It looks like the world is about to welcome Kosovo to the Legitimate Independent States Club (not an actual club, really). Sometime later this month, it's expected that Kosovo is going to make like a Balkan banana and split, becoming the 193rd officially recognized independent member state of the UN. Man, it'd suck to be Serbia. Two years ago, you lose Montenegro (in the middle of the World Cup, resulting in the only instance in my knowledge of a single World Cup soccer team simultaneously representing two independent states), and now Kosovo's making a break for it too.
There's worry that this kind of thing is setting a precedent for declarations of independence around the Balkans. This is kind of a bad idea for two reasons. First, not every potential state has the kind of near-unanimous support for independence and democracy that Kosovo has (90% of Kosovars are in favour), and that could mess things up. Secondly, some potential states include the likes of the Republic of Srpska, which is clearly in violation of the UN regulations on the maximum allowable number of adjacent consonants in a state name.
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