"For a long time, the policy of the international community on Kosovo seemed to be determined by Bismarck's remark that he troubled himself as much about “les gens-la-bas”, the people down there, as about his glass being empty. It was not until the renewed escalation of the age-old conflict between Serbs and Albanians, set off by the triumphant progress of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which has terrified Serbian policemen and civilians since 1996/97 and which, at the time of writing, controlled 30% of the territory of Kosovo, that the world has become alarmed. During 1998, the number of conferences held by the so-called Contact Group, whose members are the foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and the United States, has increased. Up to now, their efforts to extract concessions from Serbian President Milo¹eviÊ in favour of the oppressed Kosovars has failed. The US and its NATO allies threaten to impose further sanctions – and then reject the idea afterwards. A military intervention of NATO, with or without a UN mandate, is being considered – and postponed. In the meantime, the dying is going on daily. Apart from the social and economic problems, the unsolved Albanian question, intensified by the disintegration of the multi-ethnic Yugoslav state, gives this conflict a highly explosive impact going beyond what is left of Yugoslavia. Therefore, it is necessary to look into the past to understand the complexity of the Serbian-Albanian clash. Here we see a tragic finale of two losers. The Serbs, envisioning a Greater Serbia, started wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and lost them. Ultimately, their ambitious plans failed. Now the southern province of Serbia is threatening to split off. The Albanian majority had been keeping quiet and resisting Serb repression non-violently for years, on the insistence of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by Ibrahim Rugova. They have also gained nothing – except perhaps international ackn"

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