Article: Time To Decide About Kosovo
By Morton Abramowitz
Newsweek International

The United Nations will soon take up the thorny issue of Kosovo. Should it become independent? The answer is 'yes.'

March 19, 2007 issue - Once again the Balkans are on the world docket. Few are paying attention, but the stakes are high: the stability of the region, the reliability of international promises, the credibility of the United Nations. We need to get the right answer.
The question, of course, is Kosovo. U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari has drafted his plan for "supervised" independence, severing the southernmost province of the former Yugoslavia from Serbia to join Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro among the tribe of new sovereign states. In Vienna this week he will make a final effort to convince Kosovars and Serbian leaders that it is in their best interests to sign on. The next stop will be the Security Council, which must decide what to do. One temptation will be to call for continued negotiations among the "parties." That would be a disaster for the region, the West and the United Nations. So would any Serbian effort to promote the partition of Kosovo.

The case for independence begins with Serbian misrule, culminating in massive ethnic cleansing. In 1998-99, Serbia's military drove nearly a million Kosovar citizens from their homes. Even most Serbs recognize they can never rule the land again, however reluctant they are to let go. Just as clearly, Kosovo's uncertain status generates instability throughout the region. Without resolution, neither Kosovo nor Serbia will be integrated into the EU—essential to their ultimate reconciliation as well as their economic growth. There's also a new phenomenon at work. The Albanian peoples of the Balkans are a rising power, not only in Kosovo and Albania, where they are in the overwhelming majority, but also in neighboring Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. It is in Europe's interest to focus their energies on building their own countries, rather than on uniting their disparate communities into a single Pan-Albanian nation. And that's a strong possibility if the international community mishandles Kosovo.

The United States and its European allies share blame for creating the limbo that Kosovo finds itself in. To bring NATO's 1999 war to a quick end, the allies negotiated Security Council Resolution 1244, which eliminated Serbian control of Kosovo but retained its formal sovereignty—even as the United States, in particular, effectively promised Kosovo its independence at some unspecified future time. The Americans reasoned that dictator Slobodan Milosevic would soon lose power and a new democratic Serbian government would face reality—wrongly, as it turned out. Largely neglected since then, Kosovo in 2004 erupted in violence, this time with Serbs as victims, stimulating the West to move, however glacially. For much of the past year, U.N. negotiators led by Ahtisaari have gone through the excruciating charade of trying to bring Belgrade and Pristina to a compromise. No Serbian leader would dare sign on to independence, and no Kosovo leader will accept anything less.

Failing to work a miracle, however, does not mean Ahtisaari failed altogether. To the contrary, he has delineated a clear solution that opens the way for Kosovo to itself declare independence and win international recognition. His comprehensive plan includes maintaining a multiethnic Kosovo by giving an understandably frightened Serb population considerable autonomy in managing and policing their own communities and protecting Orthodox religious sites. Ahtisaari's plan also dictates the central provisions of a new Kosovo constitution and establishes an EU mission to replace the United Nations, with significant power over any new government. The Security Council is expected to debate a resolution endorsing the proposal in April or May.

Kosovars are not enamored with Ahtisaari's plan, but they are reluctant to let this chance for independence pass. Some fear further delay will incite violence of the sort witnessed in 2004, setting Kosovo back yet again. The biggest hurdle is Russia, which has repeatedly stated that both sides must agree to any proposed solution, in effect supporting Serbia's sovereignty. Belgrade clearly hopes Moscow will veto a new U.N. resolution. The challenge for the United States and Europe is to face down the Russians and make clear that a veto would only worsen relations, already badly strained by controversies involving Russia's use of energy as a political weapon and its role in negotiations over Iran's nuclear-weapons program.

The gravity of the moment should not be understated. If Russia casts a veto, Kosovo will declare independence on its own. The United States and Europe would have to act quickly to back it, lest Albanians or Serbs turn to violence, potentially spilling over borders. Many countries will worry about proceeding without a U.N. mandate. Certainly, the EU will have lost its legal basis for deploying a mission to Kosovo. If the U.N. fails at this juncture, diplomacy will also have failed. Yet again, the Security Council will have been enfeebled. Western promises would, once more, be proved precarious.

The Softer Side of Kosovo

Nothing like another protest to force you to grab a knapsack and head for the mountains. The self-determination movement here in Kosovo staged another (peaceful) protest to condemn the accidental killing of protesters several weeks ago and in general the Status proposal documents being sent to the UN Security Council. So in anticipation of the shit potentially hitting the fan the UN gave all their employees a 3 day weekend hoping they would leave town. For the rest of us we had security warnings to stay out of downtown for most the day. So we did, but spent it up in the mountains instead.

My Swiss neighbor and I drove a little over an hour towards Serbia pulling off the main road to take a beautiful winding road 25 km up a mountain range to the treeless hilltops surrounding some very small and quaint villages and farms. The weather was perfect. Almost summer temperatures with a wonderful clean breeze coming down from the hilltops. Since we weren't exactly sure where to go and of course have no maps to guide us, we just pulled over on the side of the road and started up an old dirt track that quickly wound its way into some snow banks that had been sheltered from the teasing sun. No sounds but the wind, no people but ourselves and no pollution but the trash strewn about the road dumped their by clueless locals (we have figure they must not mind the way it looks because they can't be daft enough to think someone else will pick it up).

(click on photo for full panoramic)

The fortunate thing about these hills is you can pretty much see exactly where you want to go and even if there is not a trail to lead you there, you can just traverse across the hills knowing you will eventually end up exactly where you want to be. Which is what we did. Had some fun trying to climb over and through various tree limb piles left behind from apparent illegal logging operations but several nice steams and some fresh wildflowers already braving the all to early Spring. Only for a moment did we actually freak out when we wondered (not completely seriously since we had been told it was ok) if there were any mines left in the area. We just said a prayer and continued on our beautiful way.

Several hours later back at the car traversing down the mountain we came across a small but refreshing waterfall. Perfect spot for picnickers and can only image how packed it must be with locals during the summer months cooling down. Before heading back to the city we traversed the northern valley to have a wonderful outdoor lunch in Mitrovice at a fish farm owned by one of my projects clients. We had a perfect view of the towns foothills and thoroughly enjoyed our cold beers and fresh fish. Not too bad all in a days events.

Sunday was a bit less eventful but went the dog shelter with some friends to walk the homeless animals up into the hills and let them run and play about. I have been 'shopping' around to potentially adopt one but am taking my time to really think through whether I could properly care of one. In the meanwhile we bring the shelter food and try to help the unfunded operation take care of the 50 or so dogs. It's nice to be around so many people out here with big hearts!!

Doing Business in the Balkans

Doesn't the phrase go something like 'the devil is in the details'? Well I'm afraid unless I take a moment to record the everyday occurrences of what I experience in most business meetings, I will forget how NOT ordinary things really are out here.

Take for instance the fact that you can't actually really schedule meetings (in advance). People will just refuse to allow you to open up your calendar and get them to commit to a date and time unless it is either that day or the next. Even if someone is gracious enough to humor our western mentality, it will be imperative to reconfirm that morning. And not to mention that the meeting will very easily begin late and be interrupted routinely with a series of cell phone calls to anyone in the meeting (which they WILL answer), a communal pass the cigarette box around to all light up all at once, and at least two rounds of tea or machiato. Forgot to mention that before anyone actually says anything of substance, there must be the token and obligatory thankyou's and complements about anything that one can think about.

Amazing though that all of this has almost faded into white noise which has allowed my attention to be drawn to other such matters which are a bit more disturbing. How about the fact that (at least Albanians) either appear to posses an uncanny ability to be able to listen and speak at the exact same time as the person they are conversing with OR they don't care enough to listen to what the other person has to say. I have sat in on meetings where this verbal arm wrestling match lasted for almost a solid minute before one gentleman final stopped talking to allow the victor to complete his sentence. Of course the conversation had to continue four times longer than it should have since neither was listening to the other. Also common (with many other cultures as well) is the fact that they will often raise their voices to the point that you are certain things will come to blows, until it just turns out they were talking about the best texture of coffee beans to get the deepest aroma.

And how about putting on a training or a conference.? I can't say that RSVPs mean a whole lot since you will often times be lucky to just get a couple folks to listen to what you may have to say. Never mind the translations required for most meetings since my Albanian is no where near a business vocabulary. If the next time I speak with any of you and you find me omitting articles from my sentences or using very basic vocabulary, it is part to the training to keep things as simple as possible for both translation and those that do speak English.

Aside from all these peculiarities, most our clients are warm, good-intentioned and very receptive of the assistance we provide. Who knows, maybe there is something to always talking over others. At least this way it's hard to lose an argument? ;-)

Two for Two...

Considering that there is still almost no snow on the mountain, I still managed to spend my second weekend in a row racing down another absolutely beautiful mountain in Brezervice Kosovo, of all places. Mind you, as with anything else here, things don't work like they do in most other places. Let me explain.

First off, even though this small 'resort' town is in the middle of Kosovo, you will speak Serbian rather than Albanian. Brezervice is a Serbian enclave where most of the 'guests' are Albanian and of course speak their language but everyone who works there is Serbian. Go figure. Second, unless someone drove you to this resort before, you would never guess that the main and only road up the mountain from the actual town looks and feels as if you are driving up a creek bed. Potholes, dirt and crushed concrete the likes of a dead-end street verses a main thoroughfare. As we ascended into a thick fog, I was afraid it was going to be another day of 0 visibility but fortunately we broke through to an absolutely beautiful warm sunny day. Finally making it into the top parking lot we had to climb up mountains of iced snow to actually make it up to the base lodge to purchase our 10 euro lift ticket (YES, that is about $13USD for a full day of pretty good mountain skiing). No clear pathway was marked or shoveled and the ski area resembled a collection of huts and buildings scattered around one outdated hotel lodge and 2 main double chair lifts that would inch their way up one of two mountains--at least when they had power...



Yes, it appears that the resort experiences regular power cuts and Saturday was no exception. But first, I had headed down with a small crew of 6 of us from Pristina and we all at least managed to get one run in down a somewhat cold and crusty mountain of hard packed snow and ice that had formed from the evenings freezing temperatures. Not only were we challenged by not so great snow conditions, but the fact that there are a good number of people on the mountain with no real ski experience who mount themselves onto two fast boards and point themselves downhill hoping for the best. Successfully dodging these suicide runners, one has to be prepared to slalom through the fashion-clad hikers who either walk up or down the mountain in regular street clothes just out for a nice day of fresh air. As if this wasn't bad enough a number of them bring up rented sledges in order to slide down some of the lower hills. And can you believe all of this excitement from only the first run??




So, back to the power. Well, at this point there was none. As we waited in the line, the lift just stops. No one knows for how long or why. Just because. And yes, many people are on the lift and must either wait it out till it returns or the generator kicks in long enough to get them off the chair but not allow new people on. My boarder buddy Gail and I cut our loses after 10 minutes and raced over to the other lift that still had power and a minimal line. So without too much fuss we made it up another mountain that had some great open bowls and even several fresh power areas that were perfect for our boards to surf on. Unfortunately, the peaceful bliss of a nice run didn't last too long since we were greeted by a 40 minute line of unfolding chaos since everyone else had also migrated to the only operating lift. Now this wouldn't have been too bad if you removed the tons of 'day-riders' who rode the lift like it was an amusement ride only paying 1 euro and wearing their regular clothes. Second frustrations was the fact that even with a clearly formed line a mile long people (of all ages and sex) had the balls to constantly cut in front of the line. They would either walk or ski past all of us with absolutely no regard for anyone but themselves. And other people seemed to tolerate this. After awhile things started to get a bit ugly but after some deep breathing and a forced smile we were on our way to the top, and able to see that the other lift was back in business...




Well, at least till we got on it and almost made it to the top when it lost power again. So we just dangled up there for 30 minutes. Thank god it was a warm day. Otherwise we would have froze. With the nice sun the snow continued to melt a bit making it much better for us to do some carving and just enjoy ourselves. As the day progressed it got much better with softer snow, less people and my loosened up body and muscles. I decided to put the brace back on my arm just in case and it didn't seem to impede my balance or speed (much slower these days). I thought we were on a solid run until we were making it towards the end of the day and lost power for a third and final time. Only sitting on the chair for 15 minutes allowed me to reflect on the fact that we had only driven two hours to be 2000 meters up in the sky looking out over a soupy lake of fog with sharp mountain peeks jutting out as far as the eye could see, I was having a blast with some of my expat friends, I was in southern Kosovo and only paid $13 for the experience. Sometimes you just have to pinch yourself.

The day was concluded in a perfect ski lodge massaging out our sore ankles and nursing our stomachs with warm tea and a fantastic Serbian soup. Now all that is left is to pray for some real snow so we could do some off piste runs and hit several of the big bowls. Can't wait!!!

It Only Gets Better with Age

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who helped me celebrate my 36th in style. Both from those of you who were able to join me in person and for the rest of you whose email and telephone calls were a welcome reminder of how many great people I have in my life. Thank you.

Fortunately since my bday falls on the day after Valentines Day, I have never been compelled to go out to celebrate a lonely hearts club festivity. And apparently this was doubly true for Kosovo where apparently this is a very celebrated holiday with all the restaurants and cafes packed and many of the bars and clubs adding an extra cover or increased prices to take advantage of the young and energetic locals going out to celebrate (meeting) that special one.

So, I was well rested for the late night activities that followed a very average day at the office with only a couple of folks knowing it was my bday. But all of my closer new friends joined me at a very nice local bar/club later on that evening (post my second level of language classes which have started up again) to share a toast. Having only been here 5 months I was blessed to have over 40 people drop in from all my social circles in Kosovo to include work, ultimate Frisbee, yoga, language class, my apartment building and other (mostly internationals) I have met along the way. Sticking to a nice rum and coke throughout the evening I was miraculously able to basically shut down the bar and still make it into the office for a rather busy day since I left town early to continue the bday celebrations up in the mountain in Kapaonik Serbia

A work colleague was kind enough to drop me off on his way to Belgrade. Although this was only a two hour drive, leaving Kosovo to Serbia always poses a challenge. Not only must one posses a valid Serbian passport stamp (which means I have not left Kosovo for another country since I was last in Serbia) but you often have to wait at the 'non-boarder' since Serbia continues not to recognize UNMIK or the potential emergence of an 'independent' territory of Kosovo. Lucky my driver is Serbian so not only were we able to pass quickly but we did not have change the car license plates from Kosovan to Serbian plates (this is the most bizarre scene to see almost everyone out of their cars switching or removing plates so no one can tell where you were before).

In relative breakneck speed I arrived at the Junior hotel where a crew of 7 Brits, Americans and an Irish were to camp out for the ski weekend. Unfortunately due to a local Serb holiday, all the hotels in the actual ski town of Kopaonik were full so we were forced down the mountain by a half hour drive to the dead town of Brzece. At least our huge lodge was complete with all the standard arcade games in the lobby, a ragging fireplace, a very cheesy 1-man band playing at obnoxious sound levels and the all-inclusive breakfast and dinner options. I knew only the other American in the group who is also a development contractor in Serbia whereas the others were friends of his from Belgrade. We all got along marvelously and after a restful night sleep we hit the slopes with a vengeance on Sat. Unfortunately, I was unable to see almost anything for the entire day. Visibility due to fog was less than 10 feet at times which made it very easy to hurl ourselves down the steeper slopes not knowing what we were getting into (except for those of us that had been there before).

Now mind you it has been almost 2 years since I have boarded, not to mention I am still recovering with my bad shoulder and had to be extra careful with all my actions. Fortunately I survived in one piece and took almost no falls the first day!! It was such a nice feeling to be back on the mountain in the very cold fresh air with new friends. The bday celebrations just kept continuing. The highlight must have been our lunch break on the top of the mountain in a 20 person circular ski chalet with a roasting pig in the middle. Warm wine, local Serbian beans, cabbage with ham, potatoes, kabob and bread filled us all up to the brim. It was hard to push ourselves out the door (more due to increased waistlines than eagerness to ski).

The rest of the day was run after run avoiding exposed rocks and trees due to a minimal snow pack season but when we did lay a couple of fresh powder tracks, look out...heaven. I even made a 13 year old local friend who had spent some time in England. Not only was Malosh very mature and intelligent for his age, he kicked my ass on the board. We did 3 runs together and here is a kid 1/3 my age catching air and darting through trees like they didn't exist. He really reminded me of how much I miss working the my 'little brothers' program back in the States where I used to spend 1-2 times/week with a disadvantaged youth. Kosovo doesn't have anything like this since most kids out here could be defined as disadvantaged and there are obviously much bigger issues to tackle at the moment.

Since most of us were sore and exhausted from the day we just managed to make it back down the mountain to our lodge and rendezvous for a nice dinner before falling into a deep sleep to do it all again the next day. I believe Day #2 was plagued by a much more troubling boarding experience due to my board receiving a very poor job of having my 'edges' sharpened causing me to fall more times than I would have liked, sore muscles in places that I didn't know actually had a muscle, a picture perfect ski day which brought everyone in Belgrade down the to mountain for the day and having to use a ton of tow ropes to get pulled up the mountain (very painful for boarders since all the weight is on your front leg rather than both for skiers). That said, it was a beautiful day on the mountain and I was able to meet up with a new friend from Belgrade who was down there on holiday for 2 weeks with friends.

By the time the end of day rolled around, I was done...but needed to muster up enough energy for a challenging return trip home. Since I could not get a lift back to Pristina I had to sit around the lodge nursing a beer solo (till my Belgrade friend dropped in) in order to wait for a public bus to take me off the mountain to a small town called Racka where I had to transfer buses to another one to drop me off in Serbian North Mitrovica where I then had to walk across the heavily patrolled UNMIK bridge between Albanian and Serbian Kosovo where one of my project's trusted drivers waited for me to cart me the last half hour home. Exhausted and almost 5 hours later I collapsed into my bed to wake up slowly to an American holiday allowing me to laze around the house, unpack the gear, catch up on my blogging and prepare for tonight's yoga class.

I can't wait to see how I plan to top off this birthday, next year...

Fighting for Kosovo's Liberation

As many of you may have seen by now, protests on Sat. have resulted in several deaths but Pristina continues to remain calm and business as usual. To view the events, feel free to click
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