Posted on 05/19/2002 7:12:29 PM PDT by ABrit
SERBIA -- FACING UP TO THE PAST
By Patrick Moore Sooner or later, Serbia will have to look into its recent past and the question of its responsibility for four Balkan wars. Some recent developments suggest that such introspection will not come easily.
On 28 April, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, who is a Democrat from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, addressed an Albanian-American civic group in New York. His speech covered many aspects of Balkan affairs and his recommendations for U.S. and international policies toward the region. He noted that the situation there remains "precarious" despite much progress in recent years.
Turning to Serbia, Biden noted that President Vojislav Kostunica is "a - Serbian nationalist, but he doesn't call all the shots. He's in a fierce political struggle with Prime Minister [Zoran] Djindjic, also a nationalist but not a fanatic -- and more importantly, an astute politician who recognizes that his country's future is with the West."
The senator noted that Serbia has made much progress since the overthrow of President Slobodan Milosevic on 5 October 2000, but stressed that Belgrade should meet four conditions before aid is restored.
The first is that it must cease "negative interference in Kosova's and Bosnia's political life." Second, Serbia "must fully comply with the international war crimes tribunal." Third, it must "end the de facto partition" of Mitrovica in northern Kosova. And fourth, "Kostunica and Djindjic must publicly own up to Serbia's behavior in the 1990s by apologizing for its genocidal campaign in Kosova, as well as in Croatia and Bosnia."
It was the senator's fourth point -- the apology -- that touched a raw nerve in Serbia and led to a public comment by Djindjic and a lively discussion in the press.
Briefly, many or most commentators from the mainstream press made the following points. Senator Biden is an important and influential figure, but it is Secretary of State Colin Powell who has set the conditions that Serbia must meet, and a public apology is not one of them. The United States has criticized many aspects of the policies of the governing Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition, but no one in Washington has any interest in destabilizing DOS.
Milosevic and his cronies, the commentaries continued, are responsible for taking Serbia into war, but the people ousted them on 5 October 2000. In his public remarks on 10 May this year, Djindjic argued that there is no one from the Milosevic regime in power in Belgrade now, and so there is no reason for the present government to apologize for what that regime did.
Some writers added -- as have many Serbs over the past decade -- that all sides were to blame in the violent breakup of former Yugoslavia and that it is unfair to single out the Serbs for war guilt. Other writers ask why an apology is necessary at all, even if apologies for slavery and other historical injustices have become part of American political ure in recent years.
Some commentators acknowledge that Serbs should reexamine their past but feel that it is too soon after the conflicts of the 1990s and the fall of Milosevic for Serbia to produce "a Willy Brandt" -- a leader who will apologize to the dictatorship's victims as the former West German chancellor apologized to those tormented by .
Indeed, some German Balkan experts have suggested in recent years that it is unlikely that the Serbs will be able to come to grips with their past and war guilt any quicker than the Germans did. These experts argue that Germany did not really face up to such issues until the West German student protests of 1968 and the soul-searching that accompanied and followed that period. One should not expect much more of the Serbs, the German Balkan experts add.
But at least many Germans recognized from 1945 on that their country had been defeated and that consequences had to be drawn. In today's Serbia, however, this does not always seem to be the case.
Nonetheless, some progressive Serbian intellectuals have said that Serbian society must now recognize that it is necessary to face up to the past, to come out of blame and denial, and to have a "catharsis." Only then can Serbia rebuild not only its relations with its neighbors, but also its educational system and other institutions that were carefully built up over the better part of two centuries but are now in shambles.
In short, Serbia will sooner or later find it necessary to remove what one intellectual has called the "mud" from its political ure and thinking. And while Germany may have needed a quarter of a century before it happened, Willy Brandt eventually did kneel in Warsaw.
I feel confident that klintooon probably "had" alot more that on him, but only let the plagarism story leak to frighten ol'joe otta' the race....so ol' LIBERAL JOE has been toting klintoon's water EVER SINCE!!!
"WHATEVER KLINTOON WANTS....KLINTOON GETS", IS JOE'S MOTTO!!!
To MOST folks here on FR, JOE BIDEN is considered the liberal's friend.... A really desparate democRAT!!
If that jerk biden says ANYTHING, ABOUT ANY SUBJECT, at anytime, I just DISCOUNT IT AS PURE MANURE OUTTA' THE MOUTH OF a KLINTOONISTA democRAT!!
OF COURSE, the LIBERALS who stop by and post his comments, JUST EAT HIS WORDS RIGHT UP!!!They are true to all causes liberal and klintoonista!!
Like I said....joe biden is a liberal...and a jerk!! No matter the subject, joe is always a jerk!!
Citizens initiative trying to curb Albania's blood feuds, with limited success
And we Americans need to rid oursleves of the disgusting filth of muslim (including Albanian) fifth-columnist influence!!!! For example, Joe Biden was speaking at that Albanian-"American" gathering because he is the paid shill of the Albanian PAC!!!!
Biden's paid shill status is a matter of public record, since all PACs must list their political contributions. Also a matter of pulbic record is the large number of Albanian pizzeria owners (most in the New York City area) who contribute to that PAC. This is the notorious pizza mafia, which is both connected with the Albanian drug mafia, and with funneling ill-gotten money to both the KLA/UCK and al Qaeda!!!!
Anyone still think that Biden is at all "respectable", or that he has the right to tell Serbia to apologize and to stop trying to protect Serbs in Kosovo and to get back its legitimate territories there and in Bosnia?
Maybe I can excuse your ignorance in posting this trash, but I certainly can't excuse the ignorance of the writer. This person seems to have ignored all of the facts of history and is simply engaging in the latest round of justification for those demagogues who have tried to use the Serbs as Hitler used the Jews. The Serbs are a convenient enemy to redirect hate and criticism that should be leveled at others. Here are a few facts that must be remembered.
1. During WWII, the Croatian Nazis killed between 300,000 and 700,000 Serbs. They committed these atrocities in an effort to eliminate the Orthodox religion from the South Slav population. They were allied with the Nazis and also killed Jews and Roma.
When Yugoslavia was recreated after the war, one reason for putting the Croats under the power of the Serbs was that the Serbs feared another repeat of this holocaust. Admittedly, a time must come when the past must fade into the past. The Croats and the Serbs are not one people, and I favor letting the Croats go to become a separate nation. However, they should have created some mechanism for compensating the Serbs who would need to leave the new Croatia. Turning these people out as refugees is wrong.
2. During WWII, the Serbs were allies of the United States. American pilots who fell into the hands of the Croats were killed or given to the Germans as prisoners. Those who fell into the hands of the Serbs were smuggled through the Balkans until they could be returned to the United States Army. When we bombed Serbia in 1999, we killed men who had saved our pilots during WWII.
3. Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. When the Serbs were at the peak of their power and pride, their kings established churches in the Kosovo region. While I don't fully understand the connection of any people to a piece of land, I don't deny the value of Kosovo to the Serbs.
4. The KLA is a terrorist organization. The KLA is a part of or at least closely associated with Al-Qaeda. Prior to 1999, they were on the list of terrorist organizations, and Albania was listed as a country supporting terrorism. They are a terror not only to Serbs but also to innocent Kosovar Albanians who do not want to join them. During the Macedonian crisis, the media even admitted that many Albanians were seeking shelter with Slavic neighbors for fear of the KLA. The active resistance of Serbia against the KLA is a completely moral use of force. The Serbs are as justified in bombing the KLA as we were in bombing those caves in Afghanistan. In both cases, an attacked country was using justified force to destroy a deadly enemy.
Old Enemies?
Kosovo: A Year Later
The Kosovo War: An American's Perspective
Bill
And, you should go to the liberal democRAT site and post ol' joe biden's remarks over there!!
Not even close - The Serbs tried to hold the country together rather than let the spinoff republics create hundreds of thousands of Serb refugees. The Kosovars left after America started bombing. I'm sure that the Serbs wanted them to leave, but they likely wouldn't have left if we hadn't escalated the war. Most Kosovars didn't support the terrorists. Unfortunately, Bill Clinton did.
Better yet... I'll do it for ya. His posts can be found HERE.
Oh I am sorry, I forgot that we are supposed to forget about history ---
as we now know, that myth is simply a bit of Clintonista/CNN agit-prop. The KLA was issuing orders to people to leave. The KLA distributed phamphlets with Rugova's signiture on it ordering Albanians to leave. In addition, people are exactly going to hang around while thousads of planes are overhead dropping cluster bombs. Finally please note that just in the Llap region, the KLA has admitted to expelling some 220,000 civilians, more than a quarter of Clinton's total
attacks on Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia
ah yes this old canard. Interestingly enough, Macedonia was able to peacefully succeed from the Yugoslav Federation. The firefights during the reckless Slovenian succession occured while a Croat (Mesic currently President of Zagreb) was Head of Yugoslavia. In the Bosnian Civil War, the UN investigation of 1992 proved that all Yugoslav forces had withdrawn. Ditto for the Croat succesion.
As for your rather silly premise that a country (ie the SFRY) can invade itself........well 'nuf said.
As for this article.......Biden is speaking to a neo-Nazi group of Albanians who are bent on destablizing the entire region, this group still supports the KLA killers such as Remi, Ceku, Thaci, Gashi, and Haradanjeni. This zenophobic group refuses to acknowledge the KLA links with Al-Queeda and continues to support KLA terror agianst moderate and loyalist Albanians A(lbanian) Brit stick to defending the KLA, it's is a trifle more sensible.
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