Segment 1:
In this edition of the Doug Noll show, we interview Dr. Gerald Garllucci about the history of the Balkans and Kosovo. Dr. Garllucci received his BA from Rutgers and his Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh in Political Science. He worked in the US State Department for 25 years and then at the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. His blog is outsidewalls.blogspot.com.
Dr. Garllucci (Jerry) first joined the Foreign Service in 1980, with a post in Brazil. Through a connection within the State Department he applied for UN job and ended up in Mitrovica, the main city in the Northern Kosovo in 2005. He quickly found that he was trained as a diplomat but not a peacekeeper. At that time the UN was grappling with being called upon to do peacekeeping but not having the resources or training to be entirely successful. Additionally, the mandates in Kosovo were over-ambitious and difficult to fulfill.
Segment 2:
Jerry worked in the Security Council in 1998-1999 after the collapse of USSR, and during this time the US government thought Russia was no longer an issue. However, when the Serbs started making trouble in Yugoslavia, there was imperative political pressure for the US to do something. The Russians saw this as an area where their sphere of influence was being violated and they felt that NATO itself was at the core of it. A common approach was difficult. Ultimately a peace agreement was reached that resulted in Kosovo being partially recognized as a foreign nation. This resolution never settled the issue of independence and failed to win support among the Contact Group (5 western countries) and Russia.
Although there was a failure to reach a full agreement, the decision of the US and other western countries was to go ahead and recognize the independence. Key point: it is easier to break something than to make something. Problems that have existed for centuries cannot be solved overnight. You cannot bring peace to people if the timing is not right.
Segment 3:
Kosovo history: 100 years ago this region was Ottoman province. When the Balkans fell out of control of the Ottomans, it became part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was an effort to hold together the Balkans despite existing of people of different faiths, beliefs and ethnicities. During the 1990s it began to break up along ethnic lines, which led to the Balkans Wars. The dispute over Kosovo was the last piece of this issue. The Albanians were stripped of their power, a war broke out, and NATO intervened and broke the Serbian control over Kosovo. This left an Albanian majority in a state of frozen conflict. In essence, Kosovo is faced with a situation common around the world: intra-country conflict – ethnic groups not wanting to be governed by other ethnic groups.
Segment 4:
So how does Kosovo move forward and find peace? Dr. Garllucci believes they need to find a way to let the two sides come to grips themselves, without imposed guidelines, deadlines or agendas, to reach a compromise. There are various formulas for this. The new Serbian government is ready to tackle the Kosovo problem. To the Albanians, the key element is the United States.
Listen to the complete interview here:
