Spain will also, as this declaration gives renewed hopes to the Basque separatist movement, however hopefully not to ETA.

Russia will see this as a threat because it undermines its control in the Chechen regions.

Economically I don't see how Kosovo stands to gain from this, it will rely on international aid for some time.

Wow, this'll be pretty huge.

Once more, the Sift is my source of news.

Few years ago nobody in EU dared to stir this mess but seems US interest prevailed after all. Albanians in Kosovo wanted autonomy for a long time but I don't believe they would have gone for it without substancial US backing. Bare in mind that in Kosovo, after the 1999 bombing of Serbia, US has built the biggest “from scratch” foreign US military base since the Vietnam war. There are two main reasons for building Camp Bondsteel:

1. Kosovo is rich in minerals such as copper, zinc and lead and even uranium

2. it is situated near AMBO (Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria Oil) pipeline project. This pipeline would supply oil (monthly deliveries valued at $600 million) from the Caspian Sea basin to Albanian shore and eventualy to the American market. The size restriction for tankers traveling through Bosporus is 150.000 tons while the Otrant straight from Adriatic to Mediterranean can accomodate 300.000 ton tankers. This will also ensure that in the future the US will be less dependant on oil from the Persian gulf. The main investor in this project is Halliburton.

Basicaly, if you look at this map, you can see that all diplomatic and military effort the US put in the countries around the Caspian sea basin, the so called central Asian countries, Pakistan, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and current threats to Iran are all aimed at cutting off Russia and China from access to those rich reserves (many estimate them to be equal to those currently in the Gulf).

Great plan. And quite perverse. I can't blame the Russians for being so pissed off.

BBC reports
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q83D1ZZKaI

Looks like one sifter recently added this story to his queue:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Kosovo-Declares-Independence-from-Serbia-Crisis-looming

Good point Kulpims. Some other factors worth considering, from 'The Absurdity of "Independent" Kosovo' by George Szamuely:

Much as it did before the invasion of Iraq, the United States has said it will do whatever it wants to do -- namely, recognize independent Kosovo -- with or without U.N. sanction. Unlike Iraq, this time the Europeans intend to take an active part in the Easter egg hunt and are as determined to ignore the United Nations as the Americans. Confident that the new state of Kosovo will prove to be a reliable NATO/E.U. satellite, key European countries, and especially the ever-compliant British, promise to recognize Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on the very day it happens.

[...]

Meanwhile, making use of the engineering skills of Halliburton subsidiary, Brown & Root Services Corp., the United States built a giant military base, Camp Bondsteel, covering some 955 acres or 360,000 square meters. The camp also includes a prison. According to Alvaro Gil Robles, Human Rights Commissioner for the Council of Europe, who visited the prison in 2005."

>> ^kulpims:
yeah, great, very humanitarian
it's a good video though, that's why I didn't downvote
read this before you spit all over me for dissin' this
http://www.videosift.com/talk/Kosovos-independence


That's exactly why I promoted it, actually.

>> ^kulpims:
Few years ago nobody in EU dared to stir this mess but seems US interest prevailed after all. Albanians in Kosovo wanted autonomy for a long time but I don't believe they would have gone for it without substancial US backing. Bare in mind that in Kosovo, after the 1999 bombing of Serbia, US has built the biggest “from scratch” foreign US military base since the Vietnam war. There are two main reasons for building Camp Bondsteel:
1. Kosovo is rich in minerals such as copper, zinc and lead and even uranium
2. it is situated near AMBO (Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria Oil) pipeline project. This pipeline would supply oil (monthly deliveries valued at $600 million) from the Caspian Sea basin to Albanian shore and eventualy to the American market. The size restriction for tankers traveling through Bosporus is 150.000 tons while the Otrant straight from Adriatic to Mediterranean can accomodate 300.000 ton tankers. This will also ensure that in the future the US will be less dependant on oil from the Persian gulf. The main investor in this project is Halliburton.
Basicaly, if you look at this map, you can see that all diplomatic and military effort the US put in the countries around the Caspian sea basin, the so called central Asian countries, Pakistan, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and current threats to Iran are all aimed at cutting off Russia and China from access to those rich reserves (many estimate them to be equal to those currently in the Gulf).
Great plan. And quite perverse. I can't blame the Russians for being so pissed off.


BTW, thanks for the background, that makes perfect sense. As usual, truth is found. On the sift.

update: taiwan recognised kosovo's independence yesterday and made china very angry seems like kosovo will be the next, european taiwan since this issue again divided the EU countries... who knows, maybe that's why the US put so much diplomatic effort into making kosovo an independent entity - it's always nice to have some leverage with your competitors... but i'm more interested in what will this mean for serbia since the nationalists are very strong there (serbians despite starting and eventualy loosing the 90s balkan wars didn't go through the same catharsis as the germans did after the fall of 3rd reich, the hague court can't even begin to compare with the nuremburg trials after the WW2 although the hague war crime tribunal was meant to be exactly it). i think the US made balkan it's playground back in the 90s, an expirement like the Mid-East. it's potential strategic value is great, since it covers the entrance from Mediterranean to the Black Sea and is also a buffer zone between the west and islam. US seeks control over the region cause of Caspian oil and whatever else it can squeeze out of it in the process - it's as simple as that. the old oil economy must be sustained for another decade or two for the US to survive it's own brutal economic policy. the only thing that for the moment keeps the dollar money machine going is US's military supremacy and this expansionist politics they run since before WW1. the problem is US has grown from a playground bully to a black trenchcoat kid with yielding a fucking shotgun...

How to combat such atrocious behavior???? Ethnically homogeneous communities should be left the fuck alone, Muslims and all their petty points of contention with their brethren need to have enemas forced upin them until they calm the fuck down, and the countries who use and abuse the most black gold, need to slow their long draws off the nipple to a creep, and perhaps become heroic in a new quest, to eradicate sick, dumb motherfuckers from the planet.....
Like Maaaackmoood Handjob, LIKE Kim Dung Ill......Ethnic tension should be punishable by water-boarding (pulling folks behind fast-boats on a sheet of plywood)

Me??? Moving inland, growing my own food, and hoarding ammunition and gold.....
AND, driving paid for shit, as little as possible. Fuck all if some president can do jack nor shit to change anything-we will probably end up embroiled once again in some clash in the Balkans before it's all said and done, hell, WW1 started with some "damn fool thing" there.......and Thank fucking God, Otto Von Bizzy was right when he mused.."
"There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America. "

oh, and what about the serbs?...all the gypsies, etc-they are getting fucked again as well. Not that the serbs are w/o their "atrocities"....but hey, thank Bill Clinton, and the Nato Goonsquads for playing on human weakness......Politics are for people who have their head shoved so far up their ass they can only see from that limited perspective......

choggie, as always, i don't have a fucking clue what you want to relay here, but i like your style. basicaly my point of view on world affairs goes like: we're all fucked anyway so why bother

interesting story

*quality

Awarding kulpims with one star point for this contribution to VideoSift - declared quality by UsesProzac.