Kos-ovah to you, bud

First, Slovenia left Yugoslavia.

Next, Croatia left the "southern slavic federation."

Then, the Bosnians wanted to leave. The Croats in Bosnia wanted to leave Yugoslavia and Bosnia. The Serbs in Bosnia wanted the Muslims and Croats to leave Bosnia.

After, The Macedonians wanted to leave. The Greeks wanted Macedonia--or at least the name of McDonald's.

Later, the Albanians of Kosovo wanted to leave Serbia to either form an independent Kosova or become tongue-tied with their brothers and sisters in Tirana (No, not Toronto).

The Montenegrins got to leave even though the Serbs of Belgrade grumbled.

No pun intended. The Serbs "balked" at every act of independence. The Serbs want to claim their ancestral Heimat of Kosovo even though most of them have probably never set foot in their fabled homeland.

The Serbs had no intention of negotiating some kind of settlement with respect to Kosovo. If I were an Albanian Kosovar, I would have supported the unilateral declaration of independence by the parliament of Kosovo. Why wait until the Serbs and Russians are happy?

I am not naive to think that the Serbs and Albanians can live peacefully in Kosovo in some kind of arrangement. I do think that a better solution would be to partition Kosovo with the Serbs in the north remaining part of Serbia. I can't see the Serbs in Mitrovica accepting rule by the Albanians of Pristina.

I don't think that the disputes in the Balkans will end after this week. The Serbs in Bosnia may want to reunited with Serbia. The Albanians in southern Serbia and northwest Macedonia may wish to join with the newly independent country of Kosova.

The Serbs gambled practically everything since 1991. They lost practically everything.