BBC Monitoring Europe (Political)
- May 30, 2008, Friday
Text of report by Bosnian Serb privately-owned centrist newspaper Nezavisne novine, on 28 May
[Commentary in "Personal View" column by Slavko Mitrovic:
"Al-Qa'idah Without a Passport"]
Bill Clinton: "We managed to prevent mujahidin from coming to power in Bosnia-Hercegovina when the war ended in 1995."
This statement by former US president clearly illustrates the strength and the intensity of radical Islam that was involved in the war conflicts in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Although many years have passed since this statement was made, Bosnia-Hercegovina is still not safe from the epidemic that the European soil spawned at the time. Al-Qa'idah was born in the war against Russian troops in Afghanistan in late 1980s, but it grew its wings and left its cocoon only with the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, after which it spread its wings all over the world. After the Dayton peace, Bosnia-Hercegovina was no longer in the focus of major world politics. It has made a comeback in the context of a possible regional crisis pertaining to the recognition of Kosovo as a self-proclaimed state. At the same time, seeing the light of day are just fragments of what is called radical Islamization of the entire Balkans. World Security Network recently published a text entitled "Balkans - a Hub of Worldwide Terrorist Network?" This text say that imported radical Islam threatens the local Bosnian branch of Islam, although the latter is putting up resistance. Nevertheless, there are no signs that the strength of Islamic movements controlled from the outside has dropped to the level where it was 17 years ago, at the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Radical Islam has taken root, and its presence is felt in the current political turmoil, social stratification, and the large safe haven for people linked to terrorism and organized crime. Western intelligence agencies responded to all of this only with "increased, if quiet attention." The intention of occasional arrests of people of Afro-Asian origin (which is a euphemism for mujahidin, Wahhabis, and Al-Qa'idah), which take place every several years, is to show that there is knowledge of these groups and individuals and that they are being observed, so Bosnia-Hercegovina and other countries are allegedly safe.
27 May 2008
US blames Muslim separatists for low Kosovo recognition
May 27, 2008
Washington has expressed criticism at the low number of states that have recognized Kosovo Albanian illegal declaration of independence saying that such outcome is a result of bad lobbying by Islamic separatists reports Islamic separatist TV Station Kohavision.
About 40 states have recognized Kosovo as independent and many of them, such as Marshall Islands, are ones that no one has ever heard of.
"Part of the joint American-Kosovo plan was to have 97 recognitions by September. Afterwards, Kosovo would apply for membership in the UN, when the General Assembly convenes," an unnamed international official told Kohavision.
Washington says that more states need to recognize Kosovo's illegal declaration of independence in order to demonstrate to the UN that vast number of members favor violating a UN charter so that the separatist entity could be granted a membership status within the UN.
Reportedly, the Assistant to the US Secretary of State, Rosemary DiCarlo, has conveyed this message during her recent visit to Kosovo capital Pristina where she held consultation with the separatists.
Islamic separatist TV station says that Washington is suggesting that the separatists hire Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari to assist them in lobbying efforts. Ahtisaari has been instrumental in writing a plan for Kosovo that Serbia did not agree to but NATO is using it anyways.
Washington has warned Islamic separatists in Kosovo that Serbia is allegedly preparing a UN resolution against independence that will be presented to the UN General Assembly for a vote.
The self-styled "foreign minister" of the Kosovo's Islamic separatist entity, Skender Hyseni said that he had received assurances from Saudi Arabian ambassadors in Vienna that the Islamic Sultanate will soon recognize the illegal declaration of independence of Kosovo.
Kosovo is a Serbian province that has been ethnically cleansed of Serbs by Kosovo's Muslim Albanian armed gunmen after Washington intervened on their behalf by driving off Serb troops from the province in 1999 allowing the Islamic separatists to kill and expel Kosovo Serbs who are Christian.
Washington has expressed criticism at the low number of states that have recognized Kosovo Albanian illegal declaration of independence saying that such outcome is a result of bad lobbying by Islamic separatists reports Islamic separatist TV Station Kohavision.
About 40 states have recognized Kosovo as independent and many of them, such as Marshall Islands, are ones that no one has ever heard of.
"Part of the joint American-Kosovo plan was to have 97 recognitions by September. Afterwards, Kosovo would apply for membership in the UN, when the General Assembly convenes," an unnamed international official told Kohavision.
Washington says that more states need to recognize Kosovo's illegal declaration of independence in order to demonstrate to the UN that vast number of members favor violating a UN charter so that the separatist entity could be granted a membership status within the UN.
Reportedly, the Assistant to the US Secretary of State, Rosemary DiCarlo, has conveyed this message during her recent visit to Kosovo capital Pristina where she held consultation with the separatists.
Islamic separatist TV station says that Washington is suggesting that the separatists hire Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari to assist them in lobbying efforts. Ahtisaari has been instrumental in writing a plan for Kosovo that Serbia did not agree to but NATO is using it anyways.
Washington has warned Islamic separatists in Kosovo that Serbia is allegedly preparing a UN resolution against independence that will be presented to the UN General Assembly for a vote.
The self-styled "foreign minister" of the Kosovo's Islamic separatist entity, Skender Hyseni said that he had received assurances from Saudi Arabian ambassadors in Vienna that the Islamic Sultanate will soon recognize the illegal declaration of independence of Kosovo.
Kosovo is a Serbian province that has been ethnically cleansed of Serbs by Kosovo's Muslim Albanian armed gunmen after Washington intervened on their behalf by driving off Serb troops from the province in 1999 allowing the Islamic separatists to kill and expel Kosovo Serbs who are Christian.
Czech President ashamed by recognition of Kosovo
May 27, 2008
President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, feels ashamed that his country has recognized the illegal decration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo.
"It is not a secret and I cannot agree with the recognition of Kosovo’s independence," Klaus told Czech media.
Kosovo is a Serbian province that has been ethnically cleansed of Serbs by Kosovo's Muslim Albanian armed gunmen after Washington intervened on their behalf by driving off Serb troops from the province in 1999 allowing the Islamic separatists to kill and expel Kosovo Serbs who are Christian.
In the past, Klaus reminisced on the similarities between Hitler's break-up of his country to the impose break-up of Serbia.
President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, feels ashamed that his country has recognized the illegal decration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo.
"It is not a secret and I cannot agree with the recognition of Kosovo’s independence," Klaus told Czech media.
Kosovo is a Serbian province that has been ethnically cleansed of Serbs by Kosovo's Muslim Albanian armed gunmen after Washington intervened on their behalf by driving off Serb troops from the province in 1999 allowing the Islamic separatists to kill and expel Kosovo Serbs who are Christian.
In the past, Klaus reminisced on the similarities between Hitler's break-up of his country to the impose break-up of Serbia.
A Belated Discovery
Posted by Julia Gorin under Republican Riot
My friend Karol Sheinin, who runs the blog AlarmingNews.com, last week alerted me to a post she had a year ago this month concerning the would-be Fort Dix terrorists, the Duka Brothers:
A little too small a world
When Elvis and Dritan Duka, two of the three brothers arrested on terrorism charges in Fort Dix, were kids, they were neighborhood bullies. When they got a little older, they became drug dealers.
How do I know? They grew up in my neighborhood, my brother and his friends used to brawl with them on a fairly regular basis. My brother's best friend's mom was friends with their mom. Then they moved to New Jersey and became Jihadis. Of all possible paths for the Duka kids, that one didn't seem the most likely.
They've been here since they were kids, illegally it turns out, lived American lives, went to our public schools, and then decided to try and kill some of our troops. I don't know that I'll ever get used to this world.
A few surprisingly clueful comments that appeared below the post:
by Gerard:
I forget what part of Bensonhurst they're supposed to be from-I was reading a story in the Post yesterday about the gullible cujine one of these hajjis married-but the neighborhood definitely has changed since the time I lived there.
There are a lot more Albanians who own-or at least operate-pizzerias in places like Brooklyn, unfortunately.
Yet another reason to detest the La Cosa Nostra, since very frequently they are the ones responsible for training them.
Organized crime is bad enough, but dealing with Albanian jihadis is an entirely different category of trouble.
Thank goodness we had Bill Clinton to bombe all those nasty Serbs.
*sarcasm implicit*
from Stan LS:
I grew up around 65th street in brooklyn, and yea, those albanians loooooooooooove to fight.
by Sean:
Does anyone have any "good Albanian" stories? I sure have plenty of bad ones, as does pretty much anyone who has lived in non-premiere sections of Brooklyn at one time or another.
There's one family across the street from my aunt (the family, not just the kids) who has basically terrorized the block for about 30 years.
It's not a muslim thing either. They terrorize the nice Bangladeshi muslims the worst, because the Bangledeshis (on this block) are a very peaceful group…I still don't know why, to this day, we took (and continue to take) their [Albanians'] side in anything.
by Former Bay Ridger:
…seems like there's a whole contingent of Muslim/Arab/Albanian pseudo-Jihadi angry teenagers now in that part of Bay Ridge, roughly between 4th and 8th avenues in the 60s - but beginning to stretch down to the higher streets.
by Kent Gordis:
The Swiss government boasts that it has admitted 250,000 Albanian refugees. Based on population, this is equivalent to admitting about 12 million Albanians to the U.S.
My friend Karol Sheinin, who runs the blog AlarmingNews.com, last week alerted me to a post she had a year ago this month concerning the would-be Fort Dix terrorists, the Duka Brothers:
A little too small a world
When Elvis and Dritan Duka, two of the three brothers arrested on terrorism charges in Fort Dix, were kids, they were neighborhood bullies. When they got a little older, they became drug dealers.
How do I know? They grew up in my neighborhood, my brother and his friends used to brawl with them on a fairly regular basis. My brother's best friend's mom was friends with their mom. Then they moved to New Jersey and became Jihadis. Of all possible paths for the Duka kids, that one didn't seem the most likely.
They've been here since they were kids, illegally it turns out, lived American lives, went to our public schools, and then decided to try and kill some of our troops. I don't know that I'll ever get used to this world.
A few surprisingly clueful comments that appeared below the post:
by Gerard:
I forget what part of Bensonhurst they're supposed to be from-I was reading a story in the Post yesterday about the gullible cujine one of these hajjis married-but the neighborhood definitely has changed since the time I lived there.
There are a lot more Albanians who own-or at least operate-pizzerias in places like Brooklyn, unfortunately.
Yet another reason to detest the La Cosa Nostra, since very frequently they are the ones responsible for training them.
Organized crime is bad enough, but dealing with Albanian jihadis is an entirely different category of trouble.
Thank goodness we had Bill Clinton to bombe all those nasty Serbs.
*sarcasm implicit*
from Stan LS:
I grew up around 65th street in brooklyn, and yea, those albanians loooooooooooove to fight.
by Sean:
Does anyone have any "good Albanian" stories? I sure have plenty of bad ones, as does pretty much anyone who has lived in non-premiere sections of Brooklyn at one time or another.
There's one family across the street from my aunt (the family, not just the kids) who has basically terrorized the block for about 30 years.
It's not a muslim thing either. They terrorize the nice Bangladeshi muslims the worst, because the Bangledeshis (on this block) are a very peaceful group…I still don't know why, to this day, we took (and continue to take) their [Albanians'] side in anything.
by Former Bay Ridger:
…seems like there's a whole contingent of Muslim/Arab/Albanian pseudo-Jihadi angry teenagers now in that part of Bay Ridge, roughly between 4th and 8th avenues in the 60s - but beginning to stretch down to the higher streets.
by Kent Gordis:
The Swiss government boasts that it has admitted 250,000 Albanian refugees. Based on population, this is equivalent to admitting about 12 million Albanians to the U.S.
Montreal forum on Kosovo
By Boba Borojevic
May 27, 2008
The illegal, unilateral proclamation of independence (UDI) by rebel Albanians and Canada's subsequent recognition of Kosovo on March 18 was a rationale for organizing a public debate on Kosovo. "The lack of media attention to the gravely dire circumstances in Kosovo and Metohija coupled with misrepresentation of the facts of those circumstances has compelled us to organize such an occasion where people who have been directly involved in this issue can speak about their experiences," explained Lilly Petrovich one of the organizers. The forum was sponsored by the Centre for Research on Globalization, and "Concordia Students Model UN Association" and took place at Concordia University in Montreal on May 15.
May 27, 2008
The illegal, unilateral proclamation of independence (UDI) by rebel Albanians and Canada's subsequent recognition of Kosovo on March 18 was a rationale for organizing a public debate on Kosovo. "The lack of media attention to the gravely dire circumstances in Kosovo and Metohija coupled with misrepresentation of the facts of those circumstances has compelled us to organize such an occasion where people who have been directly involved in this issue can speak about their experiences," explained Lilly Petrovich one of the organizers. The forum was sponsored by the Centre for Research on Globalization, and "Concordia Students Model UN Association" and took place at Concordia University in Montreal on May 15.
Prof. Michel Choussuodovsky, Boba Borojevic, Maj-Gen Lewis MacKenize
They were joined by very distinguished guests: Ret. Maj-Gen Lewis MacKenzie, most famous for establishing, manning and commanding sector Sarajevo, part of the UN Protection force or UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1992 and author of the book "Peacekeeper, Road to Sarajevo"; H.E. James Bissett, former Ambassador to Yuogoslavia (1990 -1992) and chairman of the Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies; Scott Taylor, war correspondent publisher of the military magazine Esprit de Corps and author of five books, two of which deal directly with Kosovo conflict: "Inat: Images of Serbia", "Diary of an Uncivil war" ; Prof. Sunil Ram, who teaches Balkan conflict and peacekeeping at the American Military University, and Prof. Michel Choussuodovsky director of the Center for Research and Globalization and professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa.
After giving a brief historic overview on dismemberment of the former Yugoslavia, Maj-Gen Lewis MacKenzie explained the circumstances that led to the so-called "Rambouillet Agreement" and its two clauses that "the drafters – read Madline Alblight - knew Milosevic could never accept: 1) NATO would have total freedom of movement within Yugoslavia and 2) the will of the people of Kosovo could well be the determining factor on the future of Kosovo in three years." He briefly explained the situation on the ground that led to the Racak "massacre" and the subsequent bombing of Serbia in 1999. MacKenzie echoed his government's standpoint that there were "substantial negotiations" between Serbs and Albanians before the unilateral declaration of independence by Albanians, although he would question the substantive quality of these "negotiations" and some of the criteria like self-supporting economy. MacKenzie noticed that a very intensive and successful PR campaign by Albanians against Serbia was a determining factor in the realization of the Albanians' goal.
"The Bosniaks success in convincing the West to take up their side was not lost on the terrorist organization (Kosovo Liberation Army - KLA) branded so by the CIA. No one can accuse the Serbs of treating the Kosovo Albanians with kid gloves. Over the decades following World War II," MacKenzie stated, "Serbs restricted Albanians in getting top jobs in the civil service and universities. These restrictions were ill founded but not brutal. But, the KLA correctly anticipated that if they commenced a campaign of killing Serbian security forces the central government in Belgrade would overreact. Because, this is what governments do. And they were right", MacKenize added.
So, it was not the pass or fail of the qualifying criteria for the UDI that bothered him, but the way that "Kosovars orchestrated their independence" which raises issues about its legitimacy. MacKenzie noted that Canadians should find outrageous the fact that in spite of the UN Resolution 1244 that granted "substantial autonomy" to Kosovo within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , tens of thousands of Serbs were expelled, or ethnically cleansed in spite of the presence of NATO peacekeepers. Equally outrageous was the appointment and election of Kosovo [Albanian] leaders. "In 2006 Agim Cheku was appointed Prime Minister" of Kosovo, said MacKenzie and reminded the audience of Cheku's participation in Croatian army war atrocities in the Medak Pocket "massacre". Cheku "was also the commanding general during Operation Storm, a US inspired ground offensive down to the Krajina and into Bosnia", MacKenzie explained. He also noted that the current Prime Minister Hashim Thachi, "according to open reports has occasionally bragged about orchestrating the Racak massacre." If the nation is to be judged by the quality of its leaders Kosovo has got a rough future, said General MacKenzie. In sprite of high expectation following the UDI the majority of countries did not rush to recognize Kosovo. "Forty out of 192 countries of the UN have done so", said MacKenzie, "the leaders of majority of the world's population have not – Russia , China , India , and Indonesia- the world's largest Muslim country but Canada unfortunately, did." It is not easy to find the exact reason for Canada 's recognition of Kosovo. "Someone has suggested that Canada did so as quid-pro-quo for Americans reinforcing Canada in Southern Afghanistan , although I don't believe that this is the reason. Perhaps to not recognize the UDI would be to acknowledge that the bombing campaign was a mistake – which it was", said MacKenzie.
As the result of the brilliant PR campaign, Kosovo of today is "a statelet with a foreign presence, drugs and prostitution as the only sources of income led by individuals directly responsible for war crimes," concluded Maj-Gen Lewis MacKenize.
H.E. James Bissett was Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1990 to 1992. He eye witnessed first hand the Yugoslav tragedy to which he attribute much of the blame on western diplomatic blundering and deliberate scheming. Bissett was very critical of the failure of western democratic countries and later the US, to try and resolve the problem of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia without violence and bloodshed. Their intervention in 1991 "prolonged the violence that took place in the Balkans and added to and intensified the bloodshed." He said that the policies and actions of the US led NATO powers in dealing with the former Yugoslavia have been marked by "duplicity, double standards, mismanagement and by cowardness". Bissett discussed four of the most serious mistakes made by these powers in dealing with the former Yugoslavia:
1) Premature recognition of Slovenia and Croatia following German demands; 2) The recognition of Izetbegovic's declaration of independence of Bosnia and the violation by the USA of the arms embargo and by allowing the entry into Bosnia of thousands of Mujihadeen fighters; 3) The illegal bombing of Serbia in March of 1999 and 4) The illegal recognition of UDI by the US and some NATO countries.
The Resolution 1244 of the UN that ended the bombing set out, in Bissett's opinion "parameters for a very reasonable settlement, whereby all of the people of Kosovo had an opportunity of living together in peace and under a democratic government with full rights given to the minorities and return of refugees to Kosovo. The KLA and all other armed groups were to be disarmed and Serbian Holy places were to be guarded by the return to Kosovo of a limited number of Serbian security forces who would also patrol the borders. 1244 also reaffirmed Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. Tragically, none of the provisions of the UN SC 1244 has been implemented and obviously, there was never an intention of doing so," said Bissett.
In concluding, Bissett, stressed that accepting the independence of Kosovo violated the UN Charter on territorial integrity of a sovereign state and the Helsinki Accords that not only reinforce the principles of the UN Charter but also specify that borders cannot be changed .It was an illegal act and contrary to international law. He expressed the view that it is unlikely that Kosovo will ever be admitted to the UN since only about 40 of the 192 nations of the UN have accepted its independence. "The bombing of Serbia by the NATO powers in March 1999 without UN approval was an historic turning point," said Bissett. He explained that: "Article 1 of NATO Treaty states very clearly that NATO will never, under any circumstances use force or even threatened to use force in the resolution of international disputes and that NATO would always operate in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter. This set a dreadful precedent and threatens the very foundation of peace and security in the nuclear age. It was during the bombing of Serbia in April 1999, on the 50th anniversary of NATO that the American president Bill Clinton announced a new role for NATO. From that date on NATO will have the power to intervene wherever and whenever it decides to do so."
Bissett, who argues against the illegal recognition of Kosovo doesn't believe that "the last charter has been written" and hopes that the problem of Kosovo can be resolved in a "much more satisfactory" way.
Scott Taylor tried to put a personal face on the Balkan issue during his presentation by showing slides and telling what he saw in Kosovo during his visits. His eye witness reports of atrocities committed in the name of "humanity" were published in his books that deal with the Kosovo issue: "Inat" and "Diary of an Uncivil war". His first experience with the Balkans started in Croatia in 1992 while reporting about Canadian soldiers involved in peacekeeping operations there. Taylor argued strongly against the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, which made him go to Belgrade and spend 28 days there during the NATO campaign. He was critical of reporters, "some 1200 of them" who came to Kosovo immediately after the NATO bombing with only one purpose - to see "the destruction of Serbian army there, the rape camps and mass graves". "In their unsuccessful effort to locate that, they were manufacturing stories" such as the story of Serbs setting the main mosque on fire in Pristina, said Taylor. "Myself and the Swedish guy walk up the hill and saw that mosque was not on fire. The former Serbian brigade headquarter was and Albanians were setting it on fire." Taylor spoke about atrocities committed by Albanians against the Serbs in Kosovo which went unreported and about Albanian intolerance, daily provocations and destructions of Serbian cemeteries, houses and cultural heritage by Albanians. He showed the pictures of banners of former KLA leaders, turned statesmen publicly displayed to intimidate the remaining Serbs in Kosovo. In spite of this, Serbs are determined not to give in. "Serbs in Mitrovica in particular still protest daily against the UDI and are still defiant. Showdown between [Serbs and Albanians] are expected. What happens in Mitrovica is going to determine what happens in the rest of Kosovo," concluded Taylor.
Speaking against the UDI in Kosovo, Prof. Sunil Ram pointed out the fact that Kosovo is in danger of becoming not only "a new jihadist," entity but also the major heroin and drug hub of Europe. According to him:"Jihadist movements have been able to operate with a certain level of impunity in this region given where the money is coming from and the political groups involved. What we have today is "a circle of money, violence and politics that feeds the region of Kosovo, a region run by the very criminals who were put in power by the international community. What we see essentially in Kosovo is a new jihadist stronghold in Europe ," said Ram. "The problem is that the western media are ignorant [of the Balkans] as is western academia who never challenge the reality, because they are [more] worried about their tenure than the truth. The same can be said for the majority of western politicians who have their own interests in simply towing the line. The price for this ignorance has been paid by the Serbian people and Serbia ," Ram had said.
While Prof. Ram had debated the issue of the criminalization of the state, Prof. Michel Choussuodovsky spoke of well documented plans and processes implemented to destabilize and destroy the Yugoslav Federation as a nation. "The process of destabilization of Yugoslavia started in the early 80s," said Choussuodovsky.
"It was on two levels. One was the process of economic destabilization, which was implemented under IMF World Bank auspices. In the late 80's it was conducive to the establishment, what the World Bank called the bankruptcy program, which was essentially to trigger the bankruptcy of the whole Yugoslav economy. The process was deliberate and manipulative in order to destroy the basis of institutions and productiveness of the regional economic power, the Yugoslav federation - at that time a multi ethnic and multicultural society", stressed Choussuodovsky.
Alongside with the destabilization of the Yugoslav economy, Choussuodovsky discussed the role of the American and Islamic organizations in Kosovo and the Balkans.
"The same process of financing Islamic Al-Quida insurgences through the CIA by the US since the Soviet Afghan war, was applied first in Bosnia then in Kosovo," he said. The KLA has similar roots. It received training from Al-Quida and from the American mercenary organization called Military Professional Resources INC.
"Wars that characterized Yugoslavia in the course of 1990s were not civil wars. They were US sponsored insurgences with the view to creating divisions coupled with very dramatic and deadly economic reforms which impoverish people, create those divisions and ultimately fracturing the country into a small protectorates," explained Choussuodovsky. According to him "the KLA was supported by the CIA and financed by the drug trade. KLA leaders as well as former and current Prime Ministers of the KLA government in Kosovo, Hasim Tachi and Agim Cheku are on Interpol list as criminals. "Why the so-called International community would want to appoint criminals? He asked and explained that "these criminals are not criminals of last resort. They are the instruments of global capitalism. Narcotics are a tremendously profitable business, so is prostitution. It is all protected by bona fide financial institutions, the oil companies, military complexes etc." said Choussuodovsky. He criticized those who recognized independent Kosovo and concluded that "we were dealing with a geopolitical dimension and the sheer criminality of the heads of western countries, the UN and NATO in supporting that type of mafia state in Kosovo in violation of international law and of the borders and sovereignty of Serbia."
Question and answer period followed the presentations with an active participation of the audience. Mr. Dusan Vujacic, political attaché of the Embassy of Serbia and Rev. Zivorad Subotic of Serbian Orthodox Church Holy Trinity in Montreal were also present.
The forum was well organized and well attended.
22 May 2008
Report: Kosovo Albanians stone Czech bus
22 May 2008 14:05 Source: Beta
PRAGUE -- A bus from the Czech Republic carrying humanitarian aid to the Kosovo Serbs has been stoned near Decani, Czech radio reports.
An informal Czech group called the Petition Board Against Recognizing Kosovo's Independence organized a visit by a group of 20 students to visit Kosovo and bring aid to the Serbs living in Kosovo.
Czech radio confirmed that on their way to High Decani monastery, Albanian youths threw stones at the bus bearing Czech license plates. It was also confirmed that no-one was injured during the incident.
"The fact that the Czech government recognized Kosovo's independence, of which I am deeply ashamed, has meant nothing to those 'peace loving' and 'democratic' Albanians", said Jaroslav Foldina, regional leader of the Czech Social Democrats, in a statement given to the online edition of daily Pravo. Foldina was one of the passengers on the bus.
"We're talking a lot with people in Kosovo, and everyone kept asking about it (yesterday's recognition of Kosovo by the Czech government). I kept repeating the same answer: Serbia was not betrayed by the Czech people, but by the Czech government. The people have always been the same", he insisted.
Following distribution of the humanitarian aid, the students and the Petition Board intend to organize demonstrations in Kosovska Mitrovica in protest at the Czech government's decision to recognize Kosovo's independence.
The Kosovo Police Service (KPS) has not received any information about any attack on the the bus.
KPS spokesman Veton Elshani told the Beta News agency that they had received no reports or information about a bus with Czech license plates, nor any other bus for that matter, being attacked yesterday.
"No one reported any attack on a bus to the police", said Elshani.
He added that since the beginning of this year, four Serb families had been living in Decani, and that, so far, they had reported no problems.
PRAGUE -- A bus from the Czech Republic carrying humanitarian aid to the Kosovo Serbs has been stoned near Decani, Czech radio reports.
An informal Czech group called the Petition Board Against Recognizing Kosovo's Independence organized a visit by a group of 20 students to visit Kosovo and bring aid to the Serbs living in Kosovo.
Czech radio confirmed that on their way to High Decani monastery, Albanian youths threw stones at the bus bearing Czech license plates. It was also confirmed that no-one was injured during the incident.
"The fact that the Czech government recognized Kosovo's independence, of which I am deeply ashamed, has meant nothing to those 'peace loving' and 'democratic' Albanians", said Jaroslav Foldina, regional leader of the Czech Social Democrats, in a statement given to the online edition of daily Pravo. Foldina was one of the passengers on the bus.
"We're talking a lot with people in Kosovo, and everyone kept asking about it (yesterday's recognition of Kosovo by the Czech government). I kept repeating the same answer: Serbia was not betrayed by the Czech people, but by the Czech government. The people have always been the same", he insisted.
Following distribution of the humanitarian aid, the students and the Petition Board intend to organize demonstrations in Kosovska Mitrovica in protest at the Czech government's decision to recognize Kosovo's independence.
The Kosovo Police Service (KPS) has not received any information about any attack on the the bus.
KPS spokesman Veton Elshani told the Beta News agency that they had received no reports or information about a bus with Czech license plates, nor any other bus for that matter, being attacked yesterday.
"No one reported any attack on a bus to the police", said Elshani.
He added that since the beginning of this year, four Serb families had been living in Decani, and that, so far, they had reported no problems.
Tadic's Titanic
May 22, 2008
In Serbia, the Wreck of Wishful Thinking
by Nebojsa Malic
Nothing so destroys the delusions about democracy as the practice thereof. Examples of this are legion; one could look at the daytime drama presidential campaigns in the U.S., or the ethnic referenda in places like Kenya or Bosnia-Herzegovina. The latest exhibit in the case against democracy comes from Serbia, where general elections were held on May 11.
Even before the polls closed, the "European Serbia" coalition, led by the Democratic Party leader and President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, was claiming a stunning victory. Media, both in Serbia and the West, thundered about the country's "clear European choice" and waxed poetic about Serbia's "tilt to the West." The morning after, however, electoral math spoke differently.
In order to form a government, any party or coalition in Serbia has to have at least 126 seats in the 250-member Skupshtina. Tadic's coalition got 103. Even with the support of every possible ethnic minority party and the militant Liberal Democrats, the most votes he could put together in the parliament was 123.
On the other hand, the "patriotic bloc" that supposedly "lost" the election - Serbian Radical Party (SRS), ex-PM Vojislav Kostunica's populist coalition (DSS-NS) and the Socialists (SPS) – won more than enough mandates among themselves to put together a government: 127.
As the awareness of numbers slowly crept into the post-election EUphoria in both Serbia and the West, anger and threats replaced self-congratulatory twaddle. U.S. and UK ambassadors, as they've grown accustomed to, lectured the people of Serbia that democracy didn't really mean letting those who won the most votes rule.
Because, you see, only the Democrats had democratic legitimacy to democratize democratically in a democracy…
And if democracy failed to bring Democrats to power, there were always other means. Ceda Jovanovic, leader of the militantly pro-Imperial Liberal Democrats, spoke about a "parallel government." Bozidar Djelic, Tadic's right-hand man, claimed there would be protests in the streets – then tried to backtrack and blame Reuters for misinterpretation.
Tadic himself threatened he would "not allow" any "tampering with the popular will." Yet there was no disguising the fact that he found himself in the exact same position as the Radicals have been in the past five years: the strongest single party in the parliament, unable to actually rule.
Courting the SPS
Empire's enablers and EU's favorites thus found themselves in a quandary. They could not go back into a government with Kostunica; they had to be dragged into a marriage of convenience with him last year, and burned all their bridges this spring, after sabotaging the government's policy on Kosovo. The Radicals stand for everything they despise: tradition, sovereignty, independence. So in desperation, they reached out to the Socialists – the party of the late Slobodan Milosevic, whom they have incessantly demonized for the past decade.
Suddenly, one could hear from the champions of "democratic reform" that the Socialists weren't really all that bad, they could be a modern leftist party if they'd only shed the 1990s baggage, and say, wouldn't they want to join the Socialist International, of which the Democrats are a member (sort of)? Even the Brussels commissars chimed in, saying the Socialists' support would not be objectionable (quite a different story from four years ago).
Somehow, the Serbian voters were supposed to believe that the Radicals, who were allied with Milosevic for a short time in the 1990s, and Kostunica – who ran against Milosevic in 2000 and succeeded him as President after DOS took power – somehow represented the "retrograde forces of the 1990s," while Milosevic's actual party was a "modern, progressive" force of reform?
In Serbia, the Wreck of Wishful Thinking
by Nebojsa Malic
Nothing so destroys the delusions about democracy as the practice thereof. Examples of this are legion; one could look at the daytime drama presidential campaigns in the U.S., or the ethnic referenda in places like Kenya or Bosnia-Herzegovina. The latest exhibit in the case against democracy comes from Serbia, where general elections were held on May 11.
Even before the polls closed, the "European Serbia" coalition, led by the Democratic Party leader and President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, was claiming a stunning victory. Media, both in Serbia and the West, thundered about the country's "clear European choice" and waxed poetic about Serbia's "tilt to the West." The morning after, however, electoral math spoke differently.
In order to form a government, any party or coalition in Serbia has to have at least 126 seats in the 250-member Skupshtina. Tadic's coalition got 103. Even with the support of every possible ethnic minority party and the militant Liberal Democrats, the most votes he could put together in the parliament was 123.
On the other hand, the "patriotic bloc" that supposedly "lost" the election - Serbian Radical Party (SRS), ex-PM Vojislav Kostunica's populist coalition (DSS-NS) and the Socialists (SPS) – won more than enough mandates among themselves to put together a government: 127.
As the awareness of numbers slowly crept into the post-election EUphoria in both Serbia and the West, anger and threats replaced self-congratulatory twaddle. U.S. and UK ambassadors, as they've grown accustomed to, lectured the people of Serbia that democracy didn't really mean letting those who won the most votes rule.
Because, you see, only the Democrats had democratic legitimacy to democratize democratically in a democracy…
And if democracy failed to bring Democrats to power, there were always other means. Ceda Jovanovic, leader of the militantly pro-Imperial Liberal Democrats, spoke about a "parallel government." Bozidar Djelic, Tadic's right-hand man, claimed there would be protests in the streets – then tried to backtrack and blame Reuters for misinterpretation.
Tadic himself threatened he would "not allow" any "tampering with the popular will." Yet there was no disguising the fact that he found himself in the exact same position as the Radicals have been in the past five years: the strongest single party in the parliament, unable to actually rule.
Courting the SPS
Empire's enablers and EU's favorites thus found themselves in a quandary. They could not go back into a government with Kostunica; they had to be dragged into a marriage of convenience with him last year, and burned all their bridges this spring, after sabotaging the government's policy on Kosovo. The Radicals stand for everything they despise: tradition, sovereignty, independence. So in desperation, they reached out to the Socialists – the party of the late Slobodan Milosevic, whom they have incessantly demonized for the past decade.
Suddenly, one could hear from the champions of "democratic reform" that the Socialists weren't really all that bad, they could be a modern leftist party if they'd only shed the 1990s baggage, and say, wouldn't they want to join the Socialist International, of which the Democrats are a member (sort of)? Even the Brussels commissars chimed in, saying the Socialists' support would not be objectionable (quite a different story from four years ago).
Somehow, the Serbian voters were supposed to believe that the Radicals, who were allied with Milosevic for a short time in the 1990s, and Kostunica – who ran against Milosevic in 2000 and succeeded him as President after DOS took power – somehow represented the "retrograde forces of the 1990s," while Milosevic's actual party was a "modern, progressive" force of reform?
On the Edge
There was some reason to believe that Socialist leaders could be seduced by the promises from Brussels. After all, Serbia's obsession with the EU was manufactured from people's nostalgia for the old Socialist Yugoslavia, in which no one had to work and everyone had everything – until the IMF loans came due, anyway. Those in Serbia who worship the EU don't want a bigger market for their products, or lower customs, or better standards of governance; they want free money, pure and simple.
For a week, the Democrats seemed convinced the Socialist leaders would sell out their voters for a chance to partake in Brussels junkets. Serbia was "on the edge," declared political analysts, punning on the name of the Socialists' leader, Ivica ("edge") Dacic.
Over the weekend, Dacic flew to Moscow, ostensibly to meet with a minor Russian politician. Serbian media feverishly speculated whether he discussed a possible deal with the Democrats with members of Milosevic's family, who now live in Russia.
Or could he have sought advice from Putin and Medvedev?
Finally, news came on Tuesday that the Socialists agreed to form a government with the Radicals and Kostunica.
No Easy Task
Last Friday, Tadic derided the possibility of Socialists joining his opponents, saying such a government would be a "short trip on the Titanic." One can only assume the Democratic Party leader had in mind to be the iceberg; the "nationalist" government may actually be the most stable political structure in Serbia since the DOS coup in 2000.
DOS was a squabbling mess of pocket parties whose leaders all suffered from delusions of grandeur. Subsequently, under tremendous pressure to keep the Radicals out of power, Kostunica had to accept either allies of the Democrats (G17-Plus, in the first mandate) or the Democrats themselves (in the second mandate), both of whom ran their own policies and ultimately caused the government to collapse. For the first time in almost a decade, the government actually has a consensus on issues of vital importance to Serbia, and doesn't contain a "Trojan" element.
On the other hand, the Empire has invested too heavily in the Democrats and their hangers-on, as well as a host of "non-governmental" organizations, and is likely to increase their funding now. Political pressure from Brussels and Washington is bound to rise. So will the demonization of "nationalists" in the Western press, already growing for the past few years. Serbian press is by and large controlled by foreign interests, both economic and political; it will continue to hound the government and brainwash the people into "accepting the reality" of Imperial domination.
The Stumbling Giants
It is questionable, however, how long that domination may last. With each passing day, oil gets more expensive (strengthening, say, Russia) and the dollar gets weaker. The Mesopotamian expedition is bogged down, and attempts to "win" by expanding the war to Iran may result in a Stalingrad scenario.
Empire's hegemony in the Balkans may soon be put to a test by none other than its Albanian protégés. Elections in Macedonia are on June 1, and the country's restless Albanians are already up in arms, again. One of their leaders, Menduh Thaci, is a cousin of the current "president of Kosovo," Hashim Thaci. Another, Ali Ahmeti, was a longtime lieutenant of Avni Klinaku, who has just established a "Movement for Unification" (of "ethnic Albanian lands"), on May 17 in Pristina. Meanwhile, videos announcing the formation of the "Liberation Army of Chameria" (Epirus, in western Greece) appeared on the internet recently, following the same pattern that Thaci's KLA used to initiate its campaign in Kosovo. It is indeed tempting to conclude that the Greater Albanian project is about to enter its next phase.
The EU's effort to supplant the UN in the "independent state of Kosovo" seems to have foundered as well, the Brussels bureaucrats finding that there was more to creating reality than they initially thought.
All over the world, the idea that wishing for something could make it reality is facing the cold, hard facts that say otherwise. The verbal acrobatics of the Empire and its enablers in Serbia only underscore the vacuous nature of their hegemony. President Tadic's unfortunate metaphor about the Titanic wasn't wrong, merely misplaced. For the real monument to arrogance proudly sailing on the irreversible course towards the End of History now appears to be that of his masters, and his own.
There was some reason to believe that Socialist leaders could be seduced by the promises from Brussels. After all, Serbia's obsession with the EU was manufactured from people's nostalgia for the old Socialist Yugoslavia, in which no one had to work and everyone had everything – until the IMF loans came due, anyway. Those in Serbia who worship the EU don't want a bigger market for their products, or lower customs, or better standards of governance; they want free money, pure and simple.
For a week, the Democrats seemed convinced the Socialist leaders would sell out their voters for a chance to partake in Brussels junkets. Serbia was "on the edge," declared political analysts, punning on the name of the Socialists' leader, Ivica ("edge") Dacic.
Over the weekend, Dacic flew to Moscow, ostensibly to meet with a minor Russian politician. Serbian media feverishly speculated whether he discussed a possible deal with the Democrats with members of Milosevic's family, who now live in Russia.
Or could he have sought advice from Putin and Medvedev?
Finally, news came on Tuesday that the Socialists agreed to form a government with the Radicals and Kostunica.
No Easy Task
Last Friday, Tadic derided the possibility of Socialists joining his opponents, saying such a government would be a "short trip on the Titanic." One can only assume the Democratic Party leader had in mind to be the iceberg; the "nationalist" government may actually be the most stable political structure in Serbia since the DOS coup in 2000.
DOS was a squabbling mess of pocket parties whose leaders all suffered from delusions of grandeur. Subsequently, under tremendous pressure to keep the Radicals out of power, Kostunica had to accept either allies of the Democrats (G17-Plus, in the first mandate) or the Democrats themselves (in the second mandate), both of whom ran their own policies and ultimately caused the government to collapse. For the first time in almost a decade, the government actually has a consensus on issues of vital importance to Serbia, and doesn't contain a "Trojan" element.
On the other hand, the Empire has invested too heavily in the Democrats and their hangers-on, as well as a host of "non-governmental" organizations, and is likely to increase their funding now. Political pressure from Brussels and Washington is bound to rise. So will the demonization of "nationalists" in the Western press, already growing for the past few years. Serbian press is by and large controlled by foreign interests, both economic and political; it will continue to hound the government and brainwash the people into "accepting the reality" of Imperial domination.
The Stumbling Giants
It is questionable, however, how long that domination may last. With each passing day, oil gets more expensive (strengthening, say, Russia) and the dollar gets weaker. The Mesopotamian expedition is bogged down, and attempts to "win" by expanding the war to Iran may result in a Stalingrad scenario.
Empire's hegemony in the Balkans may soon be put to a test by none other than its Albanian protégés. Elections in Macedonia are on June 1, and the country's restless Albanians are already up in arms, again. One of their leaders, Menduh Thaci, is a cousin of the current "president of Kosovo," Hashim Thaci. Another, Ali Ahmeti, was a longtime lieutenant of Avni Klinaku, who has just established a "Movement for Unification" (of "ethnic Albanian lands"), on May 17 in Pristina. Meanwhile, videos announcing the formation of the "Liberation Army of Chameria" (Epirus, in western Greece) appeared on the internet recently, following the same pattern that Thaci's KLA used to initiate its campaign in Kosovo. It is indeed tempting to conclude that the Greater Albanian project is about to enter its next phase.
The EU's effort to supplant the UN in the "independent state of Kosovo" seems to have foundered as well, the Brussels bureaucrats finding that there was more to creating reality than they initially thought.
All over the world, the idea that wishing for something could make it reality is facing the cold, hard facts that say otherwise. The verbal acrobatics of the Empire and its enablers in Serbia only underscore the vacuous nature of their hegemony. President Tadic's unfortunate metaphor about the Titanic wasn't wrong, merely misplaced. For the real monument to arrogance proudly sailing on the irreversible course towards the End of History now appears to be that of his masters, and his own.
Bosnian, US Experts Say Herzegovina Sitting on Huge Oil Reserves
Posted on: Thursday, 22 May 2008, 06:00 CDT
Text of report by Bosnian edition of Croatian daily Vecernji list, on 21 May
[Report by Zdenko Jurilj: "Like Arabia, Hercegovina Sitting on Oil"]
According to a map made by experts of British Petroleum and Amoco, a US research company, the area spanning Glamoc, Livanjsko Polje, Dreznica, Nevesinje, and Neum, and going further to Montenegro and northern Albania, has the biggest oil reserves in Europe.
Vast Reserves
Professor Abdulah Basic, the dean of the Tuzla Technology and Mining Faculty, confirmed that Hercegovina was "swimming" in an oil field whose reserves he vividly compared to those in, say, Saudi Arabia or Iraq. Although these assessments may sound like some joke, papers in possession of foreign experts assure us that there is around 500 million tons of "black gold" lying in an oil reserve at a depth of 4,000-6,000 meters. The soaring price of oil and oil products recently compelled Sarajevo's Energoinvest company - which before the war scouted for oil fields in Bosnia-Hercegovina - to try and reactivate an old oil project that they had worked on together with the Americans. Professor Basic said that first barrels of B-H oil could be extracted in 15 years' time, if not sooner, provided that local authorities were responsive to a project that foreign oil giants dream of.
To confirm his story, Basic told us that, several months ago, British Petroleum experts asked to conduct research in the northern part of Bosnia, in the Posavina area, at the middle soil layer of the former site of the Panonian Sea. According to Basic, the experts decided to do a probe 4,000 meters deep. However, oil reserves in northern Bosnia - in the areas surrounding Tuzla, Bijeljina, Odzak, and Bosanski Samac - are not as big as in Hercegovina. Oil experts said that there were reserves containing 50 million tons of oil in the area of northern Bosnia. What remains to be completed is just 20 per cent of the final probe activities that fully guarantee the total amount of supplies and economic feasibility of exploitation.
To Reduce Import
"Oil research in this part of Bosnia-Hercegovina will certainly be carried out by Russian experts because Russians own the Bosanski Brod Oil Refinery," Basic said
According to estimates, a modernized and privatized oil refinery in Bosanski Brod, together with its foreign partners, will refine in the near future over 4 million tons of oil a year. We should note that Bosnia-Hercegovina annually imports 1.5 million tons of fuel, worth nearly 2 billion convertible marks. Nearly one half of oil products comes to the B-H market from Rijeka and Sisak refineries, and the rest is imported from Serbia, Russia, Hungary, and Slovenia.
[Box, p 9] Oil Documentation in 15 Boxes
Edhem Bicakcic, former B-H Federation prime minister and former Energoinvest director, used his political connections to move from Amoco to Sarajevo the entire documentation pertaining to the company's research of oil fields in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Fifteen boxes of documentation have been stored in Energoinvest's building in Sarajevo.
In Tuzla, Oil, Gas, Gushing in Backyard
Sarajevo - Last year, gas gushed out of the ground in front of a family house in the Tuzla suburb of Gornja Dubrava. Considering that gas always accompanies oil, it is not far from truth that the methane which surfaced in Gornje Dubrave could be an indicator of an oil reserve.
"This gas regularly accompanies oil or appears on its own as earth gas. This methane is a natural gas, and I am in favour of continuing the research. This area is very important; average temperatures are high, and this is another reason why this research should continue," Professor Rasim Delic of the Tuzla University said.
Originally published by Vecernji list (Bosnia-Hercegovina edition), Zagreb, in Croatian 21 May 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring European. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: BBC Monitoring European
Text of report by Bosnian edition of Croatian daily Vecernji list, on 21 May
[Report by Zdenko Jurilj: "Like Arabia, Hercegovina Sitting on Oil"]
According to a map made by experts of British Petroleum and Amoco, a US research company, the area spanning Glamoc, Livanjsko Polje, Dreznica, Nevesinje, and Neum, and going further to Montenegro and northern Albania, has the biggest oil reserves in Europe.
Vast Reserves
Professor Abdulah Basic, the dean of the Tuzla Technology and Mining Faculty, confirmed that Hercegovina was "swimming" in an oil field whose reserves he vividly compared to those in, say, Saudi Arabia or Iraq. Although these assessments may sound like some joke, papers in possession of foreign experts assure us that there is around 500 million tons of "black gold" lying in an oil reserve at a depth of 4,000-6,000 meters. The soaring price of oil and oil products recently compelled Sarajevo's Energoinvest company - which before the war scouted for oil fields in Bosnia-Hercegovina - to try and reactivate an old oil project that they had worked on together with the Americans. Professor Basic said that first barrels of B-H oil could be extracted in 15 years' time, if not sooner, provided that local authorities were responsive to a project that foreign oil giants dream of.
To confirm his story, Basic told us that, several months ago, British Petroleum experts asked to conduct research in the northern part of Bosnia, in the Posavina area, at the middle soil layer of the former site of the Panonian Sea. According to Basic, the experts decided to do a probe 4,000 meters deep. However, oil reserves in northern Bosnia - in the areas surrounding Tuzla, Bijeljina, Odzak, and Bosanski Samac - are not as big as in Hercegovina. Oil experts said that there were reserves containing 50 million tons of oil in the area of northern Bosnia. What remains to be completed is just 20 per cent of the final probe activities that fully guarantee the total amount of supplies and economic feasibility of exploitation.
To Reduce Import
"Oil research in this part of Bosnia-Hercegovina will certainly be carried out by Russian experts because Russians own the Bosanski Brod Oil Refinery," Basic said
According to estimates, a modernized and privatized oil refinery in Bosanski Brod, together with its foreign partners, will refine in the near future over 4 million tons of oil a year. We should note that Bosnia-Hercegovina annually imports 1.5 million tons of fuel, worth nearly 2 billion convertible marks. Nearly one half of oil products comes to the B-H market from Rijeka and Sisak refineries, and the rest is imported from Serbia, Russia, Hungary, and Slovenia.
[Box, p 9] Oil Documentation in 15 Boxes
Edhem Bicakcic, former B-H Federation prime minister and former Energoinvest director, used his political connections to move from Amoco to Sarajevo the entire documentation pertaining to the company's research of oil fields in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Fifteen boxes of documentation have been stored in Energoinvest's building in Sarajevo.
In Tuzla, Oil, Gas, Gushing in Backyard
Sarajevo - Last year, gas gushed out of the ground in front of a family house in the Tuzla suburb of Gornja Dubrava. Considering that gas always accompanies oil, it is not far from truth that the methane which surfaced in Gornje Dubrave could be an indicator of an oil reserve.
"This gas regularly accompanies oil or appears on its own as earth gas. This methane is a natural gas, and I am in favour of continuing the research. This area is very important; average temperatures are high, and this is another reason why this research should continue," Professor Rasim Delic of the Tuzla University said.
Originally published by Vecernji list (Bosnia-Hercegovina edition), Zagreb, in Croatian 21 May 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring European. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: BBC Monitoring European
21 May 2008
Kosovo Albanian journalist pleads not guilty for ratting on protected witness
MIKE CORDER
May 21, 2008 3:00 PM
THE HAGUE, Netherlands-An award-winning ethnic Albanian newspaper editor pleaded not guilty Wednesday to contempt of court for allegedly publishing the name of a protected witness at the U.N. war crimes trial of Kosovo's former prime minister.
Baton Haxhiu, editor of Kosovo daily Express, faces a maximum sentence of seven years or a fine of up to €100,000 (US$156,600) if convicted by the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
"I am absolutely not guilty," said Haxhiu.
Prosecutor's say the editor's reporting of the trial of Ramush Haradinaj violated a court order banning publication of a witness' identity. Public disclosure of his name is still banned by the court.
Although Haradinaj was acquitted earlier this year, the judges acknowledged his trial was plagued by fears of retribution against witnesses. Of 81 witnesses summoned, the identities of 34 were protected, a far higher percentage than normal. Prosecutors have appealed his acquittal.
Haxhiu is the sixth Kosovo Albanian charged with contempt of court in the trial of Haradinaj and two other defendants, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. The charges against two unwilling witnesses were dropped soon after they agreed to give evidence. Shefqet Kabashi is awaiting trial as he repeatedly refused to testify.
Former Kosovo culture minister Astrit Haraqija and Bajrush Morina were recently indicted for trying to pressure a witness into not testifying in The Hague. Their trial is scheduled to open on June 16.
Haxhiu previously had appeared at the tribunal as a prosecution witness in two other trials, including the genocide case against former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic.
On Wednesday, Judge Alphons Orie did not set a trial date and ordered Haxhiu detained, despite his lawyer asking for his release because Haxhiu's father is suffering prostate cancer. Orie indicated, however, that Haxhiu would be freed as soon as his lawyer filed a written request for his release.
The court in the past has convicted three other journalists of contempt, prompting criticism from press freedom watchdogs.
On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders criticized the fact that Haxhiu was detained in Kosovo, but said it was "understandable" the court would want to question a reporter suspected of breaching a witness protection order.
"But we can only regret the methods used to ensure his cooperation," the Paris-based group said in a statement. "It seems that Haxhiu was entirely ready to cooperate freely with the ICTY, so his arrest could have been avoided."
A court spokeswoman defended Haxhiu's indictment.
"It illustrates that the tribunal and prosecution take very seriously the issue of the protection of witnesses," said prosecution office spokeswoman Olga Kavran. "In cases such as this, where people choose to violate tribunal orders and ... publish information about protection of witnesses, they will be brought to trial on contempt charges."
In 1999, Haxhiu was honored with an International Press Freedom Award by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, for his impartial reporting of the crisis in Kosovo and for publishing the independent Pristina daily Koha Ditore, despite harassment and death threats.
The paper's offices were torched in 1999 and a guard killed. NATO reported that Haxhiu had been killed, but actually he had fled to Macedonia. Later he recalled sitting in a basement hideout and watching international news reports of his own death.
May 21, 2008 3:00 PM
THE HAGUE, Netherlands-An award-winning ethnic Albanian newspaper editor pleaded not guilty Wednesday to contempt of court for allegedly publishing the name of a protected witness at the U.N. war crimes trial of Kosovo's former prime minister.
Baton Haxhiu, editor of Kosovo daily Express, faces a maximum sentence of seven years or a fine of up to €100,000 (US$156,600) if convicted by the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
"I am absolutely not guilty," said Haxhiu.
Prosecutor's say the editor's reporting of the trial of Ramush Haradinaj violated a court order banning publication of a witness' identity. Public disclosure of his name is still banned by the court.
Although Haradinaj was acquitted earlier this year, the judges acknowledged his trial was plagued by fears of retribution against witnesses. Of 81 witnesses summoned, the identities of 34 were protected, a far higher percentage than normal. Prosecutors have appealed his acquittal.
Haxhiu is the sixth Kosovo Albanian charged with contempt of court in the trial of Haradinaj and two other defendants, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. The charges against two unwilling witnesses were dropped soon after they agreed to give evidence. Shefqet Kabashi is awaiting trial as he repeatedly refused to testify.
Former Kosovo culture minister Astrit Haraqija and Bajrush Morina were recently indicted for trying to pressure a witness into not testifying in The Hague. Their trial is scheduled to open on June 16.
Haxhiu previously had appeared at the tribunal as a prosecution witness in two other trials, including the genocide case against former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic.
On Wednesday, Judge Alphons Orie did not set a trial date and ordered Haxhiu detained, despite his lawyer asking for his release because Haxhiu's father is suffering prostate cancer. Orie indicated, however, that Haxhiu would be freed as soon as his lawyer filed a written request for his release.
The court in the past has convicted three other journalists of contempt, prompting criticism from press freedom watchdogs.
On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders criticized the fact that Haxhiu was detained in Kosovo, but said it was "understandable" the court would want to question a reporter suspected of breaching a witness protection order.
"But we can only regret the methods used to ensure his cooperation," the Paris-based group said in a statement. "It seems that Haxhiu was entirely ready to cooperate freely with the ICTY, so his arrest could have been avoided."
A court spokeswoman defended Haxhiu's indictment.
"It illustrates that the tribunal and prosecution take very seriously the issue of the protection of witnesses," said prosecution office spokeswoman Olga Kavran. "In cases such as this, where people choose to violate tribunal orders and ... publish information about protection of witnesses, they will be brought to trial on contempt charges."
In 1999, Haxhiu was honored with an International Press Freedom Award by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, for his impartial reporting of the crisis in Kosovo and for publishing the independent Pristina daily Koha Ditore, despite harassment and death threats.
The paper's offices were torched in 1999 and a guard killed. NATO reported that Haxhiu had been killed, but actually he had fled to Macedonia. Later he recalled sitting in a basement hideout and watching international news reports of his own death.
20 May 2008
State Dept. Report on Terrorism - Kosovo
Posted by Julia Gorin under Republican Riot
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) continued to monitor suspected terrorist activity with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG). Officials believed that a few of the more than 400 NGOs operating in Kosovo were involved in suspicious activities, and sought to prevent extremists from using NGOs to gain a foothold in Kosovo. Consequently, municipalities authorized NGO use of public facilities for religious gatherings only if the relevant religious community consented.
The Kosovo Police Service (KPS) and UNMIK Police Counterterrorism Units (CTUs) were primarily responsible for Kosovo's counterterrorism efforts, but were small and lacked resources…Porous boundary lines that were easily crossed by individuals trafficking in people, weapons, and narcotics hampered Kosovo's counterterrorism efforts. The Kosovo border police service lacked basic equipment, and only had a mandate to patrol the green border (areas that lack official, manned border, or administrative boundary line gates) from two to three kilometers beyond the actual border and boundary lines. NATO-KFOR roving teams patrolled the green border right up to the actual border and administrative boundary lines, but numerous passable roads and trails that lead to Kosovo lack border or boundary gates. Moreover, poorly paid border and customs officials were susceptible to corruption.
Witness intimidation was also an obstacle to combating terrorism in Kosovo. UNMIK's Department of Justice reported that it created a Witness Protection Task Force to address this issue. The Task Force reportedly worked on constructing a new safe house in Kosovo….According to the UNMIK Department of Justice (DOJ), there were three terrorism-related convictions, and seven terrorism cases underway with local judges and prosecutors. International prosecutors and the Kosovo Special Prosecutor's Office (KSPO) also initiated four terrorism-related investigations and filed two indictments, which were pending confirmation at year's end. One of the indictments was related to Albanian National Army (AKSH) activity, and one of the investigations involved the Front for Albanian National Unification (FBKSH), the AKSH's political wing.
The AKSH, which UNMIK designated as a terrorist organization in 2003, continued to intimidate Kosovo citizens. In June, its Tirana-based spokesman, Gafurr Adili, told Kosovo media that AKSH members in several Kosovo towns had distributed leaflets threatening violence if the Serbian paramilitary group Tsar Lazar Guard ventured into Kosovo for the annual June 28th commemoration of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo. Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) war veteran leader Abdyl Mushkolaj also made similar threats, adding to concerns over the commemoration. As a result, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) issued an executive decision prohibiting the Tsar Lazar Guard or any paramilitary group from carrying out activities in Kosovo. The commemoration passed without incident.
In an October interview on Radio Television Kosovo (RTK), heavily armed, masked individuals in black uniforms bearing the AKSH insignia appeared from an undisclosed location described as an AKSH training facility near the administrative boundary line with Serbia…AKSH had long claimed to operate only in areas outside of KFOR or Kosovo Protection Corps control, and was reportedly also active in southern Serbia and western Macedonia.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) continued to monitor suspected terrorist activity with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG). Officials believed that a few of the more than 400 NGOs operating in Kosovo were involved in suspicious activities, and sought to prevent extremists from using NGOs to gain a foothold in Kosovo. Consequently, municipalities authorized NGO use of public facilities for religious gatherings only if the relevant religious community consented.
The Kosovo Police Service (KPS) and UNMIK Police Counterterrorism Units (CTUs) were primarily responsible for Kosovo's counterterrorism efforts, but were small and lacked resources…Porous boundary lines that were easily crossed by individuals trafficking in people, weapons, and narcotics hampered Kosovo's counterterrorism efforts. The Kosovo border police service lacked basic equipment, and only had a mandate to patrol the green border (areas that lack official, manned border, or administrative boundary line gates) from two to three kilometers beyond the actual border and boundary lines. NATO-KFOR roving teams patrolled the green border right up to the actual border and administrative boundary lines, but numerous passable roads and trails that lead to Kosovo lack border or boundary gates. Moreover, poorly paid border and customs officials were susceptible to corruption.
Witness intimidation was also an obstacle to combating terrorism in Kosovo. UNMIK's Department of Justice reported that it created a Witness Protection Task Force to address this issue. The Task Force reportedly worked on constructing a new safe house in Kosovo….According to the UNMIK Department of Justice (DOJ), there were three terrorism-related convictions, and seven terrorism cases underway with local judges and prosecutors. International prosecutors and the Kosovo Special Prosecutor's Office (KSPO) also initiated four terrorism-related investigations and filed two indictments, which were pending confirmation at year's end. One of the indictments was related to Albanian National Army (AKSH) activity, and one of the investigations involved the Front for Albanian National Unification (FBKSH), the AKSH's political wing.
The AKSH, which UNMIK designated as a terrorist organization in 2003, continued to intimidate Kosovo citizens. In June, its Tirana-based spokesman, Gafurr Adili, told Kosovo media that AKSH members in several Kosovo towns had distributed leaflets threatening violence if the Serbian paramilitary group Tsar Lazar Guard ventured into Kosovo for the annual June 28th commemoration of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo. Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) war veteran leader Abdyl Mushkolaj also made similar threats, adding to concerns over the commemoration. As a result, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) issued an executive decision prohibiting the Tsar Lazar Guard or any paramilitary group from carrying out activities in Kosovo. The commemoration passed without incident.
In an October interview on Radio Television Kosovo (RTK), heavily armed, masked individuals in black uniforms bearing the AKSH insignia appeared from an undisclosed location described as an AKSH training facility near the administrative boundary line with Serbia…AKSH had long claimed to operate only in areas outside of KFOR or Kosovo Protection Corps control, and was reportedly also active in southern Serbia and western Macedonia.
Wrong side on Kosovo
Re "Kosovo, Quebec two different stories" (March 20) - I was very surprised and very sorry that Canada joined the U.S.A. and some other countries to approve that Kosovo was taken away from my Serbian brothers and declared an independent country, which makes it sound like Kosovo wanted to leave Serbia. That was the biggest lie, showing that Prime Minister Harper does not know much about the history of Kosovo which is a sacred place for my Serbian brothers, just like Rome is to Italians.
During the Turkish (Ottoman) invasion of Europe on their way to Vienna, thousands of Serbians lost their lives, fighting with Turks at Kosovo to stop them progressing to Europe. However today, Albanians want to occupy Kosovo and area and populate it with Albanians.
But who actually happened to start this Kosovo problem? The article from Canadian Press printed in The Examiner did not mention that Albanians are the reason the "liberation" of Kosovo started.
I will tell Mr. Harper the real truth. After the end of the Second World War, Albanian Prime Minister Enver Hodja asked our Prime Minister, J.B. Tito, for help because Albania is a very poor country with not enough food to feed them all. So Tito decided to take several thousand Albanian families and bring them to Kosovo at the Albanian border. However when you are good to somebody, in many cases, you pay for your goodness. Those Albanians used night to smuggle relatives and neighbours over the border mountains and filled the area to the point that Serbs, who were still tired from the war, started moving to other parts of Serbia rather than fighting again.
Now Albanians claim Kosovo as their land and announce that they want to liberate Kosovo. Unfortunately when Tito passed away the situation worsened. To declare Kosovo independent is just a cover and 30 countries recognized the new country Kosovo, including Canada, against the protest of Serbia - but Albania will take it over without any problem to these 30 countries. But as the article stated, two dozen countries sided with the Serbs, including Russia and Slavic brothers of Serbs.
As for me, I felt that after Tito's death Yugoslavia would disappear so I decided before it happened to leave, and in 1951, I chose Canada as the best country in this world and today I am a very proud Canadian citizen
ZLATKO ALBERT Charlotte Street
Kosovo Muslim police brutally beats Serb
May 20, 2006
Serb National Council for Kosovo has condemned in the most harsh terms the behavior of the so-called Kosovo police service officers or KPS who have beaten a Serb youngster in Gracanica.
KPS officers are overwhelmingly Muslim Albanians who have violently seized control of this Serbian province.
Serb National Council for Kosovo says that KPS routinely maltreats citizens in Serb regions.
The Council demanded an urgent return of Serb policemen to the ranks of the provincial police under UNMIK's command.
The brutal detention and beating of the Serb youngster has additionally disturbed the inhabitants of central Kosovo and at the same time showed what would be the position of Serbs in some quasi-state of Kosovo, reads the statement.
Serb National Council for Kosovo has condemned in the most harsh terms the behavior of the so-called Kosovo police service officers or KPS who have beaten a Serb youngster in Gracanica.
KPS officers are overwhelmingly Muslim Albanians who have violently seized control of this Serbian province.
Serb National Council for Kosovo says that KPS routinely maltreats citizens in Serb regions.
The Council demanded an urgent return of Serb policemen to the ranks of the provincial police under UNMIK's command.
The brutal detention and beating of the Serb youngster has additionally disturbed the inhabitants of central Kosovo and at the same time showed what would be the position of Serbs in some quasi-state of Kosovo, reads the statement.
Ukraine supports Serbian territorial integrity
May 20, 2006
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said that Ukraine supports the Serbian territorial integrity that includes Kosovo despite that several countries have decided to violate numerous international charters by recognizing the illegal declaration of independence by Kosovo's Islamic separatists.
Ukraine noted that it is under tremendous diplomatic pressure to recognize Kosovo's illegal independence declaration. pressure from certain
Ukraine's political leadership is divided and is debating the recognition of Kosovo citing that the US is exerting pressure on Ukraine.
Djelic stated after the talks with the first Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister that Serbia may count on the Ukraine in its fight for territorial integrity underlining that according to the constitution, the president of the Ukraine is to make a final decision on this.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said that Ukraine supports the Serbian territorial integrity that includes Kosovo despite that several countries have decided to violate numerous international charters by recognizing the illegal declaration of independence by Kosovo's Islamic separatists.
Ukraine noted that it is under tremendous diplomatic pressure to recognize Kosovo's illegal independence declaration. pressure from certain
Ukraine's political leadership is divided and is debating the recognition of Kosovo citing that the US is exerting pressure on Ukraine.
Djelic stated after the talks with the first Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister that Serbia may count on the Ukraine in its fight for territorial integrity underlining that according to the constitution, the president of the Ukraine is to make a final decision on this.
US more violent than Serbia
MEERA SELVA
May 20, 2008 5:58 AM
LONDON-The United States is ranked as a little less peaceful than it was last year and a lot more violent than Kuwait, Nicaragua and Libya, according to the Global Peace Index released Tuesday by Britain's Economist Intelligence Unit.
The index, now in its second year, ranks 140 countries according to their relative states of peace, based on factors such as military expenditure and respect for human rights.
The latest index released Tuesday ranked the United States at 97th, one place lower than last year and way below countries such as Costa Rica, Madagascar and Chile.
This year, Iceland is voted the most peaceful place, beating last year's winner Norway. The United Kingdom is at 49, just below Panama. Unsurprisingly, Sudan, Somalia and Iraq are at the bottom of the list.
The idea for the index came from Steve Killelea, an Australian businessman and philanthropist who wanted to identify just what creates a peaceful country.
He asked the Economist Intelligence Unit to look at a range of variables, from levels of homicides per 100,000 people, which drags down America and boosts Denmark, to corruption and access to primary education.
"The U.S. does so badly because has the highest proportion of jailed people in the world. And it has high levels of homicide and high potential for terrorist attacks," Killelea told The Associated Press. "Its overall score is a reflection of that. The index is not making any moral statements by the ranking."
Gavin Hayman, director of campaigns for Global Witness, a non-governmental organization that lobbies against corruption and human rights abuse, said the results were slightly skewed.
"The people who did this study only look at peace and the absence of war, and this approach may throw up some perverse readings," he said. "The U.S. has done some nasty things geopolitically, and it ranks poorly because of its high military spending, but that's a little unfair as they are the ones that keep the world's waterways free, and play a role in protecting global assets."
Andrew Williamson, global director of client research at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said he hoped the index would be used by other researchers to look into why some countries stay more peaceful than others.
"The index is trying to measure the absence of peace. We are not looking at explanatory factors why some countries are more peaceful than others. We are inviting others to do this analysis themselves," Williamson said.
The Top 10 most peaceful countries:
1. Iceland
2. Denmark
3. Norway
4. New Zealand
5. Japan.
6. Ireland
7. Portugal
8. Finland
9. Luxembourg
10. Austria
May 20, 2008 5:58 AM
LONDON-The United States is ranked as a little less peaceful than it was last year and a lot more violent than Kuwait, Nicaragua and Libya, according to the Global Peace Index released Tuesday by Britain's Economist Intelligence Unit.
The index, now in its second year, ranks 140 countries according to their relative states of peace, based on factors such as military expenditure and respect for human rights.
The latest index released Tuesday ranked the United States at 97th, one place lower than last year and way below countries such as Costa Rica, Madagascar and Chile.
This year, Iceland is voted the most peaceful place, beating last year's winner Norway. The United Kingdom is at 49, just below Panama. Unsurprisingly, Sudan, Somalia and Iraq are at the bottom of the list.
The idea for the index came from Steve Killelea, an Australian businessman and philanthropist who wanted to identify just what creates a peaceful country.
He asked the Economist Intelligence Unit to look at a range of variables, from levels of homicides per 100,000 people, which drags down America and boosts Denmark, to corruption and access to primary education.
"The U.S. does so badly because has the highest proportion of jailed people in the world. And it has high levels of homicide and high potential for terrorist attacks," Killelea told The Associated Press. "Its overall score is a reflection of that. The index is not making any moral statements by the ranking."
Gavin Hayman, director of campaigns for Global Witness, a non-governmental organization that lobbies against corruption and human rights abuse, said the results were slightly skewed.
"The people who did this study only look at peace and the absence of war, and this approach may throw up some perverse readings," he said. "The U.S. has done some nasty things geopolitically, and it ranks poorly because of its high military spending, but that's a little unfair as they are the ones that keep the world's waterways free, and play a role in protecting global assets."
Andrew Williamson, global director of client research at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said he hoped the index would be used by other researchers to look into why some countries stay more peaceful than others.
"The index is trying to measure the absence of peace. We are not looking at explanatory factors why some countries are more peaceful than others. We are inviting others to do this analysis themselves," Williamson said.
The Top 10 most peaceful countries:
1. Iceland
2. Denmark
3. Norway
4. New Zealand
5. Japan.
6. Ireland
7. Portugal
8. Finland
9. Luxembourg
10. Austria
19 May 2008
Nazi-era Albanian group reactivated
May 19, 2008
Source: Politika
Albanian Premier Sali Berisha launched last week in Tirana an initiative on the all-Albanian celebration of the 130th anniversary since the forming of the "Prizren league," inviting the governments of Macedonia and Kosovo to organize a joint celebration.
Berisha's appeal was received in Macedonia in two ways: official Skoplje opposed any kind of celebration at the state level, while Albanian representatives accepted it and commenced with preparations immediately.
The spokesperson of the Macedonian government Ivica Bocevski has stated at first that they didn't receive an official invitation from Tirana, stressing that the government would have nothing to do with such a celebration, because marking significant dates was not in the jurisdiction of the Macedonian parliament. Since the Macedonian parliament was dissolved, the
Macedonian authorities have been amnestied from any obligation towards the proposal of the Albanian premier. Macedonian historians are also on the line of the government stand, who opine that Macedonia's participation in the celebration of the "Prizren league" would be damaging, primarily over the fact that many things stemming from it endanger the integrity and sovereignty of the modern Macedonian state.
One should recall that the "Prizren league" was held on 10 June, 1878 in the Bairakli Mosque in Prizren, that delegates from some ten Macedonian towns in the then Turkish province of Rumenlia took part in its work.
The declaration adopted by the Balkan Albanians at the Prizren gathering commenced the lasting division between Albanians and other nations in the Balkans.
Its first activation in the XXI century occurred on the territory of the Macedonian Republic in the bloody ethnic conflicts in 2001 that ended with the Ohrid Agreement, which is practically the basis for the ongoing federalization of Macedonia. The current attempt of separating Kosovo from Serbia is also based on the "Prizren league."
More on the Prizren league:
Kosovo's Albanian Nazi Past: The Untold Story
Source: Politika
Albanian Premier Sali Berisha launched last week in Tirana an initiative on the all-Albanian celebration of the 130th anniversary since the forming of the "Prizren league," inviting the governments of Macedonia and Kosovo to organize a joint celebration.
Berisha's appeal was received in Macedonia in two ways: official Skoplje opposed any kind of celebration at the state level, while Albanian representatives accepted it and commenced with preparations immediately.
The spokesperson of the Macedonian government Ivica Bocevski has stated at first that they didn't receive an official invitation from Tirana, stressing that the government would have nothing to do with such a celebration, because marking significant dates was not in the jurisdiction of the Macedonian parliament. Since the Macedonian parliament was dissolved, the
Macedonian authorities have been amnestied from any obligation towards the proposal of the Albanian premier. Macedonian historians are also on the line of the government stand, who opine that Macedonia's participation in the celebration of the "Prizren league" would be damaging, primarily over the fact that many things stemming from it endanger the integrity and sovereignty of the modern Macedonian state.
One should recall that the "Prizren league" was held on 10 June, 1878 in the Bairakli Mosque in Prizren, that delegates from some ten Macedonian towns in the then Turkish province of Rumenlia took part in its work.
The declaration adopted by the Balkan Albanians at the Prizren gathering commenced the lasting division between Albanians and other nations in the Balkans.
Its first activation in the XXI century occurred on the territory of the Macedonian Republic in the bloody ethnic conflicts in 2001 that ended with the Ohrid Agreement, which is practically the basis for the ongoing federalization of Macedonia. The current attempt of separating Kosovo from Serbia is also based on the "Prizren league."
More on the Prizren league:
Kosovo's Albanian Nazi Past: The Untold Story
Serb recounts mistreatment by Albanian terrorists
May 19, 2008
Source: Glas Javnosti
Ljubomir Mirkovic, refugee from Pec, after imprisonment in Albania, signed under threat of arms in the Pec court a contract with the mafia.
KPS and UNMIK police have ignored his denouncements to the police and treated him as a criminal.
"I was hostage for ten days of the Albanian mafia that took by force all of my property in Kosovo. They kidnapped me in Tuzi, Montenegro, illegaly transferred me to Albania, and then to Pec. We crossed the borders, while the Montenegrin, Kosovo or UNMIK police didn't stop us, and they didn't protect me when I finally revealed to them what hapenned to me! Until 1999, Mirkovic was an influential businessmen in Pec and a SSJ deputy for some time. I owned a series of restaurants in Pec and a pasta mini-factory," said Mirkovic.
Mirkovic's total property was estimated at 500,000 Euro, while Albanians from Kosovo offered him as much as 750,000 Euro.
"Nevertheless, I didn't want to sell them anything. I live modestly in Belgrade, I hoped I would be able to return to my hometown one day, but the Albanians decided to kidnap me," says Mirkovic.
They tried to talk friendly with me. They asked me to have my wife send from Belgrade the ownership documentation for the property in Pec and forced me to sign a contract whereby I would transfer everything on them, i.e. to sign a paper according to which I owe them 220,000 Euro, and that I am giving as guarantee all of my restaurants and factory in Pec.," he said.
Then problems started. Albanians understood that there is no formal contract with Serbia that permits selling of immovables. They decide to transfer him, after several days spent in home detention, to Kosovo.
Albanians were permanently in contact with the Pec attorney Mustafa Radonjic.
"The entire transaction was suspicious to him, but still, I signed in his office some conract on a loan, whereby all of my property was transferred, for fictitious 220,000 Euro, to the hands of a certain Resata Kuci from the vicinity of Pec, since Albanian citizens were unable to be formal owners," Mirkovic said.
Albanians then verified the contract in the Pec municipal court.
"Finally, they took me to northern Mitrovica and I was finally free on 14 April, after ten days. I lost 11 kilograms [about 25 pounds]... I was all dirty and looked like a corpse," says Mirkovic.
Mirkovic first went to KPS, and then to UNMIK police, where an American interrogated him for five hours.
"They treated me as if I was a criminal. They didn't even want to listen to the details on border crossings, maltreatment, kidnapping... They insisted on some totally insignificant matters, where did the property come from, why I didn't sell it. At the end they asked me why don't I go to Pec and file criminal charges," Mirokovic said.
Source: Glas Javnosti
Ljubomir Mirkovic, refugee from Pec, after imprisonment in Albania, signed under threat of arms in the Pec court a contract with the mafia.
KPS and UNMIK police have ignored his denouncements to the police and treated him as a criminal.
"I was hostage for ten days of the Albanian mafia that took by force all of my property in Kosovo. They kidnapped me in Tuzi, Montenegro, illegaly transferred me to Albania, and then to Pec. We crossed the borders, while the Montenegrin, Kosovo or UNMIK police didn't stop us, and they didn't protect me when I finally revealed to them what hapenned to me! Until 1999, Mirkovic was an influential businessmen in Pec and a SSJ deputy for some time. I owned a series of restaurants in Pec and a pasta mini-factory," said Mirkovic.
Mirkovic's total property was estimated at 500,000 Euro, while Albanians from Kosovo offered him as much as 750,000 Euro.
"Nevertheless, I didn't want to sell them anything. I live modestly in Belgrade, I hoped I would be able to return to my hometown one day, but the Albanians decided to kidnap me," says Mirkovic.
They tried to talk friendly with me. They asked me to have my wife send from Belgrade the ownership documentation for the property in Pec and forced me to sign a contract whereby I would transfer everything on them, i.e. to sign a paper according to which I owe them 220,000 Euro, and that I am giving as guarantee all of my restaurants and factory in Pec.," he said.
Then problems started. Albanians understood that there is no formal contract with Serbia that permits selling of immovables. They decide to transfer him, after several days spent in home detention, to Kosovo.
Albanians were permanently in contact with the Pec attorney Mustafa Radonjic.
"The entire transaction was suspicious to him, but still, I signed in his office some conract on a loan, whereby all of my property was transferred, for fictitious 220,000 Euro, to the hands of a certain Resata Kuci from the vicinity of Pec, since Albanian citizens were unable to be formal owners," Mirkovic said.
Albanians then verified the contract in the Pec municipal court.
"Finally, they took me to northern Mitrovica and I was finally free on 14 April, after ten days. I lost 11 kilograms [about 25 pounds]... I was all dirty and looked like a corpse," says Mirkovic.
Mirkovic first went to KPS, and then to UNMIK police, where an American interrogated him for five hours.
"They treated me as if I was a criminal. They didn't even want to listen to the details on border crossings, maltreatment, kidnapping... They insisted on some totally insignificant matters, where did the property come from, why I didn't sell it. At the end they asked me why don't I go to Pec and file criminal charges," Mirokovic said.
16 May 2008
A Serb in Chalk River
Posted By Chase, Sean
Posted 1 month ago
Lying just past the gates of the Forest View cemetery is a curious grave marker. It reads: "Here lies a valiant fighter of General Mihajlovich's underground movement in Yugoslavia."
How does a Serbian guerrilla come to be buried in a humble cemetery in Chalk River? The story of the grave marker, laid by the Serbian National Shield Society of Canada, first came to light in 1960 when St. Andrews United Church renovated the historic cemetery. It had been in a state of neglect since its founding in 1870. The Yugoslav freedom fighter who lies under the marker went by the name of Marko Kuburovic. He was born in 1917 in Ljic, Serbia.
To trace how Kuburovic came to be so far from his homeland, one goes back to his former commander, the late General Draza Mihailovic and Yugoslavia's entry into the Second World War. After Germany defeated Yugoslavia in April, 1941, Mihailovic, then a colonel and a veteran of the 1912-13 Balkans War, refused to surrender and escaped to the mountains to regroup with surviving Yugoslav army units. With only seven officers and 24 NCOs, he organized the Military-Chetnik detachments, which eventually became known as the Yugoslav Army of the Homeland.
King Peter's government in exile promoted Mihailovic to the rank of general and appointed him minister of war. Instead of inspiring an uprising, Mihailovic decided to mount a resistence based on sabotage, using the mountains as a base of operations. Controversially, Mihailovic took measures to re-establish Greater Serbia which led to ethnic cleansing of Bosnians, Croats and other civilians who may have collaborated with the Nazis, Fascists and Communists. He issued orders which historians believe led to the deaths of 150,000 people.
The occupying German forces sought to eliminate Mihailovic and the leader of the Communist- Partisans, Tito. At one point, Hitler announced a policy where 100 Serbians would be killed for every one German soldier killed by Chetniks.
Mihailovic was receiving outside aid from the British Special Operations Executive, which eventually pulled back as the civil battles between Mihailovic and Tito escalated. Churchill was disturbed by reports from his own son, Randolph (who was co-located with Tito's headquarters), who indicated the Partisans were scoring more victories against German forces than the Chetniks. Churchill also put stock in reports that the Chetniks were collaborating with the Germans, as they hated the Communists much more than the Nazis. At the Tehran Conference in 1943, the Allies threw in their lot with Tito.
With the close of the war, the Partisans prevailed and Mihailovic went into hiding in Eastern Bosnia. In March, 1946, he was captured and put on trial for high treason and war crimes. Found guilty, he was executed months later. However, a U.S. commission of inquiry exonerated him. In 1948, President Harry Truman awarded him the Legion of Merit. This was in part because Mihailovic's forces protected 500 downed American and allied pilots and aided them in escaping occupied Yugoslavia.
It was out of this that 29-year-old Marko Kuburovic immigrated to Canada. Little is known about him, except he found employment as a displaced person at the hydro-electric power project on the Des Joachims dam. A freak accident would claim his life.
On the evening of May 23, 1948, Kuburovic had accompanied six others in a vehicle heading from the project on the Ontario side to Allumette Island. The car, driven by Simon Cosgrove, failed to make a turn onto an interprovincial bridge at Rolphton. The light roadster slammed into the side railing and rolled onto its side. One of the passengers, Kenneth Mack, was impaled by the railing and died instantly. That others were injured, but would survive. Except for Kuburovic.
Investigating the scene, police had no idea that Kuburovic was a passenger in the calamity. It wasn't until days later when he had not shown up for work or the place he was living that police made the connection. Police found out later he had been standing on the car's running board and was most likely thrown over the side of the bridge and into the Ottawa River.
Dragging operations began in the fast flowing waters underneath the bridge. There is no news account stating how and when his body was recovered. However, the former freedom fighter's final resting place is today a small plot in Chalk River, an ocean from his native Serbia.
Posted 1 month ago
Lying just past the gates of the Forest View cemetery is a curious grave marker. It reads: "Here lies a valiant fighter of General Mihajlovich's underground movement in Yugoslavia."
How does a Serbian guerrilla come to be buried in a humble cemetery in Chalk River? The story of the grave marker, laid by the Serbian National Shield Society of Canada, first came to light in 1960 when St. Andrews United Church renovated the historic cemetery. It had been in a state of neglect since its founding in 1870. The Yugoslav freedom fighter who lies under the marker went by the name of Marko Kuburovic. He was born in 1917 in Ljic, Serbia.
To trace how Kuburovic came to be so far from his homeland, one goes back to his former commander, the late General Draza Mihailovic and Yugoslavia's entry into the Second World War. After Germany defeated Yugoslavia in April, 1941, Mihailovic, then a colonel and a veteran of the 1912-13 Balkans War, refused to surrender and escaped to the mountains to regroup with surviving Yugoslav army units. With only seven officers and 24 NCOs, he organized the Military-Chetnik detachments, which eventually became known as the Yugoslav Army of the Homeland.
King Peter's government in exile promoted Mihailovic to the rank of general and appointed him minister of war. Instead of inspiring an uprising, Mihailovic decided to mount a resistence based on sabotage, using the mountains as a base of operations. Controversially, Mihailovic took measures to re-establish Greater Serbia which led to ethnic cleansing of Bosnians, Croats and other civilians who may have collaborated with the Nazis, Fascists and Communists. He issued orders which historians believe led to the deaths of 150,000 people.
The occupying German forces sought to eliminate Mihailovic and the leader of the Communist- Partisans, Tito. At one point, Hitler announced a policy where 100 Serbians would be killed for every one German soldier killed by Chetniks.
Mihailovic was receiving outside aid from the British Special Operations Executive, which eventually pulled back as the civil battles between Mihailovic and Tito escalated. Churchill was disturbed by reports from his own son, Randolph (who was co-located with Tito's headquarters), who indicated the Partisans were scoring more victories against German forces than the Chetniks. Churchill also put stock in reports that the Chetniks were collaborating with the Germans, as they hated the Communists much more than the Nazis. At the Tehran Conference in 1943, the Allies threw in their lot with Tito.
With the close of the war, the Partisans prevailed and Mihailovic went into hiding in Eastern Bosnia. In March, 1946, he was captured and put on trial for high treason and war crimes. Found guilty, he was executed months later. However, a U.S. commission of inquiry exonerated him. In 1948, President Harry Truman awarded him the Legion of Merit. This was in part because Mihailovic's forces protected 500 downed American and allied pilots and aided them in escaping occupied Yugoslavia.
It was out of this that 29-year-old Marko Kuburovic immigrated to Canada. Little is known about him, except he found employment as a displaced person at the hydro-electric power project on the Des Joachims dam. A freak accident would claim his life.
On the evening of May 23, 1948, Kuburovic had accompanied six others in a vehicle heading from the project on the Ontario side to Allumette Island. The car, driven by Simon Cosgrove, failed to make a turn onto an interprovincial bridge at Rolphton. The light roadster slammed into the side railing and rolled onto its side. One of the passengers, Kenneth Mack, was impaled by the railing and died instantly. That others were injured, but would survive. Except for Kuburovic.
Investigating the scene, police had no idea that Kuburovic was a passenger in the calamity. It wasn't until days later when he had not shown up for work or the place he was living that police made the connection. Police found out later he had been standing on the car's running board and was most likely thrown over the side of the bridge and into the Ottawa River.
Dragging operations began in the fast flowing waters underneath the bridge. There is no news account stating how and when his body was recovered. However, the former freedom fighter's final resting place is today a small plot in Chalk River, an ocean from his native Serbia.
15 May 2008
Western Media is "Ignoring The Man Behind the Curtain" in Serbia's Elections
by M. Pejakovich
Like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is told to "behold the Great Wizard!" and to "ignore the man behind the curtain" (who is pulling the levers to create the Great Wizard's false image), today's Serbian election headlines in the West proclaim an ultimate triumph for Tadic's "pro-EU, pro-Western" forces in Serbia": "Pro-EU alliance wins Serbia election", "Serbia's Tadic claims victory for pro-EU camp", and "Pro-EU Forces Win in Serbia"
These headlines sound like the issue is resolved, the shower of EU carrots worked, back to business now because "Serbia is all settled, the Balkans are stabilized and Serbia now has a pro-EU government". Might be a lot easier if it were true, but this is not the case in Serbia, not by a long shot. In fact, the political war to form a new government in Serbia hasn't even begun yet, and by all indications, it could result in some a very unexpected twists, turns or reversals -- or it could all collapse in failure and require another return to the ballot box for Serbian voters.
Yes, it's true that Serbian elections results yesterday provided "a win" for the Tadic pro-EU coalition forces as they took home 38.75% of the vote and 102 seats in the Parliament. The Nikolic Radicals were second with 29.2% of the vote & received 77 seats in the Parliament*. Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia was a distant third, and won only 11.34% and 30 seats in the Parliament.
But Serbia's Parliamentary election is not "a winner take all" game -- at least not unless you win by more than 50% of the vote and the Tadic coalition didn't do that -- they only got a little less than 39%. According to the Serbian Constitution, a coalition of at least 126 seats out of 250 seats in Serbia's Parliament is absolutely necessary in order to form a new government . Tadic forces right now have, neither enough seats (104) on their own to accomplish that alone, nor do they appear to have enough in the way of "friends and allies" anymore in other Serbian political parties to make that happen. Tadic needs at least 22 more seats in the Parliament in order to form a government and there is a huge question as to where he can possibly pick up those seats.
Tadic's signature on the SAA document without the agreement of the Parliament drove away the usual king-maker party, Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, and it is highly doubtful that they are ever coming back to the Tadic coalition. In fact, it was Tadic's signature on that SAA document that led to Kostunica's picking up his toys & going home in the first place, resulting in the dissolution of the last government only a few months after Tadic's February's election "win" and requiring this new election.
But here is where the Serbian election results could get really dicey: minority parties could ultimately prove to be the real "winners" of this political war to establish a government, and Tadic & Company could get left completely out in the cold.
An alliance between Nikolic's Radical Party and Kostunica's Democrats (not unlikely) would give them a combined 107 seats in the Parliament, three more than Tadic has now. If these two in turn, ally with the Socialists (just possible) who won 20 seats in the Parliament, they are over the top at 127 seats in the Parliament, and the Nikolic/Kostunica/& Socialist Alliance could be the real winners of this election in being able to form a government -- leaving the Tadic coalition marginalized and screaming "It's not fair!" to anyone who will listen. But according to the Serbian Constitution, this would be completely "fair", and no less "democratic" than our own US electoral college system -- come to think of it, Serbia's is actually more "fair & democratic" because every block of voters gets a voice in the parliament until the next election. If this minority coalition scenario happens, it just could turn Boris Tadic into the "Al Gore" of Serbia (which might still be a real step up for him from the "Judas" nickname he has been wearing lately after the SAA signature.)
The only strategy for Tadic now is to get one or more of the minority parties on his team, and that is not going to be easy.
Adding Nikolic's Radicals would put Tadic way, way over the top at 179 seats, but that's a highly improbable alliance for a hundred different reasons, not the least of which is that they are at opposite ends of the political spectrum from one another.
Adding Kostunica's thirty seats alone could also do it for Tadic (132 seats) -- but even more improbable now given the state of their relationship after Tadic not only signed the SAA, but at the same time, one of Tadic's minions publicly stabbed Kostunica in the back with an EU official.
Adding an alliance with the old Milosevic Socialists would help Tadic. (Now wouldn't that be a real irony?) But even with the Socialists (124 total seats), Tadic would still need to pick up a minuscule leftover minority party with a few seats -- who in this case are actual "minorities", Bosniak Muslims, Presevo Albanians, Vojvodina Hungarians, etc. -- to make it over the top. The real minorities love Tadic (so does Kosovo's Hashim Thaci), so those little votes are easy, but an alliance with the Socialists would damage Tadic's narcissistic image in the West and it would be a marriage of convenience sure to collapse at the first sign of trouble. Plus, the Socialists are unlikely to be willing to join into that little political orgy, whoever's bed that they might otherwise be willing to get into.
In any case, Tadic has 90 days to form a new government. My bet is that if it doesn't happen very soon, it isn't going to happen for Tadic at all. Then one of two things will happen -- either a Nikolic/Kostunica/Socialist will step in to fill the void (if they wait at all). Or it will be back to new elections and this Serbia/EU/Russia/US circus will start all over again.
Gee, aren't we glad that "Kosovo independence" stabilized the Balkans? NOT! Kosovo has been the single biggest destabilizing factor in this Serbian political free-for-all, whether directly or indirectly, and it's all because President Bush decided to follow Bill Clinton's stupid political lead --right off a Balkan cliff. And we are going to be picking up the pieces of that Kosovo Independence "crash" for a long time, as far away as Tibet and "Palestine", let alone Serbia.
Something that will not likely make an impression on the Western press is the real level of Serbian voter ambivalence in this election. Only 60% of Serbia's eligible voters even turned out to vote at this crucial moment in Serbia's history. Does this mean that they don't care? Or that they can't decide?
Well, let's see. Pretend you are a Serbian voter and you've got two main choices: 1. Vote for the party that is pro-EU and promises you "a better future", in spite of the fact that most of that EU countries supported the ripping off of 15% of your most precious territory (Kosovo), love to humiliate you every chance they get and are sending a mission to your territory without an invitation? 2. Or, vote for the party that wants to turn more toward Russia, knowing that the Russians haven't told you what "the bill" for their support is yet, and you know that the EU & US will use you as their punching bag to an even greater extent if you vote pointing East?
So what's your choice? Screw yourself or screw yourself?
It's not hard to understand the Serbian feeling that there is "no right answer, the game is rigged for you to lose so you might as well not play (vote) at all". And, every election in that last seven years for Serbia (and there have been many) has been billed by politicians & the West as as "crucial", "make or break", "East or West", "EU or isolation" "life or death". That would wear me out, too -- especially when not much changes no matter who you vote for.
Although the stakes were not as high (or were they?) I can recall a similar feeling years ago, back when I couldn't even force my hand to check the box for either "Bill Clinton" or "Bob Dole" for president -- a nasty, frustrating scenario that is likely to be repeated this November, with new players but the same Catch 22 alternatives. Luckily, no one was threatening me with economic sanctions and violence as they are with Serbian voters, whatever choice I made (or were they?).
What is very certain is that the real heat on Serbia's new government (or lack of one) is due to be turned up even higher next month:
In June, the Eulex Mission is due to be deployed to Kosovo.
In June, Kosovo's contrived, mail-order "constitution" is due to come into effect, and the US & EU will pretend to take it seriously, even if no one else in the world does.
And, this June will be the first Serbian Vidovdan without Kosovo. Vidovdan, commemorating a time when six hundred years ago Serb Christians stood up to the Islamic invasion in spite of knowing they would lose their lives against overwhelming odds, but that generation of Serbs had the guts to do it anyway because they said to themselves, "Better a grave than a slave". So what will this generation of Serbs and Serbians tell themselves on this Vidovdan, a date when so many significant events have taken place in Serbian history? That they are the ones who lost Kosovo, who don't have the guts to fight for it, and who would rather be "EU slaves than graves"? Or that they are just sick of dying & killing for Western "entertainment" value.
Once again, 2008 post-election Serbia ultimately finds itself in the same predicament that Bishop Sava so eloquently described Serbia's position in the 13th century:
Like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is told to "behold the Great Wizard!" and to "ignore the man behind the curtain" (who is pulling the levers to create the Great Wizard's false image), today's Serbian election headlines in the West proclaim an ultimate triumph for Tadic's "pro-EU, pro-Western" forces in Serbia": "Pro-EU alliance wins Serbia election", "Serbia's Tadic claims victory for pro-EU camp", and "Pro-EU Forces Win in Serbia"
These headlines sound like the issue is resolved, the shower of EU carrots worked, back to business now because "Serbia is all settled, the Balkans are stabilized and Serbia now has a pro-EU government". Might be a lot easier if it were true, but this is not the case in Serbia, not by a long shot. In fact, the political war to form a new government in Serbia hasn't even begun yet, and by all indications, it could result in some a very unexpected twists, turns or reversals -- or it could all collapse in failure and require another return to the ballot box for Serbian voters.
Yes, it's true that Serbian elections results yesterday provided "a win" for the Tadic pro-EU coalition forces as they took home 38.75% of the vote and 102 seats in the Parliament. The Nikolic Radicals were second with 29.2% of the vote & received 77 seats in the Parliament*. Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia was a distant third, and won only 11.34% and 30 seats in the Parliament.
But Serbia's Parliamentary election is not "a winner take all" game -- at least not unless you win by more than 50% of the vote and the Tadic coalition didn't do that -- they only got a little less than 39%. According to the Serbian Constitution, a coalition of at least 126 seats out of 250 seats in Serbia's Parliament is absolutely necessary in order to form a new government . Tadic forces right now have, neither enough seats (104) on their own to accomplish that alone, nor do they appear to have enough in the way of "friends and allies" anymore in other Serbian political parties to make that happen. Tadic needs at least 22 more seats in the Parliament in order to form a government and there is a huge question as to where he can possibly pick up those seats.
Tadic's signature on the SAA document without the agreement of the Parliament drove away the usual king-maker party, Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, and it is highly doubtful that they are ever coming back to the Tadic coalition. In fact, it was Tadic's signature on that SAA document that led to Kostunica's picking up his toys & going home in the first place, resulting in the dissolution of the last government only a few months after Tadic's February's election "win" and requiring this new election.
But here is where the Serbian election results could get really dicey: minority parties could ultimately prove to be the real "winners" of this political war to establish a government, and Tadic & Company could get left completely out in the cold.
An alliance between Nikolic's Radical Party and Kostunica's Democrats (not unlikely) would give them a combined 107 seats in the Parliament, three more than Tadic has now. If these two in turn, ally with the Socialists (just possible) who won 20 seats in the Parliament, they are over the top at 127 seats in the Parliament, and the Nikolic/Kostunica/& Socialist Alliance could be the real winners of this election in being able to form a government -- leaving the Tadic coalition marginalized and screaming "It's not fair!" to anyone who will listen. But according to the Serbian Constitution, this would be completely "fair", and no less "democratic" than our own US electoral college system -- come to think of it, Serbia's is actually more "fair & democratic" because every block of voters gets a voice in the parliament until the next election. If this minority coalition scenario happens, it just could turn Boris Tadic into the "Al Gore" of Serbia (which might still be a real step up for him from the "Judas" nickname he has been wearing lately after the SAA signature.)
The only strategy for Tadic now is to get one or more of the minority parties on his team, and that is not going to be easy.
Adding Nikolic's Radicals would put Tadic way, way over the top at 179 seats, but that's a highly improbable alliance for a hundred different reasons, not the least of which is that they are at opposite ends of the political spectrum from one another.
Adding Kostunica's thirty seats alone could also do it for Tadic (132 seats) -- but even more improbable now given the state of their relationship after Tadic not only signed the SAA, but at the same time, one of Tadic's minions publicly stabbed Kostunica in the back with an EU official.
Adding an alliance with the old Milosevic Socialists would help Tadic. (Now wouldn't that be a real irony?) But even with the Socialists (124 total seats), Tadic would still need to pick up a minuscule leftover minority party with a few seats -- who in this case are actual "minorities", Bosniak Muslims, Presevo Albanians, Vojvodina Hungarians, etc. -- to make it over the top. The real minorities love Tadic (so does Kosovo's Hashim Thaci), so those little votes are easy, but an alliance with the Socialists would damage Tadic's narcissistic image in the West and it would be a marriage of convenience sure to collapse at the first sign of trouble. Plus, the Socialists are unlikely to be willing to join into that little political orgy, whoever's bed that they might otherwise be willing to get into.
In any case, Tadic has 90 days to form a new government. My bet is that if it doesn't happen very soon, it isn't going to happen for Tadic at all. Then one of two things will happen -- either a Nikolic/Kostunica/Socialist will step in to fill the void (if they wait at all). Or it will be back to new elections and this Serbia/EU/Russia/US circus will start all over again.
Gee, aren't we glad that "Kosovo independence" stabilized the Balkans? NOT! Kosovo has been the single biggest destabilizing factor in this Serbian political free-for-all, whether directly or indirectly, and it's all because President Bush decided to follow Bill Clinton's stupid political lead --right off a Balkan cliff. And we are going to be picking up the pieces of that Kosovo Independence "crash" for a long time, as far away as Tibet and "Palestine", let alone Serbia.
Something that will not likely make an impression on the Western press is the real level of Serbian voter ambivalence in this election. Only 60% of Serbia's eligible voters even turned out to vote at this crucial moment in Serbia's history. Does this mean that they don't care? Or that they can't decide?
Well, let's see. Pretend you are a Serbian voter and you've got two main choices: 1. Vote for the party that is pro-EU and promises you "a better future", in spite of the fact that most of that EU countries supported the ripping off of 15% of your most precious territory (Kosovo), love to humiliate you every chance they get and are sending a mission to your territory without an invitation? 2. Or, vote for the party that wants to turn more toward Russia, knowing that the Russians haven't told you what "the bill" for their support is yet, and you know that the EU & US will use you as their punching bag to an even greater extent if you vote pointing East?
So what's your choice? Screw yourself or screw yourself?
It's not hard to understand the Serbian feeling that there is "no right answer, the game is rigged for you to lose so you might as well not play (vote) at all". And, every election in that last seven years for Serbia (and there have been many) has been billed by politicians & the West as as "crucial", "make or break", "East or West", "EU or isolation" "life or death". That would wear me out, too -- especially when not much changes no matter who you vote for.
Although the stakes were not as high (or were they?) I can recall a similar feeling years ago, back when I couldn't even force my hand to check the box for either "Bill Clinton" or "Bob Dole" for president -- a nasty, frustrating scenario that is likely to be repeated this November, with new players but the same Catch 22 alternatives. Luckily, no one was threatening me with economic sanctions and violence as they are with Serbian voters, whatever choice I made (or were they?).
What is very certain is that the real heat on Serbia's new government (or lack of one) is due to be turned up even higher next month:
In June, the Eulex Mission is due to be deployed to Kosovo.
In June, Kosovo's contrived, mail-order "constitution" is due to come into effect, and the US & EU will pretend to take it seriously, even if no one else in the world does.
And, this June will be the first Serbian Vidovdan without Kosovo. Vidovdan, commemorating a time when six hundred years ago Serb Christians stood up to the Islamic invasion in spite of knowing they would lose their lives against overwhelming odds, but that generation of Serbs had the guts to do it anyway because they said to themselves, "Better a grave than a slave". So what will this generation of Serbs and Serbians tell themselves on this Vidovdan, a date when so many significant events have taken place in Serbian history? That they are the ones who lost Kosovo, who don't have the guts to fight for it, and who would rather be "EU slaves than graves"? Or that they are just sick of dying & killing for Western "entertainment" value.
Once again, 2008 post-election Serbia ultimately finds itself in the same predicament that Bishop Sava so eloquently described Serbia's position in the 13th century:
“At first we were confused. The East thought that we were West while the
West considered us to be East. Some of us misunderstood our place in the clash
of currents so they cried that we belong to neither side and others that we
belong exclusively to one side or the other. But I tell you Ireneus we are
doomed by fate to be the East in the West and the West in the East, to
acknowledge only heavenly Jerusalem beyond us and here on earth--no one.”
—St. Sava to Irenaeus 13th Century
Must be the geography. Because few countries have been forced to fight against so many larger and more formidable powers as many times as Serbia has just for their right to exist and have a normal life -- with elections and politicians that really mean so very little to the ultimate quality of their lives, no matter how hard they try to get it right.
*Since this article was written, a more accurate election vote count has emerged and has altered the numbers slightly. Nikolic's Radicals picked up one more seat in the Parliament and the Liberal Democrats lost a seat.
09 May 2008
Tanks, missiles roll through Red Square on Victory Day
By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 9, 8:05 AM ET
MOSCOW - Missiles, tanks and other heavy weaponry rolled through Moscow's Red Square in the annual Victory Day parade Friday, reviving a tradition of the Soviet era and demonstrating Russia's growing military confidence.
Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, is Russia's most important secular holiday, both honoring the enormous sacrifices of World War II, in which nearly 9 million Red Army soldiers are estimated to have died, and asserting the country's military strength.
Russia has nearly quadrupled its defense spending in recent years, aiming to resuscitate the military forces that deteriorated in the post-Soviet period.
Topol missiles, which have the capacity to carry nuclear warheads, were part of the display of more than 100 tanks, mobile missile units and armored vehicles that was aimed at underlining the military revival. But many of the heavy weapons shown were only slightly modernized versions of equipment developed decades ago.
Although the display was significantly smaller than in Soviet-era parades, the return of the tradition has raised concerns that Russia harbors aggressive ambitions.
But President Dmitry Medvedev, in a speech opening the parade, said "the true purpose of weapons and military equipment is to give reliable defense of the homeland."
Medvedev, who took office Wednesday, stayed away from controversial statements such as predecessor Vladimir Putin's parade speech last year, which implied parallels between the U.S. and the Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
But he said "we must not allow contempt for the norms of international law."
Russia has consistently criticized both the U.S.-led war in Iraq and wide Western recognition of Kosovo's independence as arrogant violations of international principles.
Putin, who was named Russian prime minister on Thursday, stood just behind Medvedev's shoulder and his face was prominently shown in TV broadcasts as the president spoke — underlining the wide belief that Putin will be the power behind the presidency.
Although Russian officials deny any intentions of returning to Soviet ways, the style and symbolism of Victory Day is heavily redolent of the Communist era.
Posters proclaiming the holiday throughout the city include the hammer-and-sickle insignia, which is also seen on the banners and period uniforms used by some of the regiments, which goose-stepped across the 6-acre (2.5-hectare) square under clear skies.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov reviewed troops before the parade by standing in the back seat of an open 1980s-era ZIL limousine.
Russian news reports said about 3 million World War II veterans are still alive. Although veterans receive extensive public praise, their pensions are small and many live in poor conditions even as Russia's economy soars.
In a tacit recognition of their straits, Medvedev's first decree after taking office was to order that all World War II veterans receive housing by 2010.
Fri May 9, 8:05 AM ET
MOSCOW - Missiles, tanks and other heavy weaponry rolled through Moscow's Red Square in the annual Victory Day parade Friday, reviving a tradition of the Soviet era and demonstrating Russia's growing military confidence.
Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, is Russia's most important secular holiday, both honoring the enormous sacrifices of World War II, in which nearly 9 million Red Army soldiers are estimated to have died, and asserting the country's military strength.
Russia has nearly quadrupled its defense spending in recent years, aiming to resuscitate the military forces that deteriorated in the post-Soviet period.
Topol missiles, which have the capacity to carry nuclear warheads, were part of the display of more than 100 tanks, mobile missile units and armored vehicles that was aimed at underlining the military revival. But many of the heavy weapons shown were only slightly modernized versions of equipment developed decades ago.
Although the display was significantly smaller than in Soviet-era parades, the return of the tradition has raised concerns that Russia harbors aggressive ambitions.
But President Dmitry Medvedev, in a speech opening the parade, said "the true purpose of weapons and military equipment is to give reliable defense of the homeland."
Medvedev, who took office Wednesday, stayed away from controversial statements such as predecessor Vladimir Putin's parade speech last year, which implied parallels between the U.S. and the Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
But he said "we must not allow contempt for the norms of international law."
Russia has consistently criticized both the U.S.-led war in Iraq and wide Western recognition of Kosovo's independence as arrogant violations of international principles.
Putin, who was named Russian prime minister on Thursday, stood just behind Medvedev's shoulder and his face was prominently shown in TV broadcasts as the president spoke — underlining the wide belief that Putin will be the power behind the presidency.
Although Russian officials deny any intentions of returning to Soviet ways, the style and symbolism of Victory Day is heavily redolent of the Communist era.
Posters proclaiming the holiday throughout the city include the hammer-and-sickle insignia, which is also seen on the banners and period uniforms used by some of the regiments, which goose-stepped across the 6-acre (2.5-hectare) square under clear skies.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov reviewed troops before the parade by standing in the back seat of an open 1980s-era ZIL limousine.
Russian news reports said about 3 million World War II veterans are still alive. Although veterans receive extensive public praise, their pensions are small and many live in poor conditions even as Russia's economy soars.
In a tacit recognition of their straits, Medvedev's first decree after taking office was to order that all World War II veterans receive housing by 2010.
08 May 2008
Kosovo anti-graft promises reneged
Apostolis Fotiadis
PRISTINA, Kosovo, May 5, 2008 (IPS/GIN) -- The new government in Kosovo has failed so far to live up to its promise of fighting corruption, according to a report published last week by a Pristina-based nongovernmental organization.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo, leading member of the ruling coalition, ran a pre-election campaign on anti-corruption rhetoric that projected now Prime Minister Hasim Thaci as one of the last few clean politicians in Kosovo.
But by the beginning of April, when the Thaci government completed its first 100 days in office, the government had not yet fulfilled its promises, according to the report, "Fighting Corruption With Rhetoric" published by the NGO called Democracy, Anti-Corruption and Dignity.
The report said the government has mostly focused on replacing officials loyal to the previous government with its own, promoting privatization without transparency and damaging the interest of public companies.
The management boards of public companies -- apart from the Public Electricity Company and the Kosovo Trust Agency that oversees privatizations -- have still not been constituted.
In the case of the Public Telecommunication Company, this has affected services for almost a million consumers, the report said. And that has opened up the space for a private telecommunications provider that regulates the telecommunications market "through its influence on the corrupt Telecommunication Regulatory Authority" rather than through a formal managing board.
Indications of a strong nepotistic culture have emerged. Minister for Public Health Alush Gashi approved a list of candidates selected for specialization at the University Hospital in Pristina, ignoring the report of a commission that the selection was done in violation of the law.
"In this list you can find the daughter of Gashi's advisor, Safa Rexhep Boja," Democracy, Anti-Corruption and Dignity member Blerton Ajeti said. "You can also find children of various directors of departments, advisers and medical staff within the Ministry of Health and the University Hospital."
The government's failure to stand up to its promises comes at a time when corruption is killing the economy of Kosovo. Transparency International's 2007 Global Corruption Barometer ranked Kosovo as the fourth most corrupt country, after Cameroon, Cambodia and Albania.
According to Democracy, Anti-Corruption and Dignity, close to half of Kosovo's population of 2 million live around the poverty limit, and another 18 percent live in extreme poverty. Unemployment is at least 46 percent, and the balance of trade is severely negative. According to government statistics, exports and imports for February 2008 amounted respectively to 14.1 million euros and 127.5 million euros.
The people seem not to want to fight corruption either. "There is a very strong survivalist culture in Kosovo that creates a social solidarity of not exposing issues, and accepting corruption and the informal market," said a customs officer from the French United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) who has been stationed in the region for more than five years.
"Corruption has been institutionalized by failing to tame organized crime associated with veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army who dominate local politics, and by the involvement of international personnel," the customs official said, on condition of anonymity.
"The best example is Steven Schook [former deputy head of UNMIK], who flew away in the middle of the night while he was under investigation. He was involved in overpricing the construction of the Kosovo C electricity plant," the official said.
Schook, a retired U.S. army general, left Kosovo suddenly last December while he was undergoing internal investigation. He left after being informed that his contract with UNMIK would not be renewed in 2008, meaning he would lose the diplomatic immunity granted to UNMIK staff.
The Kosovo C project, the biggest and most expensive since the international community arrived in 1999, is still pending, though it could become a valuable source of income for the region. The project opens up access to Kosovo's lignite reserves, the richest in Europe.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo, leading member of the ruling coalition, ran a pre-election campaign on anti-corruption rhetoric that projected now Prime Minister Hasim Thaci as one of the last few clean politicians in Kosovo.
But by the beginning of April, when the Thaci government completed its first 100 days in office, the government had not yet fulfilled its promises, according to the report, "Fighting Corruption With Rhetoric" published by the NGO called Democracy, Anti-Corruption and Dignity.
The report said the government has mostly focused on replacing officials loyal to the previous government with its own, promoting privatization without transparency and damaging the interest of public companies.
The management boards of public companies -- apart from the Public Electricity Company and the Kosovo Trust Agency that oversees privatizations -- have still not been constituted.
In the case of the Public Telecommunication Company, this has affected services for almost a million consumers, the report said. And that has opened up the space for a private telecommunications provider that regulates the telecommunications market "through its influence on the corrupt Telecommunication Regulatory Authority" rather than through a formal managing board.
Indications of a strong nepotistic culture have emerged. Minister for Public Health Alush Gashi approved a list of candidates selected for specialization at the University Hospital in Pristina, ignoring the report of a commission that the selection was done in violation of the law.
"In this list you can find the daughter of Gashi's advisor, Safa Rexhep Boja," Democracy, Anti-Corruption and Dignity member Blerton Ajeti said. "You can also find children of various directors of departments, advisers and medical staff within the Ministry of Health and the University Hospital."
The government's failure to stand up to its promises comes at a time when corruption is killing the economy of Kosovo. Transparency International's 2007 Global Corruption Barometer ranked Kosovo as the fourth most corrupt country, after Cameroon, Cambodia and Albania.
According to Democracy, Anti-Corruption and Dignity, close to half of Kosovo's population of 2 million live around the poverty limit, and another 18 percent live in extreme poverty. Unemployment is at least 46 percent, and the balance of trade is severely negative. According to government statistics, exports and imports for February 2008 amounted respectively to 14.1 million euros and 127.5 million euros.
The people seem not to want to fight corruption either. "There is a very strong survivalist culture in Kosovo that creates a social solidarity of not exposing issues, and accepting corruption and the informal market," said a customs officer from the French United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) who has been stationed in the region for more than five years.
"Corruption has been institutionalized by failing to tame organized crime associated with veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army who dominate local politics, and by the involvement of international personnel," the customs official said, on condition of anonymity.
"The best example is Steven Schook [former deputy head of UNMIK], who flew away in the middle of the night while he was under investigation. He was involved in overpricing the construction of the Kosovo C electricity plant," the official said.
Schook, a retired U.S. army general, left Kosovo suddenly last December while he was undergoing internal investigation. He left after being informed that his contract with UNMIK would not be renewed in 2008, meaning he would lose the diplomatic immunity granted to UNMIK staff.
The Kosovo C project, the biggest and most expensive since the international community arrived in 1999, is still pending, though it could become a valuable source of income for the region. The project opens up access to Kosovo's lignite reserves, the richest in Europe.
07 May 2008
Russian humanitarian aid to Kosovo Serbs
May 7th, 2008 - 10:32 pm ICT by admin
RIA Novosti
Pristina, May 7 (RIA Novosti) The Red Cross has started distributing Russian humanitarian aid to the ethnic Serbian communities in Kosovo which declared independence from Serbia. Gracanica, some five km from Kosovo’s capital Pristina, with a population of 13,000 is one of the 22 Serbian inhabited areas that received the Russian aid.
“The humanitarian aid was provided at the request of the Serbian government and it is a sign of friendly relations between Russia and Serbia.” The head of Russia’s diplomatic mission in Kosovo, Andrei Dronov said.
The diplomat also said the situation of Serbs in Kosovo had deteriorated since the Albanian-dominated province proclaimed its independence from Serbia Feb 17.
The Russian aid, worth around 40 million roubles ($1.7 million), was flown to Belgrade in four deliveries in early April, and will eventually be distributed to a total of 7,000 Serbian families.
Kosovo, with a 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, has been formally recognized as a sovereign state by 37 countries including the United States and most European Union members.
Russia and China continue to back Belgrade’s position that Kosovo’s independence declaration is illegal.
RIA Novosti
RIA Novosti
Pristina, May 7 (RIA Novosti) The Red Cross has started distributing Russian humanitarian aid to the ethnic Serbian communities in Kosovo which declared independence from Serbia. Gracanica, some five km from Kosovo’s capital Pristina, with a population of 13,000 is one of the 22 Serbian inhabited areas that received the Russian aid.
“The humanitarian aid was provided at the request of the Serbian government and it is a sign of friendly relations between Russia and Serbia.” The head of Russia’s diplomatic mission in Kosovo, Andrei Dronov said.
The diplomat also said the situation of Serbs in Kosovo had deteriorated since the Albanian-dominated province proclaimed its independence from Serbia Feb 17.
The Russian aid, worth around 40 million roubles ($1.7 million), was flown to Belgrade in four deliveries in early April, and will eventually be distributed to a total of 7,000 Serbian families.
Kosovo, with a 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, has been formally recognized as a sovereign state by 37 countries including the United States and most European Union members.
Russia and China continue to back Belgrade’s position that Kosovo’s independence declaration is illegal.
RIA Novosti
Peja Stojakovic and IOCC Assist Disabled Children in Greece
Peja Stojakovic of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets is partnering with IOCC to provide $200,000 in wheelchairs and other mobility devices to more than 160 disabled people in Thessaloniki, Greece. Stojakovic has previously partnered with IOCC to provide medical assistance and clothing to children in Serbia and Montenegro.
May 7, 2008
Baltimore, Maryland (IOCC) — All star basketball player Peja Stojakovic of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets is partnering with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to provide mobility assistance to more than 160 disabled people in Thessaloniki, Greece. More than $200,000 in wheelchairs, including sports wheelchairs for disabled athletes, and other mobility devices and therapeutic equipment will be distributed in Thessaloniki from May 12 - 16, 2008.
The project is part of a larger regional program designed and implemented by IOCC with the support and cooperation of the Peja Stojakovic Children’s Foundation to provide assistance to disabled children and adults in Greece and Montenegro.
The wheelchairs will be custom-fit to suit the needs of each recipient in cooperation with a team of volunteer health care professionals from Wheels for Humanity of Los Angeles, California and other local partners in Thessaloniki. Adidas has also contributed to the program by providing athletic wear for disabled athletes participating in the program.
Stojakovic has previously partnered with IOCC to provide medical assistance and clothing to children in Serbia and Montenegro. The project in Greece brings the value of assistance provided by the Peja Stojakovic Children’s Foundation in partnership with IOCC to more than $1 million.
Peja Stojakovic has devoted his time and efforts to expand contributions to the Balkan countries of Serbia and Montenegro as well as Greece, and local hospitals and organizations around the New Orleans community.
IOCC, founded in 1992 as the official humanitarian aid agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), has implemented over $280 million in relief and development programs in 33 countries around the world.
Media: Contact Ms. Amal Morcos at 410-243-9820 or (cell) 443-823-3489.
Baltimore, Maryland (IOCC) — All star basketball player Peja Stojakovic of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets is partnering with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to provide mobility assistance to more than 160 disabled people in Thessaloniki, Greece. More than $200,000 in wheelchairs, including sports wheelchairs for disabled athletes, and other mobility devices and therapeutic equipment will be distributed in Thessaloniki from May 12 - 16, 2008.
The project is part of a larger regional program designed and implemented by IOCC with the support and cooperation of the Peja Stojakovic Children’s Foundation to provide assistance to disabled children and adults in Greece and Montenegro.
The wheelchairs will be custom-fit to suit the needs of each recipient in cooperation with a team of volunteer health care professionals from Wheels for Humanity of Los Angeles, California and other local partners in Thessaloniki. Adidas has also contributed to the program by providing athletic wear for disabled athletes participating in the program.
Stojakovic has previously partnered with IOCC to provide medical assistance and clothing to children in Serbia and Montenegro. The project in Greece brings the value of assistance provided by the Peja Stojakovic Children’s Foundation in partnership with IOCC to more than $1 million.
Peja Stojakovic has devoted his time and efforts to expand contributions to the Balkan countries of Serbia and Montenegro as well as Greece, and local hospitals and organizations around the New Orleans community.
IOCC, founded in 1992 as the official humanitarian aid agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), has implemented over $280 million in relief and development programs in 33 countries around the world.
Media: Contact Ms. Amal Morcos at 410-243-9820 or (cell) 443-823-3489.
Video: KOSOVO
KOSOVO
Sasa Matic, Nena
Djurovic, Marinko Rokvic, Vesna Zmijanac,
Radisa Urosevic i Dragica Radosavljevic Cakana
06 May 2008
Elaborate Orthodox Easter service seems to be out of another time
Elizabeth Ahlin
Omaha World-Herald
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
May 6--The air was rife with the rich aroma of incense, and the floor was littered with bay leaves, a remnant of the morning's service.
It was nearly 11 p.m. on the last Saturday in April, just another day for most Christians.
But at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, women in Easter hats and girls in pastel dresses were just beginning to arrive for Holy Pascha, or Orthodox Easter.
Wearing a robe, 73-year-old Zoe White walked up to the edge of the choir loft, just barely leaning over the edge.
"Anyone that ventures up here has to sing!" White playfully called to those standing below.
As people began to trickle in, dropping money in a donation basket and lighting candles in the entryway of the 100-year-old church on 30th Street and Park Avenue in Omaha, White was practically bubbling with anticipation.
Pascha is the favorite time of year for White, born Zoe Matsukis.
The sense of excitement was shared withmany of the 175 churchgoers there that night. For them, Easter is a time of pride in their Greek heritage, a time of renewal and spirituality, a time permeated with tradition.
Downstairs, two men were busy with the annual task of preparing 150 pounds of lamb and 40 pounds of potatoes for a feast that would end what had been, for some, several weeks of fasting -- no meat, no eggs, no dairy.
But that would come later. First there was the three-hour service, an event with such pageantry, grown men and women speak of it with both reverence and giddy excitement.
From the date of the celebration to the chanting, almost everything about Greek Orthodox Easter feels like something from another world and time.
Orthodox congregations celebrate Easter based on the Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar as most western Christians do. Some years the holidays are on the same day. This year, they were five weeks apart, with Orthodox Easter falling on April 27.
At Orthodox churches around the world, congregations gather together Saturday night for a service that often runs past 2 a.m., in contrast to the Sunday morning services that mark Easter at most western Christian churches.
In some Christian churches, an Easter service begins with great fanfare -- dramatic music, a processional -- but in the Greek Orthodox church, the beginning is understated.
At 11 p.m., chanters began to sing, alternating between Greek and English.
The choir sang in response.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
The congregation stood to say the Lord's Prayer. Again, the choir sang.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
As they do in all Orthodox services, the chanters continued to sing until midnight drew closer.
Just before midnight, the lights inside the church were extinguished. The congregation sat in silence and in darkness.
It's a moment White treasured as a child. Growing up in Concord, Neb., there was no Greek church to attend every week. Orthodox services were special treats, reserved mostly for holidays when her family was able to travel to Sioux City.
In that church, as in this one, the moment of darkness was peaceful and quiet -- a marked contrast to the mixture of sorrow and hope that tinged Friday evening's service at St. John the Baptist.
At that service, little girls in white dresses had gathered up baskets of deep red rose petals and walked toward the kouvouklion, a wooden structure symbolizing the tomb of Christ. The girls circled the structure, sprinkling it with petals, just as women anointed the tomb of Christ with myrrh on the day before the Resurrection.
Eight of the congregation's strongest young men lifted the tomb of Christ from its place at the front of the church, and they carried it outside.
Carrying a tall cross, Franklin Lewis, one of the church's oldest acolytes, or altar boys, led them outside. After the acolytes came the chanters, then the Rev. Peter Pappas, followed by the men carrying the tomb of Christ.
The 2 1/2 -hour service was almost over, but this was the moment so many had awaited. The congregation followed, forming a funeral procession for Christ.
Singing quietly, the group made its way outside and down the steps of the church, then turned onto Park Avenue.
As the 18-year-old Lewis led the procession around the corner, in the direction of a coin laundry's brightly lit parking lot, he thought of millions of Orthodox Christians around the world, doing the same thing at the same time.
As the group circled the block, the sense of pride and unity was palpable, as real as the smell of grilled meat and fabric softener that wafted out of area businesses and flavored the neighborhood air.
When the group approached the church again, the kouvouklion was carried to the doorway, where the men held it aloft. All who re-entered the church, young and old, ducked to walk underneath the tomb of Christ, symbolizing their passage from death to life.
On Saturday night, the church was cloaked in darkness until Pappas emerged from the altar with a single candle.
With his single flame, Pappas lit another candle, which, in turn, was used to light another. The flame was passed from person to person, until the entire sanctuary was bathed in candlelight.
When the choir began to sing "Christ Is Risen," White's strong voice carried over the other members. Her eyes glassy with tears, she threw her head back and sang.
This song is her song.
As a child, when she heard the word "zoe," the Greek word for life, being sung in "Christ Is Risen," she thought, "This song is for me." As she grew older, she learned the song's meaning, but it didn't change things. It will always be her song.
When it was over, White said a silent prayer. Thank you, God, for allowing me to attend. Next year, I pray I'm still here.
Days later she would speak reverently about the service, about the traditions she wants to pass on to the congregation's young people, like Lewis.
"If we have done our job, we will have instilled in our children the love, the beauty of our heritage and our culture," White said.
On that Easter Saturday, Lewis and White, together with the rest of the congregation, embraced Greek Orthodox tradition as they answered the priest's call.
"Christos Anesti!" Pappas said, thrusting his candle into the air. "Christ Is Risen!"
All in the church held their candles high.
"Aleithos Anesti! Truly He Is Risen!"
Omaha World-Herald
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
May 6--The air was rife with the rich aroma of incense, and the floor was littered with bay leaves, a remnant of the morning's service.
It was nearly 11 p.m. on the last Saturday in April, just another day for most Christians.
But at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, women in Easter hats and girls in pastel dresses were just beginning to arrive for Holy Pascha, or Orthodox Easter.
Wearing a robe, 73-year-old Zoe White walked up to the edge of the choir loft, just barely leaning over the edge.
"Anyone that ventures up here has to sing!" White playfully called to those standing below.
As people began to trickle in, dropping money in a donation basket and lighting candles in the entryway of the 100-year-old church on 30th Street and Park Avenue in Omaha, White was practically bubbling with anticipation.
Pascha is the favorite time of year for White, born Zoe Matsukis.
The sense of excitement was shared withmany of the 175 churchgoers there that night. For them, Easter is a time of pride in their Greek heritage, a time of renewal and spirituality, a time permeated with tradition.
Downstairs, two men were busy with the annual task of preparing 150 pounds of lamb and 40 pounds of potatoes for a feast that would end what had been, for some, several weeks of fasting -- no meat, no eggs, no dairy.
But that would come later. First there was the three-hour service, an event with such pageantry, grown men and women speak of it with both reverence and giddy excitement.
From the date of the celebration to the chanting, almost everything about Greek Orthodox Easter feels like something from another world and time.
Orthodox congregations celebrate Easter based on the Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar as most western Christians do. Some years the holidays are on the same day. This year, they were five weeks apart, with Orthodox Easter falling on April 27.
At Orthodox churches around the world, congregations gather together Saturday night for a service that often runs past 2 a.m., in contrast to the Sunday morning services that mark Easter at most western Christian churches.
In some Christian churches, an Easter service begins with great fanfare -- dramatic music, a processional -- but in the Greek Orthodox church, the beginning is understated.
At 11 p.m., chanters began to sing, alternating between Greek and English.
The choir sang in response.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
The congregation stood to say the Lord's Prayer. Again, the choir sang.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
As they do in all Orthodox services, the chanters continued to sing until midnight drew closer.
Just before midnight, the lights inside the church were extinguished. The congregation sat in silence and in darkness.
It's a moment White treasured as a child. Growing up in Concord, Neb., there was no Greek church to attend every week. Orthodox services were special treats, reserved mostly for holidays when her family was able to travel to Sioux City.
In that church, as in this one, the moment of darkness was peaceful and quiet -- a marked contrast to the mixture of sorrow and hope that tinged Friday evening's service at St. John the Baptist.
At that service, little girls in white dresses had gathered up baskets of deep red rose petals and walked toward the kouvouklion, a wooden structure symbolizing the tomb of Christ. The girls circled the structure, sprinkling it with petals, just as women anointed the tomb of Christ with myrrh on the day before the Resurrection.
Eight of the congregation's strongest young men lifted the tomb of Christ from its place at the front of the church, and they carried it outside.
Carrying a tall cross, Franklin Lewis, one of the church's oldest acolytes, or altar boys, led them outside. After the acolytes came the chanters, then the Rev. Peter Pappas, followed by the men carrying the tomb of Christ.
The 2 1/2 -hour service was almost over, but this was the moment so many had awaited. The congregation followed, forming a funeral procession for Christ.
Singing quietly, the group made its way outside and down the steps of the church, then turned onto Park Avenue.
As the 18-year-old Lewis led the procession around the corner, in the direction of a coin laundry's brightly lit parking lot, he thought of millions of Orthodox Christians around the world, doing the same thing at the same time.
As the group circled the block, the sense of pride and unity was palpable, as real as the smell of grilled meat and fabric softener that wafted out of area businesses and flavored the neighborhood air.
When the group approached the church again, the kouvouklion was carried to the doorway, where the men held it aloft. All who re-entered the church, young and old, ducked to walk underneath the tomb of Christ, symbolizing their passage from death to life.
On Saturday night, the church was cloaked in darkness until Pappas emerged from the altar with a single candle.
With his single flame, Pappas lit another candle, which, in turn, was used to light another. The flame was passed from person to person, until the entire sanctuary was bathed in candlelight.
When the choir began to sing "Christ Is Risen," White's strong voice carried over the other members. Her eyes glassy with tears, she threw her head back and sang.
This song is her song.
As a child, when she heard the word "zoe," the Greek word for life, being sung in "Christ Is Risen," she thought, "This song is for me." As she grew older, she learned the song's meaning, but it didn't change things. It will always be her song.
When it was over, White said a silent prayer. Thank you, God, for allowing me to attend. Next year, I pray I'm still here.
Days later she would speak reverently about the service, about the traditions she wants to pass on to the congregation's young people, like Lewis.
"If we have done our job, we will have instilled in our children the love, the beauty of our heritage and our culture," White said.
On that Easter Saturday, Lewis and White, together with the rest of the congregation, embraced Greek Orthodox tradition as they answered the priest's call.
"Christos Anesti!" Pappas said, thrusting his candle into the air. "Christ Is Risen!"
All in the church held their candles high.
"Aleithos Anesti! Truly He Is Risen!"
Investigation urged on Albanian organ traffic of Serbs
NEBI QENA
May 06, 2008
PRISTINA, Kosovo, A human rights group says new evidence has emerged to warrant further investigation into claims that ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo killed Serbs and sold their organs.
Human Rights Watch said it had information that bolsters allegations of abductions and cross-border transfers from Kosovo to Albania in June 1999.
At the time, NATO and the UN were moving into Kosovo at the end of the war between separatist rebels and Serbian forces.
The claims recently appeared in a book by former UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who wrote that she had been told by credible journalists of such an organ trafficking scheme.
Del Ponte wrote that, according to the sources, Kosovo Albanians transported between 100 and 300 people, most of them Serb civilians, by truck from Kosovo to a house near the Albanian town of Burrel.
ADel Ponte says that at the house, doctors extracted the captives' internal organs. He details the events in his book, The Hunt: War Criminals and Me.
Investigators visited northern Albania after UN officials in Kosovo passed on allegations of organ trafficking to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 2002 and 2003.
However, they found no substantial evidence to support the claims.
Human Rights Watch said it had reviewed the inquiries conducted by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the UN-run justice department in Kosovo and concluded they warrant further investigation.
``Serious and credible allegations have emerged about horrible abuses in Kosovo and Albania after the war,' Fred Abrahams, a senior researcher with the New York-based rights group, said in a statement.
He said the governments in both Pristina and Tirana need to ``show their commitment to justice and the rule of law by conducting proper investigations.'
Human Rights Watch sent a letter in April to the prime ministers of Kosovo and Albania urging them to examine the claims, but said it received no response.
The group said it viewed information obtained by the tribunal from the journalists, including statements from seven ethnic Albanians guerrillas who ``gave details about participating in or witnessing the transfer of abducted Serbs and others prisoners.'
Tribunal spokeswoman Olga Kavran said Monday that the court had no additional comment to make beyond a statement it released April 16 to say that it had looked into the allegations and found no substantial evidence to support them.
However, she said Monday that the tribunal has received requests for assistance or information from Serbian authorities and from the United Nations mission in Kosovo.
The UN in Kosovo was not immediately available to confirm whether it is investigating the claims.
05 May 2008
Censorship And The Yugoslav Civil Wars
by Michael Pravica
(Swans - May 5, 2008) The Kosovo debacle continues to haunt Western governments, especially the U.S., and has already exacerbated a number of conflicts in Turkey, China, Spain, and the Caucasus regions. The illegal recognition of Kosovo's "independence" by mostly Western nations (less than 40 out of 192) has encouraged terrorists that they can successfully alter the borders of sovereign nations via force. Though the Kosovo case is called "special" by many Western foreign policy "experts," in reality, it is the tremendous misreporting and censorship of the Serbian side of the tragic Yugoslav civil wars which condoned and justified mistreatment of Serbians that is unique and has encouraged Western imperialism elsewhere via the "humanitarian" intervention "concept."
Recently, Hague prosecutor Carla Del Ponte wrote a book wherein she detailed a macabre international trafficking ring involving the harvesting of organs from live Serbian prisoners during 1999 organized at the highest levels of Kosovo Albanian leadership and her extreme difficulty in prosecuting these criminals due to Western lack of interest in prosecuting crimes committed against Serbian civilians. The government of Switzerland banned her book. This pattern of censorship of Serbian suffering has been consistent since the Western-catalyzed breakup of Yugoslavia in 1989. Rarely do Western media outlets allow a Serbian voice to be heard except maybe fifth-column "Serbian" voices from extremists who wanted NATO to bomb their own people (e.g., Srdja Popovich). Too frequently, we hear anti-Serbian perspectives from Albanians, Croatians, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenians (many of whom have no connection with or expertise on Serbia), or other ignorant, racist, and biased columnists who know nothing of the Balkans or are virulent Serb- and Russian- haters (e.g., Georgie Ann Geyer, Morton Abramowitz, and Zbigniew Brzezinski). Indeed, many Western columnists such as David Rhode and Samantha Power made their careers, even winning Pulitzer prizes, at the expense of Serbian suffering and the truth alleging "genocide" committed by Serbians but never investigating atrocities committed against Serbians that (e.g., in the case of Srebrenica) formed a strong motive for revenge. When anti-Serbian points of view were published or aired, rarely did the Western media allow a response. If we were lucky, a published letter to the editor of 250 words or less would have to suffice as a response to 800-plus-word articles full of distortions, misrepresentations, and outright lies. And of course, there were numerous times (e.g., The Boston Globe and The New York Times) where dozens if not hundreds of us responded to falsities in numerous articles to see nothing published challenging the "conventional wisdom." In an interview with Voice of America in 1999 (which even misspelled my name), my words were so distorted, clipped, and misrepresented that I will never grant an interview with this organization again. It appears that many of our political and social "elite" need to revisit the concept of debate, which is essential to democracy.
Universities were not immune to censorship of the Serbian point of view as activists and scholars with potentially "pro-Serbian" or alternative points of view were rarely invited to symposia and conferences "debating" the Yugoslav civil wars. When challenging biased anti-Serbian presentations, we were frequently not allowed to ask questions or given a few minutes (for one question) to counter the ignorance of an hour-long presentation. After our challenging Croatian Prof. Ivo Banac at a conference at Wellesley College many years ago, a professor there actually apologized to our group of activists for the fact that no Serbians were invited to present their views except Srdja Popovich, who advocated the bombing of his own people.
As a Serbian-American activist, I could write (and probably will) a book on the countless futile attempts I and my fellow activists had trying to express points of view contrary to the US State Department whether in writing letters, op-eds, calling radio stations and television stations, in Western nations. The goal of preventing the Serbian side of the tragic civil wars was aimed at misrepresenting what were really civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, where no side was completely innocent, as wars of "aggression" where all Serbs were "evil" and their enemies (Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenians, Kosovo Albanians, etc.) were all "angels." By encouraging racism against Serbians and Serbian-Americans, NATO illegal and vicious aggression against the Serbian people was made palatable to many in the West. Just as some US soldiers referred to dead Iraqis as "crispy critters" in the first Gulf War in 1991, and the subsequent atrocities and torture committed by some US soldiers in places such as Abu Ghraib prison and Haditha, mercilessly slaughtering your enemies whether innocent civilians or fighting opponents is made much easier when they are viewed as subhuman. Given that, e.g., Richard Holbrooke referred to all Serbs as "murderous assholes" and Madeleine Albright told a friend of mine (in Serbian) that Serbs are animals, it is evident that racism exists at the highest levels in the US government.
As a deeply patriotic American, I am very concerned that many of my misguided, ignorant, and corporate-controlled leaders are leading my country toward total war and economic ruin. The "humanitarian" intervention in Yugoslavia was a ruse to support NATO's continued senseless existence (in the wake of the Cold War) and illegal occupation of Kosovo to act against Russia and to serve as the strong arm of US foreign policy. It has set a precedent for how to achieve Western foreign policy objectives using the pretence of bringing "democracy" to "enemy" nations such as the formerly peaceful and truly multiethnic former Yugoslavia by encouraging secessionists, ethnically cleansing and slaughtering the "enemy" population (Serbs) from their centuries-old territories, and rewarding "client" separatists/terrorists by aiding in the creation of fascist ethnically and religiously "pure" banana republics such as Croatia and Kosovo that still revere the Nazis to this day. The Western "might versus right" and "preemptive" approach violates international law and is destroying the current world order that was established over the sacrifices made by millions during WWII. The mainstream corporate-controlled Western media has served as a cloak to mask machinations of Western leaders and is the single greatest threat to democracy and world peace today. All citizens of the world must learn the truth of what really transpired in Yugoslavia and stop their leaders from continuing on their disastrous course toward WWIII.
(Swans - May 5, 2008) The Kosovo debacle continues to haunt Western governments, especially the U.S., and has already exacerbated a number of conflicts in Turkey, China, Spain, and the Caucasus regions. The illegal recognition of Kosovo's "independence" by mostly Western nations (less than 40 out of 192) has encouraged terrorists that they can successfully alter the borders of sovereign nations via force. Though the Kosovo case is called "special" by many Western foreign policy "experts," in reality, it is the tremendous misreporting and censorship of the Serbian side of the tragic Yugoslav civil wars which condoned and justified mistreatment of Serbians that is unique and has encouraged Western imperialism elsewhere via the "humanitarian" intervention "concept."
Recently, Hague prosecutor Carla Del Ponte wrote a book wherein she detailed a macabre international trafficking ring involving the harvesting of organs from live Serbian prisoners during 1999 organized at the highest levels of Kosovo Albanian leadership and her extreme difficulty in prosecuting these criminals due to Western lack of interest in prosecuting crimes committed against Serbian civilians. The government of Switzerland banned her book. This pattern of censorship of Serbian suffering has been consistent since the Western-catalyzed breakup of Yugoslavia in 1989. Rarely do Western media outlets allow a Serbian voice to be heard except maybe fifth-column "Serbian" voices from extremists who wanted NATO to bomb their own people (e.g., Srdja Popovich). Too frequently, we hear anti-Serbian perspectives from Albanians, Croatians, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenians (many of whom have no connection with or expertise on Serbia), or other ignorant, racist, and biased columnists who know nothing of the Balkans or are virulent Serb- and Russian- haters (e.g., Georgie Ann Geyer, Morton Abramowitz, and Zbigniew Brzezinski). Indeed, many Western columnists such as David Rhode and Samantha Power made their careers, even winning Pulitzer prizes, at the expense of Serbian suffering and the truth alleging "genocide" committed by Serbians but never investigating atrocities committed against Serbians that (e.g., in the case of Srebrenica) formed a strong motive for revenge. When anti-Serbian points of view were published or aired, rarely did the Western media allow a response. If we were lucky, a published letter to the editor of 250 words or less would have to suffice as a response to 800-plus-word articles full of distortions, misrepresentations, and outright lies. And of course, there were numerous times (e.g., The Boston Globe and The New York Times) where dozens if not hundreds of us responded to falsities in numerous articles to see nothing published challenging the "conventional wisdom." In an interview with Voice of America in 1999 (which even misspelled my name), my words were so distorted, clipped, and misrepresented that I will never grant an interview with this organization again. It appears that many of our political and social "elite" need to revisit the concept of debate, which is essential to democracy.
Universities were not immune to censorship of the Serbian point of view as activists and scholars with potentially "pro-Serbian" or alternative points of view were rarely invited to symposia and conferences "debating" the Yugoslav civil wars. When challenging biased anti-Serbian presentations, we were frequently not allowed to ask questions or given a few minutes (for one question) to counter the ignorance of an hour-long presentation. After our challenging Croatian Prof. Ivo Banac at a conference at Wellesley College many years ago, a professor there actually apologized to our group of activists for the fact that no Serbians were invited to present their views except Srdja Popovich, who advocated the bombing of his own people.
As a Serbian-American activist, I could write (and probably will) a book on the countless futile attempts I and my fellow activists had trying to express points of view contrary to the US State Department whether in writing letters, op-eds, calling radio stations and television stations, in Western nations. The goal of preventing the Serbian side of the tragic civil wars was aimed at misrepresenting what were really civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, where no side was completely innocent, as wars of "aggression" where all Serbs were "evil" and their enemies (Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenians, Kosovo Albanians, etc.) were all "angels." By encouraging racism against Serbians and Serbian-Americans, NATO illegal and vicious aggression against the Serbian people was made palatable to many in the West. Just as some US soldiers referred to dead Iraqis as "crispy critters" in the first Gulf War in 1991, and the subsequent atrocities and torture committed by some US soldiers in places such as Abu Ghraib prison and Haditha, mercilessly slaughtering your enemies whether innocent civilians or fighting opponents is made much easier when they are viewed as subhuman. Given that, e.g., Richard Holbrooke referred to all Serbs as "murderous assholes" and Madeleine Albright told a friend of mine (in Serbian) that Serbs are animals, it is evident that racism exists at the highest levels in the US government.
As a deeply patriotic American, I am very concerned that many of my misguided, ignorant, and corporate-controlled leaders are leading my country toward total war and economic ruin. The "humanitarian" intervention in Yugoslavia was a ruse to support NATO's continued senseless existence (in the wake of the Cold War) and illegal occupation of Kosovo to act against Russia and to serve as the strong arm of US foreign policy. It has set a precedent for how to achieve Western foreign policy objectives using the pretence of bringing "democracy" to "enemy" nations such as the formerly peaceful and truly multiethnic former Yugoslavia by encouraging secessionists, ethnically cleansing and slaughtering the "enemy" population (Serbs) from their centuries-old territories, and rewarding "client" separatists/terrorists by aiding in the creation of fascist ethnically and religiously "pure" banana republics such as Croatia and Kosovo that still revere the Nazis to this day. The Western "might versus right" and "preemptive" approach violates international law and is destroying the current world order that was established over the sacrifices made by millions during WWII. The mainstream corporate-controlled Western media has served as a cloak to mask machinations of Western leaders and is the single greatest threat to democracy and world peace today. All citizens of the world must learn the truth of what really transpired in Yugoslavia and stop their leaders from continuing on their disastrous course toward WWIII.
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