Byzantine Blog

Exterminating Kosovo Serbs With UN/NATO Help

U.N. Troops Accused of Abetting Genocide, WorldNetDaily

United Nations forces moved into Kosovo in 1999 to “stop genocide.”

But, according to a blistering new report from the American Council for Kosovo, U.N. troops have aided and abetted the deliberate, systematic and nearly complete ethnic cleansing of the mostly Christian Serb population by mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians.

“Every facet of the way of life of the Serbs of Kosovo is threatened by the new reality established since June 1999 under KFOR (the NATO Kosovo Force) and the U.N. and therefore the very existence of the Serbs there is threatened,” says the report “Hiding Genocide in Kosovo” [.pdf format].

Final Status Final Solution for Kosovo Serbs

“All kinds of persecution using all types of methods have been adopted,” the report says. “Throughout the territory of Kosovo, the Serbs have been persecuted, a persecution that is happening on their own territory, in their own country. They are denied basic human rights and are not equal to their Muslim counterparts under the law. Even though the Serbs were the main targets, they were not the only ones. Consider the situation of the Croats who now number less than 500, or the Roma who have been banished to the edges of the Serb enclaves by persistent terrorization, or the Gorani, Slavic Muslims, who reside in the south west tip of Kosovo in the mountains and whose numbers dwindle every year.”

Using a combination of eyewitness reports, diaries of the dead and interviews with survivors, the report pieces together a harrowing narrative about eight years of mostly low-intensity genocide by the Muslim ethnic Albanians now demanding independence for Kosovo.

The U.N., in conjunction with Western powers, has been working toward this end, which they term “the final status.”

“The biggest lie: the internationals claimed they were coming to stop a genocide,” writes James George Jatras, director of the American Council for Kosovo. “In reality, they are facilitating one. For the Serbs in Kosovo ‘final status’ can only mean a final solution.”

UN Bias in Favor of Albanian Muslim Terrorists

Ethnic and religious violence between Albanians and Serbs in the Serbian province of Kosovo was not unusual leading up to 1999 when the Albanian majority drew NATO onto their side in an effort to tip the scales in the balance of terror.

Kosovo has been occupied by the U.N. ever since the war ended. But the new report attempts to document the U.N.’s continuing partiality toward the Albanians, who have turned more and more Kosovo Serbs into refugees, virtually emptying out many Serb-dominated villages and burning and defacing churches along the way.

Thirteen months of international talks on the future of Kosovo ended in stalemate earlier this year. Now, three diplomats from the U.S., Russia and the European Union are set to start afresh.

While ethnic Albanians see their independence movement on the verge of success, Serbia turned to its Russian ally to veto U.N. adoption of any independence plan.

Meanwhile, the report on Kosovo violence looks at 12 municipalities, all of which had sizable Serbian Christian populations as recently as 1999. Today, the tiny Serb remnants are composed mainly of elderly and infirm simply incapable of moving.

Carnage of Christian Serbs Continues Under the UN/NATO Noses

Still, the carnage continues, right under the noses of U.N. KFOR authorities.

In Cernica, 45 Serb homes have been destroyed since the war ended in 1999. Since the middle of 2003, 12 Serbs have been killed, with no one being charged for the crimes.

Often, says the report, acts of violence against Serbs result in the arrest or detention of the victims. For instance, on Aug. 5, 2001, a hand grenade was thrown at the house of Vladimir Savic, records the diary of a Cernica Serb who himself was later killed by Albanians. Initially, Savic was reported killed in the blast. The grenade exploded just two meters from the main door and seriously wounded Savic and his wife, Stanica.

But when KFOR personnel arrived at the scene, they refused to provide the victims with first aid. Instead, they attempted to arrest their son, Miomor, who had been in the house with his wife and two children at the time of the explosion.

“Since the soldiers refused to help the wounded, their son carried them to his car and drove them without escort to the Greek military base in Bartes, where he was refused any help as well,” says the report. “Not knowing what to do, he proceeded to the American base Bondstil.”

The base personnel refused initially to admit the civilians. But, given the grave condition of the wounded, they admitted them to the hospital. After three days of medical treatment, they were transferred to Kosovska Mitrovica.

“Both victims have been mutilated for life and are invalids today,” says the report. “The perpetrator has never been found.”

Similar horror stories are recounted in the towns of Novo Brdo, Devet Jugovica, Pristina, Letnica, Urosevac, Kosovo Polje, Vitina and Banjska.

Those ‘Who Murder the Innocent to Advance Hateful Ideology’ Are Protected in Kosovo

U.N. forces are also charged with a kind of ethnic profiling that directly aided the cause of Albanian ethnic cleansing. U.N. authorities overseeing the ethnic and religious balance in towns frequently identified Serbian Christian homes and Albanian Muslim homes. Sometimes yellow crosses were placed on the Christian homes — which helped identify targets for the persecutors, according to the Kosovo genocide report.

“On the White House lawn on 7 May 2007, while welcoming British Queen Elizabeth, George W. Bush stated that both their countries were ‘defending liberty against terror … while resisting those who murder the innocent to advance a hateful ideology’,” concludes the report. “Is it possible in this information age of high technology, where the media daily bombards us with news and information, that these two leaders do not know what has really taken place in Kosovo? Can it be possible that they do not know that their troops were aiding and abetting terrorists in Kosovo and stood by as whole communities were wiped out?”

Posted by Svetlana at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Kostunica: We’ll Be Ready

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the press today Serbian government is weighing various options in case Albanian separatists were to resort to illegal declaration of independence of Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province.

“If someone inflicts damage upon you, then you, according to the circumstances and the situation, must respond in kind, inflicting back some damage as well,” said Kostunica.

“This is the only way to preserve the state’s integrity and something that can be described as the dignity of the state and each citizen,” Beta news agency quoted Serbian Premier.

Speaking in a news conference at the seat of the government in Belgrade Thursday Kostunica did not elaborate on the kind of damage he had in mind. He also declined to specify what such a reaction to a Kosovo status settlement process that would be unfavorable to Serbia might entail, saying only it would be “within what constitutes for usual reaction in such situations.”

Radicals: Bring it On!

Deputy president of the Serbian Radical Party Tomislav Nikolic warned Tuesday that “a country that has its territory snatched away might go to war.”

“Whenever a country is forcibly stripped of its territory, there is always a danger a war might break out,” Nikolic told the Vecernje Novosti daily.

According to Tomislav Nikolic, his party—one with the most voters in Serbia—will ask the government to break off diplomatic ties with any country that would choose to recognize the Serbian province’s amputation.

FYROM Shiptars Arm and Mobilize Four Macedonian Villages Bordering Serbian Kosovo Province

Vecernje Novosti also ran today’s news about the “mobilization” of Albanian terrorists that have seized villages in neighboring FYR of Macedonia.

According to the Belgrade daily’s sources, the Macedonian villages of Tanusevci, Brest, Malina Mala and Gosnice, populated only with Albanians, which are bordering with Serbian Kosovo region have been mobilized since Wednesday. Contrasting the routinely soothing statements by the Skoplje officials, Macedonian opposition is alarmed by the fact that the country’s security forces are not controlling the entire territory of the state.

Skoplje media informed on Thursday that “the military style mobilization” has been taking place in the mountainous region near the border with Serbian Kosovo province. Local Shiptars (Albanians) claim that every attempt of the Macedonia’s security forces to enter the region will be greeted with the attack, repeating the threats issued earlier by the Albanian terrorist leader from Macedonian village of Tanusevci.

“Setting up a referendum for the secession of these villages and their adjoining Kosovo is a reality,” said Shaqiri.

He also claimed that the “mobilized forces” are entirely prepared, trained and with the sufficient number of men and weapons required for the “successful guerrilla war.”

“The mobilization was completed in only few hours. I am not threatening anyone, but I want to be taken seriously. Any units that enter this region will be efficiently and quickly defeated, regardless if they are followed by the tanks or helicopters,” warned Shiptar terrorist leader from Macedonia, Shaqiri.

The World War Three Stage is Set

Coupled with yesterday’s threats by another Albanian terrorist from southern Serbian province who accused four Balkan states, Montenegro, Serbia, FYR of Macedonia and Greece, of “occupying” Albanians, and went on to openly declare their goal of establishing Greater Albania by seizing land from these states, the stage for World War Three seems to be all set.

The only question that remains open is what will the American State Department do (since the rest of the West that hides under the lofty “international community” title appears to be resigned to merely tag along Burns-Fried duo): will they once again side with the fascistic bunch of thugs, criminals and cutthroats they have been aligned with for the past two decades, will they sit on the sidelines and let the war flames engulf all of the Balkans and Europe one more time, or will they change the current perilous course and find enough moral strength to finally say ‘No’ to the roaches they’ve been nursing all these years?

Posted by Svetlana at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Malignant Slovenia Seeks Serbia’s Dismemberment

Adviser to the Serbian Premier, Aleksandar Simic, assessed that Slovenia’s backing of severing of the Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija reflects negatively not only on the EU, which is attempting to assert itself as an impartial mediator, but also calls for reevaluation of Serbia’s relations with this former Yugoslav republic.

“Slovenia should not forget it was Slovenian separatism that ignited the chain of violent separatist movements within former Yugoslavia,” said Simic to Tanjug, reacting to the statement by the Kosovo Albanian war criminal Agim Ceku, who claimed he has received “firm guarantees” from Premier Janez Jansa that Slovenia will lobby for the amputation of Kosovo province within the EU.

Simic pointed out that, “regardless of Slovenia’s current status as an EU-member state, its historical responsibility for triggering the wave of separatism in this region remains, and the future will give the final assessment” of the malignant role Slovenia played.

Mr Simic stressed the fact none of Slovenian officials attempted to deny Ceku’s claims is “rather alarming.”

He reminded that the illegal plan by the corrupt Finn failed because there was a strong coalition of states led by Russian Federation, determined not to allow the violation of the UN Charter and the annihilation of the international law and order.

“If someone scheduled to preside over the EU wishes to destroy the international order and keeps promising to destroy it by promoting such a view, then that someone is not only destabilizing the Balkans, but Europe itself,” said Simic.

He expressed hope that “such moves by Slovenia’s officials, if proven true, will be carefully examined by the EU bodies and member states, and treated accordingly.”

Slovenian Separatism Initiated Destruction of Yugoslavia

Despite its promises not to engage in any unilateral moves given to the US Ambassador to Yugoslavia, republic of Slovenia—staunchly supported by the German and Austrian governments—illegally declared itself an independent state in June 1991 and proceeded to take over the Yugoslav border posts by force. Yugoslav customs officers were ambushed by the armed Slovenian separatists, forced to surrender their weapons and executed in cold blood. Indeed, the first war crimes in former Yugoslavia in the nineties were committed by the Slovene nationals.

What was later trumpeted by the Slovenes as the “war against the mighty JNA” (Yugoslav National Army) lasted ten days and boiled down to groups of armed Slovenian thugs attacking unarmed Yugoslav Army conscripts in retreat, as the army was trying to take its men and vehicles out of Slovenia which became a foreign soil over night. During those ten days, all foreign correspondents and Western media representatives in Slovenia were held isolated in cellars and bunkers, supposedly due to concerns for their safety, and directly fed the information they were sending to their press by the Slovenian separatist leaders.

Slovenian secessionist coup initiated the destruction of Yugoslav state and the series of horrific civil wars, as their example was soon followed by the Croat and Bosnian Muslim leaders—Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic—who tried to apply the exact same recipe of non-negotiable, within-the-communist (internal republics’) ‘borders,’ take-it-all-as-is secession.

Pirate State of Sly, Scheming Xenophobes with Delusions of Grandeur

Although Slovenia was largely mono-ethnic Yugoslav republic before the secession, as opposed to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina where Serbs were a constitutive nation, unlike Croatia which—aided by the U.S.—resorted to blunt ethnic cleansing, forcing up to 500,000 Krajina and Slavonia Serbs to flee for their lives, Slovenia has gotten rid of its ‘undesirables’ and non-Slovenes in a manner much more in-sync with its cunning, sly mentality: they opted for the administrative genocide and simply erased the non-Slovene citizens from the records. Some 30,000 Slovenia citizens whose passports and all legal and personal documents have been taken away, along with the jobs and all of the property and possessions, are still fighting to have their basic civil rights restored.

Customarily xenophobic Slovenes were recently at the center of a scandal over the forceful removal of Gypsy families from their homes, when Slovenian officials (including the above mentioned Janez Jansa) allowed the vicious racist mobs yelling “Gypsies raus!” to intimidate and physically attack their Roma neighbors, ending in uprooting entire families and forcing them to trade their legally owned houses for the army barracks. All Slovenian Premier Jansa was concerned with back then was his country’s image, so he lashed at the human rights activist, accusing him of “denigrating Slovenia’s name” by raising the issue with the Council of Europe.

Serbia, a Victim of Slovenian Greed

Despite all this and Slovenia’s rather unsavory human rights record, Slovenia was accepted into the European Union in 2004 and hailed by Bill Clinton and the likes as an example Serbia, among others, should follow. Since its ascension into the EU, tiny Slovenia keeps attempting to impose itself as a dominant power in the Balkans, publicly advocating acceptance of other Balkan states into the EU, while covertly instigating continued fragmentation of the Balkan peninsula states and further destruction of Serbia.

One of the main reasons for the utmost need to remain as sneaky as possible in regards to Serbia is the fact that Serbia, with its 10 million population (compared to Slovenia’s less than two million citizens—including the Erased), is a main pillar of Slovenia’s economy and its number one market. At the same time, only the weak, semi-poor, dismembered and fragmented Serbia can remain Slovenia’s loyal customer, without a danger of reaching for more Western European goods or, what would be much worse, without ever being able to turn into Slovenia’s competitor.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fireworks Store Filled with Pyromaniacs: Kosovo’s Grim Future

By David Binder, The Washington Times

Forget about status negotiations for a moment. The near-term outlook for Kosovo is unalterably grim: An economy stuck in misery; a bursting population of young people with “criminality as the sole career choice;” an insupportably high birthrate; a society imbued with corruption and a state dominated by organized crime figures.

These are the conclusions of “Operationalizing of the Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans,” a 124-page investigation by the Institute for European Policy commissioned by the German Bundeswehr and issued in January. This month the text turned up on a Web log. It is labeled “solely for internal use.“ Provided one can plow through the appallingly dense Amtsdeutsch — “German officialese” — that is already evident in the ponderous title, a reader is rewarded with sharp insights about Kosovo.

Violent Mafia Society Protected by the West’s Grotesque Denial

The authors point out a “grotesque denial of reality by the international community” about Kosovo, coupling that with the warning of “a new wave of unrest that could greatly exceed the level of escalation seen up to now,” The institute authors, Mathias Jopp and Sammi Sandawi, spent six months interviewing 70 experts and mining current literature on Kosovo in preparing the study.

In their analysis, political unrest and guerrilla fighting in the 1990s led to basic changes which they call a “turnabout in Kosovo-Albanian social structures.” The result is a “civil war society in which those inclined to violence, ill-educated and easily influenced people could make huge social leaps in a rapidly constructed soldateska.”

They continued: “It is a Mafia society” based on “capture of the state” by criminal elements. (“State capture” is a term coined in 2000 by a group of World Bank analysts to describe countries where government structures have been seized by corrupt financial oligarchies.

UNMIK and KFOR Corrupt, U.S. Aides Criminals

In the authors’ definition, Kosovan organized crime “consists of multimillion-Euro organizations with guerrilla experience and espionage expertise.” They quote a German intelligence service report of “closest ties between leading political decision makers and the dominant criminal class” and name Ramush Haradinaj, Hashim Thachi and Xhavit Haliti as compromised leaders who are “internally protected by parliamentary immunity and abroad by international law.”

The U.N. Mission in Kosovo, they add, “is in many respects an element of the local problem scene.” They describe both UNMIK and KFOR as infiltrated by agents of organized crime who forewarn their ringleaders of any impending raids.

Among the negative findings listed are:

• The justice system’s 40,000 uncompleted criminal cases.
• The paucity of corruption-crime investigations: 10-15 annually.
• 400 gas stations (where 150 would suffice), many of which serve as fronts for brothels and money-changing depots.

The study sharply criticizes the United States for “abetting the escape of criminals” in Kosovo as well as “preventing European investigators from working.” This has made Americans “vulnerable to blackmail.” It notes “secret CIA detention centers” at Camp Bondsteel and assails American military training for Kosovo (Albanian) police authorized by the Pentagon.

Independence Would Result in Totalitarian Criminal State

Concerning the crime scene the authors conclude that “with resolution of the status issue and the successive withdrawal of international forces the criminal figures will come closer than ever to their goal of total control of Kosovo.” Among the dismal findings of the German study are those on the economy:

• Sinking remissions of money from Kosovans working abroad, a primary source of income for many Kosovo families pegged now at 560 million Euros per annum.
• 88 percent of the land now in private ownership, meaning ever more subdividing of plots, usually among brothers, leading to less efficient agriculture.
• A hostile climate for foreign investors, frightened by political instability and the power of Mafia structures.

A central issue in Kosovo is an “inexhaustible supply of young people without a future and therefore ready for violence,” the study says. The only remedy for dealing with this “youth bulge” is to open Northern Europe’s gates to young Kosovans seeking jobs, the authors say.

Blaming Everybody Else — Part of Albanian Mentality

In anticipation of a transfer of oversight from the UN to the European Union, the authors warn: “[The] EU is in danger of following too strongly in the wake of a failed UN and [disintegrating] under the inherited burden unless they make an open break with practices and methods of UNMIK.”

One of the experts they interviewed put it more bluntly: “EU is inheriting from UNMIK a fireworks store filled with pyromaniacs.” But in their depiction, Kosovans appear beholden to their legend of historic exploitation — such that if they finally achieve independence, all will suddenly be well. In the past Kosovans could and did always blame somebody else for their troubles: Ottomans, Yugoslavs, Serbs.

Now they have begun to blame UNMIK. But what will happen if they have only themselves to blame?

Posted by Svetlana at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Greetings From New York: Welcome, Power Serbs!

“Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic, 19 and 20, Threaten to Up-End U.S. Open; McEnroe Says He’s Better Than Roddick; She’s Already the Hottest,” writes John Koblin in yesterday’s edition of The New York Observer.

“[...] Some female tennis stars crave the chance to land high-end endorsement deals, to dress in Prada, to start their own fashion lines. Ana Ivanovic is not one of them. At a time when women’s tennis has been ravaged by indifference, injuries and shameless self-promotion, she may be just the player the Women’s Tennis Association desperately needs. She’s humble, smart, hungry and ridiculously attractive. Oh—and she has perhaps the best forehand in tennis.”

According to Koblin, the tennis world has also been paying attention to another Power Serb, world’s number 3, Novak Djokovic:

“[...] He’s featured in this month’s Vogue, with a photo spread and the seal of approval of John McEnroe, who says he’ll be better than American golden boy Andy Roddick.

“It’s easy to see why Djokovic would transition well into the mainstream: He’s funny, articulate, cocky and distinctive-looking. (After winning matches, Djokovic adheres to a recently forgotten tennis tradition by tearing his shirt off with carefree abandon, revealing a skinny body to go with his striking Sonic-the-Hedge-Hog haircut.)”

Ana on CNBC

And CNBC’s Darren Rovell has kept his promise, putting together a nice video report about his favorite tennis star, Ana.

Posted by Svetlana at 08:27 PM | Permalink

Clinton: I Wouldn’t Have Signed That Either!

Defense witness at another Hague mock-trial to Serbian diplomat Nikola Sainovic, Obrad Kesic, told the Kangaroo Court that in April 1999, during the US-led NATO aggression on FR Yugoslavia, American President Bill Clinton said he would not have accepted the Rambouillet Accord either, just like the former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

The Rambouillet setup (February 6 — March 19, 1999), headed by then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the former American ambassador in the UN Richard Holbrook, where Serbian delegation and Albanian separatists were held in separate rooms until Albanians—advised by the shadow dictator and political gangster, ICG’s Morton Abramowitz—signed, was used as a pretext for brutal three-month aggression on Serbia and Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the time).

Among other things, the Rambouillet ultimatum requested that Yugoslavia allows Albanian minority in Serbian Kosovo-Metohija to hold a referendum for secession of the Serbian province in three years and to submit to military occupation of Yugoslavia’s entire territory: Serbia (with Kosovo province) and Montenegro — or be bombed back into the stone age.

Dan Goure, deputy director of political and military studies at the conservative Center for Strategic and International Studies said in an IPA release: “The [Clinton] administration went to Rambouillet basically to arrange a trap for Milosevic. It was a no-win situation for him and frankly, Albright was basically trying to find a pretext for bombing. They told the Kosovo Albanians that if they signed and Milosevic didn’t, they’d bomb Serbia. Rambouillet was not a negotiation, it was a setup, a lynch party.”

American analyst and businessman Kesic testified that he led a delegation of American Serbs which was received by Bill Clinton in the White House on April 14, 1999, during NATO aggression. According to his testimony, Clinton told the delegation he often tries to put himself in the shoes of others, so he could better understand them.

“He said that, putting himself in Milosevic’s position, he realized that the referendum [for Kosovo province secession] clause in Rambouillet Agreement went too far. He told us that he would not have signed such a document either, if he was in Milosevic’s place,” said Kesic.

It Doesn’t Matter Why We’re Bombing You, It’s About Me Now

Former President Clinton told the representatives of American Serbs that bombardment of FR Yugoslavia begun out of “humanitarian concerns,” but that the reasons that have led to the aggression became irrelevant as soon as it started, since what’s “at stake now is the NATO, U.S. and his personal credibility” and that is why the bombardment could last for the unlimited time.

Kesic stressed that, at the delegates’ request to stop the carnage, even if just temporarily, during the Orthodox Easter celebrations, Clinton responded that was not possible, because it would be difficult to ensure a consensus among NATO-member states to continue with the aggression afterwards.

According to Kesic, who followed American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Jesse Jackson during his mission in Belgrade and afterwards at the Clinton reception, American president gave the same response when Mr Jackson requested the cessation of bombardment after FRY President Slobodan Milosevic handed over three American soldiers captured in Serbian Kosovo province.

Posted by Svetlana at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Serbian Major in British Army: Gallant Officer Treated Disgracefully

Army officer sues for £1m over spy claim by Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph

A former Paratrooper whose career was destroyed after he was falsely accused of spying is to sue the Government for record damages.

Milos Stankovic, who was decorated by the Queen for bravery, will claim in the High Court that he was forced to leave the Army by a “malicious investigation” by Ministry of Defence (MoD) police acting on false information.

Mr Stankovic, 44, who at the time of his arrest held the rank of major in The Parachute Regiment, is seeking more than £1 million compensation for the loss of his career, salary and pension, and unpaid legal fees, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Mr Stankovic was arrested under the Official Secrets Act on suspicion that, while serving as a Serbo-Croat interpreter for senior British Army officers in Sarajevo, he passed secret information to the Bosnian Serbs. The major was taken into custody while attending the Joint Services Staff College in Bracknell, Berkshire and subjected to two criminal investigations, one by the Ministry of Defence police, the other by the Royal Military Police.

Neither investigation, which had a combined cost of more than £250,000, found any evidence of espionage, which had been claimed to have taken place in 1994.

More than 100 witnesses were interviewed in Britain and the investigating team traveled to United Nations headquarters in New York in its search for evidence against Mr Stankovic.

His legal team intends to call high-profile former Army officers who will testify to Mr Stankovic’s good character and reject the suggestion that the former Army major was a Bosnian spy. Witnesses due to attend the three-week hearing in October include Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the former chief of the General Staff; Gen Sir Michael Rose, whom Mr Stankovic served as an interpreter during the Bosnian War, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a former SAS commander and now private secretary to Princes William and Harry, and Martin Bell, the former MP and BBC war reporter.

Bosnian Muslims and Americans Wanted Stankovic Removed

At the time of his arrest in 1997, Mr Stankovic was described by Martin Bell, then MP for Tatton, as a “gallant British soldier” who “had been treated disgracefully”.

Mr Stankovic said he was unable to speak freely about the forthcoming case for legal reasons but added: “This is not about vengeance. But I want to get compensation for my loss of earnings and loss of pension. I had a good career in the Army to which I was dedicated and that was wrongfully taken away from me.”

He said it would also represent compensation for the lawyers who have represented him on a “no-win, no-fee” basis for the past 10 years.

[...] Mr Stankovic, whose father [and mother are] Serbian but who was brought up in Britain, was a regular figure in Pale, Bosnia-Herzegovina working on behalf of UN commanders. When UN troops were sent to the Balkans in October 1992, he was one of only two fluent Serbo-Croat speakers in the British Army and was initially attached to the Cheshire Regiment and Col Bob Stewart. He proved his value both in his knowledge of the language and in his understanding of the people and the ethnic problems between them.

When the Cheshire Regiment returned to the UK after six months, Mr Stankovic remained and became attached to Gen Rose’s staff in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The work was often dangerous and Mr Stankovic took to wearing two flak jackets. He was known as Mike Stanley by colleagues because his real surname marked him out as a Serb.

It was not long before some on the Muslim side complained privately that his relationship with Mladic and Karadzic was too close. It is widely believed that it was partly the concerns of the Bosnian [Muslim] authorities, passed on to the Americans, that triggered the investigation which led to Mr Stankovic’s arrest.

UK’s Ministry of Defence Took Away Milos’ Entire Career

After returning to the UK, he was awarded the MBE in recognition of his work in Bosnia. He received his medal from the Queen during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Qaiser Khanzada, Mr Stankovic‘s solicitor, said they would be suing the MoD for abuse of public office which caused him to lose his career.

Mr Khanzada said: “We will be seeking significant damages to cover loss of earning, loss of pension rights, false imprisonment and a myriad of other issues including legal costs. We are saying that the actions of the defendant (the MoD) caused Milos to sustain the loss of his career.”

“Trusted Mole”

Book by Milos Stankovic, illustrated; HarperCollins Publishers Limited, 476pp, ISBN 0006530907. Buy this book at Amazon

Praised by the Sunday Times as “by far the best book to have come out of the Balkan wars,” description of Milos Stankovic’s book reads:

“Fuelled by outrage at his arrest in December 1997 by MoD police, Milos Stankovic, a major in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army and the son of a Royalist [Chetnik] Serb, decided to write his extraordinary story: a dramatic tale of life on the edge in war-ravaged Bosnia. His life was constantly at risk; nevertheless, he ran a ‘Schindler’s List’ operation, smuggling families (Serb, Croat or Muslim) out of besieged Sarajevo. His arrest came as a thunderbolt. What lay behind it will be revealed in the book and will ignite an international controversy.”

Posted by Svetlana at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Serbian Tennis Player the Most Beautiful Athlete in the World

Five Serbs — four in singles (Jankovic, Ivanovic, Tipsarevic and Djokovic) and one in doubles (Zimonjic) — will compete for this year’s US Open title (August 27 — September 9).

Serbia’s top female players, Jelena Jankovic (3) and Ana Ivanovic (4), could face each other as soon as the quarterfinals which would rule out the possibility of all-Serbian grand slam finals.

Just ahead of the start of tournament, Ana Ivanovic has already received a major vote of confidence from CNBC’s Darren Rovell, who declared Serbian tennis star the most beautiful athlete in the world.

Congratulating the companies who have already contracted Ana after assessing that “the marketing momentum of this 19-year-old Serbian seems to be unstoppable,” Rovell promises extensive coverage during the tournament, tipping on Ana taking over “the most marketable woman in sports” title, since her beauty comes in addition to “the fact that this girl has one of the nastiest forehands in the game.”

Good luck to all of them, and may the best win!

Posted by Svetlana at 09:51 AM | Permalink

U.S. Insistence on Ahtisaari Plan Obstructs Upcoming Negotiations

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Saturday that United States’ continuous insistence on the Ahtisaari plan is detrimental to the new negotiations, adding that one of the worst aspects of this plan is the fact it grants NATO an above-the-law status that no military organization has ever had in the democratic world.

In a statement for Tanjug, Kostunica said that “Serbia is ready to take its share of responsibility and give the appropriate contribution to the finding of a compromise solution, which can be reached only if the United States gives up the Ahtisaari plan, i.e. if everybody abides by the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law.”

EU: Albanian Separatists to Curb Their Appetites

Beta news agency reports that an Albanian-language Pristina daily says Wolfgang Ischinger has told Albanian separatist leaders that Serbian province’s status will not be settled this year.

Express daily reports in its Saturday edition that the EU envoy to the Contact Group mediating Troika told Albanian separatist representatives in Pristina Friday not to expect the status issue to be solved by the end of 2007.

According to the daily, this is the first time a high-ranking international diplomat directly suggested to the Albanians they should lower their expectations and that the status settlement will not be finalized this year.

During his two-day stay in southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija, German diplomat met with the main figures of Albanian separatist movement in the province: Fatmir Sejdiu, war criminal Agim Ceku, Kol Berisha, Veton Surroi and the other war criminal, Hashim Snake Thaci.

Posted by Svetlana at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There Will Be No Real Investigation by the Corrupt UNMIK

When seven Saudi/Albanian terrorists were unleashed from the Albanian-run Dubrava prison in Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija on Saturday, UNMIK spokesman immediately went to reporters to say that the UN Mission in Kosovo administrators will launch “a probe” into the jail-break, since it was determined that at least five prison guards and a gang armed with rocket launchers was involved in a scheme to let the murderous criminals out.

However, an international who is also stationed in the southern Serbian province claims this is nothing but a good old PR pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes, being that UNMIK itself is corrupt to the very core and probably deeply involved in the jail-break scheme from the get-go:

I was there working with UNMIK Police in the Peje [Pec] Regional HQ. There were two separate independent investigations on Dubrava prison: one international working inside the prison and one from police investigators gathering information from citizens. Both outlined the blatant corruption inside the prison being conducted by the internationals and local [ethnic Albanian] directors. The international officer working inside Dubrava [prison] brought his investigation results to his supervisor’s attention — all the way to the top of UNMIK. He was immediately sent home and the investigation shredded, except for the copy that he had made and gave to UNMIK police officers. Time and again these allegations were brought to the attention of different UNMIK commanders and they were always shelved. The corruption in Dubrava prison goes all the way to the top of the UNMIK chain of command and there are two separate investigations in the wings just waiting for an honest UN official to step forward and pursue the facts. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN.

Planned Release of Terrorists to Destabilize Region

Meanwhile, Macedonian Focus news agency reported that freed terrorists could be hiding in FYR of Macedonia and that “the group of criminals has been released from prison under a scenario planned in advance, with the assistance of certain structures, which aim at destabilization of the region, if the negotiation process for Kosovo’s independence follows some wrong direction. Several former members of the Army for the Independence of Kosovo watch closely the development of the Kosovo issue, and they are ready for action.”

Albanian FYROM Minority Calls for Dismembering Macedonia Along With Serbia

At the same time, Albanian terrorist stationed in FYROM Xhezair Shaqiri, known as Commander Hoxha during the Albanian armed insurrection in Macedonia in 2001, announced his village Tanusevci “wants to break off from Macedonia to accede to Kosovo, for which goal the inhabitants of the village will set up a referendum.”

Warning that Macedonian police “was not welcomed in Tanusevci as the village was controlled by the inhabitants themselves” (speaking of lawlessness!), Shaqiri told press ethnic Albanians in Macedonian village are linked with Albanians in the Kosovo province and “have many family ties.”

Serbian Gendarmerie: Welcome!

Serbian press reports that both Montenegro police and Serbian anti-terrorist units have stepped up patrols around Kosovo province. Some Belgrade media outlets wrote on Thursday that Serbian special police patrolling the southern province’s administrative boundary has received the order to gun down anyone carrying arms who would try to cross over into central Serbia from Kosovo-Metohija, but those reports were today denied.

Nevertheless, Serbian specials have reportedly spotted a group of armed men near the administrative border, on the KFOR/NATO side of the divide, and are ready to throw them a proper welcoming party.

Posted by Svetlana at 06:33 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Filtering the ICG Rubbish Out

The proposal of the International Crisis Group (ICG) that the European Union should “take advantage” of the period of new negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija to set up a so-called coalition of willing states that would, at the end of the year, be ready to recognize a unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo is contrary to the intentions and stands of the EU, a European official said in a statement for Tanjug in Brussels on Friday.

The source said the EU sincerely wanted a solution and would do everything for the negotiations to succeed, and not to condemn them to failure from the very beginning, as the ICG advocates.

ICG Biased and Always Wrong

The Group stands are being studied, but “this lobbyist organization is prone to arbitrary interpretations and wrong evaluations, such as the negative predictions about the possibility of the forming of the new Serbian government just days before it was agreed in May,” the source said.

The scenario in which certain EU countries could agree to recognize the independence of Kosovo exists, but there are too many negative consequences, including, among other things, the consequences for the unity of the EU, something that is of key importance, the diplomat said.

This week’s visits to the region by Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amada and EU representative in the mediating troika Wolfgang Ischinger are, according to the EU official, “proof that the EU is stepping up the search for an acceptable solution, and not one that could generate a new crisis.”

Men With No Conscience: Scary Collection of Violent Globalists and International Sadists

The Albanian lobbying ICG headquartered in Brussels and Washington is led by a team of notorious warmongers and Serbophobes such as George Soros, Morton Abramowitz, Zbigniew Brzezinski (whose protégé and business partner is the current American ambassador in the UN, Afghani-born Zalmay Khalilzad), former NATO commander Wesley Clark, former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and former foreign minister of Norway Thorvald Stoltenberg. Their “chairman emeritus” is Martti Ahtisaari.

To make it even scarier, among a number of various governments’ foreign and defense ministers, senators, bankers and even former prime ministers and their advisers listed as the International Crisis Group’s “senior advisers,” Mohamed Sahnoun — present Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, is also listed as the ICG man.

Posted by Svetlana at 10:09 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Cryptic Invitation: Time and Place Alone

The invitation sent to Belgrade and Pristina states that the new phase of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija will begin in Vienna on Aug 30, confirming the expected date and place but giving no details about the timetable, the agenda or the expected level of the delegations taking part in this stage of negotiations.

Sources close to the Foreign Ministry in Belgrade could not tell from which address the invitation had been sent, which, as assessed by Serbian officials, creates further confusion ahead of the first meeting in the new phase of the negotiating process.

The missing elements — the expected political level of the delegations and the timetable for the meeting, were key to determining who will represent Serbia at the Vienna negotiations, Belgrade sources close to the authorities told Tanjug.

Kosovo Albanian separatist representative Fatmir Sejdiu in Pristina announced on Wednesday evening that the invitation had arrived, and the Serbian Foreign Ministry received the invitation today.

The brief, enigmatic piece of paper fails to state the issues that will be on the timetable of the renewed negotiations planned to last 120 days according to Western announcements, or what is the expected level of the two delegations.

According to Tanjug, the dilemma regarding the agenda and delegation composition may be resolved by the German diplomat and European Union representative in the negotiations Wolfgang Ischinger, who will discuss the modalities of the negotiations with Albanian separatists in Pristina today and tomorrow.

Serbian representatives have sent to the negotiating ‘troika’ detailed proposal for the rules of upcoming negotiations and both the comprehensive and summarized versions of official Serbian platform for resolving the status of the southern province on August 10.

Posted by Svetlana at 08:40 AM | Permalink

Church, Graveyard in Serbian Kosovo Village Burned to Ashes

In the fires which broke out in the Serbian returnees’ village of Novake, municipality of Prizren in Kosovo-Metohija province, a total of 16 acres of Serbian-owned forests and meadows, as well as the local Serbian church and graveyard have burnt to ashes, villager Branko Gligorijevic confirmed for Tanjug on Wednesday.

According to him, flames were first seen late on Monday coming from the direction of the village of Musutiste, inhabited by Muslims and ethnic Albanians, and the fire has destroyed the entire 16 acres of forest which belongs to the local Serbs.

“The fire was so strong that it burned the graveyard and church and almost caught the village itself. In order to prevent it from spreading further, we organized ourselves and dug the trenches around the village with tractors to save our houses,” Gligorijevic said.

KFOR Comes to Rescue

He said that it took the fire brigades way too long to arrive to the scene, but that KFOR had sent three helicopters which helped extinguish the fire and without whose assistance the village would have burnt down completely.

The same Serbian village was engulfed in yet another fire on Tuesday evening, that came from the direction of Albanian villages where the fire was started for the second time.

The fire brigades were late once again, but KFOR was there and promised it would keep an eye on the village.

“It is clear to both ourselves and KFOR that it is the human factor that is in question here, and the Kosovo Albanian police is entirely aware of it, but does nothing. These are acts clearly aimed at spreading fear among the returnees and a message that we are not welcomed here, but we are here and we are resolved to stay in our village,” Gligorijevic said.

Serbian Novake village has 65 houses, but after the Albanian pogrom in March 2004, only 25 households have remained.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:40 AM | Permalink

Barn Torched on Serbian Farm in Kosovo Province

A barn on the farm of the Jovanovic family, in Drajcici village in Sredacka Zupa, Kosovo and Metohija province, with a population of only 34 Serbian residents remaining, has been torched, the retired village teacher Tomislav Tomic confirmed for Tanjug on Wednesday.

Fire was set to the barn, which is part of the Jovanovic homestead, at around 9 p.m. Tuesday, and it burned to the ground.

The firemen arrived with a delay and without the necessary equipment, Tomic said. The Jovanovic homestead comprises three houses, but none of the three Jovanovic brothers live there, he specified. They have fled to central Serbia, and they occasionally come to visit, Tomic said.

“The torching of the Jovanovic family barn is evident pressure on those of us who have remained in the village and a message that we are not wanted, which causes apprehension among Serbs,” Tomic said.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:19 AM | Permalink

New Racist Slogans Alarm Serbs Remaining in Isolated Kosovo Ghettos

Racist slogans that appeared in downtown Gnjilane Sunday have disturbed some 70 Serbs remaining in that Kosovo-Metohija town.

On the wall in front of the Serbian elementary school Vuk Karadzic the Albanian-language graffiti read “Death to All Serbs,” while in front of the gate of St. Nicholas Church an English slogan “I am proud to be Albanian” appeared next to the painted-over cross on the gate.

Albanian police spokesman Ismet Hashani told Tanjug that police “has started investigation” into the incident and that “some of the people who live nearby have been interviewed.”

A church keeper Vlastimir Djordjevic told Tanjug that there was also an acronym for some Albanian “army”/terrorist group written along the slogans.

“I’m not afraid, but I know this has disturbed the Serbs remaining in Kosovo Pomoravlje region,” said Djordjevic, stressing that this is especially upsetting for some 70 Serbs remaining in the town of Gnjilane and reminding that there were more than 15,000 Serbs living in this town before NATO/KLA occupied the province in the summer of 1999.

According to Tanjug, Serbs living among Gnjilane Albanians are alarmed to have such slogans written on the walls and gates of the only remaining place in the region where they could still gather.

Posted by Svetlana at 06:47 AM | Permalink

Lawless, Crime-Ridden, Mafia-Run Sinkhole With War Criminal as its Prime Minister

Reuters reports today that the United Nations wants an independent inquiry into Kosovo-Metohija’s supposedly “top-security” Dubrava prison after seven inmates, including convicted murderers and terrorists, escaped with the help of their guards.

According to Reuters, five prison guards have been charged with aiding Saturday’s break-out, and four other people have been arrested on suspicion of providing covering fire for the escape outside the prison walls with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

The U.N. mission in charge of security in the southern Serbian province since the 1999 NATO aggression on FR Yugoslavia said on Wednesday it wanted to hold “an independent evaluation of conditions at the [ethnic-Albanian run] Dubrava prison.” The probe would try to “ascertain all the facts and ensure there are safeguards in the future to avoid anything else like this happening again,” said spokesman Alexander Ivanko.

Saudi-Born Islamic Terrorist and Albanian ‘Commander Nazi’ Among the Escapees

London Times wrote yesterday that among the escapees were Ramadan Shiti, a Saudi-born Islamic terrorist expelled from his native country for plotting an attack on senior public figures, and Lirim Jakupi, a leader of the terrorist Albanian National Army - a KLA-splinter terrorist group with a goal of establishing Greater Albania by severing parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and FYR Macedonia and adjoining them to Albania. Nicknamed Commander Nazi, Jakupi was being held over the murder of Serbian policemen and other terrorist acts.

Shiti had been arrested in 2005 by US, Polish and Ukrainian forces acting for the UN on an international arrest warrant after an armed break-out earlier that year from a jail in Skopje, the Macedonian capital, where he was held over the murder of a taxi driver. He has also been linked with a bomb attack on a police station in Skopje (FYR Macedonia) in 2005.

Jakupi has been named on an EU blacklist of terrorists making him subject to a travel ban.

Also in the freed group was Xhavid Morina, known as Commander Drenica, another senior figure in the terrorist ANA and charged with the murder of two police officers.

Impotent UNMIK, Paralyzed NATO Let Serbian Province Turn Into Islamic Terrorist Safe Haven

Although the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), with around 1,300 police officers stationed in the Serbian province claims it has no direct role at the prison, the escape is considered another embarrassment for the mission and the 16,000-strong NATO-led peace force.

One of those who broke out was armed with a pistol, while another was making his seventh escape from prison.

A Kosovo Albanian police spokesman acknowledged the convicts might already have slipped across the province’s porous borders into neighboring FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro or Albania. A NATO spokesman said Alliance forces “could help with the manhunt if necessary.”

Posted by Svetlana at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

Negotiations or a Tea Party?

Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic said today that eight days ahead of the announced beginning of talks in Vienna about the status of Serbian province, Serbian side has not received any material, including the official invitation to talks, or the meeting schedule.

“This is rather strange, since the beginning of talks is quickly approaching and the Serbian side has given to ‘troika’ back on August 10 orderly proposal of the negotiating rules and official Serbian platform in both extended and summarized versions,” stressed Samardzic in a statement to Tanjug.

(Still) Waiting for the Response

Minister explained that the Serbian side has not formed its negotiating team yet, because the subject, format and the way negotiations will be held are still entirely unknown. “We shall leave few more days to see if we’ll receive a response to our proposals, so we can form our delegation and go to Vienna,” said Samardzic.

He underlined that the least Belgrade expects is to receive the written invitation and the schedule for the meeting, even though it was announced there will be no direct talks on August 30, but talks held in two rooms.

“Still, we have to know the subject, framework and the agenda for the meeting,” stressed the minister, adding that “it is difficult to expect the talks to be run well in few months time if we don’t have any clear principles and negotiating rules set out.”

Burns Alone Knows the Outcome of Negotiations That Haven’t Even Begun

Kosovo-Metohija Minister pointed out that even before the start of the official negotiations there are speculations in the international public circles and press about their outcome — something that, according to Samardzic, undermines the negotiating process.

“For example,” said Samardzic, “we still don’t know anything concrete about the upcoming negotiations, but Mr. Burns, the US Undersecretary alone, knows for sure that Kosovo will be independent and that NATO state will be created on Serbia’s soil after all.”

Image from ArtOfMarkBryan.com

Posted by Svetlana at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Status of the Serbian Province Can Only be Changed by the UN Security Council

Director of the Swiss Institute of Federalism and legal advisor of the Serbian State team for talks on the status of Kosovo-Metohija Thomas Fleiner said that Serbian province’s status cannot be changed without the UN Security Council resolution.

In an interview for today’s edition of the Vecernje novosti daily, Fleiner stressed that every other move would directly undermine the credibility of the UN, endanger its missions throughout the world and make the situation in Kosovo-Metohija province utterly unstable and unpredictable.

Speaking about the announcement that the US might still unilaterally acknowledge the province’s independence, Fleiner said that in the UN Security Council resolutions the following words are repeated three times: “We are devoted to the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia) over Kosovo.”

UNMIK and NATO in Kosovo Province Obliged to be Loyal to the UN, Not U.S.

According to Fleiner, if the US, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, should decide to unilaterally recognize an independent Kosovo, that would be an obvious breach of a number of UN acts of the highest instance.

When asked how such illegal situation might be enforced in Kosovo-Metohija, Fleiner explained that the entire UN administration in the province and the KFOR/NATO presence there are instituted by and based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Therefore, they are obliged to be loyal to the UN and fight any decisions which are not in accordance with Security Council resolutions. Otherwise, both UNMIK and KFOR/NATO would suddenly find themselves operating outside the UN mandate and without the approval of one or two permanent Security Council members, replied Fleiner.

He added that the EU may take over the mission from the UN “only if the UN Security Council makes such a decision, but it cannot be brought unless all permanent Security Council members, including Russia, are of the same mind.”

Acting Outside the UN Would Have Catastrophic Consequences

Consequences would be catastrophic if the US or some other country decides to bring down the United Nations and the international legal system using the case of Kosovo-Metohija, said Fleiner.

It would mean that all Security Council decisions and resolutions have lost their validity and credibility. Furthermore, international administrations in Kosovo-Metohija, Bosnia, even Iraq perhaps, would always be in danger since any Security Council member may decide not to acknowledge them any longer, explained Fleiner.

Predetermined Outcome Means Negotiations are Pointless

If compromise is not attained in the course of upcoming talks between Belgrade and Pristina, there can never be true talks, reiterated Fleiner.

There may be talks but only if they are open and if both sides accept that openness. There is no point in beginning any talks if the outcome is known in advance and the only goal is to bring one side around to simply accept what has already been prepared by the Western powers, concluded Fleiner.

Posted by Svetlana at 05:53 AM | Permalink

Young Serbian Couple Assaulted and Robbed in Gracanica

Tanjug reports that unknown assailants have kidnapped and beaten up Srecko Djurovic and his girlfriend Irena Keselj around 10pm on Monday in Gracanica, Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province.

A group of armed thugs driving an Opel Vectra has cut off young Serbian couple, pulled them out of their car and took their car keys, jewelry and cellphones. They beat Srecko over the head with pistol butts until he lost consciousness, shoved him into the trunk and then raped his girlfriend at the backseat. Afterwards, they dumped them near the bar Oda in the suburbs of Pristina.

“From there, we managed to reach Serbian Simonida hospital in Gracanica, where we were given the medical help,” said Djurovic. Director of the Clinical Center Simonida Stojan Sekulic informed the police about the assault, confirming for the press that two severely traumatized young Serbs came to seek medical help around 2 am and were hospitalized.

Thanks to the Efficient UNMIK Police...

This is second such assault in Gracanica in five months. Previously, another young Serbian couple was kidnapped and assaulted in the exact same way, but since neither the UNMIK nor Albanian police, or any of those 16,000 NATO tourists stationed in Kosovo-Metohija seems to be interested or capable of finding and arresting the criminals, Gracanica Serbs should probably brace up for more of the similar swinishness.

Or stay locked in and walled off until Serbian police takes over and does the job properly.

Posted by Svetlana at 06:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Russia: No Independence for Kosovo-Metohija

Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Duma, has ruled out the possibility of setting up an independent state in Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija.

“I believe even less in the possibility of setting up a NATO state in the territory of Kosovo-Metohija,” Kosachev, who is also Chairman of the Russian Parliamentary Delegation to the Council of Europe, said in an exclusive interview for the Tuesday issue of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

Commenting the recent statements of a number of Serbian ministers that the United States, for one, should give up the creation of a NATO state on the territory of the southern Serbian province, Kosachev said that Russia would not allow that, since such a project is in direct contravention of the score of international laws.

Kosachev, credited by the Novosti as one of the main creators of Russia’s policy towards Serbian province, said that official Moscow expected direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina—the most efficient form of negotiations—would take place at the end of negotiation process.

Pristina Must Understand Status of the Serbian Province Has Not Been Determined

“However, in order for direct talks to take place certain conditions need to be fulfilled, and the main condition is the absence of all previous conditions, or to be even more precise — Pristina has to finally realize and accept the fact that Kosovo-Metohija’s status has not been determined,” Kosachev underlined.

The high Russian official also strongly opposes the possibility of setting any deadlines whatsoever within this negotiating process.

“We have been trying to resolve the Palestinian issue for a several dozen of years now, and no one views as a tragedy the fact that a solution has not been found for Palestine by some specific date,” he reminded, pointing to the fact that the problem of northern Cyprus had also been present for years.

“In the case of Serbian province, negotiations also have to last as long as the two sides do not reach compromise solutions,” Kosachev said.

“Therefore, Russia’s stand is clear — no deadlines,” he underscored.

Russia’s Principled and Strategic Support Will Not Waver

Kosachev rejected the dilemmas as to whether official Moscow will remain firm in its present position, following certain speculations that Russia was pursuing such policy towards Serbian province only to trade with the West.

“This is a principled strategic support Russia will not give up,” Kosachev stressed.

The Russian official also assessed that the relations between Belgrade and Moscow were at the highest level ever since World War Two.

“All what has been happening over the last decade proves that our friendship is strong,” he said.

“We back Serbia, its authority and people, and from them we feel support for the Russian leadership and nation,” Kosachev said, adding that Serbia-Russia relations are not concentrated solely on the issue of Kosovo-Metohija province, but are rather a lot wider.

Posted by Svetlana at 05:37 AM | Permalink

Austria to Show Restraint on Kosovo

Tanjug reports that Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPO) whip Josef Cap has criticized the policy of state’s Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik on Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province and said that setting a deadline for completing the negotiations on the future status of Serbia’s southern province is counterproductive.

Austrian ruling SPO is convinced that a decision on Kosovo province status must be taken by the UN Security Council and that Russia and Serbia must be involved in the process of seeking a solution, Cap told the Vienna Standard.

According to the politicians of the ruling Austrian party, Austria should show restraint regarding the Serbian province, especially given its history in the Balkans.

Posted by Svetlana at 05:29 AM | Permalink

Serbian Security Forces Could Return to Kosovo Province Today

State Secretary for Kosovo-Metohija Dusan Prorokovic said Sunday that Serbian forces could immediately return to Kosovo province to secure Christian religious sites and clear minefields, adding that the request to allow the return of Serbian security personnel to parts of southern province is fully in line with the UN Resolution 1244.

According to him, if KFOR/NATO is unable to fulfill its mandate — protect non-Albanian residents in the province and stop the ethnic cleansing and violence, as statements by the KFOR commander Roland Kather suggest, Serbia’s own security forces should be entrusted with the task.

Partition Idea Planted by Desperate Separatists

Minister Prorokovic stressed that the talk about the possibility of partitioning Serbian province is an attempt to plant an idea that was not Belgrade’s and added that it “represents an exit strategy for some of Kosovo Albanian separatist-representatives who realized their insistence on severing Kosovo province from Serbia produced no results.”

Serbian representatives, on the other hand, are against partition, since it “introduces an option which disrupts international legal order and involves alteration of a sovereign state’s borders.”

“Both partition of the province and any sort of independence would additionally weaken the region and push the Balkans into long-term instability, which would suit no one,” said Prorokovic.

Posted by Svetlana at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Negotiating for Peace in Kosovo

By Congressman Dan Burton, Washington Times

In coming weeks, an international confrontation is likely to occur among the United States, the European Union, and Russia over an issue most Americans have long since forgotten: Kosovo, where a few hundred Americans remain deployed as part of a NATO force protecting a shaky interim peace that ended the 1999 U.S.-led intervention.

For most Americans this obscure Serbian province, with its mainly Albanian Muslim population and its hundreds of Serbian Christian churches and monasteries, may be a little-remembered footnote to the breakup of Yugoslavia. However, now is the time for clear thinking about next steps if Kosovo is to avoid revisiting its history as a hotbed of regional instability and violence.

Hotbed of Ethnic Violence, Crime and Segregation

The international mission in Kosovo for the last eight years has not met its original goals regarding establishment of an open, multiethnic and multireligious society. True, there has been no return to large-scale fighting. But remaining Christian Serbs are confined to NATO-protected enclaves for fear of endemic Muslim Albanian violence. A quarter of a million expellees — some two-thirds of the Serbs, Roma, Croats, and all the Jews — still cannot return safely to their homes. More than 150 Christian holy sites have been burned, blown up or desecrated. Organized crime is rampant, with allegations of corruption reaching into the upper levels of the U.N.-supervised local administration and unemployment outside these criminal elements remains more than 50 percent.

Even Albanian officials have expressed concern at the growth of radical Wahhabist influence, and the reality of a dangerously segregated society, as hundreds of Saudi-financed mosques have sprung up to replace the destroyed churches.

Kosovo is Part of Serbia

Although the situation on the ground in Kosovo has been a case study in U.N. mismanagement, there is no question of Kosovo’s legal status as part of Serbia. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, which ended the 1999 war, reaffirmed Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty while calling for substantial autonomy and self-government for Kosovo within Serbia.

But against this clear standard for Kosovo’s future, the U.S. State Department has insisted the only possible solution for Kosovo is not autonomy, but independence — even though Serbia refuses to give up 15 percent of its territory. Even worse, during his recent trip to Albania, President Bush suggested that if a Russian veto blocks any new Security Council Resolution to separate Kosovo from Serbia, the U.S. might take the lead in recognizing a unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence with no legitimate claim of authority at all. Within Europe itself there are growing misgivings and decisions about this course.

State Department’s Worst Ideas

This is a terrible idea. To start with, our policy is in contravention of international laws and will create a dangerous precedent. Also, there is no reason to suppose an independent Kosovo would be a viable state, either economically or politically. Terrorist and organized crime influences, already rampant in Kosovo, would be granted a consolidated haven for their operations. Independence would likely be followed by renewed anti-Serb attacks, at least against the smaller enclaves, if not against Northern Mitrovica, where most of the remaining Serbs enjoy relative security. Unrest in neighboring Albanian-dominated areas of southern Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, even Greece, could be reignited.

Perhaps most damaging, an imposed separation of Kosovo from Serbia would send a message to other trouble-spots, not just in the Balkans, that state borders are up for grabs.

Posted by Svetlana at 09:30 AM | Permalink

Beauty of the Taboric Light

“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John, his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them:
and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as light.” (Matt. 17:1-2)

Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of Transfiguration, the fulfillment of all theophanies and manifestations of God, reaffirming our true heritage with the cleansing Taboric Light and revealing our ultimate destiny as Christians — the ultimate destiny of all men and all creation to be transformed and glorified by the majestic splendor of God Himself.

That Girl Looks Familiar...

The world’s second-placed female tennis player Jelena Jankovic, another non-Croat, non-Russian, non-Czech, Polish or Slovakian, is meeting world’s number one, Belgian (or is it Swiss?) Justine Henin in the finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Last Sunday, Jelena’s countryman Novak Djokovic triumphed at the same tournament for men held in Montreal, after defeating world’s number 3, 2 and 1 (a Turk, Iranian and Egyptian, respectively) in three successive matches, booking his place in tennis history as the first player who defeated top three players at the same event after Boris Becker in 1994.

Bloody Experiments

Author, political analyst and historian Srdja Trifkovic offers a comprehensive review of Pakistan — ‘A Land of the Pure’ — sixty years after the bloody partition of India, aimed at appeasing the Muslims by creation of an artificial pure-Muslim state.

A 31-gun salute boomed at daybreak in Islamabad last Tuesday to mark Pakistan’s 60th anniversary of independence from British rule—or, to be precise, its birth as a Muslim state that resulted from the bloody partition of India in 1947. That event was accompanied by the largest mass migration in history, as over ten million people crossed the new borders fleeing for their lives; up to a million never made it [...]

U.S./NATO to Give Up Their (Latest) Experiment

Serbian Minister Aleksandar Popovic told Tanjug that “a compromise solution for the status of Kosovo-Metohija would be possible if the US were to abandon the plan proposed by Ahtisaari and the idea of creating a first NATO state in the province,” adding that there is no state in the world, especially among the important countries which are NATO members, where military forces are not under strict civilian control.

“Only Ahtisaari plan envisages unlimited NATO authority without any civilian control in an allegedly independent Kosovo,” Popovic said.

...And Julia Gorin gives us another timely reminder about recent history, along with the announcement for a long-overdue new book.

The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

By Gregory A. Freeman, NAL Hardcover, 336pp, ISBN 0451222121. Buy this book at Amazon.com

— Book review excerpts from the author’s web site —

One of the last untold stories of World War II is also one of the greatest — a story of adventure, daring, danger and heroics, followed by a web of conspiracy, lies, and coverup.

THE FORGOTTEN 500 is one of the greatest rescue and escape stories ever, but hardly anyone has heard about it. And that’s by design. The U.S., British, and Yugoslav [communist] governments hid details of this story for decades, purposefully denying credit to the heroic rescuers and the foreign ally who gave his life to help allied airmen as they were hunted down by Nazis in the hills of Yugoslavia.

THE FORGOTTEN 500 tells the story of Operation Halyard in 1944, the largest rescue ever of downed American airmen. More than 500 U.S. airmen were rescued, along with some from other countries, all right under the noses of the Germans, and mostly in broad daylight. The mission was a complete success — the kind that should have been trumpeted in news reels and on the front page. (By comparison, the famed escape of allied prisoners from a German POW camp portrayed in the movie “The Great Escape” involved 200 men, and only 76 were successful.)

It is a little known episode that started with one edge-of-your seat rescue in August 1944, followed by a series of additional rescues in the following months. American agents from the OSS, the precursor of the CIA, worked with a Serbian guerrilla, General Draza Mihailovich, to carry out the huge, ultra-secret rescue mission.

THE FORGOTTEN 500 weaves together the tales of a dozen young airmen shot down in the hills of Yugoslavia during bombing runs, and the five secret agents who conducted their amazing rescue. These are the stories of young men who were eager to join the war and fight the Germans, even finding excitement in the often deadly trips from Italy to bomb German oil fields in Romania, but who found themselves parachuting out of crippled planes and into the arms of strange, rough looking villagers in a country they knew nothing about. They soon found out that the local Serbs were willing to sacrifice their own lives to keep the downed airmen out of German hands, but they still wondered if anyone was coming for them or if they would spend the rest of the war hiding from German patrols and barely surviving on goat’s milk and bread made with hay to make it more filling.

[...] THE FORGOTTEN 500 takes the reader along on this suspenseful adventure, while also explaining how the [Serbian] guerrilla fighter who made it all possible was betrayed by his western allies. THE FORGOTTEN 500 is the story of young men struggling to make it back home to their families, and their decades-long quest to acknowledge the secret agents and the foreign soldiers who risked all for them.

Long silenced by the governments of several nations, the full story of Operation Halyard and the young men who risked everything for their fellow soldiers is revealed for the first time in this book.

THE FORGOTTEN 500 is truly the greatest World War II story never told.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Overriding the UN Security Council, U.S./NATO Refuses to Allow Return of Serbian Forces to Kosovo

“Serbian forces will not be allowed to return,” said province’s NATO representative Michael Knopp in rejection of Belgrade request to redeploy a limited number of Serbian military and police members to protect the remaining Serbs and non-Albanians in the province.

Knopp added that NATO forces are “responsible for the security in the Kosovo and there is absolutely no intention to allow the return of the Serbian forces to the province,” according to the Associated Press, as quoted by Tanjug.

It was Kosovo Serbs who have requested that Belgrade should demand the return of up to 1,000 Serbian troops to be deployed in their enclaves after NATO general Roland Kather, who commands the KFOR troops in the southern Serbian province, announced new waves of violence against the helpless non-Albanian population remaining in the province.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1244, as well as the armistice agreement signed by NATO and Serbia in 1999, both provide for redeployment of Serbian forces in the province.

U.S. officials have also instantly rejected Serbian proposal to finally fulfill this provision of mutual agreements, saying that such requests are merely “heating the passions” ahead of negotiations on the status of Serbian province.

“The chances of something like that happening are zilch. The Resolution 1244 stipulates that the KFOR commander should decide about the eventual return of hundreds of Serbian troops to Kosovo. Earlier, two of such requests by Belgrade were rejected,” said a U.S. State Department official to the Tanjug news agency.

After Slobodan Milosevic was replaced at the helm of Serbia in October 2000, Serbian government has twice requested the return of its security forces back to the province, in line with the UN SC Resolution 1244 provisions, but NATO commanders have turned down Belgrade’s requests on both occasions, claiming the “conditions are not quite right yet” for such a development.

In February 2003, the last time such request was issued by the Serbian Government, it was Premier Zoran Djindjic, assassinated only a month later, who proposed to then-NATO commander admiral Gregory Johnson, to allow the return of a limited number of Serbian forces to Kosovo-Metohija province, in order to fill in the gaps created after a number of NATO troops were recalled from Serbian province to be deployed in Iraq.

US/NATO Does Intend to Create its Own Satellite State in Serbia

Just a day before NATO and US State Department openly placed themselves above the United Nations Security Council, canceling out its 8-year-old, never-honored provision for redeployment of regular Serbian forces in the southern province, their officials acted deeply offended by the Serbian charges that U.S./NATO is intent on severing part of Serbia in order to create a satellite state run by the U.S.-led military alliance.

Reuters called it ‘a slur’, quoting American Brigadier General Douglas Earhart who summoned a news conference to say that “NATO has no intention of forming a state in Kosovo since it is here in a peacekeeping mission.”

Serbian Premier’s media advisor Srdjan Djuric responded Saturday by inviting NATO to renounce its support for Ahtisaari plan which advocates amputation of the part of Serbia’s territory where, according to the same plan, NATO would reserve the ultimate power, unchecked and beyond any and every civil authority that would officially govern the new satellite state.

“It is not NATO spokesperson’s word that NATO is not set on creating its own military state in Kosovo-Metohija that is needed, but the rejection of the Ahtisaari plan this alliance supports openly and publicly,” said Djuric.

He added that “we have yet to hear that NATO will respect the inviolability of Serbia’s internationally recognized borders, as well as sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbian state.”

“As long as NATO continues to support Ahtisaari plan and particularly its Annex 11, it is clear that it is indeed trying to create the first NATO state,” concluded Djuric addressing the press.

Posted by Svetlana at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Only the U.S. Can Make Albanians Negotiate

Serbian Prime Minister advisor, Aleksandar Simic, said on Friday that “only the United States can make Kosovo Albanians truly negotiate on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija,” so that a compromise solution, essential for the Balkan and European stability, could be found.

“The identical statements by the leaders of ethnic Albanian separatists from Kosovo after the recent meetings with the negotiating troika unequivocally prove they do not want any talks whatsoever and that they will use the following months, that is the period until December 10, just for wasting time,” Simic assessed in a statement for Tanjug.

He added that “this is still another proof that the United States is the only power that can force Kosovo Albanians to negotiate.”

Creation of a Monstrous State in the Heart of Serbia and Europe Cannot be Allowed

“If the United States gave up setting a NATO state in the Balkans, true negotiations would be possible and one could rightly expect a compromise, which is so very essential for the Balkans, as well as for the overall European stability,” Simic underlined.

He added that this would first imply a full respect of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which guaranteed Serbia’s sovereignty and which obliged the UN and NATO to allow that a certain number of Serbian soldiers and policemen returned to the province.

“Only a full respect of the decisions of most influential UN bodies, such as the Security Council, can guarantee the observance of the UN Charter, of international law, and only this can prevent the setting up of dangerous, monstrous, quasi-states in the very heart of Serbia and the Balkans,” Simic underscored.

Cartoon by Toso Borkovic (Serbia)

Posted by Svetlana at 05:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

NATO Tourists Fear For Their Safety in Kosovo

On Tuesday, NATO (KFOR) commander, German General Roland Kather stationed in Serbian Kosovo province conveyed to the AP news agency his fears that “the further deterioration of the situation” is possible if the Kosovo Albanian separatists and Serbia representatives fail to reach agreement on the future of the province within the next 120 days.

This is not the first time NATO and UNMIK officials have been threatening with escalation of the violence in attempt to exert additional pressure on Serbs and the international community ahead of negotiations to quicken the process and secure the hasty severing of Kosovo province.

Serbian Labor and Social Policy Minister Rasim Ljajic reacted on Wednesday, describing constant warnings that violence could break out in Kosovo and Metohija if agreement on the status of the province is not reached within 120 days as an entirely wrong and counterproductive approach to the problem.

“This is a completely wrong approach and a very bad model for the resolution of a certain political problem, since it implies that only violence and extremism can bring about the realization of certain political goals,” Ljajic set out.

He stated that the 120-day period should not be a set timetable, because the problem of Kosovo-Metohija province is too complex to be prearranged in such a manner.

“This does not mean that Belgrade would obstruct the talks and that they should last forever. However, it is necessary to strive towards a sincere political compromise that will not be possible if violence and the threat of violence are used to reach a certain political outcome,” Ljajic stated.

NATO’s Duty to Ensure Peace and Security for All Kosovo-Metohija Residents

State Secretary for Kosovo-Metohija Dusan Prorokovic on Wednesday also commented on the statement of NATO general, reminding that NATO troops stationed in southern Serbian province are not exactly tourists, and it is their duty to ensure peace and security for everyone in the province, as well as the normal functioning of the system.

If KFOR has any knowledge about the planned violence against the Serbs in their enclaves, then it must act to prevent it, or at least share the information with UNMIK police so that it can investigate and take the necessary preemptive measures, stressed Prorokovic.

Kosovo Serbs: Bring Serbian Army and Police Back

Since NATO commander in Kosovo-Metohija started sounding the alarm yet again, making the remaining non-Serbs apprehensive and suspicious of NATO’s will to protect them from new waves of violence, today Serbian National Council requested that Serbian government demands the return of Serbian army and police to Kosovo-Metohija from the UN Security Council.

Serbian National Council President Milan Ivanovic said in a statement to Tanjug that the initiative, which was sent to the Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija, is the right way for ensuring protection for Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians, since the serious announcements have been made that violence will break out in the province.

“Being that the KFOR (NATO) commander has personally stated the violence may explode once again, the only guarantee of proper protection Serbs can count on is the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Serbian army and police,” Ivanovc told Tanjug.

Of course, we demand that Serbian security forces be deployed in those areas of Kosovo-Metohija which are inhabited by Serbs, so that this can in no way irritate the ethnic Albanians, he specified.

Serbian Forces Will Assist NATO in Protecting Non-Albanians

President of the Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija Marko Jaksic has said that the return of Serbian security forces to the province would be aimed at assisting KFOR/NATO to ensure a safe environment for the Serbs and other non-Albanians remaining in the province.

The UN SC Resolution 1244, signed by all the relevant parties in 1999 has confirmed that “after the withdrawal [of Yugoslav Army from Kosovo province] an agreed number of Yugoslav and Serb military and police personnel will be permitted to return to Kosovo.”

This is one of many provisions of the United Nations Kosovo Resolution that has not been honored by the NATO and so-called international community to date.

Cartoon by Nikola Otas (Serbia)

Posted by Svetlana at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)