Kosovo: God Bless U.S.A.

As you enter and explore Kosovo, you notice they fly their own flag, alongside the U.S. and Albanian flag. Most countries in Eastern Europe, fly the E.U. flag next to their own but not another country’s. Second item to note is the Kosovo currency is not used at all, even the bank machine spits out Euros even though Kosovo is not part of the European Union. What is going on here??!!! This requires more research.

I learned that Kosovo is not recognized as a country by the entire global community. Serbia claims it as its own territory and Kosovo’s one-sided declaration of independence violates Serbia’s constitution. Spain, Israel and Russia do not recognize Kosovo as a country, some countries just don’t care if Kosovo is a country or not. Only 56% of U.N. members officially recognize it as a country. Kosovo doesn’t have an internet domain suffix, even though some other disputed territories like Taiwan and Palestine have one. Other than that, Kosovo functions as an independent country thanks to NATO, in which the U.S. is a primary player. This explains why there is a statue of Bill Clinton as you enter Pristina, the George W. Bush Blvd and the U.S. flag everywhere.

Why is the Albanian flag flown in Kosovo? With 92% of the population Albanian, Kosovo proudly displays the Albanian Flag in public. Majority of the country is also ran by the Albanian mafia – Kosovo is often knows as the 3rd poorest country in Europe but there was no shortages of Porches, Lamborghini's, Mercedes, BMW 7 Series, Ferrari's and Maserati’s in Pristina. A lot of the opium coming from Afghanistan comes thru Kosovo due to the mafia.

Overall there was very few reminders of the war in Kosovo, the main square in Pristina could be in any European country – nothing stood out as extraordinary. The country has rebuilt considerably since its independence in 2008. Most people speak a bit of English because of the presence of U.S. military in parts of the country. We had drinks with a local, we assume he was part of the mafia because of the wealth he flaunted and arrogance.