More articles about Kosovo...
1. Tensions in Kosovo
(Scott Taylor, Halifax Herald, 21/6/2004)
2. The forgotten land
(Misha Glenny, The Guardian, 22/6/2004)
3. Kosovo is a region rich in mineral deposits...
(John Kelly for People Against War, 21/3/2004)
4. PILLARS IN QUICKSAND. Manifestation of a process
(Bob Petrovich, March 2004)
With a TIMELINE of the March 2004 pogroms
=== 1 ===
More recent analyses by the same Author:
NATO in Kosovo, a place of divided goals
(by Scott Taylor)
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/04/19/fWorld185.raw.html
Ethnic Violence erupts in Kosovo
(Photos and story by Scott Taylor)
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/new_page_170.htm
Interview: Scott Taylor: The Secrets of Occupation
(by Christopher Deliso)
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=363
---
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/new_page_196.htm
Monday, June 21, 2004 The Halifax Herald Limited
Opinion Page
Tensions in Kosovo
By SCOTT TAYLOR / On Target
PRISTINA, Kosovo
On June 10, the United Nations police force was placed on full alert.
Outside the gates of the civil headquarters, squads of riot police were
outfitted with body armour, batons and assault rifles. Behind the front
ranks stood additional units of heavily armed police officers with tear
gas dispensers at the ready. In the centre of the UN compound were a
number of armoured police vehicles and several prisoner transport buses
along with K-9 dog handlers parading about with some vicious-looking
Alsatians.
As further backup to the UN police force, a number of NATO combat units
were also in the vicinity and snipers were visible atop several key
buildings in downtown Pristina.
"After what happened in March, we are taking no chances," explained one
policewoman. "We (the UN) will not be taken by surprise again."
On March 17, the province of Kosovo erupted into a 48-hour orgy of
violence and destruction. Originally, the overwhelmed UN and NATO
security officials thought the sudden rampage by more than 100,000
Albanian Kosovars into the ethnic Serbian enclaves was a spontaneous
outpouring of hatred. But in the investigation that followed, it was
quickly discovered that the riots had been carefully planned by
Albanian leaders.
The two-day clashes left an estimated 19 civilians dead and 1,104
people injured - including 188 international soldiers and police. More
than 800 Serbian homes were destroyed, leaving some 4,000 people
homeless.
But perhaps one of the most disturbing aspects of the riots was the
deliberate destruction of 29 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries,
many dating back to the 11th century.
On June 9, 2 1/2 months after the riots, Albanian organizers of the
Kosovo Action Network advised UN officials they would be conducting a
major demonstration the following day. Although the network
spokesperson said that it was going to be an exercise in
"non-violence," there has been increased tension between the Albanian
Kosovars and the international community since the events of March.
As well, the situation between the Albanians and the Serbian minority
remains critically tense. On June 7, an Albanian extremist gunned down
a Serbian youth outside the Gracanica enclave. Following this drive-by
shooting, the Serbs of Gracanica staged a protest demanding that NATO
troops
respect UN Resolution 1244, which guarantees a "safe environment" for
all Kosovo residents.
Ironically, it was this same UN resolution that had been the focal
point of the Albanian protest on June 10.
The expected crowd - some 10,000 people, according to the organizers -
failed to materialize, with the actual number of protesters probably
being fewer than 1,000.
Despite the poor showing, the demonstration was well-organized -
complete with a powerful sound system blaring such rock anthems as
We're On a Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads and Bob Marley's classic
reggae hit Get Up, Stand Up - Stand Up For Your Rights.
The professionally printed placards proclaimed slogans such as "You
want standards - We want freedom," "Truth is hate to those who hate
truth" and "No independence, No freedom, No security, No peace," the
gist of which added up to a general denunciation of the UN/NATO
"occupation of Kosovo."
It has now been a full five years since the Serbian security forces
withdrew from Kosovo, and the Albanian Kosovars are frustrated by the
international community's failure to solve rampant unemployment and by
the delay in the process of moving toward self-governance and
independence.
As part of their new tactic of non-violence, the network demonstrators
simply blew whistles at the UN police line for a deafening 16 minutes.
Then, at the instruction of one organizer, everyone in the crowd held
up a small square of red cardboard - to symbolize Albanian independence
- and then threw it into the air.
The riot police were visibly relieved when the crowds silently turned
away and dispersed into the central square.
"These (Albanians) are claiming that the international community has
not done enough for them, that they are treated like second-class
citizens and that their human rights are being violated," said a UN
policeman.
Those are "the very same arguments that they used to convince the world
of what demons the Serbian administrators were," she said.
=== 2 ===
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4953224-103674,00.html
The forgotten land
Violence is bound to escalate if the UN's new representative in Kosovo
fails to get the international community to deliver support
Misha Glenny
Tuesday June 22, 2004
The Guardian
Last week, Kofi Annan named the Danish civil servant Soren
Jessen-Petersen as his new representative in Kosovo almost five years
to the day after Nato proclaimed its victory in its war against the
Yugoslav army. A time, then, for celebration and moving forward? Not a
bit. Nobody, neither Albanians nor Serbs nor internationals, was
celebrating the fifth anniversary. And many diplomats were very unhappy
at the mechanism which led to Jessen-Petersen's selection in which
national vanities triumphed over the real needs of Kosovo - a desperate
and potentially violent place these days.
What a contrast with June 1999 when Kosovo Albanians threw roses as the
west's tanks rolled in. The Albanians, 85% of the population, were
delirious at the prospect of a UN administration backed by Kfor, the
Nato-led military force. Even those who clearly had not benefited, the
Serbian minority in Kosovo, accepted the new reality without resorting
to sabotage or terrorism in response.
But in the past three years, Albanian joy has turned into resentment.
Serb bitterness has deepened. The UN, with a creditable record in
peace-keeping, has proved hopelessly inadequate at governing a complex
society like Kosovo.
The priority for the new boss in Pristina will be to defuse a bomb that
is ticking loudly and insistently. If he fails, there is little that
can stop a bloody social explosion from occurring in Kosovo which will
in turn trigger a huge security crisis in the southern Balkans.
This latter prospect has generated an air of controlled panic in much
(but worryingly not all) of Europe's foreign policy establishment. In
mid-March, an Albanian mob stormed the streets and villages of Kosovo
for two days resulting in 30 dead and a society more divided and
ungovernable than ever. Observers fear that a second such outbreak will
be much more violent. "The fact is if Kosovo goes up, we no longer have
the military resources to deal with it - the troops just aren't there,"
one senior British diplomat told me.
But in addition to the security issue, the political implications of
failure in Kosovo are equally grave. If a united international
community is unable to improve matters in a relatively benign
environment, what chances of a divided international community
succeeding in more hostile places like Iraq?
During a recent visit which included both Kosovo and Serbia, Denis
MacShane, the Foreign Office minister re sponsible for the Balkans, was
quick to recognise how crucial it has become to head off another crisis
in the region. As a consequence, the British government has now taken
the initiative in trying to rouse the US, France, Germany and Russia
out of the complacent slumber into which their Balkan policies have
fallen.
For two years after 1999, Kosovo appeared to develop well. The
reconstruction boom - when every government and NGO seemed to descend
on the territory - conferred an air of swift growth and prosperity. But
after that huge cash injection dried up, the economy began to contract
at a time when refugees were being turned out of their host countries
in Europe. The UN operation stagnated, proving itself especially poor
at devolving political power to local instances as a colonialist
mentality gripped its staff.
Little progress has been made on the difficult question of final
status, ie a constitutional settlement which would allow everyone to
get on with their lives. The Albanians still seek outright independence
while the Serbian government in Belgrade is prepared only to concede
limited autonomy for Albanians.
The international community should be acting as mediator between the
two sides. But instead it prefers to watch this futile dialogue of the
deaf from the sidelines. Meanwhile, the Kosovo economy has been sinking
disastrously, in part thanks to the Kosovo Trust Agency, the
privatisation body sullied by a stench of incompetence and corruption,
and run by internationals who have little or no grasp of the province's
economic needs.
As tens of thousands of school leavers enter the non-existent labour
market every year, unemployment has raced up to 65%. And it is these
frustrated, testosterone-packed kids who formed the mob in March,
targeting not just Serbs but representatives of the UN and Kfor as well.
Annan's new representative has much to do in a short space of time. He
must immediately address the economy to prevent unemployment from
rising further. He needs to start dismantling the UN operation which is
regarded with contempt by local people and international diplomats
alike. Instead he must invest all local governing structures with
greater authority.
But at the same time, he has to persuade Albanian politicians to
encourage the return and resettlement of tens of thousands of Serbian
refugees from the homes whence they were driven. And for that, he needs
money and support from the international community. If the Serbs don't
come back, then Kosovo will continue its perilous drift towards
partition, a process with the gravest implications for the stability of
south Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
And if that were not enough, he must devise a strategy that will lead
to a final status enabling Serbia and Kosovo, whether it is independent
or not, to accelerate the process of European integration. If
Jessen-Petersen fails, the Balkans will be making front-page splashes
once again for all the wrong reasons by this autumn or next spring at
the latest.
· Misha Glenny is the author of The Balkans 1804-1999 and runs See
Change 2004, promoting cross-border cooperation in the Balkans
=== 3 ===
http://www.artel.co.yu/en/izbor/jugoslavija/2004-03-22.html
Kosovo is a region rich in mineral deposits.
(Written by John Kelly for people Against War)
* According to Channel 4 today
From: Joe O'Brien - People Against War Network - Fax: 044 45787
To: The Media 21.3.2004
Oil, coal, lead, zinc, gold, silver, cobalt, nickel and chronium.
Industrial exploitation by the West would ensure vast profits to the
multi nationals - principally.
The Serbs the sole hindrance to foreign corporate take over. They are a
people with an historic resistance to fascism and the expropriation of
their ancestral lands.
US/NATO sponsored Kosovo Liberation Army forces joined by Albanian
criminal elements embark on a process not unlike that embarked upon in
an earlier era by Croatian Ustashe fascist forces, geared to the "Final
Solution". A final solution in the service of Big Business unable to
proceed in their proposed exploitative process whilst hindered by those
they define in their secret files as "expendables".
Those not assimilable to the Corporate State.
The envisaged globalwise Corporate State in the era of the New World
Order.
A Goebbelsian scapegoating of the victim is effected by the media which
acts on behalf of the military industrial complex and corporate profit.
It is entirely understandable that the media has license to lie on
behalf of Big Business.
The Lie prevails -
Omission of central fact or facts amounts to lie.
Ireland's State Broadcasting Authority RTE and the media generally
report on how 30 "people" had been killed this week in Kosovo.
Today we are told that 28 of these 30 "people" killed in this carefully
orchestrated campaign were Serbian people.
RTE's Tony Connelly brazenly stands before the camera and refers to bus
loads of "protestors" converging on townships across the province of
Kosovo.
These were not protestors, they were Albanian terrorists (10 thousand
of them*) hell bent on murder, arson and rampage against those Serbs
still resident in Kosovo despite Albanian pogroms and NATO bombings.
In a calculated attempt to enlist sympathy for ethnic Albanians as was
the case for over four years RTE reports on how thousands of ethnic
Albanians will attend the funerals of two boys who drowned in the fast
flowing waters of a river in their region after they had been "chased
by Serbs".
This was a complete fiction.
The Russian Information Agency Novosti, March 18th 2004 published a
refutation to this allegation of Serb culpability for the drownings of
the two ethnic Albanian children.
Derek Chappell Press Secretary of the UN Civilian Mission and UN Police
Spokesperson, states Novosti, completely denied the allegations.
One child who survived the misadventure when the three ethnic Albanian
children entered into the fast flowing waters of the river made no
mention of having been chased by Serbs.
This was an addendum provided by propagandists for Albanian fascists.
=== 4 ===
PILLARS IN QUICKSAND. Manifestation of a process
Bob Petrovich (written March 2004)
Only a day after Council of Europe warned of flagrant human rights
violations of Serbs and other non-Albanian citizens in UN controlled
Kosovo province, Serb churches and houses are set ablaze, people are
being killed, and situation deteriorates so quickly that KFOR admits it
is out of control.
KFOR spokesperson MAJ Stefan Ratzenberger, Austrian Army, gave his view
of what happened:
"Since the Albanians have been facing uncertainty over Kosovo's status
for quite a while now, and are nervous and tense, the case of the
Albanian children led to this escalation. It all began in Mitrovica and
the violence soon spread throughout Kosovo," he said. Ratzenberger
emphasized that the conflict is continuing and that tens of thousands
of Albanians are on the roads heading towards Pristina. No one knows,
he said, what will happen when the mob reaches the city."
The case that Maj. Ratzenberger alludes to is disinformation that
appeared in Kosovo Albanian media Wednesday morning, just on time to
incite Kosovo Albanians who gathered to protest arrest of four former
KLA terrorists members by UNMIK.
According to Kosovo Albanian media, Serbs chased children into the
River and children drowned. In reality, Serbs had nothing to do with
the drowning of Albanian children (see the statement of UNMIK
spokesperson below)
This should have put UNMIK and KFOR on the high alert, since earlier
instances of such calls for witch hunt resulted in violent clashes, but
for some reason it did not -the outbreak of violence March 17/18, took
KFOR and UNMIK Police by surprise.
Inciting masses and presenting the reaction as a spontaneous act is
nothing new. KRISTALLNACHT was presented as a spontaneous reaction of
the German people to the news that a
German diplomat had been murdered by a young Jewish refugee in Paris.
In reality, the whole event was organized by the NSDAP to force German
Jews to flee Germany.
What happened in Kosovo is chillingly similar: once falsified story
sparked orchestrated violence, Albanian Extremists set Churches, and
Serb homes ablaze and put Serb civilians under machine gun and sniper
fire. At least 22 people dead and hundreds wounded, some gravely.
Hundreds of Serbs are missing. NATO calls for KFOR reinforcement.
Human rights organizations perpetuating politically correct delusion
about Kosovo "nationbuilding" success are silent. Their guilt in
complicity makes them resistant to admit the facts.
Still, Albanian terrorists, as master confidence artists, continue to
succeed in seemingly impossible: to openly manifest repetitive criminal
behavior, and at the same time sustain an inordinate amount of trust
media put in them. So much that even after reported 1000 murdered and
1000 presumed dead victims of Albanian terrorism in UNMIK controlled
province, and openly voiced ambition for ethnically clean Kosovo,
latest developments are being explained as an outrage to deaths of
these three unfortunate children.
TIMELINE:
[1] Monday March 15 2004 : Kosovo Albanian extremists shoot and wound
18 year old Serb boy in drive by shooting in Ceglavica village near
Pristina.
Kosovo Serbs protest
[2] Tuesday March 16 2004:
Paris : A hearing on human rights situation in Kosovo. The Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly held a
hearing on the human rights
situation in Kosovo in the Council of Europe Paris Office on Tuesday 16
March 2004. The hearing was opened by the first Vice-Chairperson of the
committee, Dick Marty (Switzerland,
LDR). Participants included Bajram Rexhepi, Prime Minister of the
Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) of Kosovo. Abysmal
human rights for non-Albanians reported. Damaging report for Extremists
and their supporters.
Washington DC: According to UNMIK, former KLA head Hashim Thaci visited
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Europe and Euro-Asia, Kathleen Stephens
and annother senior official (Jim Sweigert).Ms. Stephens appreciated
Mr. Thaci's effort for creating necessary conditions for the well being
of the citizens in areas such as the rule of law, the fight against
crime and corruption, the dialogue, the returns, freedom of movement,
economic development and privatization.
Pristina: The senior United Nations envoy in Kosovo today informed
Albanian leaders in the province that a number of Kosovo Albanians,
members of KPC have been arrested in
connection with serious crimes, including murder of Kosovo Albanians in
1998. Among the arrested is General Selim Krasniqi, commander of the
Second Zone of KPC.
Cabra Village near Kosovoska Mitrovica : 3 Albanian youths disappear in
fast Ibar river around 4:30 PM. No accusation that it was caused by
Serbs exist at that time.
[3] Wednesday March 17 2004:
Mass demonstrations of Kosovo Albanians throughout Kosovo province with
the aim to get General Krasniqi and other arrested terrorists released.
Kosovo Albanian media incite public with fraudulent claim that it was
Serbs who caused the death of Albanian youth.
Mobs of Albanian extremists, numbering in thousands, armed with assault
weapons and grenades clash with UNMIK, KFOR and Serb civilians
throughout the Kosovo province, torching Serb houses and Christian
churches.
There are 18 people dead and hundreds wounded. All churches in Prizren
burned, including 14th Century monastery of the Holy Archangels.
UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell said tonight that the survivor of
yesterday's Ibar River drowning has told his parents that he and three
friends entered the river alone and were immediately caught up in the
heavy current. The boy managed to reach the opposite bank of the river,
but his three companions were swept away.
The incident happened at about 4.30 p.m. and police began a search of
the river about an hour and a half later. Two bodies have been found
so far. Today's violent incidents around Kosovo were sparked after
claims that the boys had been chased into the river by Serbs with a dog.
Chappell told media in Pristina tonight that this was definitely not
true according to the account of the surviving boy.
The violence in Kosovo today has obviously been planned in advance,
UNMIK spokesman
Derek Chappell told Austrian state television ORF this evening.
In a report broadcast at midnight, Chappell described the situation as
chaotic.
“There has been violence in Kosovo before, but this time it’s
coordinated action. The violence erupted in a number of places at the
same time which shows that it was planned in advance,” he said.
1. Tensions in Kosovo
(Scott Taylor, Halifax Herald, 21/6/2004)
2. The forgotten land
(Misha Glenny, The Guardian, 22/6/2004)
3. Kosovo is a region rich in mineral deposits...
(John Kelly for People Against War, 21/3/2004)
4. PILLARS IN QUICKSAND. Manifestation of a process
(Bob Petrovich, March 2004)
With a TIMELINE of the March 2004 pogroms
=== 1 ===
More recent analyses by the same Author:
NATO in Kosovo, a place of divided goals
(by Scott Taylor)
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/04/19/fWorld185.raw.html
Ethnic Violence erupts in Kosovo
(Photos and story by Scott Taylor)
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/new_page_170.htm
Interview: Scott Taylor: The Secrets of Occupation
(by Christopher Deliso)
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=363
---
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/new_page_196.htm
Monday, June 21, 2004 The Halifax Herald Limited
Opinion Page
Tensions in Kosovo
By SCOTT TAYLOR / On Target
PRISTINA, Kosovo
On June 10, the United Nations police force was placed on full alert.
Outside the gates of the civil headquarters, squads of riot police were
outfitted with body armour, batons and assault rifles. Behind the front
ranks stood additional units of heavily armed police officers with tear
gas dispensers at the ready. In the centre of the UN compound were a
number of armoured police vehicles and several prisoner transport buses
along with K-9 dog handlers parading about with some vicious-looking
Alsatians.
As further backup to the UN police force, a number of NATO combat units
were also in the vicinity and snipers were visible atop several key
buildings in downtown Pristina.
"After what happened in March, we are taking no chances," explained one
policewoman. "We (the UN) will not be taken by surprise again."
On March 17, the province of Kosovo erupted into a 48-hour orgy of
violence and destruction. Originally, the overwhelmed UN and NATO
security officials thought the sudden rampage by more than 100,000
Albanian Kosovars into the ethnic Serbian enclaves was a spontaneous
outpouring of hatred. But in the investigation that followed, it was
quickly discovered that the riots had been carefully planned by
Albanian leaders.
The two-day clashes left an estimated 19 civilians dead and 1,104
people injured - including 188 international soldiers and police. More
than 800 Serbian homes were destroyed, leaving some 4,000 people
homeless.
But perhaps one of the most disturbing aspects of the riots was the
deliberate destruction of 29 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries,
many dating back to the 11th century.
On June 9, 2 1/2 months after the riots, Albanian organizers of the
Kosovo Action Network advised UN officials they would be conducting a
major demonstration the following day. Although the network
spokesperson said that it was going to be an exercise in
"non-violence," there has been increased tension between the Albanian
Kosovars and the international community since the events of March.
As well, the situation between the Albanians and the Serbian minority
remains critically tense. On June 7, an Albanian extremist gunned down
a Serbian youth outside the Gracanica enclave. Following this drive-by
shooting, the Serbs of Gracanica staged a protest demanding that NATO
troops
respect UN Resolution 1244, which guarantees a "safe environment" for
all Kosovo residents.
Ironically, it was this same UN resolution that had been the focal
point of the Albanian protest on June 10.
The expected crowd - some 10,000 people, according to the organizers -
failed to materialize, with the actual number of protesters probably
being fewer than 1,000.
Despite the poor showing, the demonstration was well-organized -
complete with a powerful sound system blaring such rock anthems as
We're On a Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads and Bob Marley's classic
reggae hit Get Up, Stand Up - Stand Up For Your Rights.
The professionally printed placards proclaimed slogans such as "You
want standards - We want freedom," "Truth is hate to those who hate
truth" and "No independence, No freedom, No security, No peace," the
gist of which added up to a general denunciation of the UN/NATO
"occupation of Kosovo."
It has now been a full five years since the Serbian security forces
withdrew from Kosovo, and the Albanian Kosovars are frustrated by the
international community's failure to solve rampant unemployment and by
the delay in the process of moving toward self-governance and
independence.
As part of their new tactic of non-violence, the network demonstrators
simply blew whistles at the UN police line for a deafening 16 minutes.
Then, at the instruction of one organizer, everyone in the crowd held
up a small square of red cardboard - to symbolize Albanian independence
- and then threw it into the air.
The riot police were visibly relieved when the crowds silently turned
away and dispersed into the central square.
"These (Albanians) are claiming that the international community has
not done enough for them, that they are treated like second-class
citizens and that their human rights are being violated," said a UN
policeman.
Those are "the very same arguments that they used to convince the world
of what demons the Serbian administrators were," she said.
=== 2 ===
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4953224-103674,00.html
The forgotten land
Violence is bound to escalate if the UN's new representative in Kosovo
fails to get the international community to deliver support
Misha Glenny
Tuesday June 22, 2004
The Guardian
Last week, Kofi Annan named the Danish civil servant Soren
Jessen-Petersen as his new representative in Kosovo almost five years
to the day after Nato proclaimed its victory in its war against the
Yugoslav army. A time, then, for celebration and moving forward? Not a
bit. Nobody, neither Albanians nor Serbs nor internationals, was
celebrating the fifth anniversary. And many diplomats were very unhappy
at the mechanism which led to Jessen-Petersen's selection in which
national vanities triumphed over the real needs of Kosovo - a desperate
and potentially violent place these days.
What a contrast with June 1999 when Kosovo Albanians threw roses as the
west's tanks rolled in. The Albanians, 85% of the population, were
delirious at the prospect of a UN administration backed by Kfor, the
Nato-led military force. Even those who clearly had not benefited, the
Serbian minority in Kosovo, accepted the new reality without resorting
to sabotage or terrorism in response.
But in the past three years, Albanian joy has turned into resentment.
Serb bitterness has deepened. The UN, with a creditable record in
peace-keeping, has proved hopelessly inadequate at governing a complex
society like Kosovo.
The priority for the new boss in Pristina will be to defuse a bomb that
is ticking loudly and insistently. If he fails, there is little that
can stop a bloody social explosion from occurring in Kosovo which will
in turn trigger a huge security crisis in the southern Balkans.
This latter prospect has generated an air of controlled panic in much
(but worryingly not all) of Europe's foreign policy establishment. In
mid-March, an Albanian mob stormed the streets and villages of Kosovo
for two days resulting in 30 dead and a society more divided and
ungovernable than ever. Observers fear that a second such outbreak will
be much more violent. "The fact is if Kosovo goes up, we no longer have
the military resources to deal with it - the troops just aren't there,"
one senior British diplomat told me.
But in addition to the security issue, the political implications of
failure in Kosovo are equally grave. If a united international
community is unable to improve matters in a relatively benign
environment, what chances of a divided international community
succeeding in more hostile places like Iraq?
During a recent visit which included both Kosovo and Serbia, Denis
MacShane, the Foreign Office minister re sponsible for the Balkans, was
quick to recognise how crucial it has become to head off another crisis
in the region. As a consequence, the British government has now taken
the initiative in trying to rouse the US, France, Germany and Russia
out of the complacent slumber into which their Balkan policies have
fallen.
For two years after 1999, Kosovo appeared to develop well. The
reconstruction boom - when every government and NGO seemed to descend
on the territory - conferred an air of swift growth and prosperity. But
after that huge cash injection dried up, the economy began to contract
at a time when refugees were being turned out of their host countries
in Europe. The UN operation stagnated, proving itself especially poor
at devolving political power to local instances as a colonialist
mentality gripped its staff.
Little progress has been made on the difficult question of final
status, ie a constitutional settlement which would allow everyone to
get on with their lives. The Albanians still seek outright independence
while the Serbian government in Belgrade is prepared only to concede
limited autonomy for Albanians.
The international community should be acting as mediator between the
two sides. But instead it prefers to watch this futile dialogue of the
deaf from the sidelines. Meanwhile, the Kosovo economy has been sinking
disastrously, in part thanks to the Kosovo Trust Agency, the
privatisation body sullied by a stench of incompetence and corruption,
and run by internationals who have little or no grasp of the province's
economic needs.
As tens of thousands of school leavers enter the non-existent labour
market every year, unemployment has raced up to 65%. And it is these
frustrated, testosterone-packed kids who formed the mob in March,
targeting not just Serbs but representatives of the UN and Kfor as well.
Annan's new representative has much to do in a short space of time. He
must immediately address the economy to prevent unemployment from
rising further. He needs to start dismantling the UN operation which is
regarded with contempt by local people and international diplomats
alike. Instead he must invest all local governing structures with
greater authority.
But at the same time, he has to persuade Albanian politicians to
encourage the return and resettlement of tens of thousands of Serbian
refugees from the homes whence they were driven. And for that, he needs
money and support from the international community. If the Serbs don't
come back, then Kosovo will continue its perilous drift towards
partition, a process with the gravest implications for the stability of
south Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
And if that were not enough, he must devise a strategy that will lead
to a final status enabling Serbia and Kosovo, whether it is independent
or not, to accelerate the process of European integration. If
Jessen-Petersen fails, the Balkans will be making front-page splashes
once again for all the wrong reasons by this autumn or next spring at
the latest.
· Misha Glenny is the author of The Balkans 1804-1999 and runs See
Change 2004, promoting cross-border cooperation in the Balkans
=== 3 ===
http://www.artel.co.yu/en/izbor/jugoslavija/2004-03-22.html
Kosovo is a region rich in mineral deposits.
(Written by John Kelly for people Against War)
* According to Channel 4 today
From: Joe O'Brien - People Against War Network - Fax: 044 45787
To: The Media 21.3.2004
Oil, coal, lead, zinc, gold, silver, cobalt, nickel and chronium.
Industrial exploitation by the West would ensure vast profits to the
multi nationals - principally.
The Serbs the sole hindrance to foreign corporate take over. They are a
people with an historic resistance to fascism and the expropriation of
their ancestral lands.
US/NATO sponsored Kosovo Liberation Army forces joined by Albanian
criminal elements embark on a process not unlike that embarked upon in
an earlier era by Croatian Ustashe fascist forces, geared to the "Final
Solution". A final solution in the service of Big Business unable to
proceed in their proposed exploitative process whilst hindered by those
they define in their secret files as "expendables".
Those not assimilable to the Corporate State.
The envisaged globalwise Corporate State in the era of the New World
Order.
A Goebbelsian scapegoating of the victim is effected by the media which
acts on behalf of the military industrial complex and corporate profit.
It is entirely understandable that the media has license to lie on
behalf of Big Business.
The Lie prevails -
Omission of central fact or facts amounts to lie.
Ireland's State Broadcasting Authority RTE and the media generally
report on how 30 "people" had been killed this week in Kosovo.
Today we are told that 28 of these 30 "people" killed in this carefully
orchestrated campaign were Serbian people.
RTE's Tony Connelly brazenly stands before the camera and refers to bus
loads of "protestors" converging on townships across the province of
Kosovo.
These were not protestors, they were Albanian terrorists (10 thousand
of them*) hell bent on murder, arson and rampage against those Serbs
still resident in Kosovo despite Albanian pogroms and NATO bombings.
In a calculated attempt to enlist sympathy for ethnic Albanians as was
the case for over four years RTE reports on how thousands of ethnic
Albanians will attend the funerals of two boys who drowned in the fast
flowing waters of a river in their region after they had been "chased
by Serbs".
This was a complete fiction.
The Russian Information Agency Novosti, March 18th 2004 published a
refutation to this allegation of Serb culpability for the drownings of
the two ethnic Albanian children.
Derek Chappell Press Secretary of the UN Civilian Mission and UN Police
Spokesperson, states Novosti, completely denied the allegations.
One child who survived the misadventure when the three ethnic Albanian
children entered into the fast flowing waters of the river made no
mention of having been chased by Serbs.
This was an addendum provided by propagandists for Albanian fascists.
=== 4 ===
PILLARS IN QUICKSAND. Manifestation of a process
Bob Petrovich (written March 2004)
Only a day after Council of Europe warned of flagrant human rights
violations of Serbs and other non-Albanian citizens in UN controlled
Kosovo province, Serb churches and houses are set ablaze, people are
being killed, and situation deteriorates so quickly that KFOR admits it
is out of control.
KFOR spokesperson MAJ Stefan Ratzenberger, Austrian Army, gave his view
of what happened:
"Since the Albanians have been facing uncertainty over Kosovo's status
for quite a while now, and are nervous and tense, the case of the
Albanian children led to this escalation. It all began in Mitrovica and
the violence soon spread throughout Kosovo," he said. Ratzenberger
emphasized that the conflict is continuing and that tens of thousands
of Albanians are on the roads heading towards Pristina. No one knows,
he said, what will happen when the mob reaches the city."
The case that Maj. Ratzenberger alludes to is disinformation that
appeared in Kosovo Albanian media Wednesday morning, just on time to
incite Kosovo Albanians who gathered to protest arrest of four former
KLA terrorists members by UNMIK.
According to Kosovo Albanian media, Serbs chased children into the
River and children drowned. In reality, Serbs had nothing to do with
the drowning of Albanian children (see the statement of UNMIK
spokesperson below)
This should have put UNMIK and KFOR on the high alert, since earlier
instances of such calls for witch hunt resulted in violent clashes, but
for some reason it did not -the outbreak of violence March 17/18, took
KFOR and UNMIK Police by surprise.
Inciting masses and presenting the reaction as a spontaneous act is
nothing new. KRISTALLNACHT was presented as a spontaneous reaction of
the German people to the news that a
German diplomat had been murdered by a young Jewish refugee in Paris.
In reality, the whole event was organized by the NSDAP to force German
Jews to flee Germany.
What happened in Kosovo is chillingly similar: once falsified story
sparked orchestrated violence, Albanian Extremists set Churches, and
Serb homes ablaze and put Serb civilians under machine gun and sniper
fire. At least 22 people dead and hundreds wounded, some gravely.
Hundreds of Serbs are missing. NATO calls for KFOR reinforcement.
Human rights organizations perpetuating politically correct delusion
about Kosovo "nationbuilding" success are silent. Their guilt in
complicity makes them resistant to admit the facts.
Still, Albanian terrorists, as master confidence artists, continue to
succeed in seemingly impossible: to openly manifest repetitive criminal
behavior, and at the same time sustain an inordinate amount of trust
media put in them. So much that even after reported 1000 murdered and
1000 presumed dead victims of Albanian terrorism in UNMIK controlled
province, and openly voiced ambition for ethnically clean Kosovo,
latest developments are being explained as an outrage to deaths of
these three unfortunate children.
TIMELINE:
[1] Monday March 15 2004 : Kosovo Albanian extremists shoot and wound
18 year old Serb boy in drive by shooting in Ceglavica village near
Pristina.
Kosovo Serbs protest
[2] Tuesday March 16 2004:
Paris : A hearing on human rights situation in Kosovo. The Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly held a
hearing on the human rights
situation in Kosovo in the Council of Europe Paris Office on Tuesday 16
March 2004. The hearing was opened by the first Vice-Chairperson of the
committee, Dick Marty (Switzerland,
LDR). Participants included Bajram Rexhepi, Prime Minister of the
Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) of Kosovo. Abysmal
human rights for non-Albanians reported. Damaging report for Extremists
and their supporters.
Washington DC: According to UNMIK, former KLA head Hashim Thaci visited
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Europe and Euro-Asia, Kathleen Stephens
and annother senior official (Jim Sweigert).Ms. Stephens appreciated
Mr. Thaci's effort for creating necessary conditions for the well being
of the citizens in areas such as the rule of law, the fight against
crime and corruption, the dialogue, the returns, freedom of movement,
economic development and privatization.
Pristina: The senior United Nations envoy in Kosovo today informed
Albanian leaders in the province that a number of Kosovo Albanians,
members of KPC have been arrested in
connection with serious crimes, including murder of Kosovo Albanians in
1998. Among the arrested is General Selim Krasniqi, commander of the
Second Zone of KPC.
Cabra Village near Kosovoska Mitrovica : 3 Albanian youths disappear in
fast Ibar river around 4:30 PM. No accusation that it was caused by
Serbs exist at that time.
[3] Wednesday March 17 2004:
Mass demonstrations of Kosovo Albanians throughout Kosovo province with
the aim to get General Krasniqi and other arrested terrorists released.
Kosovo Albanian media incite public with fraudulent claim that it was
Serbs who caused the death of Albanian youth.
Mobs of Albanian extremists, numbering in thousands, armed with assault
weapons and grenades clash with UNMIK, KFOR and Serb civilians
throughout the Kosovo province, torching Serb houses and Christian
churches.
There are 18 people dead and hundreds wounded. All churches in Prizren
burned, including 14th Century monastery of the Holy Archangels.
UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell said tonight that the survivor of
yesterday's Ibar River drowning has told his parents that he and three
friends entered the river alone and were immediately caught up in the
heavy current. The boy managed to reach the opposite bank of the river,
but his three companions were swept away.
The incident happened at about 4.30 p.m. and police began a search of
the river about an hour and a half later. Two bodies have been found
so far. Today's violent incidents around Kosovo were sparked after
claims that the boys had been chased into the river by Serbs with a dog.
Chappell told media in Pristina tonight that this was definitely not
true according to the account of the surviving boy.
The violence in Kosovo today has obviously been planned in advance,
UNMIK spokesman
Derek Chappell told Austrian state television ORF this evening.
In a report broadcast at midnight, Chappell described the situation as
chaotic.
“There has been violence in Kosovo before, but this time it’s
coordinated action. The violence erupted in a number of places at the
same time which shows that it was planned in advance,” he said.