Obama lied again: Kosovo secession did NOT involve a referendum

Obama reads whatever his handlers put on his Teleprompter, with complete disregard for the truth.

The president and the entire US foreign policy establishment expect American voters to believe whatever they are told. The rest of the world is less gullible.

Voice of Russia: Russia surprised at Obama’s false claim that Kosovo secession involved referendum

The Russian Foreign Ministry is surprised by US President Barack Obama’s statement regarding an independence referendum in Kosovo. Obama’s speech delivered at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels has raised a lot of eyebrows as US President claimed yesterday that Kosovo held a UN-assisted referendum for self-determination. He used this example to hit out against Russia’s reunification with Crimea. The president also argued that the comparison between Crimea and Kosovo makes no sense.

“Moscow has taken note of the fact that US President Barack Obama, in rationalizing ‘independence’ of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbia) declared in circumvention of UN Security Council resolution 1244 in his speech in Brussels on March 28, mentioned some referendum on this issue allegedly held in coordination with the UN and the neighboring countries,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement available on its website.

“This allegation by the US president causes perplexity, as no plebiscite, not to mention one agreed upon with the international community, was held on Kosovo’s independence. The decision on secession from Serbia was made by the so-called ‘parliament’ in Pristina in 2008,” it said.

Obama falsely claims Kosovo secession involved UN-backed referendum

Obama’s speech delivered at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels has raised a lot of eyebrows as US President claimed yesterday that Kosovo held a UN-assisted referendum for self-determination. He used this example to hit out against Russia’s reunification with Crimea. The president also argued that the comparison between Crimea and Kosovo makes no sense.

“Russian leaders have further claimed Kosovo as a precedent, an example, they say of the West interfering in the affairs of a smaller country … But NATO only intervened after the people of Kosovo were systematically brutalized and killed for years.”

“And Kosovo only left Serbia after a referendum was organized not outside the boundaries of international law, but in careful cooperation with the United Nations with Kosovo’s neighbors. None of that even came close to happening in Crimea,” Obama said at the EU-US summit, thus turning his speech into a highly discussed issue.

Experts unanimously agree with the president, yet they also point out that “none of that came close to happening in Kosovo as well.

Kosovo’s provincial assembly did hold a referendum on the possibility of secession in 1991, but it was not done with UN backing, nor did the US or anyone else even recognize the result. Albania was the long state to recognize the vote, and it was never cited as justification in NATO’s 1999 war.

The only other referendum to take place in Kosovo came in 2012, under Obama’s watch. In that vote, 99% of Kosovar Serbs in several northern districts voted against being part of an independent Kosovo. As with the 1991 vote, the US rejected its validity.

Dr. James Ker-Lindsay, a Senior Research Fellow on the Politics of South East Europe at the London School of Economics gave his comment to Breitbart London on Obama’s gaffe: “I think one must assume that this was indeed an error. However, it really does seem to be an incredible mistake to have made. Surely there must have been someone at hand who would have known that there was no UN organised referendum in Kosovo. It really was not that long ago.”

So far, the White House has not issued any retraction or correction.

Voice of Russia, antiwar.com, inserbia.info, breitbart.com, Interfax

inSerbia: Serbia’s office for KiM: Obama, there was no Kosovo referendum

President Barack Obama on Wednesday sought to debunk criticism that America has acted hypocritically in condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, dismissing any comparison to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, MSNBC reported.

The president also argued that the comparison between Crimea and Kosovo makes no sense.

“Russian leaders have further claimed Kosovo as a precedent, an example, they say of the West interfering in the affairs of a smaller country … But NATO only intervened after the people of Kosovo were systematically brutalized and killed for years.”

“And Kosovo only left Serbia after a referendum was organized not outside the boundaries of international law, but in careful cooperation with the United Nations with Kosovo’s neighbors,” Obama added. “None of that even came close to happening in Crimea,” MSNBC reported.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija recalled in tonight’s statement that a referendum on the subject of independence was not conducted on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, as well as that Albanians, Serbs or any other ethnic group that lives in Kosovo and Metohija did not participate in it, TANJUG reported.

The office points out in its statement that the unilateral independence of Kosovo and Metohija was proclaimed on February 17 2008 at the meeting of the so-called Kosovo Assembly, “which was not preceeded by any referendum of the citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, whether on a part or on the whole territory of Kosovo and Metohija”.

“The Office for Kosovo and Metohija, without intent to engage in the debate of great powers of the nature of the international law, wants to eliminate the confusion caused by certain statements about Kosovo and Metohija, in the context of the Crimea. The statement that could have been heard at the EU-US summit in Brussels ‘Kosovo has left Serbia after a referendum was organized which was not outside international law, but with careful collaboration with the United Nations and Kosovo’s neighbours’, in our opinion, is unintended mistake or a consequence of error in the translation,” says the statement.

It also says that the UN, OEBS, “or any other international organization did not participate in the declaration of independence, niether with advice or confirmation”.

Earlier, Serbian historian Nebojsa Malic told RT that it could be the case that Obama’s speechwriter just “mistook the non-existent referendum in Kosovo with the referendum in Montenegro that took place in 2006.”

“If that is the referendum they were referring to, first of all, it is just baffling that they can’t tell apart Kosovo and Montenegro. Secondly, that is not exactly a paragon of democracy in international laws either,” Malic said.

“I am really not sure what sort of point they were trying to make, but you can’t just make up your own facts to boost your own argument. That is ridiculous,” he concluded.

There was one independence referendum in Kosovo in 1991. Its results were recognized by just one UN member, Albania.

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