Independence is always short of real independence in the Balkans. And sovereignty is always short of real sovereignty. Most people on the ground kind of feel it, but few of them actually understand it well enough to act accordingly. Everyone heartily resents it, though. It is therefore a tricky diplomatic job of those who wield real power, and especially America and the European Union, to negotiate a settlement of any sort in the troubled region, as you suggest in your leader on Kosovo (“On the Road to Independence,” February 3, 2007). It is also incumbent upon them to understand not only their power, which few on the ground would be so foolish as to doubt, but also their historic responsibility. For much of the recent strife is their handiwork. Their past mistakes—accumulated over many decades, if not entire centuries—now glare in their faces. Whence much of the subterranean resentment, as well.