map here
NYT “Washington memo” reminding us that roughly 1,500 US troops still help keep the peace in the Balkans, along with 8k other troops (mostly European).
And still Kosovo wobbles, 11 years after Milosevic fell and two years after the small nation declared its independence—the last of the breakaways. The recent International Court of Justice approval of that declaration pissed off Serbia and Russia, but so be it.
The key thing is that:
Kosovo, at least, is largely free of the violence that tore it apart two presidents ago, and Mr. Obama can afford to leave it to his vice president or secretary of state, both of whom played a role in the 1999 war. But it remains unnerving to those in Washington with their eyes on larger problems that the impasse continues to defy efforts to move on.
Oh boo-hoo. Recovery and full resolution is a generational affair—quelle surprise!
What's clear to me: the fight over the kids ain't over. Check out the Serb-heavy slice to the north. If Kosovo wants the clean break, it needs to break off that chunk and send it on its way.