Kosovo toys with history

Re “U.S., many in EU recognize Kosovo,” Feb. 19

Kosovo declares independence, and nations with disaffected minorities such as Russia and China cry bad precedent. We need to remember the causative event: Slobodan Milosevic, with violence and threat of destruction, tried to expel Albanian Kosovars from their ancestral home.

Similar to the Holocaust, this is an event that changed history. To all nations with disaffected minorities, including the U.S.: Don’t think that violence or repression will change history in your favor.

Martin Kotowski

Sherman Oaks

--

Article 103 of the United Nations Charter must be meaningless now. Or perhaps it still has meaning, and the actions by the Bush administration to recognize Kosovo as an independent state are meaningless.

Please do not forget or overlook U.N. Resolution 1244 (signed by the U.S. in 1999) that clearly states that Kosovo is part of Serbia, not independent. Russia and China, and others such as Spain and Greece to name but two, also have it right.

It must be clear, and the United Nations must clearly pronounce, that the action on the part of the Kosovar leaders is not recognized as a legal act and is null and void.

James Shaw

Fullerton