From today onwards Kosovo shall be an independent state, and as Serbia and Russia posture sullenly in the corner, the United States and a number of European Union countries are gearing up to acknowledge its official statehood tomorrow. 

The joy is palpable even in this little British backwater town; as I walked to work cars strewn with vast, fluttering flags bearing the two-headed eagle on a blood-red background ameliorated the streets.

Nevertheless, while independence is often something to be lauded, opinions on the split remain mixed, with some viewing Kosovo as a potential E.U. pawn against Russia’s Serbian appendage, and others contending the move to be a long overdue achievement.

Admittedly, my Middle East mania has been conducive to a rather hazy grasp of the Balkans; having been too young to remember the news reports, I have gleaned my knowledge from family lore and the sporadic dipping in and out of books on the subject.

Nevertheless, given Serbia’s regional track record I concede I am delighted for the nascent state and hope the (unjust) economic sanctions remain the extent of Serbian high dudgeon.

Delight, however, is only an initial reaction: as history has demonstrated, the road to such dizzying heights of independence is often strewn with obstacles, ones that I doubt will be restricted to sanctions.

For many Serbs, Kosovo is Serbia and tomorrow’s acknowledgment will serve only to stir the rancour further, and while tonight the joy will be unbridled in both Kosovo and the émigré communities, it is still early days and further problems shall persist to lurk silently by.

As a final conclusion, for Balkan neophytes such as myself, stashed below is a crash course on Kosovo:

1. Land: Kosovo covers about 4,200 square miles – roughly the size of Connecticut – and borders Albania and Macedonia.
2. People: About 2 million – 90 percent ethnic Albanian, of whom most are Muslim, and the rest Catholic. The remaining 10 percent are mainly Orthodox Christian Serbs.
3. Status: Though it legally remains a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when Slobodan Milosevic’s forces were ousted after a NATO air war launched to end his crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
4. History: Kosovo, the site of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389, is considered hallowed ground by Serbs, and the birthplace of their identity. Ethnic Albanians say they are descendants of the ancient Ilyrians, Kosovo’s first inhabitants.
5. The Future: After declaring today independence day, the ethnic Albanian leadership is counting on swift recognition from the U.S. and key European powers. Serbia, backed by Russia, fiercely opposes the bid and has vowed to block it at the U.N. Security Council.

[Image via: TimesofMalta]