Albanian Reality Check

To be Gay in Serbia: Kind of like to be Albanian (or Roma, or Hungarian, or....) in Serbia

2009-09-19T13:15:00.002-05:00

Hi folks! Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything-not since the end of April, to be exact, so I guess that makes 4 and a half months now. Unfortunately, I can't say this post will mark the beginning of regular postings again, either. I am right now probably busier than I've been any time in the last year and a half, and probably will continue to be "that busy" for at least the next 2 months, if not longer. However, while the blog may still be on "indefinite hiatus", rest assured that I have no intention of giving it up! My goal is that, once my current responsibilities I'm taking care of have finished, I will be able to bring the blog back, bigger and better than ever. But that's a ways off, and for right now, "good intentions" are about all I can promise. With a little luck and a little time, hopefully they will become realities.

Anyway....as most of you know, the Serbian National(Social)ists and their buddies out there just loooove to demonise Albanians (and usually Croats and Bosniaks, too), often painting Serbs-by inference and/or direct claim-to be everything their "enemies" aren't: Kindly, civilised, Godly, tolerant to a fault, unprejudiced, non-violent (except when absolutely necessary-wink wink!), etc., etc. A real "Royal Race of Saints", as it were. Of course, like all "Haters", they whitewash or ignore completely that their own lot are often at least as bad if not even worse than those they hate on (and that's not even taking into account the fact that often a lot of their calumnies against those they hate are often exaggerations/disproportionate representations of bad things people do not only in their culture, but in most other cultures to begin with).

A good case in point, as often happens, can be found in the "blog" of our ol' "buddy" Julia Whor...., er Gorin. Back in 2007, she made a couple of posts "exposing" what a rampant bunch of homophobes Kosovar Albanians supposedly are (the old "One Bad Apple IS The Whole Bunch" ploy, a favorite of "Haters" everywhere). Now, I won't deny that Albanian society, like A LOT of societies the world around, still has a long way to go with the "modern" issue of how it deals with the gay members of it's society. But as for the idea that Serbs-even the relatively "cosmopolitan" denizens of Belgrade-are conversely somehow or another wonderfully enlightened and non-homophobic (and even La Julia herself has been known to post an essay or two showing herself to not exactly be the most "gay-friendly" of folks out there)? Wellll....I'll let this article speak for itself:

Serbian gay parade is called off

Belgrade is full of posters telling participants: "We're expecting you"

A Gay Pride march in Serbia has been called off after police told organisers they could not guarantee its safety.

One of the organisers said Serbia's prime minister had urged them to switch Sunday's rally from central Belgrade, but the proposal was "unacceptable".

President Boris Tadic vowed on Friday to protect the participants.

Anti-gay groups had threatened violence if the march were allowed to go ahead. "We're expecting you" posters had been stuck around the Serbian capital.

"Pride parades are traditionally organised in the main streets of big cities," said one of the organisers, Dragana Vuckovic.

It is "unacceptable" to stage the parade in a "field", she told the media.

The Republic of Serbia has capitulated. We have not

Gay Pride organising committee

Gay march plan tests Serb feelings

The decision had been taken after a meeting on Saturday with Prime Minister Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic.

Nationalist and religious leaders have opposed a Serbian bill banning discrimination against homosexuals.

The ultra-nationalist Serb Popular Movement 1389 hailed the cancellation of Sunday's march as "a great victory for normal Serbia".

"In our city infidels and Satanists will not pass," it added.

Homosexuality in Serbia is still far from accepted, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade.

The gay scene is underground and members of the community are regularly the target of discrimination.

Belgrade's first gay parade in 2001 descended into chaos amid widespread violence by mobs of protesters - with television images of bleeding participants and police firing rubber bullets broadcast around the world.

The organising committee of the planned Sunday march will certainly keep up the pressure, says our correspondent.

"The state has failed the fundamental test," it says in a statement. "The next exam period is approaching fast. The Republic of Serbia has capitulated. We have not."

Still here!

2009-04-30T21:31:00.003-05:00

Yes, friends, despite appearances to the contrary, I'm still here, and as time permits, still trying to keep at least something of an eye on the "haters". Unfortunately, an insanely crazy schedule ever since Dec. 2007 shows no signs of abating, or at least not for about another year or so. Which means that also unfortunately, a lot of the "great ideas and good intentions" I have will have to remain largely that: ideas and intentions, at least for the time being. Simply put, I'm just about stretched to the limit. And as I have no regular contributors, unlike a lot of blogs, to help me out, I really can't make any promises, at least on the short term, for anything I might do on or with the blog. Well, other than this-that I will absolutely NOT either quit the blog, or put it on hiatus. The work I set out to do when I started this blog (and that'll be two years coming up at the end of July-that's just 3 months away!) is still there, and will probably always be there. And as long as it's there, I'm going to keep doing it. I have to.

Just a few short notes....

One, I'm well aware that the article I posted in the March 4 entry didn't reproduce right. I will try to correct this as soon as I can find another source for the same article.

Two, despite a world in economic crisis, Kosova appears to be growing in economic stability with every passing month. Most major countries of the western world recognise her (many right from the get go), and the total list of countries that recognise her seems to be growing with each month.

Three (and lucky for me!), the "Haters" seem to be running out of steam, at least somewhat. A lot of their posts these days are rehashes of the same old libels against the Albanian people, not just Kosova Albanians, and using the same old tired tactics that smart people either have caught on to already, or are catching on to. But one thing seems clear-they seem to be slowly accepting (even if they won't admit it) that Kosova will not be some sort of "Balkan Biafra". It's not about to be reabsorbed into Serbia-now or ever. It is here to stay, regardless of whether one likes it or not.

So that's it for now. As I've said in the past, I fully plan on continuing with the blog, and with the video version of it I started doing last fall. Just a matter of things in my life losening up enough for me to do them the way I want to do them.

Paving the way: A Kosovo hero's path from rebel to road-builder

2009-03-04T09:33:00.003-06:00

PRISTINA, KOSOVO - There aren't many places in Europe where a minister of transport is a national hero whose name is sung in folk songs.

But Kosovo is not an ordinary place. The country, a year old last month, is where Fatmir Limaj is succeeding at a job everyone else here has failed at: building roads.

Mr. Limaj is in many ways a Kosovo story. In 1998, he took up the gun as a rebel leader, won the first real Kosovo Liberation Army battle against Serbs, and became known as "Commander Steel." He was arrested and later acquitted at The Hague for war crimes. Today, he wears dark suits and patent leather shoes, and cuts ribbons – and deals – over fresh concrete and macadam.

In 2007, when Limaj became transport minister, only five miles of four-lane highway existed in Kosovo. Last year, he built eight miles, instituted 24-hour work sites, and is now overseeing the construction of eight additional miles of four-lane roadway.

Kosovars love it. Limaj views the transport ministry almost as a personal ministry, a calling to build a country. He's read Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope," and seems to offer a "Yes, we can" message to cynical Kosovars weary of unmet promises and muddy roads. With rebel credentials in the majority-Albanian society, Limaj has knocked heads, found consensus with contractors, and mobilized a workforce. He regularly drops in on sites at midnight or later. Last year, a TV crew filmed him directing work at 3 a.m., showing the country that change was indeed under way.

"I'm restless by nature, just ask my wife," he says. "Building a country was a dream of my generation. Now, I'm living that dream, but there's a lot to do.

"Our people are hard workers, but they need a good manager to channel their energy."

Upgrading donkey paths to modern highways

An executive from a Western nongovernmental organization, who has lived in Kosovo for several years, describes Limaj as "one of the good ones.... His methods aren't typical, but they are practical, and probably what Kosovo needs right now."

Roads in this agricultural society have been so haphazard and poor that travelers from northern Europe routinely got lost, even in recent years. A 21st-century road infrastructure means development. Yet a decade after NATO intervened, and despite a highway budget, little was done. Village roads remained primitive, unpaved, and a nightmare in winter. The main "highway" from the airport to Pristina was two-laned, donkey-laden, and potholed.

Yet last year, Limaj's ministry paved or repaved nearly 500 miles of highway – adopting a strategy of connecting villages with one another and with key arteries.

"It was so much road that we all started to wonder why it hadn't happened before," says Artan Mustafa, political editor at the Express newspaper. "Obviously, one reason is because Limaj has power. No one can say to [Commander Steel] that the road won't go through here or there. He tells you, you don't tell him."

Speaking in his office near the new parliament building, Limaj explains his passion for his homeland. "I feel that 24 hours a day. It was a dream of my youth, to have a free country," he says. "If you asked me 10 years ago, I would have said that freedom was impossible. But God gave us the opportunity."

Fall of Wall a test of patience

Limaj's own story began when he was a student leader in the early 1990s. The Berlin Wall had fallen, but Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic had revoked Kosovo's special status in Yugoslavia. The Albanian, 90 percent of the population, lived a second-class existence under brutal police-state repression – checkpoints, arbitrary killing, torture – as Serbs revived a deeply felt national myth of Kosovo as their spiritual heartland, something disallowed under Yugoslavia's longtime leader, Marshal Tito.

"The rest of Europe was moving in ways unimaginable to us," he says. "The spirit of East Europe was everywhere. People in Europe were breathing easier. But for us, the opposite was happening. Europe was moving forward, and we were moving backward."

Public debate wasn't allowed in the new Kosovo and students rebelled. "We wanted our voices heard in federal Yugoslavia," Limaj recalls. "We wanted to warn the center how dangerous the program of Milosevic was, to stop this crackdown."

For a decade, Limaj and Kosovo waited as the political and spiritual leader of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, reacted to Serbian tactics with a Gandhian strategy of patience and nonviolence.

A tipping point for Kosovars arrived with the US-led Dayton peace deal on Bosnia.

"After Dayton, all our hopes and dreams fell," Limaj says. "That Milosevic could kill with impunity for years, then present himself as a man of peace ... this was totally depressing for us. There was no hope. We saw what he was doing here. It's true, if a normal person has choices, he would never choose war. But it was either leave Kosovo, or organize ourselves to resist."

Limaj faced justice and earned respect

The former commander plays down his KLA hero status. But Limaj was the first to switch KLA tactics – characterized by guerrilla skirmishes in villages and hiding in the hills – by confronting Serb forces in the open. His units eventually held two main highways and sheltered 85,000 people, a hospital, and a radio station.

Last week, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal at The Hague offered its first verdict on the Kosovo war. Four Serb generals were found guilty of using systematic force against civilians. But the tribunal acquitted then Yugoslav President Milan Milutinovic, citing Milosevic as mainly responsible: "In practice, it was Milosevic, sometimes termed the 'Supreme Commander,' who exercised actual command authority … during the NATO campaign," stated chief judge Iain Bonomy.

Milosevic died in his cell at The Hague in 2006, during his defense against genocide charges in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Limaj's time at The Hague remains a sensitive one. He was arrested for crimes while serving as KLA commander of the Llapushnik region. He denied guilt, but agreed to face charges. "As much as I didn't agree with the accusation, I felt it was our responsibility to respond," Limaj says. "So I said I would go to The Hague, and was sure justice would prevail."

It was a lonely, worrisome time for Limaj. When he was released in 2005, he bitterly criticized Kosovo authorities for a lack of logistical legal support that he felt would have shortened his trial. "I was not going to be a man afraid of justice. But in a situation like that, you have a million thoughts running through your mind."

When Limaj returned, thousands of Kosovars made a pilgrimage to his home. Two attempts to run for mayor of Pristina failed. But Prime Minister Hashim Thachi gave him the transport ministry, which he relishes.

What Limaj took from Obama's "Audacity of Hope" was the new president's community organizing in Chicago. "He went house to house to understand the people, their hopes and dreams, so by the time he ran for president could speak to everybody."

That will be a task in Kosovo, still divided between Albanian and Serb. "Kosovo's intentions are humane… we don't want to harm or do damage to others… but allow everyone live together in a new state."

Limaj's biggest test may be ahead. Having won hearts as a man who gets things done, and whose name has been added to a centuries-old Albanian heroic folk song – he must now finish the airport road, as well as a new road to Skopje, and navigate construction difficulties. "He's won the initial battle, but now is the real test," says a UN official.

Mr. Mustafa, the editor, adds that "Everybody loves Limaj, but I also long for the day when an ordinary civil servant can give an order, and it is followed."

Original, by Robert Marquand, can be found at

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0304/p01s01-wogn.html

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2009-02-17T22:28:00.005-06:00

GËZUAR PAMVARSISË!

(For those who don't speak/read Albanian, the words under the stylised illo of Commandante Adem Jashari mean more or less "Uncle, it's done!", and "Happy Independence")

And lest we be accused of not being gracious towards the "opposition", we also wish them a Happy Kosovar Independence Day too.... ;-)

Still alive and kickin'! Upcoming projects, and a little bit on "Blago"

2009-01-31T22:13:00.005-06:00

Hi folks! Just a short post to let you know that yes, I'm still here, and yes, the blog is still going, albeit it's been in sort of a "hibernation" mode the past year or so. Unfortunately, my life's situation hasn't changed, so working on the blog has had to become sort of a "lesser" priority for me over the past 13 months or so, much as I'd like it to be different. That'll change eventually, but not for some time to come. But I have no intention of "letting it go" or "giving it up". Even though the "haters" have somewhat cut back their attention on Albania, Kosova, and the Albanian people in general (mainly because most of them seem to be of a right-of-center political persuasion, and hence seem to be a little more occupied with the political situation here at home right now....), they haven't given up, and they probably never will. So there still needs to be a voice calling them out on their crap.

One thing I will mention, though, is that I'm working right now, as time permits, on a definitive series where I profile the methods of the "haters" to sway the opinion of those who are not informed or are " on the fence" on the subjects of Albania, Kosova, and the Albanian people. Because they do have an identifiable, systematic methodology for trying to sway people over to their side and their way of thinking, and I think if one is aware of it, and of the false paradigms that its based on, one can do a lot better job of refining one's "BS" filters when one sees an example of it, and can better let others who might be swayed know it for what it really is.

Lastly, a few words on the Blagojevich scandal here in the US. It's interesting to me that if you look at Albanian-related web boards and blogs, you find little about this. To be honest, most Albanians I know just didn't-and don't-care about it. Now I can guarantee you that if the Illinois governor had been of Albanian descent, the Serbian National(social)ist blogs and web boards, not to mention folks like La Julia, Svetlana, Mary Monster, etc. would've been all over it like the proverbial "white on rice", saying how it proves that all Albanians are liars, crooks, etc. As for myself, I don't think ol' "Blago" did what he did because his parents came from Serbia. American history (and sadly Illinois history-and I say "sadly" because I'm an IL native) is replete with such malfeasance. Race or ethnicity I believe has nothing to do with such things. But I do think that maybe his whole attitude when he got caught (not to mention when he was doing the naughty things he got caught for) is a product of his being raised around a Serbian National(social)ist cultural milleu (his dad was a former Chetnik, among other things). Just take a look at all the whacko claims he made in his defense, claims that others were out to "get him" for this, that, and the other thing, the bizzare statements about calling the Clintons and WI governor Jim Doyle to testify on his behalf, proposing Oprah to be the next IL senator, etc., then compare them to similar "tin foil hat" statements made by Slobo, Seslj, Karadzic and others in the Hague, and it doesn't take a whole lot of straining the eyes to see the similarities. Frankly, not even during Watergate did I see people (including Tricky Dick) make quite such outlandish claims in an attempt to deflect guilt (OK, some of Nixon's statements did come pretty close, I'll grant). And that's all I have to say on the matter other than, for pete's sake Illinois, this time try and pick someone who's actually HONEST, hard as that may be to do!

GEZUAR KRISHTLINDJET-MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T18:10:00.002-06:00

Just want to take a moment to wish all our readers and visitors of the Christian faith a very Merry Christmas! This year has certainly fit the description of "interesting times", both in a good sense (the independence of Kosova!), and a not-so-good one (a damn near planet-wide economic meltdown). Hopefully 2009 will be a year more filled with good things than with bad ones, for all of us. (And hopefully my life will settle down enough to allow me to post a bit more often in 2009 as well!) To close out this post, here's a video of the Gjilan Primary School Music Choir with a beautiful rendition of "Silent Night" in both English and Albanian. Enjoy!

GEZUAR 28 NENTORI-DITEN E FLAMURIT HAPPY 28TH OF NOVEMBER, ALBANIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!

2008-11-28T14:04:00.002-06:00

Gezuar Diten e Flamurit-Happy Albanian Independence Day, everyone! The Diten e Pavarsise (Day of Independence) is always a special day for Albanians and friends of the Albanian people everywhere, but this year it is even more special because of the liberation this past year of the Albanian people of Kosova from the terror and uncertainty they suffered with for nearly a century. Along with my "vellezer" (brothers) and "motra" (sisters) in the community, I say "Rrofte Shqiperia e lire! Rrofte 28 Nentori!" (Long live free Albania! Long live the 28th of November!)

Introducing "The Albanian Reality Check VIDEO Blog"!

2008-10-22T03:17:00.005-05:00

Presented here for your viewing pleasure (?) is my first attempt at a video version of the blog. I plan on doing from time to time video entries to this blog in addition to the standard written ones. This is actually something I've had in mind for some time, but just had never gotten around to doing until now. So take a look (I admit it's a bit "raw", but I'm sure that my "camera presence" will improve with time. :) ), and let me know what you think, folks!

And while we're on the subject of never forgetting....

2008-09-11T15:52:00.002-05:00

....let us never forget who our REAL friends were on that "day of infamy"....and who they weren't.

(For those who don't speak Serbian, the translation to the wonderful words of this little "song of love" can be found HERE.)

And last but not least, let us recall the wonderful words of our ol' "buddy", Julia Gorin....

"despite betrayal after betrayal by the U.S., most Serbs haven't turned to America-hating, but rather maintain an understanding that America is overall a force for good in the world. That's worth a lot more than good will that's bought"

Yep Julie baby, we can sure feel that luuuuuuv....

MOS KURRË FALNI, MOS KURRË HARRONI! (NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET!)

2008-09-11T15:45:00.003-05:00

9/11/01-9/11/08 We will NEVER forget.

Michael J. Totten: Warrior for "The Real Truth"!

2008-08-30T15:59:00.002-05:00

Recently during this incredibly busy summer I've been having, I came across the writings of a blogger who's been around for quite a while evidently, but who I'd never heard of before: Michael J. Totten. Totten mostly blogs on Middle-Eastern issues, and to a lesser extent Muslim ones, but he's also as of late devoted several blog postings to the matter of Kosova, defending Kosovar Albanians (and to a lesser degree Albanians in general) against the scurrolus charges leveled unceasingly against them by all the "Haters". In doing so, he's managed to stir up quite a furor, including a post by our ol' "buddy" La Julia on her blog slamming him (naturally), and a huge "comment war" over on Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs blog (Charles is one of the few hard-core conservatives who've come out on the side of Kosova and the Albanian people).

Totten is, if nothing else, an excellent writer; a man who is articulate, checks out his stories and sources pretty thouroughly from what I can see, and avoids the spin, rhetoric, and deception that so marks the "Haters" and all their propaganda. Here below I'm posting links to a couple of pieces of his that I consider "must reads". There are others, and I will post them in the near future (these are quite lengthy pieces, though they're also easy, engaging reads as well, so they should be enough for everyone to "chew" on until I get back to town in a couple of days....) But for now....

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/an-israeli-in-k.php
http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/157/full

The other side of the Ottawa Greek Festival story....

2008-08-29T03:33:00.002-05:00

Some of you readers might remember back last October when I did a post about a smear piece (aren't they all?) our "buddy" Julia Gorin did about an incident that took place at the Ottawa, CA Greek Festival a year ago this month, where alegedly some Albanians attended the event, bringing their flag with them to evidently provoke all the Greeks and Serbs in attendance, then supposedly one of the Albanians stabbed one of the Serbians there. Julia's point, as she made clear at the end of the piece, was to show just what a bunch of "beasts" the Albanian people as a people, as a "race", are, and how this is the kind of behavior that we can expect from any and all of them as a matter of course. Now of course, she didn't seem to mind that most of the information came from a source that was either anonymous, or who she chose not to reveal the identity of (not even a psuedonym!), or that it's not even clear from the e-mail he sent her whether he actually witnessed the events or just heard about them second hand; no, all that mattered to La Julia was that he was evidently a Serb (and we all know that all Serbs are by nature incapable of lying, right?), and that was good enough for her.

Well, recently I received a comment on that deconstruction and "retranslation" I did of Gorin's post on that whole matter. And like La Julia's informant, this person posted it anonymously. And I'm going to repost it here. Why, you may ask, am I doing so, esp. when the person is also "anonymous"? Simply this: Because this person is the first person so far I've seen anywhere who's offered up to anyone "the other side of the story", anonymous or no. Now, I can't speak for the veracity of the person who sent it to me, since I have no idea who they are/were. And I can't speak to the accuracy of what they've told me, since I wasn't there. But they seem to have details that scope with what the mainstream news sources that reported the incident had to say about it, details that La Julia's informant either left out or felt the "MSM" had neglected to report. And their being anonymous makes them, in my eyes, not one iota less credible than her source, since that one is also anonymous. So here, without further ado, in the words of that famous Faux News slogan, "I report; you decide"

I was at that exact same festival in Ottawa Canada, when the incident occured. The Albanian flag was present on some guy;s shoulders but he did not wear to provoke Greeks because the guy had a Greek girlfirend and why would he possibly wear it to provoke Serbs at a GREEK festival?

The fact that Serbian people had a problem with an Albanian flag is in itself a problem. I have seen many different kinds f flags wheather on shirts, cars, stickers, etc.. at the Greek fest many times and no one attacked them. But as soon as someone wears an Albanian flag Serbians feel the need to come over and yell, yes yell "Ubi Shqiptari" which means "Kill Albanians" and expect them to remain silent while they are being brutually dehumanized just like they would be if they were in Serbia. So the stabbing might have not been necessary but what was less necessery is the fact that 100 Serbians would attack 5 Albanians at a community Greek Festival in Ottawa Canada.

More evidence that those damn Kosovar Albanians want a completely monoethnic state! Oops....

2008-07-28T03:23:00.004-05:00

La Julia and her buddies like to claim that Albanians, unlike their "Godly, Christian, open-minded, and tolerant" Serb neighbors, want a super-state in the Balkans that consists only of Albanians. I guess that's why Kosova is letting Chinese, Bulgarians, and others migrate there and open honest, legitimate business, right? Riiiiigggghhhhhttttt.....

(Article from newkosovareport.com)

**************************************************************

Chinese and other immigrants call Kosovo home

Monday, 21 July 2008

In one of the neighborhoods of Prishtina, Kosovo, among many other discount stores, there is the store of the Chinese immigrant Lili.

The uniqueness of her discount store is found within the colorfully painted ornaments of mythic Chinese dragons, hanging high all over the store's ceiling, purposely to draw the attention of the customers. Lili, the saleswoman at the store, is only 20 years old. Born in China, she has been living in Prishtina with her family for the last five years.

"I live in Kosova with my family. I like living among Kosovar people; they are peaceful, energetic and tolerant. My legal temporary immigration papers issued by the Kosova authorities give me permission to live and work here,” says Lili speaking in broken Albanian language with a heavy Chinese accent.

To retain her legal temporary employment and residence in Kosovo, Lili explains how she has been continuously in contact with the authorities. She also has a temporary residential card with the work permit.
Because she loves living in Kosovo, Lili plans to apply for Kosovo permanent residency.

The capital of Kosovo is not her first residence since she moved out of China. After many clandestine traveling around Asia and Eastern Europe looking for a better life, her family had finally decided to settle down in Kosovo.

After 1999, Prishtina's shopping centers expanded. Today, among many established business stores run by immigrants, Chinese and Indian shopkeepers are notably the largest. Incidentally, many citizens of Prishtina have already dubbed a section of the city as the future 'Chinatown'.

It is not only Lili's family that has chosen Kosovo as their new home. In the recent years and months, Kosovo has become a new residence for immigrants from many countries.

The recent statistics on immigration, published by the Department of Migration and Foreign Resident Services, shows that during 2007, the largest numbers of immigrants were Turks, Chinese, Bulgarians and Indians.

Legal procedures to enter the Republic of Kosovo are very simple. There is no specific immigration law yet, so a visa is not required. The only requirements are a valid passport and a sponsor who is a citizen of the Republic of Kosovo and can guarantee the residential accommodation along with employment.

Refki Morina, the director of the Department of Migration and Foreign Resident Services, says that "until now the department would issue only a 90-day temporary residence stamp on a required valid passport. Fifteen days before expiration of the temporary residence stamp, foreigners were required to apply for a temporary immigration residential card, explaining the reasons why they want to reside in Kosovo. If temporary immigrants do not respond within 90 days, fines, jail and deportation come into effect and losing the permission to enter Kosovo for a minimum of 3 years to permanently, depending on the case."

The new immigration bill which with follow European Union guidelines, was introduced by the government and is expected to be voted soon by the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo. The Immigration Law will allow foreign residents who have lived for over 5 years in the Republic of Kosovo to apply for permanent resident status. Procedures included in such applications are fingerprints, an interview and the background check.

For citizens of certain countries, to enter the Republic of Kosovo the law will require a visa, issued by the proper embassy.

Fisnik Rexhepi, adviser to the Minister of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, says: "The issue of visas to enter Kosovo will be regulated under a law which will determine whether the citizens of that country will need a visa. Once the law comes into effect, we will inform the respective authorities of all countries."

Oh no he din't!

2008-07-26T17:41:00.002-05:00

One of the great things about hubris is that it causes people to openly say stupid things that expose themselves and their real intent to the whole world without even realising it. In this case, the hubris of a Serbian National(social)ist YouTuber who goes by the handle of "Terminator00000" causes him to post a video that he titles "albanian speaking the truth". The video is a short clip of Albanian-American activist Florin Krasniqi from the documentary "The Brooklyn Connection". In it, he expresses in rhetorical terms the attitude of Serbian National(social)ists towards the Albanians as a people. Of course, ol' "Terminator" posts it as an "albanian speaking the truth", hence making it clear that he feels that Krasniqi is being truthful about Serbian National(social)ists, their acts, and their attitudes towards Albanians. Now, since most Serb National(social)ists and their allies (like La Julia and her ilk) seem to want to roundly deny that they've ever done or said anything "racist" towards Albanians, this wonderful bit of hubris brings the truth out in the open, and also this guy winds up shooting his own cause in the foot. To see the video in context of "Terminator's" own page, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=VlzsAvd9Ajs&feature=related

Here itself is the video clip:

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us!

2008-07-22T22:26:00.002-05:00

I don't want to toot our horn too much, but I just thought I would mention briefly that it was 1 year ago today, July 22, that I decided after long complaining about how no one out there was trying in any real way to combat the lies of the Julia Gorins, the Mary Mosterts, the Jared Israels, the Carl Saviches, etc., against the Albanian people, that I would finally put my "money where my mouth is" and start a blog dedicated to combating those lies and "setting the record straight". (In quick point of fact, I did try to start a blog a couple of years before that, but gave up on it after a short while due to my inexperience in the blogosphere, and also due to the fact that there were very few blogs or bloggers out there in the Albanian community with whom to network with either.)

Sooooooo....1 year, 100 plus posts, and more than 10,000 unique hits later, I'm still here, still kickin' away at the lies and the liars (with a little help from a few friends who've been kind enough to send me some great articles from time to time.... :-) ), and plan on being so for as long as there continue to be Haters out there who feel that they've been called to pick on the Albanian people; a "little" people, but a people with a great heart, great soul, and great history. A people who, contrary to the assertions of those who hate them, aren't out for world conquest, or even conquest of the Balkans, but who simply for the most part want to be left alone, in peace, to live their lives out the way they wish to. A people who don't claim to be perfect, and for the most part are more than aware of the bad apples in their midst when they pop up. A people renown for their friendliness and hospitality to "the stranger", and for their code of honor that demands honesty, integrity, and even that should a "blood enemy" be at your door, and they call upon you to give them shelter from one trying to hunt them down and kill them, that you must provide it to them. A people who have become like my "second family", and who I'm PROUD to be associated with, and to stand with in both good times and times of trouble. And with whom I'll continue to stand until the day I die.

And while I'm in a celebratory mood here....

"Ladies and Gentlemen....WE GOT HIM!"

2008-07-22T18:43:00.002-05:00

While I know that the Serbian government certainly didn't time this on purpose to coincide with the 1st anniversary of this blog (and unfortunately, unlike when we found Saddam in his hidey hole, no one uttered the words that make up the title of this blogpost-though it would've been cool if they did), nonetheless, I have to admit that I can think of few nicer "birthday presents" than this....

Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic

Radovan Karadzic is one of the world's most wanted men

Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted men, has been arrested in Serbia after more than a decade on the run.

The Bosnian Serb wartime political leader disappeared in 1996.

He has been indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes and genocide over the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.

The appointment of a new, pro-European government in Belgrade last month appears to have cleared the way for his arrest, says a BBC correspondent.

The European Union, which the new government hopes to join, has put Serbia under considerable pressure to hand over indicted war criminals to the UN tribunal in The Hague.

But Mr Karadzic's wartime military leader, Ratko Mladic, remains at large.

'Located and arrested'

The arrest of Radovan Karadzic was welcomed by war crimes prosecutors in The Hague as a "milestone".

He has been brought before Belgrade's war crimes court, a legal procedure that indicates he may soon be extradited.

But it is not clear how soon he might be transferred to stand trial at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, says the BBC's Bridget Kendall.

Serbian officials have suggested he will stay put for at least three days while his lawyer appeals against his extradition.

This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade

Serge Brammertz
ICTY chief prosecutor

Analysis: New directions in Belgrade

In pictures: Karadzic detained

Send us your comments

Officials said no further information about his detention would be released until the action team of prosecutors, police and intelligence teams meet in Belgrade on Tuesday morning, the BBC's Eastern Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe says.

"Radovan Karadzic was located and arrested tonight [Monday evening]" by Serbian security officers, a statement by the office of President Boris Tadic said, without giving details.

"Karadzic was brought to the investigative judge of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade, in accordance with the law on co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [ICTY]."

Serbian government sources told Reuters news agency he had been under surveillance for several weeks, following a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service.

But his lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, said Mr Karadzic had been detained "on Friday in a bus" and held till he was brought before the judge of Serbia's war crimes court for questioning. Mr Karadzic was said to have remained silent during questioning.

Heavily armed special forces were deployed around the war crimes court in Belgrade - apparently fearing a backlash from nationalists who consider Mr Karadzic a hero.

"He did not surrender, that is not his style," his brother, Luka Karadzic, said outside the court.

'Milestone in co-operation'

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the ICTY, welcomed the arrest.

THE CHARGES

Eleven counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities

Charged for the killing of some 12,000 civilians during the siege of Sarajevo

Allegedly organised the massacre of at least 7,500 Muslim men and youths in Srebrenica

Targeted Bosnian Muslim and Croat political leaders, intellectuals and professionals

Unlawfully deported and transferred civilians because of national or religious identity

Destroyed homes, businesses and sacred sites

"This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade," he said in a statement in The Hague.

In the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, crowds spilt onto the streets to celebrate news of the arrest as cars streamed through the streets sounding their horns.

"This is the best thing that could ever happen, you see people celebrating everywhere. I called and woke up my whole family," Sarajevo resident Fadil Bico told Reuters.

Richard Holbrooke, the US diplomat who brokered the Dayton Peace Accord for Bosnia in 1995, told the BBC that "a major, major thug has been removed from the public scene".

"One of the worst men in the world, the Osama Bin Laden of Europe, has finally been captured," Mr Holbrooke told BBC World News America.

Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic, wife of Radovan Karadzic, said her daughter had called her to break news of the arrest to her.

"As the phone rang, I knew something was wrong. I'm shocked, confused. At least now, we know he is alive," she told the Associated Press.

The arrest of Mr Karadzic and other indicted war criminals is one of the main conditions of Serbian progress towards European Union membership.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said a major obstacle to Serbian membership had been lifted.

Karadzic denial

Srebrenica was the scene of the worst massacre in the Bosnian war

Mr Karadzic denied the charges against him soon after the first indictment and refused to recognise the legitimacy of the UN tribunal.

The UN says Mr Karadzic's forces killed at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995 as part of a campaign to "terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population".

He was also charged over the shelling of Sarajevo, and the use of 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995.

After the Dayton accord that ended the Bosnian war in 1995, the former nationalist president went into hiding.

International pressure to catch Mr Karadzic mounted in spring 2005 when several of his former generals surrendered and a video of Bosnian Serb soldiers shooting captives from Srebrenica shocked television viewers in former Yugoslavia.

He had been a close ally of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who was himself extradited to The Hague tribunal in 2001, but died in 2006, shortly before a verdict was due to be delivered in his case.

Here's a pic, btw, of what the old bastard looked like when they caught him:

"Izzat you, Santy Claus?"

Oh, and here's a lovely little pic of a typical Karadzic/Mladic fan (looks like a real credit to the "herrenvolk", no?):

(Just FYI, I normally avoid posting things that don't have to do with defending the Albanian people and their culture from the various lies and slanders of those who hate on them, or pointing out what a bunch of rank hypocrites the "Haters" usually are, but this is more than significant enough to make an exception in that rule for....)

Just another example of unprovoked Albanian thuggery, with the Greater Albanian terror state coming to the perp's aid. Oh, wait a minute....

2008-06-25T11:55:00.002-05:00

From the New York Daily News.

Serbian student in Binghamton beating may have fled with government help

BY ELIZABETH HAYS, MATT LYSIAK and RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Updated Wednesday, June 25th 2008, 2:04 AM

There is an international manhunt for Serbian national Miladin Kovacevic, who may have fled the U.S. with help from his country's government.

La Barbera/Press & Sun

Kovacevic in uniform for the Binghamton hoops squad in January.

Bryan Steinhauer

An international manhunt is on for a hulking Serbian athlete who viciously beat a Brooklyn college student and fled the country - possibly with his government's help, authorities said.

Federal agents are trying to capture hoops star Miladin Kovacevic, 20, overseas after he fled the U.S.

A Serbian official is believed to have posted his $100,000 bail upstate and Kovacevic used an emergency passport to leave the country, prompting a separate probe by the State Department.

The 6-foot-9, 280-pound basketball player was charged with assaulting fellow Binghamton University student Bryan Steinhauer at a bar on May 4.

Steinhauer, 22, an honors student set to work this summer for a prestigious accounting firm, suffered massive head injuries in the attack and is still clinging to life in a medically induced coma.

"I'm devastated," his father, Richard, told the Daily News outside of his Fort Greene home on Tuesday. "He's my only son."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has urged federal authorities to make capturing and extraditing Kovacevic a top priority.

"The Steinhauer family has suffered enough," Schumer said. "The Justice Department and the FBI must make it a priority to bring Kovacevic back to U.S. soil so we can prosecute him immediately."

Steinhauer's nightmare began in the early morning hours of May 4, when he got into an argument with three men, including Kovacevic, at a packed bar near the state school, cops said.

"Kovacevic ... proceeded to beat the crap out of him," said Binghamton Police Capt. Alex Minor, noting Steinhauer suffered a fractured skull and broken jaw and eye sockets.

"They kicked him when he was down, the whole nine yards," Minor added.

The giant Serb and his two pals fled after the horrific assault, he said.

Kovacevic was arrested the following day and the two other accused attackers, Edin Dzubur, 24, and Santel Softic, 21, were hauled in soon after.

Kovacevic's bail was set at $100,000.

On June 6, Igor Milosevic, the Serbian vice consul, posted $20,000 in cash and $80,000 in a bank money order in Broome County Court to spring Kovacevic, a bail receipt obtained by the upstate Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper shows.

Kovacevic, who faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, surrendered his passport and was freed from jail later that day.

Reached Tuesday, a Serbian Consulate representative said Milosevic was out of town and that no one else could comment on the case.

Broome County officials contacted Customs agents on the Canadian border on June 10, fearful that Kovacevic might try to flee the country.

Hours later, the prosecutors received shocking news from U.S. Customs Enforcement: Kovacevic, with the emergency passport, had left on a Lufthansa flight from Newark Airport bound for Frankfurt.

Milosevic's attorney, Vincent Accardi, declined to comment on the whereabouts of his client or the status of the case.

The tragedy has left Steinhauer's father numb.

"I'm surprised they gave [Kovacevic] bail," Richard Steinhauer said. "It's hard to believe this is happening."

rschapiro@nydailynews.com

With Veronika Belenkaya and Edgar Sandoval

Hey Julia! I thought only ALBANIANS did this kind of shit to each other? Julia?....Julia....?

2008-06-23T01:40:00.003-05:00

From Balkan Insight, 21 June 2008

Serb Police Officer Shot Dead in Kosovo

21 June 2008 Mitrovica _ A Serb police officer has been found shot dead in northern Kosovo.

He was found dead around 0000 CEST (2200 GMT) in his car, a few kilometres north of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica.

“Soon after the police identified the victim, two Serb male suspects were detained,” Besim Hoti, the spokesman for the Kosovo Police Service in the Mitrovica region said.

He added found around 30 automatic weapon shells at the murder spot.

The victim is believed to have been shot while driving in the village of Rudare, five kilometres north of Mitrovica, in a predominantly ethnic Serb area of Kosovo.

Local Serb radio KIM reported the victim was Todor Deverdzic, who is thought to have on Belgrade payrolls but working as a police officer in Kosovo.

The body in the bullet-riddled Volkswagen Golf was identified by Deverdzic's neighbours, who confirmed for Balkan Insight that Deverdzic was on Belgrade’s payroll.

Since 1999 and the setting up of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, Belgrade has created parallel structures in predominantly Serb areas to maintain its grip on the territory. It is widely believed there are civilian policemen from Serbia in these areas. Kosovo Albanian daily Koha Ditore recently reported about 'secret' Serbian police stations in the enclaves and Kosovo’s north but Belgrade’s top officials have denied this.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary....

2008-05-24T10:30:00.002-05:00

The other day, while making my periodic check of the different "Haters" websites, I decided to pay serbianna.com a visit, mainly to see what that "world-renown historian" Carl Kosta Savich had to say lately, or maybe the latest Albanophobic rantings of the head-honcho of the outfit, "Mickey" Bozinovich.

Well, nothing new from the arsenic-tipped pens of those two unworthies since the last time I visited, back in April, but there was something new there: They had just added so-called "policy analyist" Mary Mostert to their blogroll.

So just who is Mary Mostert? Well, if you notice, her lovely pic is prominently featured on our "Haters Wall of Shame". But other than letting you know what she looks like, that doesn't do much for telling you who or what she is. This is what her bio (I assume written by her) from her website, Banner of Liberty (it's slogan being "truth, honor, courage, freedom, morality, justice"-all good things to be in favor of to be sure, but also things that make me a bit leary when I see them worn on the sleeve in quite that fashion....) says:

"At age 13 Mary Mostert memorized the Declaration of Independence and was involved in politics before she was old enough to vote. In fact, she was writing articles for The Nation Magazine at the age of 19. As a teenager she organized one of the first interracial youth groups in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1940s, and was involved nationally and internationally in the civil rights and peace movements.

As executive director of the Independent Political forum, she was one of 52 American women who met hundreds of women from other nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to petition delegates at the 1962 Disarmament Conference to sign the first Nuclear Test-ban treaty. While opposed by the executive and legislative branches, the small ad hoc “Mothers’ Lobby” helped change opinion. Some six months later the Senate signed the treaty, and after the group picketed the White House, President John F. Kennedy signed it.

In the 1960s Mary was one of the first female political commentator published in a major metropolitan newspaper, and served on redevelopment boards in the inner city of Rochester NY. She also ran a construction company, won architectural awards for restoration of historic buildings, and by 1970 had concluded that the War on Poverty programs were doing irreparable harm to the Black families they were meant to assist.

Mary ran unsuccessfully for the New York State Senate in 1972, and has managed campaigns for candidates in New York and California. In the early 1990s Mary met with most of the women leaders of South Africa while secretary of “Positive Action NOW!” – a national women’s group seeking to reduce the threat of civil war among the nation’s various racial, religious and political groups. Mary met President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, as well as most of the leaders of the nation’s 22 political parties who were writing the new South African Constitution, and provided each leader with a “constitution packet” which included a video about writing the U.S. Constitution, “A More Perfect Union”, a copy of our constitution and related material and at a meeting of 1700 ministers in South Africa Mary pointed out that the resolution on religion they were discussing for the new Constitution identified Government, not God, as the source of human rights. At the insistence of black ministers, the resolution was rewritten during the night and adopted the following morning.

Mary created the ‘Michael Reagan’s Information Interchange’ on the internet, and from 1994-2001, edited the Reagan Monitor, a monthly newsletter for former President Ronald Reagan's talk show host son, Michael. The newsletter dealt with key political and national issues. Her first book, Coming Home – Families Can Stop the Unraveling of America, was published in 1996 by Gold Leaf Press. During the 1998 Congressional campaigns, she launched a website to help voters access state and federal candidates websites, allowing voters to compare their stands on issues. Mary’s website, www.bannerofliberty.com, has expanded to provide links to numerous information sources, and her weekly news analyses are published on many websites."

Now at first, her credentials, at least as far as social-political activism go, seem pretty impressive. After all, it's hard to beat forming an interracial student group in the "Jim Crow" south, protesting for a nuclear-test ban at the White House, and meeting with both F. W. DeKlerk and Nelson Mandela. However, when I looked up the group she was supposedly secretary for, "Positive Action NOW!", the only evidence I could find for it's existence was on her website, or on websites that publish her opinon pieces and/or her bio from her website. Not saying that that means the group never existed, of course, but surely something to make one go "hmmmm".... (And not just about that, but by extension of reason, her other claims as well.) And you'll note not one thing in her bio that implies credentials as a reliable policy analyist (of course these days, I'm becoming more and more convinced that "policy analyist" in many cases means nothing more than "loudmouth with a website/blog").

However, assuming for the sake of argument that they're all true as written, one must wonder where on earth the turn came in her heart and/or mind that lead her to so easily become racist in her sentiments? Racist? Well, judge for yourself from this little gem posted by her back in April, 1999. She makes Julia Gorin look positively Albanophillic by comparison, and her open suggestions go beyond even the insane rantings of Svetlana Novko. Here's an example of the "choicer" stuff she had to say:

"However, my daughter Gail who has lived in Germany and traveled extensively in Europe and in Yugoslavia thinks the problem is simply that no one in Europe wants the Albanians in their country and NATO and the European Union plan to MAKE the Serbs take them. Why? Well, the Germans, Croats, Slovenes and other axis nations of World War II hate the fact that only the Serbs had the guts to stand up to Adolf Hitler. They all hate the Albanians and think they might assuage their guilt for being weak while getting back at the Serbs for their valor if they force the Serbs to take on the Albanians so none of them come into THEIR countries. I thought she was wrong about that, until I tracked down all the population figures and then heard what General Odom said on the Rivera show."

One can only shake one's head at the obvious tendency to disconnect from reality that must run through the woman's family, starting with the fact that she considers her daughter a reliable authority on and judge of European inter-ethnic relations, and running to the notion that the European nations who supported the NATO action in the former Yugoslavia did so out of some ridiculous mix of Archie Bunker-esque hatred of the Albanians as a people and a Freudian hatred of the Serbs for being oh-so-much-more valorous than they in WWII!

And topping it all, get a load of her version of Swift's "Modest Proposal":

"My suggestion is to declare the entire country of Albania a redevelopment area and promise everyone of them a house and plot of land of their own and an annual stipend of, say, $10,000 a year income for doing absolutely nothing if they will only stay in Albania. There appears to be about 4.5 million of them and my program would only cost $45 billion a year. Or, perhaps we could buy a piece of land in Australia or Brazil and bribe the Albanians to move there."

Now some might say that she is simply being satirical, in the same way Swift was (or Ann Coulter is, as some of her proponents claim-and which I ain't buying), but given the overall tenor of her piece, I sure don't get that impression (and even if it were so, I'll just say she has a long way to go before ever even holding a candle to the legendary Mr. Swift). She may be couching her sentiments in satire, but the general intent speaks loudly and clearly through that thin veneer. And all this is in addition to her faulty logic and byzantine figure twisting that she uses in the piece as well.

Moving on a few years, we see that neither her opinions nor her modus operandi have changed. In 2006 she engaged in a series of "dialogues" with an Albanian from the UK, Genci Sala. (N.B. I did a brief post on Genci here on the blog back last August.) Despite Genci being a Evangelical Christian and a political conservative, because he sarcastically introduced himself (and in a way anyone with half a brain or half an open mind could tell was sarcasm) as an "Albanian Islamic Terrorist", Mostert grabbed on to that and for several of their exchanges which she posted on both her own website (for some mysterious reason most of them are no longer accessable), and in her commentary on the Renew America website, referred to him with a straight face as such, until he quite pointedly stated his actual religious persuasion.

And even now, her obvious hatred for the Albanians as a people (despite her occasional toning down of rhetoric when exchanging e-mails with those who dare question her) continues in a most welcoming forum, Serbianna. Some examples of the latest wit and wisdom of Mary Mostert when it comes to Albanians? Here ya go:

History proves that Albanians simply don't recognize the rights and freedoms of others. In fact, when Albania declared itself an "atheist state" in 1967, all churches and other buildings owned by religious groups were closed down.

Of course, never mind the fact that those Churches and "other buildings" (um, I think they're called "Mosques") were pastored over by Albanians and worshiped in by Albanians, not by "religious groups". (Mostert implying in a roundabout way that the Albanians themselves had nothing to do with them for the most part, other than to ban them and shut them down.) And then there's this "gem":

The Kosovo Albanians waving an Albania flag is exactly comparable to illegal alien high school students in California ripping down the US flag and raising the flag of Mexico at their school. They justify their behavior by claiming that California is really a part of Mexico. In Kosovo, Albanians that have flooded across the open borders between Kosovo and Albania are now claiming that Kosovo is really part of Albania.

Naturally, Mostert, like most Albanophobes, either chooses not to recognise or fails to recognise because of the cultural paradigms they're accustomed to, the fact that the Albanian flag is a symbol of the Albanian people where ever they may live, not just the official symbol of the internationally recognised state of Albania. And of course she neglects (mainly because she does not believe it to begin with) that a goodly part of the reason Albanians in Kosova eventually came to demand that it be a separate state from Serbia was because they came to realise that it was the only way to end the periodic harrasment and nearly continual apartheid imposed on it by Belgrade. And her use of the tired old "California-Mexico/Kosova-Albania argument falls apart because most Mexican-Americans are quite content and in fact more often than not quite proud to be Americans (with the exception of the miniscule but loudmouthed minority involved in the so-called "Aztalan" movement) and aren't clamoring for a return to rule under Mexico precisely because America isn't harrassing them and doesn't treat them like 3rd class citizens anymore, and because (the occasional rare exception notwithstanding) they are treated the same as any other American not only by our country itself, but by the vast majority of it's citizens.

Does Mostert have the same influence as say, a Julia Gorin? Not really. But I have never held to the idea that relative influence/power should determine who we (the Albanian community, it's friends, and it's supporters) should be keeping an eye on. As I've said more than once on this blog, the Nazi party started out as a group of six disgruntled German WWI vets meeting in a bar.

Well, I guess our ol' "buddy" Julia was so busy seeking out more "evidence" for the formation of a so-called "Greater Albania" that she missed THIS...

2008-05-22T18:12:00.004-05:00

From balkantravellers.com

Regarding official national holidays in Kosova:

"Two dates not included in the list are the Kosovo Liberation Day, which was celebrated by the ethnic Albanian majority on June 12 – the day NATO forces entered Kosovo after the conflict, and Albania’s Flag Day, November 28, which used to be marked in the UN protectorate.

“Kosovo is an independent, sovereign, democratic and multiethnic country,” Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci told media upon the holidays’ declaration."

Still here....

2008-04-30T21:59:00.002-05:00

Hi folks, just me making a quick "check in" to let y'all know I'm still around, and the blog is still active-if kinda hibernating (not a totally inappropriate analogy, given the kind of weather we've had around here lately....wonder when spring is gonna finally be here for real). The last month has been even more crazy busy for me than the last few, so this blog hasn't exactly been at the forefront of my mind. Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to make some "in earnest" posts in the next couple of weeks or so....even as busy as I've been, I've still been keeping an eye on the "Haters" (and believe me, just as I predicted, Kosova's independence has ensured not that they would go away, but that they'd become even busier than before-and they have). So there's plenty to write about-when I finally get the free time again in my life to start writing again. But until I can do that, keep your eyes open, question everything the "Haters" say, and don't be deceived by their BS!

Another "Hater" sits up and takes notice!

2008-03-30T21:27:00.003-05:00

With all the craziness going on in my life right now (gotta love tax time, right?), I'd almost forgot about this: A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon (no pun intended) the fact that evidently another of the arch-Haters out there, the tin-foil-hatted nutjob who goes by the handle of "1389" (gee, wonder where she got the idea for that from?), proprietess of the (what else?) "1389Blog", managed to find out about our blog, and did a "review" of it about a month ago on stumbleupon.com. Of course, even though it's not the primary purpose of this blog, this humble blogger is always gratified when he finds out that one more of the "Haters" knows about us, knows we have their "number", and that we're letting the world know about it. :) Anyway, if you want to see her "review" of us, and my note of earnest thanks to her for such wonderful compliments, you can view them here

Yet another Serbian who actually "gets it".

2008-03-30T18:40:00.007-05:00

Though this excellent (thanx to friend of the blog Francois for the heads up on it) article is a bit long, it's an easy, fast read, and it's gist supports what I've been saying all along: The reason, the real reason for why Serbian National(Social)ists and their friends and supporters hate, loathe, and despise Albanians has nothing do to with religion, not really, when you come down to it. Religion adds conveinient "rationales" to their hate, but it is not the reason for it. In the final analysis, the sole reason for it is the same reason that ultimately any bully hates the one who he picks on and harasses: Because that person is different. Anyway, enjoy this addition to the "arsenal of the truth", and use it.

****************************************

http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=2386

'Skanderbeg was a Serb' - or how Serb national ideology constructed the image of the Albanian as an enemy

Author: Olivera Milosavljevic
Uploaded: Tuesday, 25 March, 2008

The author traces the way in which earlier Serbian historians, writers and politicans created a stereotype of Albanians as implacable enemies of all that is Serb

The Albanians are today unquestionably considered the greatest ‘enemies’ of the Serbs. Although this may be ascribed to political events and the distasteful portrayal of Albanians in the Serbian media, it is nevertheless necessary to look deeper into the reasons for the disdain with which they have been treated by Serbian writers and politicians.

Serbian intellectuals today write about Albanians mainly within the framework of a stereotype about their ingrained hatred of - and desire to destroy - the Serbs, which is said to originate from their very nature, characterised by primitivism and banditry. Earlier authors, meanwhile, sought also to prove the Albanians’ alleged incapacity for autonomous state existence, which they likewise derived from their nature. In their view, the Albanian ‘tribes’ neither needed a state nor were capable of becoming a nation. So such authors saw the solution, in line with Serbia’s own state-political programme, in terms of a benevolent colonisation which, by including the Albanians and their lands into the Serbian state, would prepare them for civilised existence. Contemporary writings about the Albanians commonly include such stereotypes, repeated over and over again during the past one hundred years: that they are not a nation, and that their lack of civilisation precludes them from establishing an independent state. From this derives the assertion that Skanderbeg was a Serb.

Albanians hate Serbs

In the 1980s the Albanian name came to be linked exclusively with words such as genocide, terror, banditry, rape - every mention of this population in both political and private exchange carried a negative connotation. Following Dimitrije Bogdanović’s book Knjiga o Kosovu, published in 1985 by the Serbian Academy of Arts and Science (SANU), and his frequent appearances on television, Serbian intellectuals would write about Albanians only in order to confirm in some form that Serbs in Kosovo were the victims of a planned genocide, so that Bogdanović was soon left behind in this display of negative sentiment against Albanians. In his book, Bogdanović had revived the old thesis that Albanian settlement of Serb lands in the 17^th century had left a memory of bloody violence suffered by the Serbs, which he elaborated through examples of collective and individual acts of terror, pillage, pogroms and expulsion of Serbs from their land, and with the assertion that the basis of Albanian settlement was to be found in the conversion of Serbs to Islam, accompanied by ethnic assimilation and brute force. According to him, the Serb people thus became the victim not just of some chaotic movement, but of a pre-planned physical destruction. The extension of this negative image to the Albanian people as a whole was carried out by presenting the Albanian political movement as aggressive, invasive, vengeful, conservative and nationalistic, aimed at destroying the Serb people through murder, expulsion and erasure from history, and at the seizure of Serb land with the intention of surrounding and destroying the Serbs themselves. According to Bogdanović, the thesis of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians was racist, because it was used to establish a primal claim to the territory. At the same time, when writing about the settlement of Serbs in the Balkans at a time that he describes as Albanian pre-history, he mentions the ancestors of the Albanians without saying who they were.

According to historian and SANU member Radovan Samardžić, the Albanians were expansionist already in the 16^th century: they were unleashed by the Turks against the Serbs in order to drive a destructive wedge into ancient Serb lands. The Serbs were pushed back by methods that included murder and pillage, the torching of their villages, seizure of their land and enforced Islamisation.

For the sociologist Marko Mladenović too, who made frequent appearances in the media at this time, the genocide and apartheid practised against the Kosovo Serbs was self-evident, and the story about the Albanians’ Illyrian origins was an archaeological fog constructed in order to claim the alleged lands of the contemporary Albanians’ prehistoric ancestors. He insisted that there were no Albanians in Kosovo before the 17^th century, and that they were not in a majority there before the Second World War. The persecutors of the Serbs in Kosovo ranged from ‘Bashibazouks’ to ‘Ballists’, associated respectively with Islam and extreme nationalism. This circle of Serbian intellectuals never doubted, moreover, that the Albanians even used children for their political purposes. Bogdanović wrote about Albanian children being encouraged to attack Serb children, while for Mladenović they were used to establish an Albanian numerical preponderance.

A bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), Atanasije Jevtić, insists that the Albanians’ aim in Kosovo has always been the following: more land, more children, and more weapons. He stresses in particular that Albanian children have not merely been manipulated, but feel deep hatred towards everything that is Serb and Christian in Kosovo, for which he blames their parents and teachers, and the primitive clan and Muslim spirit.

While for Bogdanović the Albanians were tools in Turkish hands, for Samardžić they were tools of the Roman curia, which counted on them as people of weak faith and honour, who could accordingly be converted to Catholicism without too much effort. In his portrayal of the Albanian national character, Samardžić speaks of their barbaric nature, their fantastic powers of reproduction, their inhuman odiousness, and their bloody orgies.

During the 1990s, a paradigmatic text written by Miodrag Jovičić appeared in the SANU collection of texts: Serbs and Albanians in the 20^th century. The Albanians appear here as ‘Arnauti’ - as marauding bandits genetically predisposed to violence. For Jovičić too, it was their Islamisation that explains why the Turks gave the Albanians carte blanche to terrorise the Serb population through the use of violence, plunder and banditry. Adopting the thesis that tradition and accumulated experience determine a certain biological predisposition in a nation, he argues that violence has become part of the genetic make-up of all layers of the Albanian population, together with hatred of the Serbs, whose only fault is that they are alive.

An approach to historical events as a repayment of debts here comes most directly to the fore. Although Jovičić accepts that in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the Albanians were not precisely pets of the regime, he nevertheless concludes that they had not by any means paid off the debt for what they had done to the Serb people during the time of Turkish rule. In the same style of earned and unearned history is his observation that, in view of past experience, the Albanian minority simply did not deserve to have autonomy within Serbia. On the contrary, Jovičić argues, many believe that in 1945 the Albanians should have been placed in a special quarantine, and been given autonomy only after they had offered sufficient proof of their capacity for civilised cohabitation. For Jovičić too, then, Albanians are genetic enemies of Serbia and Serbdom , bearers of an aggressive chauvinism and racism, a fact which only serves to prove that it is impossible to create conditions for co-existence of the various national groups who live in Kosovo.

According to this author, Albanians feel a primaeval hatred towards Serbia and Serbdom, and their genocidal behaviour has been present in all centuries. He sees a solution to this problem in altering the province of Kosovo’s existing ethnic composition - by returning all the Serbs who have left, by creating new Serb settlements, and by suspending the present autonomy for a certain period. Contemporary authors have also written about Albanian historical inferiority; about the open genocide perpetrated against Serbs in the 19^th century by means of pillage, murder, rape and abduction of women then forced to convert to Islam; about the ethnic and religious intolerance towards Serbs that has formed the basis of all political movements of the ‘Arbanasi’; about their aggressive and destructive fury directed against all that is Serb; about their conduct as invaders and occupiers.

It is argued, with reference to the centuries-old relationship between Albanians and Serbs, that a barbaric and aggressive eruption of Albanian nationalism and separatism occurs whenever the demographic balance is disturbed, which derives from the nature of their primitive clan society; and that in their persecution of the Serbs the Albanians were more radical and cruel than all other Serb neighbours, using the most brutal means, as befits their Islamic-Turkish and fascist-Ballist tradition (Dobrica Ćosić, 1992).

Such negative stereotypes of Albanians were elaborated back in the second half of the 19^th century, in books written by Serbian authors based on little serious study. Most widespread was the one about the Albanians’ hatred of Serbs. Archimandrite Hadži Seafim Ristić was among the first to speak of Albanians as the worst enemies of Christianity and the worst oppressors of the common people. Radosavljević-Bdin, inspired by patriotic feelings, when numbering the weapons that the enemies (i.e. neighbours) of the Serbs had used in their joint work of Serb destruction, ascribed the scimitar, gunpowder and lead to the Albanians. Hadži-Vasiljević saw the Albanians as ‘the greatest enemies of the Serbs’ (1906), their ‘sworn enemies’ (1909); he maintained that Serbs saw Albanians as their worst enemies, describing their attitude as follows: ‘Serbs are separated from true Turks by the thickness of an onion skin, and from Albanians by that of a buffalo hide’ (1913).

Skanderbeg was a Serb

The stereotype about Albanians as ‘Arbanised’ Serbs, though seemingly contradicting the above, is in fact in perfect harmony with it, given the view of the phenomenon of assimilation entertained by this part of the Serbian intelligentsia. To begin with, contemporary writers manipulate the number of ‘Arbanised’ Serbs. According to Samardžić, at the end of the 19^th century 30-40 per cent of the Kosovo Albanian population was of Slav origin, a result achieved by what he calls a veritable pogrom. For Mladenović, meanwhile, two thirds of native Albanians are of Serb origin. Veselin Đuretić, for his part, insists that the true number is 80 per cent. Earlier authors did not deal in numbers, but found other ways, primarily visual, to deduce the Serb origin of the Kosovo Albanians: in their alleged lack of certain physical features present, for example, among Bulgarians.

The thesis that Skanderbeg was a Serb belonged at once to the stereotype of the Albanians’ Serb origins and to that of their inability to create a state. Its primary purpose was to explain this historical exception from the rule of the Albanians’ tribal and disorganised existence, and their lack of desire for a state. Just as contemporary Serbian writers like to stress that Skanderbeg’s mother was from the Balšić family, which in their view makes him a Serb, earlier writers too felt bound to insist on this argument. For these earlier authors Skanderbeg was a Serb, as were his comrades in arms; he was the last Serb dynast, who ruled lands inhabited by Serbs. Vladan Dorđević, while insisting that Skanderbeg was a Serb, wrote in an apologetic tone: ‘It is actually quite embarrassing that we must claim this sole hero whom the Albanians have managed to acquire during so many thousands of years, for in our six-century-long struggle from Kosovo to Kumanovo we have gained so many heroes that we could have done without this one. But we must not allow history to be falsified for the Albanians’ sake.’ Other authors followed him, repeating in unison that Albanians should not claim Skanderbeg as their own, because he was not a full-blooded Albanian but at least half-Serb.

Albanians are unfit for statehood

The most widespread stereotype in the period up to the First World War was that the Albanians lacked any desire to have their own state, which in turn argued that they had no right to have one. In 1878 Dimitrije Aleksijević wrote that the Albanians had the right to form their state west and south of the Drin, but only if they showed that they deserved it morally, for no state had been ever created by thieves and plunderers. Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević complained that the Albanians had started demanding independence and were denying to the Serbs the right to their lands. On the eve of the Balkan Wars, Ljuba Jovanović wrote that the existing situation in ‘Old Serbia’ had been created by wild and unbridled Albanians whom Istanbul could not pacify; that only Serbia could do that; and that in liberating ‘Old Serbia’ Serbia would also end the barbaric extermination of the Serb population there. According to Jovanović, since the legal science did not recognise the right of possession to something gained by criminal means, Serbia and the Serb people were right not to recognise the legality of the existing state of affairs created through banditry in this famous part of the Serbian fatherland. And while he believed that the Albanians had no right to remain in a land which they had taken by barbaric means, he was not in favour of removing them by force or treating them as an enslaved and conquered mass. He argued that they could stay there as Serbian citizens, without loss of their nationality; but he also concluded that Serbia did not need them.

The years that followed the Balkan Wars produced a plethora of books about the Albanians, their past and their character. Serbia’s primary aim was to reach the sea, and it now redirected its expansion from Salonica to Durrës, in the belief that this was necessary for its economic and political survival. This policy needed scientific arguments to back up its plans. It was now necessary to transfer the old stereotypes about the Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia to the global plane, and to create a general image of the Albanians that would support the argument that they were not fit to have a state of their own. Serbian nationalist intellectuals, who wrote a great deal about the nationality principle, the awakening of nations, and how the Balkans belonged solely to the Balkan peoples - and who insisted upon the right of every nation to be free - never applied these principles to the Albanians, nor thought that any such rights and freedoms might apply to them. The Serb struggle for freedom, in the eyes of these authors, had to be rewarded with territories that were not necessarily and obviously Serb; while Albanian banditry had to be punished by denying their right to a state even in areas that were purely Albanian. This is why one cannot find a single author among this segment of the intellectual elite who supported the Albanians’ right to have their own state. On the contrary, any such demand was treated as unnatural and an unjust attack against Serbia and its progress.

The desire to prove that Serbia had the right to seize part of Albania in order to have its own coast was so strong that even serious authors succumbed to it. Jovan Cvijić published several articles in connection with the First Balkan War aimed at justifying Serbian political demands. Writing that ‘Old Serbia’ had an exit to the Adriatic Sea in a narrow belt between Shkodër, Lesh and Durrës, he advocated building a railway line to this coast. He was worried, though, that it would pass through Albanian-inhabited areas, saying that this people’s distrust of communications was well known, and that it was also well known that they were very excitable and easily provoked. Serbian demands at this point in time were, in fact, justified not so much in terms of Serb rights, but by an alleged incapacity of Albanians to live as an independent nation. The basic argument was that this primitive people was not fit to have its own state, and would therefore benefit from being exposed to Serb civilisation within a Serbian state.

Jovan Radonić wrote that at the time of the disintegration of the Serbian empire, the Albanians did not try to create their own state, but continued to live as tribes feeling no need for a wider community, thus proving that they did not have the capacity to become a nation. And since these tribes treated everything beyond their own borders as strange and hostile, it was not possible to speak of the Albanian people as a whole. He also argued that the Albanians had not produced their own leaders, but had remained largely subject to the beneficent effects of Serb culture, a state of affairs interrupted by the Turkish invasion. Protesting against the creation of an autonomous Albania that would cut Serbia off from the sea, Radonić insisted that there was no Albanian nationality; that the Albanians did not feel the need to have a state of their own; and that in any case they could not form one, because they showed no cultural disposition, no will, and no capacity to create a state-like community, preferring instead to live as they had done since the middle ages. He complained that this people, who had always been prone to disorder and violence, and who were the strongest opponents of equality, were now supposed to be rewarded with freedom. Rather than being incorporated into the states of the Balkan alliance, where as equal citizens now that Turkey had been defeated they would enjoy the benefits of culture and civilisation, it was now being proposed that they should be independent (Radonić, 1912).

Vladan Đorđević called the Albanians Europe’s Redskins; the Albanian port of Durrës a Serbian port; and the Albanian state that Austria and Italy wished to create a sad episode in the bloody but glorious Balkan epic poem. He asked: ‘Will this tremendous effort by Austria and Italy to create a state out of these Redskins come to anything? And will the colossal damage that the Great Powers will thereby inflict upon themselves be as great as the injustice they will be committing against the Balkans states? Arguing that the Albanians’ backwardness was an unsurmountable barrier to the creation of an Albanian state, he found its surprising that these people - people who did not know what such a thing was, and who thought that snow was sugar - were now claiming to be ready to die for their fatherland. Seeing in the future Albanian state only a barrier to Serbia’s advance, he wrote that the great powers had decided to turn these indolent barbarians into a state solely in order to hinder the progress of other diligent and brave nations, who within a single century had created cultured states through power and application.

Although he wrote his book in order to prove the justice of the Serbian quest for exits to the sea, he also felt the need to point to the profit that would accrue to Europe by Albanians not having their state, arguing that an Albania, being a Muslim state, would be an anachronism for Europe and for its ideals. This is why, in his view, the colonial principle was the only way to solve the Albanian problem, because only a foreign state could create law and order in Albania, and create the conditions that would make it possible for the Albanians to become a nation. Wondering how a people who did not see themselves as constituting a particular nation could henceforth be treated as one, and insisting that the Albanians in their development remained at the stage of pre-history, he concluded that it would take at least a hundred years before they could rightly call themselves a nation. In other words, the slogan ‘The Balkans to the Balkan peoples’ did not apply to the Albanians (Đorđević, 1913).

In the same year that Đorđević’s book was published, the Serbian minister of the interior Stojan Protić published one of his own under the pseudonym of Balkanicus. Although seemingly more moderate in tone, this book used the same arguments and with the same intention. It was published, moreover, by the same publishing house, which makes one wonder whether this was a coordination of efforts to meet given political needs. The main message of Protić’s book too was that it was Serbia’s right to demand an exit to the sea on the Albanian coast. Citing all kinds of ‘scientific’ authorities, Protić argued that the Albanians of northern Albania had lost much of their racial purity, for their blood contained a large Serb component. He repeated the argument that the Albanians had no common language or alphabet, no folk literature or crafts of their own, and noted that it had become fashionable in Italy and Austria-Hungary to portray the Albanians as a talented race and to paint their character in attractive and sympathetic colours.

Against this, Protić quoted a number of foreign authors who had written about the Albanians’ backwardness, concluding that they had remained at the level at which they had found themselves a thousand years earlier. Wondering about the failure of the neighbouring civilisations to influence them, and their inability to evolve into a state community, he concluded sarcastically that such a healthy, spiritual and talented nation - as some gentlemen gave it out to be - had managed to absorb nothing of all their neighbours’ cultures and civilisations, but remained singular and sufficient to themselves. He argued that the Albanians were not capable of independent national existence, because, being committed to self-will and freedom of the wilderness, they did not have nor could have had any feeling for social freedom.

Their reward for their loyal service to the sultan, according to Protić, was permission to kill and exterminate the Serbs, and to seize from the latter their property and land, which was the Albanians’ only talent. Buttressing further his political position, he sought in religion the reasons for deterioration of the relationship between Serbs and Albanians, who in his view had used to be good before becoming Muslims: We have seen in this war too that only Muslim Albanians fought against the Serbs, while Christian Albanians welcomed the Serbs practically everywhere as liberators.

Protić argued that no Albanian question had existed before others had posed it, because the Albanians did not seek a state for themselves. Austria’s fervent advocacy of the lowest and most uncultured race in the Balkan peninsula, which had proved unable to move beyond tribal life for the past two thousand years or to create the smallest state - and its demand, in accordance with the alleged principle of nationality, of extensive borders for this race at the expense of the Serb race, which was stronger, more cultured and far more capable of state life - was in his view nothing but a screen for its own territorial expansion (Balkanicus, 1913)

The key argument of Serbian writings at the start of the century was that Albania was not the product of the Albanians’ national aspirations, and that it did not have the necessary conditions for an independent life, because the Albanians were not nationally united. The state that was being created was not created for them, but as a means to turn the Balkan peninsula into a colony of Great Germany (Cemović, 1913). The idea of independence could not have arisen from among the Albanians themselves, but was the work of others. In this independent Albania, not a single Serb, Christian or indeed Turk would be able to survive (Jaša Tomić, 1913). It was also said that the Serbian army could have taken the area around Vlorë without a fight, but had left it - under pressure from an ill-intentioned Austria - in favour of an independent Albania in which Austria was seeking to multiply, with the aid of its political bacteriologists, the cultures of bandits without ideas, in order to facilitate its own struggle against Serbia, Montenegro and Greece (Stepanović, 1913).

The Albanian character

Yet certain of these authors were ambivalent about the character of the Albanians. Even those who generally painted them in the blackest of colours, when they came into direct contact with them on their travels also acknowledged their many positive sides, which at times even raised them above Serbs. Thus the travel writer Ivan Ivanić described the Albanians of Kaçanik as handsome, tall men known for their bravery, whose love songs were very emotive, because their strong southern blood made them passionate lovers, and reported that guests were fully protected in their homes and their women untouchable (Ivanić, 1903). Hadži-Vasiljević praised their diligence; he stated that their fields and vineyards were of the best quality; that they were the best at animal husbandry and the best craftsmen; that when they had enough to live they were peaceful and good neighbours, and even trusted friends; that they were healthy and tough; that they did not say much, but liked to show off; that they were proud and conceited (Hadži-Vasiljević, 1909). He stressed their moderation, in that they drank little other than coffee; that they ate better than Serbs and cared more than the latter for cleanliness and health; that they were handsome, though not so much their women; and that the pretty women you did find among them derived from an Albanian-Serb mingling, and from beautiful Serb girls having converted to Islam. He said they were hospitable, quiet and polite, sober and clever, but also crafty and jealous (Hadži-Vasiljević, 1913).

Stojan Novaković described them as bony, slim people, healthy and as hardy as flint; but he complained that they were also wild, robbing and often killing every Serb peasant they met (Novaković, 1906). Jaša Tomić acknowledged their military prowess, saying that they were exceptionally skilled warriors, and that no one could accuse them of cowardice; that they did not attack women, and were very hospitable (Tomic, 1913). Although he did not see them as fit to have a state, Toma Oraovac admitted that they were native to the Balkans and one of its more cultured and advanced peoples; while Dragiša Vasić argued that they were supremely more honest and humane than Bulgarians - which is understandable in a book about the Bulgarians (Vasić, 1919).

Interest in Albanians rapidly declined following the formation of a Yugoslav state. They were mentioned in writing only accidentally; negatively, of course, but no longer as the main subject of interest or the main enemy. This role was taken over by Croats, who replaced first the Bulgarians and then the Albanians.

Extracts from ‘U tradiciji nacionalizma ili stereotipi srpskih intelektualaca XX veka o "nama" i "drugima" [In the Tradition of Nationalism, or Serb intellectuals’ stereotypes about "us" and "them"]’, Ogledi no.1, The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, 2002, reproduced on Radio B92's Pescanik [Hourglass] website from which this translation has been made. The original version has a full scholarly apparatus of bibliographical references, for the most part omitted here.

And the Serbian National(Social)ist wet dream of an "Endlosung to The Albanian Question" yet lives on (unfortunately)!

2008-03-19T10:50:00.008-05:00

I know this is already under "comments" for the post on the American University in Pristine, but I felt it deserved to be featured. For all their whining, lies, half-truths, and read between the lines" BS, THIS is what it ultimately boils down to for the "Haters": That we denied them their "right" to remove from their land legal citizens, without due process, and with "extreme prejudice", as they say....all for being the wrong ethnicity. And a note to all you "Haters", you know who you are, Julia, Svetlana, Melana, Zlatan Vrabac, the folks at 1389Blog, JoeSixPack31, and all the rest of you: Why don't you just come "out with it" (y'know, kinda like Flounder does in Dean Wormer's office in Animal House), and admit that what's said in this "review" is ONLY THE BEGINNING of what is your REAL AND HONEST "ULTIMATE DESIRE" TOWARDS THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE-ALL ALBANIAN PEOPLE, WHERE EVER THEY MAY LIVE ON THIS PLANET. At least you'd be being honest then, instead of trying to mask your intentions with a thin, yet all-too-see-through for those of us with eyes to see, veneer of "civilisedness" that fools only the naive, as well as your respective "choirs".

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From the cultural front of the battle for Kosovo

Author: Ivan Colovic
Uploaded: Friday, 14 March, 2008

Devastating review, by one of Serbia's most distinguished cultural critics, of a heavyweight book on Kosovo just published in Belgrade which laments the historic failure by Serbia, after it annexed the territory in 1912, to adopt a 'final solution' to the problem of its Albanian population

I too agree that the main question is: ‘Why did Serbia lose Kosovo?’ In other words: ‘Why has it been the case for a few days now that this territory remains in Serbia only "forever", rather than in other ways too?’ We have heard, and continue to hear, what politicians, analysts, priests and football fans think about this. Patriotic writers and other artists, sensing probably which way things were going, had made their views on the causes of the loss clear even earlier. We see that collective prayers, political declarations and speeches, slogans on banners and the stones wielded by alleged football fans, largely agree that Kosovo has been granted independence - or as is commonly said ‘stolen’ from Serbia - only because this corresponds to the interests of the United States and other Western powers. And, as always, might is right!

But what do our scholars say about it? Have they a different or at least a more convincing reply to the question of how it happened that Serbia lost Kosovo? Where, if not in scholarly works, should we seek to find sober - or as people say these days tenable - thinking about Kosovo, or for that matter about any important social and political subject? Luckily for us Serbian scholars are hard at work, they are studying Kosovo too, and sometimes they even publish the results of their scholarly endeavours. An extensive scientific study has indeed just been published in Belgrade, not a moment too soon, with the title: Kosovo and Metohija; and this, according to the introduction, should ‘help us to find our way in the chaos of the highly complex and fateful problems of Kosovo and Metohija, and steer us towards practical solutions’. Wonderful! This is what we have been waiting for; this is what we need: new ideas, a new orientation, scientifically based solutions for overcoming chaos.

The scholarly quality of the book Kosovo and Metohija is at first glance quite unexceptionable. The author, Dr Milovan Radovanović, is a noted geographer, an emeritus professor of Belgrade University, former director of the Geographical Institute of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Belgrade, former director of the Geographical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Science, professor at the University of Banja Luka, bearer of the ‘Jovan Cvijić’ medal, honorary member of the Geographical Society of Macedonia, associate of the Serbian-American Centre and of the State Negotiating Team for Kosovo and Metohija.

The book was published by ‘Službeni glasnik’, a leading Serbian publisher, on the basis of a recommendation from two academicians, Vladimir Stojančević and Miloš Macura, with an introduction by Dr Mirko Grčić, professor at the Faculty of Geography in Belgrade, and a brief authorial biography by Dr Milan Bursać, professor of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics at the University of Kosovska Mitrovica. The book contains appendices with extracts from the recommendations, a bibliography of the author’s works, three tables and a dozen maps. This adds up to over 600 large-format pages. Impressive indeed!

The reader will be additionally impressed by the large number of fields that the book covers. Its very subtitle evokes the breadth of the author’s scientific approach to Kosovo: ‘Anthropo-geographical, historico-geographical, demographic and geo-political foundations’. In fact, however, having read the contents and leafed more carefully through the book, the reader will discover that the subtitle might have been considerably longer, and that Dr Radovanović has modestly listed only four scientific disciplines among the far greater number of disciplines, sub-disciplines and scientific research areas whose results and methods he has used in his work on Kosovo. These are listed as follows: geo-strategy, geo-economy, geo-demography, political geography, cultural geography, ethnography, ethno-demography, ethnonymy, ethno-statistics, ethno-psychology, ethno-cartography, onomatology, anthroponomy, demo-politics, historical demography, political history, sociology, etymology, characterology, biometry, eugenics, cultural history, economy... - it is probable that other disciplines or sciences are included which I have missed on a first reading of the book.

Well, then, what conclusion does Dr Radovanović reach on the basis of this rarely seen concentration of multifarious scientific knowledge about the causes of Serbia’s loss of Kosovo? Why the loss, how did it happen? Briefly, Kosovo was lost - this interdisciplinary study reveals - because the Serbians, who in 1912 occupied the territory, allowed the Albanians to remain there instead of removing them altogether, i.e. implementing the so-called ’final solution of the Albanian question’.

This conclusion of Dr Radovanović’s magisterial study may appear at first glance too modest, disproportionate in relation to the grandiose scientific apparatus used to deduce it, and also unoriginal. For, indeed, neither the idea contained in the conclusion nor the term ‘the final solution’ are new. The author himself does not deny this, because for him, undoubtedly, scientific truth is far more important than who may have discovered or formulated it. He does not hide, for example, that he took the idea of the fatefully lost opportunity on the part of the Serbs to get rid of the Kosovo Albanians finally and permanently from Vaso Čubrilović: that -according to Dr Radovanović - ‘superb historian... experienced revolutionary and zealous worker in the field of the revival of brutally crushed Serbdom’. He quotes with approval parts of what we would today call his cult text from 1937, in which Čubrilović accused the government of the day for not having seized the land in good time from the Kosovo Albanians and deported them to Albania, instead conducting a policy towards them based on European civilisational standards, or as Čubrilović said: ‘letting the Albanians become accustomed to Western European notions of private ownership in land’. The Albanians’ primitive civilisation had taught them that everything belongs to the conqueror; but the civilised Serbs, when establishing their government in 1912, had left the Albanians with both life and property, to their great astonishment. So who are we to blame?

In Dr Radovanović’s view, Čubrilović’s analysis remains relevant to this day and provides a valuable guiding idea. ‘His logic, his autopsy, his judgement, the significance and order of the facts he examines, are accurate and confirmed by the evolution of events up to the present day, to such an extent’, he writes, ‘that they represent an exact deterministic (functional) system to which one cannot add or subtract anything, except a demo-statistical component’. The great modesty of the author should not lead us, however, to overlook his own personal contribution to the elaboration and affirmation of ideas about the solution of the Albanian question on sound national foundations, in other words its final solution. Vasa Čubrilović had it easy at the end of the 1930s, when ideas about final solutions to conflicts between races and peoples enjoyed scientific and political prestige among a goodly proportion of European scientific and political thinkers. Today, in the post-Auschwitz world, when it is believed - probably for unscientific reasons - that the price of final solutions is unacceptably high, scientists and patriots who advocate them require very much greater courage. It is fortunate, however, that Dr Radovanović can count on the support of part of our public, and - which is particularly encouraging - on those young people who are ever more openly advocating a revision of humanistic and democratic dogmas - those American fabrications - including the mantra about the equality of all peoples and the universality of human rights: those young people who openly give themselves the beautiful names of Nazis and racists, white power and racial pride. They - or at least the more literate among them - will be delighted to see the author speak of what he calls ‘the renewal of Serbdom in the cradle of Serb statehood and culture’ and refer to a ‘blood’ renewal of Serbdom that differs in kind from ‘demographic’ renewal. For, as the racially and nationally conscious youth will quickly grasp, it is one thing to have a large enough people, quite another for them to have pure blood in their veins.

The importance of this magisterial study perhaps lies not in its coming up with new ideas, but in its restoring the reputation, undermined for unscientific reasons, of good old ideas about races and nations, and their merciless struggle for living space. Sticking bravely to objective scientific methods, refusing to yield to common sense or irrelevant moral considerations, unaffected by political correctness, Dr Radovanović brings us face to face in his study with the essence of the matter: with the naked truth about the eternal struggle of the nation for its living space. It says: Us or Them, and better Us than Them. If it happens, however, that the final solution is applied too late - as happened, to the author’s great sorrow, in Kosovo - then the only thing that remains is an extorted and provisional solution in the form of a division of territory. We are dealing, Dr Radovanović explains, with an ‘acute confrontation between two civilisationally, sociologically, demographically and developmentally incompatible social and national formations in the same space. This is why territorial separation is the only rational solution.’

The reference to ‘incompatible formations’ may appear to some as a reference to Huntington’s celebrated book on the clash of civilisations. Huntington does indeed believe that civilisations clash because they are different; but he does not speak about hierarchical differences between them. Dr Radovanović has in mind precisely such differences between them as are neglected these days for unscientific reasons. The division of Kosovo that he advocates is, in fact, a division between its barbarian and its civilised parts. The motto he chose for one of the book’s chapters reads: ‘Barbarians too, if they increase their numbers sufficiently, may overcome their culturally superior competitors by mass immigration, and appropriate or destroy all their national achievements.’ This is a sentence from a lecture given by a professor of medicine, Milan Jovanović Batut, in 1900. Batut did not mention Kosovo in his lecture, but Dr Radovanović is convinced that his thoughts about barbarians and culturally advanced people refers precisely to the Albanians and the Serbs, or, as he writes, to: ‘the expansion by immigration of a civilisationally inferior population which by violence and numerical superiority ... destroys the original inhabitants and their successors’. And since civilisation has failed to repulse the barbarian invasion over the whole territory of Kosovo, let us help it to withdraw to one corner of the latter, in the hope that it may be able to survive at least there. The whole of the civilised world is bound to see this as being in its own interest too, and the credit for this understanding and solidarity will certainly go to such scientific works as Dr Milovan Radovanović’s Kosovo and Metohija.

Translated from Belgrade Radio B92's Peščanik [Hourglass] programme, 13 March 2008

A couple of articles showing just how racist, elitist, islamo-fascistic, and ignorant those Kosovar Albanians REALLY are!

2008-03-19T07:33:00.004-05:00

An American – university – in Kosovo
Chris Hall is president of a three-year-old college that hopes to instill values of free exchange and civil society.

By Robert Marquand |

Pristina, Kosovo - A few years ago, Chris Hall was a state senator from midcoast Maine. He had quit a job as a steel and mining executive, deciding "never again" to do the weekly commute from Portland to New York. But a defeat in 2004 opened the door for Mr. Hall to become the first president of one of the more unusual colleges in Europe: the American University in Kosovo.

After decades of repression and war, Kosovo's schools were in tatters. A privileged few studied abroad. But AUK, formed three years ago with funds from the Albanian diaspora and the only multiethnic private college here, aspires to help the somewhat battered new state build its next generation of leaders. It's a mission the Oxford-educated Hall deeply believes in.

Kosovo's declaration of independence on Feb. 17 may have brought angry protests from Serbs 30 miles away on the Ibar River, but Hall has a college to run. He sits in on statistics classes, juggles scholarships and budgets, coordinates with Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology, which grants AUK degrees, and hires Fulbright scholars.

He's added a public policy program to what is now a business degree and helped create one of the freest weekly political forums in Pristina, albeit one in English. He wants the small school to breathe the values of civil society and intelligent democratic sentiments.

Just last week, Hall was in Chicago signing a partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology for an AUK master's in law, which will be the only such degree offered in Kosovo.

Most important, Hall and many students say, AUK offers Kosovar youths a school where they encounter Western-style debates, interaction, and educational standards.

Student Tefta Kelmendi first considered going abroad for college, since there were "many other possibilities offered to Kosovar students for study abroad and scholarships," she says. But AUK allowed her to "be part of all these significant changes that are taking place" in Kosovo, so she stayed.

The college opened in 2003 in a crowded house with few facilities. But two years ago, AUK moved to a small complex in a hilly suburb, with lecture halls, information-technology facilities, and a cafeteria-cum-student hangout. Some 34 professors – from the Balkans as well asthe US – staff the school. Enrollment is 450, but Hall and company plan for 600. Last year, the school celebrated its first graduating class, of 57.

Of those, more than 40 now work in Kosovo, a point of pride for Hall and the AUK board, whose members include prominent American Albanians like businessman Richard Lukaj and Ron Cami, a partner of the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Students come mostly from the Albanian diaspora in 11 other countries, including Syria, Nigeria, and Algeria. Four Serbian students attend – and have not left despite Kosovo's declaration of independence.

AUK is "a success story in a part of the world with few success stories at this point," says Louis Sell, a former US diplomat and an AUK board member who helped bring Hall to the school. Mr. Sell feels that after Kosovo's declaration of independence, a school of public service at AUK will make a contribution. The school is seeking $3 million in scholarships as part of a larger Kosovo package now before Congress. Kosovo "is a part of Europe that is nominally Islamic, but overwhelmingly pro-American. The US has been quite cautious in the money it gives. But we hope that is changing," Sell adds.
After Hall lost his senate seat in 2004, he ran into Sell, who lives nearby. Sell knew that Hall, a Briton turned naturalized American, had a longstanding interest in the Balkans. Hall was in one of the first tour groups to enter Albania in 1990 after it had been closed for decades. Sell, with other US diplomats, had worked with the Fund for the Reconstruction of Kosovo, made up of Albanians, to establish a nonprofit college in Pristina with $4 million left over from the monies collected from the diaspora.

Hall, who was going to be in Belgrade, agreed to pop down to Pristina. While the college was "this overstuffed house on a hill," as Hall recalls, he was "deeply impressed" with students. "They don't have the worldliness you find in so many American kids of this generation," he says.

Before 1999, Kosovar students lived in a virtual police state under the Serbs. After NATO intervention, they were going to schools that "suffered every conceivable form of setback. But Hall found "a degree of idealism and passion for learning that I had not expected.... [We] don't have the drugs and crime you would expect, either."

Hall taught public policy courses for two years, then agreed to be president in the summer of 2007. That meant living away from his wife, Jackie Wardell, who heads a staff of 80 at a community bank on the Maine coast that does a small business lending to women and minorities.
"We thought about it long and hard. It took a lot of searching," Hall says, adding that his administration's motto in working out knots and kinks in a highly sensitive locale is "to be diplomats – friends with everybody and allies of nobody."

"Kosovo has a population of incredible talent and energy; I wouldn't be here if I weren't optimistic," he says. Some of his biggest battles in what he calls "management by walking around" is raising faculty expectations of students: "I don't want to hear that we have to go easy because these are poor Kosovars. They have the talent to be every bit as good as RIT students."

Robert McCloud, an IT professor here on a Fulbright from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, describes Kosovo youths as a bright and innovative generation who haven't been exposed to enough differing ways of thinking. But being isolated, he says, "They are much too self-taught." he says. In his graphics classes he tries to get them to expand into different types of software. "Everything is done in Photoshop. They buy the software for $1.50. So finally I tell them, don't show me any more Photoshop!"

For Hall, AUK's success is measured by the help it offers the new state. With a pedigree name (American University) and English fluency requirement, in gritty Pristina the school has a reputation as elite. Only about 20 percent of students are on scholarship, and the tuition is $4,000 a year, hefty by Kosovo standards. Still, an AUK degree is not "a passport out of town," Hall says.

Hall, who deeply loves Maine and its people, says he is giving AUK "three years, about right for this kind of commitment."

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Kosovan Activist Defies Ethnic Hatreds To Rebuild Civic Society

Valdete Idrizi works for healing in ethnically divided city of Mitrovica

International Women of Courage Award winner Valdete Idrizi

By Jane Morse
Staff Writer

Washington -- Optimism and trust are in short supply in Mitrovica, a city in northern Kosovo, where the Ibar River divides ethnic Serbs in the north from ethnic Albanians in the south. Despite the fear, bitterness and anger that continue to divide the two peoples, Valdete Idrizi, herself displaced by the violence that has racked Kosovo, defies ethnic hatreds and insists on reaching out to bridge the divide.

Since 2000, Idrizi has been the executive director of Community Building Mitrovica (CBM), a nongovernmental organization focused on grassroots projects aimed at bringing the inhabitants of Mitrovica and its region -- Albanians, Serbs, Roma, Ashkali, Bosniaks and other minorities -- back together to live in peace and prosperity. CBM programs focus on seven priority areas: youth, women, minorities, interethnic dialogue, culture, media, and the possibility of returning home for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

To date, CBM, with a multiethnic staff, has sponsored more than 200 projects in and around Mitrovica. Most recently, CBM extended its activities in promoting freedom of speech by launching the trilingual M-Magazine.

Most remarkable of all, Idrizi and CBM are respected by all sides, having earned the trust of people living in a region riven with suspicion and mutual mistrust.

An ethnic Albanian, Idrizi was driven from her home north of the Ibar River when the Serbs took over the area in 1999. Brutal riots further divided Mitrovica in March 2004. Idrizi has had to move eight times to ensure her safety and remains unable to visit the graves of her parents or the home she owns in the Serb-held parts of the city.

Despite these hardships, she refuses to dwell on the unhappy past and keeps her spirit focused on the future. Risking beatings, kidnapping and death, Idrizi continues to extend the hand of friendship, including counseling hope to Serbian women and IDPs who have suffered violence and dislocation as she has.

On March 10, Idrizi’s efforts were recognized by the United States when she was presented with the International Women of Courage Award at the State Department. In its second year, the award is the result of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s desire to recognize women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in promoting women’s rights and advancement.

Other 2008 awardees are female activists from Somalia, Fiji, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, Paraguay, Iraq and Afghanistan, who were selected from 93 nominees submitted by U.S. embassies around the world.

Christopher Hitchens on Kosova independence

2008-03-19T07:21:00.002-05:00

Christopher Hitchens. That name is rarely mentioned without stirring up at least some kind of emotion (or usually emotions, more like). Love him or hate him, you've got to admit though, he's never at a loss for words, and never boring. Personally, I disagree strongly with him on his views on Mother Theresa and faith in God, but agree with him on Iraq and, not surprisingly, Kosova. Here's an op-ed piece (the link is for where I got the copy from-original source link is at the end of it) he did shortly after the Kosova declaration of independence wherein he, as our little "buddy" La Julia likes to put it, "nails it". Enjoy!

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The Serbs' self-inflicted wounds

Author: Christopher Hitchens
Uploaded: Tuesday, 26 February, 2008

This comment from 'Slate' argues that 'with Kosovo independent, Yugoslavia is finally dead' - and Serbia killed it

Someone with a good memory of the conversation once told me how Lord Carrington, then one of the ‘mediators’ of the incipient post-Yugoslavia war, came to the conclusion that Slobodan Milosevic was a highly dangerous man. Well-disposed toward Serbia (as the British establishment has always been), Carrington told the late dictator that he understood Serb concerns about significant Serbian minorities in Bosnia and Croatia. But why did Milosevic also insist on exclusive control over Kosovo, where the Albanian population was approximately 90 percent? ‘That,’ replied Milosevic coldly, ‘is for historical reasons.’ It's a shame, in retrospect, that it took us so long to diagnose the pathology of Serbia's combination of arrogance and self-pity, in which what is theirs is theirs and what is anybody else's is negotiable.

We used to read this same atavistic proclamation by the hellish light of burning Sarajevo, and now we glimpse it again through the flames of the blazing U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, and by the glare of similar but less dramatic arsons set by Serbs in ski masks in northern Kosovo itself. But it needs to be understood that ‘Serbia’ itself has lost nothing and has nothing to complain about. With the independence of Kosovo, the Yugoslav idea is finally and completely dead, but it was Serbian irredentism that killed the last vestige of that idea, and it is to that account that the whole cost ought to be charged.

Forget all the nonsense that you may have heard about Kosovo being ‘the Jerusalem’ of Serbia. It may contain some beautiful and ancient Serbian and Serbian Orthodox cultural sites, but it is much more like Serbia's West Bank or Gaza, with a sweltering, penned-up, subject population who were for generations treated as if they were human refuse in the land of their own birth. Nobody who has spent any time in the territory, as I did during and after the eviction of the Serb militias, can believe for a single second that any Kosovar would ever again submit to rule from Belgrade. It's over.

But how did it begin? In fact, Kosovo has never been recognized internationally as part of Serbia. It was only ever recognized as part of Yugoslavia, and with the liquidation of that state Serbian claims upon its territory became null and void. A little history here is necessary.

During the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, the then-distinct kingdom of Serbia, with some regional allies, did manage to invade and annex a formerly Ottoman territory that had been the scene of a Serbian military defeat in—wait for it—1389. (In that year, England was laying emotional claims to large and beautiful areas of France.) Serbian monarchist and nationalist propaganda hailed the ‘liberation’ of the ancestral land, but the shrewdest foreign correspondent of the day took a different line: ‘Do not the facts, undeniable and irrefutable, force you to come to the conclusion that the Bulgars in Macedonia, the Serbs in old Serbia, in their national endeavor to correct data in the ethnological statistics that are not quite favorable to them, are engaged quite simply in systematic extermination of the Muslim population in the villages, towns and districts?’

Leon Trotsky, writing this in January 1913 as an open letter in the (Menshevik) paper Luch (‘The Ray’) was addressing the ‘liberal’ Russian chauvinist politician Pavel Miliukov. So, as you can see, the arrogant Russian support for Orthodox Christian ethnic cleansing in the Balkans is not a new problem. (Under Russian President Vladimir Putin's pious rule, though, our own timorous press prefers not to call attention to the way in which Russian political thuggery is increasingly backed by an Orthodox religious hierarchy.)

The same Balkan war—as Trotsky had predicted—went on to draw in the whole of Europe and indeed the rest of the world, and by the time it ended, the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires had imploded entirely and there was to be a new state, Yugoslavia, where they had once jostled at the borders. You might argue that Kosovo was now part of Serbia by ‘right’ of conquest (in other words, de facto), but in fact, not even Serbia had adjusted its own laws to make it a legal province de jure, and this was in any case moot because all future treaties and agreements were signed between Yugoslavia and the no-less-new state concept calling itself republican Turkey. Legal instruments agreed between these two entities recognized Belgrade's sovereignty over Kosovo, but solely in the sense that they recognized Belgrade as the capital of Yugoslavia. (For a more extended discussion of this essential constitutional point, see Noel Malcolm's Kosovo: A Short History.) Thus, and if we exempt some decisions made by Stalinist bureaucrats after the re-creation of Yugoslavia in 1945, Kosovo has never been treated or recognized as Serb territory within Yugoslavia and never at all by international treaties outside that former state. Even those hasty Stalinist decisions were later undone by Tito, who granted Kosovo a large measure of autonomy in 1974. It is very important to remember that Slobodan Milosevic launched his own petty and violent career, as the head of a Serb-Montenegrin crime family, precisely by canceling Kosovo's pre-existing autonomy in 1990, remaking himself as a nationalist demagogue instead of a Communist one, and bringing in the roof of the Yugoslav federation.

You will by now have read dark remarks made by partisans of the Russian and Serb Orthodox viewpoint, to the effect that if one ‘secession’ is allowed, then what is to prevent every Gypsy or Chechen or Ossetian from proclaiming their own statelet? You should, first, ask if the Bosnian Serbs ought not to have thought of this first and been better advised by the ‘realist’ or Kissinger school that now weeps such hypocritical tears. You should, second, ask if you know of any case comparable to the Kosovo one, where a national minority was so long imprisoned within an artificial state.

Of course, one ought to acknowledge that this is a calamity for the Serbs and indeed an injustice in the sense of an insult to their pride and history. But the injustice was self-inflicted. I remember seeing, in Kosovo, the ‘settlements’ for Serbs that the Milosevic regime was building in a vain effort to alter the demography. And who were the bedraggled ‘settlers’? The luckless Serbian civilians who had been living in the Krajina area of Croatia until their fearless leader's war of conquest for ‘Greater Serbia’ had brought general disaster and seen them finally evicted from farms and homesteads they had garrisoned for centuries. Promised new land on colonized Albanian territory, they had been uprooted and evicted once again. Where are they now, I wonder? Perhaps stupidly stoning the McDonald's in Belgrade, and vowing fervently never to forget the lost glories of 1389, and maybe occasionally wondering where they made their original mistake.

Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair and the author of God Is Not Great: how religion poisons everything. This comment appeared on Slate, 22 February 2008: http://www.slate.com/id/2184997/

ROTFLMAO.....This says it ALL!

2008-02-24T15:51:00.002-06:00

Normally, I try not to go in too much for crudity on this blog, preferring as much as possible to take (or at least so I think) the "high road". But there are times when something comes along....well, crude it may be, but I laughed my ass off at it. The double entendre is perfect!

More examples of "civilised, western, Christian" behavior from the supposed sole defenders of it in the Balkans....

2008-02-24T14:26:00.002-06:00

Violence erupts at Kosovo protest in Vienna

VIENNA (Reuters) - Four people were arrested and two policemen were injured on Sunday when a protest in the Austrian capital against the secession of Kosovo turned violent, police said.

The protest began when some 6,000 demonstrators gathered on Vienna's historic Heldenplatz in the city centre, police said. Local media showed protesters waving Serbian flags, chanting "Serbia, Serbia" and burning a U.S. flag. Organisers put the turnout at 10,000.

About 600 people then split off from the main protest and began marching towards the U.S. embassy. Violence broke out when they realised the area was sealed of by police and they vented their anger at nearby restaurants and shops, Vienna police spokesman Manfred Simettinger said.

"They threw bottles, stones and cans, and smashed a number of shop and restaurant windows," Simettinger told Reuters. "Police had to use pepper spray on some occasions."

Protesters also burnt and urinated on an Albanian flag, a Reuters witness said.

Kosovo, mainly populated by ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia a week ago.

Austrian authorities estimate that some 300,000 people of Serbian descent live in Austria, which has a total population of around 8 million.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Caroline Drees)

Wonder if the sight of this scene at the top will make our National(Social)ist friends scream "POLICE BRUTALITY" on top of everything else....?

Countries recognising or about to recognise Kosovar independence

2008-02-24T10:17:00.003-06:00

Thanx and a hat tip to http://www.kosovothanksyou.com

(given that I have no idea how regular my bloggings will be in the near future, I suggest that you bookmark that site if you're interested in keeping up on the latest developments....)

STATES THAT HAVE RECOGNISED KOSOVA INDEPENDENCE:

Costa Rica (actually announced their recognition BEFORE the Kosova parliament made it's independence vote!)

United States of America

France

Afghanistan

Albania

Turkey

United Kingdom

Australia

Senegal

Malaysia

Germany

Latvia

Denmark

Estonia

Italy

Luxembourg

Peru

RECOGNISED BUT YET TO BE FORMALISED:

Belguim

Finland

Lithuania

Austria

Norway

COUNTRIES THAT HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WILL RECOGNISE INDEPENDENT KOSOVA:

Bulgaria

Canada

Cote d'Ivoire

Croatia

Czech Republic

Fiji

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Israel

Japan

Kuwait

Macedonia

Malta

Mauritania

Monaco

Montenegro

Netherlands

Pakistan

Poland

Portugal

Saudi Arabia

Slovenia

Sweden

Switzerland

Tonga

Tunisia

Tuvalu

WOW, folks! That makes 56 countries-nearly 1/3rd of all the member nations of the U.N.! Let's keep going with that! While I know there's no way 100% of all the U.N. nations will ever recognise her, let's get it so the vast majority of them do! Let's give all those rootin', tootin', three-finger salutin' Chetnik wanna-bes tearing things up in Belgrade something to REALLY cry about-the fact that the WHOLE WORLD knows that the Kosovar Albanians were in the RIGHT, and Slobo, Voij-Slob, Tom-Ass-Slob, and all the other slobs just like them were in the WRONG!

"I'll see your watch, and raise you some shoes, a couple of fur coats, and....

2008-02-23T11:53:00.003-06:00

Remember the video that made the rounds after Bush's visit to Albania this past summer? The one that purports to show just how brazen and utterly scummy Albanians "really" are because it appears like one of them in a crowd he was shaking hands with pulled his watch off his wrist? Well, in the case of those oh-so "Godly, Christian" Serbs, there's no room for debate or doubt as to whether they "did it" or not. Nope, it's there for all to see, up close and personal. All the burning, the trashing, the rock, stone, and molotov throwing (of course, when it comes to Serbian National(Social)ism, I've always said that the adherents of that ideology have "more balls than brains"). Just like a little kid who's parents took away it's favorite toy, and so to "get even" (and bizarrly enough, attempt to get some sympathy as well), they trash all the rest of their toys as well. "I'LL SHOW YOU!!" Yep, you sure did....and still are, folks.

And no "spins" about it, these two pretty young "patriots for the fatherland" decided it was their duty as well to "stick it to the man" as a show of defiance against all the "serbophobe nazi-fascists of the world", live and in color. (And I'm sure the fact that they were getting some bitchin' shoes and coats to boot had nothing to do with it, right? Riiiiiggggghhhhtttttt....)

Yet more catching up....

2008-02-23T11:30:00.002-06:00

Tungjatjeta (hi) everyone!

Well, as I predicted, and as has indeed happened, the "family matter" I've had to attend to in my life has done a pretty good job of keeping me from posting here, and likely will continue to for several months to come. Good enough of a job that I haven't even had the chance to make a congratulatory post on the declaration of independence of Kosova until now. (Where was I on the 18th of February? In the central part of Wisconsin, snowed in, without even an internet connection! *sob* But you can be damn sure I was watching CNN, FOX, and CNBC/MSNBC like a freakin' SKIFTER, all day! lol) I have some blog comments in the hopper waiting to be published (and responded to), and some e-mails from readers of the blog too....rest assured, I will get to them in the near future.

For right now, though, I plan on first doing some posts regarding independence and the struggles (and there will be struggles, as there are for new countries even under the best of circumstances) of the new Kosova state in the days, weeks, and months to come, as well as helping to make sure that the world sees in just what sort of "Christian, civilised" manner their former would-be "masters" are taking it.

One thing I want to say though is this: Just as I predicted, the "Haters" are unleashing a veritable shitstorm of oprobrium, calumny, and "inat" against the Albanian community, including the Albanian diaspora (and yes, Julia, I'm talking about you, sweetiepants), in a hopeful (but vain, if I and those like me have any say) attempt to turn public opinion against Kosova and Kosovars, Albania proper, and in general Albanians everywhere, including patriotic, America-loving Albanian-Americans. Add to that the fact that a lot of the "Haters" are self-labled "Conservatives" of different sorts, and most of them are pissed as hell at the thought that John McCain (a staunch supporter of Kosova independence, BTW) will be their party's standard-bearer come this November, well....that is just adding fuel to their determination.

But I will be here, and I will continue best as I can (though not nearly as much as I'd like to be able to) to "fight the good fight" against their lies, slander, and propaganda, all of which I believe has but one purpose: To foster ultimately the eradication, culturally if not physically, of the Albanian people from planet earth!

RROFË KOSOVA E PAMVARUAR! VIVA KOSOVA INDEPENDENTE! LONG LIVE INDEPENDENT KOSOVA!

2008-02-23T11:24:00.002-06:00

Letter to a Serbian Friend

2008-01-02T18:36:00.000-06:00

Even though during the Kosova crisis in 1999, and during the Milosevic-sponsored apartheid and aggression against Kosovar Albanians in the 10 years before that, most members of the Jewish community came out in support of the Albanians, persecuted primarily because they were of the "wrong" ethnicity, language, and culture, there were always at least a few, like Jared Israel, Julia Gorin, and Don Feder, who even back then bought into the concept of a supposed (and never explained, at least not to my knowledge) "Jewish/Serbian affinity", and perpetuated the Red Queen (as in Alice in Wonderland, not Mira Markovic, Slobo's wife)-like logic put forth by the apologists for the Milosevics and Sesljs, the Arkans and Simatovics, that stated that it was the Albanians who were the real oppressors and terror-makers, and the Serbs who were the oppressed and terrorised. Sadly, the number of people in the Jewish community who have bought into both the illogical "Jewish/Serbian affinity" proposition, and the backwards notion that it is the Albanians who are the oppressors of all that is good and decent, Christian and Westerly in the Balkans, has managed to grow in the last 10 years, thanks to the above mentioned folks (and others), and it is their voices that (despite their claims to the contrary) are the most often and most loudly heard these days from that same community.

There are exceptions to this, thank heavens, and the letter reproduced below is one of them. While I'm not sure what "historical links" exactly between Serbs and Jews Prof. Avineri (the writer of the letter) has in mind, the vast majority of what he has to say is an intelligent, open-minded, and above all else, realistic assessment of the Kosova situation, of Serbia's own situation, and what the best solutions for all involved likely are and will be. We need more voices like Prof. Avineri's coming out of the Jewish community to stand up for what's right and best for all involved, and further more, to do so without resorting to polemic or emotionalism. but to base what they have to say on reason, logic, and facts.

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Letter to a Serbian friend

SHLOMO AVINERI , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 2, 2008

Dear A - I am writing this because some of my best friends are Serbs, and because of the historical links between Serbs and Jews. Some of my best friends are also Kosovar Albanians, and as Jews, who have been stateless for such a long time, many of us understand and support their quest for self-determination and independence.

This is a crucial time for Serbia, and it appears that because of a fixation on the past - revered and sacred as it may be - Serbia may be forfeiting its chance of future association with the European Union, to which by history and culture your country certainly belongs.

Let us first start with the incontrovertible facts of the present: 90% of the population of Kosovo is ethnic Albanian, and they will never willingly revert to Serbian rule, which after the annexation of Kosovo to Serbia in 1913 has been to them a continuous history of exclusion, discrimination and eventual ethnic cleansing. Nor will the democratic West accept a return of Serbian rule.

Does it mean that the Kosovar Albanians are blameless? Of course not. In ethnic conflict no side is totally right or totally wrong.

I know you view Kosovo as your Jerusalem, and this argument falls on willing ears in Israel and among Jews generally.

But if the population of Jerusalem would have been 90% Arab, the Israeli claim to it would certainly be very tenuous.

I know you have deep historical associations with Kosovo, which since the emergence of Serbian nationalism in the 19th century has been christened "the cradle of Serbian civilization."

Yet one cannot draw 21st century borders according to historical links which overlook the wishes of the present population. The question is not territory, but people. It is for this reason that most Israelis today are willing to give up claims to the historical regions of Judea and Samaria, even willing to consider Palestinian rule over parts of Jerusalem. History clashes with reality: this may be unfortunate, but one has to confront it.

I KNOW you claim that for centuries Serbia has been a bulwark of Christian Europe against Islam. I leave aside the unpleasant "clash of civilizations," if not racist overtones, of this claim. But - let's again be realistic: after all, you lost the battle of Kosovo in 1389 to the Ottomans, so you were not that successful in defending Europe against Islam (whatever this may mean).

You offer the Kosovo Albanians autonomy, not independence. Put yourself in their shoes. Was "autonomy" under Turkish rule in the 19th century sufficient for the Serbs? What's the difference?

I know all this may be very painful to you; and with some justification you may ask me: How can you call yourself a friend of the Serbs after saying all these things?

For a simple reason: I would like to see Serbia join Europe, just a Slovenia did and Croatia may in the future. Do not exclude yourself because of historical memories, do not be your own worst enemy. Do what modern nations - the French and the Germans, for example - have done after centuries of warfare: emancipate yourself from the shackles of the past, cut you loses (yes, modern nations have to do this too) and shape your future according to the values of self-determination and mutual acceptance.

And those Serbs, who would like to visit the monasteries and other historical sites in Kosovo, could do this - as today ethnic Germans visit their ancestral sites in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, without laying claims to these regions because of their centuries-old associations with them.

Serbia is a proud nation. It has a bright future ahead of it. Don't let the past steal it away from you.

The writer is professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the author of a recently published intellectual biography of Theodor Herzl.

A little off topic, but....

2007-12-28T11:16:00.000-06:00

Normally, you'll probably notice that I stick pretty stringently to the subject of defending the Albanian people against the scurrilous lies being perpetrated out there by the "Haters", and exposing the hypocrisy of the selfsame "Haters" as well. Heck, I've even been sent articles about Serbian atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia and have opted not to print them, not because I don't think they're any good, or that they're not true, but simply because I choose to stick to the above mentioned parameters, instead of wandering off far afield. However, this time I'm making an exception, to show just how guided by emotion (to say nothing of personal hypocrisy) and not by reason most of the "Haters" are in ALL things, not just those pertaining to the Albanian people.

In a couple of recent blog entries, our ol' buddy La Julia rants over Wal-Mart allegedly "dissing" (her exact term) Jesus. How did they do this? By allowing some sacrilegious book or movie to be carried in their stores? By carrying some Death Metal group's album that has Anti-Jesus lyrics or something like that? Noppers! She had her undies in a bunch because-TA DA!-what turned out to be ONE Wal-Mart store (not the whole chain, as she originally assumed) started taking down their Christmas decorations a couple of days before Christmas, and putting up Valentine's Day ones.

Now unlike La Julia, I'm not a big Wal-Mart person. I don't like the crowds (then again, I'm not usually crazy about crowds anyway), and I also don't like the way the company has IMO betrayed founder Sam Walton's original vision, including his dedication to featuring products made in the USA (remember those old 80's ad campaigns?), not outsourced to companies in foreign countries. But I do find myself going there from time to time, including at Christmas time. Being a fairly observant guy when it comes to my surroundings, I have to say that I have noticed what have come to be considered "Christmas" decorations (things like holly, Santa Claus, wreaths, tinsel, colored lights, reindeer-pictures of them, not the real thing-etc.), not because they have anything to do with Jesus and his birth per se, but because they have been "adopted" into the celebration over the centuries by way of several different twists and turns in the culture. They have nothing to do with Jesus (unless you count Santa, and then only by way of his origins), to say nothing of his birth But I can't honestly say I've ever seen any Creches, pictures of the Baby Jesus (or of Mary and Joseph, for that matter), Wise Men, Shepherds, Stars over silhouettes of Bethlehem, or other decorations regarding Christmas as a specifically Christian holiday in a Wal-Mart, or at least not in the Wal-Mart I go to.

So at this point I have to ask, "why the rage"? The decorations taken down may have been "seasonal", but I strongly doubt they had anything to do with the birth of The Christ. So how's that "dissing" Jesus? Where's the "reason" in this? Seems to be more spleen than sagacity to our favorite little Albanophobe's protestations. Well, according to La Julia, what it's really about is "commercialisation". Sayeth she:

"One thing I can’t stand about the commercialization of Christmas is that everyone just uses God for their own seasonal enjoyment or business."

Well, if that's the case, then I'd think she'd actually be happy if Wal-Mart, or our whole culture/society, for that matter, did not put up "Christmas" decorations in commercial establishments, or promote the hell out of "Christmas Sales", or even have such a thing as a "Black Friday" (shows how much people in retail must love their jobs, if they refer to the day they get the most business by that moniker)! But evidently she is oblivious to the contradiction of bitching about the taking down of decorations that are all a part of the commercialisation of something she feels should be held as sacrosanct, and not commercialised at all. She then goes on to say:

"Doesn’t the Bible say something about how when you start placing the dollar above God and meaning, you get in trouble?”

Um, that would be found in Matthew 6:24, Julia: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon". But anyway, welcome to the "real world" of American style Capitalism, Julie baby. In case you haven't noticed, America has been commericalising the heck out of Christmas for well over a century now. See, that's the thing about Capitalism-it may be the best system in the world (and I speak as someone who is very definitely pro-free-enterprise and pro-free-market), but it's also a product of human minds, and hence subject to the imperfections of those minds (and hearts). You want merchants and people in general to respect Christmas? So do I and many others. But you can't have it both ways-either putting up decorations in commercial establishments is respectful of a religion or it's holiday(s) (or at least can be if done right), or it is not. (IMO it can be, if it is tasteful and respectful-but few store Christmas decoration schemes are.) Simple as that. You can't say first:

“One thing I can’t stand about the commercialization of Christmas is that everyone just uses God for their own seasonal enjoyment or business."

and then go on to later say:

"But really, Wal-Mart — to not even keep the decorations up long enough for the man’s birthday, the occasion you just made a huge profit off of, is reprehensible."

As a certain Robot from a certain 60's Sci-Fi show would say "That does not compute!" But then the topper comes here....

“I never even read the Bible, but I know that’s in there. This is just using religion, and it’s disrespectful.”

Interesting. Someone who supports devout religiosity in others (so long as the religion in question is Christianity or Judaism), and complains about the co-option by their beloved socio-economic system of religious holidays admits they never crack a bible. Someone who is unabashedly "pro-capitalist", yet complains about one of the things that is at the very core of the free-enterprise system (or at least in those countries that have their roots in English colonisation). But then again, this is someone who, for example, is also pro-life, calls women who use birth control "whores", yet admits herself that she doesn't particularly like kids, or evidently intend on having any, either. To use another quote from the Bible: "Physician, heal thyself!"

GËZUAR KRISHTLINDJEN!

2007-12-25T01:06:00.000-06:00

I'd like to take a moment to wish all those who celebrate it a very Merry Christmas! Also , I'd like to briefly explain why I haven't posted anything here in almost a month. No, I haven't given up on the blog; nor have I run out of rebuttals to the "Haters" propaganda and lies. The reason, simply put, is because I have been busy dealing with a family matter (I will not go into it here-if you are a friend of the blog, feel free to write and ask me, and I will tell you), one which I anticipate I will be dealing with for some months to come. Therefore, it's entirely possible that my contributions here will be sparse for some time to come (barring that I find some more contributors to help out, of course). But I am by no means giving up the blog! So bear with me as I take care of this matter, and I will eventually be back to doing my bit in the war against the "Haters"-and that's a promise!

GËZUAR DITËN E FLAMURIT!

2007-11-28T12:48:00.000-06:00

95-të vjetori i pavarësisë së Shqipërisë-RROFTË SHQIPRIA PËRGJITHMONË!

An Albanian analysis of the Serbian campagin against the Kosovar Albanians

2007-11-23T14:02:00.000-06:00

Though some parts of this memorandum by the Association of Philosophers and Sociologists of Kosova have, with the passage of time, become outdated (it was originally published in December 1991), it is still worthwhile reading that debunks the notion the "Haters" love to engender that even after Kosovar autonomy was revoked, the Albanian people of Kosova were treated by Belgrade like "kings and queens".

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1. The Campaign to Destroy Kosova's Autonomy.

Many observers today agree that the present Yugoslav crisis has historical roots in structural defects of Yugoslavia, which determined the country's permanent instability. So it is no accident that this crisis should have manifested itself soon after Marshal Tito's death. Very soon it was realized that his charisma, more precisely his uncontested authority, had been a key element holding the balance in the delicate federation of Yugoslavia. For Serbia almost at once began to seek a redefinition of the federation, with the aim of either acquiring' complete hegemony in Yugoslavia or creating a Greater Serbia.

Serbia opened its campaign with Kosova, calling its long-established autonomy into question. Unfortunately the other Yugoslav republics, faced with Serbia's aggressive insistence, agreed to its demands for a reduction of Kosova's autonomy (naturally, until a later stage Serbia hid the fact that its real goal was a complete abolition of that autonomy), in the hope that sacrificing Kosova would satisfy Serbian appetites. The Albanians thus remained alone in their struggle to defend their autonomy, and Serbia received the go-ahead to use the authority, instruments and military and police potential, of the Federation itself in subduing Kosova. The Albanians offered a great deal of determined resistance against the Serbian campaign to destroy Kosova's autonomy, but in the constellation of forces/interests in the Yugoslav federation everything was against them.

In 1988, after an eight year systematic campaign of repression, Serbia was trying to finalize the project of abolishing Kosova's autonomy. In the public discussion regarding the proposed constitutional changes, organized in October of that year (albeit in an atmosphere of unprecedented propagandistic and psychological terror and enforced police repression), Albanians declared themselves in a plebiscitary manner against the changes

and for preservation of the autonomy that had been guaranteed by the constitution of 1974. Since in its final proposal for constitutional changes Serbia completely disregarded the will of the Albanian people, in November 1988 for ton successive days they marched from all the cities and villages of Kosova towards the capital Prishtina, where they peacefully demonstrated against the Serbian proposal to strip them of their autonomy. 800,000 Albanians took part, which is more than half the adult population of Albanians in Kosova. After this, Serbia deposed the leadership of Kosova headed by Azem Vllasi - which disagreed with its aims - and installed Rahman Morina, the Kosova police chief, as head of a new regional leadership. In protest against this act, some 4,000 miners from Trep�a on 20.2.1989 looked themselves deep in the mines and started a hunger strike. Nine days later Morina handed in an irrevocable written resignation - only to withdraw it as soon as the miners came out of the mine.

While preparing for the meeting of the Kosova assembly at which the voting charade was to take place, Serbian police questioned all the Albanian deputies (even including some who at the time were in hospital), threatening persecution of their families and their own liquidation if they did not vote for the changes demanded by Serbia. Nevertheless, on 23.3.1989 - the day this meeting took place - in order to make more certain the organizers filled all the empty seats in the Kosova assembly with civilian police and local functionaries of the Communist League: there is photographic evidence proving that these persons took part in the voting. On 28.3.1989, the day the assembly of Serbia was due to vote on these changes, in many cities of Kosova Albanians rose to demonstrate in protest. I In order to disperse these peaceful demonstrations, Serbian police used firearms and killed at least 23 persons.

In 1990, however, the new Kosovo assembly initiated a discussion aimed at annulling the imposed amendments. But Serb deputies in the assembly tried all kinds of procedural obstruction, and the police on several occasions prevented the entry of delegates, into the assembly building. This went on until June, when the Serbian parliament adopted a law that - in clear breach of the Yugoslav constitution - gave it the right to dissolve Kosova state organs. Now running against time, the Albanian delegates on 2.7.1990 in front of the assembly building adopted a Constitutional Declaration declaring Kosova equal to other Yugoslav federal units in any future federal or confederate arrangement. On 5 July 1990 Serbia took the decision to dissolve the assembly and government of Kosova; following this, the Serbian police dissolved all the organs of local authority in Kosova. On 7 September 1990 the Kosova assembly, meeting at Kacanik, adopted a new constitution under which Kosova proclaimed itself an equal republic within the future federation or confederation of Yugoslavia.

2. Consequences of the Abolition of Kosova's Autonomy

a) Police disbanded. 3,500 Albanian policemen were sacked.

b) Courts abolished. In seven cities, municipal courts were either closed down or abolished, while other courts were placed under 'imposed rule' from Serbia. 210 Albanian judges and public prosecutors were sacked. By decision of the Serbian authorities, the Higher Court of Kosova, the Constitutional Court of Kosova, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Kosova and the Court of Associated Labor of Kosova are to be abolished from 1.1.1992.

c) Economy destroyed. Almost all enterprises (380 up to now) have been placed under 'imposed rule'. Serbs have replaced all Albanian managers and higher personnel. Over 85,000 Albanian workers - around 70% of all Albanians employed in the social sector - have been sacked, either for participating in the one-day general strike of 3.9.1990 or because they would not sign a declaration supporting the introduction of 'imposed rule' (loyalty oath) and Serbian control over Kosova. If one bears in mind that an Albanian family on average has six members, this means that over 500,000 people have been left without means of existence: at the moment they are surviving only thanks to an impressive national solidarity. In addition, the Serbian police have started throwing these workers out of council flats. In general, economic activity has been practically paralyzed This year not a single industrial or public building has been built, &part from a few police barracks. The entire system of payments has broken down. Serbian sources themselves admit that economic activity this year in comparison with last year which was already very bad, is down by around 40%. The banking system has been destroyed: Kosova banks have been closed down and their assets taken over by Serbian banks (Albanian citizens cannot draw their money out).

Industrial plant has also been dismantled and taken away ('Kluz' in Glogovc; a factory manufacturing car components in Peje; a factory making suspension systems in Prishtina; etc). The Serbian authorities have, in addition, closed down 3,064 private Albanian businesses for one year, on the grounds that their owners solidarized with the general strike of 3.9.90. Taxes on private Albanian enterprise have risen by 600%.

d) The closing down of schools in the Albanian language Last year the Serbian authorities ordered Albanian schools to stop working according to the existing Kosova curriculum and change over to the new Serbian one. In the latter, Albanian history and literature are replaced by anti-Albanian and chauvinistic propaganda. During the campaign aimed to impose this new curriculum, rejected by Albanian teachers and pupils alike, the Serbian authorities at the start of the 1990-91 academic year closed down 11 primary and 4 secondary schools. From 1.1.1991, the salaries of 3,574 primary-school teachers and 6,000 secondary-school teachers were stopped. From 1.3-1991, the same

happened with the remaining 14,265 primary-school teachers. A few days before the start of this academic year (1991-92), the Serbian authorities decided to sack also the remaining 8,000 secondary-school teachers. 620 Kosova university teachers have also been sacked, and Albanian-language education completely ended. Primary schools have not opened. When teachers and pupils in some schools tried to open their classrooms, the Serbian police came in to prevent them. The police habitually use truncheons, tear gas, firearms and armored personnel carriers to disperse pupils and teachers, students and lecturers.

e) The destruction --of Albanian- 1anguage media On July 5, 1990 a Serbian special police unit suddenly attacked and occupied the Prishtina Radio and Television Center. Outside management was imposed. 1,300 Albanian journalists and other staff were sacked. The same happened to all local radio stations in Kosova. As a result in Kosova, where Albanians form 90% of the population, there is no Albanian-language television or radio. On 8.6.1991 the Serbian authorities banned Rilindja the only Albanian language daily in Yugoslavia. Also banned was the student journal Bota e Re where the police broke into and destroyed the premises, including the archives. Up to now 150 Albanian journalists have been prosecuted and sentenced, with prison sentences of up to 14 years (Hidajet Hyseni). Jusuf Gervalla, a journalist working for Rilindja, was killed in Germany by the Serbian secret police.

f) Destruction of the health institutions .All hospitals and clinics in Kosova have been placed under imposed administration. 1,500

Albanian doctors and medical staff have been sacked. The Serbian police used violence to throw out Albanian doctors, sometimes directly from the operating theatres. Sacked Albanian workers and their families (i.e. over 500,000 people) have no right to medical care. As a result, the level of health care of Kosova inhabitants, already the lowest in Yugoslavia and Europe, has fallen drastically. In the Gynecological Clinic of the Medical Faculty of Prishtina, for example, more than one-third of all births in Kosova would normally have taken place. However, all Albanian doctors and mid-wives have now been expelled and as a result, whereas in 1989 the Clinic had 11,652 births (93% by Albanian mothers), between 1.1. and 30.4.1991 there were only 823 births (less than 13% by Albanian mothers). Moreover, TB, previously on the decline, is now rising sharply again.

g) Occupation and blockade of cultural institutions. The Kosova National Theatre, the National and University Library of Kosova, the Institute of Historical Studies of Kosova, the Kosova Archives, etc. have all been occupied by the Serbian police. The police has forcibly expelled Albanian directors and most of the staff, introducing instead an imposed outside administration. Archival treasures of priceless value - key documents relating to Albanian history and Albanian-Serb relations - have been removed from the Kosova Archives, while in the National Library a major proportion of Albanian-language books have been destroyed on the grounds that they were enemy propaganda. Local libraries in the Albanian language are also being closed down (e.g. 12 such libraries in the commune of Podujeva). On 16.10.1991 the Serbian assembly passed a law closing down the Kosova Academy of Arts and Sciences.

h) Postal Services These have been placed under 'imposed rule' and practically all their Albanian workers sacked. In Albanian villages, local post offices have been closed down.

i) Red Cross. The Kosova Red Cross too has been placed under 'imposed rule'. Its Albanian staff has been sacked, while funds and aid collected beforehand, including food and medicine, have been confiscated.

j) Sport - 'Imposed rule' has been introduced also into sports 0 clubs and premises. The Albanian staff has largely been dismissed. Sports competitions have been stopped.

k) Usurpation of funds The Serbian authorities have usurped all Kosova funds for culture, education, health, sport, etc. They have stopped financing all Albanian institutions (the Albanian Studies Institute, the Academy, schools, journals, sports clubs, etc). By docking the pay of Albanian teachers alone, the Serbian government has usurped DM 122 million. This money is used to finance the police.

3. Forms of Repression

The repression conducted against the Albanian population in Kosova is total: it affects all aspects of life and all categories of the Albanian population. Between March 1981 and October 1989, 564,373 Albanians passed through police hands according to official figures. Since then the intensity of repression has grown vertiginously, to reach the figure of 740,000 individuals - at a time when the entire electorate amounts to just 1,051,000 persons. Here are some of the forms of repression:

a) Media terror Since 1981, the Serbian media have been conducted an intense anti-Albanian campaign, abusing Albanian history, culture and language. There has been a white terror against Albanian intellectuals and officials. Albanians are presented as a primitive people with destructive non civilized drives. We are dealing, in other words, with racist propaganda which aims to justify the violence conducted against the Albanians.

b) 'Ideological differentiation' This is a euphemism for Stalinist anathematization of people (counter-revolutionaries, iredentists, etc). The person who is anathematized - and as often as not his family too - lose all civil rights (the right to work, publish, etc). Between 1981 and 1989 this form of terror affected 700 primary and secondary school teachers and 18 university professors, while 2,000 students and over 1,400 pupils lost the right to education.

c) 'Isolation'. Euphemism for police kidnapping and imprisonment of people In March 1989 the Serbian police took away 245 Albanian intellectuals and officials without filing any charge against them. They were kept in prison for several months and badly beaten. The beatings were supervised by prison doctors, who decided on the number of blows. The families of the 'isolated' were kept in ignorance for weeks.

d) Political trials. These were organized continually after 1981, usually several of them at the same time. Up to 1989, 75,000 Albanians were prosecuted for political offences, 30,000 received sentences of up to 60 days in prison and more than 2,000 sentences of up to 20 years under 'strict regime'. Such trials were organized also in the Army, where 1,100 Albanians received sentences of up to 20 years in prison. Kosova deputies and former government members (now in exile) are also being prosecuted, together with Albanian political party leaders.

e) Demonstrators killed. The police uses highly concentrated tear gas for breaking up peaceful demonstrations, also firearms, dum-dum bullets, armored personnel carriers mounted with 12.7 mm machine guns, and helicopters. Since 1981 the police has killed 107 Albanians, including 18 children between 11 and 18 years of age (the majority shot in the back).

f) Mysterious Army deaths. Since 1981 the Army has sent back 53 dead Albanian bodies in metal coffins saying that they had committed suicide. The signs of torture and the nature of the

wounds in most cases refute this explanation. We must add to this number 30 more Albanian soldiers who have died in strange, circumstances during training.

g) Punitive expeditions. Since last year, the Serbian police has been organizing sporadic nightly raids on Albanian villages. The village is surrounded at night and attacked just before dawn. The police first shoots at the houses, then enters them, demolishing the furniture, destroying the food, looting women's jewelry and stealing money. They manhandle and beat the peasants. These raids as a rule end with a number of dead and wounded, as well as dozens of men arrested; these are then beaten and/or kept in prison for several days.

h) Poisoning of children. In April 1990 some 7,000 Albanian school children needed medical treatment with signs of spasms in the stomach and limbs, vertigo, reddening of ears, vomiting, shivering, etc. The Serbian police prevented the children from entering hospitals and persecuted Albanian doctors who helped them. Foreign experts (e.g. Bernard Benedetti of Medicins du Monde), basing themselves on blood analysis, established that the children had been poisoned by nerve gases. These poisoning happened after the Serbian authorities had decided that Serb children should attend school in the morning and Albanian children in the afternoon.

4. Albanians in Yugoslavia.

Apart from Kosova (2 million, or 90% of the population), Albanians live in ethnically compact territories in Macedonia, Montenegro and southern Serbia. In western Macedonia there are 800,000 Albanians or 40% of the population of the republic. In Serbia, according to the 1981 census, there were 72,484 Albanians living mainly in the communes of Presheva, Bujanovc and Medvegja,

where they form a majority. In Montenegro, there are about 55,000 Albanians in areas bordering on Albania (Ulqin, Plava, Guci, Tuz, etc). Macedonia and Montenegro solidarized with the repressive policy of Serbia in Kosova and undertook similar measures against Albanians living on their territories. Macedonia, especially, showed exceptional zeal in this regard by closing down even before Serbia secondary schools in the Albanian language, drastically reducing the number of Albanian pupils in primary schools, applying massively the instrument of 'political differentiation', organizing many political trials in which the sentences passed were even harsher than in Serbia, pulling down traditional Albanian houses, etc. Since last year, when the multiparty system became legalized, the intensity of repression has diminished - but it has not stopped. Two months ago the Albanian party leader, Nevzat Halili, was himself sentenced to sixty days in prison. The Albanians boycotted the recent referendum on the sovereignty and independence of Macedonia. Albanian deputies in the assembly did not vote for the new Macedonian constitution, since their demand that the constitution should guarantee Albanians equality in regard to national and civil rights had been rejected. Kosova is, therefore, only one

- albeit the central and most difficult - aspect of the Albanian question in former Yugoslavia. Despite the specificity of the various aspects of the Albanian issue, it represents a whole (Albanians live in an ethnically compact territory) and as such demands a comprehensive solution.

5. Perspectives.

Kosova is at present cast into the shadows by the war in Croatia. But it is a fact that this crisis point could escalate into a full-scale armed conflict, which would then arguably involve an even greater military potential than the war in Croatia, especially since it would spill over the borders of former Yugoslavia.For this reason, neglect of this question by Europe and the USA is unwise.

Some observers believe that Serbia's repressive measures in Kosovo are designed, among other things, to provoke 'an Albanian armed uprising so as to create an alibi before world public opinion for a full-scale military intervention, leading to mass expulsion of Albanians and their replacement by Serb settlers. This 'Serb intention has been articulated especially by the Chetnik leader Vojislav Seselj, who at the beginning of October 1991 in Prishtina declared that it would suit Serbia very well at this moment if Albanians were to stage an uprising, thus allowing Serbia to solve this problem once and for all. It is in this context that the Serbian propaganda claim that 500,000 immigrants from Albania are living in Kosova should be understood (despite official statistics showing only 726 of them), as well as armed incidents on the Yugoslav-Albanian border in which Yugoslav soldiers and Serbian policemen have killed 10 Albanian soldiers and civilians.

Up to now the Albanians in Yugoslavia have manifested a high degree of self-discipline, answering all Serbia's repressive measures by peaceful resistance. In this way they have demonstrated an enviable democratic culture, believing that a just and lasting solution to the Kosova/Albanian problem can be achieved only by peaceful means, and placing their hopes in the international community creating the framework for a political solution to the Yugoslav conflict. However, the Hague Conference was a great disappointment to them, given that Kosova's representatives were not invited to attend. By not inviting Kosova's legal and legitimate representatives to the Hague, the European Community has drastically infringed the principle of non-recognition of changes achieved by force. For Serbia has achieved all the changes in Kosova by naked force. These changes not only have no democratic legitimacy, they also stand in total contradiction to the Yugoslav constitution. According to this constitution, Kosova is one of the eight federal units and, on the basis of principles of legality and international law, one of the eight inheritors of the state subjectivity of Yugoslavia. For this reason, Kosova should be recognized as an equal participant at the Hague negotiations.

Kosova, and the Albanian ethnic territories in Yugoslavia, remained outside the borders of the Albanian state on the basis of the decision of the London Conference of 1913. In reality, Serbia had simply occupied these ethnic Albanian territories already liberated by Albanians themselves - at a time when the Albanians were weak and exhausted following three years of anti Turkish uprising (1909-12). Breaking with the ethnic principle and the principle of self-determination, the Great Powers recognized in 1913 the result of this occupation. Today the Albanians expect of the Hague Conference and other international forums that they should correct those unjust decisions of the London Conference, which lie at the foundation of their tragic history over the past eighty years. Up to now they have shown a sense of realism, and a readiness to respect the Helsinki principle of inviolability of international borders. They have accepted the idea of entering an association of Yugoslav republics, provided that they are treated as equal i.e. that Kosova is recognized as a republic.

Albanians will not accept any solution that negates their right to self-determination, the right to free existence. Today they are an educated people (with 50,000 having graduated from Prishtina University alone, while several hundred thousand have completed secondary school). They have passed through the stage of industrialization and the Sociocultural transformation associated with it. They have, with rare sacrifice, preserved and developed their national identity (language, culture, national consciousness, authentic traditions, etc). Over the past eleven years, they have shown that they are ready to sacrifice everything to defend their natural right to self determination, freedom and independence. They have confirmed all this by their massive participation in the referendum for a Kosova Republic, sovereign and independent state with the right to participate as a constitutive element in the possible alliance of republics of Yugoslavia organized by the Kosova assembly on 26 of September 1991. Though the Serbian police did everything it could to prevent this referendum, out of 1,151,000 registered Kosova voters 914,802 or 67.01% voted, and of these 913,705 or 99.679 voted in favor.

Isuf Berisha

President of the Association of Philosophers and Sociologists of Kosova

London, December 1991

Note: This document has been presented for informative purpose only. Since it was written in 1991, many conclusions drawn here are no longer supported by Kosova's population.
Alb-net.com group

An essential classic-Albania's Golgotha!

2007-11-23T13:08:00.000-06:00

I've decided to reproduce here Leo Freundlich's classic work, Albania's Golgotha. For those who don't know, Freundlich compiled the work, published in 1913, from contemporary news reports coming out of the Balkans during the First and Second Balkan Wars. It is a harrowing and horrifying documentation of brutality against the Albanian people by the Serbian crown under the rule of King Aleksander Karageorgevic. I'm publishing it here because I believe it behooves one to know that the roots of the struggle for Kosova independence do not begin with Milosevic's revocation of the autonomy of Kosova and Voijvodina in 1989, but go back much further. It is just one of the reasons why a Kosova which continues to be a part of the Serbian state is no longer an option from an Albanian point of view.

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On the eastern banks of the Adriatic, a mere three days journey from Vienna, live an autochthonous people who for centuries have been fighting for their freedom and independence against enemies and oppressors of all types. This nation has clung steadfast to its roots through countless wars and the cataclysms of history. Neither the great migrations nor wars with the Serbs, the Turks and other invaders have hindered the Albanians from maintaining their nationality, their language, and the purity and originality of their customs.
The history of this nation is an unbroken chain of bloody battles against violent oppressors, but not even the most unspeakable of atrocities have managed to annihilate this people. Intellectual life has flourished among the Albanians even though their oppressors endeavoured to cut off all cultural development at the root. This nation produced great generals and men of state for the Ottoman Empire. Albanians were among the best judges in Turkey and among the greatest authors of Turkish literature. Almost all the merchants of Montenegro were Albanian, as were many fine businessmen in the major cities of Romania. The Albanians played an important role in Italy, too. Crispi was one of them. Greece's bravest soldiers were of Albanian blood.
In the wake of the cataclysms wrought by the Balkan War, the ancient dream of freedom and independence for this people is now becoming a reality. The Great Powers of Europe have decided to grant Albania its national autonomy.
But the Serbian thirst for conquest has now found a means of destroying the fair dream of this courageous and freedom-loving people before it can be realized. Serbian troops have invaded Albania with fire and sword. And if Albania cannot be conquered, then at least the Albanian people can be exterminated. This is the solution they propose.

* * *

On 18 October 1912, King Peter of Serbia issued a declaration 'To the Serbian People', proclaiming:

"The Turkish governments showed no interest in their duties towards their citizens and turned a deaf ear to all complaints and suggestions. Things got so far out of hand that no one was satisfied with the situation in Turkey in Europe. It became unbearable for the Serbs, the Greeks and for the Albanians, too.
By the grace of God, I have therefore ordered my brave army to join in the Holy War to free our brethren and to ensure a better future.
In Old Serbia, my army will meet not only upon Christian Serbs, but also upon Moslem Serbs, who are equally dear to us, and in addition to them, upon Christian and Moslem Albanians with whom our people have shared joy and sorrow for thirteen centuries now. To all of them we bring freedom, brotherhood and equality."

How have the Serbs understood the declaration of their monarch, which is not even half a year old?
The thousand and thousands of men, women, children and old people who have been slain or tortured to death, the villages marauded and burnt to the ground, the women and young girls who have been raped, and the countryside plundered, ravaged and swimming in blood can give no answer to this question.
The Serbs came to Albania not as liberators but as exterminators of the Albanian people. The Ambassadors' Conference in London proposed drawing the borders of Albania according to ethnic and religious statistics to be gathered on site by a commission. The Serbs have hastened to prepare the statistics for them with machine guns, rifles and bayonets. They have committed unspeakable atrocities. The shock and outrage produced by these crimes are outdone only by the sense of sorrow that such vile deeds could be committed in Europe, not far from the great centres of western culture, in this twentieth century. Our sorrow is made all the heavier by the fact that, despite the reports which have been cabled home for months now by the journalists of many nations, and despite the impassioned indictment launched to the world by Pierre Loti, nothing has been done to put an end to the killings.
A courageous people full of character is being crucified before the eyes of the world and Europe, civilized Christian Europe, remains silent!
Tens of thousands of defenceless people are being massacred, women are being raped, old people and children strangled, hundreds of villages burnt to the ground, priests slaughtered.
And Europe remains silent!
Serbia and Montenegro have set out to conquer a foreign country. But in that land live a freedom-loving, brave people who despite centuries of servitude have not yet become accustomed to bearing a foreign yoke. The solution is obvious. The Albanians must be exterminated!
A crazed and savage soldateska has turned this solution into a gruesome reality.
Countless villages have been razed to the ground, countless individuals have been butchered. Where once the humble cottages of poor Albanians stood, there is nothing left but smoke and ashes. A whole people is perishing on Calvary cross, and Europe remains silent!

* * *

The aim of this work is to rouse the conscience of European public opinion. The reports gathered here are but a small portion of the material available. More than what they contain is already known by the governments of Europe from official consular and press reports.
Up to now, however, the governments have chosen to remain silent. Now, any further silence means complicity.
The Great Powers must tell the crazed barbarians once and for all to keep their 'Hands off!' This wave of extermination must be ended with all possible rapidity. An international commission must be set up to investigate accusations made against the Serbian government.
Most important of all, Serbian and Montenegrin troops must withdraw from Albanian territory at once and the Greek blockade, which has cut the country off from all food supplies, must be lifted.
I call upon the governments of the Great Powers, I call upon European public opinion in the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in the name of the wretched Albanian people.
I turn to the British public, to the nation which raised its voice so virtuously to protest against the Armenian massacres.
I direct my appeal to the French public which has shown so often that it will defend humanity and human rights.
A poor nation, suffering a horrible fate, appeals from the cross for help. Will Europe hear its call?

Leo Freundlich
Vienna, Easter Sunday 1913

The Albanians Must Be Exterminated!

In connection with the news report that 300 unarmed Albanians of the Luma tribe were executed in Prizren without trial, the Frankfurter Zeitung writes: In the case in question, it seems to have been regular Serbian troops who committed the massacre. But there is no doubt whatsoever that even the heinous massacres committed by irregulars were carried out with the tacit approval and in full compliance with the will of the Serbian authorities." At the beginning of the war we ourselves were told quite openly by a Serbian official: "We are going to wipe out the Albanians." Despite European protests, this systematic policy of extermination is continuing unhindered. As a result, we regard it as our duty to expose the intentions of the Serbian rulers. The gentlemen in Belgrade will then indignantly deny everything, knowing full well that journalistic propriety prevents us from mentioning names.
It is evident that we would not make such a report if we were not fully convinced of its truth. In the case in question, the facts speak louder than any full confession could do. One massacre after another has been committed since Serbian troops crossed the border last autumn and occupied the land inhabited by the Albanians.

A War of Extermination

Professor Schiemann published an article in Kreuzzeitung, writing: "Despite the rigorous censorship of Balkan allies and the pressure exerted upon war correspondents, private letters which have managed to reach us from the region in which the Serbs and Greeks are conducting their war offer an exceptionally sorry picture." The Serbs, as the article notes, are conducting a war of extermination against the Albanian nation which, if they could, they would eradicate completely.
The Daily Chronicle reported on 12 November 1912 that it was true that thousands of Arnauts (Albanians) had been massacred by the Serbs. 2,000 Moslem Arnauts were slaughtered near Skopje and a further 5,000 near Prizren. Many villages have been set on fire and their inhabitants slaughtered. Albanian householders were simply slain during house to house searches for arms, even when no weapons were found. The Serbs declared quite openly that the Moslem Albanians were to be exterminated because this was the only way of pacifying the country.
The war correspondent of the Messaggero of Rome reported heinous Serbian massacres of Albanians in the vilayet of Kosovo. After Albanian resistance, the towns of Ferizaj / Uroševac, Negotin / Negotino, Lipjan / Ljipljan, Babush / Babuš and others were completely destroyed and most of the inhabitants slaughtered. A Catholic priest reported that fierce fighting around Ferizaj / Uroševac had lasted for three days. After the town was taken, the Serbian commander ordered its fleeing inhabitants to return peacefully and lay down their arms. When they returned, three or four hundred people were massacred. There remained only half a dozen Moslem families in all of Ferizaj / Uroševac. Destitute Serbian families hastened to take possession of the homes of the wealthy families.
The Humanité of Paris published an official report submitted to a consulate in Salonika. The report described the activities of the Serbs in Albania: plundering, destruction, massacres. The number of Albanian villages totally or partially but systematically destroyed by the Serbs was estimated at thirty-one. The Kristos of Kumanova / Kumanovo, the Siro Diljovs of Skopje, the Alexandrovos of Štip and other leading guerrilla bands looted all the villages in the districts of Kratovo and Kocani, set them on fire and killed all the Moslem inhabitants. All the Moslems of Zhujova / Žujovo and Mešeli were slaughtered, as were a further two hundred people in Vetreni. In Bogdanc / Bogdanci, sixty Turks were locked in a mosque. They were then let out and slain, one by one. Thirty-four of the ninety-eight villages in the district of Kavadarci have been destroyed. The Turks, some of whom had made payoffs to one guerrilla band hoping to save their lives, were then butchered by another band of guerrillas. All the inhabitants of Drenova / Drenovo were put to death. Between this village and Palikura, a number of graves were found with the heads sticking out of the earth. These are the graves of wretched individuals who were buried alive!

Manhunts

Fritz Magnussen, war correspondent for the Danish newspaper Riget, who is generally known for his pro-Serbian sympathies, described the crimes committed by the Serbs against the Arnaut population in a telegramme that he had to send by special courier from Skopje to Zemun to avoid the rigorous censorship:

Serbian military activities in Macedonia have taken on the character of an extermination of the Arnaut population. The army is conducting an unspeakable war of atrocities. According to officers and soldiers, 3,000 Arnauts were slaughtered in the region between Kumanova / Kumanovo and Skopje and 5,000 near Prishtina. The Arnaut villages were surrounded and set on fire. The inhabitants were then chased from their homes and shot like rats. The Serbian soldiers delighted in telling me of the manhunts they had conducted.
The situation in Skopje is equally appalling. Rigorous searches of Arnaut homes are carried out and if anything vaguely resembling a weapon is discovered, the inhabitants are shot on the spot. It is very dangerous to travel the roads because of the constant shooting in and out of the houses.
Yesterday, 36 Arnauts were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and shot on the spot. No day passes without Arnauts being put to death in the most barbarous manner. The river upstream is full of corpses. Hunting expeditions take place every day in the surrounding villages. Yesterday, a Serbian officer invited me to take part in such a hunt and boasted that he had put nine Arnauts to death the previous day with his own hands!

The Reichspost received a dossier about the massacres committed by Serbian guerrilla bands and regular troops in Albania from a person whose name and high rank is guarantee enough of the authenticity of the reports it contains. In the dossier we find the following information:

The city of Skopje and the surrounding district have been witness to inhuman crimes committed against the Albanians. For days on end, I saw manhunts conducted by armed Serbian bands and regular troops. For three days I could see the flames of burning villages in the sky. When the horrors were over, five villages in the direct vicinity of Skopje lay in ruins and their inhabitants were almost all slain, even though the Albanians offered no armed resistance to the invading Serbs. Behind the fortress of Skopje is a ravine which is still filled with the corpses of over one hundred victims of this campaign. Eighty Albanian bodies are also to be found in the ravine of Vodno / Vistala Voda near Skopje. Shortly after the invasion, a reliable informant of mine, whom I spoke to myself, visited the hospital in Skopje and encountered during this first visit 132 Albanians patients. The next day he could find only 80 and a few days later a mere 30 of them. The treatment meted out to these wounded Albanians is beyond imagination. They were refused food and drink, such that, according to witnesses, some of them died of starvation. Many of the patients, it is alleged, were still alive when they were thrown into the Vardar. The river flows through the town and is carrying with it twenty to thirty corpses a day. There were a number of Serbian volunteers quartered in my hotel in Skopje who boasted quite candidly of their marauding and manhunts, in particular when the wine got their tongues. One evening, they went out onto the street and shot a couple of unarmed Albanians who were simply passing by and minding their own business. The two murderers, who thereafter returned to the hotel and got drunk, were not bothered by the military authorities at all, even though everyone in town knew that they were guilty of the crime. A bloody scene also occurred in town at the Vardar bridge. Three Albanians who tried to cross into town to go to market were attacked by Serbian soldiers and simply murdered without trial. Digging graves seemed to be a problem for the soldiers, in particular since the earth is frozen over, so bodies have been thrown into wells. An informant counted 38 wells around Skopje which have been filled with Albanian corpses. Bandits play an important role in the pogroms, too. I myself was witness to a Serbian soldier who was showing off the two watches and 150 Turkish pounds he had taken as booty. When he saw a well-dressed Albanian pass by, he shouted in an almost genuine show of sympathy, "Pity there are so many of them. Otherwise, I would gladly spend a bullet on him." The Albanians are considered fair game and are protected by no law or court. Many of the excesses are, however, committed under the influence of drink. The most outrageous crimes were, indeed, committed by bands of drunken soldiers breaking into homes.
As I speak Serbian fluently, many Serbian officers and soldiers regarded me as one of theirs. And so it was that a Serbian soldier boasted to me of their attack on an Albanian village near Kumanova / Kumanovo. "Many of the villagers who were not able to flee, hid in their attics. We smoked them out, and when their houses were in flames, they came out of their hiding places like moles, screaming, cursing and begging for mercy. We shot them at the doorways, sparing our bullets only with the children on whom we used our bayonets. We destroyed the whole village because shots had been fired out of one of the houses bearing a white flag." The military authorities did nothing to hinder these bloodbaths and many officers took part in the atrocities themselves. There was no Serb to be found who had not acted in the full conviction that, with these atrocities, he was doing his country a great service, and one which his superiors wanted of him.

* * *

Eighty-five Albanians were slain in their homes in Tetova / Tetovo and the town was looted without sign of an armed uprising beforehand. The heinous deeds committed against the women and girls, including twelve-year-old children, are indescribable. To top off such horrors, the fathers and husbands of the victims were forced by revolver to hold candles and be witness themselves to the outrages committed against their daughters and wives in their own homes. The town of Gostivar was only saved by paying off the Serbian commander with a sum of 200 Turkish pounds. Here only six Albanians were shot.
In Ferizaj / Uroševac, as opposed to the above-mentioned towns, the Albanians offered organized armed resistance. Fighting continued here for twenty-four hours, during which a woman whose husband had been slain seized a rifle and shot five Serbs before she was killed herself. Over 1,200 Albanians fell victim to the carnage in Ferizaj / Uroševac. The town is almost devoid of inhabitants now. There are only three Moslem Albanians over the age of fifteen left. In Gjilan / Gnjilane, too, where the Albanians put up no defence, almost all the inhabitants were killed by fire and sword. A very small number of fugitives survived the carnage. Now only ruins are left as witness to the destruction of Gjilan / Gnjilane.
The Serbian occupation of Prishtina was even bloodier. The Albanians estimate the number of their dead at 5,000. In all fairness, it must be noted that the flag on the parliament building was severely misused. After the white flag had been hoisted, Turkish officers suddenly opened fire on Serbian troops, apparently with the intention of thwarting the latters' cease-fire negotiations with the Albanians. Hundreds of Albanian families, even babies in their cradles, paid for this deed with their lives.
In Leskovac near Ferizaj / Uroševac, eight unarmed Albanians were stopped by Serbian soldiers and shot on the spot.

* * *

The town of Prizren offered no resistance to Serb forces, but this did not avert a bloodbath there. After Prishtina, Prizren was the hardest hit of the Albanian towns. The local population call it the 'Kingdom of Death'. Here the Serbian bands did their worst. They forced their way into homes and beat up anyone and everyone in their way, irrespective of age or sex. Corpses lined the streets for days while the Serbian victors were busy with other atrocities, and the native population which had survived did not dare to venture out of their homes. The attacks continued night after night throughout the town and region. Up to 400 people perished in the first few days of the Serbian occupation. Despite this, the commander, General Jankovic, with rifle in hand, forced notables and local tribal leaders to sign a declaration of gratitude to King Peter for their 'liberation by the Serbian army.' As Serbian troops were about to set off westwards, they could not find any horses to transport their equipment. They therefore requisitioned 200 Albanians, forcing them to carry goods weighing up to 50-60 kilos for seven hours during the night along bad roads in the direction of Luma. Seeing that the wretched group of bearers had managed to reach their goal, though most of them collapsed under the inhumane treatment they had suffered, the Serbian commander expressed his satisfaction and approval of the action.
A Fani woman called Dila took the road to Prizren with her sons, another relative and two men from the village of Gjugja in order to buy goods for her daughter's dowry. Before reaching Prizren, she applied for a laisser passer for herself and her companions from the command post of General Jankovic in order to proceed unimpeded. She was given the passes. When the group of five arrived in Suni, about four hours from Prizren, they were robbed of their possessions and the four men were tied up and thrown into a pit. Soldiers then shot the men from the edge of the pit. The mother, who had witnessed this scene, called out in desperation to her son. Seeing that he was no longer alive, she threw herself to the feet of the soldiers, begging them to kill her, too. They had tied her to a tree by the time some officers came by, having heard the shooting. The soldiers showed the officers a loaf of bread they had seized from the women, in which they had pressed two Mauser bullets as proof that the men had been trying to smuggle ammunition. The officers thereupon ordered the soldiers to go their way. The poor woman remained tied to the tree at the edge of the pit, in full view of her slain son, from Monday afternoon until Wednesday. On Wednesday, starving and exhausted by the chill of the late autumn nights, she was taken to Prizren. She was locked up that night and presented to the commander the next day. Although General Jankovic must have known that the poor woman standing before him was innocent, she was still not released. Instead, she was taken to the residence of the Serbian bishop where she remained in custody until the following day when she was given over to the Catholics, taken to a church and tended to.
In Prizren, there lived a baker named Gjoni i Prek Palit who supplied the Serbian troops with food. One day, a sergeant came by to order bread for the troops and happened to leave his rifle in the bakery. When soldiers later entered the bakery and saw the rifle, they arrested the baker for violating the weapons ban. He was taken to a military tribunal and executed. When Gini, the baker's brother, heard of the arrest, he ran to the sergeant and took him to the military police where the latter admitted the rifle was his and that he had only left it in the bakery for a short time. He knew the number of the rifle and recognized it immediately. Gini and his Serbian witness were then beaten up and chased away. Gini learned nothing of the fate of his arrested brother. Ten days later, the mother of the dead baker, who had been searching day and night for her son, came upon the body outside of town. She requested to be given the corpse so that she could give her son a Christian burial. This request was refused. A Catholic priest then hastened to the commander and in the name of religious freedom requested that the body be buried in the Catholic cemetery. He, too, was refused, and they were obliged to bury the body on the spot where they found it.
Officers also took part in the atrocities. It is said in Prizren that a soldier asked his officer for shoes or sandals. The officer replied he should confiscate the sandals from the next Albanian who happened to pass by. "Why else do you carry a rifle?" asked the officer, pointing to his own sandals.

* * *

Three Albanian villages in the vicinity of Prizren were totally destroyed and thirty local officials slain. They were accused of being pro-Austrian. In one of these villages, the soldiers forced the womenfolk out of their homes, tied them to one another and forced them to dance in a circle. They then opened fire and amused themselves by watching one victim after another fall to the ground in a pool of blood.
When it was reported to General Jankovic that the Luma tribe was preventing Serbian troops from advancing westwards towards the Adriatic, he ordered his men to proceed with extreme severity. All in all, twenty-seven villages on Luma territory were burnt to the ground and their inhabitants slain, even the children. It is here that one of the most appalling atrocities of the Serbian war of annihilation was committed against the Albanians. Women and children were tied to bundles of hay and set on fire before the eyes of their husbands and fathers. The women were then barbarously cut to pieces and the children bayoneted. My informant, a respected and thoroughly reliable man, added in his report: "It is all so inconceivable, and yet it is true!" 400 men from Luma who gave themselves up voluntarily were taken to Prizren and executed day after day in groups of forty to sixty. Similar executions are still being carried out there. Hundreds of bodies still lie unburied in the Prizren region. Gjakova / Djakovica is also in ruins and its population decimated.
Sixty Albanians were slain in Tërstenik / Trstenik, thirty-two in Smira, twenty in Vërban / Vrban, nineteen in Ljubishta / Ljubište and all the males in Kamogllava / Kameno Glava, which is home to fifty families. In the latter village, the men were forced to appear for roll call and to salute. They were then tied up and executed without trial. Not very many survived in Presheva / Preševo either.
The total number of Albanians slain in the vilayet of Kosovo is estimated at 25,000, a figure which is by no means exaggerated.

* * *

On 20 March 1913, the Albanische Korrespondenz published this item: We have received the following report from reliable Albanian sources in Skopje. Serbian troops and volunteers are committing unspeakable atrocities in the vicinity of Skopje against the population of the territories they have occupied. European circles have been particularly outraged by the following events which were reliably recorded. The Serbian army took the village of Shashare at the end of February. Having removed all men and boys from the village, the soldiers then proceeded to rape the women and girls. Serbian soldiers committed the same heineous crimes in the village of Letnica. It must be stressed that both Shashare and Letnica have an exclusively Slavic and Catholic population. Serbian troops, thus, do not even stop at committing such degenerate acts against their own Christian people. Shashare is a settlement of over one hundred families.
These savage troops have committed even worse crimes in other areas. Two hundred eighty farms belonging to Albanian Moslems were set on fire in twenty-nine villages in the Karadag (Black) mountains and all the male inhabitants who had not flown fell under a hail of bullets and under the bayonets of the soldiers. The Serbs marauded like the Huns from village to village. Other such pogroms have been carried out in the villages of Tërstenik / Trstenik, Senica, Vërban / Vrban, Ljubishta / Ljubište and Gjylekar / Djelekare. Two hundred thirty-eight men were pitilessly slaughtered here. In Sefer, an old women was burnt alive together with her Catholic servant. The suffering of the population knows no limits. In the village of Ljubishta / Ljubište, the atrocities have reached such a point that Moslem Albanian women have sold themselves to surviving Moslem men to serve them more or less as slaves. The Serbs took a man, an old woman and two children captive and burnt them alive in this village. In Gjylekar / Djelekare a pregnant women had her belly slit open with a bayonet and the offspring wrenched out of her body. In Prespa, an Albanian women whose husband had been taken away shot five Serbian soldiers. The Serbs then set the whole settlement aflame, ninety farms in all, and let it burn to the ground.
The Serbs are laying waste to whole regions and slaughtering their inhabitants. Their fury is directed against both the Moslems and the Catholics. The survivors remain behind in unspeakable misery and despair.
In a report published on 19 February 1913 by the Deutsches Volksblatt, we read: Few towns and villages (in the occupied areas) have escaped the attention of the Serbs completely and there are many Albanians who now press to take vengeance for the deaths of their wives and children. When the order was issued in the towns for the immediate surrender of all weapons, only very few people complied. Most of them hid their weapons at home or fled with them, for it is easier to separate an Albanian from his whole farm than from his rifle. In order to enforce the order, patrols were sent out to search homes. A gruesome fate awaited those caught with weapons. The military tribunal came to its findings within a matter of hours. One spectacular case took place in Tirana. Serbian soldiers went to the shop of a local merchant to buy goods. As they had no money with them, one of them left the merchant his rifle as security. Petrified at his own deed, the soldier subsequently went to his commander and brought charges against the merchant for stealing the rifle. A patrol was sent out in search of the Albanian and found him with the rifle in question. He was taken to a military tribunal and, despite his protestations that the rifle had only been left as security, was shot.
An Albanian from the village of Zalla, west of Kruja, shot a Serb who had broken into his home and was assaulting his wife, and took to flight. When the Serbs subsequently arrived at the scene of the crime and could not find the culprit, and - such is the sad truth - they slaughtered all the inhabitants, over one hundred persons including women and children, and set the village on fire.

* * *

The Serbian Thirst for Blood

The special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph reported the following: All the horrors of history have been outdone by the atrocious conduct of the troops of General Jankovic. On their march through Albania, the Serbs have treacherously slaughtered not only armed Albanians, but in their savagery even unarmed individuals - old people, women, children and babies at their mother's breasts.
Drunk with victory, Serbian officers have proclaimed that the only way of pacifying Albania is to exterminate the Albanians. They slaughtered 3,000 people in the region between Kumanova / Kumanovo and Skopje alone. 5,000 Albanians were murdered by the Serbs in the Prishtina area. These people did not die with honour on the battlefield, but were slain in a series of gruesome raids. The Serbian soldiers have found new methods of butchery to satisfy their thirst for blood. Houses were set on fire in several villages and the inhabitants slaughtered like rats when they tried to flee the flames. The men were slain before the eyes of their wives and children. The wretched women were then forced to look on as their children were literally hacked to pieces.
Executions were a daily entertainment for the Serbian soldiers. All inhabitants who had been found with weapons in their homes were executed. They were either shot or hanged. Up to thirty-six executions took place a day. How strange it is that the Serbian nationalists living in Hungary should complain about massacres in Albania. Mr Tomic, the former secretary to the Serbian Prime Minister Pašic, reported on his trip from Prizren to Peja / Pec that on both sides of the road he saw nothing but the remnants of burnt-out villages which had been razed to the ground.
The roads were lined with gallows from which the bodies of Albanians were hanging. The road to Gjakova / Djakovica had become a Boulevard of Gibbets.
The Belgrade newspapers reported quite without shame on the heineous atrocities of the Serbs. When Colonel Osbic's regiment took Prizren, he commanded his compatriots, "Kill!" When his order was heard, so the Belgrade papers report, "the Serbian soldiers stormed into homes and slaughtered every human being they could lay their hands on."
The Daily Telegraph then gives the authentic statement of an Albanian notable: Anyone who denounces an Albanian to the Serbs can be sure that the Albanian will be executed. There were people who owed money to Moslem Albanians. They went and denounced them to the Serbs as traitors. The wretched Albanians were immediately hanged and the informers later found ways of acquiring the home and land of their victims for a ridiculously low price.
In Skopje, unarmed Albanians were simply shot and killed by Serbian officers. If even a hunting knife was found in a home, its owner was executed.
In Ferizaj / Uroševac, the Serbian commander invited Albanian fugitives to return to their home and surrender their weapons. When over four hundred of them did return, they were slaughtered. There were no more than a dozen Moslem families left alive in Ferizaj / Uroševac. The war correspondent of the Messaggero has confirmed this report.
In Pana, the Serbs killed their prisoners, in Varosh / Varoš and Prishtina the population was literally decimated. Serbian officers admitted themselves that they were on the 'hunt' for Albanians, and one of them boasted having killed nine Albanians in one day with his own hands.
A doctor working for the Red Cross reported, according to the same source: The Serbs have been massacring throughout Albania with no sign of mercy. Neither women nor children nor old people have been spared. I have seen villages burning in Old Serbia every day. Near Kratovo, General Stefanovic had hundreds of prisoners lined up in two rows and machine gunned down. General Živkovic had 850 Albanian notables put to death in Senica because they had offered resistance.
The Albanische Korrespondenz reported from Trieste on 12 March: A letter from Kruja near Durrës (Durazzo) dated 27 February of this year was read out at the Albanian congress here. It read: All the buildings as well as the villas of Mashar Bey and Fuad Bey (n.b. who were taking part in the congress at the time) have been burnt to the ground. Ali Lam Osmani's brother was caught by the Serbs in Vinjoll near Kruja, buried to his thighs in the earth, and then shot. The letter concludes with the words: We shall never see one another again. Farewell until we meet in the other world!

The Marauding Serbs!

Ahmed Djevad, secretary of the Comité de Publication D. A. C. B. reports, according to several witnesses: The most incredible amounts of valuables have been robbed and stolen by the Serbs in Strumica. Major Ivan Gribic, commander of the fourth battalion of the fourteenth Serbian line regiment alone had eighty wagons filled with furniture and carpets transported back to Serbia. All the young women and girls of Strumica have been raped and forcibly baptized. The rest of the wretched Moslem population is dying of starvation, destitution and disease...
The Albanische Korrespondenz reported from Trieste on 21 March 1913: The suffering in Albania has reached an unspeakable zenith. The Serbian troops who took Durrës (Durazzo) were immediately ordered to proceed into the countryside although no provision had been made for their food and drink. They were therefore forced to rely on food they confiscated from the population, which they did with exception cruelty. They took nine-tenths of all the stocks available, and refused to give written receipts for the goods they requisitioned.
The Serbian troops not only confiscated goods for their own usage. They seized or destroyed all the food that fell into their hands. Ancient olive trees which had been planted in the Venetian period and had provided sustenance to generations were cut down by the Serbs. Farm animals were slain. No sheep, no chickens, no corn which the Serbs could get their hands on remained untouched. They conducted extensive raids and looted wherever they could. In Durrës (Durazzo), the Serbs loaded ships with carpets and other stolen goods for transportation to Salonika whence the cargo was transferred back to Belgrade. Even antique benches from the government offices in Durrës were confiscated and loaded onto the booty ships.
Fazil Toptani Pasha, to whom we showed this report for confirmation, stated: Everything written in this report is true. These facts are but a small portion of the outrages committed in our country by these barbarians. They flooded into Albania slaughtering, looting and burning, and have caused more destruction than anyone could possibly imagine.
Dervish Hima told us: Tell the public that a good proportion of the Albanian people is on the verge of starvation. Spring has come, the time to sow the land, and the Serbs have stolen all the seed. Even if the Albanians had seed, they would not sow it, for they now have a saying: "Even if something manages to grow, the Serbs will destroy it." Such is the fear of the Serbs among our people!

Wholesale Murder

A Romanian doctor, Dr Leonte, reported in the Bucharest newspaper Adevarul on 6 January 1913 that the horrors he saw committed by the Serbian army far outdid his worst fears. That hundreds of Moslem captives were forced to march a hundred kilometres was the least of what these wretches were to suffer. Whenever any of these poor individuals collapsed of hunger and exhaustion at the roadside, they were simply bayoneted by the first soldier passing, and the corpses were left to rot. The fields were still strewn with the bodies of slaughtered men and women, young and old, even children. When Serbian troops marched into Monastir / Bitola, all Turkish patients being treated in the hospitals were slain in order to make room for wounded Serbs. The soldiers stole whatever they could get their hands on. Even banks were robbed. A Bulgarian professor who made himself unpopular by proposing a toast to King Ferdinand has disappeared without a trace since the evening of the toast. Dr Leonte gives other reports of atrocities similar to those committed in Kumanova / Kumanovo, Prizren etc.

* * *

The well-known war correspondent Hermenegild Wagner reported from Zemun on 20 November 1912: During my three-day stay in Nish, I heard shocking details of the inhumane acts committed by Serbian troops. I wish to note in this connection that I have respected witnesses for all details referred to.
In the fortress of Nish was a fifty-year-old Albanian woman being held on suspicion of having thrown bombs at Serbian troops marching into Ferizaj / Uroševac. Instead of bringing the accused before a military tribunal, she was given over to Serbian soldiers who literally shattered her skull with the butts of their rifles.
A Turkish lieutenant named Abdul Kadri Bey was beaten to death in the fortress of Nish. The autopsy showed a broken nose and a traumatized liver. The victim was kicked to death.
An Albanian who attempted to escape was bayoneted to death. The body was dreadfully battered about by the soldiers even while it was being taken to the morgue.
In the hospital of Nish, a number of Serbs entered a ward where Turkish patients were being treated. One of the Serbs called out, making a joke, "That's the one who wounded me!" Thereupon, a whole group of Serbs attacked the helpless patient and kicked him to death.
A Red Cross doctor told me with horror that the prisoners and injured patients one encountered in Nish and Belgrade were only there for show. "The Serbs," he added, "know no mercy. All Albanians caught, whether armed or not, are butchered on the spot. Women, children, old people. Dreadful things are happening down there (in Old Serbia). I don't know how many villages have been razed to the ground by Serbian troops. I saw them burning day after day... Near Kratovo, General Stefanovic had hundreds of Albanian prisoners lined up in two rows and mowed down with machine guns. The general then declared: This brood must be exterminated so that Austria will never find her beloved Albanians again.
General Živkovic massacred 950 Albanian and Turkish notables near Senica when ten thousand Albanians slowed down the advance of Serbian troops.
The Serbs took very few of the wounded prisoner after the Battle of Kumanova / Kumanovo. King Peter himself visited the field hospital in Nish. One of the injured Serbs complained that the Albanians were firing upon the Serbs with rifles stolen from the Serbs themselves, and that he, too, had been wounded in this manner, to which King Peter replied: "The swine will pay for it!"
Serbian witnesses who were present at the battle told me with smiles on their faces how after the battle, all of the dead and injured Turks and Albanians were hurled into a shallow grave. The battlefield looked frightful after a heavy rainfall because the Turkish mass grave collapsed, leaving the hands, feet and skulls of distorted bodies sticking out of the mud.

Devastated Villages

In Skopje, a returning Serbian officer explained quite seriously to me the justice of burning down eighty villages in Luma territory.
On 14 February, the Deutsches Volksblatt published a report from southern Hungary, warning: The Serbian government must come to realize that their official denials only serve to destroy Serbian credibility even further. We saw examples of such rallies following the murder of the king. At that time, the government solemnly and officially denied that King Alexander and Queen Draga had been murdered by the perjured officers, insisting instead that they had been quarrelling and had killed one another...
With regard to the Albanian massacres, it is extremely sad to note that the description of events which has filtered through to the public is indeed in full accord with the facts and has only one shortcoming, that it is incomplete. Many Serbs have confirmed the events themselves, often with great pride. Let it suffice for us to quote a statement made by someone who himself took part in the first stages of the war and who, though a Serb from the Kingdom, prefers to exercise his profession in southern Hungary for the moment, under Austrian 'oppression', in order to avoid as far as possible the 'cultural and religious liberality' reigning in his native land. This classic witness took obvious satisfaction in declaring that Serbian soldiers had ruthlessly mowed down whole groups of Albanian farmers, whose only 'crime' was that weapons had been found in their homes. When I expressed my astonishment at his statement, he replied placidly, "Should we have wasted our time escorting these people to some distant garrison town? It was much less work this way. We were then free and could go for a drink!" This pragmatic attitude seems to be extremely widespread among Serbian soldiers. An injured patient at a Belgrade hospital told a visitor, "We left the Turks alone but slaughtered the Albanian dogs wherever we could get our hands on them." Another indication is to be seen in the letter by a Serbian officer, published in the journal Magyarorszag, whose Balkan correspondent was Ivan Ivanovic, Austrian deserter and former head of the Royal Serbian Press Office. In this letter, the officer declares that, after the occupation of Monastir / Bitola, he had with his own eyes seen his soldiers seize ten Turkish men, women and children each and burn them alive. Such statements can be heard from all the Serbs returning from the war. To their misfortune, they have not read the official Serbian denials published in the foreign press...

* * *

An Albanian from near Skopje reported: "When we saw the Serbian soldiers approaching our village, everyone ran back home. I myself was not afraid and, wanting to get a look at the strangers, came out in front of the house. There they were already. I offered one of the soldiers a small coin. He struck me on the head and I fell to the ground, where the soldiers left me. Storming into the house, they murdered my mother and father, set the house on fire, and proceeded to slaughter everyone else. When I finally got back up on my feet, everything was in flames."
In Sefer in the region of Gjilan / Gnjilane, the Serbs set fire to a cottage and hurled its two elderly owners, who had not had time to flee, alive into the conflagration. They tied the hands of one man together, told him to run away, and then shot him as he ran off.
Varying explanations were given this month for the burning down of the following towns and villages: Limbishte, Koliq / Kolic, Tërpeza / Trpeza and Gjylekar / Djelekare. In the last three villages, everyone was slaughtered, including women and children.
In the village of Bobaj in the district of Gjakova / Djakovica, four Serbian soldiers who had been caught trying to rape the women, were beaten up. This was enough for a punitive expedition to be sent in and Bobaj was put to the torch. All the inhabitants were slaughtered. When they had finished their work, the soldateska came upon seventy Catholic Albanians from Nikaj, who were going to market. Here, too, the soldiers carried out their bloody handwork.
In Peja / Pec, Serbian soldiers carried off three women. The Montenegrins also carried off three girls.
In Luma territory, thirty-two communities were burnt to the ground, and anyone who was captured there was slain.
In Dibër / Debar, too, Serbian soldiers committed dreadful atrocities. They stole whatever they could get their hands on. Then fresh troops arrived and set twenty-four villages on fire, killing all the inhabitants...
In Prizren, the Catholic priest was not allowed to administer communion to the dying. Whoever approached the parish priest was brought before a military tribunal.

* * *

The following report was received from Durrës (Durazzo) on 6 March: Serbian troops have burnt the following villages to the ground: Zeza, Larushk, Monikla, Sheh and Gromni. In Zeza, twenty women and girls were locked in their homes and burnt alive.
The inhabitants of the village of Kruja-Kurbin have taken to the mountains, in order to save their lives, leaving behind all their possessions.

* * *

On 12 March, the Albanische Korrespondenz reported from Trieste: Letters from Tirana inform us that Serbian troops have recently been committing atrocities in the vicinity. The inhabitants of Kaza Tirana had offered accommodation to a unit of Albanian volunteers and given them food and drink. When the Serbian military commander got word of this, he had his troops encircle the village, whereupon all the houses, including the estate belonging to Fuad Toptani Bey, were burnt to the ground. Seventeen people died in the fire. Ten men and two women were executed.

The Serbs Are Also Murdering Christians

On 20 March, the Reichspost published a letter from Albania, reading as follows:

The parish priest of the sanctuary of Cernagora or Setnica, Don Tommaso, was robbed by Serbian soldiers of all the funds belonging to the church. The soldiers drew their bayonets, forced him to open the safe and took out all the money belonging to the pilgrimage site.
The parish priest of Gjakova / Djakovica was threatened with death. He was told, "Either you give up your links with the Austrian protectorate or we will roast your brains!" The courageous reaction of the priest blew the wind out of their sails, however.
For three months now, the Serbs have been hindering the parish priest of Ferizaj / Uroševac in his freedom to exercise his office. They have been jailing anyone who talks to him or who goes to mass or confession. The same thing has happened to two priests from Prizren.
All imaginable pressure has been exerted against the Catholics of Janjeva / Janjevo (four hundred families, almost all of whom are ethnic Slavs) to convert to the schismatic church.
For hundreds of years now, about 8,000 Catholics, so-called Laramans or secret Catholics, have been living in this archdiocese. Because of Turkish persecution, they did not profess their faith openly. When the Serbs arrived, several hundred of these Laramans wanted to declare openly that they were Catholic. When a representative of the new government got word of this, they were ordered, "Either Moslem or Orthodox. Not Catholic!"
Near the sanctuary of Letnica is the village of Shashare (ninety families, all of them Catholic). Serbian soldiers took the village, assembled the men on a field and tied them up with ropes. They then looted the homes and brutally raped the women and girls.
Countless Albanian Catholics have been murdered. In Ponoshec / Ponoševac, for instance, thirty men were slaughtered one day while they were going about their business in the village. Their only crime was to admit that they were Albanian Catholics.
Near Zhur / Žur, entire families of innocent Catholic tribesmen who had come down to Prizren to purchase salt, oil, sugar etc. were treacherously murdered on their way. The same thing happened near Gjakova / Djakovica where a further seventy Catholics from the parish of Nikaj were slaughtered. The Catholics are persecuted, whereas the native Orthodox are left alone.
In the vicinity of Dibër / Debar and Monastir / Bitola, as well as in Kosovo, many villages have now been burnt to the ground. The looting is unspeakable. It is sufficient to note that sheep are now being sold at a price of two francs each because nobody knows what to do with them all. So many have been stolen from the Albanians by the Serbs and Montenegrins.
They are now trying to stop us from speaking Albanian. A number of schools teaching Albanian have already been closed down.

The letter ends with the words, "May God have mercy upon us, and may Europe come and save us. Otherwise we are lost!"

* * *

In its issue of 21 March, the Neue Freie Presse reports: We have been told by informed sources that, according to recent reports, Catholics and Moslems are being persecuted both in the district of Gjakova / Djakovica and in the district of Dibër / Debar. Many deaths occur every day. The population has fled, leaving behind all their possessions. It is not only the Albanians who are the object of such persecution, but also Catholic and Moslem Slavs.

Slaughtered Priests

On 20 March, the Neue Freie Presse reported: On 7 March, the soldateska joined fanatic Orthodox priests in and around Gjakova / Djakovica to forcefully convert the Catholic population to the Orthodox faith. About 300 persons, men, women and children, among whom Pater Angelus Palic, were bound with ropes and forced under threat of death to convert. An Orthodox priest pointed to the soldiers standing by with their rifles in hand and said, "Either you sign the declaration that you have converted to the one true faith or these soldiers of God will send your souls to hell."
All the prisoners then signed the forms prepared for them which contained a declaration of conversion to the Orthodox faith. Pater Angelus was the last. He was the only one of them who had the strength, in a calm and dignified manner, to refuse to give up his faith. Pater Angelus stood by his word, even when ordered three times to convert and even when entreated by the other forcefully converted Catholics. The result was one of the most appalling scenes imaginable in twentieth-century Europe.
After a sign from the Orthodox priest, the soldiers fell upon the Franciscan, ripped off his tunic and began beating him with the butts of their rifles. Pater Angelus collapsed after several of his bones and ribs had been fractured. At this moment, the Orthodox priest stopped the soldiers and asked him if he was now willing to convert. Again he shook his head and said placidly, "No, I will not abandon my faith and break my oath." Pater Angelus was beaten with the rifle butts again until one of the soldiers plunged a bayonet through the priest's lungs and put an end to his suffering.

A Serbian Decree For More Bloodshed

A decree was issued to the local authorities in the district of Kruja in western Albania, reading: "If anything occurs in the future or if but one Serbian soldier is killed in the town, in a village or in the vicinity, the town will be razed to the ground and all men over the age of fifteen will be bayoneted." The decree was signed: Kruja, 5 January 1913. Commanding officer: A. Petrovic, Captain, first class.
Kruja is the birthplace of Scanderbeg, the national hero, whose castle still stands in the town. It is a place venerated by all Albanians!

Serbian Voices

The Deutsches Volksblatt reported on 8 February: The Serbian Minister of Culture and Education, Ljuba Jovanovic, has published a declaration in a Slav newspaper, stating: "The Moslems will of course be treated the same as everyone else with regard to their rights as citizens. As to their religious affairs, the Vakuf properties (belonging to religious foundations) will remain under Moslem jurisdiction and their monasteries will be held in the same respect as are the Christian ones. With the exception of the regular troops, the Moslems have not put up any resistance to Serbian occupation and, as a result, were not harmed by Serbian forces. The Albanians, for their part, have resisted the Serbian occupation and even shot at soldiers after having surrendered. Such shootings have taken place not only outdoors but also from within houses in occupied villages. This has led to what happens everywhere when non-combatants oppose a victorious army" (i.e. the massacre of the Albanians).
The Belgrade newspaper Piemont, which serves as the mouthpiece of radical circles within the army, dealt in its issue of 20 March with the problem of Shkodër (Scutari) and declared that Shkodër must fall to Montenegro. "If this does not happen," continued the newspaper, "the town must be razed to the ground."

Serbian Officers Boast of their Vile Deeds

The Albanische Korrespondenz reports from Durrës (Durazzo): The carnage perpetrated by the Serbs in Albania is outrageous. Serbian officers boast openly of their deeds. Serbian troops have acted infamously in Kosovo in particular. A Serbian officer reported here: "The womenfolk often hid their jewellery and were not willing to hand it over. In such cases, we shot one member of the family and, right away, were given all the valuables." Particularly shocking was the behaviour of the Serbs on Luma territory. The men were burnt alive. Old people, women and children were slaughtered. In Kruja, the birthplace of Scanderbeg, a good number of men and women were simply shot to death and many houses set on fire. The Serbian commander, Captain Petrovic, published an ukaz officially announcing the evil deeds. In Tirana, several Albanians were sentenced to corporal punishment. The Serbs thrashed the wretched individuals until they died. In Kavaja and Elbasan, people were also officially beaten to death by the soldiers. A well-known, respected and wealthy gentleman, son of a Turkish officer, was shot in Durrës (Durazzo). The Serbian command later made his sentence known by wall posters on which they wrote that he had been accused of theft and sentenced to death. The Serbs have destroyed Catholic churches, saying that they are Austrian constructions and must disappear from the face of the earth. Serbian soldiers and officers harass the population day and night.
A Serbian soldier was recently found murdered. The Serbian commander ordered the immediate arrest of five Albanians who had nothing to do with the murder and had them shot.

A Bloodbath in Shkodër (Scutari)

The Albanische Korrespondenz reports from Podgorica: After the battle of Brdica, which resulted in a sound defeat for the Serbs, Serbian forces entered the village of Barbullush on their retreat. The terrified inhabitants came out of their homes with crucifixes in their hands and begged for mercy, but to no avail. The crazed troops attacked the unarmed villagers and slaughtered men, women, old people and children. The maimed body of an eight-year-old child was found to contain no less than six bayonet wounds.

The Serbian Denials

In recent times, the Serbian government has countered most reports of atrocities with official denials. Such disavowals have always been issued promptly, but all too often they lacked any semblance of credibility. Such grave and detailed accusations cannot be repudiated by a simple statement that the events in question did not occur.
The present and by no means complete selection of reports from various sources, not only Austrian, but also Italian, German, Danish, French and Russian, should have more weight in any court of human justice than all the formal denials issued by the Royal Serbian Press Office.
In an official denial dated 8 February, the Serbian Press Office declared that, "Such atrocities alleged to have been perpetrated by the Serbian army are simply unthinkable today on the part of a people who are exceptionally religious and tolerant." We can only answer: An army whose officers assault their king and queen in the middle of the night, murder them, maim their corpses with fifty-eight sabre cuts and then throw them out the window is quite capable of such atrocities, in particular since the leader of the bloodbath which took place in the konak of Belgrade was none other than Colonel Popovic, one of the leaders of the Serbian attack on Albania and currently commander of Serbian occupation forces in Durrës (Durazzo).

Vienna 1913

More disinginuity from La Julia....

2007-11-22T17:10:00.000-06:00

In another of her "wonderful" POSts, La Julia quotes a travelblog by an English tourist who calls himself Russ_ell. Of course never mind that if you read the actual blog entry, it's mostly positive-that would never do for La Julia. No, she (as per S.O.B.) takes out of context some of Russ_ell's touristy musings, and uses them to once again try and drive home her (non-) points.

Pristina is almost without any overt Serb references - no Cyrillic, or serb wording - needless to say there is alot of English language with the heavy presence of the UN…and to a lesser extent (obviously at least) KFOR. The occasional mosque and minaret poking up through the skyline provides the clue as to the dominant religion. Ten years ago it would have been a very different place and it would have been interesting to appreciate the differences….but there is one last “monument”, or “recognition” of Serb Orthodoxy which is the shell of a once great Church standing in the vicinity of the library — surrounded by barbed wire…looking very lonely, isolated, ruined of its previous glory…like an aged, once great animal spending its last days in a zoo.

Now, if you'll go to Russ_ell's Prishtina page, you'll note there's a picture of the Church in question. 'Cept for it's not a "church", but a Cathedral-the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. And it's certainly not an "aged, once great animal" (unless you're counting dog or cat years), as it's construction was begun in 1993, and suspended when Serbia lost direct control of Kosova in 1999. And basically, all that was ever built in all that time was that outer shell. So no, it's not the burnt out husk of some great Serbian Orthdox cathedral, decimated by "Islamofascist" Albanian thugs (and in the opinion of La Julia, that's pretty much what all Albanians are to begin with....) but the shell of a NEVER FINISHED Cathedral.

Now I'm not getting down on Russ_ell for this-he's not a professional tourism writer, just a guy who likes to travel (though it would've been nice if he'd bothered to get the straight dope, instead of making assumptions....). So I can't really fault him. But I can and do fault "La Julia". I tend to suspect that despite telling herself "The Big Lie" for year upon year about her Serbian National(Social)ist buddies and the "horrors" they and they alone have supposedly suffered from all their neighbors, she really deep down inside knows the truth about the Cathedral (among other things). But hey, since when did a little thing like THE REAL TRUTH ever stop La Julia? In closing, let's all take a moment remember the immortal words of Dobrica Cosic.....

“We lie to deceive ourselves, to console others; we lie for mercy, we lie to fight fear, to encourage ourselves, to hide our and somebody else’s misery. We lie for love and honesty. We lie because of freedom. Lying ie is the trait of our patriotism and the proof of our innate smartness. We lie creatively, imaginatively, inventively.”

Obscene AND Absurd

2007-11-22T16:24:00.000-06:00

If folks like Svetlana Novko and La Julia are to be believed, the Serbian people are to the last man, woman, and child a pious, Christian people; daily churchgoers for sure. So of course there's no sex trade or sex industry in Serbia. Absolutely, positively not! Nopenopenope! No way, Josip! (And any claims to the contrary are all lies drummed up by Croatian Fascists and Bosnia and Albanian Nazi-lovin' Islamofascists!! ;-) )

(Warning: the links from the words "sex trade" and "sex industry" are most definitely NSFW!)

La Julia Sez: "The United States was in violation of the law by declaring independence from England!!"

2007-11-22T14:50:00.000-06:00

....well, not actually, but she might just have well said it. (It seems ironic that on this, one of the most quintessential American holidays, that I should be writing about something like this....) You see, La Julia (AKA Conservative blogger/"commedienne" Julia Gorin, for those new to the Blog), in her latest blog POSting, crows about how finally a member of the "MSM" is in agreement with her and all other "true believers", that it was those nasty Yugoslav republics like Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia, and not Slobodan Milosevic, who destroyed the de facto Greater Serbia known as the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and started the Balkan conflicts of the '90s by declaring independence, and worse yet, actually getting international recognition for their efforts! (Why the effrontery! Why, how dare they not recognise the right of a largely Serbian dominated Yugoslav government-or at least from the death of Tito on-in Belgrade to rule over them!?) It is equally ironic that the source for this "joy" (more like schadenfreude) on the part of La Julia comes from the main newspaper of one of the "capital cities" of the American Revolution (and the home to the oldest Albanian-American community in the US), the Boston Globe.

In any case, here is what the Globe editorial actually says on the subject:

While 20 of the EU's 27 members favor independence for Kosovo, nearly all dread a unilateral declaration. That prospect conjures up memories of Europe's careless acceptance of declarations of independence from Yugoslavia by Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia in the early 1990s. Those acts ushered in horrific wars and crimes against humanity.

Now, from that editorial, it's hard to tell for sure by the wording if the writer is blaming the former Yugloslav "republics" for the wars, the international community for daring to recognise the breakaway republics as independent countries (as was their right to become if they so desired under the Yugoslav constitution), or both. But the meaning to La Julia seems pretty clear:

Let the record show November 21, 2007 as the date that, for perhaps the first time in history since the 1990s Balkan wars, the mainstream American media has acknowledged that illegal acts of secession, hastily recognized by European nations, are what set off the Balkan wars. This is the first time I am seeing something other than, and in contradiction to, “Slobodan Milosevic set off the Balkan wars.”

Yep, pretty clear there, I'd say. First and foremost, in her opinion, it was Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia. "You nasty little Yugoslav republics! Bad, bad ex-Yugoslav republics! Why, how dare you declare your independence from Mother Serbia, er Yugoslavia!?" (Not surprisingly, there are many who decry the dissection of Yugoslavia who at the same time consider the "north" to be "bullies" for "daring" to allow themselves to be dragged into a war in order to keep the United States together, instead of allowing a bunch of uber-traditionalist, luddite plantation owners to have their own country where they'd be free to continue declaring a significant part of the population to be "3/5ths of a human being"-and that only for purposes of democratic representation.) Of course, never mind that Yugoslav republics did have the right of unilateral secession (contra La Julia), or that Macedonia and more recently Montenegro did just what Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia did-with no retribution whatsoever. Nope, it was those nasty republics that did it (not surprisingly, the three that most often come in for demonisation by Serbian National(Social)ists and their supporters). Milosevic cant be held responsible for his actions-he was just trying to keep those miscreant republics in line (and under Belgrade's thumb....)!

But of course, sane rational people whose thoughts and beliefs are dictated by reason and logic, as opposed to systematic dogmas (no real thinking needed-just add adrenline!) that try to give one a "position" to take on every single matter in the world know better. Slobo and "Yugoslavia" could have responded differently. The wars could have been prevented-not by the republics continuing to remain part of a federation (and before that a kingdom) they never really wanted any part of to begin with-but by Belgrade respecting their right to secede if they so desired.

Now, if you're wondering what all this has to do with the US, and it's right to secede from Great Britain, well, that's simple. What we did was an illegal act. No doubt about it. We had no permission to secede from George III or his parliament, nor any right whatsover to do it, unlike the former Yugoslav republics. We did it on our own. And even Ben Franklin himself knew this when he said 'we must hang together, or we will be pretty sure to hang separately.' But we did it anyway, to the benefit of not only ourselves, but the whole world. But if the Boston Globe and La Julia are to be believed, we were naughty for declaring our independence against the English, and France was naughty for "having our back". By that logic, it is the Union Jack that should be flying over this land today, not the Stars and Stripes.

Remeber that, as you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner (and by the way, a Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers!). And remember also that Turkeys are for eating, not for listening to. ;-)

JTF.org

2007-11-18T10:05:00.000-06:00

OK, I can hear somebody right now saying or thinking, "Peshku, why the hell are you bothering worrying about a bunch of nobodies like these guys? Someone "high profile" like Julia Gorin or Michael Savage I can understand, but these losers??" Well, let me say that even organisations like the ADL (IMO, we need an Albanian version of that, and have for some time) and The Southern Poverty Law Center monitor hate groups and Haters even less "significant" than JTF, Why? Because you can never take it for granted that people will see such groups and persons for the nutjobs they are. Also, because some of the most evil movements ever to threaten the peace and safety of the world started out as a few "nutjobs" getting together to bitch about what was pissing them off in their country and in the world, and to something about it-usually by force. The Nazis started out as six disgruntled German vets meeting in a bar.

So who or what is JTF? JTF stands for "Jewish Task Force". (The original name of the organisation was "Jewish Task Force on Media Bias".) They are an offshoot of Martin "Meir" Kahane's "JDL" (Jewish Defense League), an organisation that advocated Jewish people using indiscriminate violence to defend themselves and eliminate anti-semitism. Most notably, the the JDL was hugely racist, especially against Arabs and African-Americans (though for some reason Italian-American Catholics-esp. those who happened to be mafiosi-they didn't seem to have a problem with....). The JTF was founded in 1998 by and is today lead by a former JDL leader named Victor Vancier, better known to most today as "Chaim Ben Pesach". Vancier, who resembles both in facial appearance and dress the younger version (John Megna) of the Hyman Roth character from Godfather Part II, is a convicted terrorist, among other things. His organisation, like the one it is an offshoot from, is one that advocates violence and indiscriminate law breaking, is racist (one must admit, the idea of "Jewish White Supremicists" is one that kind of boggles the mind!), islamophobic, and has a long list of people and countries that they spew hate-filled invectives, including now Albania, all the Albanian-inhabited lands of the Balkans, and the Albanian people themselves. They have a standard organisation, a website, and produce videos that are aired on local public access in New York City, as well as are shown on youtube.

Of course, part of the reason for why they have so viciously targeted Albanians is doubtless because they have chosen to buy into the patently un-true myth that Albanians are by definition Muslims (though even if it were true, that would still be no justification, of course). But part of it is also because, in the true tradition of other bizzare alliances and collaborations, they have bought into the Serbian National(Social)ist lies that Serbs were the only ones to resist the Nazis in the Balkans, and the only ones to save Jews, and hence have joined their "side". Among other things, the JTF have moved on from making videos where they are "merely" demonising the Albanian people in opposition to the Serbs re: Kosova, to videos where Albanians and Albania are the exclusive targets of vicious harangues, including one where Vancier expressedly called for the abolition of the Albanian state, and the deportation of all Albanians to either Turkey or Saudi Arabia.

Now you still may ask: "Why bother with these jokers?" And my answer to that has been, and is: Because they advocate violence. Because they advocate the dismantling of the Albanian state, and the deportation of Albanians in the Balkans to Saudi Arabia or Turkey. Because they advocate mindless hate towards Albanians, based on lies, distortions, and half-truths. Because people need to know, no matter how "small" and "insignificant" they are. To me, so much as one "innocent" person falling victim to their propaganda and believing their garbage is one person too many, and so if this informational post, like my others on similar personages and groups, can save one person from being deluded by their lies, then I consider my time well spent.

Before I close, I am going to post a few of their more vitriolic Anti-Albanian videos. See for yourself. Be enlightened, so you won't be deceived!

And here's a few examples of their racism for good measure....

A dialogue on Conservatives, Serbs, and Albanians

2007-11-17T18:16:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm afraid I didn't get much response to my posting last weekend asking why it seems that for so many "Conservatives", being Pro-Serb and Anti-Albanian is part and parcel of being a "true" Conservative. But one response I did get, from a Croatian Serb blogger who grew up in England named Alan Jaksic, I found particularly interesting, and so I decided to post it here, as well as my response to the writer's points.

****************************************

Alan Jakšić said...
Hi there Peshkatari, or Mirdita!
Dobro Dan, Alan. :) (I think that's how you say "miredita" in Serbo-Croatian.)

I'm the writer of the Balkan Anarchist blog, which you can visit here.

Thank you for the link. I must give you credit-you do write an interesting and articulate blog. I'm somewhat familiar with Anarchism, thanks both to a lifelong interest in politics, as well as being involved in my local hardcore punk scene for a time about 25 years ago. I can't say that I honestly support anarchism (though I've known many fine folks who support and advocate it), but that's because after 46 years of living on this planet, I've seen enough to more than convince me that human beings are nowhere even near ready to handle such a concept.

I've been to your blog before, and you present lots of realistic views and opinions. However, what I find rather unpalattable is your far-reaching condemnation of the pro-Serb side when it comes to Kosovo, or Kosova as you call it.

Thank you for the kind compliments! I do need to say that actually, if you've read my blog entries throughly, you've probably noticed that in reality, I've written very little about the Kosova (I trust you will not mind me refering to it as such, as that is I am comfortable with and used to, just as I would would expect you to refer to it as "Kosovo") independence issue. To wit, to the best of my recollection, I have only a couple of times explicitly addressed the matter of Kosova independence in this blog. While I most definitely do support independence, my advocacy on behalf of that matter is not the primary focus of this blog. Rather, its purpose has been, from the "get-go", to refute slanders, lies, and half-truths against the Albanian people as a people, as perpetrated by various Serbian (and Greek) Nationalists and their supporters, as well as hypocritical and disingenous manipulations of both evidence and arguments by them designed to make out the Serbian (and/or Greek) people to be wholly "angelic" in comparison to the "evil", "barbaric", "nazi-islamo-fascistic" Albanian-an effort that I honestly believe goes far beyond a "mere" attempt to sway opinion on Kosova independence.

Something else I should point out: I have always tried to make clear that I feel there's a difference between "The Serbs" (or "Normal Serbs", as my occasional contributor Francois refers to them) and "Serbian Nationalists". I do not believe that all Serbs are Nationalists; in fact, I know this is not the case. Which is why I have even made positive posts on Serbs who are trying to escape/working against "the old hatreds" and Nationalism. On the rare occcasion when I do use the term "The Serbs", it is usually meant to reflect the point of view of the "Haters", rather than my own, since they seem quite unable, or more likely unwilling, to differentiate between "Serbs" and "Serb Nationalists". Such was the case of the title of the post you responded to, in fact (something I should have made clearer, but evidently erroniously assumed I didn't need to).

Ok, some of the protagonists of that camp may say things that are either factually incorrect or perhaps convey facts in an incorrect manner. But those members of the public who oppose Kosovo independence, however much you may personally justify it, do deserve some form of decent representation at the very least. And there are moderate advocates out there who do just that without having to apologising for Milosevic. Do have a look.

All due respect Alan, but I think you are putting it waaay too mildly when you say "some of the protagonists of that camp may say things that are factually incorrect or perhaps convey facts in an incorrect manner". I trust you have visited at least some of the websites and blogs of the "Haters", such as Svetlana Novko or Julia Gorin? If you have, then surely you have seen how practically all of them have tried to demonise the Albanians as a nation, i.e. as a people. Finding stories about Albanians engaged in any sort of misdeed, even half a world away, and making it out like "they're all like that", refering to the Albanian people as a people as being "beasts" and worse isn't just "saying things that are factually incorrect" or "conveying facts in an incorrect manner"; it's a cold, calculated attempt by way of using misinformation, "spin", and half-truths to foster misunderstanding, mistrust, and even downright hatred of an ethnic group en toto!

To answer your other point, I have never said that the Serbian government or Serbs (Nationalist or not) have no right to have their "side of the issue" represented. As a strong free speech advocate, I am a firm believer in both sides being able to express their take on that matter, or all sides on any matter to begin with. (And no, being opposed to Kosova independence does not make one a priori a "Hater" in my book, BTW.) And there may well be relatively "moderate" arguments out there for why Kosova should remain a part of Serbia forevermore. But all of them overlook, IMO, two things. One is history. The oppression and violence that took place under Milosevic was not the first time Albanians had suffered such things on the instigation of Belgrade. I'm sure you're aware of Aleksander Rankovic's using his post to conduct an ongoing vendetta against the Albanians of Yugoslavia (part of why Tito eventually sacked him in 1966), the mass killings of Albanians who resisted Communism in the Drenica Valley in 1945-46, and of course the attempts at outright genocide during the First and Second Balkan Wars. The other is political reality. Let's be honest: No matter what promise Belgrade makes, it could be swept away (and probably would be) in a heartbeat should the Stranka Radikala gain a majority of seats in parliament, and thus the primeminister's office. As long as a good many of the Serbian electorate still view Seslj and Nikolic, Karadzic and Mladic as heroes, and the SRS as potential national saviors, no Albanian within the bounds of Kosova can feel safe as long as it remains even nominally a part of Serbia, no matter what is promised.

And why add "New Serbian Optimism" to your list of haters? Ok, I've seen the YouTube video on their site, and let me assure you that I don't agree with everything worded in that film. But that is a site devoted to bolstering the positive side of Serbia in the world of sport; there's nothing wrong with "tooting Serbia's horn", as you put it, "over any sort of sport achievement". That's the best way to promote any country and nation!

Two reasons I added New Serbian Optimism to the Haters list. The first, as you rightly guessed, is the disingenous video Moler (the blogger who's blog that is) did on why Kosova is an illegitimate version of the Serbian name "Kosova". By his argument, the name London for the capital city of the UK is also illegitimate, since it is a corruption of the Roman name "Londinium", and means nothing in the English language. What he overlooks (deliberately IMO) is that Kosova is the proper way to say "Kosovo"-according to the rules of the Albanian language. (But then, I suspect if you asked him, he would likely say, like Seslj, that Albanians living in Serbia should speak only Serbian, and in fact, should identify culturally and ethnically as Serbs only. ;-) )

The other is because he, like Svetlana Novko of Byzantine Sacred Art Blog, takes such an over-the-top, "in your face, world!" attitude when "tooting" that aforementioned "horn". To be honest, I'd find it annoying even if I was totally neutral on Balkan affairs or Kosova/Kosovo. And no, I have no problem per se with a people being proud of their nation's or countrymen's sporting achievements-but like a lot of Americans, I find such hubristic trumpeting of it to be distasteful at the very least.

I notice where you mention in the article how you first heard from the "Pro-Serb/Anti-Albanian Conservative" crowd only in 2004. May I remind you that 2004 was the year in which the 17th March pogrom in Kosovo took place, followed later in that year by the November presidential elections in America between George Bush and John Kerry, who basically gave his support for an independent Kosovo. So it's not surprising that the anti-independence voice started to become louder at that time.

Yes, but as I said, I later discovered that at least a few of the "Haters" on the "right" were active well before that point-including people like Gorin and Feder. Also, I have real problems with calling the violence that took place in Kosova after the drowning deaths of the three lads in the Ibar a "pogrom", since usually a pogrom is a deliberate, well planned and organised act of racial/ethnic violence. And while there does appear to be evidence that some of the violent acts that took place at that time by Albanians were instigated by opportunistic political groups, taking advantage of a high tension situation where all the facts were not yet "in" at the time, a good bit of it also appears to have been a spontanious response. (Note: However much I may understand the emotions that were running through the Albanian community in Kosova at the time, I denounced then and continue to denounce the violent reaction to the incident, especially in light of the fact that all of the facts surrounding the incident were not yet known at the time. IMO, it was both a horrific thing from a moral standpoint, and a counterproductive thing from a practical/political one.)

You ask why so many Conservatives support Serbia and the Serbs, in your opinion, "so vociferously". I say why not, why not support Serbia and the Serbs? Is it a criminal offence to oppose Kosovo independence? I certainly don't think so. And is it so wrong to support a nation that, let's face it, has been so manipulated and grossly mislead by its many idiotic leaders during the 1990s, like the one mentioned above and the one you mention here? I think precisely such a people, like the Serbs, deserve and actually need, hear me out, need the support of other nations, even if some of its own members clearly don't deserve it.

To reiterate, I do not consider myself to be "Anti-Serb" or "Anti-Serbian", and I do differentiate between "Serbs" and "Serb Nationalists". And when I used the term "Pro-Serb", I meant to have that understood as representing the viewpoint of the "Haters"; that THEY see THEMSELVES as "Pro-Serb" and "Pro-Serbian", and not simply "Pro-Serbian Nationalist". And I have no problem with Europe, "The West", etc. trying to support those whose vision for Serbia is one of a country that is fully integrated with the rest of Europe on all levels. But that is not what the "Haters" are supporting-in many cases, they are voiciferously and vehemnently opposed to it, as should be obvious to anyone reading their writings. They do not support "Serbia", they support "Serbian Nationalism". And that issue goes back far further into history than Milosevic or Seslj. It's a legacy that goes back at least to Ilia Garasanin, if not even further.

You condemn those who are "pro-Serb" and "anti-Albanian". Instead, how about you ask yourself, and your readers in turn, do you have to be "anti-Serbian" to be "pro-Albanian"?

To answer your question in short, no. But to be honest, I see a lot less polemic coming from Albanian sites and blogs (in fact virtually none) against the Serbs as a people in comparison to the hate-filled rants I see from Serbian bloggers towards Albanians as a people. Everybody in the Balkans has baggage to overcome before there is a chance for peace to "break out", but I'll be both blunt and honest: IMO, I think the Serbian and Grecian peoples have a lot more of that work ahead of them than the Albanians do.

I certainly ain't anti-Albanian myself, I can tell you that for sure.
Do visit my website when you can Peshkatari. I hope to write and post a decent and balanced article on Kosovo soon. And please don't add me to your list of haters, 'cause I don't hate any nation under the sun.

Alan, I have no intention of putting you or your blog on the "Haters" list :-), and I do believe you when you say you're not "Anti-Albanian" (I highly doubt you would have greeted me in Albanian if you were!). And you are welcome to post a response to things here anytime. We may not agree on certain things, but at least you are a reasonable voice-and I can deal with reasonable disagreements a lot better and easier than I can unreasonable ones!

A Question: Why Do So Many "Conservatives" Seem to feel being Pro-Serb/Anti-Albanian is a Mandatory Part of being a "True" Conservative?

2007-11-10T13:05:00.000-06:00

Today, I'd like to try something a little different on the ol' ARC: A little "audience participation", as it were. Specifically, I'd like to get your thoughts and opinions on why it seems that so many so-called "Conservatives" consider being Pro-Serb and Anti-Albanian to be a mandatory part of being a Conservative. The reason I'm asking is because, if you've ever noticed, most of the haters out there, from La Julia and Don Feder, to "policy analyst" Mary Mostert, to Michelle Malkin, Michael Savage, Michael Reagan, most of the folks who frequent Free Republic, "new media" news sites like FrontPageMag, WorldNetDaily, etc. seem to be all Conservative Republicans or tend to represent that point of view. Now, mind you, there are some Conservatives who are on our side, like Bill O'Reilly (and IIRC, Sean Hannity too, though I can't remember for sure if he is or not), and some Conservative bloggers, like Patrick Poole. But by and large, most Conservatives seem to have a "Why, of course!" attitude towards the fact that they are Pro-Serb and Anti-Albanian, like it's an automatic given.

Now, I've been following Kosova since before I even got involved with the Albanian community, so I'm pretty aware of how things have developed over the past 15 years or so, both over there proper, and in other areas like political support for and against intervention in the situation that existed from '89 to '99. And I remember quite clearly that when we decided to intervene in the situation there, most of those opposed to it (or at least the most vocal) were far lefties like Jared Israel of emperors-clothes.com, and various "peace movement" types, all of whom the Serbian lobby courted quite fastidiously. There were a few "righties" out there, like La Julia, Feder, and the "freepers", who even back then were writing in opposition to it, either on "libertarian" non-interventionist grounds, or putting forth the old "The Serbs were our friends in two World Wars, and the Albanians have never been anything to us" argument, but they were a very small and easily ignored percentage of the voices out there (in fact, Pro-Serb/Anti-Albanian Conservative support didn't even hit my radar until about 2004). Most "Conservative" politicians, IIRC, supported intervention in Kosova back in '99. But something happened in between '99 and now. While there are still folks like Jared Israel and his buds out there still agitating for Serbia, and trying to defend the ghost of Milosevic, the majority of voices out there trying to derail Kosova independence, esp. in the "new media" and "blogosphere" are mostly Conservative/Republican.

Now all this makes me want to ask: "Why?" I mean, what is it about the Serbian/Albanian situation in the Balkans, both today and in history, or more the point, the Serbs and Albanians as peoples, that seems to make most Conservatives these days come out in support of the Serbs? I understand the "religion thing" is a part of it: After all, approximately 70% of all Albanians are Muslim. But that neglects two things: First, that Muslims, like Christians and Jews, are hardly uniform in all beliefs and practices. And Second, that 30% of all Albanians are Christian. Is it culture? It's hard to understand if it's from that point. Albanians have been famous for centuries for their independent spirit, industriousness, willingness to fight for what they believe in, strong families, hospitality, loyalty to friends, and the fact that like most Americans define themselves as American first, then a member of whatever religion they've chosen, most Albanians define themselves as Albanian first, then whatever religion they belong to. Those are all values that to the best of my knowledge are shared by most Conservatives.

So I'm hoping that some of you might put forth some opinions on exactly why so many Conservatives support Serbia and the Serbs so voiciferously. I'd especially like to hear from any readers who consider themselves "Conservative", since obviously they'd be likely to have the best insight into the matter. Now discuss! :)

At Last!

2007-11-07T18:04:00.001-06:00

The TRUE face of Serbian
National(Social)ism!

There aren't too many living human beings I can honestly say I really and truly hate, but the sub-human piece of filth pictured above is at the top of the list. Voijslav Seslj, who unfortunately is considered by many Serbs even today to be one of the greatest of their people to ever "grace" the planet with it's presence, is finally, nearly five years after it surrendered to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, going on trial for war crimes. If Slobo was "Hitler", this miserable POS was Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, and Adolf Eichmann all rolled into one. The one difference between him and Slobo is that while Slobo was crafty and careful to conceal his National(Social)ism with carefully crafted weasel words and actions, Seslj has been-in the true "more balls than brains" fashion of his kind-quite upfront about what he believes in, his goals, and his ultimate ambitions. Of course, that will be what ultimately hangs this fucker, despite his hubristic assumptions to the contrary. All else that I'll say is: Hope you enjoy your stay at the "Hague Hilton", Voijslav. You'll be there for a long, long time, bitch. :D

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7082309.stm

Serb accused at war crimes trial

The Serbian ultra-nationalist leader, Vojislav Seselj, has been accused of inciting forces with "poisonous ideas" at the start of his war crimes trial.

Prosecutors at The Hague said speeches he made during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990s led to the murder, torture and persecution of non-Serbs.

Mr Seselj, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, has denied the charges.

He has said he will rely on a political defence and use the tribunal to show there is a conspiracy against Serbia.

Mr Seselj surrendered to the ICTY voluntarily in February 2003, vowing to clear his name of three charges of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, including persecution, deportation, murder and torture.

However, he remained the figurehead of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) while awaiting trial and was elected one of its members of parliament in the January 2007 election.

The SRS subsequently became the biggest party in parliament, but was kept out of power by a coalition of reform-orientated parties.

'Unspeakable crimes'

Dressed in a dark suit and flanked by two guards, the 53-year-old appeared relaxed and confident at the start of his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

In her opening statement, prosecutor Christine Dahl accused the former close associate of the late Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, of making several inflammatory speeches calling for the creation of a "Greater Serbia".

The destruction of her community, her life, her family exemplifies the product of the belligerent, bellicose nationalism propagated by the accused
Prosecutor Christine Dahl

She said hundreds of people were tortured and killed by Serb forces, who had been recruited or indoctrinated by Mr Seselj with "poisonous ideas" and sent to commit "unspeakable crimes" in Bosnia and Croatia.

Ms Dahl then told the story of a Bosnian Muslim woman who was raped by Serbs and whose husband and two young children were killed.

"The destruction of her community, her life, her family exemplifies the product of the belligerent, bellicose nationalism propagated by the accused," she told the tribunal's three judges.

Both he and Milosevic planned to ethnically cleanse large parts of the former Yugoslavia, Ms Dahl alleged, "but while Milosevic would not dare call aloud for the liberation of Serb territory, Seselj would, and did".

VOJISLAV SESELJ

1954: Born in eastern Herzegovina

1984: Jailed for criticising Communists

1990: Sets up Serbian Radical Party (SRS)

1991: Elected to Serbian Assembly

1993: Forces dissolution of Serbian parliament

1999: Resigns as vice-president in Serbian Government

2002: Stands in Serbian presidential elections

2003: Indicted by UN war crimes tribunal

2007: War crimes tribunal opens at The Hague

"In the end, Mr Seselj did not achieve a Greater Serbia. He only managed to achieve a lesser Serbia, and gave the world the phrase 'ethnic cleansing'," she added.

The defendant chuckled when the prosecutor recounted the story of his dismissive reaction when he was told of atrocities committed by one of his volunteers.

"What can I do, he's tired - take his guns and send him home," Ms Dahl quoted him as saying.

Mr Seselj, who like Milosevic is acting as his own lawyer and displays contempt for the court, does not deny making nationalist speeches, but insists they do not constitute war crimes.

"I am being tried for atrocious war crimes that I allegedly committed through hate speech as I preached my nationalist ideology that I am proud of," he said at a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday.

"I have no other involvement in these crimes except for what I said or wrote."

He is due to make his opening statement on Thursday.

Mr Seselj's trial began a year ago, but was almost immediately stopped when he went on a hunger strike for 28 days to push various demands, including that he be able to defend himself.

Other key war crimes suspects, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief, Gen Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

Milosevic died in detention in The Hague in March 2006 before his war crimes trial ended.

Political rhetoric

The BBC's Nick Hawton in Belgrade says Mr Seselj still has influence over political developments in Serbia.

MPs from his party turn up to debates wearing t-shirts or badges with his face emblazoned on them.

The SRS may not be in power, but political stability in Serbia is fragile and with the sensitive issue of Kosovo still to be resolved and a presidential election expected in the next two months, the party could benefit from the trial of their leader, our correspondent says.

Serbian state television has agreed to broadcast substantial parts of the trial, which is expected to last for about a year.

Many people will watch, either for the political rhetoric that Mr Seselj is sure to produce, or for the colourful and dismissive language that he employed in many of the pre-trial hearings, our correspondent adds.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7082309.stm

Published: 2007/11/07 15:14:43 GMT

© BBC MMVII

More on Jews, Albanians, and the Holocaust

2007-11-05T22:13:00.000-06:00

I'm sure people like our "friends" Carl Savich and La Julia will do their best to try to debunk this, but for those of us who actually live in the real world, and aren't into the latest in "tin-foil" fashion, this article and others like it should bring a warmth to our hearts, and a joy to our souls. L'Chaim! :)

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Sheltered from the Nazis in Albania

Greer Fay Cashman , THE JERUSALEM POST

Nov. 3, 2007

Albania was the only country in Europe in which there were more Jews after the war than there had been before the war, American photographer Norman Gershman said on Thursday at Yad Vashem.

He spoke at the opening of his exhibition honoring Muslim Albanians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

Gershman, who is Jewish, and who lives and works in Aspen, Colorado, has spent four years traveling the length and breadth of Albania to photograph families who provided a haven for Jews during the Holocaust years.

Before the war, there were only 200 Jews in Albania in a total population of 800,000. After the war, there were many more, with refugees from some half dozen other European countries.

King Zog himself saved the Weizmann family from Vienna, who fled to Albania after 1938's Kristallnacht, said Gershman, who managed to track the Weizmanns down in New York, where they now live.

Gershman on principle does not photograph wars or violence. What he looks for is the good in humanity. He is not necessarily an advocate for the Muslims of Albania, he said. "It's all about good people." He is greatly concerned about the growing paranoia in the world with regard to Muslims. "They think that all Muslims are terrorists - and that's crazy," he said.

Five years ago, he approached the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in New York, about doing a project. They told him what little they knew about Albanian rescues. He said he wanted to do it, but they didn't have sufficient information. They referred him to Yad Vashem, which gave him access to its archives, and in turn referred him to the Israel-Albania Friendship Association, which is largely made up of Holocaust survivors rescued by Albanians.

The association in turn referred Gershman to the Albania-Israel Friendship Association and from there he was able to trace many people who had been involved in rescue operations, or in the case of those who had died in the interim, he learned the stories from their families, whose members he photographed.

Among those he photographed was Enver Alia Sheqer, whose late father, Ali Sheqer Pashkaj, rescued Yeoshua Baruchowic from a Nazi convoy, sent him into the forest to wait until the Nazis moved on, and then hid him for two years in his home, until the war was over.

Baruchowic, who today is a dentist in Mexico, came to Jerusalem for the opening of the exhibition. So did Sheqer. It was their first meeting, and it gave Baruchowic the opportunity to once again tell the story of the senior Sheqer's quiet heroism.

Albanian Charge d'Affaires Qirjako Kureta made the point that there was not a single instance in which Albanians accepted compensation for saving Jews. "Albanian was the only country in which Jews were not victims," he said, noting that Albanians had refused to comply with Nazi orders. They neither gave up their Jews nor supplied the Germans with names of Jews in their villages.

As a result, every Jew in Albania was saved.

The attitude of the Albanians derives from a philosophy called Besa. "It is a virtue that has characterized the Albanian people for centuries. It means faith and trust," said Kureta, adding that Albanians saw Jews as fellow human beings who needed shelter. Jews did not live in ghettoes in Albania, he said, but were integrated into the population.

Although the Jewish community in Albania was very small, Jews were not strangers there. The first Jews came to Albania 2000 years ago, said Kureta, who said both nations were small countries "with more history than geography."

Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadle said that he was very moved by the exhibition. History was full of stories of war and inhumanity and people being killed, but the worst was the Shoah, he declared, "because the objective of the Holocaust was the extermination of a whole people."

Yet despite the horrors and brutality, he said, there were rays of light in the efforts to save Jews from the fate that the Nazis had in mind for them. The story of the Muslims who rescued Jews in Albania following the Nazi conquest in 1943 was a wonderful example of humanity and respect for the dignity of man, the minister said. "It deflates all that is said by those who would deny the Holocaust."

Muslims and Jews lived together in honor and dignity without compromise of values on either side during the Golden Age of Spain, said Majadele. "Jews and Muslims can live together in harmony and peace in the Middle East. We have to join hands and do our utmost to make that happen, with security for Israel and hope for the Palestinians so that we can once more be an example to the whole world. We must fight against ideologies of hatred."

Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev read an extract from a letter by a Holocaust survivor who wanted their family's rescuers to be recognized as Righteous among the Nations. "They may not have been educated on the heritage of Goethe and Schiller, but they attached the greatest importance to human life," the survivor wrote.

Yehudit Shendar, the curator of the Gershman exhibition, announced that it had been chosen to be the next exhibit at United Nations headquarters in New York, for International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January.

Serbian National(Social)ist porn!

2007-11-03T23:52:00.000-05:00

Well, not exactly porn in the "normal" sense, but it's sure as hell obscene! It's nice to see that despite their claims that they don't want "Veljika Srbija" (Greater Serbia), that the (as usual) more-balls-than-brains Serbian National(Social)ists can still be counted upon to make their TRUE intentions blatantly obvious for all to see. Enjoy your sick and perverse little wet-dream, guys....your video is about as close as you'll ever get to seeing it happen for real. :D

Something YOU can do!

2007-11-03T23:42:00.000-05:00

Last week, blogsupporter jamsjam made a posting on the albanian.com webboards urging people to flag as "hate speech" any videos people come across on youtube that are Anti-Albanian, an idea this blog wholeheartedly supports. While I fully support free speech, and don't believe that the government should be in the business of censorship, youtube is a private business, and in fact has set up within it's structure the means to flag videos that are in any way offensive.

Now, I'm not expecting or wanting folks to waste their whole day away hunting down offensive videos, but if you're on youtube, and you come across something that presents blatant (or even not so blatant) lies about the Albanian people, their history, their culture, or that advocates harm to Albanians, the abolition of Kosova or the Albanian state proper, etc., then please do yourself (and me) a favor, and flag it as hate speech. It's not hard to do, and literally only takes a couple of seconds. Thanks! :)

How to "fisk" a Feder

2007-11-03T19:05:00.000-05:00

The following is the "fisking" I did in late 2004 in an online discussion group I belong to of a piece by one of the staunchest of the "Haters", Don Feder. (The original piece can be found here.) Feder, a former Boston Herald columnist, is, shall we say, known for his rather dogmatic and extreme opinions, as well as his lack of diplomacy. Google him sometime-you'll find the results interesting, to say the least. Because of when I wrote the original "fisking", some things have changed since then, and so I've made a few changes-none of which substantially changes the points I originally made-as well as a few notations too.

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KOSOVO: THE WAR DEMOCRATS LOVED
By Don Feder

There was a
little war of which Democrats are exceedingly fond -
so much so that they're still bragging about it five
years later. It's a conflict that didn't involve allegations of
weapons of mass destruction.

So? Is that the only reason we should become militarily involved somewhere?

The nation we subjugated wasn't a sponsor of international terrorism.

No, just death and destruction for a race of people they didn't like, who were legal citizens of their "empire".

(this time we fought for the terrorists)

Interesting. To me (and most people), a "terrorist" is a person or group that deliberately uses violence and intimidation on the civilian part of a populace. I've never seen any examples from credible, non-biased source or sources that shows that the UÇK leadership ever ordered any sort of systematic attacks on the Serbian, Roma, or other non-Albanian civilian segments of the Kosovar population from the time they were formed in 1996 to their official disbanding in 1999, the way during that time (and before) that the MUP (Interior Ministry Police) and local police were engaging in such actions against Albanian civilians. Or perhaps Mr. Feder is defining the term the way most governments do-that anyone who opposes the "lawful" rule of the reigning government in question is a "terrorist". In which case, everything from the Continental Army to Partisans fighting the Nazis in WWII is/was a "terrorist" organisation (and many such groups like them have indeed been labeled such by the powers that be).

It wasn't remotely related to national security.

Does saving a people who were begging us (and had been begging us even before the Dayton Accords) to be saved from potential annihilation have to be related to national security? I would have thought Oswiczim and Bergen-Belsen would have settled that argument forever.

And the justification for our intervention turned out to be a complete fabrication.

Baloney. I've been following this issue closely since 1993, long before most people (or at least those who aren't Albanian or Serbian) had ever heard of the region. I think Mr. Feder needs to read some real history sometime: About how the Socialist Yugoslav government tried to wipe out Albanians who resisted their rule right after WWII; about how the Serbs tried to wipe them out during the First Balkan War; about how even after the province had been given "semi-autonomous" status in '74, that Albanians still had to put up with substandard institutions and second-class citizenship (which lead to the spring riots of 1981), because it was really Belgrade that still held the reins of power. He needs to read sometime about how Albanians in the early 90's went to bed in fear, hoping that they wouldn't hear a knock on the door from the local police, or even worse, the Interior Ministry Police. And how if they did, they hoped they would be alive the next day to tell the tale after their "questioning" down at the station. And he needs to read about Drenicë, Raçak, or Krushë Vela, among other things.

For 78 days in 1999, we bombed Christian Yugoslavia
(our ally in two World Wars)

Hmmm....which "Yugoslavia" are we talking about here? The "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes"? The post war Tito state? I'm not aware that either was "officially" Christian, especially not the Tito and post-tito states. And both incarnations contained Muslim citizens (some Albanians, Bosniaks, and some Serbian Muslims and Gorani, too). And as for our ally in two World Wars? Well, there was no "Yugoslavia" in WWI. There was a "Serbia", and we aligned with more or less "by default" with them rather than they with us, largely because they "stood up" to the big, bad Austro-Hungarian Empire (and actually, it was a gang of Serb revolutionaries, lead by Gavrilo Princip, who started the whole damned thing by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife). And Yugoslavia in WWII was "busted up" into their constituent "republics" by the Nazis, all of which were Nazi puppet states (yes, we did fight with Yugoslav partisans, but most of the Chetnik bands were royalist and many, like that lead by the "great" Drazha Mihailovic, were willing to collaborate with the Nazis just as much as they were with us, too). So "Yugoslavia" was not our "ally" in two world wars, for the simple reason that it did not exist during either of them. Or is Mr. Feder equating "Yugoslavia" with "Serbia". If so, that is very telling....for that is precisely what Serbian Nationalists today do.

to aid Moslem separatists

The UÇK has never identified itself with religion, it's members have never been exclusively Moslem (there were Catholic Kosovar Albanians fighting in the organisation, as well as well as non-Albanian, non-Moslem volunteers), and in any case, Albanians are the only people in the Balkans (with the possible exception of the Roma) who never have identified themselves by religion to begin with. Even the Yugoslav government during the Kosova situation (including the NATO action) never characterised them as an Islamic-based organisation.

who were tight with Osama bin Laden.

I've never seen any reliable information to this effect. All the stories to this effect that I've seen have either had their origin in Serbian sources (surprise, surprise), or poor intellegence and/or biased/dubious outside sources. To the best of my knowledge, UÇK rejected working with the Mujahideen (unlike the Bosniak forces) because they did not want to be beholden to any sort of Islamic fundamentalist organisation. They clearly saw Kosova's future as being with the West, not the East. Kosovars have even rejected help from Saudi and other sources as far as rebuilding mosques and the like goes, as the times they did naively accept help, the organisations in question rebuilt things to Wahabi specifications, rather than recreate the original design and ambience of the building in question. Bin Laden and his outfit evidently had a presence in the Balkans from the mid 90's onward, but there is no-0-no evidence to suggest that he, Al-Qaeda, and UÇK ever cooperated, or made any deals with one another.

Ever since, NATO has occupied its sovereign territory - with disastrous
results.

If NATO/KFOR's results have been "disasterous", it has been more because of their incompetence in handling the situation than anything else. (Though the unsettled status of the region, not to mention the hard-headness on some of the folks on both sides, hasn't helped much.)

Appearing on CNN's "Late Edition" in August, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
offered her husband's 1999 adventure, over the ancient province of Kosovo,

Ancient? I wonder if Mr. Feder ever has tried to read any real history. The only time it's been a "province" by that name (or usually Kosovo-Metohija) has been in the 20th century. For 500 years before that, it was comprised of 4 Ottoman villyets, or administrative regions, and before that it was simply a region known usually as "Metohija", due to the large number of churches built there during the Nemanjid Dynasty.

as evidence that Democrats are better at fighting wars than Republicans. (I would have thought Korea and
Vietnam proved that conclusively.) We smashed the
Serb war-machine, and "we didn't lose a
single American military person,"

We did (supposedly, had "Yugoslavia" gotten it's way in Kosova, Voivodina's Hungarians would have been next), and we didn't.

Hillary boasted of the conflict her draft-dodger hubby dragged us into.

Mr. Feder seems to be forgetting a few things. Like George H W Bush's "Christmas Warning", putting Milosevic on notice that he might be subject to military action by the US if he kept oppressing Albanians in Kosova? That was certainly before Clinton.

She neglected to mention that it was a war we fought from 30,000 feet.

Would Mr. Feder have been happier if we had actually lost military personnel there? If we'd fought a ground war instead? I don't think so.

The party of McGovern and Dean is so proud of this
notable feat of arms, that it invited Hashim Thaci,
chieftain of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)

He was Chief of their Political Wing, and their chief negotiator at Ramboullet. He was never their military CinC. That was Agim Çeku.

and Clinton's erstwhile ally, to attend the Democratic National Convention.

Kerry did so IIRC, not the DNC.

(You'd think the Party in a Perpetual Fog would be at
least a little curious about how Thaci got the nickname
"Snake." Hint: It's not because he's a patron of the arts.)

Hmmm....I suppose Feder only approves of military leaders with nomes de guerre like "Angelbutt", or "Sweetcheeks"? :-)

On his return to Kosovo, Snake Thaci - head of a terrorist gang

What "terrorist gang" might this be? UÇK? They weren't a terrorist gang (except to Serbian Nationalists, and their supporters like Mr. Feder, Julia Gorin, and Michael Reagan), and they don't exist any more, haven't since 1999. TMK (Kosova Protection Corps)? They are a multi-ethnic state police force. They are comprised in large part of former members of UÇK, but they are not a rebel army, they are the lawful police force of the region. Hashim Thaçi belongs to no "gang", terrorist or otherwise.

that finances its operations through drug-running and prostitution

Well, at last he says something that has maybe some basis in fact. It's true that there is, and has been, some legitimate question as to how the UÇK gained some of it's finances, and some evidence that it might have been through morally and legally questionable means. However, can all the other revoultionary movements out there, even the ones that are pretty universally recoginised as having been "legitimate", claim to have gotten their financing and supplies only from morally and ethically "proper" sources? I think that most "revolutionary armies" don't look too closely at where their monies and supplies are always coming from. Maybe in a perfect world, they would. But when you are looking at fighting a properly equipped and financed army that's much larger than yours, maybe doing a through check to make sure that all the money and all the equipment comes from "proper" sources might not be the highest consideration at the moment. This is not to condone any rebel or revolutionary gaining financial resources or equipment by illegal means, but to acknowledge a simple fact of life.

- proclaimed, "It was confirmed once again that a Democratic
administration would recognize and respect the will of the people of
Kosovo for self-determination." Self-determination is code for
independence from Yugoslavia

Here Mr. Feder is correct. And the Serbian nationalists (like Draskovic and Seselj) and psuedo-nationalists (like Milosevic) have no one to blame but themselves. Kosovar Albanians prior to 1989 only wanted an equal republic with all the other Yugoslav republics. After that, they knew that the only way to end the harrasment of themselves by Belgrade was by independence. They tried the "Gandhi" method, until they realised that they were dealing with a bunch of goons who were determined to provoke them at all costs, and no matter how long it took, as a pretext for killing/expelling them.

- the creation of another Republic of Jihad
(Balkanistan) on the periphery of Europe.

Last I saw, Kosova was pretty solidly inside the bounds of Eastern Europe. And again, Mr. Feder seems to have this weird idea: All Muslims by definition are "fundies" or "islamofascists", and second, that Albanians who are Muslim are as devoutly fanatical about their Islam as Saudis, Iranians, etc. Nearly 14 years of personal experience tells me this is not true. Albanian Muslims are among the least religiously devout people I have ever known in my life. They are also a people that mostly think of themselves as Western (and ofttimes Latinate as well), not Eastern. Most if not all of them believe that religion is a personal matter, not a matter for public display. And certainly not something to be forced upon others. But then, I guess personal, first hand experience doesn't matter-only political philosophy and world view.

Assistant Secretary of State for
European Affairs under Clinton, Holbrooke (who once
called the Serbs "murderous assholes")

And the Nationalist ones are. Or perhaps he considers people like the late Zeljko Raznatovic (aka Commandante Arkan) to be heros?

A war resolution died in the Republican House.

Is there any evidence for what is being implied here-that they let it die because they thought it was "wrong" for us to save a group of 2,000,000 people from being at the least displaced, at most annihilated?

What, we went to war without congressional authorization!
We also did it without the permission of the United Nations.

We were a part of a NATO coalition.

(Whatever happened to
multilateralism?)

It was multilateral, as Mr. Feder admits on the next line.

Still, the French and Germans were on board - always a bad sign.

And so were the Brits "on board" too.

In a July 23, 2004 letter to Albanian-Americans, Kerry
charged the Bush administration was "turning its back
on the region"

At the time Feder wrote that, it did appear that Kosova was indeed a lukewarm concern to him at best. Of course, at least as of this summer, he's moved it up to the front burner.

Whenever Bush doesn't coddle terrorists (the PLO, the KLA)

Taking in interest in the region, and not sucking up to Serbian Nationalist politicians like the ones in the SRS (Serbian Radical Party-no friends of democracy or free-enterprise, BTW), and actually caring about an ethnic minority that's gotten pushed around by both it's neighbors and invaders for centuries is "coddling terrorists"? Oh, but I'm sorry-I forgot. They're all Muslim, hence they're all fundies, hence they're all bad. :-(

Kerry accuses him of abandoning
whole regions. In said letter, Kerry declared, "The people of Kosovo
must be able to determine their own future, including how they want to be governed." Since "the people of Kosovo" now are overwhelmingly Moslem, thanks in part
to Clinton,

Stuff and nonsense-the province had been about 90% Albanian (not Muslim, but then to an anti-Islamic types like Mr. Feder, there is no difference) at least since the early 60's. And much of the increase in Albanian population there was due to an increased birth rate on their part (Albanians there are Muslim or Catholic, and both do not believe in birth control), plus many Serbs leaving the area for urban centers, where the economy was better, and the chance for jobs greater.

Kosovo is the ancient heartland of Serbian Orthodoxy.

Bull. Serbs never saw it as such until their own "national renaissance" that began with the publication of a nationalist tract called "Nacertanje" (The Program) in the 1840s. It was a part of the Nemanjid Dynasty (the only real Kingdom of Serbia that existed until after they got their independence from Turkey in 1878, when what amounted to a very wealthy pig farmer and bandit chieftain managing to get himself declared king), but the region during that time was never seen as central to said kingdom either politically or religiously. Kosovo Polije (Field of the Blackbirds), where the famous battle of the same name took place (which is more akin to the Alamo than Jerusalem, except for the fact that it wasn't just the "Brave Little Serbs" alone against the "Big Bad Turks"-there's plenty of evidence that it was a "coalition" effort, and on top of that, the battle was lost (though some, such as Balkans historian Noel Malcolm, claim a minor Serb victory in the battle) because of a couple of Serb generals that went over to the Turk side) has played a part in the Serb conciousness ever since 1389 (there was also a similar one a century later on the same spot, lead by the Hungarian king Janos Hunyadi, but most Serbs chose not to remember/honor that one), but that's a far different thing.

Until the 1970s, its population was predominately Serb.

Is Mr. Feder completely ignorant of Balkan History? Or does he get it all from things like the Serbian Unity Congress website, or worldnetdaily? I'm not surprised that he picked up on the old Serbian Nationalist BS about a mass influx of Albanians into Kosova after WWII, but I am surprised that he put it as late as the 70's. Even the most rabid Serb Nationalist doesn't try to date it any later then the early 50's! Well, here are a few facts that are obvious to anyone who's done any serious study of the Balkans (and/or has any common sense).

First, Albania proper from 1944 to 1985 was in the hands of one of the most paranoid Communist dictators who ever lived, Enver Hoxha. Now there may have been some migration from Albania to Kosova (though why there should be, when most Albanians knew what happened to the Albanians living there in '46) the first few years after the war, when Enver and the Albanian Party of Labor were trying to get their power consolidated over the nation they "liberated", but I can guarantee that Albania from the late 40's onward, after the fallout with Tito, was sewn up tighter than a drum. VERY few people who tried to escape,whether by sea, or to Yugoslavia, or to Greece, ever suceeded. The borders were VERY tightly guarded, even the mountainous northern one with Yugoslavia. Most who tried to escape were shot, or brought back, severly beaten, and sentenced to VERY long prison sentences. The idea of huge numbers of Albanians streaming over the border during that time period is so ludicrous as to be dismissed out of hand, with no recourse to further evidence. Second, there's a little matter of the official 1953 Yugoslav census for the region. It puts the ethnic Serb population at 27%. Period. (Interestingly enough, in order to try to strip the Albanians there of any sort of ethnic identity without resorting to violence, the Yugoslav government made it so that a very high number of Albanians managed to redefine themselves, possibly unwittingly, as Turks.) And considering that the only other two major ethnic groups in the region (Turks and Roma) have never made a very high concentration of the population, guess who that leaves? (^_^)

Due to illegal immigration from Albania,

Again BS, but I dealt with that above.

Moslems became a majority

ALBANIANS (not "MUSLIMS"), have been a majority on and off in the region since at least the middle ages (most Albanians there didn't start converting-in order to make their lives easier, primarily-until about 2 centuries after the Turkish conquest of the region). The last time, IIRC, that Serbs were a majority (barely, at 60%) was sometime shortly after WWI. (But then, that's a real easy way to get people over to your side and "fired up"-just use a "buzzword" like "Moslem". Never mind that though technically true-most Albanians are Moslem-it only tells a very small part of the story. But then that would blow our "faith-based" view of the world out of the water. And we can't have that, now can we?)

and began agitating for autonomy.

The first time that happened was in 1968. Kosova was granted semi-autonomous status within Serbia in 1974, as was Voivodina. And the reason they "agitated" for autonomy was that they wanted to be granted the same rights and priveleges that all the other major constituent groups in Yugoslavia had-some of who were even less numerous than they were.

Then they started committing atrocities against their Serb neighbors - like beating elderly nuns, raping
young girls and attacking monasteries.

Yes, there was some Albanian on Serb crime, even back then. But at the same time, many of the "incidents" Feder alludes to were proven to have no basis in evidence-by Yugoslav police. And according to an independent survey done in 1990, there was more per capita Albanian on Albanian and Serb on Serb crime than there was Albanian on Serb. That's not to say it's right, but it is to say that Mr. Feder seems to be more interested in hystronic, unsubstantiated "spin" to support his side than he is objective fact (like that's a big surprise).

Then the KLA -which the U.S. State Department listed as a terrorist
group as late as 1998

Yes, because they-along with a lot of the Albanian diaspora and even Kosovar Albanians-thought and hoped that the Rugova way (passive resistance) would ultimately work, as it did for Gandhi. Only one problem though-in order for passive resistance to work, you have to be dealing with an enemy that has a moral conscience, and normally acts civilised. Milosevic and his supporters were neither and had neither.

- started assassinating Yugoslav police and government officials.

Yes, after year upon year of putting up with worsening harrasment of peaceful Albanian civilians, soley because they were Albanian. Of course, there is some argument that this is precisely the response Milosevic and his cronies were hoping for, and there is likely some merit to this argument.

Slobodan Milosevic, an ex-communist apparatchik who was President of Yugoslavia at the time, overreacted.

Amazing. Mr. Feder is actually willing to admit that Slobo might have "overreacted" in his handling of the situation. How magnanmous. :-(

(It is the Balkans, after all, a region second only to the Middle East for ethnic/religious harmony.)

Yes, and people like Slobo, Draskovic, and Seselj have helped make it that way.

Casting about for a way to take the nation's attention off oral sex and impeachment, Bubba determined that we must intervene to save the saintly Albanians from the
savage Serbs.

No, the issue started to get forced (as the Serbs no doubt hoped it would) when they invaded the Jashari compound, and not only killed the family patriarch, Adem, but all others there, including pregnant women (they cut the foetus out of one of them, alive) and young children. Of course, the Interior Ministry claimed they were all "terrorists". :-( And though neither side can be said to be 100% saintly, or 100% savage, objective history shows that, for good or ill, the Serbs (or at least the ones that have bought into nationalism) have chosen the latter role for themselves far more often than the former. (BTW, prior to the attack on the Jashari family, UÇK had next to no support from most Albanians, either in Kosova or in the diaspora. I remember that time very, very well, and remember a lot of Albanians expressing fears that they would crap up any chance for independence or even renewed autonomy, and that despite the failures and inaction of Rugova's policies, most wanted to continue going that route, since they saw it as their best bet for attaining their goals.)

Ethnic cleansing was afoot, President Perjury gravely
intoned. Exactly how this was different from the
exchange of populations that took place throughout
Europe in the aftermath of World War II (think of
Poland and Germany, think of India and Pakistan)

The first was changes of borders due to war, IIRC. The second, voluntary migration after the settling of disputed borders. In neither case was it the effect of a state sponsored terror campaign, to the best of my knowledge. (Also, I'm not aware of any Albanian Serbs being resettled during that time, forcibly or otherwise.) Of course, it always helps to trivialise the plight of anyone you despise, make them look like a bunch of whiners. Or is Mr. Feder saying ethnic cleansing is OK, so long as it's the right people that it's being done to? I guess so, since he decries it for the Serbs (who did voluntarily leave Kosova, and were not systematically ethnically cleansed), but not for the Albanians (or Bosnians too, I assume).

was never quite explained. Worse, there were reports of killing fields and mass
graves.

All of which turned out to be true, even if the number of dead was smaller than was first predicted. But this makes it right?

Milosevic was cast as an architect of genocide
- the Heinrich Himmler of the Balkans,

Perhaps a bit overstated (BTW, it was Eichmann that was the architect of the Nazi "Final Solution", not Himmler), but whether genocide was the desired result, or merely "ethnic cleansing", that still makes it right? Especially against legal citizens of a country (though to Slobo's "credit", he was smart enough to try to have his "cops" confiscate all the passports and residency papers of all those who his thugs let go alive....)?

At the Rambouillet conference, the Yugoslav president
was presented with an ultimatum: allow a peace-keeping force into Kosovo (as a prelude to detaching the
province from Yugoslavia)

The US position was "no". Ditto for the UN and NATO. The only ones who were asking for it (and even they eventually were willing to settle for "autonomy") were the Albanians, and only because they knew that they could no longer live in peace under a Yugoslav regime.

and permit NATO forces to
occupy the entire country, if they choose.

So that the Serbs would stop trying to get rid of/harass Albanians.

The Serbs refused

No kidding. Milosevic and his buddies knew that if they did sign the treaty, their wet dream of an "Albanien Frei" Serbia would be crushed forever. And beyond that, Slobo knew also that if he did that, his time left in the drivers seat would be limited. Hence, he figured on trying to hold on to power by making himself look like the brave defender of the Serbs' interest, even if it meant getting his country bombed.

and the bombing commenced.

The fault was Milosevic's, pure and simple. There was nothing in the treaty promising independence for Kosova-at most, there was to be a review of the province's status in three years time. Hell, it didn't even call for a total withdrawl of all Yugoslav military troops. But Slobo just couldn't stomach the idea of a UN force being there to keep him from beating the crap out of Albanians any more.

We killed over 3,000 - mostly civilians, mostly with cluster-bombs

Bull. And most of the civilians who died were on, in, or near legitimate military targets at the time. It is still sad when any civilian dies as a result of military actions, but that is something that any leader of a country is supposed to be aware of when he consents to any sort of state of war with another country or entity. Milosevic had chances for 10 years to make things right with the Albanians living in Kosova. Instead, he insisted on stripping them of their jobs (if they worked in the public sector, which most people in Yugoslavia did, technically speaking), their homes (and often forcably moving Serbs from outside Kosova there-I know, I personally met one young Serbian woman once whose family was forced by the government to "resettle" in Kosova, against their wishes).

-- before Milosevic finally yielded to vastly superior force.

Yeah-only took bright boy 3 mo. to figure it out.

After the Yugoslav Federal Army was driven from Kosovo,

And the MUP forces. And the Chetnik scum.

forensic experts scoured the countryside, and came up empty-handed.

Baloney. They did not find the mass graves they expected right away (they eventually did find some, though the numbers were not as great as they thought for), but that's because Slobo and his buddies had found an intriguing way to avoid looking like monsters and being brought up on war crimes charges, or so they thought-removing at least some of the bodies to Serbia proper and burying them there. Some have been found under army bases near Belgrade, some in old refrigerator trucks in rivers, and elsewhere. But so what if the number found (and they are still finding them) was smaller than what the US and NATO thought they'd be? That makes it right?

A December 31, 1999, article in the Wall Street
Journal (coincidentally, by Daniel Pearl) reported
that allegations of "indiscriminate mass murder, rape
camps, crematoriums, mutilation of the dead - haven't
been borne out in the six months since NATO troops
entered Kosovo. Ethnic-Albanian militants,
humanitarian organizations, NATO and the news media
fed off each other to give genocide rumors
credibility. Now, a different picture is emerging."

Oh yay. This proves a point? Citing an article from 6 mo. after the end of hostilities, and that is almost 5 years past it's "sell by" date (note: As mentioned earlier, I wrote this "fisking" back in late 2004, hence the 5 year reference)? And why didn't Mr. Feder cite more of the article, so that people could see for themselves whether the quote was in or out of context? And why not an article more recent on the subject? (BTW, I tried to read the article for myself-it's on balkanpeace.org, a notoriously anti-albanian site. I couldn't access it for some reason, despite multiple attempts.)

Following these revelations, there were no cries of "Where are the MGs?" (mass graves).

Yes there were-from the Serbs, and of course people like Mr. Feder and others.

Republicans didn't begin every speech by accusing Clinton of lying to the nation in his rush to justify an unnecessary war (though they could have).

No-most of them who voiced an opinion, supported it.

Michael Moore did not make a documentary on how a
Democratic president engineered a conflict to advance his personal agenda. ("Fahrenheit 1999"?)

Maybe because Milosevic made no serious attempt to cover up his intent, so the only people who did buy the Serbian-originated stories claiming this were those who supported (wittingly or unwittingly) Serbian Nationalism, and the pathetic wet-dream of a "Greater Serbia".

No one in the media asked about Clinton's exit strategy (5 years
later, U.S. forces are still stationed in Kosovo)

The reason we've not gotten out is because the UN still holds on to this ridiculous notion that Kosova can remain a part of the Republic of Serbia, and not break out into civil war eventually.

or demanded to know how he intended to "win the peace." Whether or not there was ethnic cleansing before the war,

Well, since Mr. Feder has made it clear that even if there was, it was OK by him....

there certainly was afterward.

Again, nonsense. The mass exodus of military, police, paramilitary, and civilians was voluntary; the first three because they were ordered to leave as a part of the peace treaty, the last one because many of them had taken part in terrorising their Albanian neighbors-in some cases, people they'd been friends with for decades. They knew what likely awaited them when their neighbors returned-the same fate that most bullies suffer, esp, when there aren't even bigger bullies still to back them up.

Albanians, who were handed a victory by Clinton and
NATO, drove out 277,000 Serbs.

That is more than the total number of Serbs believed to be living in the province at the time. According to the official 1991 Yugoslav census, the Serb population was 214,555. There would have had to have been (adding Mr. Feder's numbers-277,000 and 102,000 to get 379,000) nearly a 50% increase in Serbian population over 8 years! Even with forced migrations of Serb families to settle in Kosova, those figures seem totally out of line with pre-NATO population estimates and the relatively low birth rate in Serbian families at that time.

(Hundreds were murdered and thousands brutalized.)

That is likely, and also both very wrong and very unfortunate.

As of March 2004, Moslem multiculturalists had
destroyed 135 Orthodox churches, monasteries and shrines

"Destroyed"? Or is that the figure for sites either destroyed or damaged? I've seen figures approximating that for both, but not for soley "destroyed". And no, desecration or destruction of religious sites, regardless of religion (Serb forces destroyed several mosques in Kosova pre-1999, BTW), is not OK. But unfortunately, it is symptomatic of a larger problem, said problem being the severe mistrust and animosity that has risen like never before between the Serb and Albanian communities there. It is going to take a long time, given the history of the region, for reconciliation to take place.

The rampage continues. The latest pogrom occurred in
March, when (in a planned and coordinated campaign) 28
Serbs were murdered, more than 600 wounded and another
3,600 forced to flee.

The incident in question took place in an area of Kosova with very high ethnic tensions, near Mitrovicë. The actual "truth" was not (and some would say still isn't) known for sure. A couple of boys claim that they had wandered over to the "Serb side" of the Ibar river with their friends, where some locals spotted them, and chased them along with their dogs, forcing the boys to "swim for it". There seems to be some evidence that the boys may have been goofing around in the river, literally got in over their heads, and made up the story in order not to be blamed for the fact that three of their comrades drowned. There is no definitive proof one way or the other. There is evidence that some ad-hoc factions (not official government individuals or parties) did orchestrate in some regions the protests, violence, and vandalism that took place after the supposed incident. However, there is no evidence I've seen from reliable sources that the whole thing was coordinated by a central authority, governmental or non-governmental. The actions were not right, nor justifiable in any case. However, they do serve to show how long a road there is to be traversed until both parties can live together in peace and freedom.

The Serbs left in Kosovo --estimated at between 102,000 and 114,000

Actually, that's the first accurate figure Mr. Feder's provided in this whole article.

-- live in a state of siege.

In many places at the time Feder wrote his original piece, about 6 months after the unrest that took place over the Mitrovice incident, that was unfortunately probably true. And while the situation there is still far from perfect, that is basically not true today.

Should KFOR be withdrawn, they'd all
be dead or exiled in a matter of days.

Was it possible if it had happened when Feder wrote his original piece? Probably yes. Was it likely? That is purely academic. It isn't now, and IMO won't be when Kosova finally gains independent status.

Yes, Kosovo truly was the Democrats' finest hour - a
prime example of just how tough the party of Jimmy
Carter and Ramsey Clark can be,

Interesting that he cites Ramsey Clark, since he's been a staunch defender of Milosevic, and of the Serbs in general.

when they're in a fighting mood. On the other hand,
their Kosovo allies are threatening to give
scum-of-the-earth a bad name.

No, I don't think there's any way you can give Chetniks a bad name. They've already managed that themselves. :-)

Back in '99, Senator Joe Lieberman, who's rumored to know something
about foreign policy, called the KLA "freedom fighters." Well, you know
what the moral relativists of the left say: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

Hmmmm....and of course the right wing was being purely objective when they called the Nicaraugan Contras the same thing....yeah, sure, riiiighhhtttt.

As it transpires, the KLA is allied with other freedomf
fighters, -- whose SOP is car bombs and demolishing
sky-scrappers.

0 Percent evidence of this (of course, that is in part because the UÇK doesn't exist any more).

Bin Laden was active in the Balkans as early as 1994.

Yes, though I believe that was initially in Bosnia in 1993. In any case, most of his activities in the Balkans from what I can tell were all conducted initially under false pretenses, and most of his actions were independent ones-he was interested in using the region as a base not with the conscious consent of the local governments, but under their noses. And I've seen no reliable evidence that he or Al-Qaida have ever been involved with UÇK. In any case, UÇK did not even exist prior to about 96-97.

In a Washington Times story published within days of 9/11,

Ah yes, "All the Moonie News that's Fit to Print"....

defense expert Bill Gertz disclosed

Hmmm....interesting that this "expert" is primarily a columnist for the WT, and that most of the places I see his "reports" cited are ultra-far right ones, making his reliability as an "objective" source somewhat dubious.

: "Islamic radicals, including supporters of bin Laden, have been supporting Albanian rebels fighting in the region (who
then were trying to de-stabilize Montenegro),

Nonsense. There has never been any attempt by any organised group of Albanians to destabilise the Montenegrin government that I'm aware of. Perhaps Mr. Feder is thinking of Macedonia, and in that case, the attempt was not to destabilise the government, but to get them to listen to the grievances of Albanians living as second-class citizens in Macedonia. The rebels disbanded immediately after a treaty was signed with the Macedonia government.

including members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Intelligence officials have said there are reports
that KLA members have been trained at bin Laden camps
in Afghanistan."

Utter nonsense. Searching for reliable evidence on this one brought up a goose egg-at least from any neutral sources. Most UÇK training camps were in Northern Albania or Southern Kosova, in highly mountainous regions near the border.

During the initial fighting there,
U.S. units scooped up Kosovar Albanians who were
serving with the Taliban's foreign legion.

Baloney. There were a couple of Albanian nationals from Albania proper who were caught, IIRC. But what does this say? Nothing more than the fact that some Americans were fighting for them, too.

Another investigative article ("Al Qaeda's Balkan
Links," The Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2002)
noted, "By feeding off the region's impoverished
republics and taking root in the unsettled aftermath
of the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts, al Qaeda, along
with Iranian Revolutionary Guard-sponsored terrorists,
have burrowed their way into Europe's backyard."

I've read that article (BTW, Mr. Feder is a year off on the publication date). A lot of the conclusions seem spurious, and the author's details more sketchy than I care for in any sort of a reliable information article. And all of her info citations hark to a website that seem to have more than, shall we say, a slight anti-albanian bias?

Also, in the wake of the Democrats' merry little war,
Kosovo became the prime route, after Turkey, for the
importation of heroin from Southeast Asia to Europe -
just one more way our friends the freedom fighters
thanked us for giving them a country.

Unfortunately, there is indeed a drug trafficing problem there at the moment. Unfortunately, poverty and instablilty seems to breed such "alternatives".

The foregoing all is courtesy of Bill Clinton, John
Kerry and the other Democrats who know what the US
military is for - killing Christians to aid Moslem terrorists.

I see Mr. Feder insists on boiling it all down to religion again, which shows how little he truly knows about the region, and how much he relies on articles, "experts", and fellow pundits.

In Kosovo, we put the terrorists in power.

Ibrahim Rugova a terrorist? Again, shows how little Mr. Feder knows (or wants to know) about the reality of the situation in the Balkans.

Sometimes, it's enough to make yer head spin....

2007-11-03T18:51:00.000-05:00

So what am I talking about here? The latest outrageously asinine Anti-Albanian piece I've come across on the 'net? Another one of the "Haters" putting out another pack of lies and half-truths in their desperate crusade to not only prevent Kosova independence, but to even possibly bring harm to the Albanian community in general? Nope.....this time I'm talking about my crazy life, which unfortunately shows little sign of slowing down. Besides changes at work, I'm also busy as I am every year at this time with helping to organise our local Diten e Flamurit (Day of the Flag-Albanian Independence Day) dinner/dance. (Now maybe you see what I mean when I said from the outset that I knew this blog would become difficult to keep up if I had to do it as a "solo act"!) Unfortunately, I can't say just how much things will slow down after that, with The Holidays coming up shortly after Thanksgiving and Diten e Flamurit. But I will try to continue on doing the blog as best I can during this crazy busy time, regardless. It's mission is, at least IMO, too important. But by the same token, please bear with me if sometimes it's a week or two between postings, or if I am only able to make 10 or 12 posts in a month, instead of 25 or 30. Falemnderit!

More evidence of terrorist activities from them thar Taliban-lovin', Al-Qaida supportin', Nazi-sidin' with Alabamians!

2007-11-02T13:20:00.001-05:00

Exhibition honors Muslims who saved Jews

By SEAN GAFFNEY, Associated Press WriterThu Nov 1, 6:51 PM ET

Tears welling in his eyes, an elderly Holocaust survivor on Thursday embraced the son of the Albanian man who saved him from the Nazi death camps, highlighting the little-known role played by European Muslims in helping Jews during World War II.

The two met for the first time at a photography exhibition at Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial, honoring Albanians who sheltered Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Albania, a tiny European country with a Muslim majority, sheltered about 1,000 Jews who, except for one family, survived Nazi occupation, according to officials.

"This is a very unique story," said Yehudit Shendar, the exhibition's curator. Though Islam has an anti-Jewish image, these were "Muslims who endangered their own lives to save Jews," she said. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Albanians sheltered between 600 and 1,800 Jewish refugees, risking death or imprisonment, officials said. At the end of the war, Albania was the only European country with a larger Jewish population than before the war.

Yoshua Baruchowic, 84, wore a grim smile as he retold the harrowing story of his rescue. He stood next to Enver Alia Sheqer, the Albanian whose father saved him.

For decades, Baruchowic exchanged letters with Sheqer, 50, and his father, Ali Sheqer Pashkaj, who died in 2004. They often sent family photos, and he called Sheqer his "brother."

Despite many invitations, Baruchowic, who moved to Mexico after the war and became a dentist, refused to visit Albania while the communists were in power, and later because of political turmoil.

Meeting Sheqer on Thursday, he said, "It's glorious. It's something I waited to do all my life."

In 1941, a Nazi convoy transporting Jews passed the Sheqer family's general store deep in the Albanian mountains. Sheqer's father offered the soldiers food and wine. When they became drunk, he handed a message — hidden in a melon — to one of the prisoners, the 18-year-old Baruchowic.

Though they had never met, Baruchowic agreed when Ali Sheqer urged him to flee to the woods. The young Jew hid while Sheqer's father feigned ignorance as he repeatedly stared down a Nazi gun barrel. He held out until the Germans left and then retrieved Baruchowic, hiding him for three years.

"My father was a devout Muslim," Enver Sheqer said. "He believed that to save one life is to enter paradise."

He said his father had to help Baruchowic because of the Albanian code of "Besa," which means "to keep the promise."

The exhibition is named after that code and features black and white photographs of Albanians holding family photos and awards honoring their heroism. Israel has honored 63 Albanians as "Righteous Among the Nations," a title granted to non-Jews who helped Jews escape Nazi persecution.

The photo exhibit is the product of five years of "headhunting" by American Jewish photographer Norman Gershman, who said he was inspired culling the archives at Yad Vashem. Working through several organizations, Gershman spent four years in and out of Albania tracking down survivors.

"It started at Yad Vashem and now it's going to take off from here," he said. The exhibition is next going to the United Nations headquarters in New York for a display on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, he said.

At the exhibit Thursday, Baruchowic and Enver Sheqer stood beneath a photo of Sheqer sitting at the foot of a statue of the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg, a resistance general who led the fight against the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

In the picture, Sheqer delicately clutches his chest while a furrowed brow looks poised for tears. A similar look covered his face as he struggled to the find words to describe meeting Baruchowic for the first time.

"I have such a good feeling," Sheqer said. "I can't begin how to describe."