Some bored Norwegian guys in Kosovo

As you know, in few days Kosovo's Assembly will declare the independence of this UN-administred territory. If you live in Beijing or New York, you probably don't care about that. But things are quite different if you live in Balkans. So let's make a brief summary of how are things going in these days.

The first round of voting on Serbian Presidential elections took place in January 20th . The winner was Tomislav Nikolić, the candidate of the ultranationalist Serb Radical Party, four points ahead of the current President Boris Tadić, from the moderate Democratic Party. Next Sunday, Serbia has to decided among 2 opposite ways: the pro EU Tadić or the pro Russia Nikolić. As Tadić said yesterday in a live TV debate: "Serbia is at the crossroads. We are faced with a choice, either the European Union or isolation", referring to Nikolić's idea that Serbia should drop its candidature to join the EU if this one back Kosovo's independence. The Radical leader argues that "with its position Russia has so far prevented the United States and the European Union from taking Kosovo away from us".

Kosovo is considered the historic motherland of Serbia. The main myth of Serbian nationalism is the battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389, when a coalition of Bosnian and Serb troops lead by Prince Lazar were defeated by the Otomans, and it was the beginning of the following 500 years domination of both territories by Istambul. Milosević's famous speech in Kosovo Polje in 1989, in the 600 anniversary of this defeat, stated that "we are ready to fight again". Today, Kosovo is totally different from that territory Serbs were defending from the Ottoman invasion. The main ethnic group is Albanian, with around 90% of the population.

Kosovo's Assembly, dominated by a ethnic Albanian majority, is expecting the results of Serbian Presidential election to declare the independence. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the this declaration is a matter of days, and even fixed it on February 7th. EU members agreed on the deployment of a police and justice force in the territory after this declaration. Some Italian troops will arrive to this territory within following days.

People in BiH is anxiously expecting the post-independence scenario. The extremely original political system of the country is not the best frame to guarantee political stability, with its 2 almost sovereign entities and a weak federal level ruled by a foreign High Representative. Public institutions in Bosnia are based on an ethnic cryteria, dividing power among Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks. Politicians like Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb entity), take profit of this complex context threatening that if Montenegro or Kosovo could be independent, the Bosnian Serbs can also organise a referendum to separate from BiH and either join Serbia or be independent. Statements like that made the war ghosts come back to BiH, if they really had ever left the country.

So now you can understand why tension is one of the most used words nowadays in Balkans. I think the video you can see below will at least make you laugh a bit. The song was first recorded in 1999 by Bob Rivers, a DJ from Seattle, who recorded a cover of Kokomo by The Beach Boys with the aim of making fun of the world police role that his country had in unknown places for most of the Americans. In 2002 some Norwegian soldiers in the UN mission in Kosovo decided to make a clip of it. It obviously offended public authorities in Serbia, and this guys were brought back to Norway in the blink of an eye.

Anyway, I think it's funny. Enjoy it. And take a look at the lyrics if you need them.