I’m starting a new series, In Regards to…

The territory of Kosovo once belonged to the daft nation of Serbia, but on Sunday of the week last Kosovo had had enough of the bullying from Serbia. 

Serbia’s origins in and of itself are murky at best.  The region it occupies, the Balkans, lies North of Greece, East of Russia and Turkey, West of Italy, and South of Poland/Germany.  While Serbia is a small nation, it’s reach is far.  The Serbs once had claim over a wide swath of the Balkan area, and their past rule still impacts those non-Serbian (or as they call them ethnic) peoples in the lands they once occupied.  Since they once ruled through out the area Serbians still live all over the Balkans and not just in Serbia. 

To be exact, the Balkans is a mix of Western and Middle Eastern peoples; primarily because of it’s location as a crossroads between the two areas.  Serbians are generally considered to be the ‘whiter part’ of the Balkan nations even if they don’t live in Serbia (rather in another Balkan Nation).  This has caused many problems over the centuries, with the generally whiter Serbs taking up the ruling positions through out History.  The problems finally boiled over in the 20th Century, ending in the breakup of the Yugoslavian Republic and eventually the Kosovo War.

The Serbian rulers of the Balkan Nations (no matter what the name of the nation was at any one time), subjugated their darker and usually Muslim brethren to oppression and poverty throughout history.  So, it comes as no surprise that those same people who have been oppressed for centuries would want Independence.

What doesn’t sit well with this blogger is that while it’s all well and good that an oppressed people wanted and got Independence, but the fact that they are Muslim is worrisome to say the least.  The fact is that there are also many other territories and nations, either in Serbia or once belonging to a Serbian Empire of the past, that have significant and oppressed Muslim populations.  While these populations are not Middle Eastern or Arab, their still Muslims.  The question should be asked does Kosovo set up a democratic and free country, or does it lean toward an Islamic style of government.  The second question would be do the other nations surrounding Serbia with both a Serbian population and an ethnic Muslim population demand independence, and if so, what kind of government would they set up?