More on Kosovo Shooting

The incident is probably not going to get much attention on blogosphere. This is partly due to being overshadowed by more important events, like the killing of Rantissi, and partly due to story making both sides in Iraq debate look bad.

Pro-war crowd is going to ignore the shootout because it shows that the events in Middle East managed to emotionally affect even people who are supposed to dedicated professionals. And if the shooter was Islamic militant infiltrated into UNMIK police contingent, that puts into question War on Terror – bombing and invading countries is useless when it takes one individual on right place to wreak havoc.

Anti-war crowd – at least those sections who insist on US occupation of Iraq being replaced by some sort of UN protectorate – is also going to ignore this story. If US occupation force is replaced by something resembling military and police forces at UNMIK disposal, incidents like this are very likely to happen in Iraq.

But the biggest losers, are, of course, people of Kosovo. Little legitimacy UNMIK has for its protectorate over the province is drawn from the idea of international authority made of enlightened and unbiased professional who are supposed to cure Kosovo people of their tribalism and ethnic chauvinism and teach them values of modern democracy and tolerance. With UNMIK itself succumbing to tribal and chauvinistic instinct, it is hard to see how it could serve as a role model.