Serbia’s Choice
by Srdja Trifkovic
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The political consequences of the first round of presidential election in Serbia, held on January 20, are significant, and they will remain that significance regardless of the outcome of the second round on February 3. President Boris Tadic lost the first round last Sunday to Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) by almost five percentage points and is fighting an uphill battle to retain the presidency.
The voters have given overwhelming support—over 55 percent—to the candidates who are adamant that there can be no compromise over Serbia’s fundamental position on Kosovo. Those three candidates, Tomislav Nikolic (the Radical Party, SRS), Velimir Ilic (Our Serbia, NS) and Milutin Mrkonjic (the Socialist Party, SPS), say that there can be no compromize over the status of Kosovo in exchange for some vague promise of Serbia’s eventual “European integration.”
It appears that Boris Tadic and his followers have badly overestimated the President’s popularity. They may have become the victims of their own propaganda, which is easier to understand in view of the fact that all the mainstream print and electronic media in Serbia—which are either financed or owned Western corporations, governments and quasi-NGOs—are openly pro-Tadic. Such unfounded self-confidence had prompted the pro-Western camp to force this election prematurely, and without any regard for the views of their coalition partners, the Democratic Party of Serbia of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Accordingly, on December 12 of last year Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Oliver Dulic—a ranking official of Tadic’s Democratic Party (DS)—called an early presidential election for January 20.
This decision was made with prior approval of Brussels and Washington but, let us emphasize, without any previous consultation with Prime Minister Kostunica. He and the DSS were opposed to the poll, arguing that it was highly inappropriate to call an early presidential election at a time when the threat of unilateral secession of Kosovo is real and ought to take precedence over domestic political squabbles. The turmoil of an election campaign, it was argued from Kostunica’s camp, could threaten unity of the country and the coherence of the shaky ruling coalition at a vulnerable moment.
The result of the first round makes Kostunica’s position decisive for the outcome of the second. The Prime Minister set his terms on January 23, when he asked Tadic to formally commit himself not to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union if the EU decides to dispatch a civilian administrative and police mission to Kosovo—a key move that is viewed as an implicit go-ahead for independence. Kostunica favors a resolution stating that the EU mission would violate UN resolution 1244 as well as the Serbian Constitution, which would mean that the EU has voluntarily cancelled the agreement initialled last November.
Tadic would be loath to accept such terms, because he claims that the association process should proceed regardless of the Kosovo issue. On the other hand, without Kostunica’s endorsement he will find it haerd to garner an additional 15 percent of votes necessary for victory. In other words, things are becoming uncomfortably complicated for Tadic. He and his supporters had wanted this election to be held as early as possible because they feared that the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence (UDI)—which is certain to be be supported by most key Western powers—would fuel Serbian anger and work to the detriment of “pro-Western, moderate reformists.” The timing of the election was accordingly chosen by the European Union (EU), the United States, and the leaders of the DS, as a means of getting Tadic re-elected before the unilateral declaration of independence in Pristina.
In this manner Serbia has been subjected to the repetition of a sordid scenario we have witnessed just over a year ago. Last January the unveiling of the Ahtisaari plan was deliberately postponed by a month, so that the Serbian parliamentary election could be held on January 21st before its terms were known. At that time the ruse had the same objective as today: to help Tadic by not burdening his party with the mortgage of Ahtisaari’s disastrous plan supported by all major Western powers.
Both then and today, Tadic’s rhetoric promised the squaring of the circle: saving Kosovo on the one hand, but getting ever closer to Europe on the other. This is palpably an impossibility. All key Western leaders have stated, in one form or another, that Serbia would have to chose between retaining its claim on Kosovo and getting closer to the EU. Such statements have come from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair, from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and a veritable array of American bureaucrats.
Most Serbs are not a priori Euro-skeptics. A Gallup Poll conducted a year ago shows that, generally speaking, the majority looked favourably on the EU. Thdere is a catch, however: an even greater majority is adamant that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbia. In subsequent polls, most Serbs have said that they would not give up the title to Kosovo in return for the accelerated prospect of EU membership. Furthermore, in the same Gallup poll, they said they viewed Russia—which has said it would veto a Western-backed UN Security Council plan for Kosovo’s statehood—even more positively than the EU: 63 percent of those polled approved of Russia’s leadership.
On January 20, Serbia responded to this Euro-dilemma with greater clarity and decisiveness than Tadic and his sponsors had ever expected. Over 55 percent of Serbia’s voters supported three candidates (Tomislav Nikolic, vise-president of the Radical Party; Velimir-Velja Ilic who leads “Our Serbia,” a DSS coalition partner; and Milutin Mrkonjic of the Socialist Party) who are uncopromizing in their rejection of any “deal” with the West over Kosovo. The voters’ message was clear: if Serbia is forced by the West to choose between preserving the title to Kosovo and joining “Europe” on Western terms—which evidently demands the amputation of Kosovo—Serbia will opt for the former. If the EU sends the illegal mission to Kosovo—and it is almost certain that this will happen shortly after the second round—that would be a clear sign for Serbia that time has come to say that further aspirations to the membership of the EU are not only futile but so demeaning and degrading.
The tables have been turned: it is now up to Washington and Brussels to choose between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians. Do they wants an illegally constituted Kosovo that is going to be a black hole of jihad-terrorism, ethnic cleansing, unprecedented corruption, institutionalized criminality, drug peddling and white slave trading? Or do they want a solid partnership with Serbia—the key country in the Western Balkans and a civilized country, which the Albanian controlled Kosovo never will be—on the basis of the recognition of her territorial integrity?.
In the run-up to the second round on February 3 the media in Belgrade, which is overwhelmingly pro-Tadic, will exert massive pressure on the Serbs by invoking the ghosts of sanctions and economic collapse, if not yet another war, if Nikolic is successful. They will insist that Tadic’s defeat would mean further isolation. But before making their choice the Serbs will look at the outside world and see what the supporters of Kosovo’s independence abroad are hoping for, who do they want to win in Serbia. The supporters of Kosovo’s independence want Boris Tadic to be the winner on February 3 because they see in him the embodiment of the kind of “pro-Western reformist” now prevalent all over post-Communist Eastern Europe. They are pleased that Tadic keeps repeating—strictly for the domestic consumption—all the right patriotic platitudes, without believing them for one moment. While parroting “Serbian” rhetoric for the popular consumption, Tadic & Co. are sending messages to Brussels and Washington, sotto voce, that when the time comes they will be cooperative and do what needs to be done. Tadic and his protégé, Serbia’s current foreign minister, have been winking and nudging to their Western interlocutors throughout the Kosovo negotiating process. If Tadic can appoint a man of so uncertain personal loyalty and so dubious moral qualities such as Vuk Jeremic to the post of Serbia’s foreign minister, he is not to be trusted on any other front.
By re-electing Boris Tadic the Serbian voters would provide the supporters of Kosovo independence with the sure signal that Serbia is effectively reconciled to the amputation of the Province, and resigned to the endless continuation of never-to-be-completed “European integrations” that will always entail new conditions to be met, ever higher prices to be paid, and ever more brazen blackmails.
In the second round of the Serbian election the name of the eventual winner is perhaps less significant than the fact that the nation has displayed a remarkable level of unity and spontaneous determination. Whoever wins, he will have to take account of the fact that a small yet proud Balkan nation has had enough humiliation and that it will bend no more to either Washington or Brussels.
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1 Comment by simo on 24 January 2008:
The European Union (EU) is another utopian scheme. It is another Yugoslavia another Soviet Union on a European scale. And we all know what happened to Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. It is full of internal contradictions which will never be reconciled and which will eventually result in its collapse. It is just a matter of time.
The Slovenes apparently are not happy being in it, because there is a great deal of Yugo-nostalgia in Slovenia. They hang pictures of Tito on the walls of their homes. And mind you, Slovenia is held up by this very same EU and the Americans as the eastern European country which made the most successful transition from communism to capitalism.
The Serbs are first class fools if they believe that by giving up Kosovo they will progress and prosper in this nonsensical utopian entity.
Their future lies with Russia. Russia is probably the only country in the world that is completely self-sufficient. It does not have to import anything. Russia because of its enormous natural wealth will eventually dominate Europe, especially economically. It will certainly be around to pick up the pieces when the EU collapses.
No, Serbia’s future lies in the East with Russia. A close relationship with Russia would bring far greater prosperity and well-being to the Serbian people than being a member of a quarrelsome, fractious and incoherent European Union.
2 Comment by DJGB Popadich on 24 January 2008:
Good servants, bad masters they say, and the haze is ugly. Set to buy it? The deep into many books, is it dangerous? Yet, the one stands out: the ‘book’ with subversive aim below the risk-free title. Fabled ‘Black Hand’ did not deliver it. The CEIP coercive “Report Four” of the spring 1914, and the reprint of May 1993 did it. Put up by the long list of the say-so in 1914, it waited a good eighty years for a few more ‘grains of salt’: fixed by MEA and a serene, ageing professor – late GFK. I had them read both at the time and could not fail by which to sicken. Cf: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Report of the International … Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars (Washington, D.C.: The Endowment, 1914)
3 Comment by jack bailey on 24 January 2008:
A nonsequitur: If Tadic’s election means that Kosovo should be free, then why would Kostunica support it? Whether Kostunica gives Tadic conditions for supporting him is immaterial. The fact that he is willing to support Tadic is all that the voters will remember. The voters will not remember that he is exchanging a question of principle into some technical horsetrading with Tadic. Kostunica cannot have it both ways and therefore is making a mistake here, or isn’t he? If he is against the EU for any reason he should say so and not make it sound conditional.
Hoever, the most likely outcome of the elections would be that the DSS voters will sit this one out. Nikolic will win the majority of the vote. However less the 50% of the eligible voters will vote and there will be an impasse.
4 Comment by Michael Kenny on 25 January 2008:
Regardless of the outcome, there are three winners in this situation: the EU, which is acquiring all the attributes of a federal state and demonstrating that, where it counts, i.e in Europe, it is capable of offering an alternative to US hegemony, Russia, which is returning to the European mainstream and drawing ever closer to the EU, Vojislav Kostunica, who has shown himself to be a very capable politician whose masterful tactics have got the best available deal for Serbia, probably a lot better than anybody thought possible. I often think that he would make a wonderful EU Commission president!
The loser, of course, is the US. It has demonstrated that its meddling in Europe’s affairs does not solve problems, it just makes them worse and that European politicians who put their eggs in the American basket end up with egg on their faces!
By the way, all the talk about Kosovo being some kind of “uncivilised” black hole is nonsense. People said the same thing about Ireland 90 years ago and it has turned out to be a succesful democracy and the second richest country in the EU. Everybody in the former communist dictatorships is learning about democracy by trial and error. The Kosovo Albanians are no different from any other Europeans in that regard.
5 Comment by Srdja Trifkovic on 25 January 2008:
>The Kosovo Albanians are no different from any other Europeans in that regard.
Now THAT is pretty funny!
Today’s Pristina compares to Dublin of a century ago like Britney Spears compares to James Joyce.
The only “other Europeans ” the Kosovo Albanians can be usefully compared to are Pakistanis in Leicester, Turks in Berlin and Algerians in Marseilles.
6 Comment by Pappy on 25 January 2008:
The same European ideology that was applied towered Serbia at the turn of the century is being forced upon Serbia once again literally by the same countries that championed that policy; it will fail, just like it failed back then. The blow back of that policy was the WWI and destruction of Austrian Hungarian Empire, redrawing of borders, the foundation for and eventual commencement of WWII. The blow back today will be just as devastating, it will lead to the destruction of EU, and of course NATO, it will be just like the domino affect, the precedent was set at the turn of the century and reaffirmed in 1999 by the illegal bombing of FRY, disregard for UN Charter and an outcome almost predetermined. So what is obvious here is that Europe has not learned anything from its past. But just like in the past Serbia has been forced once again to align itself with Russia and is on a collision course with Europe, now let’s see what U.S. tells Europe to choose or do. Today’s economical environment is perfect for EU and NATO collapse; it is just a matter of time, and of all the people in Europe Serbs are very patient people, judging from their past. In the meantime Serbia needs to pursue its own interests away from Europe or U.S.; rearming and modernizing its military force should be a number one priority, then it’s just a matter of time or wait and see, when the times comes I do not think it will take more then 24 hours for Serbia to liberate Kosovo from terrorists and their enablers or occupying forces.
7 Comment by PcH on 25 January 2008:
I hope the Serbs will be able to move back into the heartland of their own country (Kosovo); and may the Albanians move back home into theirs.
8 Comment by james on 25 January 2008:
Do Serbs know that that excavations of alleged mass graves in Kosovo by foriensic examiners from Spain revealed them to be KLA fighters buried according to Islamic law and that most civilain deaths were either caused by KLA terrorism or NATO bombing and that 200,000 Serbs have been ethnical cleansed from Kosovo?
9 Comment by Srdja Trifkovic on 25 January 2008:
Most Serbs do, but the consumers of the Western mainstream media don’t. Come back, Dr. Josef and Comrade Iossif Vissarionovich, all is forgiven…
10 Comment by DJGB Popadich on 25 January 2008:
An apt comment is provided by Berthold Brecht’s “Doppelkreuzes” (”Dramatiker, 1898 – 1956,” J.B. Metziesche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 1986. )
Hakenkreuz und Double Cross
Traten an zum Kampfe.
Hakenkreuz stand umhüllt vom Rauch
Double Cross vom Dampfe.
Hakenkreuz trat das Volk in der Arsch
Und sprach ein paar passende Worte.
Double Cross murmelte: Seid so frei!
Und gab dem Volk ein Stück Torte.
[...]
Double Cross wütete schlimm genug
Hakenkreuz wütete schlimmer.
Hakenkreuz wollte zehntausend Jahr
Dauern. Double Cross immer.
11 Comment by Michael Averko on 25 January 2008:
“Serbia must choose between a nationalist isolation or becoming a part of Europe.” (standard BS)
WRONG!
“Europe” (as in the so called European Union, which doesn’t include the European nations of Russia and Serbia, among others) should come to its senses and acknowledge that the Serbs have shown themselves more deserving of maintaining Kosovo, when compared to the overall manner of Albanian nationalists.
Serbia no doubt saw that Russia’s sucking up to the neolibs and neocons didn’t benefit Moscow.
12 Comment by xhon on 26 January 2008:
i want to remind you that albanians are not jihadists
albanians are the only people who have 3 official religions
so dont say that albanians are the real extremists.
Serbian govern care more for the churches destroyed than their own people.Let me remind you that churches are made by man and humans are made by god.So you should be ashamed of yourselves
saying such things.By the way the albanians didnt destroy the churches because of their faith but because they represented the serbian control of them.The serbs have suffered attrosities by croats,germans so they should not do what they did to them.
And dont try to tell that there wasnt any ethnic cleasing in kosovo
Every one knows that ethnic cleasing has starded over 120 years ago in kosovo.
13 Comment by omBRE on 26 January 2008:
> ethnic cleasing has starded over 120 years ago in kosovo.
You are right with that. Only few more years and with little help of USA it will be finished soon. There wont be any serbs on Kosovo at all.
Can you tell me what percent of Kosovo population where serbs 120 years ago. And what about now?
WHO IS DOING ETHNIC CLEANSING TO WHO?
14 Comment by Michael Warning on 26 January 2008:
Thanks Pappy: “The same European ideology that was applied towered Serbia at the turn of the century is being forced upon Serbia once again literally by the same countries that championed that policy; it will fail, just like it failed back then. The blow back of that policy was the WWI and destruction of Austrian Hungarian Empire, redrawing of borders, the foundation for and eventual commencement of WWII.”
Thou, it was both Serbia and America working together during WWI for the destruction of Austrian Hungarian Empire and they both succeeded.
WWII saw the Nazis implementing project Otto to do the same and to make sure that the restoration of the Austrian Hungarian Empire never materialized: cf. 3 April 46 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings [Ed: available to the curious].
So the same European ideological forces that Serbia helped give rise to are now at work against Serbia: The USA EU UN E28 etc… but no Habsburgs to worry about.
Because of the actions of modern democratic governments europe is now governed by the EU & UN.
Serbia can resist these modern democratic institutions that replaced the Old Westphalian Order, but look who your allies will be, Russia & China. Is this any better?
And with all due respect Srdja Trifkovic thanks for your insights.
15 Comment by draganm on 26 January 2008:
“In the meantime Serbia needs to pursue its own interests away from Europe or U.S.; rearming and modernizing its military force should be a number one priority,”
I am hoping there is more to the Gazprom deal than simply 1/5th of NIS’s market value? Tor-M1 systems and Sukhoi fighters would certainly sweeten the deal and encourage Serbia’s enemies to think twice about attacking it again. At any rate, having 50% of Europe’s gas routed through Serbia should help avoid a repeat of the criminal NATO bombing of 1999.
It appears the US is slowly, an unwillingly, handing over it’s reigns on world economic and military power to China and possibly Russia. It’s a critical time to choose your allies wisely.
16 Comment by Michael Averko on 26 January 2008:
“Serbia can resist these modern democratic institutions that replaced the Old Westphalian Order, but look who your allies will be, Russia & China. Is this any better?”
***
Not so simple as the above quoted.
One can turn it around by noting how the West is siding with Albanian nationalists, who to date aren’t as democratically inclined and tolerant as the Serbs.
The “nationalist” Nikolic notes how the West trades with Russia and China. He anticipates a similar relationship for his country. It’s already a reality. There’s nothing wrong with a positive type of globalization, which is more equitable than what the neocons and neolibs advocate.
Contrary to neolib/neocon propaganda, Russia is changing for the better. China shows signs as well. Such changes aren’t perfect. Nothing is perfect as the West shows.
17 Comment by Peter RV on 26 January 2008:
“Serbia can resist these modern democratic institutions that replaced the Old Westphalian Order, but look who your allies will be, Russia & China. Is this any better?”,
says Michael Warning. Well, Serbs have received as of late only sanctions and bombs from the West. They are being blackmailed and threatened constantly to act against their own interest. They should turn to Russia and China and forget Europe, where they would be treated as dogs under the table, competing with Croats, Albanians and Turks for scraps thrown by the Kulturtraegers. Serbs have nothing to gain and everything to lose in Europe, and it is to be hoped they realize that on Feb. 3.
18 Comment by Johan Dieckmann on 26 January 2008:
“… The Prime Minister set his terms on January 23, when he asked Tadic to formally commit himself not to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union if the EU decides to dispatch a civilian administrative and police mission to Kosovo—a key move that is viewed as an implicit go-ahead for independence.
“… without Kostunica’s endorsement he will find it hard to garner an additional 15 percent of votes necessary for victory. …”
Dr. Trifkovic,
Does this mean that Dr. Kostunica would actually support Tadic on these conditions – rather than support Nikolic unconditionally? … Or he is simply putting Tadic “on the spot”, knowing well that the CIA stooge would never accept such conditions, and thus exposing Tadic for what he is, for the benefit of the electorate? …
19 Comment by Marko K on 26 January 2008:
Advise to Mr. Tadic:
1) He should ask EU/US to allow/advise Kosovo Albanians to vote in the presidential elections and support him, that way he can possibly achieve 67% votes needed. Surely, effectively they are still legaly citizens of Serbia. This will add to already full support of Hungarians, Croats, Bosnia Muslims (from Sandzak) and who knows what “other” minorities…
2) Once he achieves this, he can effectively say that 2/3 rds of Serbia citizens are for Kosovo to be an independent state….and say in line with Mesic “I have done my job, there is no more Serbia”
3) After that he can retire in Brussels and join the EU himself as the 29th EU state.
I can not believe that Serbs are this oblivious to what is happening around them(us)….I can not belive that WE can not see that the ANSWER coming from EU is that, to them 1.8 milion Kosovo Albanians ARE more important than 8,5 milion Serbs in Serbia!!! What an irony, if this is the case then the choice to join EU is such that for SERBIA, 100 thousand Serbs in Kosovo today ARE more important than 500 milion EU citizens…no more discussions…
This reminds me of the 100 Serbs shot dead for every 1 German soldier killed during WW2…again, only in Serbia then and now!
Dr. S. Trifkovic, great work all these years…your insight is highly appreciated…
20 Comment by Marko K on 26 January 2008:
Just an updated irony of EU, the “choice” to Serbs:
The news from EU few days ago in content to the signing of the pact on trade and cooperation with Serbia was that ALL 27 EU members must agree to do so otherwise nothing will be signed with Serbia….
On other hand, some EU members CAN independently choose to recognise Kosovo as independent and NOT all 27 EU members have to agree…..that is, some of EU members can brake all international laws, their own values etc…but that is ok…..
I can not await for the day when EU “passes” the test of Yugoslavia (read small EU) in 1990-1992…maybe we (Serbia) should not push so much to be part of another “union” that will end like the last one we were part of…..
I support full EU membership of Albania as soon as possible…
21 Comment by robert m. peters on 26 January 2008:
Mr. Warning,
“WWII saw the Nazis implementing project Otto to do the same and to make sure that the restoration of the Austrian Hungarian Empire never materialized: cf. 3 April 46 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings [Ed: available to the curious].”
Is there a resource on your information for the curious, that would be I, to study?
22 Comment by Srdja Trifkovic on 26 January 2008:
INFORMATION FOR THE CURIOUS, too tangentally relevant to be copied here in extenso, can be found on
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-10/tgmwc-10-97-01.shtml
23 Comment by xhon on 27 January 2008:
In 1973m Vasa Cubrilovic called for ridding Kosova of its Albanian population in order to settle it by Serbs. He praised the successful “cleansing” of Serbia proper of all “foreign elements,” carried out by earlier governments (Cubrilovic in Grmek 1993:111), but pointed out the limited results of Serbian colonization of Kosova and argued that “the only way … is the use of brutal force by organized state authorities” (Cubrilovic in Grmek 1993:113). He went on to present an elaborate blueprint for expulsion by systematic state terrorism supplemented by legal and economic pressure. There was no need to worry about public opinion abroad: “if Germany can expel tens of thousands of Jews, while Russia transfers millions from one end of the continent to another, the expulsion of a few hundred thousand Albanians will not cause a world war” (Cubrilovic in Grmek 1993:114).
24 Comment by xhon on 27 January 2008:
The serbian akademy itself planned the ethnic cleasing of kosovo.
It is well documented by serb historians(although the try not to admit) tha the albanian land was far more than kosovo it reached near Nis .So not only the albanians were the majority in kosovo by also in other parts of serbia as it is now in presevo valley .
Serbs are to blind to see what have they done because of the hatred against the albanians.
25 Comment by xhon on 27 January 2008:
Albanians are the last autoctonic people in the balkans
The thrakians are gone the macedonians are gone.
The injustice that has been done for centuries and is still be done.
Don,t forget that more than twice of albanian population is outside the state.
26 Comment by Grumpy Old Man on 27 January 2008:
I do not see what cards Serbia has to play if Kosovo does declare independence and it’s recognized by several EU countries and the US. God, it seems, will have to save Serbia.
27 Comment by Marko K on 27 January 2008:
I do not see what cards in the long term does “Kosova” have with regards to legitimising its “independence”…maybe once “aliens” arrive?
“Prizren League” doctrine is short of time for the Greater Albanian state that will occupy Serbia (South and Kosovo), Macedonia (West including Skoplje), Greece (North) and Montenegro (East)…In the long term outlook, time is short for this goal and I feel that the cycle better know to the Balkans will start spinning in the different direction…but lets see.
28 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 27 January 2008:
Xhon: Yes, ethnic cleansing started about 120 years ago. It was one of many pogroms against Serbs in Kosovo orchestarted by Albanians. The event took place in mid 1870’s and was reported in the NY Times.
Since then there have been several pogroms against Serbs in Kosovo. More than 52,000 Serbs were driven out of Kosovo in the decade to 1981 by secessionist Albanians, supported by Albania.
And of course the most recent in a spate of pogroms, the 2004 massacre in which 20 people were killed, scores of houses and monasteries burned and 4,000 Serbs driven out of the Kosovo homes.
Albanians, like Croats, get heir energy for existance by hating Serbs. But this is the pathology of envy and a disease that has no cure. A few examples follow:
1. “A few days ago a newspaper reported that a young Albanian had splashed gasoline in the face of a 12-year-old Serbian boy and ignited it with a match.” NY Times November 9, 1982
2. “The recent attempt by a 17-year-old Albanian to rape a 10-year-old girl from the Jakovljevic family in the Kosovo village of Plemetina … (BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, November 10, 1986)
3. The provincial leadership, dominated by ethnic Albanians, has said it believes that a Serb grossly mutilated last May by a broken bottle inflicted his injuries himself while performing an auto-erotic act. The maiming of Djordje Martinovic, a 56-year-old farmer and father of three, has become the most widely discussed Yugoslav criminal case in years. (The New York Times April 28, 1986)
4. In 1987 … former parliamentary leader in Kosovo, Fadilj Hodza … allegedly said last November that non-Albanian women should work as waitresses in order to avoid being raped (Xinhua – OCTOBER 17, 1987, SATURDAY ).
5. A 1981 fire that gutted the medieval nunnery of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate in Pec, a center of Serbian national feeling, has been officially ascribed to bad construction. (The New York Times April 28, 1986)
Secessionism has been Kosovo Albanian’s mantra since Musollini and Hitler allowed Albanians to adminsiter Kosovo during WW2. It was against this background, and in the absence of any concrete actions by Albania’s political leadership to protect minorities in Kosovo, that Milosevic rose to power.
29 Comment by Marko K on 27 January 2008:
to add to comments from Sirivanhoe98
More international reports of “Albanian democracy”:
http://members.tripod.com/sarant_2/ksm.html
Nice and simple summary.
30 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 27 January 2008:
Xhon: You can quote Cubrilovic all you like, but apart from the fact that he died in 1990 aged 93, (yet attribute to him events/text in 1993), the facts on the ground point to a different modus operandi.
In his younger days, Cubrilovic had been outspoken about Albanian irridentism in Kosovo, and rightly so. No doubt he would have been reacting to the large infglux of illegal immigration into Kosovo from Albania, the strong secessionism movements supported by Albania proper and the aspiration of Kosovo’s political leadership to create an ethnically pure Kosovo, integrated with Albania as part Greater Albania.
Here is what was reported by the Western press in the 1980’s:
1. ”A legitimized genocide against the Serbian people is being carried out in Kosovo,” said Dobrica Cosic, a dissident novelist published here and in the United States, in an interview in Belgrade. ”More than 200,000 Serbs have been forced to leave their home in the last 10, 20 years.” A steady exodus continues.
Since Albanian nationalists went on a rampage in 1981, leaving at least nine people dead, the level of violence has declined. But enough agitation continues, punctuated by acts of violence, to make a burning issue of the antagonism between the 1.4 million ethnic Albanians and the little more than 200,000 Serbs. (The New York Times, April 28, 1986)
2. POLICE in Yugoslavia claimed to have destroyed 33 secret Albanian nationalist groups in the southern Yugoslavian province of Kosovo, and to have seized arms caches and large amounts of propaganda material. They admit, however, that the situation there remains “serious.” — Financial Times (London) February 5, 1982
Albanians have no legitimate right — legal or historic — to Kosovo. Yet they claim it as their own, using illegal immigration and higher birth rates. They engaged support from abroad, most notably USA, under the pretext of human rights abuses — the very same abuses they have been guilty of in Kosovo for decades, with impunity.
31 Comment by Dimitar on 27 January 2008:
To the Albanian contributor: the territory of today’s Republic of Macedonia has thrown up thousands of objects inscribed with proto-Macedonian (i.e. proto Slav) letters from pre-Christian times! Just because the Anc. Macedonians were Hellenized does not make them “Greek”, which is attested to by the ancient Greeks themselves — i.e. the “otherness” of the Macedonians. Where’s your proof that the Macedonians and Thracians are gone, and that the Albanians are the sole survivors?
In addition, it appears Thracians and Illyrians, along with the Macedonians, were proto-Slav peoples. In short, forget the Franco-German “Slav Migrations”, a political construct if ever there was one. Oh and yes, where does this leave the Albanians? You’re a pawn in a political game, in way over your heads…
Macedonian archeologist Pasko Kuzman has spoken of the Albanians’ many attemps to uncover anything, anything, linking them to the region’s pre-history — all yielding one big zero… But then we already know that, don’t we?
32 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
For your knowledge the albanian border during the communist era was the most fortified in the world .It was immpossible for the albanians to pass the border protected by electric wire fence and guards that shoot on sight.
We had the most terrible komunist regime witch made albania the most fortified country with more than 800000 bunkers.
33 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
If there are just as many Albanians in former Yugoslavia as in Albania itself, people living on their own ethnic and historical territory which forms a geographical continuity with the Republic of Albania, it is then logical that these Albanians in former Yugoslavia, i.e. in contemporary Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, cannot be considered an ‘ethnic minority’ but rather as part of a divided nation. Consequently, the Albanian question must not be seen or dealt with in terms of a minority problem, but rather as the question of a divided nation.
The Albanian question has not evolved from the problem of an ethnic minority to the problem of a divided nation simply because the Albanian population in former Yugoslavia has grown. It was a question of a divided nation from the very start. During the Conference of Ambassadors in London, at a time when there were about 748,000 Albanians in Albania itself, there were also about 1,200,000 Albanians abroad, in lands occupied by Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. Albania cannot really be called a national state in the broadest sense of the term since half of the Albanian nation lives beyond the country’s national borders. The Republic of Albania is the homeland of only half of the Albanian people, the national state of a divided Albanian nation.
There are other nations in Europe with a good portion of their population living in foreign countries. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed in 1918, for instance, it left countless Hungarians outside the borders of Hungary. There are still about three million of them at the present time. When the Soviet empire broke apart in 1991, about twenty million Russians found themselves outside the borders of Russia. But neither the Hungarians nor the Russians consider themselves divided nations. The three million Hungarians living in countries outside the borders of Hungary constitute less than one-third of the Hungarian nation, and the twenty million Russians living in countries outside the borders of Russia constitute less than one-seventh of the Russian nation. In other words, neither the Hungarians nor the Russians, although many of their people live in other countries, are divided nations. There is only one divided nation in Europe, and that is Albania.
34 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
Those who still hold that the ethnic problems of the Balkans must be resolved at the expense of the Albanians will counter that the Albanian unification is tantamount to the creation of a Greater Albania. But what kind of argument is this? Russia, with its more than 17,075,400 km² and 150,000,000 inhabitants is not called Greater Russia. United Germany with its 357,000 km² and 80,000,000 inhabitants is not called Greater Germany. Nor is China with 9,511,000 km² and 1,200,000,000 inhabitants called Greater China. In contrast to this, some people still insist on using the term Greater Albania for a united Albania, made up of the present-day Republic of Albania and Albanian territory in former Yugoslavia, a geographical entity in which the Albanians are either the only inhabitants or the majority inhabitants and which would extend over a total surface of about 50,000 – 55,000 km² and have approximately 7,000,000 inhabitants.
No, a united Albania, made up of the two halves of the divided Albanian nation, cannot be called a Greater Albania, but rather a natural Albania. And even in this case, there would still be many Albanians ‘left over’ in Serbia,
35 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
Our Balkan neighbours and the international community must come to comprehend the injustice done to the Albanians and be convinced of their unequal status compared to other peoples in the Balkans. Endless statistics could be added to the information given above. At the time of the Eastern Crisis, for instance, the number of Albanians in the Balkans was approximately equal to that of the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians, and the territory they inhabited was of approximately the same size as that which these peoples (Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians) disposed of. At the present time, however, the seven million Albanians in the Balkans, inhabiting as a majority a territory of about 55,000 to 60,000 km², hold sovereignty over only 28,565 km² of this land, whereas in the other part of this Albanian territory, sovereignty is held by their neighbours, i.e. the Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins. About 7,500,000 Serbs hold sovereignty over about 140,000 km². About 500,000 Montenegrins hold sovereignty over about 13,812 km². About 1,300,000 Macedonians hold sovereignty over about 25,713 km², and about 9,500,000 Greeks hold sovereignty over about 130,938 km².
It is more than obvious that the interests of our Balkan neighbours have been realized to the detriment of the vital interests of the Albanian people.
It is also more than obvious that the injustice under which the Albanians are forced to live, compared to their neighbours, is so great and with such ramifications that it must, of necessity, disturb their Balkan neighbours, too.
The Albanians now believe that their national interests must be realized, and that the interests of their neighbours must be maintained at the same tim
36 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
There is no doubt that Albanian unification is the legitimate and democratic right of the Albanian people, a right which has come to the surface after much delay and which is still being thwarted, but which, as it is becoming clearer to everyone, is both politically and morally justifiable and historically inevitable.
Unification of the divided Albanian nation can still be hindered by the Great Powers, but not by the course of justice.
In their endeavours to realize this right, the Albanians must not forget that there is only one Balkan peninsula despite the myriad of peoples living in it, and that they must come to terms with their neighbours and live with them on a permanent basis.
Our Balkan neighbours, for their part, must not forget that there is one thing which has proven stronger than any weapon: the will of nations for freedom and independence.
37 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 28 January 2008:
Xhon
Nice tactic. When confronted with evidence of Albanian systematic atrocities against Serbs in Kosovo, you flood the posts with trivia, irrelevance, supposition and untruths.
You say there were 2 million Albanians in Kosovo before 1999? How did you arrive at that figure? You kow Albanians boycotted every Government census since 1971. As they did in Macedonia. Why? It is in your interest to always inflate numbers, twist facts and to generaly lie to make a point. For a long time, Albanians claimed 40% of Macedonia’s population, not based on any fact or census, but based on the number of cable TV subscribers with Albanian sounding names. Now that is scientific.
When forced to participate in the census, the result was 22%. Even then it is doubtful whether all Albanians that took part in the census had the legal right to be in the country.
It is a well known fact that during the Yugoslav era, Kosovo Albanians were buying birth certificates from friends in Macedonian hospitals. And vice versa.
As for protected border with 800,000 bunkers. That is bonkers. There is or was nothing of the kind. That would be two bunkers every 1 metre. Given the length of the border, it would be a continuous wall for 800 kilometers!!. If there were that mnay bunkers, the wall would go for at least 2,500 kilometres. To Munich!!
As for migrations, if you study Albania’s censues over the past few years you will find that its population did not grow. The most recent census in fact reveals negative population growth. Given the high birth rates of Albanians generally (one Kosovo Albanian family with 9 members complained at lack of Government housing) I would be asking you to explain what happened to ALbania’s population!!!??
Typical, baseless Albanian propaganda again.
38 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 28 January 2008:
Xhon: As for history and origins of people, Georgija Kastrioti was a Slav, a Macedonian. Yet, all Albanians worship him, revere him as if he were their own.
“Georgija was a king of Epir, son of the Slav Ivan Kastriot. … His mother’s name was Voislava also a Slav – Macedonian of his kind, daughter of a Lord from Polog” — (Teodor Spanduci, quoted in Istoria Universale dell’ originale et imperio de Turchi, Venezia, 1533 pp 196, 272)
39 Comment by Dimitar on 28 January 2008:
Give us a break!!!
40 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 28 January 2008:
XHON
Regarding statistics and sovereignty.
The borders were set after WW1 and subsequently after WW2, reflecting the geogrphic dispersion of the various people, but taking into account precedents and and other treaties.
That is how and why Albanians got to have their own state after WW1. It is called Albania. If Albanians remained in other states such as Serbia/Macedonia and Greece that is because their proportion was small. Keep, in mind that as a result of the post WW1 territorial settlement, Albania benefited by taking control of villages whose population was and remains today Macedonian.
You seem to be justifying and seeking changes to present day international borders, established 90 years ago, based on present day population demographics that have been distorted by illegal immigration and high birth rates. There is no precedent for such changes of international borders. And none should be made.
Albains have no legal or historic right to any lands in Kosovo or in Macedonia.
But, if Albanians fee agrieved, they can simply go back to Albania. Using high birth rates as a blunt tool to support secession is illegal and imoral. Otehrwise, they should learn the official language of the country in which they reside and obey their laws. This is what Macedonians living in Albania do. Yet despite these setbacks, they retain their Macedonian identity.
Albainas have enjoyed a high degree of Autonomy in Kosovo, having Albanians in the police force as early as 1966, and later authonomous legislative assembly and Albanian judiciary, all of whom failed to protect the non-Albanian population. Albanians had newspapers, radio and TV programs broadcasting in Albanian languages.
Yet desipte all these privileges, Albanians continued to abuse Serbs, and to drive them out of Kosovo. And they still do under NATO’s watchful eye. Working hard to eradicate any trace of who was first in Kosovo. Since 1999, Kosovo Albanians have desacrated scores of Orthodox cemetaries, destryed 150+ ancient orthodox monasteries, and thanks to plentiful supply of Arab money built 400+ brand spanking new mosques by the hundred. Not one destroyed monastery was restored.
Destruction of Orthodox monasteries was also practiced in Macedonia during the 2001 skirmish, where several ancient monasteries were also razed to the ground. Why?
41 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 28 January 2008:
XHON
>>>Greater Serbian propagandists have devised slogans for the promotion of Serbian ideals in Kosovo, such as, “Kosovo is the cradle of the Serbian state,” “Kosovo is the cradle of Serbian civilization,” “Kosovo is the cradle of the Serbian soul,” “Kosovo is the Serbian Jerusalem,” etc., etc
That is because it is fact. It was the centre of the Serbian empire under John Vlastimir since the 9th Century. Kosovo is riddled with ancient monasteries that attest to this fact. The very same ones that Albanians are destroying to eradicate all evidence of their exstance and to legitimise their land grab.
Even Montenegro (ZETA) was Serbian under John Vladimir.
Where are the Albanian monuments proving anything?
42 Comment by Ted Travis on 28 January 2008:
Sorry XHON but I do not see how you can claim victimization for the Albanians. Albanians were on the side of the Turks in the Ottoman Empire, they were on the side of the Nazis in WW2, and now they are on the side of American interventionists. They had a good Communist leadership and an Autonomous Province status. It seems they always chose the “winners”.
On the other hand, Serbs suffered greatly under the Ottomans, then in WW1, then in WW2. In the Genocide committed by Croat Fascists left 1 millions Serbs dead. Communists persecuted everything Serbian. Many Serbs have been forced out of Croatia in the 1990s. Serbs who lived in one state which was Yugoslavia now live in Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia and the quasi-independent protectorate of Kosovo. If we speak of victimization, it is the Serbs who are the victims.
43 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 28 January 2008:
>>>We are the only autoctonic people in the balkans.
How is that? Let’s check the dictionary and see what is says:
>>1. pertaining to autochthons; aboriginal; indigenous (opposed to heterochthonous).
>>2. Pathology. a. found in the part of the body in which it originates, as a cancerous lesion. b. found in a locality in which it originates, as an infectious disease.
>>3. Psychology. of or pertaining to ideas that arise independently of the individual’s own train of thought and seem instead to have some alien or external agency as their source.
1. Idigenous? Where is the evidence? The question you should answer is how did Albanians get to the Balkans? Which migratory path did they use? Even Australia’s Aborignines whose presence on the continent have been dated to 40,000 years ago, have a path that originates in India.
2. Definitely the cancer of the Balkans, if not Europe
3. Perhaps that explains all the drivel.
44 Comment by Sirivanhoe98 on 28 January 2008:
Ted. You are on the mark with the following:
>>If we speak of victimization, I think it is the Serbs who are the victims.
According to a 1941 census, Serbs represented 50% of Croatia’s population.
Croatia’s most recent census puts the figure at less than 3%.
In Kosovo at around the same time, Serbs would have been the majority. Today, after systematic abuses and victimisation Serbs represent less than 3% of Kosovo’s population. Their cemeteris and churches are being systematically destroyed, and like with Croats the agressor is plaing the victim card.
Both Albanians and Croats have historically submitted to a stronger power, whereas Serbs have not, setting them on opposing sides.
As you correctly point out, Albanians with Turks, converting to islam. Croats with the Hapsburgs converting to Catholicims. Subsequently both siding with Germany in sucessive world wars, and of bcourse now with NATO, as the dominant power in Europe.
Serbs have always adopted an independent position, even under the Turks.
45 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
Of course the serbian aren’t responsible for the masacre of bosnians
albanians.Come on .
Stop saying jokes.
46 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
Stop distorting the story .
47 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
the hole world is wrong.And the serbians are right.
Let ask the people of sebrenica what would they say.
The germans did many massacres but they asked forgivness and accepted their crimes.There are monuments of shoah in germany.
Have Russia appologised for the crimes of communist era which
killed more than the world one and two together.nooo
Have serbia apologised for the ethnic massacres in bosnia noooo
they instead try to not accept it saying that it wasnt true.
where did i heard this before.
Ah this remands me of the iranian president ahmadinejad saying about the jews.
As it seems there are also orthodox terror states in this world.
There is an old saying that the dog who barks can’ eat you.
So keep barking ………………………….
48 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
The real cradle of serbia is asia is there you came from.
49 Comment by S. on 28 January 2008:
# 42 Ted Travis
In addition to your excellent comment:
Albanians- Squitpars have committed genocide against the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Supported by American/ French/ Italian and British, Albanians have expelled some 250.000 Serbs, killed over 3000 Serbs, expelled Serbs from their villages, cities and homes, destroyed some 150 Serbian Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries since UNMIK troops occupied Kosovo-Metohija (1999 – 2007). And they weren’t even “reprimanded” for this horror let alone punished.
Had it happened to any other nation in Europe, the “international community” would energize itself in to another humanitarian bombardment. Given that this has been happening to Serbs by Albanians under auspices of the UN / NATO – this genocide is carefully hidden from the outside world. Sadly, Serbia’s president Boris Tadic and his ilk play along the NATO tune. This is why Serbians should not vote for Tadic on February 3
50 Comment by xhon on 28 January 2008:
The serbs are always playing the victims.
51 Comment by Srdja Trifkovic on 28 January 2008:
CUTTING AND PASTING UNATTRIBUTED MATERIAL FROM THIRD-PARTY SOURCES IS MISREPRESENTATION, PLAGIARISM AND COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. THEY ARE NOT “YOUR WRITINGS” AND WILL BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY.
52 Comment by simo on 28 January 2008:
All this talk about the history of Kosovo, to whom it belongs, who is right or wrong, who committed massacres, etc. , is boring, irritating and really irrelevant. It is really wasting space and will not solve the present problem.
Under international law, Kosovo belongs to Serbia. Resolution 1244 is international law, unless of course one believes that the United Nations is an illegitimate entity. That resolution asserts categorically that Kosovo is part of Serbia (which is the successor state of Yugoslavia).
That is the present reality and the basis on which this problem has to be resolved. The Kosovo Albanians, assuming that they are in Kosovo legally, have a right to be there, have equal rights and have a right to a certain amount of autonomy.
If however, these Albanians engage in subversive or violent acts against the government of Serbia, that government has a sovereign right to use force to put an end to these acts. That right is enshrined in international law. Moreover, if the Kosovo Albanians do not want to accept Serbian sovereignty, they are free to leave Kosovo and, in fact, should be encouraged to leave. No country should put up with a rebellious and violent minority. That has not happened nor will it happen.
53 Comment by Boba on 28 January 2008:
53 simo
“All this talk about the history of Kosovo, to whom it belongs, who is right or wrong, who committed massacres, etc. , is boring, irritating and really irrelevant….”
While it seems boring to you to repeat what has happened to Serbs, to me it looks necessary. Not because it has not been told or written about, but because those who committed these despicable atrocities against the Serbs continue to be received by the “world community” as either victims or statesmen.
Serbs have to follow the Jewish steps and not let one comma/ error pass by without Serbs protesting or making the record straight. Serbophobic statements must be challenged.
Problems of Squiptars in Kosovo and Metohija and an illegal and criminal behaviour of the so-called international community can be viewed from different angles. However, principle by which the Kosovo status is to be solved should have solid foundation on international law, but also an explanation that Squiptars/Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija are the least deserving people to have their “independent” state due to their terrorist/murderous behaviour against the Serbs throughout the history.
54 Comment by simo on 28 January 2008:
Boba,
You are assuming that the Serbs have broad access to the Western media, wherein they have an excellent opportunity to change a large number of minds. That is not the case. The western media is anti-Serbian. It will never permit the Serbian point of view to have wide coverage. Anyone who believes that it will is naive. Therefore Serbia cannot win the propaganda war.
In the final analysis, what really counts is might and power. That is realpolitik. The Serbian ace-in-hole is Russia. If America and the West have to choose between a confrontation with Russia or surrendering Kosovo, they will surrender Kosovo. It will be another Cuban missile crisis in reverse, with America on the losing end.