There Goes Kosovo

January 31, 2008There Goes Kosovo
January 31, 2008.Source: The American Spectator
There Goes Kosovo
By Doug Bandow

Kosovo is preparing to declare independence with American support. Although the Bush administration apparently expects nothing much to happen, the process is likely to be both divisive and destabilizing.
Relations among Europe, Russia, and America could sour. Serbian politics may lurch further to the nationalist right; the Radical Party's Tomislav Nikolic led the first voting round for president Sunday before last. Another Balkans war is possible, though thankfully unlikely.
Friends of Kosovo's independence argue that stability isn't everything. The U.S. has no intrinsic interest in Kosovo's status and would be best served to stay out of it, but that ship sailed long ago.
Washington spent most of the 1990s working overtime to break up Serb-dominated Yugoslavia while forcing ethnic Serbs to remain in the newly independent states. The new countries Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovenia were allowed to form, but Serbs locked in Bosnia and Croatia, in particular, were expected to cheerfully accept their fate.
The U.S. applied the same policy to Kosovo, a constituent part of Serbia. In 1999 Washington led NATO in a military campaign to aid the ethnic Albanian forces, eliminating Serb authority over the territory.
The Bush administration has built on the Clinton administration's policy. After presiding over unproductive faux "negotiations" predicated on Kosovo's ultimate independence, the administration now plans to recognize the new nation even if it fails to win United Nations approval.
Of course, Washington insists that all ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo must remain in the new state. As before, secession from Serbs is okay, but secession by Serbs is prohibited. Sound fair?
GRANTED, SORTING THROUGH the conflicting claims involving Kosovo ain't easy. Once Serbian heartland, it hosts the site of the Battle of the Blackbirds, where the Serbs lost to the Ottomans in 1389 (the loss probably shaped Serbian consciousness more than would have a victory -- such is the way of the Balkans).
Over time the population shifted to an ethnic Albanian majority, in part due to Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito's efforts to dampen Serbian nationalism in the multi-ethnic communist state.
In the 1980s it was Serbians who complained of misconduct by the ethnic-Albanian majority in Kosovo. In 1982, the New York Times reported on "almost weekly incidents of rape, arson, pillage and industrial sabotage, most seemingly designed to drive Kosovo's remaining indigenous Slavs--Serbs and Montenegrins -- out of the province."
That all changed after Slobodan Milosevic used an appearance in Kosovo in 1987 to ignite Serb nationalism and leapfrog into national leadership. With his rise, Belgrade reasserted Serb control over Kosovo.
When Yugoslavia broke up, the secession of Bosnia and Croatia produced particularly gruesome conflicts, since both of those provinces contained many ethnic Serbs who wished to remain independent if not in Serbia.
Although ethnic Serbs may have been responsible for the bulk of atrocities, Bosniacs and Croats also freely murdered Serbs and each other. The largest single episode of ethnic cleansing prior to the Kosovo war was conducted against ethnic Serbs in Croatia's Krajina region, where the battle damage remained evident for years. Most of Krajina's ethnic Serb residents have yet to return.
Serb-Albanian relations in Kosovo also deteriorated as the 1990s proceeded. Serb rule was heavy-handed; Albanians, who made up the vast majority of the population, created alternative government and social institutions; the Kosovo Liberation Army (labeled a "terrorist" group by the U.S.) began attacking Serb officials and Albanian "collaborators"; the Serbian government responded brutally; fighting expanded and casualties increased.
EVEN AS 1999 dawned, the war, though tragic, was minor as ethnic and sectarian conflicts go, costing perhaps two thousand lives over a couple of years. About the same time a quarter of a million people were slaughtered in Sierra Leone. But the Clinton administration, led by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, decided to go to war against Serbia, and American bombers forced a quick surrender.
Since 1999 the territory has been run by the UN and NATO, more or less. After the allied victory ethnic Albanians kicked out 200,000 or more Serbs and other minorities, such as Roma. Kosovo's guerrillas took over as leaders -- of both the political system and abundant criminal enterprises. Three years ago ethnic Albanian mobs arose to murder and displace ethnic Serbs, and to burn and wreck Serb homes, churches, and monasteries.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, the U.S. and Europeans want to be done with the mess that they helped to created. Desultory negotiations over Kosovo's status occurred over the last two years, but the outcome was never in doubt. The allies made clear to the ethnic Albanians that independence would result if no accord was reached, so no accord was reached.
The Serbs refused to be bought off with the promise of European Union membership and the Russians said no to another Western fait accompli. So now Kosovo plans to declare independence, perhaps in days, and the U.S. and most Europeans say they will recognize the new state.
The most sensible policy for Washington would be to step back and indicate that there will be no recognition without genuine negotiations, that is, talks without a predetermined outcome, between Kosovo and Serbia.
On the table should be all options, including overlapping citizenships (Kosovo, Serb, EU), and secession within secession, that is, allowing the ethnic Serbs concentrated to Kosovo's north, principally around Mitrovica, to remain in Serbia.
THE U.S. SHOULD halt the independence bandwagon, though not because Washington has an intrinsic reason for objecting to Kosovo becoming a separate nation. In principle the status of this particular piece of real estate should not matter much to America. Whether the ethnic Albanians or Serbs rule in Pristina is intrinsically irrelevant to U.S. interests.
However, Washington has spent more than a decade unbalancing the Balkans. By accelerating the break-up of Yugoslavia with the early recognition of Slovenian and Croatian independence, the allies short-circuited negotiations, most importantly over the status of minorities within the breakaway states. U.S. diplomats also discouraged early settlement of the Bosnian conflict, further bloodying allied hands.
Washington and Brussels have done the same in Kosovo. Starting in 1998 the allies took the side of the ethnic Albanians, encouraging their intransigence in ensuing negotiations. Maybe a peaceful outcome was never possible. We will never know because of U.S. and European intervention.
After the 1999 Kosovo war, the allies essentially promised the ethnic Albanians independence and dismissed any compromise, such as allowing ethnic Serbs to secede from Kosovo. All the while the West blamed Belgrade for refusing to accept the ethnic Albanian position. Now those same allies are greenlighting a declaration of independence by Pristina.
The outcome of this strategy is not likely to be pretty. There will be a new, violent, and unstable state, permeated by crime and possibly open to terrorists, in the Balkans.
This will push Serbia away from Europe, conceivably leaving a large economic and political hole in the Balkans. The allied approval of Albanian self-determination will encourage other secessionist movements in the Balkans and elsewhere as ethnic and political minorities demand the same "right" of independence. Western dismissal of Russia's interests will make Moscow more antagonistic and assertive. Failure to resolve the status of Serbs within Kosovo risks triggering conflict between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, and possibly Kosovo and Serbia.
Nice work all around.
Washington still has time to say no and mitigate some of the consequences of its past meddling in the Balkans. But, at this point, the odds aren't good.
Doug Bandow is the Robert A. Taft Fellow at the American Conservative Defense Alliance. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author of several books, including Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire (Xulon Press).
Relics of St. Tsar Lazar
Please call Pres. Bush 202 456 1111
tty 202 456 6218 (for the deaf).
Secretary Condoleeza Rice 202 647 4000
Personal Assistant Laura Lineberry 202 647 9572
Regional Director Europe/Eurasia Dan Roseblum 202 647 5222
Please tell them that you do not support the United States endorsement and recognition of Kosovo as an Independent State.
Also if any of you are fans of Michael Bolton who happens to be cousin to John Bolton, please call him and ask him to, if he supports John Boltons stance on Kosovo-support our cause. IF we organize a protest--the people like Bolton who supports us will come.
IN Christ,
xenia

Diplomat Forced to Quit Upon Being Exposed that Orders Were Being Received for U.S. Government--Christian Phobia in Europe

EU BUSINESS (UK)Slovenian diplomat quits after report of US meddling in EU presidency29 January 2008, 19:33 CET(LJUBLJANA) - The Slovenian foreign ministry announced the resignation of atop Slovenian diplomat Tuesday who press reports claimed had taken ordersfrom the United States about Slovenia's EU presidency.The Foreign Ministry announced on its website that political director MitjaDrobnic had resigned and would be replaced by state secretary MatjazSinkovec during Slovenia's six-month term as EU president.Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel "has accepted the resignation of politicaldirector Mitja Drobnic", the ministry said in a statement.The resignation comes after a report in the daily newspaper Dnevnik lastweek which said that Slovenia had been taking orders from the US.According to the newspaper, which quoted an internal foreign ministryreport, Drobnic had met in December with US Assistant Secretary of StateDaniel Fried, who allegedly suggested to the Slovenian side what theirpriorities should be during the EU presidency.Fried encouraged Slovenia to be among the first to recognise theindependence of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, the newspaperclaimed.Fried had also reportedly told Drobnic that there was "no need to worry"about the recognition of Kosovo's independence by all EU members, but thatthe most important thing was for an EU mission of police and lawyers to besent to the province "despite critical positions of Russia and Serbia," thenewspaper said.Following 18 months of failed negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina,the majority ethnic Albanian province has vowed to declare independence.The United Nations has run Kosovo since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaigndrove out Belgrade's forces waging a crackdown on independence-seekingethnic Albanians who make up 90 percent of the population.Foreign Minister Rupel has not so far denied the existence of the internalreport, nor its content, but said earlier this week that an investigationhad been launched to find the source of the leak.In view of the leak, "we are having some difficulties with ourinterlocutors, especially from the US," Rupel told Slovenian statetelevision late Monday.Slovenia, a former Yugoslav state that declared independence in 1991, is thefirst new EU member to take over the EU presidency and it has made Kosovoone of its priorities during its six-month term.
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www.religionandpolicy.org

Institute on Religion and Public Policy News Update

JANUARY 29, 2008
JANUARY 29, 2008
Russian bishop concerned about Christianophobia in Europe

Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in European international organizations, has drawn the attention of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to the increase in the crime against Christians in Europe."We often hear about anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and very little is said about Christianophobia, which is gaining strength in many European countries," Bishop Hilarion said during a meeting between Barosso and representatives of the Orthodox Churches to the European Union.Among the forms of Christianophobia in Europe, Bishop Hilarion mentioned the removal of Christian symbols from the public sphere, the denigration of Christianity and refusal to recognize the Christian heritage of Europe, the persecution of people who openly express Christian convictions and who choose to live according to Christian moral standards."Mentioning the recent discussion of the matter in the British parliament, Bishop Hilarion called for a similar discussion in European international organizations and called on representatives of the European churches to take part in it.He also informed the European Commission president on the recent initiatives by the Russian Orthodox Church regarding the human rights debate.

Serbia's Choice

January 26, 2008.Source: Chronicles

Serbia's Choice

by Srdja Trifkovic

The political consequences of the first round of presidential election in Serbia, held on January 20, are significant, and they will remain that significance regardless of the outcome of the second round on February 3. President Boris Tadic lost the first round last Sunday to Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) by almost five percentage points and is fighting an uphill battle to retain the presidency.
The voters have given overwhelming support-over 55 percent-to the candidates who are adamant that there can be no compromise over Serbia's fundamental position on Kosovo. Those three candidates, Tomislav Nikolic (the Radical Party, SRS), Velimir Ilic (Our Serbia, NS) and Milutin Mrkonjic (the Socialist Party, SPS), say that there can be no compromize over the status of Kosovo in exchange for some vague promise of Serbia's eventual "European integration."
It appears that Boris Tadic and his followers have badly overestimated the President's popularity. They may have mecome the victims of their own peopaganda, which is easier to understand in view of the fact that all the mainstream print and electronic media in Serbia-which are either financed or owned Western corporations, governments and quasi-NGOs-are openly pro-Tadic. Such unfounded self-confidence had prompted the pro-Western camp to force this election prematurely, and without any regard for the views of their coalition partners, the Democratic Party of Serbia of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Accordingly, on December 12 of last year Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Oliver Dulic-a ranking official of Tadic's Democratic Party (DS)-called an early presidential election for January 20.
This decision was made with prior approval of Brussels and Washington but, let us emphasize, without any previous consultation with Prime Minister Kostunica. He and the DSS were opposed to the poll, arguing that it was highly inappropriate to call an early presidential election at a time when the threat of unilateral secession of Kosovo is real and ought to take precedence over domestic political squabbles. The turmoil of an election campaign, it was argued from Kostunica's camp, could threaten unity of the country and the coherence of the shaky ruling coalition at a vulnerable moment.
The result of the first round makes Kostunica's position decisive for the outcome of the second. The Prime Minister set his terms on January 23, when he asked Tadic to formally commit himself not to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union if the EU decides to dispatch a civilian administrative and police mission to Kosovo-a key move that is viewed as an implicit go-ahead for independence. Kostunica favors a resolution stating that the EU mission would violate UN resolution 1244 as well as the Serbian Constitution, which would mean that the EU has voluntarily cancelled the agreement initialled last November.
Tadic would be loath to accept such terms, because he claims that the association process should proceed regardless of the Kosovo issue. On the other hand, without Kostunica's endorsement he will find it haerd to garner an additional 15 percent of votes necessary for victory. In other words, things are becoming uncomfortably complicated for Tadic. He and his supporters had wanted this election to be held as early as possible because they feared that the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo's independence (UDI)-which is certain to be be supported by most key Western powers-would fuel Serbian anger and work to the detriment of "pro-Western, moderate reformists." The timing of the election was accordingly chosen by the European Union (EU), the United States, and the leaders of the DS, as a means of getting Tadic re-elected before the unilateral declaration of independence in Pristina.
In this manner Serbia has been subjected to the repetition of a sordid scenario we have witnessed just over a year ago. Last January the unveiling of the Ahtisaari plan was deliberately postponed by a month, so that the Serbian parliamentary election could be held on January 21st before its terms were known. At that time the ruse had the same objective as today: to help Tadic by not burdening his party with the mortgage of Ahtisaari's disastrous plan supported by all major Western powers.
Both then and today, Tadic's rhetoric promised the squaring of the circle: saving Kosovo on the one hand, but getting ever closer to Europe on the other. This is palpably an impossibility. All key Western leaders have stated, in one form or another, that Serbia would have to chose between retaining its claim on Kosovo and getting closer to the EU. Such statements have come from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair, from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and a veritable array of American bureaucrats.
Most Serbs are not a priori Euro-skeptics. A Gallup Poll conducted a year ago shows that, generally speaking, the majority looked favourably on the EU. Thdere is a catch, however: an even greater majority is adamant that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbia. In subsequent polls, most Serbs have said that they would not give up the title to Kosovo in return for the accelerated prospect of EU membership. Furthermore, in the same Gallup poll, they said they viewed Russia-which has said it would veto a Western-backed UN Security Council plan for Kosovo's statehood-even more positively than the EU: 63 percent of those polled approved of Russia's leadership.
On January 20, Serbia responded to this Euro-dilemma with greater clarity and decisiveness than Tadic and his sponsors had ever expected. Over 55 percent of Serbia's voters supported three candidates (Tomislav Nikolic, vise-president of the Radical Party; Velimir-Velja Ilic who leads "Our Serbia," a DSS coalition partner; and Milutin Mrkonjic of the Socialist Party) who are uncopromizing in their rejection of any "deal" with the West over Kosovo. The voters' message was clear: if Serbia is forced by the West to choose between preserving the title to Kosovo and joining "Europe" on Western terms-which evidently demands the amputation of Kosovo-Serbia will opt for the former. If the EU sends the illegal mission to Kosovo-and it is almost certain that this will happen shortly after the second round-that would be a clear sign for Serbia that time has come to say that further aspirations to the membership of the EU are not only futile but so demeaning and degrading.
The tables have been turned: it is now up to Washington and Brussels to choose between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians. Do they wants an illegally constituted Kosovo that is going to be a black hole of jihad-terrorism, ethnic cleansing, unprecedented corruption, institutionalized criminality, drug peddling and white slave trading? Or do they want a solid partnership with Serbia-the key country in the Western Balkans and a civilized country, which the Albanian controlled Kosovo never will be-on the basis of the recognition of her territorial integrity?.
In the run-up to the second round on February 3 the media in Belgrade, which is overwhelmingly pro-Tadic, will exert massive pressure on the Serbs by invoking the ghosts of sanctions and economic collapse, if not yet another war, if Nikolic is successful. They will insist that Tadic's defeat would mean further isolation. But before making their choice the Serbs will look at the outside world and see what the supporters of Kosovo's independence abroad are hoping for, who do they want to win in Serbia. The supporters of Kosovo's independence want Boris Tadic to be the winner on February 3 because they see in him the embodiment of the kind of "pro-Western reformist" now prevalent all over post-Communist Eastern Europe. They are pleased that Tadic keeps repeating-strictly for the domestic consumption-all the right patriotic platitudes, without believing them for one moment. While parroting "Serbian" rhetoric for the popular consumption, Tadic & Co. are sending messages to Brussels and Washington, sotto voce, that when the time comes they will be cooperative and do what needs to be done. Tadic and his protégé, Serbia's current foreign minister, have been winking and nudging to their Western interlocutors throughout the Kosovo negotiating process. If Tadic can appoint a man of so uncertain personal loyalty and so dubious moral qualities such as Vuk Jeremic to the post of Serbia's foreign minister, he is not to be trusted on any other front.
By re-electing Boris Tadic the Serbian voters would provide the supporters of Kosovo independence with the sure signal that Serbia is effectively reconciled to the amputation of the Province, and resigned to the endless continuation of never-to-be-completed "European integrations" that will always entail new conditions to be met, ever higher prices to be paid, and ever more brazen blackmails.
In the second round of the Serbian election the name of the eventual winner is perhaps less significant than the fact that the nation has displayed a remarkable level of unity and spontaneous determination. Whoever wins, he will have to take account of the fact that a small yet proud Balkan nation has had enough humiliation and that it will bend no more to either Washington or Brussels.

Old Threats are Renewed In The Balkans Against Serbs and Jews

Neo-nazi threats to Serbs and Jews in Croatia
16. January 2008 - 8:57

Today on the 15th of January 2008 in the late afternoon hours, church community in Split has received a letter full of national hatred and with neo-nazi threats in which it is claimed that Serbs and Jews in Croatia will and sholud be slaughtered and butchered.In this appaling letter fascism and ustashi; Ante Pavelic and «holy» concentration camps of Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska are praised; it is also full of awful menaces such as «Serbs to be butchered», «Juden raus» and some such.
Besides, it is said in this petrifying note that Serbs in Croatia should be exterminated; and death theretas are even send to the president of Croatia Stjepan Mesic.
The police has been informed about this case and the investigation is ongoing.
From the Office of the Diocese of Dalmatia, Sibenik, the 15th of Jan 2008
Eparchial (Diocesan) News
Српски

http://www.spc.yu/eng/neonazi_threats_serbs_and_jews_croatia

Orthodox Church in Kenya DestroyedPosted on Fri Jan 18 2008

Orthodox Christian Mission Center

Nairobi – Upon his return to Kenya from Egypt, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Kenya was greeted by scenes of widespread destruction and great suffering. His homecoming tour took him to some of the places hardest hit by the violence that flared over contested presidential elections.In Nakuru, the Orthodox Church of the Holy Virgin has been completely destroyed. Many people, still afraid to travel, are staying in their homes. The thousands who have lost their homes are staying anywhere they can, including churches and parks. The transportation system has largely stopped. As a result, many people are without food and medicine. The Red Cross is responding but the need is still great. The “Kenya Crisis Collection” that is being taken by the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) is now being expanded to help His Eminence offer these basic provisions as he reaches out to the people of Kenya regardless of their tribal or religious affiliation on behalf of the Orthodox Church.So far, ten-thousand dollars from this collection has been sent to buy food and medicine for the needy and suffering in Kenya, but much more is needed. According to His Eminence, it will take the country years to rebuild.All donations for this special collection should be made payable to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center with “Kenya Crisis Collection” clearly marked in the check’s memo line. Gifts may be submitted to:The Orthodox Christian Mission CenterRe: Kenya Crisis CollectionP.O. Box 4319St. Augustine, FL 32085-4319OCMC is a non-profit organization that has been commissioned by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) to proclaim the fullness of the Christian Faith by establishing and nurturing vibrant, Eucharistic communities, which evangelize those around them and minister to the poor.