The Real Values in Kosovo
// The price of the question
The problem of Kosovo is not unique. What is unique there? Everything is usual human affairs. Removal of autonomous status within the “mother state,” introduction of the troops of the “mother state,” ethnic cleansing and similar abominations by those troops, “disinterested” help from outside, repulsion of members of the “mother” ethnic group, poverty under the cover of friendly arms and the result? They can't live together and they can't live apart. Who is that? Kosovo? Abkhazia? Maybe Northern Cyprus or Nagorny Karabakh. It's typical everywhere.
The choices for settlement are typical as well. They are all to some degree flawed and the most contentious is the worst. That is declaring the rebellious former autonomy independent without the agreement of the “mother state.” The most dangerous precedent: If one can do it, they all can do it. In teaching states to multiply by dividing, who or what will stop the irresponsible separatists and their backers?
But that is theory. In practice, everything depends on who acknowledges the new “state,” only its sponsor and backer or the majority of neighboring states. In the first case, it turns into a legal pariah, like Northern Cyprus. In the second, a real new state, theoretically illegitimate and most likely nonviable and nationalistic, but in practice a national entity, at least in the eyes of those who acknowledge it.
In that sense, the acknowledgment of independent Kosovo, when and if it happens, will not be a precedent for Russia, which has long backed the Abkhazian separatists. Russia may have risen from its calloused knees, but not so high that it can attract other countries to its choice.
And if someone was able to steal a purse and go unpunished, does that mean we have to follow their bad example? Wouldn't it be better to become an example of a different kind? That of a country trying to help the rebels in the former autonomy cone to an agreement with the “mother” state? And ready to be the guarantor of their hypothetical agreement? There are models of such agreements in international relations. Look at the legal status of the Aland Islands within Finland.
The unbecoming fuss about Kosovo only increases the moral and political value of such a response from Russia. But first, it is necessary to stop the hysteria and ridiculous discussions about how Abkhazia or South Ossetia have as much grounds for independence as Kosovo. In the final analysis, honesty, principles and, a frightening word – disinterestedness are more valuable in international relations than cheap demagoguery and helpless buffoonery.
George Kunadze, senior fellow, Institute of the World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 21, 2007
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