Independence. It’s a word that stirs a particular feeling in the hearts of Americans when we hear it.

Our forefathers, chafing under the yoke of English rule, declared independence in the heat of a Philadelphia summer nearly 232 years ago, and we haven’t looked back.

Much blood was shed before the fledgling United States of America took their place among the nations of the world, many lives lost.

A week ago today another breakaway republic declared its independence, as Kosovo officially split from Serbia.

A great deal of blood already has been shed in Kosovo, and there is doubtless more to come.

Both Kosovo and Serbia once were part of communist Yugoslavia, which fell apart in 1991. Kosovo has been trying to assert its independence ever since, and finally made the move just a week ago.

Fighting between Serbs and Ethnic Albanians, who make up much of Kosovo’s population, has been raging ever since the shackles of communism fell away.



During the 1990s, under the reign of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Kosovo’s Ethnic Albanians were the subjects of an ethnic cleansing campaign that resulted in roughly a million fleeing the region, and thousands more being killed.

NATO troops interceded in 1999 and Milosevic resigned his post in 2000. In 2001 he surrendered to authorities and was tried for war crimes. He died during the proceedings.

But now Kosovo stands independent, but hardly alone. In the hours after Kosovo declared its independence, many nations, including the United States, stood up to recognize the new nation.

Of course many nations will not recognize Kosovo as an independent nation, most notable among those being Russia and China. This is hardly a surprise, given that independence is not a word with which leaders of those two nations are comfortable. Neither are they comfortable with the concepts of liberty and the rights of the individual.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence, predictably, has sparked protests from many corners. The U.S. embassy in Belgrade was attacked Thursday. A firebomb was thrown and an unknown amount of damage was done. Embassies of other nations supporting Kosovo’s independence were attacked, as was a McDonald’s restaurant. U.N. police guarding a bridge in northern Kosovo were attacked Friday with stones, bottles and firecrackers.

The great Russian bear growled a bit this week, as Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s envoy to NATO, suggested Moscow might “have to use brute military force,” if NATO’s peacekeeping operation in the territory expands.

The violence and overheated rhetoric are regrettable, but hardly unexpected. Independence, it seems, is a rather scary proposition for many people. And these people reason the only way to quash an independent people is through the use of violence, or the threat of same.

Freedom is a threat to those who take and hold power through violence and intimidation. It threatens their very existence. They know free and independent people would never willingly choose repression.

The birth of an independent nation is much like the birth of an infant. It is a joyous occasion, but not achieved without a large measure of pain.

For Kosovo, that pain is likely far from over. As a people we stand with them in spirit, as a nation we will support them as we are able, knowing full well our military is already stretched thin by our global war on terror.

Independence. It’s a beautiful word.



Mullin is senior writer of the News & Eagle.