Serbia's government collapsed Saturday over an impasse between the nationalist prime minister and the pro-Western president on how Kosovo's independence affects the Balkan country's pursuit of EU membership.

I admit, the following is clearly an optimistic view of the Balkans removed from historical perspective. This is the Crossroads on the Clash of Civilizations afterall – one of the most bloodied and ethnically divisive regions on the planet. Just a decade ago the latest round of ethnic violence was boiling over, and shadows of it still permeate the area. Just a few weeks ago riots broke out in Belgrade when Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. That’s sort of the point though – those riots were directed at the West.

The Serbian historical perspective is irrelevant, though, because the fact of the matter is Kosovo is predominantly Albanian ethnically, not Serbian. This is something other Europeans may want to keep in mind when suggesting something such as Sharia should or will inevitably be part of English law, when free speech is met with violence and threats of violence, or when assimilation of immigrants is declared inhumane and abandoned. The real inhumanity is the creeping balkanization of Europe.

That is not to say the Serbs were right in their ethnic cleansing, or even that Kosovo should not be an independent state. It is merely a reminder that Europe is slowly coming apart at the seams due to its own actions and inactions just as Yugoslavia did. While that is not a perfectly analogous example, the similarities should be obvious.

The collapse of the Serbian government is, however, an opportunity. There is reason to believe Serbia will vote pro-West on May 11 because, as in Iraq, there seems to be growing sentiment about letting go of the past and getting on with life. Notice the dividing line:

The next day at work, Mihajlovic processed 30 cancellations by foreign guests, fearful of the unrest triggered in the Serb capital by the independence declaration of the province of Kosovo.

To Serbs like him, it's reminiscent of 1999, when mobs enraged by NATO bombing attacked the U.S. Embassy and ransacked a McDonald's. This time around the embassy was again among the targets of violence, and many young Serbs are horrified.

They fear the nationalist fervor sweeping Serbia, and worry that their leaders will push the country deeper into isolation.

These Serbs, however, tend to be in the relatively sophisticated, prosperous capital. On the other hand, those flocking to the hard-line cause are mostly from depressed industrial towns that have never recovered from the collapse of communism and Yugoslavia's implosion into six separate Balkan republics plus Kosovo.

This latter group we can persuade. Instead of pouring billions of dollars into, say, the failed Palestinian state, divert it to the struggling, yet as-of-now nonviolent Serbs who could be persuaded by the more radical Serbian nationalists. Of course, we would also have to do a much better job of managing that aid, but that’s an issue across the board of U.S. foreign aid interests. Aside from helping to avoid further violence in the area, a pro-West Serbia would be yet another blow to Russia – a traditional ally of Serbia, and where Serbia would inevitably turn to if not the West.

It would also be further evidence of the West’s intentions in the “Clash of Civilizations.” That is, we don’t care who you are as long as you don’t shoot at us.

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