Kosovo: A New Day of Infamy for a New Century
The grotesque charade in Pristina on Sunday, February 17, crowned a decade and a half of U.S. policy in the former Yugoslavia that has been mendacious and iniquitous in equal measure. By encouraging its Albanian clients go ahead with the unilateral proclamation of independence written at the Department of State, the U.S. administration has made a massive leap into the unknown. That leap is potentially on par with Austria’s July 1914 ultimatum to Serbia. The fruits will be equally bitter. While their exact size and taste are hard to predict right now, that in the fullness of time America will come to regret the criminal folly of her current leaders is certain. Their Balkan policy is worse than a crime: It is a mistake.
Having devoted seven News & Views columns to Kosovo over the past year I have little to add to the sordid story of Western deceit, allied with Albanian barbarity, that has culminated in the spectacle in Pristina. Suffice to say that Belgrade vs. Washington, in this particular instance, is the clearest-cut case of “white hats vs. black hats” in today’s world affairs.
Some prominent Americans with no cultural or personal axes to grind are trying, even at this late stage, to check the insanity. Writing in the usually interventionist Wall Street Journal on February 9, Ruth Wedgwood, one of America’s foremost legal scholars, thus warned of the “dangerous precedent to tear apart the territory of a member state of the United Nations”—a move that may cause an unnecessary crisis when America is overengaged elsewhere. “Kosovo’s best (and perhaps only) chance to join Europe’s economy is to ride in as a part of Serbia,” she says, but it is more likely to join the Organization of the Islamic Conference instead. In addition, Wedgwood warns, Kosovo’s proclamation may well destabilize the Old Continent, from Bosnia and Macedonia to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
NOT IN THE AMERICAN INTEREST—“An imposed settlement of the Kosovo question and seeking to partition Serbia’s sovereign territory without its consent is not in the interest of the United States.” While my friends and I have expressed this view many a time, it was recently stated with greater prominence by John R. Bolton, Peter W. Rodman and Lawrence Eagleburger. Writing in the Washington Times, the three heavyweights called for urgent re-examination of U.S. policy on Kosovo and urged the Bush administration to make it clear that, pending the results of such re-examination, it would withhold recognition of any independence declaration:
Current U.S. policy relies on the unconvincing claim that Kosovo is “unique” and would set no precedent for other troublespots… [E]thnic and religious minorities in other countries already are signaling their intention to follow a Kosovo example. This includes sizeable Albanian communities in adjoining areas of southern Serbia, Montenegro, and especially Macedonia, as well as the Serbian portion of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Recognition … would set a precedent with far-reaching and unpredictable consequences for many other regions of the world. The Kosovo model already has been cited by supporters of the Basque separatist movement in Spain and the Turkish-controlled area of northern Cyprus. Neither the Security Council nor any other international body has the power or authority to impose a change of any country’s borders.
The trio further warned that the current U.S. policy is marked by a dismissive attitude toward Russia’s objections: The United States should not prompt an unnecessary crisis in U.S.-Russia relations, lest Russia withdraws her support on issues such as Iran’s and North Korea’s nuclear intentions. Such cooperation would be undercut by American action calculated to neutralize Moscow’s legitimate concerns regarding Kosovo. On an issue of minor importance to the U.S., they ask, “is this a useful expenditure of significant political capital with Russia?”
Bolton, Rodman and Eagleburger predict that a self-proclaimed “independent state” of Kosovo will be “a dysfunctional one and a ward of the international community for the indefinite future.” It is plagued by rampant corruption and organized crime and a nonviable economy, they point out. Its law enforcement, integrity of the courts, protection of persons and property, and other prerequisites for statehood are “practically nonexistent.” Unilateral declaration of independence recognized by some countries and rejected by many others would only make matters worse by turning Kosovo into yet another “frozen conflict.”
The authors conclude by predicting that, “faced with a choice between Western partnership and defense of their sovereign territory and constitution,” Serbia would opt for the latter and inevitably move closer to Russia as its only protector.
“WHO LOST SERBIA?”—That Serbia is lost to the West is now certain. President Boris Tadic’s narrow victory (51 percent) in the second round of the presidential election in Serbia on February 3 was entirely due to his claim that, as an enthusiastically pro-Western reformist, he could obtain less brutal treatment for Serbia from Brussels and Washington than his “ultra-nationalist” opponent.
In Washington Tadic’s victory was hastily interpreted as a sure sign that the Serbs are throwing in the towel, and that, therefore, the scenario for independence should go ahead. (Had Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Radical Party won, they would have said that the scenario should be applied post haste because Serbia is irredeemably nationalist and should be taught a lesson.)
Far from indicating Serbia’s readiness to “accept the inevitable” and sling into the vivisection kennel, however, Tadic’s victory was the last chance for the U.S. and the EU to stop the trainwreck. The anger against the U.S. and the EU will translate into the well-deserved electoral demise for Tadic’s Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) at the next parliamentary election. That election is now imminent in the next few months.
Serbia’s mood was evident in Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s somber speech to the nation, broadcast immediately after the proclamation in Pristina. He said that the “unilateral declaration of the fake state of Kosovo represents the final act of a policy initiated in 1999 with NATO aggression.” He accused the United States of a “merciless violation of international order”:
America humiliated and forced Europe Union to discard its basic principles. Europe bowed before America, and it will be held responsible for all the consequences that will arise from Kosovo’s independence.
It is difficult to make forecasts about Belgrade’s forthcoming responses—not least because they are treated as closely guarded secrets—but the following sequence of events is, in my opinion, at least less unlikely than any other:
- The inherent schizophrenia splitting the ruling coalition in Serbia will be subjected to intolerable strains in the next few weeks, primarily over the issue of how to respond to the forthcoming acts of recognition by the United States and leading EU countries. Kostunica favors weighty moves, while Tadic and his ministers will insist on empty gestures—e.g. withdrawing ambassadors from Western capitals—that fall far short of breaking diplomatic relations.
- The resulting election will mark the long-overdue demise of the DS, with its worn out Euro-rhetoric that has yielded zero dividends over the past eight years. The winners will be the Radicals (SRS) and Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). They will either form a long-overdue coalition, or else Kostunica will try to form a national unity government in which the Radicals will be represented (and from which Tadic and his DS will stay away because their “friends” in Brussels and Washington would never allow them to be in the same room with Nikolic).
- The entity proclaimed in Pristina will be recognized by the United States, by most of the Islamic world—which will find itself aligned, yet again, with America in promoting Islam and fighting Christianity in the Balkans—and by about a half of the European Union’s 27 members. Washington will claim to have the “international community” behind it, but in order to do so many small and weak countries, from Haiti to Tonga to Vanuatu, will be bribed, cajoled, or bullied into recognition.
- “KosovA” will NOT be recognized by Russia, China, India, Brazil, Indonesia (the most populous Muslim country), by most of black Africa, and by at least half-dozen EU member-countries. The non-recognizing countries’ population will exceed by two-to-one that of the Willing. The “international community” will be finally seen for what it is: an empty slogan, an invention of Washingtonian hegemonists and Euro-globalists devoid of substance or authority.
- Kosovo will linger on for a few years, as an expensive albatross costing American and “willing” taxpayers a few billion a year. It will continue developing, not as a functional economy but as a black hole of criminality and Jihad terrorism. The ever-rising and constantly unfulfilled expectations of its unemployable multitudes will eventually turn—Frankenstein’s monster-like—against the entity’s creator. There will be many Ft. Dixes to come, at Camp Bondsteel and at home.
- The precedent of Kosovo will destabilize many countries with restive and separatist-minded minorities, including America’s friends in Turkey (Kurds), Pakistan (Pashtuns), and above all in the ever-dysfunctional Dayton-Bosnia, with no dividend of any kind in the Islamic world as a whole for the United States on the account of its championing the Muslim cause in the Balkans.
The U.S.-led Kosovo policy in the end will prove to be a blessing in disguise for Serbia. Only by NOT joining the European Union will she preserve her identity, her traditions, and her faith. Only by NOT joining the U.S.-hegemonized system of military alliances will she avoid having her youths put in harm’s way for nothing, in some arid, hostile faraway lands. Only by forging an ever-tighter political, economic, and eventually military alliance with Russia will Serbia avoid the clutches of a postmodern “American” empire devoid of a single redeeming feature.
God sometimes acts in mysterious ways, and on this 21st Century Day of Infamy, February 17, we should ask for His mercy and thank Him for his blessings. Kosovo had remained Serbian during those five long centuries of Ottoman darkness, to be liberated in 1912. It is no less Serbian now, the ugly farce in Pristina notwithstanding. It will be tangibly Serbian again when the current experiment in Benevolent Global Hegemony collapses and when the very names of Messrs. Bush, McCain and Clinton are deservedly consigned to the dustheap of history.
201 Responses »
Trackbacks
- Kosovo: A New Day of Infamy for a New Century : Novakeo.com
- OrthodoxNet.com Blog » Blog Archive » Kosovo: A New Day of Infamy for a New Century
- Trifkovic on Kosovo’s Independence. | De Regno Christi
- Theme: The Battle for Kosovo «
- Grotesque Charade Srdja Trifkovic on Kosovo « What Do You Believe?
Entries(RSS)
I disagree with Kumbaya only on the claim that Islam is not a problem, either for Serbia or the West as a whole. On the other hand, there is validity in the 'bogeyman' argument he has set forth. It's not the first time that tactic has been used, as Kumbaya says. Also, clearly the Evil Empire has used the Muslims in the Balkans as proxies, creating a problem of Muslim expansionism that didn't exist as it does now, as it has created other such problems elsewhere.
Kumbaya also seems to misunderstand the issue of 'racism' in America and Western Europe, yet here again, he is right about the 'divide and conquer' strategy of the elites.
I dont know what the mood of the Russian people is, but I suspect that they are wanting a confrontation with the west after what has been done to Russia from the early 90's until now. On the other hand, I dont see people in the west rearing for a showdown with Russia. Anyone who says Americans want that is definitely out of touch. I know no one in America who still hates Russians like they did during the cold war. Older people understand that the old cold war is history, and younger people weren't raised to hate Russia at all. I haven't heard anyone amongst the common people say anything hateful about Russians in years.
I think many also wonder why we are supporting a Muslim takeover in Kosovo when we are supposedly fighting terrorism elsewhere. It makes as little sense to most people as the very unpopular Iraq war itself, which they can see is not being waged against terrorism, or the Bush-Neocon claim that Islam is a 'religion of peace', when terrorist activity seems to contradict that statement so completely.
In the end, most Americans have long since concluded that American foreign policy is completely nonsensical, like a modernist painting that claims to be art but aint.
If America has to confront Russia militarily in Kosovo and Serbia, Americans will see this as just another stupid war we have no business being involved in, regardless of who's right or who's wrong. They want no major confrontation with Russia, whom they would rather be friends with, not enemies. The Iraq war has eaten up what little support for foreign meddling was left among the people. They want no more foreign wars. They're getting increasingly fed up, while Neocon fools try to act as if it's still 1962 and there's a Cuban missile crisis still going on.
The neocon trotskyites must be removed from power and influence and their mindset crushed into the trash can of history along with all the other trash, like communism, Lincolnite Americanism, and big-corporation capitalism.
By the way, thank you Goran for your response to my questions.
Kumbaya what country are you from?
@156Allen Wilson
The same American university that invited the Iran president to speak also had a debate is Russia the enemy and the mjority voted yes. Same type of debates are going on across Europe and the western media for years is extremley anti-Russian.
New books are being released about the new cold war and senoir politicains like McCain and Obamas adviser like Zbignew Brezinski are very anti-Russian. Remember McCain wants Russia kicked out of the G8 and he's likely to win the Republican presidental nomination.
If you think Russia wants a confrontation then you've been reading to much printed press and watching to much news like Fox, MSNBC, CNN, etc.
Mr Wilson you wrote:“I think many also wonder why we are supporting a Muslim takeover in Kosovo when we are supposedly fighting terrorism elsewhere.”
It is not a “take over” There was no invasion. The Kovosars took a vote and won independence. They are no longer to subject to the Serbs. What is so hard to understand?
Muslims claim a right to govern themselves as they see fit:
“That Muslims determine their own form of temporal government for themselves (within the parameters of the maqasid or ‘goals’ of the Shari’ah) and that this may include modern democracy.”
Its called democracy. Do you not like the outcome? Too Bad. So throw a few rocks along with drunken Serbian thugs to get your point across.
You lost the argument. The USA does not listen to the likes of you. So now you appeal to the use of force by the Serbs and Russians and then blame it all on the USA.
Truly pathetic. Its democracy get use to it.
oh yeah and how many Serbs fought along side American Troops in Iraq?? Zero.
Serge, and everyone else, might be interested in this:
http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/24/editorial/commentary2.html
@159 michael warning:
Current popular interpretation of Democracy is somewhat different from the Greek original, but whichever definition you choose, it still does not make you right.
Luckily, the only interpretation that matters is the legal one; based on the state constitution, where Democracy is generally defined as the majority decision (majority % does vary often, depending on the specifics of the vote) of the “qualified” segment of the “people”, where both the “people” and “qualification” are precluded by legal age, legal status, citizenship status, and some other conditions that would be dependant on the local specifics, again, firmly rooted in the state constitution.
I am sure that those not deafened by the loudness of their own “arguments” will find enough to ponder about in the above, so I’ll leave it at that.
But, for your sake: No, “it” is not called democracy. It could, however, be called a “mob rule”, “occupation”, “rule of force” – feel free to take a pick.
Just as well, the medical definition of the “newborn” organism of the foreign genome, born within another (host) living organism is called a CANCER, or, at best, a nasty infection.
Yes, words have certain meanings already; you can not just redefine them and (ab)use them any way you feel like!
Actually… since the whole US foreign policy has been based on this perverted principle for a very long time already; why would you, or the Kosovo “government”, the loyal subjects, think or act any differently?
In conclusion:
Serbian democratic constitution has been ratified by EU as fully compliant with European standards, and it is actually nearly identical to the constitution of any other EU state. All acts of the Serbian government and people are well within the constitution. Sending the military to protect the only internationally recognised borders of Serbia would be fully in accordance with constitution and international law. As a matter of fact, UN Security Council has the obligation to protect the sovereignty of the member states.
But, UN has this magnificent building in the wrong spot, and not just geographically…
Ah, “Muslim democracy” -- Kosovo style – a bit like Christian Democracy of yore, only dressed in green!
Alas, the continuing quest for the democratic transformation of the Muslim world is unattainable in practice and counter-productive in principle. Even if “exporting democracy” could be developed into a workable scenario, the end result would be detrimental to U.S. security.
GWB's view that Muslims should enjoy democracy as “it should be clear to all that Islam – the faith of one-fifth of humanity – is consistent with democratic rule” contains an error and a fallacy. The fallacy first: the fact that “one-fifth of humanity” believes in something does not imply any positive property of that something.
The assertion about Islam’s compatibility with democratic rule is either rooted in ignorance or else inane. "Democracy" is not feasible outside of the framework of ideas that sustain it. These ideas, in the case of the West, are rooted back into the history of the polis of Greece, the Scriptures, the heresy of the Enlightenment, the notion of liberty, of individual responsibility resulting from the existence of individual free will, of collective creativity embodied in the rendering of classical symphonies and the launching of space missions.
The reason traditionally Christian societies have been able to develop democratic institutions while traditionally Muslim ones have not is the Christian concept of governmental legitimacy, which accepts the possibility of two realms. Christ Himself recognized the realm of human government as legitimate when he said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
In Islam there is no such distinction. It condemns as rebellion against Allah’s supremacy the submission to any other form of law other than Shari’a. It is noteworthy that the term “democracy” did not have an equivalent in any Muslim language until a century ago. Its fundamental principle, legal equality of citizens, is equally absent from the Muslim vocabulary.
Interesting Question
Q: Is Islam Problem?
A: Not in West. Radical Islam big problem in Islamic World.
Case in Point: Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria all hosting mini-civil wars.
Q: Why?
A: Islamist Radicals not happy with own governments being stooges to West. Desire overthrow.
Q: What is Problem for West?
A: West Lose big Chunk Global Empire if Muslim Client States Sacked.
Q: What is Solution?
A: War of Civilizations (wink, nudge).
Q: Who is winking, nudging?
A: Bushes, Bin Ladens, rest of Empire and Muslim Elites -- One Big Happy Family singing Kumbaya.
Q: Who is Believing Fairy Tales at Face Value?
A: Kumbaya think you know answer.
Kumbaya Observation: Not first time people No Clue real reason for war.
Case in Point: Great War aka ww1. Started by Germans to expand Empire, no? Good guys in White Hats Defend Civilization.
Interesting Small Facts: All industrial countries one small step away from revolution. Industrial exploitation cause big social unrest, masses organize into unions -- socialist movement marching -- Big Footsteps.
Ruling Elites (All Sides) Ponder: What is Solution? What can we do with all those young men with pitchforks and torches about to burn us out of our mansions?
Standard Answer: War. Ruling Elites throughout history plunge nation into war, hunger, pestilence to stay in power.
Interesting Vignette: While German, British, French, Russian, American boys dying by million in mudholes, American Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, partying with German Junkers aristocrats aboard luxury ocean liners. Just like Bushes and Bin Ladens on private jets. Good Times.
Result: War kill potential revolution. Beat down spirit of people (all sides). Rockefellers and Junkers continue Good Life. Exchange postcards from happy times during war.
Only One Big Dog Fall to Revolution. But Ruling Elites not concede defeat yet. Struggle will continue until no opposition anywhere.
Democracy?
Kumbaya Laugh. Not realize this channel Comedy Network.
Mihajlo you wrote:
“Current popular interpretation of Democracy is somewhat different from the Greek original, but whichever definition you choose, it still does not make you right.”
Can we take a vote on that?
“What is democracy? We all know that democracy is government by the people.” Vladimir Putin February 14, 2008
Kosovo is now governed by the people of Kosovo. Therefore Kosovo is a democracy, using the definition of democracy by the President of Russia.
I really do hate hypocrisy.
Mihajlo you wrote:
“I am sure that those not deafened by the loudness of their own “arguments” will find enough to ponder about in the above, so I’ll leave it at that.”
Burning down the US Embassy is one loud argument.
Mihajlo you wrote:
“But, for your sake: No, “it” is not called democracy. It could, however, be called a “mob rule”, “occupation”, “rule of force” – feel free to take a pick.”
Rule of force is what most of you are clamoring for, all because you did not like the results of a democratically elected outcome & mob rule is what took place last week in Belgrade all under the watchful eye of the Serb government.
Mihajlo you wrote:
“Just as well, the medical definition of the “newborn” organism of the foreign genome, born within another (host) living organism is called a CANCER, or, at best, a nasty infection.”
That’s why the surgeons Dr. UN & Dr. USA cut off the CANCER from the patient’s “body”.
Why o why would the patient hate the doctors who performed such a needed surgery? Read the above quotes from the Pro-Serbs. Do any of them have anything good to say about the citizens of Kosovo? No. Kosovo is a nasty infection. You pro-Serbs should thank your democratic doctors for saving your lives..
I really do hate hypocrisy.
Mihajlo you wrote:
“Serbian democratic constitution has been ratified by EU as fully compliant with European standards, and it is actually nearly identical to the constitution of any other EU state. All acts of the Serbian government and people are well within the constitution. Sending the military to protect the only internationally recognised borders of Serbia would be fully in accordance with constitution and international law. As a matter of fact, UN Security Council has the obligation to protect the sovereignty of the member states.
But, UN has this magnificent building in the wrong spot, and not just geographically”…
Bite the hand that feeds you….you look to the UN to justify the Serbian constitution. But when the UN helps your neighbor to do the same and you Serbs declare war on the UN, and refuse to listen to the UN now. Either the UN was wrong then or it is wrong now, which is it? I really do hate hypocrisy. What spoiled brats.
Kumbaya Declare: Enough Chicken Cackling About "Democracy!"
Q: What is overwhelming will of American people Re Iraq War?
A: Three in four want troops home NOW.
Simple observation: "Democratic" president refuse.
Lecture People: "Democracy" is not "Popularity Contest."
Easy Question: Where is Democracy?
Obvious Answer: Not in America. Not in West.
Simple Fact: People in West have less control over own lives than any society in history. Period.
HUMANITY NEVER SO ENSLAVED!
Proof: Don't pay tax. See what happens.
Don't pay mortgage. See What Happens.
Don't Pay Insurance. See What Happens.
Now You In Control Cowboy. Yee-Haw.
Let Kumbabya Fill You In: You simply Hamster on Treadwheel.
Your sweat is all that is of value, Mr. Consumer.
You trade own sweat for exsistence of Quiet Desperation.
Trade terms not up to you. You cannot refuse this offer.
Enjoy Democracy. Maybe whipped topping on side?
Dr Srdja Trifkovic you are funny.
"The assertion about Islam’s compatibility with democratic rule is either rooted in ignorance or else inane. “Democracy” is not feasible outside of the framework of ideas that sustain it."
The assertion that Roman Catholicsm is compatibility with democratic rule is either rooted in ignorance or else inane. But you See Dr that is the whole point of what I have been posting here. My points you keep on deleting. Please be fair. Read your own arguments:
"The reason traditionally Christian societies have been able to develop democratic institutions while traditionally Muslim ones have not is the Christian concept of governmental legitimacy, which accepts the possibility of two realms. . Christ Himself recognized the realm of human government as legitimate when he said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Oh, my my my... Dr Srdja Trifkovic you should know better than that. Caesar, as every one knows is the Roman Emperor. Jesus Christ submitted himself to the Authority of the Pagan Roman Emperor at His Birth and at His Death. So did St Paul and the other Apostles. These men gave the example to All Christians to be obedient to the Roman Emperor. St Paul himself declared in Romans 13 that this form of Government is Divinely Ordained. All other forms of Government are merely permitted and tolerated by the Blessed Trinity.
That is why the Church has always taught the doctrine of two realms governing the world The Royal - The Roman Empire and the Sacred- the Holy Roman Church. These two luminaries are the lights that guide mankind for the better.
But you see Doctor one of these lights has been extinguished by modern man. Now the whole world is democratic and would rather fumble its way in complete darkness than to ever admit that the major political powers on 11/11/1918 committed a mistake by destroying the Austrian Hungarian Empire.
Now you along with the rest of the world deserve the bitter fruits on this crime of 11/11/1918.
To James #152
In regard to the last paragraph of your post, let me say this. The burning and destruction of Serbian Orthodox churches and other religious sites may not necessarily be an indication of religious hatred, although that is certainly a strong possibility.
Another possibility is that it was motivated by ethnic hatred. In other words they wanted to destroy these religious sites because they belonged to the Serbs. Or it may be a combination of these 2 factors. It is not really clear whether it was religious or ethnic.
As for sexual conduct, the Albanian Muslims cannot be devout believers if they sponsor prostitution and other forms premarital or extramarital sex. Islamic law is very clear on these issues. Anyone engaging in premarital sex would receive 100 lashes with the whip. Anyone engaging in extramarital sex would be stoned to death. Promoters of prostitution would be killed.
These Albanian Muslims obviously are very secular and not devout by any stretch of the imagination.
Kumbaya has hit it right on the head @165. We all live lives like that here. It's how I live. Anyone who refuses to admit to it is is self-deceived, a liar, or part of the wealthiest elite classes, most of whom are not really that happy themselves. Look at the wrecked lives of the stars.
That there is something clearly wrong with American life as it is today, and with the whole social-economic system, cannot be denied by any sensible person, though I'm sure the hateful and arrogant Mr Warning will disagree just because he can, and then try to lecture me about America's wonderful 'free speech' - 'I'm bashing you online about some pointless nitpicking thing, thereful we should cherish our free speech in this great country, it's called 'democracy', get used to it!!!!!!' He must not be a very happy person himself, or else he would not be so hateful, arrogant, self-righteous, condescending, and insulting. Fulfilled people, I am told, who live fulfilled lives beacuse they are not Americans, and therefore must live back in the middle ages or ancient Egypt or Rome where the socio-economic system is more conducive to personal and collective happiness and fulfilment, dont do these sorts of things.
The American founders considered democracy to be Satan's government. As for democracy in Kosovo, it's a sham, but even if it's not, that's immaterial.
Now for something more serious: James @158, I dont doubt what you wrote, but what you describe sems more like establishment propaganda organs at work than it does the sentiment of the people. Among the common folk, it's not the case as far as I can tell. Of course that may change if the drums of war start sounding.
@ Michael Warning, #166...
... and from your prior postings on this site and on Takimag:
It seems to me you have established yourself a new religion. Roman Caesar (which one?) is the father, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is the martyred son, and Austria-Hungary is the spirit. You must be the head apostle.
Sorry if I got the persons mixed up; your scripture isn't very coherent. Perhaps you would like to enlighten the readers of this site?
Allen Wilson: "That there is something clearly wrong with American life as it is today, and with the whole social-economic system, cannot be denied by any sensible person..."
Kumbaya: Amen
Allen Wilson: “That there is something clearly wrong with American life as it is today, and with the whole social-economic system, cannot be denied by any sensible person…”
Kumbaya: Amen
________________
I agree # 171 - Amen.
you see once we're no longer a barter society and complexity requires the symbol-Fact of 'money' ...
it can go wrong.
Once no longer barter society of necessity which is ok, then - money isn't everything it is almost everything. Yes it's ok it is almost everything.
TODAY in U.S. the "culture" gone wrong is that money IS everything.
NO - very important distinction - it's only almost everything, NOT Everything.
Very important.
Amen.
_____
p.s. I got it from the source - my-Self. i don't know but my-Self knows.
For those ignorant of history: the Holy Roman Empire (HRE, which BTW had been "neither, holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire") did NOT end with the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in November 1918. It happened more than 112 years earlier, in August 1806, when Austrian Emperor Franz II finally laid down the HRE crown for ever.
Democracy Crowning Achievement: Convince Huddled Masses in Little Pink Houses How Great They Have It.
Always in Back of Mind: One Doctor Visit Away from Bankruptcy.
One Pink Slip Away from Sleeping Bag on Subway Grate.
Kumbaya Question: Can such oppresive uncertainty, instability be considered Human Existence?
Kumbaya Observation: Serb People Dummest in History.
Why? Clamoring for EU Chains Slipped on Hands and Feet.
Material Desires: Nirvana Reached Behind Wheel of Audi -- Fica not good enough.
Kumbaya Advice: Listen Thoreau. All Luxuries, Most Comforts, only ENCUMBRANCES.
Far better to drive donkey cart in freedom than Mercedes IN DEBT TO COMPANY STORE.
Too bad only Find Out Later After Freedom GONE.
CONCLUSION: ZERO FULFILLMENT IN RELIGION OF DEMOCRACY.
EMPTY LIVES WASTED. HUSKS OF EXISTENCE BLOW IN WIND.
Absurd Nonsense: Christian and Islam "Compatibility" with "Democracy."
Fact: Bible and Quran BOTH Ancient Wisdom to Help Humanity achieve Coherence, Meaning.
"Democracy:" Satanic Toxin Conceived to Corrode Human Spirit from Inside.
Proof: Sick Condition of Humanity Circa 2008.
Case in Point: Quran, Bible BOTH condemn USURY.
Bible Command: Lender NOT Charge Interest. Forgive Debts Outright Jubilee Year (every 50 years).
Think About Why: Usury Seed of Destruction For All.
Lender: Insurmountable Advantage over Borrower.
Inevitable Result: All Power Concentrated in Hands of Few Lenders. All Borrowers ENSLAVED.
Simple Fact: "Deomocracy" Built on FOUNDATION OF USURY.
Kumbaya Ask: What Can Be Possible Result?
"We have in Serbia a situation in which the U.S. has forced an action --the proclamation of independence by the Kosovo Albanians -- that is in clear violation of the most fundamental principles of international law after World War II," argues Robert Hayden, Director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. "Borders cannot be changed by force and without consent -- that principle was actually the main stated reason for the 1991 U.S. attack on Iraq."
This says it all.
For once, Serbs have an overwhelming support of the academics all over the world!
Kosovo
Mushroom Clouds: Kumbaya not the only "Fart Smella" see Armageddon on Horizon.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02252008.html
Kumbaya Question For Goran: How Many Wars Have "Academics" Won?
Real Heroes
News Dispatch: "Aggressive" Serb protesters injure 10 Kosovo "Police."
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=59261
How: Pelting Stones, Bottles.
Protesters Come Ready: Bring Truckloads Rocks, Firefighters, Ambulances.
Protester Identities: Believed Military Reservists from Serbia
Kumbaya Salute. Urge All Ablebodied Serbs to Join.
Correction: Later Dispatch puts number of injured Kosovo "Police" at 19 -- one seriously.
Kumbaya not need Tea Leaves to see Big Trouble Coming.
Right Now: One "Incident" away from armed Russian-Serb intervention.
I fear that Kumbaya is right.
It only stands now to wonder, will Bush's insanity outrule his cowardice, causing him to take Russia on?
If confrontation comes after the U.S. election, and McCain wins, certainly McCain will go to war over this tiny piece of land of no interest to the American people, who's sons (and shamefully, daughters) will be killing and dying over there for nothing, at least, nothing but evil narcoterrorism, militant islam, and the war of the elite class to force suicide on the western world.
I only hope - we must all hope - the Serbs and Russians come in in great, overwhelming force, in a blitzkreig, before American or NATO forces can respond, and win so decisively, so quickly, that the U.S. will have to back down. Then, if Bush or the new president begin to clamour for war or make preparations for invasion, there will be enough outcry from the American people, and enough organised opposition domestically, that they will have to back down.
Any silly neocon here can cry 'traitor' if they want to, but I love my own people enough to speak out before they are sacrificed for evil ends, and the neocon elitists dont, so to hell with them.
YOU NEOCONS ARE ALL TRAITORS TO YOUR OWN PEOPLE!
By the way, the humiliation that such a forced backing-down will cause is just what is needed to destroy the hubris of this country’s elites, before a real catastrophe caused by them does it, perthaps fatally to the country and it’s people.
@180Allen Wilson
YOU NEOCONS ARE ALL TRAITORS TO YOUR OWN PEOPLE!
There not because the majority of Jewish organisations were supportive of Albanian invasion of Kosovo. The kosovo PM months ago even visited Isreal.
February 26, 2008
The Guardian
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
I write with contempt about, Is Kosovo Serbian? We Ask an Historian by Noel Malcolm. As the author of the 1992 book, Kosovo, the first book published in the U.S. on this region of the world by 7 Balkan historians exposes this article as nothing more than further demonization of millions of Serbs who cherish Kosovo as their Jerusalem. Malcolm cleverly ignores the more than 1,500 Serbian churches and monasteries built in this area since the 12th century. Immorally he ignores church ruins that date to the 10th century. Arrogantly he conceals the fact that the first Islamic mosque was not built in Kosovo until 150 years after the battle of Kosovo in 1389, because these facts betray his rabid Serbophobia.
The ugliest form of racism is to demean an ethnic group's religion, history or culture. This has not stopped Malcolm from revealing his closeted bigotry. He manipulates his access to the media knowing full well that most readers and editors are ignorant of Balkan history. People of Malcolm's ilk have found it easy to paint Serbs with collective guilt by demeaning them in this alleged "historical" context. What we see at play here is the Goebbles concept of "Tell a lie a hundred times and it becomes the truth."
Kosovo independence is not about history, it is about equal human rights, and the absurd violation of UN Resolution 1244, the amputation of sovereign territory and in the process the violation of the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and the Geneva Conventions. Malcolm admits to your readers that "...the Serbs ruled Kosovo for 250 years," but omits the fact that when The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in 1918 the Albanians represented less than 5% of the population—a fact that is historically documented. Saying that the Serbs were "25%" is historical revisionism but taken at his word why has Malcolm looked the other way as Serbs have been reduced to less than 3% in Kosovo over the last decade? The real Serbian Genocide by Albanian Nazis in WWII that liquidated tens of thousands of Serbs or the Genocide that is taking place in Kosovo today is never included in Malcolm's lunatic version of history, not shared by most respected historians.
Malcolm ignores the cleansing of 185,000 Serbs in 1690, the 170,000 forced to flee in 1739 or the 150,000 that were forced out of Kosovo after the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when Serbia was internationally recognized as a nation, or the more than 100,000 Serbs forced to flee after Tito granted "Autonomy" in 1974. Malcolm also ignores the more than 300,000 Serbs cleansed in the past 9 years. No reference is made to the fact that 40% of the Albanians in Kosovo are illegal aliens who cross the border into Serbia as easily as Mexicans cross our border each night in San Diego, California.
Equally disgraceful, the Guardian grants little to no access to your pages to any Serbian historian or journalists to give opposing views. This is hardly freedom of the press, the press is being used in this case to bludgeon Serbia's cultural aspirations.
William Dorich
The writer is the author of 5 books on Balkan history.
Yes. Mr. Dorich is right. I read that article by the Goebbels Malcolm today. I was horrified by the constant British tendency to ignorance, stupidity and onesidedness.
Dont fret Mr. Dorich. If Goebbels was right, he would not have ended in the way he did.
Dr. Srdja Trifkovic you wrote:
For those ignorant of history: the Holy Roman Empire (HRE, which BTW had been “neither, holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire”) did NOT end with the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in November 1918. It happened more than 112 years earlier, in August 1806, when Austrian Emperor Franz II finally laid down the HRE crown for ever.”
neither, holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire yes, nice, from the “holy” Voltaire.
The U.S.S.R. did not lose its seat and authority on the United Nations Security Council when it became the Russian Federation. Neither did the authority of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II lose his authority when signing the treaty of Pressburg in 1805 making him the first emperor of Austria as Francis I. No one man, including Napoleon can dissolve or annihilate the Holy Roman Empire. You can not do this with a treaty, nor with a bullet. But men try. When they do achieve some semblance of success in destroying the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor then it can be can be said to be in abeyance. In life of Dante, the authority of the Roman Emperor was in a 50 year abeyance. Today the authority has been in a 100 year abeyance.
The authority and office of the Roman Emperor still remained with the Austrian-Hungarian Emperor and the Church has always acknowledged this fact. You can see is in the Mass prayers for the Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Catholic Church always acknowledged the House of Hapsburg as retaining the authority of the holy Roman Emperor. It is reflected in the Mass prayers for the Roman Emperor which were removed in 1955 not in 1805. Simple fact the Church always prayed for the Holy Roman Emperor until 1955.
The seven Imperial electors still retain their authority to elect the next Holy Roman Emperor. Little known fact that most of you neglect. Roman Catholics just need to ask these seven Imperial electors to do their civic duty to elect the next Holy Roman Emperor.
Mr Warning may be describing a proper procedure for electing an emperor, nevertheless, the empire ended in 1806, as Trifkovic has stated, and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was not a continuation of the old Holy Roman empire, regardless of whether the Austro-Hungarian monarchs retained the rights to the crown of the Hioly Roman Empire or whether certain ceremonial practices were preserved until 1955. Certainly, the heirs of the electors still hold the rights of election, but do they still hold their realms within the empire?
We may say the Southern Confederacy still exists as an independent nation in a de jure, legal sense, but that doesn't make the South rise again. It will take much more than de jure existence, just as rights to a crown and rights of election dont an empire make, any more than the heir of the Byzantine throne's crown rights having willed those rights to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain upon his death restored the East Roman empire. A Spanish invasion of Greece and Anatolia, on the other hand, could have done the job.
It would take a breakdown of modern notions of nation state and a revival of Christianity, among many other things, before the Holy Roman empire could ever begin to be restored.
Kumbaya, here is finally answer to your question whether academics can win wars.
As I said before, law is 100% on Serbia's side. It has been announced today that Serbia will go before the International Court of Justice and sue all states which had recognized Kosovo in contravention of international law. Lawsuits will go into internal courts of those states as well.
Now, I 've already told you that support of academics that Serbia enjoys at the moment is unprecedented. That is important.
We shall win this time, believe me. We will! With justice, heart and God on our side. God is with Serbia now!
I wish to be one of the first to contribute to Serbia's forthcoming legal wars. Slobodan Milosevic was imprisoned and tried at the ICTY for nearly five years. He fought hard and his efforts cannot be neglected. To set the record straight, here is the ICTY transcript (pages 2225-2227) from the Milosevic trial concerning the victims of Kosovo war. Please note: this is not press, this is proof in law. When reading, bear in mind that the NATO bombardment was under way and that the Serbian forces fought the KLA on the ground.
Part of cross examination of ICTY "expert" Patrick Ball by Slobodan Milosevic on 14 March 2002 concerning the number of victims in Kosovo.
Q. All right. But there is a difference, a big difference, between your estimates and what you have as facts, because on page 5, it says the estimated number of killings obtained by statistical analysis is 10.356, with an error margin of 9.002 to 12.122. And on page 17, the table of exhumed bodies is a total of 4.211, a total of 4.211, and identified
Page 2226
bodies are 45.4 per cent. Identified Albanian victims actually amounted to 1.912, so that is 45 per cent of 4.211. And all analyses consistently apply the invented figure of 10.356. Can you explain that?
A. Ten thousand, three hundred fifty-six is not an invented figure; it's an estimated figure. The estimate is based on sound and well-known statistical principles that are in wide use throughout the world and have been subjected to both rigorous preparation and review.
Q. Have you finished your explanation?
A. Yes.
Q. Is it correct that the total you have of identified Albanian victims, those you can identify as Albanian, that you have certified figures only amounting to 1.912?
A. No, that is not correct. The number is 4.400. Those are the victims we can identify by name.
Q. And what about the difference between 4.400 and 10.356? What is in between the two? And quite a bit of scope is provided there. What about that, in relation to what you say you have identified?
A. As I suggested in my previous answer, the estimate of 10.356 is made by well-known scientific methods which have been used in a wide variety of statistical contexts throughout the world. The techniques are explained in significant detail in Appendix 2.
Q. Well, now I understand this a bit more, and I hope those who have been following this too as well, why this statistical research of yours can only be used for educational purposes and for the purpose of providing information, not for the purposes for which it has been used.
Page 2227
JUDGE MAY: It's suggested that you can't use it as evidence. What's your answer to that?
THE WITNESS: I'm afraid, because I'm not lawyer, I don't know in this kind of level.
(end of transcript)
Remember the NATO Jamie Shea's outrageous press conferences at the time? Tony Blair's statements of “100,000 Albanians dead or missing”? And...if the Serbs are that bad, how come there is now 90% of Albanians and 10% of Serbs in Kosovo?
World Court? Kumbaya Laugh.
Serbs: Shortest memory possible. Not remember World Court REFUSE to hear case Illegal Nato War Against Serbia.
Now Think: Same Imperialist Puppet "Court" will bite Master's Hand? For Serbia?
Kumbaya Advice To DELUSIONAL SERBS: Gather Rocks. Go to Kosovo. Bash Heads Imperial Guard.
ONLY PATH TO FREEDOM!
FREEDOM ALWAYS COST BLOOD.
Kumbaya Reccomend All "Serbs" Read And Think:
http://www.antiwar.com/lind/?articleid=12430
"Washington and Brussels scoff at the thought, but Russia and Serbia certainly have military options..."
Kumbaya, World Court did not hear the case of illegal NATO aggression only due to procedural reasons. The Court claimed that "FRY was not a member of the UN" at the time (1999). There is no such procedural obstacle this time around.
Leave wars and rumours of wars to someone else.
Kumbaya,
freedam DOES NOT mean: cost blood
-I WW Serbia started,and came out w 1/3 less population/50%less male/
-II Ww Serbia said:No/March 27th/and Belgrade was bombed,enemy made :comunist and chetniks/they were killing each others/almost 2 mil people and as a "Winer"
west forst Serbia to live w fashist:croats,muslims,albanius..in Yugoslavia and for
President they made sure it will be Their horse again:tito.
Serbia have to stick to the Law and continue negotiation,cut all diplomaticy w countrys who are pushing Serbia,last 20 yrs,to pull the triger as they did in I and II WW.
I think that Serbia has to show that they learned something,on their skin,from I and II WW
From "A long road from Kosovo to Kurdistan" by Pepe Escobar (Feb 28, '08):
"... The unilateral independence of Kosovo has nothing to do with "democracy". But then what's the point of this North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) provocation towards Vladimir Putin's Russia - a historic ally of Serbia?
The ongoing saga revolves around two crucial, interrelated facts on the ground: Pipelineistan and the empire of 737 (and counting) US military bases in 130 countries operated by 350,000-plus Americans. In short: it revolves around the trans-Balkan AMBO pipeline and Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, the largest US base built in Europe in a generation.
..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB29Ak02.html
Mr. Kumbaya you wrote:
"Kumbaya Advice To DELUSIONAL SERBS: Gather Rocks. Go to Kosovo. Bash Heads Imperial Guard.
ONLY PATH TO FREEDOM!
FREEDOM ALWAYS COST BLOOD."
Cost money too.
Maybe it's time for the US State Department to freeze Serbian Assets here in the USA. (to help pay for the damage done to the US Embassy and what not)
After all you Serbs are now threating to refuse to pay the $1.2 billion Kosovo debt. And as you should. You will no longer have any claims to Kosovo when you do.
Kumbaya what is your advice for those Serbs who still have Serbian held assets in the USA?
It's cold out here, its freezing.....
Mr Goran you wrote:
“We shall win this time, believe me. We will! With justice, heart and God on our side. God is with Serbia now!”
Ok…..but with a couple of conditions:
“For if you turn again to the Lord: your brethren, and children shall find mercy before their masters, that have led them away captive, and they shall return into this land: for the Lord your God is merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” 2 Paralipomenon 30
For the Serbs to return to the Lord your God is done by renouncing their errors on the Trinity, The Immaculate Conception & Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff and entering into the Holy Roman Catholic Church. But they won’t, therefore the Serbs shall not return into this land of Kosovo.
What exactly, is this $1.2 billion 'Kosovo' bill you refer to Mr Warning? And how could repudiating such a debt ever be a renouncement of sovereign rights over territory rightly belonging to Serbia?
@ 196 Mr. Allen Wilson:
CVETKOVIC: REPAYING KOSOVO DEBT IN AGREEMENT WITH CREDITORS
BELGRADE, Feb. 27 (Beta) - Finance Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on Feb. 27 said Serbia should continue to pay off the Kosovo debt until a different agreement with foreign creditors was reached.
"The guarantor of the Kosovo debt to foreign creditors is the state of Serbia and the state has this obligation until a different agreement is reached with the creditors," Cvetkovic told BETA.
If Serbia stopped repaying the Kosovo debt, Serbia's rating would be damaged and interest rates would increase, Cvetkovic said. Also, Serbia could lose the trust of foreign financial institutions and risk future transactions with those institutions, he added.
On Feb. 26, Economy and Regional Development Minister Mladjan Dinkic said he would suggest to the government that Serbia stop repaying the Kosovo debt.
MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, Kosovo is a newly independent state. It has a sovereign government. Any relations between NATO and the Government of Kosovo will be worked out between them. Any decisions on NATO forces will be left to NATO. Any decisions on how those troops operate or are managed will be handled under the standing agreement. This is nothing new.
QUESTION: One more? The international famous Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis with statement characterized the so-called independence of Kosovo as treason without prior approval by the United Nations. Any comment on that?
MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, you know what? I somehow suspect for the next six or eight months or so, you’re going to come in here every day and you’re going to say some other prominent citizen somewhere in the world has said that they don’t like the fact that Kosovo is now an independent state. And they’re entitled to their opinion. We respect their opinion. But you know our policy, and we and the rest of the international community are moving ahead with it.
Daily Press Briefing
Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
February 27, 2008
Alright, now explain how repudiating such a debt, whether it is a just debt or not, is a renounciation of sovereign rights to Kosovo?
The west may do what it wants and bring on war with Serbia and Russia. Not wise.
If the west brazenly violates treaties and internal law to steal Kosovo away from Serbia, why should Serbia not repudiate the debt? Fair is fair. Then there is the fact that Russia will not care what Serbia's credit rating in the west is, nor will a lot of other countries willing to trade outside of the international usury system.
The debt will NOT be repudiated. It was a failed initiative by Mr Dinkic, the notoriously corrupt neoliberal fifth-columnist within the increasingly dysfunctional ruling coalition in Serbia.
Dr Trifkovic,
how feasible is it for Serbia to connect stronger economic and military ties with Russia (which I strongly favour, by the way) when the country is practically surrrounded by the EU and NATO? The economic miscreant Dinkic lately seems to go out of his way to iterate this grim fact, along with the claim that only 15% of Serbia's trade is with Russia. How much weight do his words have (if any) in this case?
Sincere thanks in advance