What an interesting event occurred on February 17, 2008. Kosovo declared its independence, with recognition quickly being granted by the United States, Germany, France, and several other European Union members.
How utterly repugnant.
American foreign policy has always been difficult and heady to follow. Especially when recognizing the nationalist aims of countries. Declaring in his Fourteen Points that free peoples should be allowed to develop autonomously. While not guaranteeing that each nation should have its own state, as has been claimed. Outside of the Fourteen Points, Wilson did state the aim of his foreign policy ideals:
It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression.
Notwithstanding British and French colonial agitations, as well as the short-sightedness of giving every nation free and unfettered access to the sea (including Serbia!), Wilson was applauded publicly and loudly for his Points, even if the proposed League of Nations ultimately failed.
But American foreign policy seemed to twist and turn as the political winds blew. For example, the United States did not immediately set out to establish a state for each nation in the former Grand Duchy of Austria-Hungary. Nor did it grant Bosnian Serbs the right to reunify with the Serbian state after the military conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Yet, after Clinton led American and NATO power in aiding and abetting in establishing a de facto independent state for Albanians in the province of Kosovo (and it should not be forgotten that Kosovo is a province of Serbia, not a former federal state that comprised the state of Yugoslavia), the Shrub and the United States automatically granted Kosovo recognition on the day it was declared.
We're pretty aware that this is merely a power play between the Shrub and the Bear. Putin's strong-arm tactics against the European Union (from threatening natural gas supplies to pressuring Poland and the Czech Republic on the issue of the missile defense system the U.S. proposed to the Russian stance on Serbian territorial integrity) have been called. Shrub recognizes Kosovo in spite of Russian belligerence. What can Russia do?
We shall see.
Lest we forget, what other states have peoples that aim for creation of their own states? Is the Shrub going to recognize them all? Here's a short list:
Spain:
The Basques want their own country.
The Catalans want a greater autonomy if not independence.
France:
Again, the Basques.
Romania:
The Transnistrian region (also spelled Trans-Dneister) is a de facto independent state.
Russia:
The Chechens have waged two bloody conflicts and conducted terrorist activities for independence.
Georgia:
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia have de facto independence.
And that's just a short list. How much political gambling is Bush willing to do when it comes to Russia? And how far is he willing to go?
The Kosovars should recognize they are mere pawns in this game. An awful, repugnant game.