March 24, 1999 is the first and perhaps last night in this era when NATO planes took off to bomb a state that was oppressing a population of another ethnicity within its own state territory. NATO's battle to liberate Kosovo and subsequently its independence, today marks 26 years.

Like anything great and historic, the more time passes, the more its value is felt. But on this 26th anniversary, there is an even greater reason to remember what happened, wrote journalist Mero Baze in an opinion piece for newspaper topic.

If the world that liberated Kosovo were as it is today, and not as it was in 1999, not only would it not have liberated it, but it would have let it disappear from the map of the world, as it has done to thousands of such races in the world. The United States of America and Great Britain, or rather, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, managed to reach the peak of transatlantic relations in the case of Kosovo, uniting every country in Europe with Britain and the United States to liberate a people and to separate them from the state of a dictator who was raping them.

Now this story is being devalued by American and many Western political officials themselves. Simply put, today this story would not have happened, he says. KosovaPress.

The way in which Ibrahim Rugova, for ten consecutive years, from 1989 to 1999, managed to make Kosovo a topic of Western diplomacy, with a scarf around his neck and two single sentences in his mouth, like a priest humbled before God, begging the West to save his country, made it possible to cultivate in Kosovo the awareness to organize itself as a parallel state and to trust the state they had created themselves.

Thanks to this behavior, when the fatigue from waiting was becoming severe and when Milosevic hoped that with an offensive he would eliminate every sign of peaceful resistance in Kosovo, the KLA was born, which more than an idea of ​​a group, was a decision of every Albanian home to defend its own doorstep.

Thanks to this resistance that gave dignity to the Albanian people, Kosovo managed to become an international problem, as its defense avoided a regional war, while allowing it turned the Balkans into a battlefield.

This was the reason that convinced the US, Great Britain and every European government to take planes into the air on March 24, 1999 and begin bombing Serbia for 77 days.

Unlike 26 years ago, Kosovo today is a country in conflict with Western bureaucracy, with now meaningless sanctions from the European Union and feared by the United States of America.

Many of these problems, before President Trump's victory, were brought on by his own government, with narcissistic games to put itself in the spotlight at the expense of Kosovo and to raise the populist profile of Albin Kurti, as a "hero" against the West.

Now this era is over.

It is no longer the time when a leader in Kosovo can have the luxury of becoming "popular" in Kosovo by quarreling with the West.

The West that liberated Kosovo no longer exists.

There is someone in the US who, when Kosovo and its specific problem are explained to him, might ask: “Are there any rare minerals? Are there nuclear power plants? Are there any good beaches?” And if they say “No,” he might say: “We have nothing to do with them.”

There are 27 telephones in Europe, and no one answers you the same way.

Meanwhile, in Kosovo, there are five party leaders who are afraid to form a government, because they do not know who will face this storm. Unlike Ibrahim Rugova and Bujar Bukoshi who stood up to Serbia by creating a parallel state and the KLA commanders who went to the mountains to die, these cannot leave their offices for fear of who will become prime minister at this time.

It's time to share responsibilities together.

Kosovo must form a government, avoiding the political protagonism of party leaders and making prudent decisions to weather this storm of a world that not only no longer has any emotion for what it has done for Kosovo, but also has negative feelings.

For 26 years, Kosovo has unfortunately failed to make significant steps towards full international recognition and its reputation as a non-failed state.

But again, it has made great, giant steps forward towards self-awareness as an independent state and society.

So now she has to protect this story of hers.

No longer with NATO bombs, but with responsibility and protection from yesterday's liberators.