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As Kosovo (shown) moves closer to independence, what about Transdniestria? Its people have waited 17 years to be recognized

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Tiraspol Times) - Is Kosovo a unique sui generis case, or would status settlement set a precedent that others can learn from? That question has been debated in London and Washington, D.C., during the past week in preparation for an upcoming United Nations vote on the issue.

" - The Security Council ideally should grant Kosovo independence but simultaneously repudiate unilateral secessions elsewhere," believes Tim Judah, a Balkans analyst and author.

" - In other words: “Kosovo is unique!” ... How come? “Because we say so!”", answers American conservative commentator and frequent FOX News guest Julia Gorin in a comment on Judah's statement.

Ioannis Michaletos, writing in World Press magazine, agrees that Kosovo is not unique at all. What about other similar cases, he asks? Western Sahara in Morocco has been struggling for independence for much longer, but Michaletos says the United States is unlikely to back its case for fear of riling Morocco, its "staunch ally in the Arab world".

" - Kosovo's independence would have wider consequences, not just in the region," Michaletos asserts. Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which declared independence from Georgia in the breakup of the Soviet Union, have already said that they will use a Kosovo precedent to their advantage. In Transdniestria, which was never historically part of Moldova, the president has said that his unrecognized country has a better case for independence than Kosovo. Longtime U.S. Senate insider James Jatras agrees with him, and he is not alone in Washington with this view.

" - Kosovo is a hotbed of Islamic extremism: And, more than ever, organized crime is rampant in today's Kosovo. This is despite the expensive presence of KFOR, the NATO-led Kosovo Force which consists of some 17,000 troops - about twenty times as big as the multinational peacekeeping contingent which currently successfully monitors the ceasefire between Moldova and Transdniestria," explains security analyst Michael Garner.

Double standards in analysis of peacekeeping missions

" - Russia gets criticized for having, supposedly, supported the Transdniestrians against Moldova. But a more honest analysis reveals that Russia stepped in late in the war which Moldova started, and that Russia's role was the primarily to separate the sides and impose a ceasefire which has held ever since."

Garner points out that in wars where the United States has played a role, its role has not been as impartial. The United States has actively taken sides, such as in Kosovo. And when it has acted as a peacekeeper, it has done so in a more haphazard way than Russia. In terms of effectiveness of Russia's involvement in peacekeeping in Transdniestria, it scores an A+ simply because the peace has been kept and no lives have been lost. The much more expensive U.S.-led peacekeeping attempts in Kosovo are not nearly as good, scoring at best only a C- because the peace has often been broken and because many lives have been lost as a result.

" - In the peacekeeping area, double standards abound," he says.

Then there's democracy. China doesn't get a fraction of the criticism that Russia does, leading many - both inside the United States and in a number of foreign capitals - to point out the double standards and moral ambivalence of Washington's position.

" - The United States has been constantly hectoring Russia on backsliding from democracy. But compared to Beijing, Moscow is Montpelier, Vermont," says Pat Buchanan, a conservative Republican and former candidate for President of the United States of America. Buchanan also wants to know: "And why, if the Cold War is over, are Russia's political arrangements any of our business?"

Condi gets an earful by her Russian fans

As the U.S. State Department continues to push for Kosovo independence at the expense of others who have waited far longer for recognition of their independence aspirations, criticism of this policy is even appearing from some unlikely quarters.

In a recent visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Moscow, she was cautioned by Russian pro-Western opposition leaders to not support Kosovo independence unilaterally. Doing so, they told her, would expose Washington double standards in how it treats Transdniestria.

" - We warned the U.S. against a unilateral resolution of the Kosovo question," said Konstantin Remchukov, an opposition friendly editor-in-chief of the Putin-critical Nezavisimaya Gazeta. "We said that it would irreversibly lead to a broad wave of anti-Americanism in Russian society and accusations of double standards."

" - Everyone agreed that, after such an event, there would be little to keep Transdniestria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia from seceding from Moldova and Georgia," said Irina Yasina, program director of the U.S.-supported Open Russia foundation and a former guest at the George W. Bush White House.

See also:
» Kosovo report linked to Transnistria independence [1]
» Kosovo independence gives equal rights to Pridnestrovie; other unrecognized countries [2]
» Lessons from Kosovo [3]