Kosovo

NYT: BRUSSELS — The United States formally joined France and Britain in recognizing the independence of Kosovo on Monday, a day after the breakaway province declared itself independent of Serbia. Earlier, France and Britain had led European nations in recognizing Kosovo. In a statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States “has today formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state. We congratulate the people of Kosovo on this historic occasion.”

So Kosovo hasn’t officially been recognized by anyone yet. But lots of countries are lining up to refuse to recognize it: Azerbaijan Vietnam China Spain Russia Serbia (obviously) Also: Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have indicated they will not recognize. Last I checked Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain are all EU states. Seems like Brussels will have a problem if some people don’t want to play along.

So Kosovo is independent now. The last two lines in this NYT story make no sense to me: European Union officials said Britain, France, and Germany were expected to recognize Kosovo 24 hours after the declaration, to try to stop prevent Moscow and Belgrade from trying to rally opposition to the independence declaration. The recognition of Kosovo by the United States [and] other European Union member states was expected to follow in the coming days. President Bush, speaking Sunday in…