Nation Failure, Ethnic Elites, and Balance of Power by Shinasi A. Rama

Author:Shinasi A. Rama
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030051921
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The process took a different turn after the United States took the lead during the second half of the conference. The pressure on the Albanian delegation increased on all sides. The Albanian government, the various foreign services, the people on the ground, and even a world-famous writer, like Ismail Kadare, were mobilized to put pressure on the delegation to sign. The outcome of the persistence by Hashim Thaçi was that the Albanian delegation got a crack in the wall in the form of a letter by Secretary Madeleine Albright that contained the promise of a future expression of popular will in three years. The Albanians got a vague and carefully worded promise by the United States that saved the agreement sponsored by the great powers. All in all, nobody could blame the Albanians for what they perceived to be the failure of the French-Russian-led negotiations that wanted to keep Kosova as a Serbian province within Yugoslavia at any cost.

There was still a window to extend the talks and gain much precious time for a few weeks, something that would have made the difference on the ground in Kosova. The KLA was short of people, weapons, and even of bullets. The embargo was firmly enforced on both sides of the border, by the Serbs as well, and very few weapons were trickling in Kosova. Militarily, the KLA was a peasant army loosely coordinated by amateurs that thought very highly of themselves. Many of the commanders on the ground agreed to support the Agreement without having read it at all. By signing the Agreement, the Albanian representatives, many of whom did not even read the Agreement, neither in English, nor in Albanian, had put their people at the mercy of the NATO and of Milošević as well. When I had a chance to explain and when I was asked to give my opinion, as the political advisor of the delegation, I myself told the Albanian delegation what was going to happen in a quite detailed and pedantic fashion. It was unnecessary for all of them knew exactly what was about to happen to their own people and to their families as well.

This was the end of the role of the Albanian delegation but not the end of the game. Failing to get the Albanians to agree to what they wanted, the Russians gradually withdrew from the talks. The United States decided to take over the negotiations. The Rambouillet international conference became the cause for the NATO intervention and the subsequent bombing campaign. This is explainable only through the Serb behavior and in particular of Milošević’s behavior. Seeking to play the great powers one against the other, the United States against Russia and vice versa, Milošević brought about the Melian Predicament that made the NATO bombing inevitable.

The initial strategy of the international negotiators was that, first, the Albanians would sign the agreement. Their consensus would make the negotiations with the Serbs much easier. Once the Serbs would get what they wanted the most,

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