Thank you for publishing Julia Gorin’s excellent column on Albanian blackmail of U.S. leaders vis-a-vis Kosovo (“The blackmail of America,” Opinion, Thursday). It was an accurate portrayal of the sort rarely seen in our mainstream media.
The illegal recognition of Kosovo’s independence initiated by our government stands as one of the greatest failures and embarrassments of our foreign policy. It continues to haunt us in the form of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Madrid train bombings, attempted attacks on Fort Dix and the London bus bombings (among numerous other examples). That our State Department initially proclaimed the Kosovo Liberation Army to be a terrorist drug-running group and then suddenly switched its position to support the group speaks volumes about our leaders. They were not interested in pursuing true justice and resolving a decades-old conflict but instead were interested in stealing territory from the Serbs to establish the largest U.S. base outside of America (Camp Bondsteel) to use against Russia and to protect the AMBO oil pipeline, being constructed through Kosovo.
By assenting to Albanian extremist demands, we have set an example for the world: The borders of sovereign nations can indeed be altered by terrorism, and international law is meaningless. We have created a terrorist safe haven that will always be a failed, landlocked and impoverished territory with plenty of desperate Muslim extremists and anti-Western recruits. We also have established a road map for irredentists in our own nation.
I strongly encourage President Obama to learn what is really going on in Kosovo and rescind our recognition of Kosovo’s independence. Only honest compromise on both sides - not just the long-suffering Serbs - will enable a peaceful resolution to this long-standing conflict. If the Albanians try to blackmail him against doing this, he can wash his hands of the region and let the Serbs and Albanians find a solution on their own.
MICHAEL PRAVICA
Henderson, Nev.
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Hardening infrastructure will be key to minimizing the threat
