The Kosovo Solution Series
By Aleksandar Mitic & Jan Oberg
On March 24, 2005 it was six years since NATO bombs
to create peace began to fall.
What peace is there today? What will there be tomorrow?
PressInfo # 209, March 16, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 1
Why the solution in Kosovo matters to the world
Executive summary of a series of PressInfos on Kosovo. Twelve reasons why it is important and a mini-analysis of the role of the international community in conflict-management. With a few words about the approach TFF has taken since it got on the ground in Kosovo as early as in 1992.
PressInfo # 210, March 18, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 2
The media – strategic considerations
An unbalance between Belgrade and the Kosovo Albanians in the means put into PR advocacy campaigns and lobbying efforts has led to a one-sided media war in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Serbs still lack a media strategy and, at least until very recently, a policy and strategy for a solution to the Kosovo conflict.
PressInfo # 211, March 21, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 3
The main preconditions for a sustainable solution to the Kosovo conflict
To arrive at a sustainable solution in the concrete case of Kosovo, a minimum of professional principles and considerations is necessary. Here we offer eleven.
PressInfo # 212, March 23, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 4
The situation as seen from Serbia
Serbia is struggling to meet Western requirements. It may be that Kosovo will become independent, but where is the international community’s logic in that given other political processes in the Balkans?
PressInfo # 213, March 29, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 5
The arguments for quick and total independence are not credible
Whom and what would an independent Kosova reward? There is a larger framework and if you can’t work with those next door, can you work with the rest of Europe? The Serb side, not the Albanian, has shown flexibility. The issue of status should be approached with much more creativity and credibility.
PressInfo # 214, March 30, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 6
What must be Belgrade’s minimum conditions and its media strategy
It’s now time for the international community to become fair players and pay serious attention to Serb viewpoints and long-term interests. Without it there will be no regional stability. Likewise Belgrade must develop a policy and a media strategy so it will get a fair hearing. This PressInfo offers the basic elements.
PressInfo # 215, March 31, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 7
Nations and states, sovereignty and self-determination
Offers some clarification of the main concepts and look into what the two basic legal documents actually say. It also points out that the international community has a) not lived up to its own obligations, b) have little understanding of peacemaking and c) have given the Albanians reasons to believe in a soon-to-come independence which it can hardly deliver.
PressInfo # 216, March 31, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 8
Positive scenarios. Turn to the future, look at the broader perspectives
Imagine the world in 2025. Who would believe that Serbs and Albanians had fought a war against each other? To achieve real peace, everything depends on a) changing the perspective from the past to the future, b) reducing fear and c) provide for gebuine socio-economic development.
PressInfo # 217, April 7, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 9
Many models for a future Kosovo
Probably the most comprehensive catalogue of peaceful possibilities for Kosovo ever developed. Offers four types approaches to peacemaking and warns against the international community cutting corners to get out of its dilemma.
PressInfo # 218, April 7, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 10
Summary – From “only one solution” towards democracy and peace
Offers the main arguments of the 9 preceding articles in about 800 words. Happy browsing
There are also these:
PressInfo # 208, March 10, 2005
The UN in Kosovo praises potential war criminal – why?
Søren Jessen-Petersen’s cosy chat about his potential war crimes friend could be what he has been told by some participant in the greater scheme of things to say – and it is not Kofi Annan. This could also be yet another evidence of the shabbiness that has come to define the international community’s conflict-management policies in Kosovo. See why in this analysis. By Jan Oberg.
TFF Feature Collection, March 9, 2005 – Updated from time to time
The Accumulating Crisis in Kosovo
A new crisis in Kosovo is in-the-making. The main reasons are: the situation in the province, the lack of peacebuilding success, the irresponsible talk of independence by Western pro-Albanian lobby groups such as the Crisis Group and the indictment of Kosovo’s prime minister as well as the lack of a pro-active strategy in Belgrade.
About 65 links to knowledge – and aspects you do not find in the mainstream media.
