Kosovo Quotes

The many questions about the bombing of Yugoslavia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – meaning primarily the United States – come down to two fundamental issues: ‘What are the accepted and applicable ‘rules of world order,’ and how do these apply in the case of Kosovo?’

Kosovo is too close to Europe. It is not only close to Albania, it is close to Greece, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, where there are still many Kosovo refugees. Spontaneous reactions could multiply.

An international presence in Serbia’s Kosovo province is not a problem. But only a civilian and unarmed mission under U.N. auspices, with Russia’s participation, would be acceptable.

I’ve taken clowns into the war in Bosnia, the refugee camps of Kosovo, and none of those are any more important than clowning in a subway or an elevator or just walking down the street.

Maybe if I was born in Kosovo, I might not be where I am now, so I need to thank Switzerland, of course, because I went to school there, learnt to play football there, and started my career there.

So as far as Serbia is concerned, it does not have the right to influence the privatization or to claim any property, because Kosovo is a former member of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Military action is, of course, sometimes necessary to maintain peace. Kosovo and World War II are good examples.

The privatization law draft was recently released and I believe that very soon we will start applying it, of course taking into consideration the provisions of UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo).

What if the coach of Kosovo wants me as the captain? Of course, I am thinking about it then.

As the president of Kosovo, I am more concerned about the current situation with the employment standing at around 70 % of the population, which is young, with great potential, speaking many foreign languages and having wide expertise.

In Kosovo, the U.S. has chosen a course of action that escalates atrocities and violence. It is also a course of action that strikes a blow against the regime of international order, but which offers the weak at least some protection from predatory states.

It depends on the situation. I mean, on one hand there’s the argument that people should be left alone on the other hand, there’s the argument to wade in a stop slaughters in places like Bosnia and Kosovo and what we probably should have done in Rwanda.

Imagine a part of the U.S.A., from which the U.S.A. started – where is the cradle of your history? This is Kosovo for Serbia.

The different Ministries have to work more on the promotion of the country, to build Kosovo’s public image. Concrete projects must be assembled, in order to activate our businessmen to have more contacts. We have to create a positive image about ourselves.

At the time when this famous historical battle was fought in Kosovo, the people were looking at the stars, expecting aid from them. Now, six centuries later, they are looking at the stars again, waiting to conquer them.

A final and long-lasting solution to the Kosovo issue cannot be achieved without an agreement with Serbia, especially in regard to the U.N.

I was part of a government that tried to resolve the question of Kosovo by war. Perhaps there is some justice that today I should be the person most responsible for finding a peaceful solution.

As a Republican, I voted with President Clinton consistently in our efforts to bail out our European friends in Kosovo to stop genocide. I am proud of those votes. I am proud of President Clinton for that.

We have the EURO as a currency, which means a lot. It has not just stabilized the situation in Kosovo politically and economically, but also facilitated the direct contact that we have with Europe.

The speed of movement towards independence will depend on Kosovo demonstrating that it is capable of treating minorities well. We have not always seen that.

Professionally, I made my first film at 20 in a war zone in Kosovo.

I think it’s appropriate for the international community in situations like this to intervene in Kosovo. I am in favor of an intervention. On some level, you have to say that at least somebody is doing something.

I support the recommendations made by the International Crisis Group. The primary responsibility is for Kosovo Albanians to demonstrate that their treatment of minorities is adequate.

Instead of the international police action we had hoped for during the war in Kosovo, there are wars again – conducted with state-of-the-art technology, but still in the old style.

I believe that ultimately the situation in Kosovo can only be resolved through self-determination.

Desert Storm created the pattern for the American way of war that eventually prevailed in Kosovo. America learned from Vietnam that unilateral use of force eventually forfeits international legitimacy and domestic support. Desert Storm demonstrated the political necessity of coalition warfare.

But we acted pre-emptively in Kosovo in 1999 to stop Milosevic from doing what he was doing and increasingly doing the ethnic cleansing in a systematic way.

Serbs can only leave Kosovo.

Kosovo is a small country but it also has a lot of riches that were granted to us by God.

I built Kosovo for 10 years.

I live the Swiss mentality but the Kosovo mentality too, because when I go home, I speak Albanian.

I was no stranger to risk myself, having made documentaries in dangerous conditions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Africa.

I want to emphasize the fact that the independence of Kosovo should and will be recognized.

I tried to go to Kosovo to establish a statue to commemorate those who died during the wars, and to discuss moving on, so we could move into a new era. But I was banned from there.

I literally touched down in Kosovo and the president, prime minister and mayor were waiting for me to get off the plane. Apparently that’s unheard of. They don’t wait for nobody.

I have a few properties, some in the U.K., some in the States, some in Kosovo. It’s a nice little empire – I’m trying to create something so my family can be all right.

For 10 years, Kosovo was taboo. No one could officially tell the truth.

It is difficult to say today whether the Battle of Kosovo was a defeat or a victory for the Serbian people, whether thanks to it we fell into slavery or we survived in this slavery.

The EU should have consolidated its different presences and purposes in Kosovo earlier.

I don’t really remember much about Kosovo. I only remember growing up in London, where my parents had to basically start from scratch.