Today, the UN Security Council discussed the future status of Kosovo behind closed doors. Several members of the council (including Russia which holds veto power) have expressed concerns over the supervised independence proposed while other members such as the US are pushing for a quick resolution to the status question. Assistant Secretary of State, Daniel Fried, warned that if status is not resolved soon that Kosovo may descend into violence and that the status quo is not sustainable. The British ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said that the council will probably decide in the next few days whether or not to send a team to evaluate the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1244 as Russia has suggested and went on to say that there will probably be more discussions during the month. This means that there probably will not be any decision on the status of Kosovo at least for several more weeks.
Meanwhile, Pavel Kandel, a department head of the Institute of Europe in the Russian Academy of Sciences has put forth that in the last battle of Kosovo there may be no winners. The opinion article raised interesting questions about the current and future politics surrounding the issue of Kosovo's status.
Unknown persons threw two Molotov cocktails at municipal vehicles parked in a parking lot yesterday. Damage was reported to one vehicle. Someone also set fire to an electric pole connecting a minority village to the power supply. Thefts of doors to power stations, cabling, and poles are frequently reported...but why anyone would steal portions of the electric company's infrastructure is beyond me!
I went out with my camera a bit on the weekend and got some photos of life around Pristina. I finally got a decent picture of Clinton...I normally took photos when it was cloudy and grey which makes Kosovo look more depressing that people say it is :o) And thanks to TW for the photo that I added to my "Only in Kosovo" section...I don't think any comment is needed!
