It’s hot behind the headlines - at times

If I found myself somehow on The Spokesman-Review Web site , and I just happened to read about some SR staff writer visiting some remote spot on the globe, I’d have to be talked into reading what he might have to say.

I mean, really, who cares?

Good question, especially if the writer in question is spending time in a remote spot in Europe called … Kosovo ?

OK, geography lesson time: Kosovo is the southernmost province of Serbia, that focal point of the former Yugoslavia, which once included Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia

If you know anything about world politics, then you know that the bit of real estate known as the Balkans (or Southeastern Europe, as some are now calling it) – which, aside from the nations of the former Yugoslavia , includes Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and the eastern part of Turkey – has tended to have a fairly big effect on the world.

World War I started, at least in part, because a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

Some blame the ongoing strife on the Serbs and their warrior mythology that, long steeped in nationalism and ethnic separatism, was central to the wars of the early 1990s caused by the breakup of Yugoslavia. Whatever the truth of that accusation, the fact is that there is no love for the Serbs in present-day Kosovo, which is 90 percent Albanian.

The Kosovars, who have been under United Nations protection since 1999, have made it clear that they want to be their own nation. Some sort of decision by the world body on their request is supposed to come before the end of the year.

For their part, the Serbs insist that they won’t allow Kosovo to become an independent state. Seeing Kosovo as their historical homeland, the Serbs want to Kosovo to remain tied to them.

In the past weeks, there has been some pretty severe saber-rattling in the region, both by the Serbs and the Kosovars. Is it all bluff, or is it part of the reason why this area has such a reputation for violence?

Hard to say. But if things change in the next few weeks, I’ll be sure to announce it to anyone who’s interested.