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.

People say Kosovo has been part of Serbia for centuries.

But it's not true. Kosovo was captured by Serbia during the First Balkans War in 1912. Before that, it was part of the Ottoman Empire from about 1470 onwards.

Before that, it was part of Serbia...maybe you've heard of the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389 that is the Serb national day. It was really a draw and the Ottomans didn't take control of Kosovo until the 1470s. So, before Columbus discovered the West Indies, Kosovo was part of Serbia...but that was a long time ago.

So the Serbs took it from the Ottomans.

The majority of people in Kosovo have been Albanians for some time. They were left out of the new Albanian state (as was half of the ethnic Albanian population in the Balkans) when Albania was created before the 1920s. Kosovar Albanians have been a majority for some time...and they do not like Serbia or being part of it. They have been discriminated against in their own home area for some time.

Now, there have been Serbs in Kosovo for some time too...centuries...but they are a declining population...Serbs from Serbia don't want to live in Kosovo and a lot of Kosovo Serbs were leaving before the war...no jobs!

So, do you force a people who have already fought a guerrilla campaign to stay in a country they don't want to be part of...a people who have for all purposes been free for the last 9 years...and watch the situation blow up again...or do you gamble and give them independence, something that once Kosovo is split (the northern part was part of Serbia proper until Tito changed the borders in 1946) will lead to more stability, or do you try to have Serbia come back in and fight another war.

Borders change...they always have...and this really is the best way forward...for all the Serbs say about Kosovo, ask them if they will move to Kosovo...and the numbers they had demonstrating in Belgrade today, well...10,000 isn't much for a nationalistic demonstration in Serbia.

The Serbs know it's over...they may not want to admit it, but they know...but they'll make a big deal of it and add it to their martyr mentality...I mean, besides the Catalans, who else has a national defeat as their national day?