Meanwhile in Kosovo...

Churches were vandalised during last year's rioting Potential donors attending a conference in Paris on Friday are being asked for money to help restore the cultural heritage of Kosovo.

At the top of the list are Serbian Orthodox churches targeted by ethnic Albanian mobs during three days of bloody rioting in the province in 2004.

Except for raindrops falling from its ceiling, the Church of the Holy Virgin of Ljeviska in Prizren is silent.

The bell has not rung for more than a year; not since ethnic Albanian extremists arrived in March 2004 and set fire to the church.

The UN's global heritage organisation, Unesco, described it as "an unpardonable act of vandalism against one of the most important medieval monuments in the Balkans.''

It will cost $4m (£2.1m or 3.1m euros) to repair, and this is just one example of many. The Serbian Orthodox Church says more than 80 of its monuments have been damaged since the war in 1999, but the figures are disputed.

Unesco says that 75 monuments are in need of urgent restoration in Kosovo, 48 of them Serbian Orthodox. Another 14 are in fact Islamic, says Unesco, and they date back to the time when Kosovo was part of the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

Raising the money for the Orthodox heritage is one thing, but getting the Serbian clergy to co-operate with the Kosovo government in the reconstruction has been much more difficult.

The head of the Church in Kosovo, Bishop Artemije, has been the biggest obstacle, though in recent months his colleagues have tried discreetly to sideline him in an attempt to push things along.

To visit Decani Monastery in the west of Kosovo, you have to pass through a heavily armoured K-For checkpoint. Inside, French peacekeepers are buying bottles of the monks' home-made wine as souvenirs, while Father Sava tells me that relations with the Kosovo government have begun to improve.

But there is lingering distrust when he says that "unfortunately, the Kosovo institutions during the March riots last year did not play a very constructive role".

"On the contrary," he says, "some representatives of the Kosovo government incited the riots, and that is something which is very sad.''

In turn, senior sources in the Kosovo government have told the BBC that they believe the Serbian Orthodox Church has tried to keep the monuments in ruins for as long as possible - as a visual reminder to the international community of what Albanian extremists are capable of.

In just a few months' time, negotiations are expected to begin on the final status of Kosovo. It may soon gain independence from Serbia.

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo has made no secret of its desire to withdraw as much as possible, as soon as possible.

But on one thing both the Church and the Kosovo government agree: these examples of cultural heritage will need the protection of foreign peacekeepers for many years to come.

There might still be time to give Kosovo back to its rightful owners (or simply get the hell out of the place and let the rightful owners retake it) BEFORE the UN comes over here demanding that we hand Texas and California over to Mexico on the same perverted basis of ethnicity being everything and things like rightful ownership and sovereignty not meaning anything anymore.

The province's environment minister, Ardian Gjini, says: "The Kosovo government allocated the money, the UN mission was ready to start the work, but the Orthodox Church wasn't ready for a deal with the government and the UN.''

The UN blames the victims of anti-Christian destruction, while pretending that the thugs are the righteous ones.

...senior sources in the Kosovo government have told the BBC that they believe the Serbian Orthodox Church has tried to keep the monuments in ruins as long as possible...

The BBC reporter faithfully records the comments of the "senior sources," giving the comment weight, without asking unpleasant question--such as: Why is a fortified K-For checkpoint still needed to protect the monastery at Decani and the monks therein? It must be true of the evil Serbs that they allow the ruins to exist in order to make the "Kosovo government" look bad. (Some of our people (ethnic Albanian extremists) wrecked it, of course, and we accept no responsibility: so why don't you fix your church and make us look good--even though you better keep your safety checkpoint, or our people will plant bombs again!

Further BBC reportage: In just a few months' time, negotiations are expected to begin on the final status of Kosovo. It may soon gain independence from Serbia.

This is the little seed that this type of reporting sows, a type of wish-fulfilment fantasy, that is meant to create the fertile ground where the "fait accompli" may grow. This reporter would never dream of making the same statement about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, going on for over half a century, with no end in sight: that is, "negotiations are expected to begin on the final status of Palestine. It may soon throw off the Israeli occupation and gain its independence." No! Not from the BBC, or any American media outlet, but each finds "Kosovo independence" so easy and logical. The years pass, but still the Great Power(s) try to exert their will in the Balkans.

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