With the rise of organized crime, particularly in the Albanian-speaking ungoverned states, it would be naive to believe that a future independent Kosovo (without Western oversight) under the influence of the UCK would offer reliable promises for the prevalence of the rule of law.

It is therefore time for NATO partners to abandon their illusions and confront organized crime, by strengthening those political forces in Kosovo that can guarantee a transition toward some form of lawful order.

The gift of independence could still serve as a bargaining chip, allowing the Serbs to receive the northern part of the province (Mitrovica, Zvecan, Lesak) that maintains a Serbian population, while the Albanians institutionally renounce any ambitions of expansionism.

If the issue of independence is left to the whims of the future, then this opportunity for a viable solution will also be lost.

This handbook aims to examine the key parameters of the most complex of the Balkan problems. The conflict between the Serbs and Albanians of Kosovo has been brewing for many decades, but we believe that the decisions made at the level of Serbian and Western leadership that led to the 1999 war were not inevitable.

The reader will draw his or her own conclusions.

[Excerpt from the text of the preface]