The Nation of Kosovo Commences its Statehood

A new nation joined the family of nations today in Europe with the declaration of independence by Kosovo. This now makes eight nations that originated out of the former Yugoslavia created after World War I that last over 65 years on the Balkan peninsula in southeast Europe. The new flag is in the upper right, a blue field with a golden map of the nation and six white stars to denote the main ethnicities in Kosovo. Recent decades with war and hardship has been the major feature of life for Kosovans for the last generation with numerous incidents of mass murder and attempted genocide by bitter warring factions. NATO intervention eventually brought a level of control to the countryside, but only after years of struggle. The declaration of independence today is no sure thing for future peace, as both Russia and Serbia denounced the proclamation and likely will work to undermine the independence of Kosovo throught direct and covert acts intended to weaken the Kosova government and re-ignite centuries old factional frictions. Direct military action by Serbia is at least a possibility, making yet another foreign policy crisis looming for the Bush junta. With the creation of a nation in Kosovo, the European continent now has 49 nations.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40cbed34-dd5c-11dc-ad7e-0000779fd2ac.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=515296&in_page_id=1811

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Kosovo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe

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