‘Great Distaste’ in Belgrade

Our Embassy Is Burned Over Kosovo

[snip]
Yesterday, as the American Embassy in Belgrade burned, the Associated Press reported that vigilantes set afire a U.N. vehicle in the Serb minority province of Mitrovica on the border between Kosovo and Serbia. Meanwhile, a United Nations-run court building in the province came under attack again from protesters throwing rocks, in what could be an effort from the Serb minority to impose a de facto secession from the newly independent Albanian majority country. [snip]

The street protests are a bitter irony for Mr. Clinton’s foreign policy team especially, considering that the last time protests of that size were seen in Belgrade was in 2000, when Prime Minister Kostunica led marches on the parliament that ultimately forced Milosevic to give up power.

In 2000, Mr. Kostunica was praised as a liberal visionary in Washington. Today he is leading crowds of Serbs in Belgrade insisting that Kosovo remain part of Serbia. [snip]

Maybe we should send in the Archduke to settle this mess.