The "former ambassadors" who seek to cut Kosova's ties with the West

The Council of Albanian Ambassadors, a non-governmental organization whose main value is to help understanding Ilir Meta’s and Sali Berisha’s diplomatic stances, recently issued a statement that has nothing to do, either with diplomacy or with the advice that former diplomats should be giving in regards to tensions like the ones in north of Kosova. The Council asked the United States and the European Union to maintain neutrality in the face of such tensions.

“The Council of Albanian Ambassadors calls on the international community to maintain its neutrality and support the Republic of Kosova in its efforts to impose the rule of law and constitutionality in its entire territory.” The statement was issued shortly after the United States criticized Albin Kurti’s government for its use of force in the North in order to allow the newly-elected Albanian leaders take offices in the Serb majority communes.

Every important Western institution, including the State Department, have openly opposed Kosova’s government precisely because they support Kosova and want to save it as a country. Therefore, the request of the “retired Albanian ambassadors” for the West to keep its hands off of Kosova is perhaps the most anti-Albanian request that any Albanian institution has ever made. Asking the US and EU to remain neutral towards what is happening in Kosova means nothing else but to leave room for a confrontation between Kosova and Serbia, a confrontation in which Kosova would be lost before even entering it.

Kosova’s very existence as a country is the result of its alliance with the West and the latter’s intervention against Milosevic’s regime. Ibrahin Rugova and Kosova’s Liberation Army (KLA) succeeded in making the West their ally not by asking it to remain neutral, but rather to take Kosova’s side on its war against Serbia. Furthermore, in the last 24 years, Kosova managed to consolidate its independence only because of its strong alliance with the West.

The idea that the West should be neutral when it comes to Kosova and not intervene in its internal affairs is the very request that Milosevic used to have. All he wanted during and after the war was for the West not to intervene in Kosova.

However, the West cannot remain neutral when a mad man seeks to burn his own country for personal glorification. By not remaining neutral towards Albin Kurti, the West is doing nothing else but taking the side of Albanians in Kosova. If, on the other hand, it would have maintained neutrality and not worked to stop Serbia’s expansion, Northern Kosova today would be trampled by Aleksandar Vucic’s tanks.

It is precisely thanks to their harsh opposition of Albin Kurti that gives the US and EU the right to stop Serbia on its tracks, while taking upon themselves the responsibility of resolving the conflict. The West is so harsh in its opposition of Albin Kurti because it wants to protect Kosova from Serbia. As for the claims that Mr. Kurti has the right to exercise his sovereignty in the north and that he can appoint his own local leaders there, we have already heard similar statements thirty years ago made by Slobodan Milosevic when he tried to impose his “sovereignty” in Kosova. Back then the West did not remain neutral and nor is it going to do so now.

Milosevic begged the West to remain neutral during his war in Kosova, but did not succeed. I cannot say how a few former Albanian ambassadors might succeed in convincing the West to leave Kosova’s destiny in Kurti’s hand. I can only imagine how difficult of an undertaking this might be.

It is well-known that many of the diplomats participating in the Albanian Council of Ambassadors ow their careers to Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta, but they do not need to speak in their name. They should just leave Berisha and Meta makes these kinds of anti-Albanian statements on their own. In their mouths at least, these vulgar statements may sound authentic, whereas in the mouths of former ambassadors, it sounds like a complete stupidity.

Original article: https://www.gazetatema.net/editorial/ish-ambasadoret-qe-kerkojne-te-zbojne-shba-nga-kosova-i391976