Shinasi Rama: Vucic knows, West refusespotist aircraft carrier between Balkans

Since December 6th, a series of armed incidents have been recorded in northern Kosovo, which have culminated in the settlement of barricades in the afternoon of December 10th.

The international community has called for the barricades to be removed and has condemned attacks on Kosovo Police and the EU mission in Kosovo for rule of law, EULEX.

Shinasi Rama, professor of international relations in the US, in an interview for Rtv Ora, sees all these excuses for Serbia to run its political game together with Russia towards Resolution 1244, which avoids independence and Kosovo institutions.

Kurti according to him is following Thaci's precedent and is acting with insight because it must make Serbia a lot of noise, but in the end it will withdraw.

As far as official Tirana stands, he says Rama's reaction was enough to wash its mouth and underline that Pristina does not get any good from Tirana, and that according to him is understood.

Vucic, meanwhile, says Rama, is clear that no one from the West and NATO will accept apotist aircraft carrier in the middle of the Balkans.

not that it is happening now in Kosovo can be summed up on three points. First, the behaviour of Serbs is largely conditioned by the international situation, the Third World War has begun. They know the West views them as ground carriers in the middle of the Balkans. Second, they know that the only solution they have to maintain the integrity of the state as they do and not go to direct warfare will be to set up such problems that are artificial but that are deliberately raised because raising a seemingly secondary problem they create an obstacle for the international community in any agreement, debate and discussion. First, these problems must be cleared. Third, the Serbian effort continues what we have been told by their negotiators always, their banner has not changed. It took us 600 years to get Kosovo and it will take us another 600 years to get it back. That's what Djilas's son told me in a conversation we had. The problem of northern Kosovo should be seen in these three different perspectives. More important to us is the third point of view, because by creating leopard skin and making together four Serb majority municipalities they are looking not only at the experiment of Republika Srpska, but they are seeking to create a precedent that will be a powerful front in the possible, inevitable confrontation that will come to the Balkans.

Did Kosovo hurt to declare early elections in the north even though the US-EU opposed it?

It's a two-sided knife. He has a specific agenda that must be held together by the designated electorate. There's pushers from strangers. In Kosovo it is not only Albin Kurti who decides but also the president, who postponed these early elections for April. But all of these are pretexts that come to the streets, and they blow like real problems. The real problem is essentially Serbia's incompatibility with the existence of the independent state of Kosovo, and any movement the Kosovo government makes will be considered as a minim of Serbian products to re-enter Kosovo in its sovereignty. The idea was the arrest of Pantic, a former police officer of Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs. We need to understand that the Moscow-Belgrade Serb axis is at all costs looking back at the debate and the political game on the tracks on which it was until 1998, and the political game until that year has been conditional on Resolution 1244, which leaves many empty spaces and opportunities for Serbs and the Albanian majority. With the gaining of independence and the proclamation of the independent state of Kosovo Resolution 1244 not only exceeded but has become completely invalid. All the arguments of Serbs and their Russian owners are that everything must go back to Resolution 1244. The request for the return of 1,000 troops is also linked to Resolution 1244. All are movements taken in the context of the Albanian-Serbian crash, but the logical essence of the entire game is the Serbian effort to reverse the game with Resolution 1244, with the avoidance of independence and Kosovo institutions. This has created a smoke situation in international politics and Albanian, Serbian and European political circles. Such an effort questions Kosovo's citizenship itself. Is the use of Resolution 1244 realistic? It is not because it has been recorded with Kosovo's declaration of independence, The Hague tribunal's ruling, etc. But the Constitution of Kosovo, as negotiated by Ahtisaari, is a creature that leaves Kosovo without a gram of sovereignty. Kosovo is simply an international protectorate, an independent state but is essentially managed by international institutions. This is a problem that Serbs are demanding, and heading their way, by undermining all elements of sovereignty and the institutional power that institutions in Kosovo have. The government Kurti has also done well, and has done harm, but on the other hand, it is impossible to avoid this confrontation with Serbia.

Prime Minister Kurti has called on KFOR troops to remove barricades from the north. Is it wrong to consider KFOR responsible for security in the country's north. We remember that Kurti in the opposition had another stance on the issue.

We in politics say that when you see yourself in a car, you hate pedestrians waiting for the road, but when he's a pedestrian, he hates people who are drivers. Now Kurt is no longer with the luxury of the opposition, and his behaviour should be dictated by Kosovo's vital interest. In Kosovo, despite being an independent state, really the legal and political power controls EULEX, as long as we have courts outside Kosovo and Kosovo state leaders are in prison in The Hague. NATO and KFOR control military and strategic power. Kurti is following Thaci's precedent and is acting hard because it has to be that Serbia will make a lot of noise, but in the end it will withdraw. It's a smoke to be used for negotiating conditions with Brussels. It will mix Borrell with Albanians, Lajcak with Serbs and there will be a series of shuttles that will eventually leave the situation where it is.

The position of Albanian government and Prime Minister Rama. It facilitates Serbia's positions in relation to what it has done and is doing in Kosovo?

Edi Rama, despite all his humiliation and shit, is a very clever politician. With this statement, it is pointing to what is known to happen but not following the two main points that should be a strong personal point and a very strong point of connecting the Albanian state with Kosovo. On the one hand, he is not exercising his influence either through the joint owner he has with Vucic or his personal ties to the impact on Belgrade's behaviour. Rama is consistent in following the policy of official Tirana that he calls at any cost, with any means the return of an independent national decision-making centre in Kosovo. Tirana's ruling leaders ascertained from 1922 and then followed this line aimed at breaking any other political centre that is not controlled by them at any cost. Despite the jealous behaviour Rama continues the same policy against Albanians. It says nothing, it's just a mouthwash. Did he send help, raise his voice, make phone calls, or publicly charged? Facebook and Twitter have relaxed tensions. Nothing's gonna happen. No good comes from Tirana Pristina. Kosovo and northern Albanians have begun to realise that the only way they have to find themselves and be good Albanians is to give maximum attention to their Kosovo state and the ethnic idea that has been, and remains the essence of our identity as northern Albanians.

Vucic is challenging Kosovo and the West with its positions and actions. Are delays and ways in which the EU is treating Serbia another hot zone in the Balkans?

The EU is composed of states that have been empires, and have dealt with peoples from around the world. Technics that control the behavior of individual peoples are more or less known. Vucic's problem is he is caught by three forces he cannot avoid. His relationship with Russia is vital for Serbia if it is to achieve its national interest as they think it would. Second are the dark and extremist forces that unfortunately make up the majority of the Serbian people and have a genetic hatred of the Albanian nation. Third, Vucic understands that wherever he wants to direct the game, the game will come to a point he must face both West and NATO because no one can present a Soviet aircraft carrier in the middle of the Balkans. In this case, Putinist among the Balkans.

It is possible that Kosovo will submit a requirement for EU membership, but we have seen Dacic's statement today that said we are working for EU countries that have not recognised Kosovo to contest Pristina's declared candidacy for EU membership.

What Dacic's doing is the same thing as when we were little people chasing a trailer and walking 10 km behind it. What is known is that states that do not recognise Kosovo are 5, will never accept Kurt's request. What Kurt is doing is a political block with his electorate market that I'm trying to get European recognition. But the real power in Kosovo has EULEX. Kurti has the power to manage garbage, to deal with education, with justice, but in reality, sovereignty issues place EULEX and KFOR. With membership. The EU when you are Europe's political and legal protectorate is absurd. Dacic, on the other hand, is taking advantage of the situation, is a smart diplomat, understands very well that there is no chance of that happening and playing a double game. Side by side, one side by side with strangers. He knows that whenever this request goes, no one will approve. And when the end comes, he says to his people: Did I tell you I was gonna do this? It's a logical game from Dacic. It's a bluff, Kurt's bluff.

In the corrupt scandal involving the European Parliament, there are signals that Federica Moghrini, former Kosovo-Serbia dialogue mediator, may be involved. Could it be a form of lobbiery and this soft attitude towards Serbia by specific parts of the European community?

Europe is not united in many things. When it must call on foreign policy, Brussels is not received but Paris, Washington, Rome, Madrid, Warsaw are called. In Europe, there's no policy defined in this direction, as if it was Moghrin I can't say. He's talking about resigning. Things rarely happen in Europe that are not co-ordinated, and in which certain centres that have historically supported Serbs and that today are part of Europe's vital axis will not require all sorts of ways and methods for political, economic, religious, military reasons to draw out the Albanian problem in Serbia's interest and to work against us. It's logical, we always knew, they told us openly. There is no chance that Albanians will have support from all Europeans. We may have support at certain points from a Berlin-Rom axis, but in other countries we will always have big questions.