"Putin said that Russia remained utterly opposed to Kosovo breaking away from Serbia. If Kosovo's Albanian leaders ignored Russian objections and announced independence this Sunday Moscow would be forced to act, he said."
The dilemma confronting policymakers is acute. Kosovar aspirations cannot be denied much longer, but the effort to satisfy them absent an agreement with Serbia is bound to alienate the Serbs and, by extension, the Russians
And if we craft solutions that bypass existing law, we should recognize that we are creating opportunities for mischief down the road. Indeed, if we attempt to buy peace at the expense of law, we might find out we end up with neither.
In BBC's HardTalk with Stephen Sakur, Cato senior fellow and former adviser to Vladimir Putin Andrei Illarionov said:
"'Putinism' would be characterized as some level of nationalism, some level of aggressiveness, first of all directed against people inside the country, and to some extent, outside the country as well."
clipped from: www.cato.org