[GA] Resolution on the Balkan conflict

[Odinson]

This is the response of the Kingdom of Norway.

The Norwegian ambassador sat forward and looked to his Argentine colleague. He spoke up when there was a dull in the commotion. "Pardon me, Ambassador Arguello. I think it's without question that Argentina is a nation known for its prowess in diplomacy. I say that, because this proposal confuses me. Kosovo is a sovereign nation which has just been invaded by a foreign neighbor. While the Kingdom of Norway has yet to declare any official stance in this matter, I wonder why we should appease the nation of Serbia by allowing them political authority over Kosovo, a sovereign nation which very much does not want to be under the control of Serbia.

"I don't want there to be a war by any means, but conceding to Serbia that there is a guarantee of not physical consequences is a large concession, don't you think?"

@Naio90
@John

::::::::::

The Norwegian Ambassador's closest aid, under directions from the Ambassador himself, sent a private text message to the Dutch Ambassador. The text requested that he make himself present.
@Dutchy

 

[Naio90]

Replying to the SG of the GA, Amb. Arguello would state:

"The GA's position is the position of the majority of the nations that constitute it."

The he would address the floor in regard of the comments of the norge representative:

"Kosovo is no sovereign nation. As our predecesor, the UN, firmly established through many declarations and statements, including a UNSC Resolution in 1999. The premice of territorial integrity is key in international law, and we cannot permit groups of people to unilaterally decide to secede, as this would created a VERY dangerous precedent.

Do not get me wrong here, the serbian Government is clearly in fault as well, we cannot tolerate military actions where diplomacy and negotiations are still an option. Thats why we propose a hefty financial sanction, to be used as proposed by the japanese representative to constitute a fund administered by the GA to combat the rampant poverty and lack of infrastructure in the territory of Kosovo. Supporting the japanese proposal as well, Kosovo could be granted some sort of autonomous government, remaining its Foreign Relations and Defence responsability of the Belgrade, just as there are so many examples around the world."

 

[Moe]

The Brazilian Representative would stand and say, "As already stated, Brazil supports the Japanese proposal and we believe it is now time to put this to a vote. The words must end and the actions must begin.

We believe Serbia at a minimum, should have stricken from their coffers a total sum of five billion dollars, as well as being forbidden to produce any additional military weapons or receive weapons from another nation for a period of one year."

 

[Joe]

The doors open silently as Linh Mach, the Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Nations slips in. Having been awoken just moments earlier, she would look quite frazzled. She'd nod silently at the Canadian Ambassador, the both of them having been good acquaintances from their mutual love of the Hockey Championships. Reading the transcript on the way to the office as well as under advisement of the State Ministry, she would be prepared to speak. Her first words were directed at the Brazilian Representative.

"For a country that prides itself on breaking away, rather violently, from Portugal, you are rather steadfast in ensuring that Kosovo remains under Serbian influence. What is the forbidding of additional military weaponry to do? A year is a blink of an eye. What will stop these Serbians from looking beyond Kosovo? To other peaceful nations where they possess some minor casus belli that they can use? What good are we as a Global Assembly if we cannot stop madmen from invading their neighbors?"

"By rights, it is recognized by the majority of these nations that Kosovo is an independent nation. Regardless of what the Japanese Representative may say about that nation's merits, it is still an independent nation, free to conduct it's domestic business however it may see fit. Why should another nation like Serbia have the right to infringe upon this status? No sir, I immediately move that we form a General Assembly Peacekeeping Force in order to expell the Serbian nation and ensure Kosovan independence for years to come."

 

[Joe]

Mach would tap her aide on the shoulder and gesture for her to deliver a note to the Canadian Ambassador. The aide would read the note and would quickly jog to the Ambassador, setting it down on his desk.

The note:

"Meet my aide outside. We have a proposition."

 

[Owen]

The Canadian Ambassador would read the note and would stand up, making his way outside the main doors. He would look to the Vietnamese Ambassador.

In the thick French-Canadian accent he would speak, "Linh, what seems to be the problem my friend?" He would place his hand on her back as a simple gesture.

 

[Moe]

The Brazilian representative Juan Veldez would respond to the Vietnamese representative.

"Um, apologies, Madame Minister. You must have entered the wrong chamber. This chamber is to discuss the crisis in Kosovo. The amateur historian club is down the hall.

But as I can glean from your outrage that you are calling for war instead of diplomacy. As all amateurs do.

But I am all ears. Please continue. I am quite keen on hearing your detailed plan for a peacekeeping force, especially the logistics and cost of such an operation."

 

[Naio90]

"Kosovo is no independent nation, and recognizing it as such would open the door for territories to seek separating from their nations and just get some other nations to support them. Hoy do understand the danger of this?

Kosovo is not an independent territory, and despite the mistakes made by Serbia by trying to use the force to get it back under Its control, its still part of their lands."

 

[Joe]

As Linh Mach had departed from chambers in order to speak privately with the Canadian Ambassador, her aide-de-camp, Navy military attache Lieutenant Minh Nguyen would rise to speak. First, he would address the Argentinian Ambassador.

"Mr. Ambassador," He would say politely. "It's quite obvious that those who do not consider Kosovo as an independent nation are in the minority. As of this present day, over 102 members of the General Assembly consider Kosovo to be a legally independent nation. That's more than half. All things considered, Kosovo being territorially sovereign under Serbia sets a dangerous precedent for future territories such as Taiwan, and numerous other disputed territories by allowing other countries to simply surprise, invade, and annex because of historical reasons."

The unspoken words of "Falklands" and "Islands" would practically hover in the air.

"Ambassador," He'd continue. "Any group of people, when they feel that their government no longer protects, represents, or serves them, has the inherent right to choose their own form of government, whether that be through elections or through independence. Kosovo has chosen to go it's own route through national self-determination. Who are we to decide otherwise? By allowing Serbia to continue to take control of Kosovo, we legitimize the war crimes that Serbia committed and turn a blind eye to that. Ethnic cleansings, forced expulsions, rapes... can you say to me that we as a chamber stand for that?"

Finally, Lieutenant Nguyen would turn to the Brazilian representative.

"Ambassador Veldez," He'd remind him. "Might I remind you to keep decorum in these sacred chambers. Petty insults are not tolerated. But, if you are so inclined, it is our duty as a General Assembly to protect and serve the people of the world, our citizens, that you and I swore to protect. I, for one, do not stand for allowing and tolerating a nation that committed ethnic cleansings and killed thousands to continue to rule over a people that decided to forge their own destiny. But, since you requested, the Republic of Vietnam does indeed have a rudimentary plan for a peacekeeping operation that will have minimal loss of life for all members of these chambers. While Serbia has a fairly decent military, our Military High Command believes that an armed show of force and display of unity from a Coalition of General Assembly states will force them to back down from Kosovo and encourage the Kosovan Army to fight back. As this operation has no real deployment, we find that the operational costs will be quite minimal and the logistics can be handled by the Kosovan Army in terms of replenishment, resupply, maintenance, and medical. It is all of the benefits, with none of the costs."

 

[Naio90]

I remind you that the General Assembly currently only has 36 memebers, and that many of them have not yet stated their position, therefore. We could submit this to a vote and see what happens, but that would not be right, as we would be disregarding the principle of territorial integrity, a key concept in international law, as you know. (OOC: In the MNverse, the 2008 events regarding the international recognition of Kosovo, and the 102 out of 195 UN countries who recognized them, never happened).

Also, your statement, and I quote, "Any group of people, when they feel that their government no longer protects, represents, or serves them, has the inherent right to choose their own form of government, whether that be through elections or through independence", is completely false and goes against multiple concepts of international law. It's as simple as thinking that this would be mean that any group of friends could argue that they feel not represented by their central State and ask for their estate and farmlands to be considered and independent nation.

And again, Serbia was at fault by trying to use the force where diplomacy was still a valid method, and I think I already stated that Argentina grees with the diea of imposing financial sanctions to Serbia to fund the development of the territory of Kosovo."

I propose we move on to the vote of the presented draft. @Odinson

 

[Alex]

"I am still neutral on the matter, but may I remind you, Lieutenant Minh Nguyen, that Serbia was not the only ones to commit war crimes during the Kosovo War. Both Kosovo and Albania committed their own shares of these crimes. Kidnappings and summary executions occurred quite often:

In some villages under Albanian control in 1998, militants drove ethnic-Serbs from their homes. Some of those who remained are unaccounted for and are presumed to have been abducted by the KLA and killed. The KLA detained an estimated 85 Serbs during its 19 July 1998 attack on Orahovac. 35 of these were subsequently released but the others remained. On 22 July 1998, the KLA briefly took control of the Belaćevac mine near the town of Obilić. Nine Serb mineworkers were captured that day and they remain on the International Committee of the Red Cross's list of the missing and are presumed to have been killed. In August 1998, 22 Serbian civilians were reportedly killed in the village of Klečka, where the police claimed to have discovered human remains and a kiln used to cremate the bodies. In September 1998, Serbian police collected 34 bodies of people believed to have been seized and murdered by the KLA, among them some ethnic Albanians, at Lake Radonjić near Glođane in what became known as the Lake Radonjić massacre.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the ICTY, 97 Kosovo-Serbs were kidnapped in 1998. According to a Serbian government report, from 1 January 1998 to 10 June 1999 the UÇK killed 988 people and kidnapped 287; of those killed, 335 were civilians, 351 were soldiers, 230 were police and 72 were unidentified; by nationality, 87 of the civilians killed were Serbs, 230 were Albanians, and 18 were of other nationalities.

There are also the nine recorded massacres committed by Kosovans. There were ethnic cleansings, concentration camps, organ theft, destruction of Serbian heritage sites.

For you to say that only Serbia committed these types of crimes is inaccurate and unfair."

 

[Naio90]

"I hereby submit an updated draft Resolution, incorporating the comments gathered from multiple participants."

RESOLUTION ON THE BALKAN CONFLICT BETWEEN
THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
AND THE
TERRITORY OF KOSOVO​

​

​

The General Assembly,

Considering the long history of territorial, ethnic and religious conflicts that mark the Balkan region;​

Taking into account previous armed confrontations;​

Noting previous Agreements refering to the Dispute between Serbia and the territory of Kosovo;​

Concerned about the possibility of an armed escalation of the present conflict;​

​

Resolves that:​

1.- The Republic of Serbia has to immetiadly recall all armed forces operating within the territory of Kosovo and refrain from pursuing any military action on said territory, with consequential economical and political sanctions should the rpesent Article be ignored.​

2.- To call all involde third Parties to refrain from intervening, directly and/or indirectly, in this conflict. Should any of them violate the present Article, they will be made automatically subject to international sanctions, economic and political, in the form of embargoes and monetary fines to be paid to the General Assembly, among others.​

3.- Return complete political control of the Territory of Kosovo to the Republic of Serbia, made effective by the mobilization of non-military, security forces, from Serbia to said territory, preserving and guaranteeing all rights and properties of the local population.​

​

4.- Economic sanctions will be put in place with the signature of the present Resolution against the Republic of Serbia for violating the Charter of the General Assembly by attempting to use force when diplomacy was still valid. Such sanctions will rise to $5,000,000,000.00 and have to be deposited into the account of the General Assembly.​

​

5.- A Special Kosovo Development Fund, administrated by the General Assembly, will be created with the funds emanating from the financial sanctions against Serbia. The funds will be employed to improve infrastructure and living conditions in Kosovo.​

​

6.- Kosovo, while remaining part of the Republic of Serbia, shall obtain a high degree of autonomy, excluding Foreign Relations and Defence, which shall continue to be managed by the Republic of Serbia.​

4.- All further conflicts surrounding the Balkan region to be brought immediatly to the General Assembly to be resolved through diplomacy.​

 

[Moe]

Juan Valdez would respond to Lieutenant Nguyen. "Just so I get this straight your GA peacekeeping operation would consist of and I quote, "this operation has no real deployment."

Valdez would stop to laugh out loud.

And you further state that, "logistics can be handled by the Kosovan Army in terms of replenishment, resupply, maintenance, and medical."

So basically in your version of a GA peacekeeping force, we deploy no troops and let the Kosovars handle everything on their own?

Valdez would pause and then blurt out.

"Sorry, but your plan completely lacks logic and common sense. Brazil will refrain from any further comments and wait for the resolution to be voted upon. Perhaps the representatives from Vietnam could do everyone else a favor and do the same."

 

[Joe]

Lieutenant Nguyen would stare blankly at Representative Valdez/Veldez, then turn to Mach's staff. His direct translation would be coming in through his ear, but he wanted to be certain. An aide was urgently jotting down notes, following the Brazilian's speech before handing it off to the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant would take it and rise to speak.

"Representative Valdez," Lieutenant Nguyen would reply politely. "For a seasoned politican, you act quite like a whelp. May I remind you to keep decorum in these chambers. Might I also allow myself to explain and point out that this plan makes perfect sense. Allow me to introduce with a quote,

“in such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor the use of commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”​

What we have here, ladies and gentlemen is a rogue Serbian government attempting to create a failed state by annexing and toppling the Kosovan government. I'd like to remind us all of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, where in his book Leviathan, he provides a rationale for a functional and legitimate government in order to ensure the safety and continuity of society... a Kosovan society, ruled by a sovereign Kosovan government as they have so chosen. It is in times of violent regime changes such as the Serbian invasion that genocides occur. Tragic events occur when the state, such as the toppling of the Kosovan state, is no longer in place. Look at Nazi Germany, for example, where they exported anarchy through the use of certain organizations to countries such as Austria and Czech, blamed Jewish individuals, and killed those individuals en masse. In areas where states existed, such as Vichy France, Jews were protected and no genocide took place. These non-persecuted Jews had citizenship, whereas the ones from Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia had theirs stripped away and were free-flowing citizenry. In essence, the Kosovan state provides its citizenry with an identity and protects them from genocide."

"Now, we're in the business of state-building, not state-destroying. In order to legitimize that state, it must be seen that the state can conduct its operations on its own. That is why we will look towards legitimizing the Kosovan military and using a combined show of force with this General Assembly to force them to back down. It makes perfect sense and is a direct alternative to war, as you have so requested, Representative Valdez... unless, of course, you wish to see such genocide take place by abandoning a nation that rightfully declared independence."

He'd smile softly.

"Thank you."

Meanwhile, a note would be delivered to the Argentinian delegation: Would you like to meet outside for a brief moment? - Lieutenant Nguyen

 

[Moe]

"I might also remind you that we are in these chambers to debate solutions, not to quote from Hobbes as if this is Philosophy 101. And you have still yet to utter a word or sentence that even remotely resembles a concrete solution that can even be debated upon."

 

[Joe]

"Mr. Valdez," Lieutenant Nguyen would smile. "It'd be wise to heed men such as Hobbes, Kropotkin, Marx, and Rousseau. Their words and thoughts are after all that drive these chambers and create the fabrics of states. They were men ahead of their time and it is through their words and ideas that we find solutions to these complex solutions. Speaking of which, a comprehensive plan was put in front of these chambers today. A plan that puts Kosovans at the head of their own destiny. It provides a safeguard for the Kosovan state to exist and restores legitimacy to that state in question. It is you sir, who has done little to benefit these chambers. I advise that instead of throwing petty insults and acting like an impudent whelp, you either provide a plan in question or actually have a legitimate benefit to these chambers."

 

[Logan]

The Serbian Ambassador would walk it, look down at the various proposals at hand and the transcripts, and look up.


"A Populace whose military apparatus is the successor to a terrorist organization, and who sees fit to elect as leaders terrorists and war criminals who served that terrorist organization, can not be trusted with any sort of Referendum, nor may they be trusted with the fate of 200,000 Serbs whose return to their homes has been assured by my government."

 

[Moe]

"Legitimizing the Kosovar military and using a combined show of force with this General Assembly to force them to back down."

"The scope and detail of that plan is astonishing. It staggers the mind how you came up with it and no one else did," Lieutenant Nguyen.

Having given up debating this issue any further with people whom cannot discern political theory from an actionable, viable plan, Representative Valdez, stands up and heads back to his office. He will return when Argentina's resolution will finally be voted upon.

 

[Joe]

Lieutenant Nguyen watches Representative Valdez exit the Chambers, silently smiling to himself. Perhaps he was cut out for this job after all. He'd turn to the Serbian Ambassador, flicking on his mic.

"Assured that 200,000 Serbians can return home? Do you know what that sounds like to me, Mr. Ambassador? It sounds an awful lot like Lebensraum. It's quite incredible how you can think you're in the right when you took peaceful democratic leaders out of their home and shot them in the street like dogs after a closed, kangaroo court. If they were truly war criminals, which they are not, I assure you, you should have presented them in front of the International Court of Justice. Yet, you determined that you were judge, jury, and executioner and committed human rights violations. This sacred Chambers should not stand for it and I immediately call for a coalition to end the Serbian occupation of Kosovo."

 

[Logan]

“Those 200,000 Serbians already lived there, were productive members of their communities, until a terrorost organization took over, leveraged the west to attack Serbia, and then forced them out of their homes.

This is no lebensraum, it is the return of 200,000 internally displaced persons to their hometowns, to their cities, to their livelihoods. Something a Referendum, voted in by the very sane people who elected terrorists as their leaders, for independence would deny them.”