Even the Serbs found that out at a dear price. The KLA is trying to revive its sagging fortunes by provoking a new regional crisis - this time in the western part of pliable Macedonia and in collaboration with Albanians inside Macedonia. It is all about power, smuggling routes, the drug trade and the huge infusions of Western aid - a gang warfare compounded by years of mistreatment and mutual animosity. The idea, in both cases, was to create an ethnically homogeneous state by shifting existing borders, incorporating hitherto excluded parts of the nation and excluding hitherto included minorities. Still, the emotional bond that formed, fostered by a common vision and shared hope - is intact.
Albanian flags fly over Albanian municipalities in Kosovo and in Macedonia.
The possession of weapons and self-government have always been emblematic of the anticipated statehood of Kosovo. Moreover, it was indicative of the perplexed muddle the West is mired in - officially, Kosovo is part of Yugoslavia. This quandary is a typically anodyne European compromise which is bound to ferment into atrabilious discourse and worse. Ignoring the inevitable, tergiversating and equivocating have too often characterized the policies of the Big Powers - the kind of behaviour that turned the Balkan into the morass that it is today. Its chain of command, organizational structure, directorates, operational and assembly zones and general staff are all viable.