User:The Devil's Advocate/GeneralMusings

This page is devoted to laying out my opinion on issues where efforts to gain consensus are most divisive and accusations of bias are made most frequently. Essentially, this serves as a guide for anyone looking to suss out where my opinions actually lie so that they do no accuse me of pushing a POV I do not actually hold. It is, in essence, my attempt at full disclosure for any user interested in the same topic area as me.

Kosovo and the declaration of independence
As far as I am concerned Kosovo is an independent country. This is the truth about which there can be no dispute. I believe in the end Serbia will have to recognize Kosovo as an independent country which will then proceed to join the UN. At the same time I do not believe Kosovo had any claim to a right to secession in Yugoslav or international law. I also do not believe the unilateral declaration of independence and subsequent recognition by my country and other Western countries was the right way to resolve the status issue. My personal belief is that Kosovo should have, in fact, remained a part of Serbia but in a similar manner to associated states with Russia, the U.S., and EU serving as guarantors. Part of the reason for my opposition to the declaration is my reasoning that this act of unilateral secession is going to have profound global reverberations in other unrecognized or partially recognized states as well as further heightening tensions between the United States and Russia.

While I consider Kosovo to be an independent country as a matter of convenience I also view it in more practical terms as a colony of the UN given the authority of UNMIK. The EULEX mission to me would simply mean a turnover from a UN colony to an EU colony with the International Civilian Representative serving as a sort of Governor-General with essentially dictatorial powers, the Bonn Powers, which ultimately has the aim of moving Kosovo on a path towards "European integration" insuring Kosovo ends up as a part of the EU superstate. In this respect, I also have a negative opinion of Kosovo's independence as an apparent result of Euro hubris.

All the same, in spite of everything else, I would have supported Kosovo being granted independence directly following the Kosovo War. I feel in the end, much like the War in Iraq, people will question whether we should have just finished it when international opinion was in our favor.