Mailbag: Prof. Cooper Writes: On the Burning of an Embassy

Reflections on a Burning Embassy
By Dennis Cooper, River Falls

As one who has traveled to Serbia on business and hosted Serbian colleagues here at UW-River Falls, it saddens me to see the mob attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade. Yet, without condoning or excusing these attacks, I think the anger and frustration of the Serbs over the independence of Kosovo can be understood by Americans.

The historical significance of Kosovo to the Serbian nation cannot be overstated. Unlike other former Yugoslavian republics, Kosovo has been Serbian territory for centuries. The annihilation of the Serb army by Turks at the Battle of Kosovo, in the fourteenth century, established the Serbian ethos of heroic victimhood, which is still part of the Serbian psyche today. Since then, Serbia has had a troubled history, including the disastrous rule of Slobodan Milosevic, whose wars and “ethnic cleansing” made Serbia the pariah of Europe in the nineties. In 2000, after years of economic sanctions and a 78-day NATO bombing campaign, the Milosevic regime was overthrown by a remarkably peaceful revolution.

Although an influential minority of nationalists, communists, and organized criminals still opposes democratic reforms and peaceful resolution of regional disputes, many Serbs long to put their pariah status behind them and join the European Union. Even the most peaceful, democratic Serb, however, feels humiliation and anger in response to the loss of Kosovo. Thus, the declaration of independence by Kosovo was tailor-made to spark an explosion in the combustible emotions of Serbian society.

By its bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo, the Serbian nation lost its moral claim to that territory. One can only hope that the Serbs will move on with their accession to the EU. It is time for these proud, tragic, gifted people to put their history behind them, and join the peaceful and democratic nations that now make up most of Europe.