Balkan-medlaren Carl Bildt, Lundin Oil i Albanien och Anna Lindh

Anna Lindh

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Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)

State of Horror
Kosovo’s Prime Minister stands accused of trafficking in heroin and human organs
The Times, editorial 16/12 2010

The youngest state in Europe unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Kosovo’s parliament voted unanimously to secede from Serbia. The recent history of Kosovo had been embattled and bloody, in which Western states played a crucial role. Nato conducted a 70-day bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999 to repel an assault on Kosovar Albanians by Serb forces. Yet the most direct beneficiaries of Western commitment to Kosovo now stand accused of sickening crimes.

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Carl Bildt, Utrikesminister
Därför erkänner Sverige Kosovo

Till sist fick kosovoalbanerna sitt land
Kosovo är en självständig, suverän och demokratisk stat. Grattis!
Födslovåndorna har varit tuffa och tålamodet beundransvärt.
SvD ledarblogg 17/2 2008

Kommentar av Rolf Englund
Nu får vi se hur länge det dröjer innan Kosovo blir en del av Stor-Albanien.

As for the legality of the EU mission, the argument is that there is nothing to stop the EU from taking over from the UN,
as 1244 simply refers to "international civil and security presences".
In addition, it suggests that Kosovo could invite the EU to undertake this role.

The document interprets references in the 1244 preamble to Kosovo being part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and to the "territorial integrity" of Yugoslavia as being non-binding.

The counter-argument by Serbia and Russia is simpler. It is that Serbia, the sovereign state, has not agreed to independence for Kosovo, that there is no Security Council resolution authorising the detachment of Kosovo from Serbia and that therefore its independence is illegal.

Some European Union members - Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania - agree, though they have not blocked the EU mission

Serbia and Russia also say that 1244 itself gives no authority for independence. They point to article 10 of 1244 which authorises "substantial autonomy with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" for Kosovo, meaning, in their view, that 1244 blocks independence.

And they argue that 1244 talks about international organisations being deployed in Kosovo "under United Nations auspices", which an EU mission would lack.
Full text at BBC

Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in December, 1975 among the United States and Canada, the Soviet Union and the countries of Europe (including Turkey but excluding Albania and Andorra). It was signed by 35 countries.
The Act's "Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States" (also known as "The Decalogue") enumerated the following 10 points:

# Refraining from the threat or use of force
# III. Inviolability of frontiers
# IV. Territorial integrity of States
# V. Peaceful settlement of disputes
# VI. Non-intervention in internal affairs
Text at Wikipedia

Nato carried out its threat to bomb Serbia on 24 March,
attacking a sovereign European country for the first time in the alliance's history.
BBC

When Kosovo declares its independence on Sunday,
the territory’s veteran guerrillas will celebrate by flying the traditional black-and-red eagle flags that unite ethnic Albanians everywhere.
Financial Times February 14 2008

The fighters who clashed with Serbia’s security forces in 1999 will unfurl the banners over homes, shops and petrol stations. In the south, they will hang a huge flag over the picturesque Kacanik Gorge, the link from Kosovo to Macedonia and the rest of the Balkans.

But those guerrillas who attend the official ceremony in Pristina, Kosovo’s drab capital, may be disappointed. There will be no eagles on the flags at the official independence celebrations. Indeed, there may be no flags at all.

Under the oversight of the United Nations, which has run the troubled province since 1999, and the European Union, which is due to supervise Kosovo after the UN leaves, the authorities are choosing a flag that could unite the Albanian majority and the Serb and Roma minorities.

They have yet to decide on a final version.

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Kosovofrågan känslig – säger Bildt
Ekot 15 februari 2008

– Det här är inte ett självklart fall. Det här är första gången på nästan hundra år som vi har en genuint ny statbildning på den europeiska kontinenten. Det sker dessutom i former av mycket stark kontrovers både i FN:s säkerhetsråd och i regionen i dess helhet, säger Carl Bildt.

Är det rätt att erkänna ett land som inte har kontroll över sitt territorium?
– Det är där du har problemet, att vi nu har en situation som inte är idealisk. Det hade varit bättre om det funnits en överenskommelse.
Det hade varit bättre om det funnits ett beslut av FN:s säkerhetsråd. Det är sådant som Sverige fäster visst avseende vid.

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Carl Bildt, a good Balkan Swede
The Economist 1999-06-12

/Robin/ Cook was explaining that it is difficult for Britain to commit to the war without UN Security Council approval because the legal advice he had received was that such action would be illegal under international law.
Albright’s response was, simply, ‘get new lawyers.’

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Det är väl alldeles uppenbart vem som startade Första Världskriget?
Kejsaren av Österrike-Ungern - en Habsburgare - undertecknade ordern om angrepp på Serbien.
När EU och NATO angrep Serbien med stöd av Anna Lindh, vägrade Österrike att upplåta sitt luftrum åt EU/NATO.
I Österrike visste man att det kunde gå illa om man angrep Serbien...
Rolf Englund

Alla de som ogillar att Nato ingrep i Kosovo, att respekten för de mänskliga rättigheterna vunnit mark på statssuveränitetens bekostnad och att den internationella krigsförbrytardomstolen fungerar, kort sagt alla de som ogillar att demokratier sluter sig samman, har börjat vädra morgonluft.

Att Natos operation inte genomfördes i strikt enlighet med FN-stadgans ordalydelse är uppenbart. Men
en stor del av statssamfundet accepterade insatsen, den sågs av många som början på en ny rättsutveckling.
Den oberoende Kosovokommissionen, som tillsattes av statsminister Göran Persson, (RE: med Carl Tham, generalsekreterare för Olof Palmes internationella center som vice ordförande) kallade operationen "olaglig men legitim". Det är en viktig distinktion.
DN-ledare 2001-05-20

Tack gode Allah för Europeiska Unionen
EU börjar närma sig sina yttersta gränser, vilket spetsar till frågan om vår europeiska identitet.
Signerat Niklas Ekdahl, pol red DN 6/12 2004

The general view is that prime minister John Major (and Hurd) did a deal with the German government to recognise Croatia in exchange for
Britain being allowed to opt out of the social chapter of the Maastricht Treaty.
DOUGLAS HURD: A revealing guest, FT, August 14, 1999

Russia links Kosovo with Georgia
BBC 15/2 2008 with good links

Convicted Australian al-Qaeda supporter David Hicks was transferred to a high security prison in his hometown of Adelaide on Sunday after spending more than five years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
cnn.com/2007/

In 1999, Hicks traveled to Albania, where he joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary organization of ethnic Albanians fighting against Serbian forces in the Kosovo War, and served with them for two months.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hicks