Kosovo and the United States

Well a couple of weeks ago, Kosovo declared it's independance. Now, I know a lot of people think it's absolutely wonderful that people are now "free." However, there is more going on with the situation than, really meets the eye.

For years, we have heard the same story. The Serbians were massacring the Albanians, and we saved the Albanians from a genocide. While I am not one to defend the Serbs, because they weren't innocent by any means. The "genocide was more than a little bit exaggerated. Plus, you have a situation where, once the Serbian army left, the Albanians have hardly treated the Serb minority nicely. There is tons of information out there, about how the Albanians have been burning churches, desecrating graves, and all in all not exactly being kind neighbors. Also nobody talks about the Serbs that left Kosovo and have not been able to return.

The real problem with Kosovo is the precedent it sets. According to international law, one group of people cannot just leave their country unilaterially. Once we start going down that road, the splintering can be never ending. For example, right now in Kosovo, there are a few Serb majority areas in the North, and these people would like to split from Kosovo and rejoin Serbia.

My biggest fear with this whole Kosovo issue is that it's sidelining the United Nations. I know that the United Nations is not very popular with many Americans, but I think the UN is really necessary. Personally, I believe in international law, not because I don't think international law couldn't be wrong. But I think it's absolutely necessary that nations agree on certain standards that everyone must live by. Having some sort of guidelines and a rule book for all, I think can really prevent a lot of wars and conflicts. Since the UN represents all the recognized nations in the world, it is the place where international law should be discussed and enforced.

My feelings are that the people of Kosovo would not have declared independance without the backing of the United States. Since the United States is currently the most powerful nation on earth, there isn't much a smaller nation like Serbia can really do about it. However, it really bothers me that my country is ignoring international law. Why? Because I fear that eventually our country is going to go to far. You can already see resentment building in the rest of the world towards our actions and this resentment worries me. I don't necessarily believe we always be as powerful as we are now, and I think that if we were less powerful, we ourselves would want the comfort of international law.

However,
That's Just my Opinion
Bekalynn