Serbia plots its response
In an emergency meeting Monday, Serbia’s cabinet adopted a “secret plan” for responding to Kosovo’s seemingly inevitable declaration of independence. Though as Reuters reports, the plan really isn’t all that secret: [I]nformation leaked in the three months since the plan was first drafted point to several measures, including cutting off electricity supplies and blocking power ...
In an emergency meeting Monday, Serbia's cabinet adopted a "secret plan" for responding to Kosovo's seemingly inevitable declaration of independence. Though as Reuters reports, the plan really isn't all that secret:
In an emergency meeting Monday, Serbia’s cabinet adopted a “secret plan” for responding to Kosovo’s seemingly inevitable declaration of independence. Though as Reuters reports, the plan really isn’t all that secret:
[I]nformation leaked in the three months since the plan was first drafted point to several measures, including cutting off electricity supplies and blocking power routes for the province, which buys 40 percent of its power from Serbia, as well as a trade and goods embargo.
Serbia could also refuse to recognize Kosovo passports and force travelers to make a long detour to get to Western Europe. It might also withdraw its ambassadors from countries that recognize Kosovo as an independent state.
At first glance, all of these responses seem like plausible courses of action for Serbia—which is desperate to keep Kosovo from seceding but is essentially prevented from taking military action by the 16,000 NATO troops in the region—except for the plan to withdraw ambassadors. Given that the United States and most countries in the European Union plan to recognize Kosovo’s independence, it seems unlikely that Serbia would want to risk antagonizing them and returning to the isolation and pariah status it suffered during the 1990s.
On the other hand, comments by new EU President Janez Jansa indicate that Europe may be backing away somewhat from supporting “total independence” for Kosovo, so Serbia’s leaders may feel that there’s still bargaining to be done. It seems increasingly likely that Kosovo will continue to languish as “undefined” for the foreseeable future.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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