(from CNN.com)Posted on 05/27/2006 8:19:43 AM PDT by A. Pole
The former US general who commanded NATO's 1999 air war against Serbia predicted its southern province of Kosovo would become independent within months.
Wesley Clark told Kosovo Albanian leaders in Pristina he had confidence in their "strong, positive and visionary proposals" to find a solution for Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999.
"I am confident that this issue will be solved very soon, and probably in few months, Kosovo will become independent and will respect the rights of all citizens," said Clark.
"I believe that Kosovo will be welcomed into the family of the nations and that there will be many opportunities for the citizens of this country to prosper, raise big families and make their dreams come true."
Clark, who is on a three-day visit to the disputed province, met Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who said Clark was a great friend of Kosovo, who stood by it in its most difficult times.
"He is and will always be honored by the people of Kosovo," he said.
Clark commanded the 1999 NATO air strikes that drove Serbian forces loyal to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo because of their brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
Wesley Clark, the former US general that commanded NATO's 1999 air war against Serbia.
(from CNN.com)
Bush is doing nothing to stop this....so blame him too. This is not surprising. His justification for the Iraq war is almost the same as Clinton's justification for Iraq.
Meddling in internal affairs? You're so pre-9-11! Nobody in the U.S. government worries about that anymore. Meddling in internal affairs is Uncle Sam's middle name these days.
Somehow [and it beats me, why] internal cannibalism is believed to be more acceptable than an external one. So if each community is left to stew in their own juices and eat its own, it ought to be considered a lesser evil, and thus preferable. Therefore I'm all for partition.
After trying to keep Kosovo under the radar for years, notice how they are all coming out of the woodwork lately to say that Kosovo is "a done-deal"?
I think that the American Council for Kosovo has got them scared -- sacred that it may not be a done deal -- scared that they actually have a group that they can't either ignore or steamroll!
This is good news, folks! They know that they are vulnerable so they are pretending that they are not!
Clark commanded the 2019 UN air strikes that drove US forces loyal to former US leader Mike Jackson out of Astland because of their brutal crackdown on Hispanic separatists.
bump
Partition helps the Islamofascists. Which side are you on?
I consider Serb nationalists equally fascistic. Pox on them all.
And Cindy Sheehan would say the same of everyone who support the War on Terror. Nice out, wouldn't you say?
Count up the American citizens killed by Serb nationalists and compare those to the number killed by Islamic terrorists. The math makes it easy to figure out who the treat to the US really is.
Partition of Kosovo into Serbian part (including important churches and monasteries) and Albanian? Or into giving the whole Kosovo to Albanians?
sure..but how to keep them safe....and control the "line" of partition. that is the problem. They will never respect any line of partition.
Yes, this is true, but the reality they Albanian extremist groups crossed the line many many times in front of the KFOR units committed the acts and escaped almost every time. You have to be willing to treat both sides the same and to be neutral. This has not happened since 1999 and has in the past year gotten worse......
Check this out...
Kosova Is An Example Of Nation-Building Done Properly
27 May (Zeri & Statesman Journal) – There's at least one predominantly Muslim part of the world with a history of deep ethnic and religious divisions where the local population has embraced American intervention and the passage of time is witnessing a mission accomplished. It's small. Many Americans won't know where it is. Once the subject of presidential debates in 2000, it has been overshadowed by Iraq.
The place is Kosova, where the U.S. and NATO intervened in 1999 to stop the ethnic cleansing by Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and begin the process of building a functioning nation from the rubble of the final collapse of the old Yugoslavia in the Balkans region of southeast Europe. Since September 2005, I've been working there periodically with the newly formed electricity regulators.
Other than the spires of the many centuries-old mosques that dot the city, there is little to distinguish the capital of Prishtina except the predominance of U.N. cars and facilities. The normal population is 500,000, but there are more than 70,000 U.N. personnel providing security and supporting assistance programs of international donors.
The U.N. presence here and the planned, gradual progress toward sustainable, functioning democratic institutions is a unique experiment that holds some lessons for the art of "nation-building" that has dominated the politics of U.S. foreign policy for the past decade.
After the death of President for Life Joseph Tito in 1980, Yugoslavia began to unravel under ethnic and economic tensions, and the Serbian nationalists sought domination. The U.S. and NATO intervened in 1995 to end the siege of Sarajevo in Bosnia, and again in 1999 when President Clinton committed 20,000 troops to stop atrocities as Christian Serb nationalists sought to drive the predominantly Muslim ethnic Albanians out of the autonomous region of Kosova.
After stopping the Serbs, the U.N. authorized the establishment of an interim civilian administration for Kosova to progressively establish autonomy and self-government. The first priority was security, achieved by a 35-nation NATO-led Kosova Force (KFOR) of 50,000 troops, including 7,000 from the U.S. In 2001, a constitutional framework for provisional self-government was passed, with the U.N. maintaining reserved powers until the final status of Kosova could be determined.
Peace has generally been maintained; infrastructure and institutional capacity are being rebuilt. Kosovars are electing their own assembly. Serious problems with unemployment and corruption still exist, but the international military and civil cooperation and U.N. administration have given Kosovars the time and opportunity to revive.
The main entrance to the city from the airport was renamed Bill Clinton Boulevard. A Nike superstar-like painting of Clinton waving to a crowd looms over the street from the side of a high-rise brick building. One hotel has put a small-scale Statue of Liberty on its roof. Tell a cab driver you are from the United States and rather than being seen as a mark for higher fares, you're more likely to get a thank-you and pat on the back as a welcome.
Ironically, when U.S. intervention in the region was being debated, many Republicans derided it as a military entanglement without an exit strategy. Candidate George Bush in 2000 said, "Troops shouldn't be used for what's called nation-building."
In Kosova, there were enough troops and diplomacy to establish the secure environment needed to build institutions of government. There was an internationally unified effort to gradually build the institutions necessary and provide competent administration and delivery of services. Some might see the international experience in Kosova as a portent of what can happen if we just hang in Iraq long enough.
For others, though, it is an example of the kind of foundation that the people who were deriding the concept of nation-building should have planned before they embarked on their own adventure.
Kosovo: UNMIK Police Commissioner Orders Investigation Into Mala Krusa Incident
Prishtina, (Bota Sot) 26 May -- The local institutions and political entities have harshly reacted to yesterday's incident in Krushe e Vogel Mala Krusa. An investigation into this incident has already started at the orders of UNMIK [UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo] Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup. The investigation commission will include local and international investigators.
Vittrup has also requested the launch of an investigation into the policemen's conduct during the incident in Krushe e Vogel, Prizren. ShPK Kosovo Police Service, KPS spokesman Veton Elshani has confirmed this, saying that Prizren police inspectors are investigating the incident and that the police commissioner has ordered a probe also into the policemen's behavior during yesterday's incident.
The incident, in which dozens of Krushe e Vogel residents and three international policemen in Kosova [Kosovo] were injured, was condemned by the international authorities in Kosova, which asserted that this is not the right way to build a legal and democratic state.
SELF DETERMINATION! Continued The Campaign Against The Serbian Products
27 May (Epoka e Re) – The SELF DETERMINATION! Campaign against the Serbian products continued in Gjilan.
“Many citizens didn’t hesitate and joined us. We were also supported by the coffee shops and small businesses. There were some who didn’t allow our posters in their shops but however many of the citizens supported our initiative” the SELF DETERMINATION Movement.
SELF DETERMINATION! Center in Gjilan, will continue with this activity in the future, states the SELF DETERMINATION! Movement.
One more reason [as if any more were needed] to keep them apart. Coexist they cannot, which should be self-evident even to the blind. And self-determination is a good slogan, Woodrow Wilson used it, IIRC.
yes he did.... The problem is they do co-exist and the Serbs are getting the blunt of it for now. They have since 1999. The Albanians will never accept partitioning as this would be against Greater Albania as much as not having independence......they want that ski resort in Strpce as well. The international community, KFOR could solve this if they weren't so corrupt and obviously one sided.....true....
Well, they obviously have been taking turns hitting one another. Tallying the score is a fool's errand, and besides that's what the nationalists on both sides will be/already are doing. The best that could be done now is to minimize [to the extent possible] present and future frictions. After what they have done to one another, no sane Albanian would wish to live under Serbs, nor any sane Serb under Albanians. Thus a partition is the best option.
yes, theorically, but the Albanians will not accept it in the way they won't accept automony.......NATO would have to force the issue dealing the same punishment for violations. The biggest problem is that the LDK, Serbs and rest have been victims from the beginning. The massacres described by the U.S., UN and international community didn't happen in any way the media protrayed it. This is what happened. It's a favorite child being covered while the non so favorite child is getting beat for the same crime......
Pox on them all.
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