I always enjoy looking at the opposite of what the MSM is selling us. And could it be the same about Kosovo?
Now, just because there's an alternative view, is it based on anything beyond simple surmise? Well, this Counterpunch article seems pretty interesting, when you couple the idea of a big US base in Kosovo
http://counterpunch.org/...
with the need to make the Kosovars our darlings, if you ask our favorite Clinton-era diplomats. But there's more....
For instance, as early as July 12, 1982, Marvine Howe reported to the New York Times that Serbs were leaving Kosovo by the tens of thousands because of discrimination and intimidation on the part of the ethnic Albanian majority:
"The [Albanian] nationalists have a two-point platform," according to Beci Hoti, an executive secretary of the Communist Party of Kosovo, "first to establish what they call an ethnically clean Albanian republic and then the merger with Albania to form a greater Albania.
Mr Hoti, an Albanian, expressed concern voer political pressures that were forcing Serbs to leave Kosovo. "What is important now," he said, "is to establish a climate of security and create confidence."
Yep, that story's from 1982. Now Milosevic was a thug. And I think parsing out whatever's going on in the Balkans takes a helluva lot of patience. But the above looks rather prescient, don't it?
The Serbs can still be guilty of ethnic cleansing but a read of the above article might just lead you to think anew about it, that Albanians might be guilty of ethnic cleansing as well of course.
Who benefits? And who suffers if they are anti-US and how in fact do they suffer?
I'm not sure it helps any family where there's been murder by any nationalist of any stripe, but declaring independence will only anger the Serbs. Though most have been driven out of Kosovo, that is the region they look to as their ancestral homeland. Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if they strike back.