Historical and cultural: Kosovo and Metohia historically and culturally belong to the Serbs. Kosovo was part of Serbia as early as the Nemanjic dynasty (12th-14th c.). Kosovo and Metohia are considered the key to the identity of the Serbs. Kosovo is a place where the first Serbian kings were crowned and where there are Orthodox Christian monasteries with precious icons, listed by UNESCO as world cultural monuments.  The seat of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church was in Pec, in Kosovo. Serbs call Kosovo and Metohia the heart of Serbia and the cradle of the Serbian state and nation.

Economical:  Serbia has poured a good deal of money into Kosovo and Metohia. “For decades, significant federal resources have been set aside for the development of Kosovo and Metohia, the reason being that all the previous Yugoslav constitutions stipulated "more rapid development for under-developed regions, and the most rapid for Kosovo and Metohia" as the federation's obligation. Data for the period 1981-1988 on total contributions and funds received by republics and autonomous provinces according to federal regulations shows that Central Serbia (meaning Republic of Serbia without its autonomous provinces - Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohja) had the largest outflow (212 billion dinars), and Kosovo and Metohia the largest inflow (113 billion dinars). Kosovo and Metohia was also the largest relative "winner" - receiving 12 times more of these funds than it gave,” said Caslav Ocic in his speech. For instance, Kosovo received 30-50% of the total investments made by the Federation's Fund for Under-Developed Regions and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The rate of investments was always noticeably higher in Kosovo than in Serbia or Yugoslavia, from 30 to 200%. Despite Albanian demands for independence, Belgrade is still paying the Kosovo's international debt to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The bill amounts to a total of $1.4 billion and Serbia puts aside 250 million dollars every year in order to pay these debts back. A number of speakers at the conference concluded that an independent Kosovo would be economically unsustainable.

Legal and Political: The aerial attacks launched by NATO against Yugoslavia in 1999 establish the truth of the axiom: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely”. There is no legal sanction whatsoever for this unilateral action by NATO, carried out at the behest of the US. The NATO action can only be described as an arbitrary and blatant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a member state of the UN, which has no legal sanction under international law.

The independence of Kosovo, which was expected by many western observers as the most logical solution after the war in 1999 is in fact an option, which would seriously destabilize the entire Balkans. An independent Kosovo would not only be economically unsustainable but would generate serious security problems for the neighboring countries. Hardly any Serb would be able to live in an independent Kosovo. In fact, a new ethnically clean Albanian state of Kosovo, based on Islamic law will continue to provide the breeding ground for international terrorist groups in the Balkans. A “failed state” of Kosovo showed to be incapable of protecting minorities and preventing horrible atrocities to take place against the Serbian civilian population and other minorities. ”Failed states are”, according to James Bissett  “defined as those countries whose governments have weakened to the point where they can no longer provide adequate public services, physical security or economic livelihood to their inhabitants. They become attractive to terrorist organizations as safe havens and as staging grounds for attacks on other targets.”  It remains to be seen if the Kosovo precedent of a selective use of unilateralism and even pre-emptive military action will be applied in the other conflict areas of the world in the event Kosovo becomes independent.

Ideological and Civilizational: Defending Kosovo means defending Christian civilization. An independent Albanian Kosovo will succumb to the cause of global jihad. Kosovo’s current leaders (members of KLA) have obtained significant aid from Islamic countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Kosovo has become a predominantly Muslim society with the obvious intention to wipe out any trace of Christianity there. In his speech Sir Alfred Sherman noted that: “Governments seem helpless or unwilling to stem the tide. Spokesmen for the EU laud this Muslim colonization as Europe and the Muslim world as coming together, ignoring its utter one-sidedness. Criticism of these trends is stifled as “racism”, ignoring consideration of patriotism, national consciousness and social order. The undermining of national homogeneity based on common values is leading to a visible social breakdown.”

 “After almost two decades of Yugoslavia’s crisis and disintegration,” explained Srdja Trifkovic in his speech, “too many Serbs still cherish too many illusions about the nature of the Western beast, its hostility to Christianity and to any form of ethnic coherence of European nations. To the promoters of such Western pathology, those who argue that they should be entitled to keep a territory because they feel a strong, centuries-long historical bond to it, or because they had built lovely Christian churches in it, or because it underpins their moral code and spirituality based on Christian martyrdom, or because they are defending themselves against an aggressive and resurgent Islam… are only proving the necessity of having that territory taken away from them! The arguments advanced by Belgrade’s distinguished professors only confirm to the luminaries of the International Community that Kosovo should be detached from Serbia in order to cure her from such retrograde atavisms. An ideological commitment to neoliberal globalization has turned multiculturalism and open-ended, predominantly Muslim immigration into two inviolable dogmas of the elite class. Its members reject the suggestion that the shared legacy of the European family and its common historical experiences are worthy of preserving as such. That is why they will do their utmost to detach Kosovo from Serbia… This important lesson is yet to be absorbed in Belgrade.”

My congratulations go to SANU for putting together a conference such as this one. Advertisement of the conference was the only thing that was poorly executed. We were told, however, that SANU intends to publish a book with the materials presented at the conference, which will in a sense represent a testimony of the time for some future generations.