Kosovo, the International Mafia and the Rings of Saturn

The ten UN judges at the International Court of Justice who supported the opinion that Kosovo's Declaration of Independence on February 17, 2008 does not violate general international law are, at best, incompetent charlatans; at worst, they are towing the line of the gray, malevolent forces which wish to create a Kosovo Mafia State in the Balkans.

(Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, PRAVDA.Ru ) Friday, October 22, 2010

And after all, anyone can declare himself the King of Saturn and issue certificates selling its rings...
The "ruling" of the International Court of Justice on the status of Kosovo's independence holds as much influence over international law, creates as much jurisprudence, as the "opinion" of a first-year law student opining on some hypothetical case in an academic debate. Today's "ruling" is in fact no more than a non-binding statement after a "hearing" among 14 judges at the ICJ. A "hearing" whose results had to be postponed because of the severe degree of disagreement among those involved.

It is not a finding, it is not a ruling, it is merely an expression of opinion and as was the case last time, it is far from unanimous (the expression of opinion had to be delayed because in April there was such a huge divergence...one wonders what has been going on in the sidelines). Interestingly enough, the USA makes a big deal out of this "expression of opinion" yet has refused to ratify the full jurisdiction of the ICJ for fear that its own soldiers and officials will be liable for prosecution for war crimes.

So how can the USA make any capital at all out of an organism whose full jurisdiction it does not recognise?
As for the ridiculous and risible expression of opinion today at the ICJ, the ten judges who agreed that the Kosovo declaration of independence in 2008 did not violate general international law, were doing two things: first, voluntarily supporting the international terrorist/mafia movement which launched the Kosovo independence question and second, naively falling into a trap, namely trying to camouflage as a ruling a statement of general fact: evidently the declaration of independence of Kosovo does not violate general international law any more than some quack who sticks a flag in his back yard and declares himself the Emperor of Zogland, or some illuminated lunatic who starts parcelling off and selling Saturn. And its rings.

For those of us who study and follow and uphold international law, there are perfectly simple precedents and norms to follow. 69 of the UNO's 192 member-states have recognised Kosovo (how many of them cajoled and bullied by Washington?), meaning that 123 have not.
123 to 69 is a huge difference. These ten judges may side with the sycophantic cowards who did not have the pride, the national spirit or the moral fibre to stand up for themselves, however the fact of the matter is that the norms of territorial integrity have very firm foundations under international law, not in a "court" whose jurisdiction is recognised by a few and not by others, but under international treaties signed by those who today try to make legal U-turns, so as to create a Kosovo Mafia State in the Balkans.

Westphalia, in 1648, laid the foundations of territorial integrity; the UN Charter, CSCE and Helsinki Final Act cemented the legal norm of the inviolability of frontiers and the territorial integrity of States.
Under these precepts, the fact of the matter is that Kosovo and Metohija is, and always has been, a province of the Republic of Serbia, as recognised by UNSC Resolution 1244 and under the UN Charter, Chapter 1, Article 2.7: "Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state".

Independence is not a game or merely a word to be taken lightly. The independence of a people or a nation is a process set upon the foundations of hundreds, if not thousands, of years of history which in turn is based upon due process and the tests and trials of the most complex of socio-cultural, ethnic and historical vectors.
Today's expression by this ill-defined and unrecognised body is, or should be, its death sentence, given that we live in a world where the precepts of law are defining guidelines to be respected and upheld. Kosovo is Serbia.
Let us see how far the UN General Assembly dares to go in its forthcoming debate and declaration on this question, let us see how far mankind has developed along the path of civilization or at the very least, respect for international law.
After all, anyone can sell the rings of Saturn. Would you buy one?