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Given Serbia's political instability, they question the harm of a short-term postponement - albeit mostly self-inflicted. But delay only offers more room for Kostunica to find ways to make a security council decision more difficult. The west must ignore Belgrade's siren song. Serbian politics will be chaotic and unstable for the foreseeable future, and Serbian politicians will attempt to present this as an excuse to avoid facing the loss of Kosovo. Likewise, there will be problems establishing ties between Serbia and Kosovo under any circumstances. But failure to proceed definitively now on Kosovo's final status will produce a worse Balkan situation, one that blocks Serbia's move toward the west and ultimate membership in the EU, condemns Kosovo's ethnic minorities to dangerous ambiguity, and imperils fragile states like Bosnia and Macedonia. No realistic solution exists for Kosovo but independence. If Serbia wants to join the west, it must not forsake that opportunity b
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No realistic solution exists for Kosovo but independence. If Serbia wants to join the west, it must not forsake that opportunity by trapping itself in its nationalist past. Morton Abramowitz, a former US assistant secretary of state, is senior fellow at the Century Foundation in Washington. James Lyon is special Balkans adviser for the International Crisis Group stationed in Belgrade.
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BTW RUSSIA VOTED
NO
, SHOCKING THE US ENVOY. Status? no one knows now.