Your opinion on Kosovo

[KarlXII]

A poll/debate to see what our fellow Orgahs think of Kosovo.

[Tribesman]

What is Kosovo ?
Its an ever changing place in an ever changing world .

[Gaius Scribonius Curio]

I'm going to vote Gah!

It's my understanding that it is not an independent nation, but at the same time I thought it was pretty much autonomous. I understand that an area can be autnomous but still dependent, but to be honest I'm completely confused by the whole situation.

[RabidGibbon]

There are never any easy answers in the Balkans.

Whilst I know nothing about the ethnic populations (or rather which people would claim to be a part of which ethnicity) in the Balkan region, I feel recent events in this region show how empheral the concept of the modern nation state is, in a similar manner to many African nations which collapse when those suspicously straight lines on the map turn out to be the invention of their former colonial overlord.

Are the current Balkan problems a result of the collapse of the Ottaman or even Byzantine Empires? How much historical precedent can any nation claim? A Serbia existed before the US of A. But the territory that makes up Kosovo has been possesed by an awful lot of nations over an awful lot of time.

At the current time (As I have heard, from perhaps fallible sources) an Albanian migrant population has acheived the majority in Kosovo and voted for independence, and is it not a right of peoples to determine their own future, even if they are immigrants? Or should an immigrant always be a guest? If I was being a Troll (Which it appears I am doing) the current albanian population of Kosovo has as much right to declare independence as the english population of the thirteen colonies had in 1776. After all various Indian tribes already had time honoured claims on that stretch of land.

At the end of the day, in order to present my opinion on Kosovo, I've tried to illustrate the problems that show themselves in any question of independence. When you start talking about who owned any piece of land at any time, should it be up to an international tribunal, in which case a welsh man might turn up with a UN offical and tell me that me that 1000 years ago this was his tribal hunting ground, so it's his house now, and I owe him 17 deer and half a plow as backdated rent, according to the doomsday book? Or should it be up to whoever at the current moment has enough armoured vehicles and AK-47 weilding thugs to blast the other fellow off what he claims is the sacred territory of his ancestors?

I suppose the only other option is that we all just live side by side and get along with each other. But thats just plain ridiculous, isn't it?

[PanzerJaeger]

No clue at this point.

I do know that these nations are truly doing themselves a disservice by splitting up into smaller and smaller territories instead of learning to get along. Yugoslavia would have been far more viable, or, dare I say, Austria-Hungary.

So while each ethnic group's fight for, and eventual gain of, independence may be a noble endeavor; what they are left with are nations so small that they have no bargaining power on the world stage, so war-torn that they have little economic capacity, and so tumultuous that foreign investors look elsewhere.

This is why I don't mind the current problems with the realignment of Eastern Germany. In the long run, the people and the territory gained far outweigh the current issues having to be dealt with in bringing the East on line.

[Conradus]

Considering that they've declared their independence and are recognised by quite a lot of countries, I'd say they're a independent nation. If they should be, that's another question entirely.

[Viking]

No clue at this point.

I do know that these nations are truly doing themselves a disservice by splitting up into smaller and smaller territories instead of learning to get along. Yugoslavia would have been far more viable, or, dare I say, Austria-Hungary.

So while each ethnic group's fight for, and eventual gain of, independence may be a noble endeavor; what they are left with are nations so small that they have no bargaining power on the world stage, so war-torn that they have little economic capacity, and so tumultuous that foreign investors look elsewhere.

This is why I don't mind the current problems with the realignment of Eastern Germany. In the long run, the people and the territory gained far outweigh the current issues having to be dealt with in bringing the East on line.

Exactly; not a clever move. But a move they can make, none the less.