While remembering the 10th anniversary of Nato bombings against Serbia I like to highlight some basic issues before, during and after bombings 1999:

• Public justification was based to fabricated, manipulated and one-sided reports by U.S. like earlier in Bosnia and after e.g. in Iraq-case.

• The bombings and later orchestrated unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) of Kosovo Albanians were against international law and violation of the UN Charter, Helsinki Accords and a series of UN resolutions including the governing UNSC resolution #1244.

• The big refugee problem started during Nato bombings, earlier before -90s Serbs had moved out from Kosovo partly because they felt themselves as discriminated by Albanian majority; during -90s Albanians moved out due the same reason.

• Just after bombing Albanians started ethnic cleansing of Serbs under eyes of KFOR peacekeepers who had made “humanitarian intervention”. The same was repeated March 2004. (More in my article “Pgrom with Prize”

• After bombing almost all Albanian refugees have returned while only tiny fraction of Serb refugees – or officially internally displaced persons – have returned to Kosovo. The remaining Serbs in Kosovo are barricaded into enclaves keeping their lives mainly with help of international KFOR troops or in de facto separated Serb majority region in North Kosovo. This has changed former multi-ethnic province more mono-ethnic one.

• The aim of international community was to build “standards before status”, on 2005 the task was seen impossible so the slogan changed to “standards and status”. Even this was unrealistic so Feb. 2008 “European”standards were thrown away to garbage and status without standards precipitately accepted by western powers.

• According western powers the UDI was said to “unique” – instead it serves as precedent to nearly 5.000 ethnic or separatist groups in the world.

• A state normally needs statehood structures, executive power over own territory and sustainable economy. Two first elements are on hands of international outsiders and the export of province can cover 5-10 % of import - the rest is covered mainly by international aid and organized crime.

• The outcome today is a quasi-state with good change to become next “failed” or “captured” state if international community does not firm its grip in province. Today’s Kosovo is already safe-heaven for war criminals, drug traffickers, international money laundry and radical Wahhabists – unfortunately all are also allies of western powers.

From my point of view the solution could be to finally put that reset button and go go back to Jan 2008. The exit strategy could start by U.S. withdrawing it recognition of Kosovo UDI. After this the real talks between local stakeholders can start without predestined outcome.

The compromise can be any of countless different territorial autonomy models, the parties can even create a new one or agree some partition of province. The only important thing forsake of sustainability would be that local parties make the deal and outsiders only facilitate it. This process could also reset the international law, prevent similar violations in future and put focus from old wrongdoings towards future.

More my views over Kosovo in my BalkanBlog