The Guardian 27 February, 2008
Kosovo:
A dangerous and illegal declaration
The dangerous waves from the unilateral and illegal declaration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo is already encouraging separatist movements in a number of countries. For that reason and for the fact that the declaration is an illegal act and a violation of UN resolution 1244, a number of states are refusing to recognise the Kosovo declaration. They include Spain, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Argentina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Sri Lanka, China and Russia. Many other countries are expected to follow this course. It is clear that Kosovo will never be admitted to membership of the United Nations.
Orchestrated by the US, France, Britain, Germany and Italy, this flagrant violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and UN decisions, the declaration of independence will encourage ethnic disturbances in many countries and relegates the United Nations and its decisions. It shows that the countries recognising the act of independence have no concern for the United Nations and its decisions and are prepared to tear up the UN Charter whenever it suits their ends. This also goes for the Australian government which has already indicated that it will recognise an "independent" Kosovo.
This relegation of the UN had already been demonstrated by the Australian government’s support for the invasion of Iraq and in sending so-called "peace-keeping" forces to East Timor which are outside the command of the UN forces stationed in that country which are there by decision of the UN Security Council.
Many warnings have been voiced by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as to the far-reaching and disruptive consequences of Kosovo’s declaration. His warnings have been dismissed out of hand by the Bush administration. In a situation in which the US is steadily losing its influence in the world — politically, economically and militarily — the encouragement of separatist ethnic movements and the stirring up of conflicts within many countries suits the interests of the US leadership.
In the meantime massive demonstrations have taken place in Serbia and in the Serbian occupied northern areas of Kosovo. NATO has already rushed in troops to impose its diktat on Kosovo and to ensure that a puppet state is created that will be mostly run by the drug mafia and criminal gangs that are engaged in people trafficking and have been running amok in Kosovo for some time. The Prime Minister of Kosovo is Hashim Thaci, who was educated in Zurich, Switzerland. His sister is married to a mafia boss.
Taiwan has recognised Kosovo, attempting, thereby, to justify the claim by some that Taiwan should be independent of China. Turkey is another to grant recognition. The Turkish government is likely to invade Kurdistan Iraq as soon as the winter weather ends. The puppet government of Afghanistan is another extending recognition and, of course, the neo-fascist governments of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
Another aspect of the declaration that is never mentioned by the Western media is that Serbia stands to lose billions of dollars worth of property, minerals, agricultural land and forests. Much of this wealth was state property which is now going to be thieved from Serbia and will, almost certainly, end up in the pockets of big international corporations.
According to the World Bank, the value of mineral resources in Kosovo is more than US$19 billion?(AU$20.6 billion). UN experts think that lignite deposits amount to 8.3 billion tonnes, Serbian experts put the figure as high as 14 billion tons. Tin and zinc deposits are estimated at 42.2 million tonnes (74 percent of Serbia’s deposits). There is nickel and cobalt, bauxite and magnesium. Kosovo has a sizeable amount of silver, iron and rare minerals. There are gold, platinum and copper deposits. Lignite deposits alone are estimated to be worth 13.5 billion euro?(AU$21.7 billion).
Who is going to compensate Serbia for these losses?