Kosovo just declared its independance from Serbia. Holy shit, they actually went through with it.

(AP) Kosovo declared itself a nation on Sunday, mounting a brash and historic bid to become an "independent and democratic state" backed by the U.S. and key European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.

"Kosovo is a republic — an independent, democratic and sovereign state," parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi said as the chamber burst into applause.

Across the capital, Pristina, revelers fired guns into the air, waved red and black Albanian flags and honked car horns in jubilation at the birth of the world's newest country.

Krasniqi, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu signed the declaration, which was scripted on parchment.

Sunday's declaration was carefully orchestrated with the U.S. and key European powers, and Kosovo was counting on swift international recognition that could come as early as Monday, when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, Belgium.

"From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free," said Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which battled Serbian troops in a 1998-99 separatist war that claimed 10,000 lives. "We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do."

"Our hopes have never been higher," he told the assembly. "Dreams are infinite, our challenges loom large, but nothing can deter us from moving forward to the greatness that history has reserved for us."

Thaci pledged that the new nation would be "a democratic, multiethnic state" — an attempt to reach out to Serbs who consider Kosovo the cradle of their medieval culture and religion.

But he also had stern words for the Serbian government, which last week declared secession illegal and invalid, saying in the Serbian language: "Kosovo will never be ruled by Belgrade again."

By sidestepping the U.N. and appealing directly to the U.S. and other nations for recognition, Kosovo set up a showdown with Serbia — outraged at the imminent loss of its territory — and Russia, which warned that it would set a dangerous precedent for separatist groups worldwide.

Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army whose ethnic Albanian guerrillas clashed with Serb troops in a 1998-99 conflict that claimed 10,000 lives, convened an extraordinary session of parliament Sunday afternoon to proclaim the Republic of Kosovo.

On the eve of the Serbian province's bid for statehood, Thaci hailed it as "a historic day in our effort to create a state."

"We are getting our independence," he said Saturday night in a nationally televised address. "Everything is a done deal. The world's map is changing."

Angry Serbs protest
Underscoring Serb anger, about 1,000 people staged a noisy protest in Belgrade on Saturday, waving Serbian flags and chanting "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia."

Kosovo has formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since the war ended in 1999. The province is still protected by 16,000 NATO-led peacekeepers, and the alliance boosted its patrols over the weekend in hopes of discouraging violence. International police, meanwhile, deployed to back up local forces in the tense north.

"It would be best for the Americans to take the Albanians to America and give them a part of their territory, so that they could have a small republic there," Ljubinko Stefanovic, a resident of the ethnically divided northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica, said in disgust.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership kept details of Sunday's ceremony under wraps, but Thaci was to meet with the parliament speaker at midmorning to formally request a special session. A declaration of independence would be read out in the chamber, where the proceedings were to be broadcast live on television, and lawmakers would be asked to adopt it.

The speaker, Jakup Krasniqi, would then proclaim Kosovo independent from Serbia, and lawmakers would vote on the new nation's flag and crest.

The Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra planned to play Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at a sports hall, where top leaders would gather for speeches and toasts. They then planned to sign their names on giant iron letters spelling out "NEWBORN" to be displayed in downtown Pristina, the capital.

Fireworks and an outdoor concert were scheduled for later in the evening.

Another night of celebration
Spontaneous street celebrations broke out for a second straight night Saturday, with giddy Kosovars waving red and black Albanian flags and sounding car horns.

"This will be a joyful day," said Besnik Berisha, a Pristina resident. "The town looks great, and the party should start."

Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian — most moderate or non-practicing Muslims, the rest Roman Catholics — and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia.

With Russia, a staunch Serbian ally, determined to block the bid, Kosovo looked to the U.S. and key European powers for swift recognition of its status as the continent's newest nation. That recognition was likely to come Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" across the former Soviet Union and around the world, pressured the Security Council to intervene.

Serbia's government ruled out any military response as part of its secret "action plan" drafted earlier this week as a response, but warned that it would downgrade relations with any foreign government that recognizes Kosovo's independence.




Note/Rant: As I looked through all the major news websites, I saw that MSNBC and CNN had it front-page. FOX News had a story about a kidnapped young white girl. Fuck FOX News. We want to know about the new god-damn nation, not some douchebag white girl who god kidnapped by her pedo daddy. That happens every damn day. Why not the little black, latino, asian, and aboriginie kids who get stolen. I hate Fox News so much!

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I'd rather this not have happened. It is too hard to say now, but Russia is going to get pissed and do something stupid now (Namely with its Georgia province). If this "problem" gets resolved by secession then this will increase sectionalism all over Europe and I think two or three more countries will be created in order to do the same thing as Kosovo. I know I'm going against spreading democracy, or whatever the heck I'm supposed to be supporting, but this really isn't good news for anybody, except possibly the people in Kosovo.

Yeah, something did need to be done about the Ethnic purging, yeah bad stuff was happening, yeah yada yada yada, but this could be bad news for Chechnya, Georgia, and any other places that have similar Ethnic differences. Had serbia stayed unified as a nation and resolved this by other means, I think it would have been better.

I support it, for the most part. My dad has actually been deployed over there twice, and was just home on leave. He's sitting at the airport right now ready to head back over there. Anyway, after all the pictures I've seen and stories I've been told, I'm glad they finally have their independence. Serb leaders are just idiots... I actually learned that from "Behind Enemy Lines," but for the most part it's still true. lol

I just think a new country is big news. Hopefully this doesn't blow up and get out of hand.

I hope your dad does well over there, and that he's fairly enthusiastic about what he's doing.

Nightwalker, I gotta agree with you to some extent. Unrest is bad, especially when it comes to the russian satellite nations. However, while admitting ignorance (I don't really know whether the independence is just an affirmation of distancing that's already taken place) about the situation, I have to say this: kosovo does not owe the UN or the world their allegiance. I am under the impression they have been somewhat separate from Serbia since the war but if independence is an important priority for their nation that should be their priority. We cannot expect nations to be self-sacrificing.

I'm not saying they owe the UN their allegiance. I'm just saying they pissed Russia off and they better be ready to deal with the consequences on their own. (I'm not saying we won't support them, I'm just saying they have to account for their own actions.)

I personally support their decision, I'm just playing the devil's advocate and giving a different perspective.