The West’s recognition of Kosovo’s declaration of independence sets a dangerous precedent. It is likely to encourage separatist groups to break away from the rump state, setting off another spate of fighting and bloodletting not just in the Balkans but across Asia and in eastern Europe, especially in regions that were once part of the Soviet Union. A province of Serbia, Kosovo’s population is 90 per cent ethnic Albanian. It has demanded independence for long but this demand has been rejected by Serbia on the grounds that Kosovo has always been a part of the Serb province, not a Yugoslav republic before the disintegration of Yugoslavia. That the West has been keen on breaking up Serbia further and carving an independent Kosovo out of it became more than evident in 1999 when NATO forces launched airstrikes on Kosovo and Serbia, ostensibly to protect the Kosovars from Belgrade’s ‘repression’ of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians. Administration of Kosovo was handed over to the United Nations pending agreement on whether Kosovo should become independent or revert to Serbian rule. But despite the considerable autonomy granted to Kosovo, its march towards independence never lost momentum, actively encouraged as it was by the West. Kosovo’s declaration of independence and the West’s recognition of the move is the culmination of years of determined efforts by the West to split Serbia.
There is a danger of violence targeting Serbs in Kosovo. In 2004, when ethnic Albanians targeted Serbs in riots, NATO forces deployed in the area did nothing to quell the violence. Having aided the division of Serbia and the birth of an independent Kosovo, NATO cannot absolve itself of responsibility for the bloodletting that inevitably follows partitions.

Those backing Kosovo’s independence have in effect endorsed the view that multi-ethnic, secular states do not work. The West has taken the easy option of simply surrendering to and allowing separatist forces to break up the state. The West was, of course, driven by its narrow agenda of weakening Serbia as it is close to the Russians. But in the process it has dealt a severe blow to the principle of multi-ethnic, secular states. Kosovo’s independence is cause for serious concern.