Byzantine Blog

Hello,

I am from westerneurope. i came across your site, and i must admit, this is a complicated issue where i dont want to judge anyone.

but i would like to know, why kosovo is so important for serbia. i know, that the kosovo is seen as a cultural heritage for the serbs, and that they claim it since an important battle.

but when i look today at kosovo, i see a place where around 80-90% are muslim albianias. what does serbia want with them? and if you look through the economic lense, you must come to the conclussion, that kosovo will just coast a lot for serbia, and will provide no gain?

plus, serbia has allways had conflicts with the muslim neighboours (understandable). so why would serbia want to have a huge muslim population?

Hello Roy.

Instead of asking Serbs what they want to do with these or those Muslims (many of whom chose to live in Belgrade, btw), why don't you ask your own compatriots, of whichever nationality they may be, if they would be willing to give away part of their land just because huge numbers of illegal immigrants moved in and killed or forced the indigenous population to flee?

Would the Germans gift away Bavaria if Polish immigrants were to flood it illegally, take up arms and start rooting out the Germans from the region, thus turning the Poles into "majority Bavarian population"?

Ask anyone - Frenchmen, Britons, Americans, Italians... ask Albanians if they would let part of Albania be cut off in the same situation, and you'll understand that Serbs are no different in that regard than any other nation.

So, why would anyone be so brazen to demand from the Serbs to accept something they know nobody else would? That is the question.

Kosovo always was and is Serbia, and so it will remain. Whoever does not want to live in Serbia and with Serbs, among others, is free to leave, instead of forcing the Serbs to flee their own country and stealing their land.

I don't want to judge you, but you should think before asking something as silly as that.

Well said, Svetlana. You put it so nicely and concisely -- in a nutshell!

Dear
Svetlana, I didn't put any comments lately, but I always read your
Blog. The Great Game is unraveling on daily basis, alliances are
formed. Greece (Nato Member State) is buying weapons from Russia and
signing enormously profitable agreements for transfer of Caspian oil
and gas (already firmly under Russian control).And finally today we
hear that Serbia will use force in Kosovo, God Willing. Our Serbian
government is mutating. After unseating Milosevic by electronic fraud
concocted and directed from US State Department, they were more than happy to lick their master's hand, until recently. Milosevic was many
things to different people but he was lied to and lulled into a
trap by his own. So the Socialists discredited them selfs for the foreseeable
future. Then came the master Dealer Zoki and overplayed his cards. Nice
he got 30 million backs (according to US media) and he delivered
Milosevic. Milosevic was not Christ, but was equaly sold for 30
pieces. And Zoki, as Judas he was expandable and soon removed, probably by
those same guys who payed him. He played with fire and lost. Americans
never respected an agreement with anybody, educated as he was he should
have known that. Now finally we see the light at the end of the tunnel,
but it is coming from the East.The Pogrom of 2004 and burning of
Serbian Medieval Treasures didn't move our leaders. Our Army stood still, which
will be shame forever. Now they feel cocky with Russian paw on the
shoulder, but they still want to join EU and as one Russian annalist put
it, "stub the Russia again as in 1948".
Hoping for the best, God Bless, Milan.

Svetlana I have to say I strongly disagree with you. I think Roy's question was certainly NOT "silly". The thing is we (as Serbs) can NOT assume that all the people of the world have the same knowledge of events and the Balkans as we do. People here in the west have a very very different picture of us and what's going on in Kosovo than we do. This is due to their media. Here in the States, most of the Americans who think that they know anything about Kosovo actually believe that the Serbs invaded Kosovo and now don't want to give it back!!!! Others think that, "Well if the Serbs killed all those Albanians in the concentration camps they should realize that genocide is wrong and if they don't give back Kosovo we (meaning the US) should bomb the living c**p out of them". At best, our actions seem entirely irrational to them ("Those craaazy Serbs..." is a saying often heard here). At worst they think we're just Russia's stooges, following our MASTERS in their newest plans for the "EVIL Russian bear" to conquer the world again.

The reason for this is simple. They DON'T have the same knowledge of what happened and what is happening now that we do. That's why it is our job to do our best to explain our position to all the westerners in a calm and rational manner. Roy was very very smart to point out that to him our actions seem irrational. And he was even smarter to actually come onto a serbian site and ASK us for a proper explanation. Because he was betting that he probably doesn't have all the information and that the Serbs probably aren't as irrational as it would seem to him from all the news, etc. that he'd been reading in the west. I applaud him for having the wisdom to come here and ask, and his question should NOT be dismissed as silly.

As for you Roy, I really really want to give you a proper response to your question. As your question is a good and valid one. But the problem is I just don't have the time right (too busy with work) now to write up a proper response. I am actually working on a proper paper (hopefully to be published as an opinion piece on antiwar.com), but it's nowhere near complete yet. So I'll just give you a couple of very brief points right now in the hopes that it might get you started. In truth you can get all the information you need to find out the truth about Kosovo from online research.

* You acknowledged that this is a complicated issue. You are TOTALLY correct. What makes it even more complicated is that there are people on both sides who try, for their own political gains, to shape people's perceptions of history and what really happened. Especially in the West, you've been getting the anti-Serb story for nearly 15 years now. Everywhere from Slovenia, to Croatia, to Bosnia, and now to Kosovo. Initially it started off as a simple geopolitical game where the west wanted to dismantle Yugoslavia after the fall of the Soviet Union to support the expansion of NATO into Russia's backyard. Yugoslavia was a strong and independent country which could have stood up to the west and protected much of eastern Europe from western influence. So to support the break-up it really made sense for the US and Germany, and some other countries to demonize the Serbs right from the start since the Serbs were always traditionally closer to Russia than anyone else (we are still Russia's best friends in the world). A lot of people, politicians and journalists, in the west made their careers out of making themselves out to be heroic westerners trying to stop the EVIL Serbs from cleansing the Balkans of all non-Serbs through genocide. This continues even today, perhaps more than ever. Just for the most obvious example, in the US Hillary Clinton is running for election. And she is CONSTANTLY bringing up Kosovo, portraying herself and Bill as heroic defenders of freedom who supposedly saved the world from a 2nd Hitler (Milosevic). They have a particular (false) view of history which they portray to their own people with a great deal of energy in order to protect themselves. Hillary even boasts about having convinced Bill to bomb the Serbs in her memoirs. If the American people knew that in reality they assisted (directly, with aircraft missions and weapons, and training) with the ethnic cleansing of several hundred thousand Serbs from Croatia, a country which is now ethnically pure, and where the highest selling book last year was Mein Kampf, and where today many Croat youngsters go to concerts wearing Nazi uniforms and raise their hands in Nazi salutes then they wouldn't support Clinton at all. Similarly, if the American people knew that American diplomats literally started the war in Bosnia by telling the Muslims (Izetbegovic) not to sign the initial peace treaty which would've resolved the issues peacefully before any fighting had even started they wouldn't vote for Clinton (by the way I'm here referring to what Warren Zimmerman proudly admitted to doing in his memoirs (you can google it)). If the American people knew that in all these years there was absolutely NO PROOF WHATSOEVER of any genocide in Kosovo on the part of the Serbs, and that instead it was the Albanians who ethnically cleansed the Roma, Bulgarians, Serbs,Macedonians, and even catholic albanians from Kosovo then they wouldn't support what Clinton did. Americans never rarely ask why it is that Kosovo is today 90% Albanian. They never ask, too often they just assume that the bloodthirsty Serbs just invaded Kosovo at some point. So it's really a question of information. Most western "intelligence" about the Balkans comes straight from a group called the International Crisis Group. You'll see them often quoted in the news by Reuters and AP, and CNN. But if you just go to their website, and look up the list of their advisors and contributors, or where their funding actually comes from, you'll see they're all people with a very strong political and financial interest in demonizing the Serbs.

Because I don't have the time to give a proper response to you Roy, I'll have to just get you started. The critical starting point here is to understand that Serbia, even after all these wars is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Europe. Switzerland and Russia are probably the only ones more diverse. Serbs actually comprise only about 2/3 of the population in Serbia!! And 99% of those people live in peace and harmony, and have lived there for centuries. This includes Croats, Hungarians, Muslims, Albanians, Turks, Jews, Russians, Bulgarians, Cubans, South Africans, and many more from all the world. The truth is precisely the opposite of what the western media portrays. On the other hand, all the countries which the west supposedly defended from Serbian aggression are now completely ethnically pure (including Kosovo), and all those people (including over 100,000 Albanians just in Belgrade) still live in peace in Serbia. That should tell you that the CNN version of events is not quite the truth.

I'm sorry I couldn't answer your question on Kosovo directly, but I have to get back to my own work. I thought I'd just get you started and you can research further on your own. A couple of good sites where you might start are serbianna.com and antiwar.com. Though even these sites are not without their prejudices. And please forgive the rather emotional responses of some serbs. 15 years of being treated as the butchers of the Balkans, while at the same time being butchered ourselves takes its toll on a nation and its people. Oh and also look up balkanalysis.com, that's probably the fairest and most historically accurate site. Or just simply ask people, like in this forum, and you'll find out that much of what you've been told about the Balkans by CNN, AP, Reuters, or GW,etc. is simply not true.

Oh and if you TRULY want to see what the Serbian people are like.. Look up Guca (sometimes spelled Gucha) Festival, or the EXIT Festival in Novi Sad. You can youtube them, or google them, there are many many good reviews. Especially check out the accounts of the foreigners who come. These are the two largest music festivals in the world, and they happen every summer. There you will see the TRUE Serbian spirit. And you should come yourself, regardless of your age I guarantee you will have the time of your life!!!!

ooh, especially Roy, check out Nebojsa Malic's article today on antiwar.com. And make sure to check out the links.. I think you'll have the answer to your questions there.

Thank you, dear Anna and Milan - may God bless you too!

Marko, I believe if "Roy" wanted to read a book or an essay on the issue, he could've spent few good hours on this very site and find detailed information about every single aspect of the problem, from Western mainstream media analysis and overviews of Serbian history, old and new, right down to Guca Festival. Instead, it was my impression that he or she only wanted a quick (and short) response to "why do you want to keep Kosovo with so many Albanian Muslims in it". But thank you for taking it upon yourself to attempt to summarize, right here, two years of my work for "Roy".

"Why do you want to keep Kosovo with so many Albanian Muslims in it" is as silly as asking why would some country wish to continue to incorporate this or that region or town within state borders when so many Mexicans, Roma, or Blacks live in it. It is worse than silly, but I didn't want to offend "Roy". You may disagree all you want and as strongly as ever, but I would really appreciate if you can make an effort to refrain from apologizing to anyone in my name, especially on my blog.

I'm glad you are aware of Nebojsa Malic's exceptional work. Unfortunately, beside Nebojsa Malic, there is only a handful of Serbs and even fewer non-Serbs who have established an important internet media presence by volunteering a lot of their own time and investing years of hard work in collecting information and clarifying all the issues you mentioned, and much more - Srdja Trifkovic, Carl Savich, Mickey Bozinovic, Melana Pejakovich, Jim Jatras and Julia Gorin are among them. I'm sure your paper will greatly contribute to our collective efforts (once you can spare some time from your busy schedule).

Although I appreciate your desire to soothe, befriend and guide "Roy" through this "complicated issue", I submit to both you and "Roy" that this particular issue, on the contrary, is quite simple: Kosovo always was an integral part of Serbia and there is absolutely no justification - legal, moral, humanitarian, democratic, European or any other - for Serbs to allow what no other nation would, to have their country butchered and carved up. That very simple and obvious issue was purposefully turned into a major problem and artificially made "complex" by both overt and covert Western meddling and support for Shiptar terrorists, but underneath all the claptrap, the issue itself is the simplest it can possibly be: Kosovo is Serbia and that's that.

Finally, I have nothing against discussions, but this is neither "a forum", nor "ask the Serbs" column.

This is merely a space for readers who wish to leave their comments on articles published in this corner of cyberspace.

I agree with Svetlana on each and every point here. The question put by "Roy" resembles more a Shiptar provocateur than an independently minded person. There are volumes of articles that deal with the question and the reasoning behind the Kosovo-Metohija issue, and all one has to do is read through the articles on this blog and the many links it provides to find all the answers, one needs. I don't see anything intelligent in Roy's question nor is there an excuse for those who are not well informed to tow the line of the mainstream media. As the old adage goes; "Ignorance is no excuse", anyone sincerely eager to learn the truth can easily find it.

It is the reasoning behind "Roy's" (or Regep's) Kosovo question that is very suspect, he says:

"i know, that the kosovo is seen as a cultural heritage for the serbs, and that they claim it since an important battle.but when i look today at kosovo, i see a place where around 80-90% are muslim albianias. what does serbia want with them?".

Serbs do not claim Kosovo since the "important battle" but for centuries before that, in fact since the dawn of time. "Roy" is not asking us - he is telling us that 80-90% Muslim Albanians means that the claim for independence is justified.

Good on you Svetlana, you are an inspiration!

And so are you, Bozidar!

I also think that everyone can easily find a lot of information throughout the web and if someone really seeks just a simple answer to an honest question, then there are a number of forums out there to pick and choose from, some of them exceptionally good. Often times one doesn't even need to sign up or log in, but can go as a "guest" for as many Qs & As he wants :-))