08 - Liberation or Conquest: Reflections on Local Attitudes as to the Purpose of the War
Driving through the capital of Kosovo, Pristina, one might expect to see the national Kosovo flag lining the streets and atop buildings. While the distinct blue flag is seen almost everywhere in the capital, equally as present is the blood-red banner, complete with a black double-headed eagle: the flag of Albania. Driving through the city, one sees the Albanian flag flying in front of government buildings, in the middle of roundabouts, and off the sides of apartment complexes.
Before coming here, I read up on the NATO intervention in Kosovo, the causes of the war, the tales of genocide and mass rapes, and most importantly, the structure and soul of the government as it attempts to govern a new state with a recent troubled past. On paper, the government is structured in a way that one might expect. Certain seats in the legislature are reserved solely for ethnic Serbians; much of this practice extends to the greater government as well. From the outside, it looks as if the three branches of government have taken due care to include Serbians in governing to help stabilize the nation in hopes that Albanians and Serbs can live in peace together. However, on the ground and having lived here for most of the summer, it’s now apparent that most of the population considers the war to have been a near-total Albanian victory over the Serbs. To the everyday Albanians in Pristina, Kosovo is just another Albanian state, and they consider the United States’s intervention to have been exactly for that purpose. And they’re thankful.
Beyond the capital, monuments to fallen soldiers line the highways and roads. Often accompanied by larger-than-life statues, these monuments are marked with Albanian symbols and the flags of relevant Albanian military units. Signs in the countryside read “Kosovo is Albania,” and next to these signs are the Albanian, Kosovo, and American flags.
Coming over here, I generally thought I would be working for a government trying to unite the people, to help the Albanians and the Serbs view themselves as Kosovars who can live side by side. I assumed the same thing that Bill Clinton and what I imagine most Americans would assume: that the people here want peace.
Today, I am skeptical that the Albanian majority holds my assumption, and I know that the Serbs do not largely hold such an assumption. I dare to say that both sides are more concerned about winning the country for their ethnicity than they are about moving forward from the past. The only thing that’s changed is the rules by which they are allowed to play.
To the locals, the United States picked a side, Albanians, and delivered the country to them on a silver platter. The way they see it, the United States gave the local Albanians a total mandate to do what they wished with the country. And what do the Albanians wish to do with Kosovo? Make it Albanian.
Now, this isn’t to say the Serbians are any more justified in their actions, tactics, and mindset. On the contrary, the Serbians wish to make Kosovo Serbian again. In fact, the local Serbians will ask visiting Americans, “What country are you in?” Baiting them into an answer that, depending on if one answers incorrectly, could result in a very unpleasant, if not violent, end.
The way I see it now, the United States, as it has done time and time again, has tried to impose peace and its values in republican governance, liberty, and the common good upon Kosovo. Yet the advice one hears in the dating context seems to be even more true in geopolitics: you can’t make someone change who does not want to change.
In my opinion, and from what I’ve seen, the Albanians and the Serbs generally don’t want to change, neither during nor after the war.
In challenging my observation, I questioned that, if my thinking was correct, why has Kosovo not joined Albania? In fact, many Albanians, including the members of the ruling government did want to join Albania for the first decade or so of Kosovo’s independence. But then, the foreign aid kept flowing in, the country developed more and more, and it became clear that if Kosovo kept playing its part as a Western creation of NATO, American protection would remain. If Kosovo joined Albania (now a less developed country than Kosovo), then all these perks would go away. Instead, the country is slowly but surely, solidifying itself as simply another Albania, and in many ways, a more prosperous Albania. And I can’t help but wonder if America was cheated.