Quote Originally Posted by tulanealum View Post
I'm all for it...

Why not?

If the UN can allow East Timor to have a referendum on independence and leave Indonesia, why can't Kosovo go free?

Most would say that East Timor was forcibly incorporated into Indonesia in the 1970s when the Portuguese left.
Well, it's not just the Russians who oppose it. The Georgians can't be too happy (South Ossetia), the Spanish aren't recognizing it (Basques), Sri Lanka (Tamil), etc., etc. There's plenty of countries that wouldn't like to see a long-suffering ethnic minority region get its independence. . .

. . .in 15 years would we want the Hispanics to declare Californian independence?

I just consider it a positive sign that Kostunica announced that regardless of Serbian anger over the decision, there would be no violence . . .the Kosovar President said the same regarding the Serbian minority in Kosovo. Given that much of humanity's misery seems to have arisen from the Balkans over the centuries, it's nothing short of an enormous shift that this is happening peacefully.

Matt