I imagine that the clamour amongst EU nations for sending military support to Kosovo will be proportional to their analysis of the probability of Uncle Vlad cutting off the gas supplies to Western Europe in retaliation...
Edit - Blunty, sorry, didn't answer the question.
You're right. Russia will veto any attempt by the UNSC to recognise Kosovo as an independent state, or to send a peacekeeping force. At the UN level, it can block reform of the security council and make sure that any plans for the EU or for Germany to secure permanent membership don't happen.
If the Russians do get awkward over this - and I suspect that they may do - there's little the EU can do. I very much doubt that the US could do much, either, given current force commitments, the lack of any obvious US national interest and the forthcoming election; I'm not certain, but I'd guess that any attempt by Dubya to intervene would cause him enormous trouble.
On top of that, South Ossetia and Abkhazia have said that they will seek independence (bad news for the Georgians), since they have a greater claim for this than the Kosovans. Also, I note that Slovakia has already said that it won't recognise Kosovo as an independent state.
Last edited by Archimedes; 17th Feb 2008 at 22:19.