They done gone ahead and did it—Kosovo has declared independence. They’ve elected to use a flag with motifs reminiscent of the EU’s own standard: blue background, gold color, and stars. They’ve also chosen to use a map of the territory of Kosovo as an element in the flag, much like another long-suffering, partitioned country: Cyprus. If the Serbs do manage to establish de facto independence for the northern parts of Kosovo, however, it’s not likely that they would declare autonomy like the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, but would rather be annexed outright by Serbia.

One has to think that this obvious parallel was not lost on the Kosovars, and that they opted for this flag design as an explicit reminder to the West to not let the same thing happen to them as has befallen the wretched Cypriots. Whether symbolism is an effective means of communicating with the wretched Eurocrats remains to be seen.