Rakocevic: In 16 years, the Serbs got a perfect ghetto and the Albanians an empty shell

Journalist and writer Zivojin Rakocevic tells Kosovo Online that it has long been said that Kosovo's independence is a shell without substance, and as time passes, that shell becomes thinner and thinner. He emphasizes that this system is collapsing on its own and eating away its foundations.

"Kosovo's independence is like a person who has decided to carry 500 kilograms on their back and says, 'I can handle it and I'll go through life with it, and everything will be fine'. Of course, nothing is fine here. The economy has collapsed, and institutions have failed; this is an isolated island that continuously, thanks to infusions from outside, maintains an illusion of its greatness and independence. In essence, with every Albanian leaving for the West, almost escaping, it's clear that independence as they imagined it made no sense," Rakocevic says.

It made sense, he adds, to have interdependence and connections, and it raises the question of how to explain to the world what is actually happening here.

"How do you explain to individuals that India can have different connections with London, but Pristina cannot have them with Belgrade? How do you explain that some world superpowers have invested much more in Kosovo than the Kosovo Albanians themselves and that it is entirely clear that life has not justified what that resolution on independence justified, those recognitions?" Rakocevic says.

As he emphasizes, decades have passed, and surely much more time will pass, but we will always come back to interdependence, while "independence is actually what is evil and has benefited no one".

Speaking about what the Serbs and Albanians have gained in the 16 years since the Declaration of Independence, he says that the Serbs got a perfect ghetto.

"In the final option, we got the occupation of the north. Based on the occupation of the north, they are now trying to enter our homes south of the Ibar River and explain their statehood to us there. Essentially, the Albanians did not gain the economy, they did not gain independence, culture, or cities, which they so perfectly ethnically cleansed. They did not gain that feeling that they could share life with others. Independence is when you have love, patience, and trust to share your life with someone else. The Albanians and the authorities in Pristina failed to achieve that. Essentially, we come back to the empty shell in which there is only room for those who have power and force," Rakocevic concludes.