17 December 2006

A visit to Visoki Decani

BBC Serbian, Tuesday, November 7, 2006 01:30 GMT
 
By Tanja Vujisic, BBC correspondent in Kosovska Mitrovica

Visoki Decani Monastery dates back to the fourteenth century and is one of the best preserved and biggest Orthodox Christian monasteries.

Three years ago it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List but nevertheless, like all other Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo, it is confronted with threats, usurpation of its property and poor security conditions.

All this has not taken away from its importance and humanitarian activity, directed primarily toward Serb returnees, although the brotherhood reminds that during the war it also saved many Albanians.

Describing Visoki Decani Monastery, British woman writer Edith Mary Durham recorded in 1904:

"Robbed of its broad lands, which have been swooped on by the Albanians, who at the time of my visit made further progress up the valley impossible, [the Monastery] lies precariously on the bloody edge of things, and only the wonderful white marble church tells of its former glory."

Today the situation in many ways resembles that of the one hundred years ago.

However, the cultural and historical importance of the Monastery in all activities remains unchanged.

Hieromonk Sava Janjic emphasizes that monastic life in Visoki Decani has unfolded without interruption since its founding.

Monastery treasury

The most significant sacred treasures of the Monastery are the holy relics of the Holy King Stefan of Decani, the wooden iconostasis and icons from the fourteenth century, the hegumen's throne, and the frescoes, comprising over 1,000 images and topics from the New Testament.

"By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops in 1992 the greater part of the Decani treasury was removed from Kosovo and Metohija in 1992, while the library of old manuscripts was removed even earlier, in 1981. The Decani treasury in its entirety is our richest treasury after the treasury of Chilandar Monastery (on Mt. Athos, the Holy Mountain in Greece)," explains Father Sava Janjic.

The holy relics of Holy King Stefan of Decani are believed to have healing powers which are sometimes resorted to by the Albanian Muslim population as well.

"People in difficulties, regardless of their faith, seek help in our Orthodox holy shrines. We have always welcomed such people with joy for the Lord helps everyone. Just as the sun shines for everyone, He, too, shines for all in His love, goodness and blessings. Now, whether we will be able to receive this goodness and blessing depends on us - what our disposition is upon arrival, what our life has been like, what degree of respect we have toward what is sacred," emphasizes Father Sava.

There are twenty-six monks living in the monastery with Vicar Bishop Teodosije Sibalic, the abbot.

Icon painters

They sustain themselves with their icon painting and wood engraving, which are traditions in Visoki Decani.

"Our monks now use modern means and computer technology but, of course, we also nurture the old traditions in our work with icons and in wood so we can continue to create the art that characterized our past and which is still important today," said Decani monk Sava Janjic.

Polielei

According to folk tradition, the polielei (church lamp) in Visoki Decani, which dates back to the fourteenth century, was wrought from the weapons of the knights who fought in the Battle of Kosovo.

Father Sava Janjic respects the tradition, although he emphasizes that it is not historically accurate.

"During the time of Princess Milica, who came to Decani and offered donations for the renewal of the monastery, it seems that after the Battle of Kosovo one of the Turkish precursors did some damage on the estate itself and perhaps even damaged the church. The polielei was repaired at that time," says Father Sava.

The brotherhood of Visoki Decani Monastery is also renowned for its number of highly educated monks.

Education

However, Hieromonk Sava explains that according to the Orthodox Christian perception education (obrazovanje) is not a matter of formal study and acquired degrees.

"The word 'obraz' means, first and foremost, image; therefore, he who is educated (obrazovan) is he who has managed to replicate the image of Christ within himself. Thus, we view education, first of all, ethically and spiritually, as a measure of the degree to which we have adapted ourselves to the Lord Christ. Such a person is educated, whereas he who is lacking Christ's image is without 'obraz', uneducated," Father Sava Janjic explains for the BBC.

Visoki Decani Monastery has been guarded for the past seven years around the clock by Italian KFOR soldiers, who call the monks who live there "santi Serbi" or "holy Serbs".

UNMIK unveils Kosovo power transition plan

Makfax news agency, Skoplje, 16.11.2006 10:33

Pristina - The UN interim administration mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) readies to hand over authority to local authorities and other international institutions, Belgrade's media said.

"Planned measures ahead of completion of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo will enable a smooth transition of authority," UNMIK spokesman Neeraj Singh said on Wednesday.

With UNMIK in its final phase before status resolution, the joint planning by the international and local structures holds key to successful transition. To this end, a number of work groups have been established, Singh said.

He added that these work groups have been tasked to outline transition of authority in fields spanning local governance, economy, ownership, rule of law, security, legal system and other areas. /end/

US troops in Kosovo ready to respond to violence

SERBIANNA (USA), November 16, 2006
 
American troops deployed in Kosovo are ready to respond to violence that is nearly certain to erupt once the final status of this Serbian province is determined by the international Contact Group, assesses US commander of the Kosovo Force's Multinational Task Force, Army Brig. Gen. Darren Owens. Owens told the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that, regardless of the outcome, one side will be unhappy and violence is likely.

"We're approaching an important moment politically that will affect the future of Kosovo," said Gen. James Jones, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander. "We'll have to see what that is and what the decision is, and we'll also wait and see how the Kosovars accept the will of the international community."

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are referred to as Kosovars.

"What we're facing here are 180-degree opposing viewpoints," Army Lt. Col. Steve Johnston from the task force's intelligence section. "There's calm, but tensions are rising about issues surrounding the final status."

The intelligence unit also assesses that the delay in reaching an agreement could spark new violence. Owens reminded Pace of anti-Serb riots that erupted when talks were delayed in 2004.

Kosovo Force's Multinational Task Force is made up of 2,600 US, Greek, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Armenian and Lithuanian troops, is part of the 16,000-member Kosovo Force.

Kosovo Force's Multinational Task Force is also worried about spread of Islamic terrorism.

"This is a place where the United States has an opportunity to stop the spread of terrorism," Owens said. "People here have been killing each other for years, and our presence here demonstrates that the world won't stand by and let that happen, while showing the importance of our basic values of treating people with dignity and respect."

Since 1999 when the UN introduced self-rule to Kosovo Albanians, over 200,000 Serbs have been ethnically cleansed from the province while over 150 churches have been destroyed in a Muslim drive to religiously cleanse the province of its vast Christian heritage.

Kosovo premier says delay in resolving province's status will not affect process

Associated Press, Wednesday, November 15, 2006 3:12 PM

ATHENS, Greece-A U.N. decision to postpone a report on Kosovo's final status is disappointing, but will not affect the outcome of the negotiations, the province's ethnic Albanian prime minister said Wednesday.

The U.N. special envoy on Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, said last week he would put off submitting his proposal for Kosovo's future status until after Serbia held parliamentary elections on Jan. 21.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku said he saw "no strong reason" for the postponement, but that if Ahtisaari has hoping "to help stability and democratic courses in Serbia, that is a good reason."

"This delay is about a few weeks, and we believe it will not affect the outcome of the process," Ceku said during a speech in Athens. "Although we are dissatisfied, we can live with that."

Ahtisaari had initially planned to present his proposal, expected to involve some form of independence for Kosovo, to the U.N. Security Council by the end of 2006.

Nominally a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been an international protectorate since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, some 90 percent of the population, wants full independence, while Belgrade seeks to retain some form of control over the province it regards as the cradle of Serbian culture.

Ceku, who met Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis earlier Wednesday, insisted that full independence supervised by the international community with full guarantees for minority rights was "the only workable solution for Kosovo."

"We are in the last kilometer of a marathon," he said. "We have the opportunity to build a lasting peace ... Kosovo is a working country."

Ceku called on the province's Serb minority to stay in Kosovo.

"We are trying to reassure Serbs that they have a future in Kosovo, and I think that remains the biggest challenge, but the majority of the Kosovo people want the Serbs and other minorities to stay and have a dignified life in Kosovo."

He said the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, or KFOR, should stay in place after the province's status was settled, saying "KFOR has done a great job, and we need KFOR for a couple more years."

EU prepares to replace Kosovo U.N. mission

 
BRUSSELS, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The European Union is completing its preparations to replace a U.N. administration in Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province.

Quoting diplomats in Brussels, the Serbian Tanjug news agency reported the European Union will dispatch its judicial and police missions to Kosovo once U.N. administrators withdraw, probably in the first half of 2007.

The U.N. civilian mission and NATO protection troops have been deployed in Kosovo since 1999 to contain ethnic fighting.

Martti Ahtisaari, the chief U.N. envoy to talks on Kosovo's future status, is scheduled to announce who will govern the province late in January.

Shortly after a solution to Kosovo's future status is reached and announced, the European Union is expected to send about 1,300 officials to help local authorities in running the police, judiciary, prisons and customs, Tanjug said.

U.N.-led talks between the Serbian government in Belgrade and leaders of ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo began in February but have achieved no agreement.

Belgrade maintains Kosovo will always be an integral part of Serbia and the ethnic-Albanian leaders insist on independence from Belgrade.

14 December 2006

Serbs in central Kosovo without electricity since yesterday morning

Serbian Press Agency SRNA, Bijeljina, 14-11-2006 10:24:59

PRISTINA, November 14 - The region of central Kosovo has been without electricity since 7:30 a.m. yesterday. Electrical power was switched off from the central distribution center in Pristina after we were classified as Group C, that is, non-paying consumers, the manager of the Serbian Power Company task team Ljubisa Bendic told Srna.

He said that approximately 15,000 Serbs in the region of the municipalities of Pristina, Kosovo Polje and Lipljan are without power and they do not know when it will be turned on again because power is not released unless there is an excess of electrical power, and at present no such excesses exist.

In addition to the regular power shutoffs by the Kosovo Electrical Corporation, the Serbian Power Company's task team has been forced to selectively cut power to some consumers in Serb villages near Gracanica because the distribution stations and low voltage network is in bad shape.

"We are forced to cut off lines because distribution stations are burning up as a result of increased consumption which follows the reactivation of electricity, which is sometimes shut off for up to two days," said Bendic.

Independence is not the only possible solution for Kosovo: Spanish FM

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade, Monday, November 13, 2006 22:18

The Spanish secretary of state for European affairs Alberto Navarro stated in Brussels that Madrid does not see the independence of Kosovo and Metohija as the only possible solution for the status of the province, emphasizing that the principles of the Helsinki Final Act on the inviolability of borders is still in force.

"We do not believe that independence, even if limited, is the only option for Kosovo," said Navarro after a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers. The Spanish minister also assessed that imposing a solution for Kosovo "would not be the most rational thing". He emphasized that the case of Kosovo is not the same as the case of Montenegro and that the principles of the Helsinki Final Act on the inviolability of borders "is still in force". In this context, Navarro reminded that Serbia recently adopted a Constitution in which Kosovo is defined as an integral part of Serbia.

Romanian foreign affairs minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu stated, also after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, that increasing numbers of EU members are supporting the Romanian position that the solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija must be agreed upon and acceptable to both sides.

Ungureanu emphasized the support of Greece and Spain for the Romanian position and reiterated that Romania supports the principle of inviolability of borders for historical reasons as well as because of the negative consequences that a decision not respecting the territorial integrity of countries might have in the Balkans.

13 December 2006

Saudi terror cells, training camps active in Kosovo - Serb source

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - November 14, 2006 Tuesday

Text of report by Montenegrin Mina news agency

Gracanica, 14 November: There are strong Wahhabi cells of Saudi Arabian origin in the Kosovo villages of Planjane and Racane in the Sredacka zupa area, says a statement issued today by the press office of the Rasko-Prizrenska Eparchy.

The statement says that there are training camps in northern Kosovo, where trainers are experienced terrorists who were active in Afghanistan and Bosnia-Hercegovina (B-H).

The statement recalls that recently UNMIK [UN Mission in Kosovo] police uncovered in the village of Talinovac near Urosevac, in a "Shqiptar [Albanian] terrorist cell" liquid explosives, identical to the explosive used in terror operations in London.

These centres and camps for training of terrorists have at their disposal arms and explosives which "are going to be used in future attacks against Christians, their churches, cemeteries, and other holy places" says the statement.

Over the last seven years, since the arrival of the international community, around 400 new mosques have been constructed in Kosovo, while 150 churches have been demolished, the statement says.

Source: Mina news agency, Podgorica, in Serbian 1230 gmt 14 Nov 06

The Black Hole of Europe: Kosovo interventionists cover up their crimes

http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=10011

 

ANTIWAR (USA), November 14, 2006 by Christopher Deliso

 

In a recent article in Canada's Globe & Mail, former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia James Bissett invokes the famous words of Otto von Bismarck, who once said, "If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans."

 

As it turned out, the "Iron Chancellor" was right. He was specifically vindicated by the onset of World War I, sparked by the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Bosnian Serb in 1914. Of course, then as now tensions had been brewing and the spark itself was only the necessary formality; Serbia's successes in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 deeply concerned imperial Austria, eager to shore up its own pretensions of Balkan dominance. Now, the tensions building up are different: on the "traditional" front, the U.S.-Russian competition for power; on the front of asymmetrical war, the pan-Islamist movement's quest for dominance in the Balkans versus local and Western interests. But essentially, Bismarck's Balkan admonition has continued to echo down the ages, even though war itself has changed and will no doubt manifest differently this time around.

 

Indeed, in the current "war on terror" and great-power rivalry over control of multinational energy and telecommunications networks, the war is being expressed in decentralized, often territorially distant ways. For example, when Russia defended Serbia's right to sovereignty over Kosovo in the Balkans, U.S. client state Georgia audaciously arrested Russian diplomats, declaring them spies, a move that enraged the Kremlin and raised the political temperature considerably. Matching the West's increased agitation for Kosovo status resolution, a Russian-backed independence referendum in Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia passed on Sunday with 99 percent in favor. On the other side of things, Balkan organized-crime syndicates with ties to al-Qaeda are popping up in relation to planned terrorist attacks as far afield as Norway.

 

For former ambassador Bissett, the "damned silly thing" going on now in the Balkans is "the seeming determination of Western policy makers to grant the Serbian province of Kosovo its independence." Mr. Bissett would not object, I believe, if we expanded the remit of said "damned and silly things" to cover Western intervention in general in the Balkans since 1990, too. For that whole process has done much more harm than good, enabling and propelling violent ethnic rivalries and building up dangerous mafia groups, appointing war criminals to high political office, and, of course, indulging in various forms of financial corruption and neglect that has helped to leave whole swathes of rural Muslim populations in the UN protectorates of Kosovo and Bosnia funded only by Saudi Arabia and its virulently anti-Western Wahhabi movement.

 

Interventionist Agitators Demand: Free Kosovo!

 

However, with the likes of the ICG leading the chorus in calling for Kosovo independence, these more sordid realities are being suppressed. They are simply not convenient for the powers-that-be. Confirming its historic role as nothing more than an Albanian lobbying front, the ICG recently bemoaned the delaying of Kosovo's final status until after Serbian parliamentary elections in January thus: "[I]nstead of finally closing the question of western Balkan borders with an orderly Kosovo settlement, delay would open a new destabilizing chapter." The adjective here gives away the patronizing, quasi-fascistic mindset of the interventionists: the process of ripping apart a country and creating one anew is deemed "orderly" if carried out by the empire. Balkan peons should simply fall into line and behave like good children, while the adults from the West tell them how to make their beds. The phrase "orderly settlement," implying an independent Kosovo supposedly securing a rosy future for the Balkans, is reminiscent of that other old ICG descriptor of the former Serbia-Montenegro union as chronically "dysfunctional." Yet this was hardly more dysfunctional than, say, the UN's disastrous administration in Kosovo.

 

The dubious wordplay continues: "[T]he longer the Kosovo Albanians are forced to wait," cries the ICG, "the greater the chance they will discredit themselves with unilateral independence moves or riots." Note that "discredited" is rather genteel, compared to the alternatives. After all, they could have said "commit atrocities," "resume ethnic cleansing of Serbs," etc. Most often, the word is used in the context of describing something like, say, a mad scientist's obscure invention or a nonsensical historical claim. In other words, the worst consequence of being "discredited" is to wind up ignored or forgotten, which is exactly what the ICG hopes the world media will do with any future "unilateral independence moves or riots" from "discredited" Albanians.

 

The Word on the Street: Criminal Neglect

 

Aside from all the politicized arguments for why Kosovo should be independent, and whose bread would be buttered in so doing, let me just take a moment to relay a message from American and other international soldiers and police who are actually employed in the province. The story they have to tell is somewhat different from the one the lobbyists would have you believe. Indeed, you don't need a National Intelligence Estimate to prove that the Kosovo intervention has made the Balkans demonstrably less safe. It just takes common sense and some looking around.

 

On my most recent excursion to Kosovo, I spent some time, as always, recording the testimony of various international police and military officials associated with the UN's Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR), both of which are tasked with keeping the peace in Kosovo. Despite the formidable range of weaponry, surveillance equipment, money, and other resources available to them, these officials say, the UN has essentially given up the fight against terrorism. "It's just like it was in Bosnia," said one American soldier who had previously served in that other wonderful example of Western peacekeeping. "We got tired of it, gradually withdraw our forces, and the 'bad guys' didn't have to do anything but outlast us."

 

According to the soldier, the U.S. Army at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo has now even "farmed out" its intelligence-gathering operations to a Romanian KFOR unit serving under it. Another international police source seconded this, decrying that "the Americans are not even collecting their own intelligence! No wonder they don't know what is going on!" Neither source meant anything personal about the Romanians, but in general it must be said that if you are that world power trying to oversee the security and final status of a province you are occupying, usually it is better to collect your own information than to leave it up to your minions.

 

Blending bitterness and acquired Balkan black humor, my interlocutors all pointed out that the UN, the U.S., the Europeans, and everyone else were busily trying to wash their hands of the mess in Kosovo, get on with the final status (independence for the Albanians), and get out. None of this was a surprise, of course; it has been the same old story ever since the UN set up shop in 1999. But hearing about the efforts that the UNMIK regime has taken to avoid the glaring truth – that Kosovo is little more than a playground for powerful mafiosi, infested with unemployed paramilitaries and disgruntled, "born-again" Islamists – was especially revealing.

 

Indeed, as one disenchanted UNMIK official put it, "These high UN staffers don't want to endanger their next international posting by taking on the criminals and terrorists, and above all they can't admit that the mission has been a huge failure and created a new base for Islamic terrorists. The outside world is not told of what they are bringing on here."

 

Indeed, as we speak, Saudi mosques continue to go up, funded by a bottomless pit of oil riches, while the Kosovo Albanian civil administration is being selectively stocked with officials whose allegiances to the Islamic world may outweigh their allegiances to Kosovo. The present reality reflects the words of Albanian scholar Isa Blumi, who warned four years ago that the influx of Saudi charities and schools was creating a new "generation of young men and women whose loyalties are not with Kosovo and [who] sustain a volatile intolerance to anyone who contradicts their training." While such people are still well in the minority, the West's "donor fatigue" and increasing desire to disengage is practically guaranteeing that the poor and needy province will come more and more under the economic control of radical Islamic interests. And one should not forget that on several occasions representatives of Islamic states have affirmed their support in terms of lobbying internationally for Kosovo independence for the Albanians. In return, we may ask, for… what?

 

Turbulent Events of October 2006: Not Exactly an Encouraging Sign

 

While the signs of future trouble are all there, let's take a minute to examine the things going on right now in Kosovo – that is, the things that the busy interventionists don't want you to hear about. Of course, if you ask any top official in or involved with Kosovo to speak on the record about security issues, the answers are inevitably the same. They can be boiled down to the following: despite some isolated incidents, the security situation in Kosovo is stable, and it is heading toward a happy future as a thriving, multi-ethnic country.

 

However, the official UNMIK police log of October's security incidents leaked to me recently attests otherwise. To summarize, the police report chronicles over 70 incidents that occurred during the month throughout Kosovo, ranging from public demonstrations and intimidation to beatings, bombings, and murders. Very few of these events made it into media reports. They indicate not only continuing attacks on Serbs and their Christian heritage in Kosovo, but also more internecine violence between Albanians.

 

For example, on Oct. 6 at 11:45 p.m. in Prizren, "a K-Albanian male killed a fellow K-Albanian male with a pistol shot for unknown reasons. During the investigation, the perpetrator was arrested but no weapon was found." A day later, at 3:40 p.m. in Lipljan, "a K-Albanian youngster shot with an AK-47 rifle at a fellow K-Albanian youngster for unknown reasons. The victim was hospitalized with head injury and remained in stable condition. During the investigation, a bullet hole on the wall and the weapon were found at the spot. The culprit was questioned in presence of his parents and the rifle with 49 rounds of ammunition was confiscated." At 2 a.m. on Oct. 1 near Suva Reka, "an explosion of unknown origin occurred in a K-Albanian house under construction. No injuries but considerable damages were reported. Two K-Albanian males were later arrested as suspects … the explosion was caused by an equivalent of 5-6 kilos of explosives [similar to an anti-tank mine]." Six days later, the same man found another "8 kilos of explosives with a fuse" in his house, the report added.

 

Along with a great many ethnic provocations against Serbs, threats, break-ins of apartments rented to internationals, and the ominous testimony to the apparently renewed "Albanian National Army" terrorist group spray-painted everywhere, the month of October saw explosions recorded on four occasions, confiscations of weapons seven times, 13 armed attacks, and three murders. Some were carried out against "outsiders," such as the hapless Chinese shop owner in Pristina, robbed at 1 a.m. on Oct. 9 of "€500 in cash and 3 cell phones. The victim resisted the perpetrators [4 armed and masked males] and was stabbed." A day earlier, an Albanian businessman was shot at 8:30 p.m., some 4 km east-northeast of Klina, after surviving three previous assassination attempts. According to the police report, "the incident has created a strong feeling of insecurity amongst both K-Albanians and the K-Serbian returnee community."

 

October also saw continued attacks on Serbian Orthodox Church facilities as well, a clear extension of the "religious cleansing" that has gone on since 1999, as Albanians have vandalized, damaged, or destroyed over 150 churches, some dating back to the 14th century. On Oct. 7 in Pristina, "children found a hand grenade in the premises of an Orthodox church." Luckily authorities were able to dispose of it safely. In three separate attacks on churches on Oct. 30 in Stimlje, Kacanik, and Djakovica, "unknown persons" tried to set one church on fire, broke into another, and stole the protective fence from the third.

 

The question of whether Albanian militants, whose acronym and political demands were prolifically sprayed around Kosovo in October, could mount a serious threat to stability was revealed on Oct. 1 when police discovered, in the central Kosovo mountains of Malisevo, "68 anti-tank and 97 anti-personnel mines, as well as 20 hand grenades and 1,500 rounds of small arms ammunition … 400 kg of explosives were found in the same area." This is hardly the only contraband arms depot in Kosovo. According to one of my police sources, whole warehouses of rockets can be found in southwestern Kosovo, for example.

 

On Oct. 6 in Pristina at 9:15 p.m., the police logs attest, "a K-Albanian male public prosecutor reported that 2 unknown allegedly armed males introduced themselves as members of the 'National Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvede & Bujanovac' [UCPMB, active in the Southern Serbian Municipalities in 1999-2001] and threatened to kill him if he wouldn't release a K-Albanian male from the Detention center."

 

Lockstep Silence

 

When confronted with this record, UN officials said, as expected… nothing. This was not surprising, as past experience has revealed. On May 12, 2006, the UN's Head of Civil Administration, Patricia Waring, sent out an internal e-mail ordering the destruction of a list of recent violent attacks compiled from official sources – some 32 in only 11 days. "Please make sure that the table you presented this morning is destroyed," wrote Waring to the unnamed recipient. "I do not want it circulated at all. Its lack of integrity in assumptions, not backed up by fact, is potentially damaging."

 

What was more damaging, perhaps, was Waring's reply to my requests for clarifications: "I requested staff to destroy material which was not based on appropriate police reports – merely assumptions and gossip, most gathered at third hand," she wrote on June 22. (I see nothing particularly villainous about reprinting this reply here, as Waring after all proudly copied the e-mail to UNMIK bigwigs at the time, such as Police Commissar Kai Vittrup and then-head honcho Soren Jessen-Petersen.) Yet after this bout of bluster, the civil administrator apparently did not have the self-confidence to answer my further request for elucidation regarding precisely which of these 32 incidents based on official sources were "merely assumptions and gossip." It's because there weren't any. They were all clearly marked by source. No surprise that Waring failed to reply to my recent questions on the security situation in Kosovo today.

 

Nobody except local journalists ever tries to hold these UN officials accountable for their failures, ignorance, and corruption. To their credit, local Kosovo Albanian reporters produce some good work, but who on the outside ever listens to them?

 

It is ironic that a Western world allegedly so anxious to listen to the opinions of the people it came to liberate only listens to what it wants to hear. If one wants to speak about Serb oppression or the perceived wonders of spontaneous self-determination, there is an audience in the international press – less so when you want to expose UN corruption and crimes, or what the catastrophic UN rule has meant for safety, security, and the war on terror in Kosovo. These are things that local journalists, Serbs, Albanians, and others, have written extensively about. However, no one on the outside ever hears about them. This is because the UN is taking great pains to cover up the fact that it is, and has always been, a part of the problem – not the solution. Instead, the whole story of Kosovo is boiled down to a simplistic and bogus tale of Serbs vs. Albanians, eternally divided by sheer ethnic hatred. Outside forces, such as the UN or Islamic states, are never part of this pithy narrative.

 

What the outside world does not realize is that the rule of these favored UN bureaucrats is creating a Kosovo in which not even they, let alone the rest of us, will be allowed free passage in a future of corrupt police, xenophobic nationalist villages, and Islamist-dominated "no-go areas." A great part of the UN's declared success in making Kosovo a more peaceful place is that, for over a year, they have simply stopped patrolling in the dangerous places. Fewer patrols also means fewer reports to burn later.

 

And don't imagine that when the UN is gone and Kosovo is independent that anything will remain in terms of paperwork. Fortunately, there are literally thousands of good UN human sources, who are only going to get riper with time as fear of crackdown from their former employer recedes. Yet their stories are verbal; future historians are going to have a hell of a time getting anything good on paper. Ironically, today's powers-that-be are directly prolonging the same Balkan impulses toward the anecdotal, the apocryphal, and rule of insinuation and rumor that they lament as being to blame for the historical misunderstandings by Balkan nationalists of the most recent to the most remote past. The foreigners have become more Balkan than us. Perhaps there is a shred of truth to the legends of a curse on all who enter these lands?

 

In any case, what is clear is that the powers-that-be will continue to destroy or suppress everything that paints their occupation in a negative light. This is why it is so important, whether you are a journalist or not, to get your questions in now. Challenge these people while they still at least hypothetically are supposed to be accountable for something. They have gotten away with a free ride for far too long; unlike in a real country, none of them were ever elected to the positions they have held and profited from. Nevertheless, they are the ones scolding Kosovo about its need to be democratic and obey the rule of law.

 

Unless more people try to call them on it, the Kosovo that is already physically the black hole of Europe will become historically a black hole as well – a perfect crime perpetrated by a phantom administration of individuals coming and going on temporary contracts, parasitically taking what they need from the system and moving on, and doing away with all the records afterwards. Such could not happen in a real country, though Kosovo is apparently about to become one.

Spain, Italy and Romania against Kosovo independence

Serbian Press Agency SRNA, Bijeljina, 14-11-2006 08:35:28

BRUSSELS, November 14 (SRNA, BBC) - Diplomatic sources reprot that Britain and Belgium favor conditional independence for Kosovo and Metohija, while Spain, Italy and Romania are opposed to it.

After yesterday's report by Martti Ahtisaari to the EU foreign ministers it was leaked to the public that differences in opinion had emerged among the 25 members of the European Union regarding whether conditional independence or limited sovereignty is the right solution.

British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett reiterated at the meeting that London is advocating some form of independence, not quite full, for Kosovo, i.e. the same idea as Ahtisaari. Her views were fully supported by her Belgian counterpart, Karel de Gucht.

However, Spanish secretary of state (for European affairs) Alberto Navarro told reporters that Spain is against the proposal that Kosovo gain the right to self-determination or limited sovereignty, and emphasized that "there is no legal basis for this in the Serbian Constitution". He warned of dangerous consequences that an eventual proposal for some form of Kosovo independence might have for other regions in the world.

According to Navarro, the president of Republika Srpska is "already asking for the same rights of self-determination" for the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Romanian minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu warned that the independence of Kosovo would represent a violation of the Helsinki Act on the inviolability of borders in Europe, and Italian deputy foreign minister Famiano Crucianelli asked for conditional reinitiation of negotiations on the Agreement on Stabilization and Association with Serbia, which would help in "overcoming the shock of the possible independence of Kosovo".

According to the BBC, during yesterday's meeting Ahtisaari explained what he had done so far and his principal ideas regarding the status of Kosovo.

Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot told reporters that Ahtisaari does not believe that a solution can be achieved through negotiations and that a solution will have to be imposed even though he claims that he will attempt to convince the Serbian and Albanian sides to bring their positions nearer to each other.

12 December 2006

Serbian church in Gojbulja near Vucitrn desecrated and robbed

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade, Tuesday, November 14, 2006 17:39

Late Monday night or early Tuesday morning the church of St. Paraskeva in the village of Gojbulja near Vucitrn was desecrated and looted. This church has been the frequent target of vandals who, as a rule, remain unknown. The broken into church was found yesterday by Serbs who came there on the eve of the feast of the Holy Unmercenary Physicians (Sts. Cosmas and Damian) to light candles.

Protopresbyter Bogomir Stevic said that unknown perpetrators broke down the entrance door and destroyed the church interior, stealing the cross, the chalice and several other church artifacts.

Small change was scattered throughout the church. The incident has been reported to the Kosovo Police Service, which failed to provide an escort for priests from Zvecan to Gojbulja with the explanation that such requests for an escort need to be submitted two days in advance, said Stevic.

UNMIK regional spokesman Larry Miller said that a incident involving theft from a church had been reported to the police station in Vucitrn.

11 December 2006

Departure of troops from Kosovo delayed

Beta news agency, Belgrade, 14 November 2006 10:42

 

BRUSSELS -- The EU Foreign Ministers have decided to delay the decision for decreasing the number of troops in Bosnia and Kosovo.

 

EU officials are discussing the possibility of decreasing the number of troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 6,500 to 1,500 in the coming year, but will postpone the move because of the possibility of tensions and unrest in Kosovo.

 

EU Foreign and Security Policies Chief Javier Solana said that the decision for decreasing the presence of armed forces is being discussed and that it will be implemented once the conditions for doing so in Bosnia-Herzegovina are met. However, Solana said that the decision will not be made before December, and that the eventual departure will not take place before February.

 

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said that the EU needs to secure the needed number of soldiers in the region in order to be able to deal with any eventual violence in Kosovo.

 

"We can discuss a decrease of armed forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina under the condition that we ensure the possibility of a quick return if the region, especially Kosovo, becomes unstable," she said.

 

The EU took over the peacekeeping mission from NATO in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where there were 60,000 soldiers at the end of the war. NATO has about 16,000 peacekeeping troops in Kosovo currently.

Grenade hurled at family home wounds activist, wife in Serbian Muslim enclave

Associated Press, Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:22 AM

 

BELGRADE, Serbia-A Muslim political activist and his wife were wounded when an unknown attacker threw a grenade early Tuesday at their home in a Muslim enclave in southern Serbia, officials said.

 

The pre-dawn attack took place in Novi Pazar, a town at the heart of the predominantly Muslim-populated Sandzak region, some 175 kilometers (110 miles) south of the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

 

The grenade landed in the bedroom of Mahmut Hajrovic, a leading activist in the Democratic Action Party, while he and his wife, Zumreta, were asleep, Novo Pazar hospital staff said. Both were wounded.

 

Zumreta Hajrovic sustained severe abdominal injuries and underwent extensive surgery, physician Kemal Brnicanin said. No details were given about Mahmut Hajrovic's injuries.

 

The couple's two sons, as well as their families, also live in the house but were unharmed in the blast.

 

Novi Pazar police said an investigation was under way.

 

The enclave, close to Bosnia to the west and bordering Kosovo to the south, was mostly spared the bloodshed during the 1990s violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.

 

However, tensions between rival local Muslim political groups in Sandzak are on the rise, with shootings and violent clashes occasionally breaking out.

 

The head of the Sandzak Democratic Party, Rasim Ljajic, who is Belgrade's top official in liaising with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands, but whose party was knocked out of power in local Sandzak election, on Tuesday called for a meeting with his political rival in Sandzak, Sulejman Ugljanin, of the Democratic Action Party.

 

The meeting would take place under the auspices of the local Mufti, and would focus on ways to defuse local tensions, Ljajic said.

Serbia's ruling party says U.N. special Kosovo envoy Ahtisaari not objective, should resign

Associated Press, Monday, November 13, 2006 11:10 AM

 

BELGRADE, Serbia-Serbia's ruling party said Monday the U.N. special envoy for Kosovo talks, Martti Ahtisaari, is not objective and should resign.

 

"With his way of handling the negotiations, Ahtisaari has hit a dead end," said Andreja Mladenovic, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Serbia. "He should leave the talks to someone impartial and objective so that a solution for Kosovo can be reached, a solution acceptable to both sides."

 

Kosovo, still officially a province of Serbia, has been under U.N. administration and NATO protection since a 1999 alliance airwar halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian rebels seeking independence.

 

The province's future is being negotiated in talks led by the United Nations with Ahtisaari mediating between Belgrade and Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanian leaders, with little success.

 

The province's ethnic Albanians insist on full independence while Serbia and Kosovo's minority Serbs want Belgrade to retain control over Kosovo.

 

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and his party have often criticized Ahtisaari, claiming he favors independence for the ethnically divided province.

 

Ahtisaari announced last week that he would delay presenting his proposal for Kosovo's future until after Serbia's Jan. 21 elections. The move indicated Ahtisaari might prefer to see a stable Serbian government in place before making his recommendations on Kosovo.

 

But the announcement prompted Kostunica to say that elections in Serbia were not Ahtisaari's concern and that any future Serbian government must abide by the newly adopted constitution, which states that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbia.

 

Mladenovic said his party believes "Ahtisaari crafted a secret plan with Pristina behind Belgrade's back ... to have Kosovo become independent" but met with "resistance from Russia," one of the six-nation Contact Group team working with Ahtisaari in the Kosovo talks. Mladenovic did not substantiate the claim.

 

The so-called Contact Group comprises the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Italy. Western powers and Russia have endorsed the U.N. brokered talks to begin almost a year ago.

 

Serbia perceives the United States as supportive of the Kosovo ethnic Albanian bid for independence. Kostunica repeatedly has said he is counting on Serbia's traditional ally, Russia, to block possible Kosovo independence at the U.N. Security Council where it holds veto power.

Kosovo status should be determined after Serbia elections-Solana

ITAR-TASS (RUSSIAN FEDERATION), 13.11.2006, 18.53

 

BRUSSLES, November 13 (Itar-Tass) - EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana believes that the Kosovo status should be determined after parliamentary elections in Serbia. He made this statement at a meeting with the defence ministers of 25 European Union member countries here on Monday.

 

Solana stressed that it would be good to give a chance to Serbian elections and see if a strong democratic government can appear in this country, which would be favourable for all the parties concerned. Thus Solana supported the idea of the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari who last week proposed to make a decision on the status of Kosovo after the Serbian parliamentary elections scheduled for January 21, 2007.

 

Meanwhile, according to reports coming from Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Voiclav Kostunica is certain that the position of Serbia on the Kosovo issue will remain unchanged after the forthcoming elections.

 

Serbia's stance on Kosovo as being its constituent part is determined in the Constitution and confirmed by the sovereign people's will, the Serbian prime minister said on November 10. The next government of Serbia will pursue the previous principled and consistent policy course for keeping Kosovo. As the UN Security Council will not violate the principles of the UN Charter, any unilateral application of legal violence and an attempt to alienate 15 percent of Serbia's legal territory will have negative consequences and threaten stability in the region, Kostunica warned.

NATO Europe commander says situation in Kosovo completely under control

Serbian Press Agency SRNA, Bijeljina, 13-11-2006 19:26:20

PRISTINA, November 13 - The NATO commander for Europe Gregory Jones said this evening at a meeting with Serb List for Kosmet candidate Oliver Ivanovic that KFOR is in complete control of the situation in Kosovo and expressed his conviction that the sort of violence that occurred in March 2004 will not happen again in the province.

Ivanovic told Srna that during the meeting with Jones he received assurances that 17,000 troops under the auspices of KFOR are prepared to react instantly and that they will not permit violence.

He emphasized that General Jones warned that the closing of KFOR bases in Serb areas in the province is causing unrest and fear among Serbs.

"In addition to the regular KFOR forces in Kosovo and Metohija there are an additional 1,200 U.S. special forces deployed. Today a German battalion from so called reserve forces also began its deployment, which should be a guarantee that KFOR will not permit violence," said Ivanovic.

He said that he received assurances that this was not just an organization to boost the effectiveness of KFOR in realizing the safety of all citizens, especially Serbs.

10 December 2006

Ex-Kosovo rebel army planned to engage in terrorist acts - Montenegrin official

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - November 7, 2006, Tuesday

 

Excerpt from report by R.T. entitled "They invited KLA to set Malesija on fire", published by Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti on 6 November

 

Podgorica - So far the investigation has confirmed suspicions that those arrested on 9 and 10 September during the Eagle's Flight operation had formed a secret organization whose objective was to set up regions in this area using force. They intended to conduct several terrorist actions in the Malesija area [area near Podgorica mostly inhabited by Albanians]. They were supposed to be helped by former members of the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army - UCK in Albanian] who intended to cross the border illegally, collect hidden weapons and initiate terrorist activities.

 

This is what Supreme State Prosecutor Vesna Medenica stated last night, after deciding to remove the confidential tag from the case and publicize the findings. According to the statement, she did this because "a groundless discussion based on manipulation of pre-trial investigation facts was initiated in media, creating a wrong picture regarding both how justified and how legal the action was".

 

[Passage omitted: Previously reported details of the police action]

 

"The organization was extensively communicating in the area of Malesija, Albania and Kosovo, remaining faithful to its goals. Thanks to this and to financial help provided by members of the diaspora, they managed to procure significant quantities of firearms, ammunition, military equipment, forged documents and other things needed to launch violent terrorist actions.

 

"The organization established ties to some of the former KLA fighters and tried to use this channel to procure weapons. The KLA members offered to directly lead and command the terrorist actions in the Malesija area. The weapons were carefully hidden in secret places and it was possible to collect and use them immediately. They acquired the weapons through various smuggling channels.

 

During September 2006 they decided to start with violence, i.e. with terrorist actions in the Karabusko Polje area in Malesija. The objective was to intimidate the non-Albanian population and to seize vital facilities in the Tuzi area.

 

"They decided that the best time for this was immediately after the polling stations were closed on 10 September, when the parliamentary elections and also the municipal elections and the Podgorica city council elections were held in Tuzi. They decided that the period immediately after the election was optimal as far as the goals of the terrorist group were concerned.

 

"They reached an agreement with the former KLA members, who were supposed to illegally cross into Malesija on 9 and 10 September 2006, hide there and lead terrorist actions after the elections were over. They had very detailed action plans.

 

"The public knows about the seized weapons, ammunition, equipment and other confiscated objects. The Office of the Supreme State Prosecutor of the Republic of Montenegro will continue to issue new statements that will help keep the public informed," the statement issued by the supreme state prosecutor says.

 

Source: Vijesti, Podgorica, in Serbian 6 Nov 06 p9

09 December 2006

We warn states against recognizing Kosovo

Beta news agency, Belgrade, 12 November 2006 15:34

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Popovic says Ahtisaari's postponement of Kosovo status due to Serbia's elections is an excuse.

"Ahtisaari's plan to secretly, working behind our backs, draft a paper on Kosovo's independence fell through. The real reason why it fell through is Russia's firm and principled position that UN Charter cannot be breached, and it would appear Ahtisaari understood the Russian 'no' quite clearly", science minister Aleksandar Popovic says.

Popovic, of prime minister Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), believes that the best option Martti Ahtisaari has at this time is to step down and let an impartial and objective international mediator take over.

"Our government is sending out a clear warning that any unilateral recognition of Kosovo's independence would have serious consequences. This applies to the NATO countries in particular, those that bombarded Serbia [in 1999]. In that case we would have to ask whether Serbia was in fact bombarded so that 15 percent of our territory could be taken away", Popovic told journalists.

Kosovo: Timing and content of status decision remain a mystery

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY), Nov-13-06 12:20

 

Kosovo, 13 Nov. (AKI) - The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said Monday he supported top United Nations Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari's recent decision to postpone his final recommendations on the future status of the breakaway Serbian province until after early Serbian parliamentary elections on 21 January. Over the weekend, the senior United States envoy to ongoing UN-led negotiations on Kosovo, Frank Wiesner, said his country backed independence for the Muslim-majority province, that a "very important phase of negotiations had been reached and that the status decision "will be made very soon" without further elaborating.

 

"It is better to give the elections in Serbia a chance - this will be to everyone's benefit," Solana stated at the start of a meeting of the EU's 25 defence and foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

 

But Frank Wiesner, special US envoy in the negotiations on the Kosovo status, on Saturday told Pristina Television 21 that a "very important phase of negotiations has been reached" and that the "decision will be made very soon."

 

Wiesner said he had no doubt that the demands by ethnic Albanians, who outnumber the remaining Serbs in Kosovo by 17 to one, will be satisfied. "These are legitimate aspirations which the United States supports," he said.

 

Ahtisaari said last Friday he will unveil his proposals for Kosovo's future status immediately after the 21 January parliamentary elections in Serbia. The decision - reportedly taken at the insistence of the EU - seems intended to block the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party from winning the general election and getting into power.

 

Wiesner said that he was "deeply convinced that the process of solving Kosovo's future status, led by Ahtisaari and the six-nation Contact Group, will lead to the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Kosovo in line with the political will of the people in Kosovo. We are on the threshold of that goal and all of us must support Ahtisaari," he added.

 

The Contact Group, made up of UN Security Council permanent members the United States, Great Britain, Russia and France, as well as Germany and Italy, is supposed to accept Ahtisaari's proposal and pass it on to the UN Security Council, which will take the final decision.

 

But according to the reports from western capitals, the Security Council might leave to each individual country to recognise Kosovo's independence unilaterally in order to avoid a possible Russian veto in the Council. Russia supports Serbia in opposing independence for the province and changes to the existing borders of Balkan states.

 

Most of Kosovo's overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority - which outnumbers the tiny remaining Serb minority in the province - wants independence for the province and has so far rejected the broad autonomy Serbia has signalled it is prepared to concede it.

 

Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo outnumber Serbs by 17 to one.

 

Kosovo has been under UN control since 1999. Violence flared in the province when the Kosovo Liberation Army, supported by ethnic Albanians, came out in open rebellion against Serbian rule in the mid-1990s, sparking a brutal Yugoslav military crackdown.

 

Serbian forces began an 'ethnic cleansing' campaign against up to half of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in 1999 triggering a NATO bombing campaign that drove Serb forces from the province. Some 800,000 people fled to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro and approximately 10,000 died in the conflict.

Background Analysis: Historical Considerations on Kosovo

Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis - November 7, 2006

 

Analysis. By V. Groginsky, GIS Station Kosovo. The southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija is a region of many contrasts in landscape, culture, and historical perspective. From arid hills similar to eastern Afghanistan, to mountainous mining towns like those in Colorado, and wide fertile plains resembling parts of the American Mid-West, Kosovo has been the object of numerous foreign conquerors over the ages. Thracians, Ilyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Turks, Hungarians, Bulgarians, and Albanians have all vied for control of the region, but for the past 1,400 years it has been distinctly Serbian in character.

 

However, for the past 500 years, Kosovo has been undergoing a process of aggressive Albanization, which has accelerated exponentially over the past century. At the heart of the conflict lies a clash between waxing and waning nation-states, and the Westphalian concept of sovereignty.

 

Kosovo is the cradle of the Serbian nation and culture, the home of its ancient Orthodox Christian monasteries and site of its celebrated battles against Islamic conquest and foreign domination. Serbs can legitimately trace over 1,400 years of presence in the region, and repeated mass casualties to protect this heritage and territory over the centuries are well documented and indisputable.

 

Kosovo Albanians appeared in the region starting in the 15<th> Century, while it was under Ottoman Turkish domination, and many Orthodox Christian Albanians converted to Islam to curry favor with their foreign overlords. Moreover, as much as 40 percent of Kosovo Albanians' lineage can be traced directly to Serb ancestry, owing to large numbers of Serbs who converted to Islam and Albanized, in order to maintain their holdings or achieve social status through assimilation in the face of expansion by Albanian and Islamic societies. Whereas the Serbs have long sought accommodation with other nationalities, the Albanians are rejectionist, espousing exclusive ethnocentrism, which is, given the reality of their mixed bloodline, more of a cultural centrism.

 

The Serbs have a saying that "a convert is worse than a Turk", and like Bosnian Muslims and Croatians who were forced or voluntary converts from Orthodox Christianity, these populations are often at the extreme end of the national-political spectrum, known for their brutality towards their former brethren. In some regions, such as the Drenica region, renowned for Albanian nationalist extremism, almost 100 percent of the Serb population Albanized within the past century. Many in today's Kosovo Albanian separatist leadership have distinctly Albanized Serb names, and their national hero, Skender Beg, was an Albanian-Serb taken at early age as a blood tax by the Ottoman Turks to return first as a janissary, and then as an Albanian national liberator.

 

The Past Century

 

The Serbian majority has been systematically reduced to minority status, largely in three great migrations. The first was in 1690, when the Serbian Patriarchate and tens of thousands of Serbs fled Turkish reprisals due to a Serbian rebellious alliance with Austria. The second occurred in 1790, as Ottoman Turks lost control to Albanian violence, and hundreds of thousands of Serbs fled toward Austro-Hungarian lands. From 1876 to 1912, regional wars saw the flight of an additional 200,000 to 400,000. The Serbs attempted re-colonization in 1912 during the Balkan war, which in turn displaced Albanians. During World War I, the Serbs fled from the Austrian Army over the Albanian mountains in Winter, where they were continually harassed and ambushed by Albanians along their march to Greece. Casualties were estimated at 100,000.

 

During World War II, Kosovo Albanians sided with the Nazis, and formed several SS divisions, including the Skenderbeg Division. Germans and Albanians in Kosovo exterminated tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies, driving hundreds of thousands into exile, further north into Serbia. During the period of Tito's Yugoslavia, hundreds of thousands more fled the increasingly militant Albanian-dominated region. Tito's own policies -- such as the prohibition against Kosovo Serb refugees' return, open border with Albania, and subsidies for high Albanian natality -- contributed to the inversion of population demographics. Tito espoused "Strong Yugoslavia, Weak Serbia", and created facts on the ground to ensure it.

 

The League of Prizren in 1878 sought to create a Greater Albania autonomous from the Ottoman Empire throughout Albania, Kosovo, parts of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Greece. This was promoted at the Congress of Berlin, and the Second League of Prizren in 1943. The issue of militarist Albanian designs on the region was made known as early as 1912 when at a London conference Kosovo Albanian leader Isa Boletini said: "We will fertilize the land of Kosovo with the bones of Serbs." The invading Ottomans, Austrians, Tito, Albanians, and now NATO have killed or driven out the Serbs in waves, reducing their numbers from majority to minority status in less than two generations. The map which Hitler created of a Greater Albania based on the League of Prizren is espoused by current Albanian nationalists, and openly backed by some in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere. Moreover, the US has re-created the Ottoman system, by empowering Albanians to persecute Serbs to further US designs on the region.

 

But as they had with the Turks, the Albanians still have plans of their own.

 

The Present, Tense

 

The Serbian province of Kosovo is nearing the artificially-imposed time limit for a "final decision" on its status as either an autonomous Serbian province, or an independent state, albeit an international protectorate. That "decision" has probably already been made, foretelling another human exodus.

 

The casual observer could be forgiven for attributing normalcy to present day Kosovo upon first glance. Pristina's cafes are filled with reveling Albanian and international patrons. Perhaps a quarter of the cars in urban areas are late-model BMWs, Mercedes, or Audis. New construction projects rise along many major roads and Albanian population centers. It appears that Albanian Kosovo is undergoing an economic boom. The Albanian flag waves proudly beside the Stars and Stripes, perhaps the only Muslim region where it does so. And a spirit of freedom pervades the majority Albanian society. But image is not reality, neither in media, nor in strategic issues. And Kosovo is neither normal nor stable.

 

Kosovo today is the nerve center of organized crime in Europe.

 

The Kosovo Albanian mafia - whose capos are the ethnic Albanian leaders of Kosovo (Hashim Thaci, Agim Ceku, Ramush Haradinaj, and hundreds of others), and US allies - control most of the heroin, arms, and white slavery/prostitution rings in Europe. Most of the luxury autos in Kosovo are stolen in central Europe, and given false papers; there are so many that prices are as low as 4,000 euros . Kosovo is the safe-haven for their laundered funds, often invested back into construction projects on real estate stolen from Serbs.

 

Kosovo Albanians have committed armed robberies in France with automatic weapons and RPGs, and have overtaken the Sicilian Mafia in Italy, largely due to their ruthlessness and closed society. Their criminal enterprises have been documented by law enforcement agencies to stretch throughout Western Europe and the US. Their money has allegedly bought off US senators and congressmen; their revisionist history and expansionist aims have been made official policy of the US Congress, and State Department. In Kosovo, their heroin labs are protected and heroin transported by units of the US military. During the Albanian insurgency of 1997-1999 (and through 2001 in Macedonia and Presevo), US Special Forces and British SAS armed, trained, and gave battlefield expertise to Albanian separatists waging brutal separatist campaigns in the region. During the war in Kosovo in 1999, the US military airlifted the Albanian UCK (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosove : the Kosovo Liberation Army, also referred to as the KLA) terrorists into some Serbian villages, where every civilian was killed or expelled, for instance the village of Trpeza near Gnjilane.

 

One of Kosovo's Albanian warlords and Mafiosi, Hashim Thaci (who uses the nickname "The Snake", and who is a friend of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and CNN ccorrespondent Christiane Amanpour, and whose Victory Hotel in Pristina is adorned with a Statue of Liberty and upside-down US flag; this is where KBR and Halliburton employees are housed) recently stated in Koha Ditore:

 

"... [O]rganized crime and mafia which has penetrated to the highest ranks of the government pyramid are the biggest dangers for Kosovo ... but what will happen after the status [ie: sovereignty recognition for Kosovo]? Who will stop the criminal gangs that have been installed by this weak government?"

 

Certainly it won't be the very criminals who are the prime culprits.

 

The official response of US Government officials to questions about the role of jihadist and radical Islamist elements in the Kosovo Albanian independence movement is that it is an inconsequential phenomenon, and that most Albanians are secular nationalists. The attitude of Western policy makers is that if the Kosovo Albanians are not given independence soon, they will be driven into the camp of Wahhabists out of frustration. Wahhabist influence is unrelated to Kosovo's status, and is already well entrenched.

 

Western military intelligence officials have extensively documented the inroads made by jihadist /terrorist elements, and their presence throughout Kosovo, and links to global Islamist terror networks and narco-mafias is widely known. In many areas, young Kosovo Albanians are being converted to the Wahhabist faction, and are highly visible in their telltale short haircuts, beards, and ankle-length pants. As well, many Arabs are present from the Middle East and France, presumably leaders of jihadist cells. Moreover, anti-Western jihadist sermons are now a regular feature at many of the new mosques. Iranian and Middle Eastern radical imams are preaching jihadist rhetoric in mosques in Prizren; al Qaeda linked mosques exist in Urosevac and Talnivoc. Many Albanians including moderate imams are concerned about the growing power of Wahhabist influence. Western military intelligence officials have stated that the findings of their investigations into the jihadist terror networks are routinely ignored or blocked by NATO, UN, and US officials.

 

Kosovo Albanian nationalists as well have voiced concern over the rising influence of Wahhabism in Albanian society. Writing in the Albanian-language daily Express, Genc Morina stated:

 

"The warriors of pure Islam", as the Wahabists like to call themselves, began their activity in Kosovo and the beginning of the 1990s ...

 

The NGOs still active under the auspices of the Saudi Joint Committee for the Relief of Kosovo and Chechnya, which came to Kosovo after the most recent 1999 war, are profiting from poverty in the suburbs of Kosovo cities but also to a large degree in the surrounding villages...

 

... Islamic Education Foundation (IEF) is offering Kosovo children "an education" in over 30 Q'uranic schools throughout Kosovo. The children are being offered 50 euros to learn certain ayats and suras from the Q'uran by heart. In schools built with funds from the Saudi Joint Committee for the Relief of Kosovo and Chechnya and with the assistance of the Islamic Education Foundation, work is being done to create a new generation of loyal Muslims - not (loyal) to Kosovo but to the Islamic internationale . Ever in the service of this project in mosques identified as "theirs" Wahhabi activists have opened Internet cafes to attract children ...

 

On top of the above-cited facts mujahedin activists have also targeted other parts of the Kosovo population. Widows, people fired from their jobs, peasants, unemployed youth, some "intellectuals" are receiving financial means (150 euros and other kinds of assistance) to lead a completely Islamic manner of life in its most radical form.

 

There are two very distinct Kosovos easily visible today. In minority enclaves (Serbs, Gypsies, Gorani, Egyptians, Croats, Turks, Ashkali and others), populations live in a state of constant fear from Albanian intimidation or attack, which occur almost daily. Not one Jew remains. Serbs are routinely murdered with no legal recourse, as the "justice" system is entirely in the hands of ethnic Albanians, placed there by Hashim Thaci and United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) officials. Prosecutor Ismet Kabashi, an Islamist, is one such example. While nine percent of the Kosovo Police Corps are ethnic Serbs, they are mere stage-props, as the real power is in the hands of its Albanian core which temporarily maintains a facade of minority tolerance to appease their backers in the "international community".

 

Since 1999, more than 1,000 ethnic Serbs have been kidnapped and murdered, with few of the bodies recovered. Few ethnic Albanians have been arrested or tried for these murders, or for the destruction of over 130 historic Serbian churches, the countless monuments and graveyards vandalized, or the ethnic cleansing of 230,000 Serbs and other minorities.

 

Those minorities which remain do so in conditions very different from the majority Albanians. Serbs and other persecuted minorities venture out of their hamlets and enclaves at great risk, and having been completely disarmed by KFOR/NATO, have no means of defense even within them. Armed incursions by Albanian attackers still occur, and are often directed against isolated, vulnerable, and often elderly civilians. Even if Serbs had the means to defend themselves, the Albanian leadership waits for any possible excuse to launch another pogrom against Serbs, such as that of March 2004, where thousands of Serbs were expelled under the watchful eyes of NATO troops, and dozens of centuries' old churches demolished. The pretext was the drowning of some Albanian boys in a river, purported by Albanian radio to have been chased there by Serbs and their dog, but the incident turned out to be an accident. The pogrom was centrally directed, well organized, and methodical.

 

The Office of the Ombudsperson in Kosovo goes further in describing the events of March 17, 2004. According to the IVth Report of the Ombudsperson's Institute in Kosovo July 12, 2004:

 

 "... [T]his onslaught was an organized, widespread and targeted campaign. Minority areas were targeted, sending a message that minorities and returnees were not welcome in Kosovo. The Secretary-General saw this as a targeted effort to drive out Kosovo Serbs and members of the Roma and Ashkalija communities and to destroy the social fabric of their existence in Kosovo. It also showed a lack of commitment among large segments of the Kosovo Albanian population to creating a truly multi-ethnic society in Kosovo."

 

A Human Rights Watch report is particularly instructive of how the Albanians operated in creating the larger conflict:

 

"...The KLA was responsible for serious abuses in 1998, including abductions and murders of Serbs and ethnic Albanians considered collaborators [sic : loyal to] the state. In some villages under KLA control in 1998, the rebels drove ethnic Serbs from their homes. Some of those who remained are unaccounted for and are presumed to have been abducted by the KLA and killed ... The KLA detained an estimated 85 Serbs during its July 19, 1998, attack on Orahovac. Thirty five of these people were subsequently released, but the others remain missing as of August 2001. On July 22, 1998, the KLA briefly took control of the Belacevac mine near Obilic. Nine Serbs were captured that day and they remain on the ICRC's list of the missing. In September 1998, the Serbian police collected the 34 bodies of people believed to have been seized and murdered by the KLA, among them some ethnic Albanians, at Lake Rodanjic, near Glodjane. Prior to that the most serious KLA abuse was the reported killing of 22 Serbian civilians in the village of Klecka ... The KLA ... engaged in military tactics which put civilians at risk. KLA units sometimes staged an ambush or attacked police and army outposts from a village, and then retreated, exposing villagers to revenge attacks ... Most seriously, as many as 1000 Serbs and Roma [gypsies] have been murdered or have gone missing since June 12, 1999...elements of the KLA are clearly responsible for many ... of these crimes...There is also a clear political goal in many of these attacks: the removal from Kosovo of non-ethnic Albanians in order to better justify an independent state."

 

One US UN official stated that the total Albanian deaths in the 1998-1998 war with Serbia was 2,700 to 2,900. This included both civilian and military, and included combat deaths and summary executions. Serbian High Command, possibly Pres. Slobodan Milosevic, ordered that bodies be removed from Kosovo, and hidden in Serbia. After the fall of Milosevic, the Serbian Government turned over 800 bodies of Albanians, who had been buried in a mass grave at Batajnica. Included in the figure were women and children. Similarly, refrigerated containers containing dozens of bodies were disposed of. Most remains have been returned to the Kosovo Albanian Administration.

 

However, the international community has, like in Bosnia and Croatia before, been indifferent towards military excesses when the recipient population was Serb. Video and photographic documentation is plentiful of Albanian excesses against non-Albanian civilians, yet even the few who have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) are given wide reign in Kosovo. Of those who have been indicted, among the more than 100 actual war criminals, most were indicted for crimes against fellow Albanians. (Ramush Haradinaj killed hundreds of Albanians in the Drenica region for refusing to give their sons to the KLA. The bodies he disposed of in a lake near Djakovica had to be dredged up when he was tipped off that it would be searched by international forces, to avoid a political embarrassment.)