Headline Junky enters the fray:

But its heavy-handed dissection of Serbia’s territorial integrity would deal Russia another humiliation at a moment when Moscow increasingly feels the need to demonstrate its resurgent influence.

Russia deciding to inject itself into this process does complicate things, to be sure. But people should try to keep recent history in mind when they write about these issues. Kosovo’s story is long and tortured, but in modern times it existed as a semi-autonomous body in the context of Yugoslavia, and it had its sovereignty severely curtailed by Milosevic only in 1989. That the current Serbian government is motivated by the same raw myth-driven nationalism which brought Milosevic to power should not be lost on the commentariat either.

Those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the Kosovo problem need look no further than Noel Malcolm’s superb Kosovo: A Short History. While you’re at Amazon, go ahead and buy Malcolm’s Bosnia: A Short History as well, since Bosnia is up next for Serbian irredentism.