If Serbia wants to disconnect, then that's its choice

ARTICLE: "Serbs See Rift With West if Kosovo Gains Independence: A country's entry into the European Union seems more distant," by Nicholas Wood, New York Times, 16 September 2007, p. WK3.

If Serbia wants to go to the mattresses--in diplomatic terms only, mind you--over Kosovo, then so be it. Backsliding along the seam is to be expected. And if you're telling me Serbia could end up in Moscow's "camp," then I'm really unimpressed.

Setbacks to some, just normal give and take to me. Big point is how anger gets expressed and whether you get back on my security radar or not. If you think Putin and his crowd will do anything for Serbia that costs them anything real, I think you're dreaming. So this is all one great exercise in pissing in the wind. Serbia's always had a pride issue, just like Russia. But again, it ain't a question of you being squeaky, it's a question of whether or not there's any real danger of kinetics being attached. The rest is simply finessed.

Comments

[stuart abrams]

I'm not sure I understand why Kosovo independence has to be pushed so hard. Serbia is really the last outpost of the Gap in Europe. It's been moving along nicely away from nationalism and towards EU membership. If you're going to disrupt that, you ought to have a very good reason for doing so, and I don't see independence for Kosovo as constituting a good reason. As Tom says, "disconnectedness defines danger" - I'm not worried about Serbia joining "Russia's Camp", I just think that having a state in the middle of Europe that is not plugged into the system is bad for everybody (bad for Serbs, bad for Europeans, bad for us). Why push Serbia towards disconnectedness? Independence for Kosovo in the context of EU membership for both Serbia and Kosovo makes sense, but if they're not ready for that, what's the rush?

[Tom Barnett]

Stuart,

That's a very well-reasoned comeback. Fair enough.

Much like Taiwan, you find yourself wanting everyone to push the economic freedom over the political stuff.