Soviet/U.S. Influences in Kosovo

This research examines Soviet and American influences on events in Kosovo Province, Serbia subsequent to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. As the Former Soviet Union (FSU) itself disintegrated in the winter of 1991-1992, successor states to the FSU, particularly Russia and Ukraine, also have influenced outcomes in Kosovo, and these influences are addressed in this research when appropriate.

Kosovo is a rugged area four-fifths the size of Connecticut. The region's population of almost two million is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, and an additional one million ethnic Albanians live in adjoining Macedonia and Montenegro and in three adjacent enclaves in Serbia proper. While the Kosovo ethnic Albanians retain a Muslim influence from five centuries of Ottoman Turkish occupation, they are not Slavs, unlike the Bosnian Muslims. They are descendants of the Illyrians of Roman times, and their language, written in the Latin alphabet, is unrelated to Serbo-Croatian.

Kosovo was an "autonomous province" attached to Yugoslavia's Serbian Republic prior to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. In 1988, Yugoslavia's collective presidency granted special powers to the federal police unit in Kosovo Province on the ground that security in the province had deteriorated seriously. Kosovo was Yugoslavia's poorest region. The majority of Kos

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t that more than 300,000 Albanians have fled Kosovo under Milosevic's ascendancy, 'this amounts to nothing less than not-so-subtle ethnic cleansing.'" Serb nationalism is based in a sense of victimization and historical injustice. The Serbian people's very survival, according to the Serbian argument, is "threatened by Muslim, Catholic and imperialist conspiracies; while Croats, Muslims, and Slovenians scramble to unite their people in one state (and the west gives the nod of approval), Serbia finds itself with more than two million Serbs outside new borders." The Serb "leadership's clumsy and arrogant handling of the Kosovo affair has, not surprisingly, won it few supporters." In fact, the continuing human rights abuses in Kosovo have earned the Albanians support for their cause. Until the collapse of the FSU, it was "commonplace in Pristina to hear Kosovars talk of how, come the revolution, tanks from neighbouring Albania would roll over the mountains to defend their brothers. Since the Stalinist regime collapsed, and the degree of poverty in Albania became evident, such hopes have died. Sali Berisha, president of Albania's fledgling democratic government, may have promised to bring down the 'Balkan Wall' separating Al
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Albanians Kosovo, President Clinton, Bosnia Serbian, Ibrahim Rugova, Serbia Serbs, Sali Berisha, Pristina University, United Nations, Serbia Serbian, Serbian Republic, ethnic albanians, albanians kosovo, ethnic albanians kosovo, western nations, kosovo province, human rights, ethnic albanian, serb minority, kosovo ethnic, president clinton, kosovo ethnic albanians, american president clinton, american president, republics yugoslavian federation, according alternative position,
Approximate Word count = 2296
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)