Your opinion on Kosovo

[Brenus]

What matters for Kosovo is who have influence on their lives. US has a base. Serbia has a minority living there, a historical claim and a legal point about it. Spain and Italy can stop any EU accession, not Japan, not US. So, on a long term, support from Spain and Italy is more important for Kosovo.

And the fact is without Seria's agreement and good will, Kosovo will be always a not legal entity without any future than to be a US base.
Reason why US supports Independant Kosovo.

[Sarmatian]

Japan is powerful country in terms of economy, no doubt. But it's economic influence in the region is almost non-existent, so it can't be used as a point of pressure. Japan also doesn't have an army, it's far away, it's not a member of most important political institutions that will deal with Kosovo, so it's decision to recognize Kosovo or not is not important.

Similar situation as Brazil. They've said they'll only recognize Kosovo if Serbia does. Big, powerful country that's on the rise but it doesn't have the means to project it's influence yet, so it's decision to support Serbia is not so important. I'd even say that support from Greece, as regional power and EU member is much more important than that of Brazil at the moment. Of course, Greek lobby, which is one of the best organized also contributes to this.

This is a short term victory for the US but a long term loss. This allowed Russia, China and India to present themselves as protectors of the rights of small states for the first time after the Cold War, it showed some Balkan countries that they could have same foreign policy goals as Russia which is very important after all bad memories after WW2, it showed that US influence is in the decline and at this time limited to North America and western Europe, it showed that some western democratic governments don't care what their population think and many other issues...

[rory_20_uk]

I think enough British blood is shed sorting out the messes of others already without helping this can of worms.

[Spino]

I think the most important question ought to be.... "Should the rest of Europe and the world even care about Kosovo or the rest of the Balkans?"

The place has been a hotbed of ethnic, religious and territorial strife for a very long time and every attempt by outsiders to bring some semblance of order or stability to the region has either been about as effective as using a bandaid to address a severed artery or has made things worse.

The best anyone can do is to contain the violence to the region and try to mediate, not meddle, in the dealings between the various factions.

[Conradus]

What matters for Kosovo is who have influence on their lives. US has a base. Serbia has a minority living there, a historical claim and a legal point about it. Spain and Italy can stop any EU accession, not Japan, not US. So, on a long term, support from Spain and Italy is more important for Kosovo.

True as this is, it makes no difference to what I've stated. Japan is on worldscale far more influencial than Spain or Italy and that was what HoreTore was referring to.

You're absolutely right on the other hand though. The EU matters to Kosovo and Spain and Italy have a fair amount of power in the EU.