What is Kosovo?
Until its declaration of independence, the majority-Muslim region was a province of predominantly Christian Serbia. But it had not been effectively under Serbia’s control since 1999, when NATO launched air strikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission had governed Kosovo since. How did Serbia greet Kosovo’s independence? In a word, unhappily. Serbia’s foreign minister urged international condemnation of Kosovo’s “illegal” declaration. Others took their anger to the streets, and Serbs in Serbia as well as Kosovo protested, sometimes violently. At one point the U.S. Embassy in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, was stormed and set afire. Who else objects to Kosovo’s independence? Russia, China and some European Union members strongly object to letting Kosovo break away from Serbia over Serbia’s objections. Who supports it? International heavyweights the United States, Britain, France and Germany all formally recognized Kosovo. How far back does Serbian interest
