Isn't Russia going to annex these places, a bit of a difference then Kosovo., also was Kosovo a part of Serbia or Yugoslavia, when it existed.
Posted at 2008-08-27 18:30:00 [PermaLink]stephen Reeves: A letter sent to the Globe and Mail today:
'You write in your editorial "Faking independence" (August 27)
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that "Kosovo was never legally part of Serbia, but was rather an autonomous component of the Yugoslav federation, which dissolved in the early 1990s." Not so.
Serbia acquired Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. It became an integral part of Serbia with no autonomous status. In 1946 it was given the status of an autonomous province within Serbia under the first constitution of Tito's Yugoslavia; but that autonomy was essential a fiction. The 1974 constitution gave the province real autonomy though still legally within Serbia. In 1989 Slobodan Milosevic amended the Serbian constitution (while federal Yugoslavia still existed) and effectively revoked that autonomy.
Even the UN Security Council, in Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999 after the NATO attack on Serbia, only stated that Kosovo should "enjoy substantial autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (Serbia still kept the formal name "Yugoslavia" at the time).
In fact the status of Kosovo as an autonomous province of Serbia from 1946 to 1974 was very similar to the "autonomous" status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia within Georgia during most of Soviet rule.
It is also noteworthy that the other autonomous province of Serbia, Vojvodina, retains that status today.
References:
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The last link gives the 1974 constitution--see Paragraph 6. on the right which gives the included Serbian constitution and explicitly states that Kosovo is an autonomous province of Serbia.'
Mark
Ottawa
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Putin just gave an interview to C.N.N., where he claimed that Bush orchestrated the war in Georgia in order to favor the election of McCain. He also maintained that Americans were fighting alongside Georgian special forces and that they would not have done so without the o.k. of their superiors.
If he is willing to make such wild charges,I'd take anything he said about this crisis with a grain of salt. Its now clear that his ambitions go well beyond the breakaway republics of Georgia.
Here's the link to the C.N.N. story, followed by a link to a story in the London Times.
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This isn't about who started what, its about what Russia can TAKE and when. I think the West should immediately start making noises about recognizing the independence of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia. If Kosovo is the precedent then its THE precedent. Meanwhile NATO should FLOOD Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics with arms.
Posted at 2008-08-29 17:23:01 [PermaLink]