Are Israel and Kosovo alike?
The answer, according to Michael J. Totten, is yes.
There has been a lot of arguments for and against the new state of Kosovo and a lot of the reason against it are taken from a national security standpoint. The main question refers to whether or not we want to have a Muslim country in Europe that could turn into a powder keg waiting to explode.
Totten’s article compares the two countries along with pointing out the the predominant Muslim sect in Kosovo is the exact opposite the sects that brought about Al-Qaeda and the like. Now, the article doesn’t bring up the topic about whether or not Kosovo has the right to secede or not. The article strictly focuses on whether Israel should recognize Kosovo because it can be seen as somewhat of a “brother in arms” with the same situation. To get what I am saying, read this excerpt:
The irrelevance of Kosovo to the Arab-Israeli conflict is underscored by the fact that not a single Arab country has recognized Kosovo. The only Muslim countries which so far have bothered are Turkey, Malaysia, Senegal, Albania, and Afghanistan. The governments of all these countries are, to one extent or another, either moderate, in the pro-Western camp, or both. All aside from Albania have sizeable ethnic minorities of their own. Turkey especially frets about its own separatists – the Kurds in the east – but still went ahead and recognized Kosovo almost instantly.
Many in Kosovo are well aware that they have more in common with Israel than with the West Bank and Gaza. “Kosovars used to identify with the Palestinians because we Albanians are Muslims and Christians and we saw Serbia and Israel both as usurpers of land,” a prominent Kosovar recently told journalist Stephen Schwartz. “Then we looked at a map and woke up. Israelis have a population of six million, their backs to the sea, and 300 million Arab enemies. Albanians have a total population of eight million, our backs to the sea, and 200 million Slav enemies. So why should we identify with the Arabs?”
If you liked that part, read the rest of the article. It’s just as good.
