independence day

one thing about working in central london, next to one of the city's main tourist attractions is that little happens in the world without you hearing about it rapidly. when benazir bhutto was killed, we knew rapidly, via a general announcement. so today when very loud honking sounds suddenly started blasting everywhere shortly after noon, we knew something was up. wonder who won? asked my collegue justin, assuming it such blasted could only accompany a sporting event. but that wasnt it, and all we had to do to figure it out was peer out the window- suddenly, seemingly in seconds, albanian flags had appeared from everywhere the street was filled with them, guys with cars with the flags on them were driving around honking. old women were sobbing, young girls dancing with the flags draped around their bodies. and we knew without consulting the news: kosovo had declared independence.
9 years ago, from my moscow-based perspective, i thought the bombing of serbia was horribly wrong. i knew little about kosovo and the balkans in those days, and the feeling of ignorance was no doubt partly behind my decision to choose south slav studies as my specialty at (moscow) university. not that we ever got the albanian side of events there. but the years since, many of which have been spent traveling extensively to all ex-yugo parts have made me doubt what seemed so obvious then. having the fist of a serbian nationalist repeatedly slammed into my face played a large role in this, but i dont think my doubts can be attributed to just this one unfortunate incident, nor could i base it on the incredible generosity of the serbian doctor who performed emergency surgery on me, saving my life, in a novi sad hospital with no running water or cleaning devices. things are too complicated to be reduced to such anecdotes. but now, watching from behind i london till, i was happy for the kosovars, they deserve their state, i just hope they will run it well.