By Bridget Johnson, your guide to Journalism

As I pored through Saturday evening photos of Kosovans already celebrating Sunday’s promised declaration of statehood, I offhandedly asked
a colleague what she would be doing to celebrate Kosovo Independence Day.

“Are you sure it won’t be Serbian Revenge Day?” she responded.

‘Nuff said.

The Balkans are back in the news with today’s declaration of statehood and unveiling of a new national flag of Kosovo. Serbia, predictably, is livid, as is Russia, which called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council. The head of the Serb Orthodox Church said the declaration of independence was a declaration of war:

“‘The statement by the chief of staff, General Zdravko Ponos, that Kosovo will not be defended by the army, is a disgrace,’ Bishop Artemije told the daily Glas Javnosti.


‘Serbia should buy state of the art weapons from Russia and other countries and call on Russia to send the volunteers and establish a military presence in Serbia,’ he said.


‘Kosovo was and always will be Serbian,’ the bishop said.”

Western support for Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration could put the U.S. at odds with Russia, which clearly fears a ripple effect:

“‘I don’t want say anything that would offend anyone, but for 40 years northern Cyprus has practically had independence,’ Putin said. ‘Why aren’t you recognising that? Aren’t you ashamed, Europeans, for having these double standards?’


Dismissing the western argument that Kosovo is a special case, Putin repeated Russia’s warning that supporting the province’s independence would set a dangerous precedent for other separatist regions.


‘We have Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Trans-Dniester, and they say Kosovo is a special case?’ he said, referring to three breakaway, pro-Russian regions in the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova.”

At Thursday’s closed meeting of the U.N. Security
Council, U.S. Charge d’Affaires Alejandro D. Wolff said, in part, the following:

“The fact is that the policies of ethnic cleansing that the Milosevic government pursued against the Kosovar people forever ensured that Kosovo would never again return to rule by Belgrade. This is an unavoidable fact and the direct consequence of these barbaric policies.


In the absence of an agreement between the parties, the United States and many countries in Europe believe that the Ahtisaari plan remains the best way forward to promote long-term stability in the Balkan region. We
need to implement the Ahtisaari plan now if we want to accelerate the integration of the entire region, including Serbia, into Euro-Atlantic institutions.”

(Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)