What is the right basis for recognising Kosovo?

I gather that the EU's leaders are about to commit a historical and legal (and historic) absurdity, not by recognising Kosovo, but by the basis on which they are proposing to do so.

This basis appears to be to exempt the case from the rule saying international borders can only be changed with the agreement of all parties - because of the province's history of "conflict, ethnic cleansing and humanitarian catastrophe".

If the maximum claimed figure of 12,000 Kosovan casualties can be called "ethnic cleansing" then, on that basis, the world should recognise Scotland and Wales (and probably Yorkshire and several other regions) if these regions choose to bid for independence, as these regions were also subject to such "ethnic cleansing" by the English in the past. In what is France today, the world should recognise the independence of, for example La Rochelle and Lyons where the Huguenots were wiped out or expelled. In India today, the world should immediately recognise Kashmir, Mizoram and Nagaland. In China, the same applies to Tibet, Sinkiang and other regions. And so on.

In fact, accepting such a basis for recognising Kosovo is tantamount to sanctioning, as a prelude to independence, the start of ethnic cleansing in other areas where we have not yet seen this . Sphere: Related Content