" islamo-fascist, all of them united.
¿La política europea debe estar sometida a los que tengan gas o petróleo? No, pero lo está. Mientras que no se aproveche el potencial energético nuclear, Europa seguirá siendo dependiente de cualquier dictador que se precie. ¿En este caso tiene Putin razón? Sí, creo lo mismo que Aquiles, pero no por la cuestión energética, si no por el peligro que supone, no sólo para el resto de países, si no sobre todo para los serbios que vivan en Kosovo "independiente".
Must European policy be dependent from the countries which have gas or oil? No, but it is. Only if European Governments understand than we must use the energetic nuclear potential, we would be freed from any dictator/autocrat who has gas or oil. Is Putin right? Yes, I agree with Aquiles, but not because of the energetic question, but because of the danger this poses not only to other countries, but to the Serbs who are still living in this "independent" Kosovo.
The United States should be worried that Russia, China and OPEC oil-producing countries could use their growing financial clout to advance political goals, the top U.S. spy chief told Congress on Tuesday.
They do not understand they are just digging their own grave: not supporting Russia never (they could have supported Russia in Kosovo's affair, doing what they had to do, and calm down the relations a bit) they are causing Russia to fall on China's embrace. Something that is not even strange, considering the growin influence of China in Siberia... because of the reserves of gas and oil that are the real target of Chinese Communists. Curiously, China is doing there the same thing Alban-Kosovars have done in Kosovo: massive immigration which has caused a change even in the name of Vladivostok, which is now known by its Chinese name. Surely this worries Putin a lot and it's another reason not to support Kosovo's independence, as China is not Serbia...
And this is also related with US support to China about Taiwan. As Madrid Pundit writes, US can stop any oilship which passes through the Strait of Taiwan as the have their US Navy stationed in Taiwan. But that has precisely made China support all and each one of the dictadors throughout the Globe if they have oil or gas (or other materials) specially if they are near: that is why they supported the Burmes Junta's repression of the Saffron Revolution , has built a huge mega-oil pipe from Turkmenistan and has halted any control on the Iranian nuclear program. Farther we have Chinese support in Sudanese genocide in Darfur, helping Nigeria to launch a satellite not considering the excess of Sharia Law in the country, the agreements with Chávez, the trip to Africa and South America (including Bolivia)... With a special political-appeal: China is not asking for respect for Human Rights or democracy to the countries it is having relations with. Something entirely convenient for dictators such as Zimbabwean Mugabe.
These are the consequences of a globalised world: Kosovo's independence can actually make the Chinese influence to grow in the world because of Russian opposition to the project and Western support to it...
(+) La embajada de EEUU ha sido atacada en Belgrado. h/t Jawa Report. Los causantes son los serbios que se oponen a la
- elle inciterait nombre d’Etats dans le Monde à défier le droit international et le statu quo des frontières reconnues, faisant imploser pléthore d’Etat fragiles et multiculturels, pas uniquement en Afrique ou en Asie ou en Amérique latine, mais jusqu’à nos démocraties pacifique. (incitará a varios Estados en el mundo a desafiar el derecho internacional y el status quo de las fronteras reconocidas, haciendo explotar una plétora de Estados frágiles y multiculturales, no sólo en África o en Asia o en América Latina, sino también hasta en nuestras pacíficas democracias).
- Elle pourrait provoquer le retour des guerres ethniques dans les Balkans et rompre le fragile équilibre instauré depuis la guerre du Kosovo (puede provocar el retorno de las guerras étnicas en los Balcanes y romper el equilibrio frágil instaurada desde la guerra de Kosovo).
Even leaving aside the question of international legitimacy, however, there is another still more fundamental reason for insisting that Kosovo did not become independent yesterday and will not be independent for the foreseeable future – if indeed ever. In its resolution, the Kosovo parliament declared that Kosovo is an “independent and sovereign state.” But in the very next sentence it states that this declaration is occurring “in full accordance” with the famous “Ahtisaari Plan” for Kosovo’s final status: so-named for UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Now, even a cursory glance at the Ahtisaari Plan – which can be consulted in full here – makes obvious that it does not in fact foresee independence for Kosovo, but rather what has been euphemistically described as “supervised independence.”Kosovo is, needless to say, to be independent from Serbia – which de facto it has been, in any case, since the close of the NATO bombing campaign in June 1999 – and it is to have its “own” constitution and its “own” political institutions. But these political institutions as a whole are to be subjected to the higher authority of an “International Civilian Representative” invested with dictatorial powers. The International Civilian Representative or “ICR” is empowered, for instance, to annul any laws or decisions adopted by the local Kosovo authorities and to “sanction” or outright dismiss public officials. Lest there be any doubt about where the ultimate authority in Kosovo resides, the International Civilian Representative is to serve simultaneously as the “Special Representative” of the European Union.
”We’ll strongly warn against any attempts at repressive measures should Serbs in Kosovo decide not to comply with this unilateral proclamation of independence,” Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said ahead of an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, called by Moscow.
Advertimos contra cualquier intento de tomar medidas represivas si los serbios de Kosovo no cumplen con la proclamación unilateral de la independencia.
La cuenta atrás para otros movimientos semejantes ya ha comenzado: los separatistas vascos y catalanes ya han alabado el ejemplo de Kosovo. Pero la política exterior pésima del Gobierno socialista hace que España, en su posición contraria a la independencia, no tenga mucha influencia. Es curioso: ni Francia ni Gran Bretaña están muy preocupados por el apoyo que han dado a Kosovo. Y tanto uno como otro tienen problemas semejantes: Francia con los corsos (ya veremos con los vascos) y Gran Bretaña con los escoceses y galeses.
Albanians are seen passing a banner which reads, ‘Kosovo Is Free’, in the Albanian capital of Tirana, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008. People throughout Albania were celebrating Kosovo’s independence Sunday, as the national flag fluttered from state buildings and private homes alike. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)
Un comentarista en HotAir dice lo siguiente:
Kosovo’s going to have to work awfully hard to keep Serbian minorities from seceding themselves.
Kosovo va a tenerlo realmente difícil para impedir que las minorías serbias se secesionen a su vez. Esto va a ser la leche…
Pues algo así puede pasar con el País Vasco y Álava