Kosovo needs a conclusion, not a new beginning

Russian intransigence on the question of Kosovo's political status has sparked yet another round of empty and time-consuming discussion on whether independence is the best and only solution for the 10,000 km square territory with 2.2 million inhabitants.

While Western democracies, notably the US and EU, are now officially standing behind the "supervised independence", proposed by UN Kosovo status envoy Martti Ahtisaari, this solution has been "frozen" due to Moscow's veto-threat.