When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Belgrade on Oct. 30, 2012, she made it clear to Serbian president Tomislav Nikolić that the United States would not accept any changes to Kosovo’s borders. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
“In particular, the Parties shall fully respect the sovereign equality of one another, shall settle disputes by peaceful means, and shall refrain from any action, by threat or use of force or otherwise, against the territorial integrity or political independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina or any other State.“
In the Rambouillet negotiations, Serbia’s territorial integrity was not important at all. In this agreement, we would have a referendum within three years where only those who lived in Kosovo, not the entire population of Serbia could vote about the future status.
Well, we tried to bomb them into submission, but in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 Kosovo is not given independence or prospects of a referendum to decide the future of the province. In 2003 we introduced “Standards before status,” then the pogroms happened on March 17 and 18, 2004, and Kosovo unilaterally declared their independence on Feb. 17, 2008.
In accordance with their support for separatists in the Balkans, the US was among the first to recognize this new state, of course after the beacon of democracy, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Later, on March 28, 2008, my country Norway recognized Kosovo even if Norway has absolutely nothing to gain from this, and we have no national interests in Kosovo. The only reason for a Norwegian recognition of Kosovo would be to appear as good allies to the US. After all, Norway was a loyal NATO member when we went to war against Yugoslavia in 1999, and as a loyal NATO member, a Norwegian recognition of Kosovo was inevitable.
Now, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton has come to Belgrade and Priština in an attempt to blackmail Serbia into submission. When they urge Serbia to “normalize relations” to Kosovo, this is just a code word for an intense political pressure on Serbia to recognize the new state state we created.
With such statements, Clinton and the international community block any sensible solution where Serbs and Kosovo Albanians could sit down in an open dialog. Blackmail does not lead to stability.