Kosovo leader speaks softly, carries big hope

Insists separatism set no precedent

Thepresident of Kosovo is troubled when her 3-year-old nation is compared to other regions with separatist movements, whether in northern Spain, the Middle East, the former Soviet bloc or Asia.
“Kosovo does not set a precedent,” President Atifete Jahjaga told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. “I don’t like to see comparisons with any other case, or any other circumstances, or any other country. We are a case on our own.”
Mrs. Jahjaga is the first woman to rise to the highest office of a Balkan nation, and she is only 36. These facts have inspired headlines as well as audiences during her U.S. visit.
The firmness with which she resists having Kosovo’s independence characterized as a model for dissident movements defies the position taken by a handful of larger nations, including China, Russia and Spain.
Those countries, along with others eager to express solidarity with Serbia, remain unwilling to recognize Kosovo for fear of emboldening separatist groups operating in their own corners of the globe.