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Kosovo's Back (It Never Really Left)
The Daily Standard ^ | 12/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | James G. Poulos

Posted on 12/22/2006 7:27:20 AM PST by tgambill

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Good article......
1 posted on 12/22/2006 7:27:21 AM PST by tgambill
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To: tgambill

Good Article with the exception of the comment about an independent Kosovo is a postive step. An Independent Kosovo will according to Richard Holbrooke; Imagine that!

Circa 1998:

There's a military insurrection that is taking shape, backed by the members of the Albania Diaspora in Germany, Switzerland, and right here in New York City, where a lot of Albanians and Albanian-Americans are sending a lot of money and support to Kosovo. (Gosh - NYC? -SG)

Holbrooke: An independent Kosovo would "unravel Southeastern Europe."

JIM LEHRER: And they want an independent Kosovo ruled by Albanians, right?

RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Yes. And more. I met with several Albanian leaders in Kosovo who said their goal is an independent Kosovo, their goal is to recreate the Greater Albania that existed briefly during the 30's and 40's, which includes Albania, Kosovo, and part of Macedonia. That, I can tell you, Jim, would unravel Southeastern Europe and dramatically increase the chances of a general war. And that's why the situation is both not the same as Bosnia and why it's so dangerous

I really need to stress this point so people do not misunderstand it. The Kosovo Albanians have been very badly treated for over a decade by the Serb minority in Kosovo. Their rights have been denied and the Yugoslav federal constitution was changed to reduce their powers. This was entirely wrong, and it led to the inevitable reaction which we're now seeing. At the same time, the violent solution which is being advocated by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, which is really not an army but a lot of different groups that are gradually forming an infrastructure of resistance, this approach is highly dangerous to stability in the region.


2 posted on 12/22/2006 7:31:41 AM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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To: tgambill

Civil War! Quagmire! We must pull out! Where is our exit strategy?

We have no interest in the Balkans. The disintegration of Yugoslavia was a problem for the Europeans. Every time Europe is confronted with a military problem, they look to the U.S. One hundred years of fighting for Europe is enough.


3 posted on 12/22/2006 7:46:39 AM PST by popdonnelly
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To: popdonnelly

Let's pull out now and seal the borders. If they don't want to play together, then let the Europeans solve the issue.


4 posted on 12/22/2006 8:38:37 AM PST by GAB-1955 (being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Kingdom of Heaven....)
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To: tgambill
You're right. That is a good article. The author points out a lot of truths that aren't going to make either the Serbs or the Albanians happy, and that's just what the problems of Kosovo are about.

It's nice to read an article void of propoganda.

5 posted on 12/22/2006 9:29:42 AM PST by getoffmylawn (Greg Dulli will steal your girlfriend.)
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To: popdonnelly

We have no exit strategy for one simple fact....we don't intend to pull out, we never did. We (US) never intended to adhere to the 1244, and are now seeing to it that our efforts in 1948 are carried out to not only aid the Albanians in seeing the Greater Albania, but further our interest of controlling the gateway to Russia. We have no real interest in Albanians, per se, they are only being used for our purposes, I hate to say.

I would like to give you a hint about fighting in Europe. Look to Rockefeller, Rothschild, I.G. Farben, American I.G. Farben....Henry Ford, for starters. Seek out J.P. Morgan, and here is a very good hint......of the origin of their wars....confirmed by every open minded researcher...


http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/index.html


6 posted on 12/22/2006 10:49:03 PM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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To: Bokababe; joan; montyspython; DTA; getoffmylawn; ma bell; Beckwith; Southside_Chicago_Republican; ..

ping


7 posted on 12/22/2006 10:57:23 PM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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To: tgambill

I read this article this morning and although he points out some really interesting stuff that most don't, his conclusion sucks!


8 posted on 12/22/2006 11:02:05 PM PST by Bokababe ( http://www.savekosovo.org)
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To: Bokababe

This was given to me this morning, as I won't take credit for it....but from another "contact"...

Quote:

"The options are few, but a decision must be made eventually. Serbia is a hostage to final status as much as Kosovo. Without final status, neither country will ever see the benefits of economic membership in Europe."

She;(American Lady in Arms) writes relative to this paragraph in the article:

"Give me a break. Everyone who remembers anything about the Kosovo war knows that Washington was calling the shots from day one, and Ceku's position as Prime Minister confirms this. Western Europe was going along for the ride to cash in on the spoils."


9 posted on 12/22/2006 11:58:17 PM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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To: tgambill

We've got ourselves a lovely festering wound, building puss exponentially. Self-inflicted yes, but who's to question the great strategy of our elected leaders? Sure they lie through their teeth…but we're not capable of understanding…just capable of paying taxes and fighting their wars. Just trust them. They are, after all, our duly elected leaders, and besides, we're always the Knights on white horses…so even if we're dead wrong, we're still the good guys:-)


10 posted on 12/23/2006 12:17:13 AM PST by dgallo51 (DEMAND IMMEDIATE, OPEN INVESTIGATIONS OF U.S. COMPLICITY IN RWANDAN GENOCIDE!)
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To: Bokababe; joan; montyspython; DTA; getoffmylawn; ma bell; Beckwith; Southside_Chicago_Republican; ..

a wee bit of provocation, you think, in Eastern Kosovo, exkuse me, South Presevo.


Serbian police charge two persons over displaying Albanian flags

12/23/2006 06:30:13 AM EST
BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS



http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=20061223670.2_766b0003df3ec7aa


Excerpt from report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 22 December

Bujanovac, 22 December: Bujanovac police have filed criminal charges against persons who displayed Albanian flags during [Albanian national holiday] [on 28 November].



Bujanovac MUP has filed charges against Fadul H. and Dzemaledin S., residents of the village of Norc in the Presevo municipality, for having removed and thrown away the Serbian flag displayed on the Presevo municipal building, replacing it with an Albanian one, as part of the marking of the Albanian national holiday, Flag Day.



Bujanovac MUP said it had also filed criminal charges against four locals over suspicion they had attacked an official while on duty. The four are suspected of having hit the municipal building doorman several times on the head, then pushed him away, as they sought to place the Albanian flag on the building [Passage omitted: more on previously covered details]



The state institutions' representatives have said that while the Albanian minority in the Presevo Valley, southern Serbia, has a right to display its national insignia, it must first meet the legal precondition of forming a national council. [Passage omitted: more on previously covered details]



Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1524 gmt 22 Dec 06

BBC Monitoring



Copyright © 2006 BBC Monitoring/BBC. Source: Financial Times Information Limited.


11 posted on 12/23/2006 6:24:11 AM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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To: tgambill; ninenot; sittnick; steve50; Hegemony Cricket; Cicero; GarySpFc; Wolfie; ex-snook; FITZ; ..
RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Yes. And more. I met with several Albanian leaders in Kosovo who said their goal is an independent Kosovo, their goal is to recreate the Greater Albania that existed briefly during the 30's and 40's, which includes Albania, Kosovo, and part of Macedonia.

A nice spin Mr. Holbrooke! Could you specify what exactly years were these "30's and 40's"?

12 posted on 12/23/2006 7:12:54 AM PST by A. Pole (Holbrooke:"Forget multi-ethnic Kosovo.Forget Res. 1244. We only signed that to get rid of the Serbs")
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To: tgambill
Well, maybe we should bomb more Christians to aid the Al-Qaeda backed KLA drug runners. /S (if needed)
13 posted on 12/23/2006 7:21:49 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto")
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To: tgambill
Holbrooke and Albright have been pushing for an independent Kosovo. That was the aim all along. Holbrooke: Bush Missed the Boat on Kosovo

“In the long run Kosovo will be an independent country,” he said, speaking in his Manhattan office, though how long the run is still depends on the Serbia and its biggest ally on the Security Council, Russia.

“The long run depends on what the Serbs do,” explained Holbrooke. “Will they except the reality and look to the future of Serbia as part of the European Union, or cling to a mythic version of a past and deny reality? If they deny reality and try to hold onto Kosovo, they will lose both. They won’t be able to retain Kosovo but will also lose the chance to join Europe.”

"Unlike the European Union, whose report this week on the Balkans has praised Serbia’s new constitution, Holbrooke dismisses the document - restating Serbia’s claim to Kosovo - as “a real step in the wrong direction”.

But he says Serbia’s obstructive tactics won’t delay the inevitable. “It is not going to slow down the efforts of Martti Ahtisaari and [US envoy] Frank Wisner,” he said.

14 posted on 12/23/2006 7:23:13 AM PST by kabar
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To: popdonnelly
We have no interest in the Balkans. The disintegration of Yugoslavia was a problem for the Europeans. Every time Europe is confronted with a military problem, they look to the U.S.

Europe was to stop the war in its tracks with Lisbon agreement. Just look it up.

15 posted on 12/23/2006 7:24:54 AM PST by A. Pole (Holbrooke:"Forget multi-ethnic Kosovo.Forget Res. 1244. We only signed that to get rid of the Serbs")
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To: A. Pole

There's a simple solution. Wash our hands of the whole thing and let the Serbs, the Greeks, the Roumanians and the Bulgarians deal with these dangerous dog vomit remnants of the Ottoman Empire in their own way.


16 posted on 12/23/2006 7:49:18 AM PST by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: kabar

Sure was their aim. Relative to his comment in 1998, here is a 2002.....and 2005....what a change of attitude. Thanks for the additional comments. Oh, by the way, do a search on Frank Wisner, Sr. 1948, Operation Fiend. CIA Operation into Albania, to further the Greater Albania effort but failed horribly....Frank Wisner, Sr, Guess who Frank Wisner Jr. from Enron is and as you said, Envoy to Kosovo. A bit of irony.

Sept. 10, 2002

Cumberland, Md.: Where you aware of the KLA and Bosnian Muslims' ties to Osama bin Laden at the time you were negotiating with them?

Richard C. Holbrooke: Yes. In fact, we were so concerned about this issue that we wrote into the Dayton Peace Agreements a clause requiring the withdrawal of all "foreign elements" within a short time after the agreement took force. When we found elements that had remained behind, we launched raids against them. Not all of these people were removed, and the effort is still continuing. Without the peace in Bosnia, there is a real chance that bin Laden would have been able to set up in the Balkans what he did in Afghanistan with far greater danger to the West.

http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/02/sp_nation_holbrooke091002.htm

Now--fast-forward Nov 8 2005:

Holbrooke, the architect of the 1995 Bosnian peace deal, who said that independence was the only way forward for Kosovo and its mainly Muslim Albanians.

"I cannot see any final status for Kosovo other than independence," said Holbrooke, who forged the Dayton Peace Accords that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
"But at the same time ... this cannot be achieved without ironclad guarantees for the safety, security, and protection of the rights of the Serbs who live in Kosovo and the protection of their magnificent monuments," he said.


17 posted on 12/23/2006 7:53:09 AM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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To: tgambill

In 1998 Holbrooke was trying to sell a peace agreement. Say anything to get it signed. We should never have become involved in an internal domestic affair. The Serbs have been in Kosovo for centuries. Kosovo is headed towards being part of greater Albania, a Muslim state in Europe. Kosovo is not a viable state.


18 posted on 12/23/2006 8:19:56 AM PST by kabar
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To: tgambill

James G. Poulos is a typical product of Georgetown University, and no doubt has a career ahead of him at Foggy Bottom.

Sure, great precedent: invade a sovereign European country, bomb the hell out of civilian targets, force them to turn over one their provinces to the UN, and then hand the province over to a gang of Muslim thugs, terrorists and drug runners.

That should appease the Muslim usurpers--for about five minutes, until they turn to their next targets for a Great Albania: Montenegro, Macedonia, and Greece, not to mention the unfinished business in Bosnia.


19 posted on 12/23/2006 8:25:25 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: kabar

We got involved since 1948 when our sights were set on the Balkans.....Bush, Clinton and Bush Jr are on the same page. The Balkans were and still are part of a bigger agenda. Clinton was groomed for his part in the early 90's which he did well....Lied all the way to Kosovo staring in Bosnia.....They aren't done yet. March 2007, big operation planned by Albanians, that will make March 2004 look like a boy scout jamboree......


20 posted on 12/23/2006 8:31:31 AM PST by tgambill (I would like to comment.....)
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