The point I’m making time and again is that Kosovo Albanians do have the right to self-determination based on the 1974 Yugoslav constitution. Period. No if’s, no but’s. Kosovo (and Vojvodina, mind you) was recognized by this constitution as an integral part of Yugoslavia, with direct representaiton in all federal organs and while Kosovo’s, shall we say, sovereignity was executed within Serbia, it was not executed through Serbia.

I’m fully aware of the fact that even in 1974 Serbia and its leadership felt disenfranchised by the constitutional changes, but fact of the matter is that the constitutional change was aimed at reducing inter-nationalist tensions which were already abundant at the time. Furthermore, the 1974 constitution was passed legally, whereas it’s reversal in 1988 was not. And this is why I say that the 1988 Serbian constitution was passed illegaly.

Namely, the 1974 Constitution provided for a specific procedure of constitutional changes, which included that any change of Kosovo’s status be approved by a 2/3 majority of Kosovo Assembly. This did not happen, but Serbia nevertheless enaced the change. The same went for Vojvodina, by the way. So Belgrade indeed gave, but it did not take away within the procedure provided.

And thus, Kosovo’s autonomy was abolished, because after 1988 there was no autonomy to enact in the first place. And why do I concentrate on 1974-88 period? Because, 1974 is the last (and therefore the only applicable) legal ground for every event regarding dissoulution of Yugoslavia.

You claim that Kosovo Albanians abused control that was given to them. I can’t speak to that, you may be right, you may not. I don’t know. What I do know is that Slobodan Milošević abused power that was entrusted to him and that he incited a wave of nationalism which ultimately destroyed Yugoslavia. He was given a Serbia which excersiced a weak control over Kosovo, and now - for wars later - we have a Serbia without Kosovo. Even Miroslav Šolević, one of Milošević’s henchmen in Kosovo conceeded that much.

Kosovo didn’t need to become independent. But once Milošević got the ball rolling, its independence became inevitable.

As for everything else, especially regarding the “traditional” Serb territory, I realize this is a touchy subject, but history is a harsh mistress, and modern day Serb rule in Kosovo was enacted only after the 1912 Balkan war. I know all about 1389 and Vidovdan, but half of millenium does change things profoundly. You can’t just continue where you stopped 550 years ago and say “this was mine forever”. Had that been the case Slovenia might as well claim entire teritory of Carinthia. Guess what the Austrians would say about that.

@Michael N: you say Kosovo Alb secession would not involve the destruction of the state. Well, actually it would in those areas where the secession occurred. And secession is occurring wherever the Albanians feel they can make it happen. Hope they never rent a room in your house!

@ Dr Filomena: I understand your feeling in 1999 that the NATO bombing was justified. I just feel that you came to that conclusion on the basis of systemic misinformation from the mainstream media. I’d like to address that separately.

@Pengovsky, so far I haven’t replied to your more strategic points partly because there’s so much in them I would contend that is inaccurate. But let’s address some examples:

“As all nations, Kosovars too have a right to self-determination and their drive for an independent Kosovo is far from recent”.
- Pengovsky, please, get real: firstly there is no such animal as a “Kosovar”. The very word looks to me like CIA-speak. Designed for native English-speaking US audiences (a) to give a falsely antiquated image of the Albanians who live in Kosovo (b) to present them as somehow ethnically different from the rest of the Albanian nation. Which they clearly are not.. Call them Gogs if you like, but “Kosovars”? Come on!
Hence given that there’s no such thing as a Kosovar nation, then a Kosovar right to “self-determination” is also non-existent. Dammit, they didn’t even self-determine their own alleged name! You, therefore, are either propagating, or falling for, propaganda.
As for the “drive” by the Albanians in Kosovo to turn this Serbian territory into their own possession, you must know what their “drive” involved. Especially when, as you say, Tito gave this traditional Serbian territory
“its own administration, judiciary, assembly, police, League of Communists, eductational system, media - and perhaps most importnatly:…equal representation in all federal organs”
He also gave this area these particular administrative boundaries, by the way. And he did all of this to weaken Serbia by dividing it. Communist-imposed division you would legitimize. Because, like you, the Comintern also railed against a (bourgeois) “Greater” Serbia, and ordered it to be carved up. And Tito implemented the essence of that Comintern 1928 conclusion.

Tito’s resultant Comintern-inspired division in effect gave the Albanians full control over Kosovo. So what did they do with this control?
Well, they abused it – continuing to cleanse some 150,000 people in the period from 1961 to 1988. A short space of time; a time officially called peace; a time before Milosevic, and a time well before the wars of the 1990’s. A time of Alb control filled with the horrors of Albanian extremist-perpetrated murder, rape, arson, destruction and ethnic cleansing aimed against all things Serbian in this Serbian province; a time when the Albanian authorities condoned what was being done, and when Albanians even coined the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’ to describe it.
Milosevic became popular in Serbia by being the first to publicly articulate what was going on in this Serbian province, and acting to stop it. Then Kosovo’s Albanians, shorn of their ability to oppress, moved into a parallel world of their own; not driven from their jobs, but simply refusing to turn up for them; not forced to abandon their language, but refusing to attend state institutions even though the Serbian state provided them with education in their Albanian mother tongue. Not lacking rights but refusing to exercise them.

You describe this action taken to stop the ethnic cleansing of non-Albs as “illegal”, stripping “Kosovo of its autonomy, transfering all decisions about the future of the region from Priština back to Belgrade.”
Well, you may be interested to know that you’re wrong on all counts. Kosovo’s Alb population was deprived of the judicial and legislative powers conferred in 1974 because of the thousands of acts of violence its extremists were perpetrating and its men in power condoning. If ever there was a case where more direct rule needed to be reimposed by the state, it was re. Kosovo province. And that’s why the legal decision to do this by adjusting the constitution accordingly was taken by Serbia and all the other republics forming the then Yugoslav government, including Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and your own republic of Slovenia.

But Kosovo’s autonomy was never abolished, only curtailed to prevent the abuses described. Only its federal status was abolished, and right to overrule the rest of Serbia at federal level (a kind of Balkan West Lothian question). At the end of the day, what Belgrade gave Belgrade was entitled to take away. As for example Britain has often reimposed direct rule from London over Northern Ireland for infinitely less reason without bringing into question its right over the province.
Why you should ignore the infinitely longer period when the current territory of Kosovo was just part of Serbia, and arbitrarily focus on the contradictory constitutional provisions of the 1974-1988 period to build a case for separating this part of Serbia, while ignoring also the dark events in this period, is for you to answer.

http://www.drfilomena.com/

Pengovsky, thanks for letting me post this here! I wouldn’t normally solicit visits from other blogs, but on this issue, I truly would like to see the response…

But to aswer your question: What’s next? This would probably demand a whole new post but I imagine it would include a more or less permanent military presence of the US and/or the EU, possibly the Russians as well. It would also mean rapidly developing democratic standards and institutions on Kosovo, perhaps most of all, a solid civil service which would be spread throughout the region and would be monitored by the EU directly (say, the Belgians ;))

It would also mean giving the Serb minority an extremely large political and cultural autonomy, preserving and developing their heritage and identity, but aslo develop mechanism to integrate, rather than separate both societies.

I think every woman would prefer a sugger daddy to a sadistic stalker.

Obviously everyone is playing an angle here. Including Serbia and Slovenia.

i say: bravo! but what next?

as for oppressed people being rewarded with sovereign rule over a particular territory…i am a black american, we were promised 40 acres and a mule each when slavery was abolished. needless to say we never got it, but if you are now saying that we actually have a legitimate claim to an even larger parcel of land, then sign me up! i know a few native americans who might be interested in the deal too, please have the UN give us a call and tell us when we can kick those other guys out of our house.