The Bin Ladens Of The Balkans, Part I

Thousands of Kosovo Albanians demonstrated in Pristina Monday, demanding
immediate independence from Serbia. December 11, 2007.

From the Middle East Journal:

Around a thousand mujahideen, veteran Arabic fighters from the anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan, showed up in Bosnia in the mid-1990s to fight a jihad against Serbian Orthodox Christians. They thought they would be welcomed, and they were right. The European community imposed an arms embargo on all of Yugoslavia during the Bosnian civil war which preserved the imbalance of power and arms in favor of Slobodan Milosevic and his nationalist Bosnian Serb comrades in arms. The Bosnian army was multi-ethnic and multi-confessional – it included Serb and Croat Christians as well as Bosniak Muslims – but its leaders chose to accept help from the so-called “Afghan Arabs” because they were desperate.

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My Comment: I hope that this is what Iraq will look like 100 years from now.

Michael J. Totten Reports On Kosovo -- Peace After Years Of War

From Michael J. Totten:

“The war in Bosnia will look like a tea party if Serbian nationalism runs wild in Kosovo.” U.S. Representative Eliot Engel

“The whole world is a vast Kosovo, an abominable blood-logged plain.” From Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West, 1941.

Strange country, Kosovo.

It’s European, but it isn’t Christian. It’s majority-Muslim, but it is not anti-American. Foreign soldiers are hailed as liberators and protectors rather than occupiers. Most Western countries recognize the majority-Muslim nation’s recent declaration of independence from Serbia, but not a single Arab country has done so – partly, perhaps, because Israelis as well as Americans are thought of as allies and friends. The United Nations is widely perceived as offensive, incompetent, corrupt, and deserving of banishment.

Ethnic Albanians – who make up 90 percent of Kosovo’s population – suffered apartheid-like conditions and ethnic-cleansing by Serbian Nationalists in the 1990s. They were history’s winners, though, in 1999 when NATO finally had enough of Belgrade’s tyrant Slobodan Milosevic. He and his Serb allies kicked off four wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the final war in Kosovo threatened to overwhelm and destabilize the rest of Southeastern Europe.

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My Comment: Kosovo is like Poland, Czech Republic, the Baltic States .... they are more pro-American than some Americans. As a traveler I am always surprised to meet people who are so voracious in their support of the United States ...... Michael Totten has clearly found this to be the case in Kosovo.

A few months ago I was voicing my concerns that if history is any indication, Kosovo was going to enter a period of ethnic violence if they declared independence. Happily, I can say that I was wrong. I can now only hope that peace is there to stay.

Kosovo Independence -- A New War In Europe?

Summary Of News On Kosovo:

Serbia Braces For New Nation -- Washington Times

Kosovo Vow As Independence Looms -- BBC News

Serbian President Tadic Vows To Preserve Kosovo -- Reuters

Serbia To Act Against Kosovo -- LA Times

Kosovo Breakaway Illegal, Says Putin -- Video From The Guardian

Kosovo A Frustration For Russia -- LA Times

On The Road To A Lawful Kosovo: Evictions -- International Herald Tribune

War’s Dead Haunt Both Sides In Kosovo -- MSNBC

Kosovo: Born Under A Bad Sign -- Analysis From The Financial Times

My Comment: I can appreciate and respect a people who wish to be independent. A majority of the population in Kosovo wants this independence, and if we are a people that respects democracy and freedom we must also respect this desire among the Kosovars for their own independent country.

Unfortunately, this pathway to independence is not going to give a positive outcome. The history of the Balkans is filled with blood and conflict. Instead of going through a slow and steady pace that would help future generations to adjust to this new situation, this rush to be independent is giving the impression (probably correct) that minority opinions and recommendations will be ignored .... and also history be damned.

Santayana is usually correct .... ignore the past and be prepared to repeat it.

Kosovo Independence Seen Likely For Feb. 17 -- Will Another Civil War Be The Result?

From The Washington Times:

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Serbian minister for Kosovo said yesterday that his government has learned the province's ethnic Albanian leadership will declare independence on Feb. 17. Western diplomats said they expected the move a day later.

Slobodan Samardzic said Serbia's government has received "relevant information" that Kosovo's government will "illegally declare unilateral independence of Kosovo on Sunday, Feb. 17." He did not specify the source of information and Belgrade remains fiercely opposed to the loss of the province.

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More From The Guardian: Serbs warn of Kosovo clash

My Comment: Past decisions in the former country of Yugoslavia in calling for unilateral independence have led to strife, violent conflict, ethnic cleansing, and all out war. It looks like the groundwork for another stage in the Yugoslav civil war is being laid down without any appreciation of the consequences.