Birth of a nation

[Christoph]

For the first time since February 2007, the negotiations on Kosovo's status are again picking up speed. The Ahtisaari plan, which called for the EU management of conditional independence, floundered at the security council. Avoiding the UN, a new diplomatic solution indicates that if Kosovo declares independence, the US and a number of European countries will recognise it through bilateral agreements. This is the most practical and realistic option, as the argument goes. It pleases an increasingly restive Albanian population in Kosovo. It circumvents Russia's veto to any security council resolution that includes the word independence. Finally, it breathes new life in the Ahtisaari plan, ensuring that Kosovo will be under EU management for years on end.

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http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anna_di_lellio/2007/11/the_birth_of_a_nation.html