"Serbia Cautions U.S.,EU Not to Recognize Kosovo, Jeremic Says"

By Marie-Louise Moller and James G. Neuger
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a2msW8hP0l7A&refer=europe

It seemed to be more of a threat than a caution by Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic for the United States and the European Union not to recognize Kosovo as a sovereign nation if they declare formal independence by the end of the year. While technically a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been under international control since 1999, and "run by a UN diplomat with roughly 16,000 NATO troops policing the area." Serbia's reasons for not supporting Kosovo's fight for independence is that it could spark more territorial disputes among other nations in the Balkans, as well as break up the progress that has been made toward Serbia's acceptance to the European Union. Jeremic says that by allowing Kosovo to declare independence the Serbian nationalists who "oppose closer ties with the EU would be further emboldened against the idea." The problem is that many EU governments are in favor of Kosovo's break from Serbia, as seen by the UN Security Council's attempt at negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo (which Russia blocked). "The blueprint for formal independence would have given Kosovo a flag, an army, and access to international financial institutions."

As my former article stated, the issues that are involved with the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia is where the international world will stand if the problems elevate to violence, as well as the affects on the world stage which would not be isolated to the Balkans. Many European nations want to see Kosovo as an independent state, however, countries like Russia strongly oppose the idea. With neither side budging on its desires, can a resolution even be agreed on diplomatically? I don't know that such an issue will be resolved without Kosovo's fight for independence. If this occurs, will the nations of Europe along with the U.S. again be pitted against Russia and those nations in the Balkans that support Serbia? Time will tell if an agreement can be reached, and a short time at that, with Kosovo saying it will formally declare independence from Serbia by December 10th if nothing has been settled. Meaning that unless Kosovo receives independence from Serbia before December 10th, they will declare themselves independent no matter what.