http://historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtalbania5.htm
“The government under Skanderbeg was unstable, however, and at times local Albanian rulers cooperated with the Ottoman Turks against him.” Djuradj Brankovic was a traitor, along with many other nobles from many other nations who were trying to survive in desperate times. Djuradj himself was betrayed (Peace of Szeged): “The final version of the treaty re-established Serbia as a buffer state and settled its return to Branković,[2] as well as the return of Albania and all other territory conquered, including 24 fortresses, to Hungary. The Ottomans also had to pay an indemnity of 100,000 gold florins and release Branković’s two sons.” What transpired next is (Crusade of Varna): “Shortly after all the short-term requirements of the treaty were fulfilled, the Hungarians and their allies resumed the crusade. Murad, who had retired shortly after the treaty was completed, was called back to lead the Ottoman army. On November 10, 1444, the two armies clashed at the Battle of Varna (near the Black Sea fortress of Varna, Bulgaria). The Ottomans won a decisive victory despite heavy losses, while the Hungarians lost their King and over 10,000 men.”
Serbs continued their fight against Moslem invaders, Albanians did not.
http://historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtalbania5.htm
Albania: Historical Setting
Library of Congress Country Study
“The division of the Albanian-populated lands into small, quarreling fiefdoms ruled by independent feudal lords and tribal chiefs made them easy prey for the Ottoman armies. In 1385 the Albanian ruler of DurrÎs, Karl Thopia, appealed to the sultan for support against his rivals, the Balsha family. An Ottoman force quickly marched into Albania along the Via Egnatia and routed the Balshas. The principal Albanian clans soon swore fealty to the Turks. Sultan Murad II launched the major Ottoman onslaught in the Balkans in 1423, and the Turks took Janina in 1431 and Arta on the Ionian coast, in 1449. The Turks allowed conquered Albanian clan chiefs to maintain their positions and property, but they had to pay tribute, send their sons to the Turkish court as hostages, and provide the Ottoman army with auxiliary troops.

The Albanians’ resistance to the Turks in the mid-fifteenth century won them acclaim all over Europe. Gjon Kastrioti of KrujÎ was one of the Albanian clan leaders who submitted to Turkish suzerainty. He was compelled to send his four sons to the Ottoman capital to be trained for military service. The youngest, Gjergj Kastrioti (1403-68), who would become the Albanians’ greatest national hero, captured the sultan’s attention. Renamed Iskander when he converted to Islam, the young man participated in military expeditions to Asia Minor and Europe. When appointed to administer a Balkan district, Iskander became known as Skanderbeg. After Ottoman forces under Skanderbeg’s command suffered defeat in a battle near Nis, in present-day Serbia, in 1443, the Albanian rushed to KrujÎ and tricked a Turkish pasha into surrendering him the Kastrioti family fortress. Skanderbeg then reembraced Roman Catholicism and declared a holy war against the Turks.

On March 1, 1444, Albanian chieftains gathered in the cathedral of LezhÎ with the prince of Montenegro and delegates from Venice and proclaimed Skanderbeg commander of the Albanian resistance. All of Albania, including most of Epirus, accepted his leadership against the Ottoman Turks, but local leaders kept control of their own districts. Under a red flag bearing Skanderbeg’s heraldic emblem, an Albanian force of about 30,000 men held off brutal Ottoman campaigns against their lands for twenty-four years. Twice the Albanians overcame sieges of KrujÎ. In 1449 the Albanians routed Sultan Murad II himself. Later, they repulsed attacks led by Sultan Mehmed II. In 1461 Skanderbeg went to the aid of his suzerain, King Alfonso I of Naples, against the kings of Sicily. The government under Skanderbeg was unstable, however, and at times local Albanian rulers cooperated with the Ottoman Turks against him.
“

You accused Dr. Trifkovic of anti-Muslim racism; pray tell, to which distinct race do Muslims belong? Which is the Muslim portion of the human genome?

Your statement that Dr. Trifkovic paints all Serbs as raging lunatcis and that he is racist towards all Jews is not substantiated by anything he’s written here; seems like you’re projecting your fantasies onto him.

Your statement that “ST wants to give a lesson to African Americans how they should think about their past as slaves, because Rice, the messenger, is black” is a non sequitur.

Finally, you’ve asked Dr. Trifkovic to write on topics far removed from Serbia, such as WWII Ustashe atrocities. That makes as much sense as asking Dr. Clyde Wilson to write on topics far removed from the Confederacy, such as Union Army atrocities.

Do you get your history lessons from CNN, Mr. Jokic?

Support for Israel and the policy of detaching Kosovo from Serbia go together quite well, as shown by the fact that the architects of the policy of dismemberment of Yugoslavia—such as Abramowitz and co.–are as pro-Israel as it gets. Contrary to what the basic principle of charity requires–that at first we don’t take these people for idiots—ST would have us believe that these people are, we are led to think stupidly, “aiding and abetting Muslim designs in the Balkans”. This is seriously pulling wool over any thinking person’s eyes. Whose policy was the effort to detach Kosovo from Serbia? Did some Muslims pull this off, forcing the hand of the US, or was it the US that stubornly insisted on this? Of course, no Muslim group would have the power to do this! Wouldn’t Palestine be a state, already?

I’ve used the word “detachment” and not “independence” to refer to what happened with Kosovo, because Kosovo did not obtain independence, instead it is attempting to be annexed to Pax Americana. Kosovo is now The Greater Bonsteel. This is a phase in the US strategic war of pipelines, primarily against Russia but also the EU.

Consequently, the Kosovo affair has little to do with Albanians (be they Muslim or not) or Serbs (or for that matter Israel). Various canards are used as decoys to shift attention from these strategic efforts by the US to other, largely irrelevant, narratives. Some are silly, some perhaps humorous, and some are downright ugly. My objection to ST is that he chose the ugliest variation: the continuous, base anti-Muslim racism. Hence, since unfortunately his last name ends with “ic” he paints all Serbs as raging lunatics prone to reflexive hatred of all Muslims. By appealing to the pro-Israel lobby he may also be racist towards all Jews, assuming, falsely, that they are insane Zionists. Yet, ST’s racism does not end there either. Look at his imagined retort to Dr. Rice. All he could think of is that she happens to be African-American, as if that is relevant to the content of her remark that it is time that the “Balkans begin to put its terrible history behind it.” Instead of pointing out, for example, how ignorant or arrogant she sounds, ST wants to give a lesson to African Americans how they should think about their past as slaves, because Rice, the messenger, is black.

It is high time for this reactionary, crypto-fascist, and racist writing to stop. If ST can no longer write in other ways, let him at least write on topics far removed from Serbia. (It is a shame that it has come to this as ST had done much good work in the past, e.g., on the WWII Ustashe atrocities.)

Mr. Pavlovich, who was Skanderbeg? What was his nationality? When he was fighting the Turks, what was the ruler of the Serbs doing? (Hint: he was *helping the Turks*!)

Maybe the expulsion of all Moslems from Europe would ultimately be a good thing. But since so much of the *native* population of Albania is Moslem, you’d probably see the Christian minorities of the Middle East expelled as well.

Incidentally, I seem to recall reading that during the 1960s, 70 per cent of Albanians were Mohammedan, 20 per cent were the self-styled Orthodox (sic), 10 per cent were Catholics. I don’t know what the numbers are now. I do hope that when Mr. Pavlovich annexes Albania, he discriminates between Mohammedans and Christians.

Many Catholic Albanians of the Byzantine Rite fled the Turks and found refuge in Italy and Sicily. Maybe those Albanians should claim a “right of return” and re-Christianize their homeland.

During my stint in the navy, a co-worker said that the reason we fought in Vietnam was tungsten. Three decades later with the help of the internet, I found out he was right. The only snag was the mine was in North Vietnam.

The US is powerful, Goran, but not omnipotent. My guess is that Costa Rica acted on their own.