Byzantine Blog

Few days ago Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal published an article focusing on the impressions of a High School teacher Greg Milo after his visit to the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.

For some reason, the visit has “strengthened his faith,” even though all he could see and hear were newly built mosques and blaring calls to Muslims for prayer.

After quickly scanning the article (since I have no patience for blithering idiots of any faith), I'm not sure which faith Milo was talking about and what kind of positive influence can Islamic terrorists have on one's Christianity, but evidently, Akron Beacon's editors are digging Milo's sheer positivity, even if mindless, and are proud promoters of this type of politically correct, shamelessly sychophantic claptrap.

Thankfully, someone who doesn't mind wading through the semi-retarded bilge for the common good and in the name of sanity - Stella Jatras - has responded. Below is her letter to the Akron Beacon editors to which, to date, neither the editors nor the article's author Colette Jenkins, have responded. Stella must be right -- some people do prefer blindness.

A Case of Compassion?

There is an expression that says, “There are those none so blind as those who will not see.” This axiom cannot be more true than in reference to Mr. Greg Milo's Trip to Kosovo a lesson in faith, of 12 August.

Is Mr. Milo so blind that he does not know the history of Kosovo, that the Serbs were once the majority until driven out by the Nazis and then by communist dictator Josip Broz Tito, who in his hatred for the Serbs, encouraged Muslim Albanians to cross illegally into Christian Kosovo making them today the majority? Is Mr. Milo oblivious to the fact that Serbian culture, language and religion are being eradicated by Albanian mobs with the help of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a terrorist army that is engaged in sex slavery, prostitution, murder, kidnapping and drugs?

Does Mr. Milo know that at one time there were over 40,000 Serbs living in Pristina, but today, there are fewer than 150 Serbs, mostly elderly living in two compounds too terrified to go out even in search of food unless protected by UN soldiers from Albanian mobs?

“‘He [the Muslim teacher] is a very committed Muslim. He took me to several of the mosques in the area, and I prayed with him and did the (ritual) washing,’ Milo said. ‘It was neat to learn to pray in a different way and to see the beautiful centuries-old mosques. It was a great experience,’ writes Mr. Milo,” but is he so uncaring of the fact that Kosovo is Serbia's Jerusalem, or the fact that over 150 13th and 14th centuries-old churches and monasteries have been either desecrated or destroyed since KFOR entered Kosovo? In which mosque did Mr. Milo and his newly found Muslim friend pray, the newly built Osama bin Laden mosque, or the mosque which flies the flag of Saudi Arabia, whose Wahabbi teachings drive much of the Islamic terrorism in the world?

Where is Mr. Milo's compassion to the plight of the few remaining Serbs? I see no mention that Mr. Milo sought out the spiritual leader of Kosovo's Orthodox Christian Serbs, Bishop Artemije, or any of Serbia's Orthodox Christian clergy. An article in The Washington Times of 3 August titled, “A bishop's faith,” reported that “His [Bishop Artemije] dwindling flock is scattered and under siege. His churches and cemeteries have been vandalized. The world appears to sympathize with his persecutors, but the spiritual leader of Kosovo's Orthodox Serbs says he cannot afford the luxury of feeling sorry for himself.”

Mr. Milo might have been better prepared to critically evaluate what he saw in Kosovo if he had read the National Review on line article of March 19 2004 that reported, “A pogrom started in Europe this week, with one U.N. official being quoted as saying, “Kristallnacht is under way in Kosovo.” and that “Serbs are being murdered and their 800-year-old churches are aflame. Much of the Christian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is on fire and could be lost forever. By these deeds too many of Kosovo's Albanians have shown that their rhetoric about 'democracy' and 'multiethnicity' is false, and demonstrates also that the international community's acceptance of them has been naïve.”

In the words of former UNPROFOR Commander Maj. General Lewis MacKenzie, “The Kosovo-Albanians have played us like a Stradivarius. (emphases added). We have subsidized and indirectly supported their violent campaign for an ethnically pure and independent Kosovo.We have never blamed them for being the perpetrators of the violence in the early '90s and we continue to portray them as the designated victim today in spite of evidence to the contrary. When they achieve independence with the help of our tax dollars combined with those of bin Laden and al-Qaeda, just consider the message of encouragement this sends to other terrorist-supported independence movements around the world.”

Please, Mr. Milo, open your eyes and see the suffering of the remaining Serbian people and say, “There is something terribly wrong here.”

Perhaps Mr. Milo's faith has been restored after visiting Kosovo, but if Kosovo Albanians achieve their independence which may come to fruition because of Washington's support, the result would mean the creation of another rogue state, another mini-Afghanistan, in the heart of the Balkans not to mention the devastation of the remaining Christian Orthodox Serbs. Please write your congressmen and senators and tell them to “Just say NO to Kosovo Independence!”

Further references: “War criminal or both?”;
“Christians under seige in Kosovo.” Accuracy in Media (AIM);
To the editors: This is a must read. Please go to the site of American Council for Kosovo for information of the plight of the Serbian people and how to contact your congressmen and senators to “Just say NO to Kosovo independence.”

By Stella L. Jatras

As a career military officer's wife, Stella Jatras has traveled widely and has lived in many foreign countries where she not only learned about other cultures but also became very knowledgeable regarding world affairs and world politics.

With the advent of the war in Bosnia, Mrs. Jatras immediately recognized the bias of the Western media and the Clinton administration's flawed foreign policy in the Balkans and began her efforts to present to the American people a more accurate view of that tragic situation. Her letters and articles have been published in The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Arizona Republic, The Patriot- News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), Chronicles, The Stars and Stripes, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as a number of magazines and periodicals.

In addition her writings have had worldwide distribution via the Internet such as Citizen Soldier and Jihad Watch. Stella Jatras lived in Moscow for two years (where her husband, George, was the Senior Air Attaché), and while there, worked in the Political Section of the US Embassy. Stella has also lived in Germany, Greece and Saudi Arabia. Her travels took her to over twenty countries.