June 4th, 2006
Why You Should Care about Kosovo
As an American, I have long believed that in our heart of hearts we are
well-intentioned people. When we are aware of wrong, we are pretty decent
about raising hell to make it right. If we have an Achilles heal as a
people, however, it’s that we are not too sure about what the heck the true
realities are of the world we live in. We are clear on whom Britney
Spears’ husband is, but we’re a little fuzzy on why we bombed the bejesus out of country X. It’s an ignorance that lets
people at the top get us into messes like
It’s ok if you don’t know anything about Kosovo. One month ago I didn’t
either. Let me give you the basics. Before 1999, Kosovo was a
province within
Through mainly guerilla warfare, Albanians started to fight violently for their
independence in 1998-1999. Slobodan Milosevic, the then president of
So, why should you care? Because, quite frankly, it’s a story we can be
proud of. I’m pretty tired of having to whip out the WW2 card on those
who back me into an “
We Americans often get a very conflicting message from the world: don’t allow
atrocities to occur in other countries, but don’t you dare meddle in the
affairs of other countries either. Giving people what they want and then
being hated for it later is not a very rewarding endeavor. Again, Kosovo
is special in that regard. They love Americans. Ask any Kosovar
Albanian his feelings about
Never in all my travels have another people reminded me so much of my own countrymen. Kosovar Albanians are passionate, entrepreneurial, and industrious. They have a corrupt government and a less than perfect but altogether good free press, kind of like us. They are tolerant of other religions in the same way we are as well. In short, we have much in common in the way of virtues and imperfections. To learn all of this about Kosovo makes it an endearing place. It makes me care about Kosovo, and hopefully it has the same effect on you, too.
Jeff