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So, this past week, Kosovo decided to declare its independence from Serbia. I can't say that I'm surprised. After all, Kosovar independence was pretty much inevitable from the point that NATO moved its troops into the province.

Well, the United States was one of the first nations to recognise the independence of the nation. Many of the “Western”¹ countries have also decided to recognise the nation. It's no surprise that, Russia has decided not to do so pretty much due to the fact that “нас и Руса двеста милиона”. However, what might be surprising is a country like Spain that has adamantly decided not to recognise Kosovo despite the fact that all of its neighbouring countries either recognise or plan to recognise Kosovo as an independent state. What would motivate that decision.

The Basques of Spain have been fighting for independence from Spain for decades. Under Franco, the Basques endured ethnic persecution just as the Kosovar Albanians did under Milošević. If Kosovo can declare its independence and receive recognition from foreign states, why couldn't the Basques declare their independence? What would stop Québec from pulling away from Canada? What would stop the Kurdistan from becoming a reality? In America, something like that happened, and it was called the Civil War.

Doesn't it seem hypocritical that the United States is recognising a country that illegitimately declared its independence while it would crack down if Montana or South Carolina split away from the union?

1. The term Western is so useless because of its so many different meanings. In this case, it's the “Western Europe and Others” sense of the word.

You would think that will all of humanity's impressive accomplishments such as aeroplanes, skyscrapers and the information age, the thought would have occurred to someone to make all books the same size so that they fit neatly on the bookshelf.