Congratulations to Kosovo for announcing its independence. Kosovo is the latest in the long line of new Balkan countries. After all the blood that has been spilled in this part of Europe in my lifetime it is gratifying to see a country declare independence in this region with little bloodshed.

However this is just the beginning in a long process to get Kosovo recognised by several other countries around the world. Russia has already said an independent Kosovo will be illegal and they will not support it. Serbia is also not happy about loosing what some Serbs call the heartland of Serbia. At least 3 EU countries will not recognise an independent Kosovo, at least straight away; Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia (my last Country of Travels).

So all of this begs the questions, what does Kosovo’s future hold? Well one thing is for sure, it will be a large uphill struggle but hopefully with very little bloodshed and lots of diplomacy along the way.

(Most of these facts were taken from the BBC.)