UNMIK CALLS OFF FOREIGN TROOP TRAINING

The Centre for Peace in the Balkans ^ | 6 May 2003 | B92

[Doctor13]

PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbia -- The United Nations Mission in Kosovo has dropped programs to train Kosovo Protection Corps members outside the province after it was established that two members had been involved in mining the Kosovo Polje-Lesak railway line.

UNMIK has financed the training of corps members in Germany, Turkey, South Africa and Albania since the beginning of last year.

Two members of the Kosovo Protection Corps were killed while attempting to blow up the railway bridge. Both were also members of the Albanian National Army.

Kosovo governor Michael Steiner has branded the Albanian National Army a terrorist organisation.

The Albanian National Army consists largely of former members of the outlawed Kosovo Liberation Army, as does the Kosovo Protection Corps.

[IronJack]

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[uplandgame]

“Kosovo governor Michael Steiner has branded the Albanian National Army a terrorist organization.”

So what? NATO has neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies ... only permanent interests. It demonstrated it in the past, when dealing with the KLA. First it clearly defined the KLA as a terrorist organization (see bellow); then it killed several thousand Serbs and Albanians in order to steal part of Serbia and hand it over to the same gang of criminals - KLA.

"Elements of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, an armed ethnic Albanian group that seeks independence for Kosovo) were also responsible for abuses. They committed killings, were responsible for disappearances, abducted and detained Serbian police, as well as Serb and Albanian civilians (those suspected of loyalty to the Serbian Government), and in a few isolated cases "tried" suspects without due process. There are also credible reports of instances of torture by the KLA."

U.S. Department of State Serbia-Montenegro Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, February 26, 1999.

"We have also called on Kosovar Albanian leaders to condemn terrorist action by the so-called Kosovo liberation army (UCK), noting that violence does not contribute to the search for a just and durable solution to the problems of Kosovo."

Press Statement by James P. Rubin/Spokesman, March 2, 1998.

"We are also, however, concerned about attacks against Serbian civilians in Kosovo by Albanian extremist groups, including the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK).".

Press Statement by James P. Rubin, Spokesman, July 15, 1998.

[Hoplite]

And how is our relationship with the KLA any different than our relationship with some of the Afghan warlords we worked with to oust the Taleban?

We used them, and now we are working to sideline them.

[Robert Drobot]

Bear in mind that the US controlled NATO took its orders from the Christian hating, rapist, coward president in office at that time. For this reason it is no surprise he and the Catholic pope gave aid and comfort to muslims in their machete hacking mutilation of women and children Serbian Christians.

You may have noticed the silence from the Vatican toward the persecution of orthodox Serbian Christians.

The reason?

Keyword: Orthodox. The Vatican II supporters now controlling The Church believe all religions have validity before God. They're the "we all worship the same God" idiot heretics. It's leader went so far as to kiss the Quran, and publicly embrace 'Palestinian' terrorist leader Assafart.

[PiP PiP Cherrio]

Sorry, but the US is still continuing to train and support the KLA/KPC. They are the only country involved with the kosovo mission to continue that operation. The UNMIK/Kosovo operation will not allow exit visas for any of the KPC members to leave the country. hmmm, i thought they were the freedom fighters as the US forefathers were?

You are too late with your information, as I am positive you've begun to understand I am correct with my first-hand information, mr gresham.

[Hoplite]

Your first hand information is about as relevant as that of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.

At least the Iraqi information minister hasn't turned into a traitor yet, eh Zoran?

[Jacob Kell]

Maybe, but in both cases we were working with a bunch of gangsters, thugs, hoodlums and scumbuckets. Both the mafia-esque warlords in Afghanistan and the mafia-esque KLA can and are causing trouble for us. It's not going to be easy to sideline both bunches of mobsters.

[Hoplite]

When you compare the gangsters, thugs, hoodlums, and scumbuckets in the Balkans, the biggest group operated out of Belgrade.

We acted accordingly.

And while I agree that resolving the issues we face won't be easy, we ignore them at our peril.

What we're seeing here on FR is simply Serbia's answer to Ernst Zundel and David Irving at work - although given the fates of their disinformation/revision campaigns, perhaps "work" is a poor choice of words.

If you don't believe the Nazis were simply doing our work by fighting communism, you shouldn't believe that the Serbs were doing us a favor by killing muslims. It's as simple as rejecting the hypothesis that Brezhnev was our ally because he invaded Afghanistan 2 decades before we did - all that's needed is a little knowledge.

[Jacob Kell]

"When you compare the gangsters, thugs, hoodlums, and scumbuckets in the Balkans, the biggest group operated out of Belgrade."

Biggest, i don't know. The most powerful, probably.

"We acted accordingly."

No we didn't. If we had only supported the Serbian democratic opposition back in say 1996-the year I believe that Serbians were protesting en masse in the streets against that son-of-a-b***** Milosevic (gee that rhymes)-we might have gotten him removed from power and there may not have been a Kosovo war to begin with. Plus we basically supported the KLA to the exculsion of the more moderate Kosovo ALbanian factions, like Rugova. Anyhoo, it's all a moot point.

[joan]

Belgrade and non-Kosovo Serbia are multicultural. The Muslims in Belgrade weren't attacked, their shops weren't looted, etc. even during the bombing. Albanians come and go easily in Belgrade. But you cannot say the same for Serbs in Croatia or the Muslim-Croat part of Bosnia or Kosovo. The Serbs were fighting for their lives against separtists who wanted to cleanse the Serbs from their terroritories (statelets). There is plenty of evidence that the Bosnian Muslims weren't multicultural - at least not the Izetbegovic regime which was supported by the west. I could dig up information which shows that Muslim paramilitaries killed scores of civilian Sarajevo Serbs in the first few days of the war. What kind of message is that? Multicultural? No, it was a message of genocide towards the Serbs.

[Hoplite]

The bone of contention in the 1996 elections was the results in local elections - Milosevic's coalition retained control at the Federal level, and would have done so even had he conceded all of Zajedno's wins.

Were we to address Kosovo, we should have done so as a part of Dayton, rather than waiting until the only viable force on the ground was the local version of Columbia's FARC. But playing that game leaves us with having ought to have addressed the whole Yugoslav breakup in a more proactive manner rather than leaving it to the Europeans and hoping for the best.

Alas, it is as you said, moot.

[Jacob Kell]

"Were we to address Kosovo, we should have done so as a part of Dayton, rather than waiting until the only viable force on the ground was the local version of Columbia's FARC."

By 'local version of Colombia's FARC' I presume you mean the KLA? Anyways, it is indeed moot...at least when it comes to Serbia. The KLA problem, is in my opinion just beginning.

[Hoplite]

Yup, the KLA.

The KLA problem, is in my opinion just beginning.

Really? The ANA, UCPMB, and KLA itself have all been undercut by local political changes - the Nationalist forces they were opposing have now stolen a plank from their platform in calling for ethnic partitions of both Macedonia and Kosovo.

While I doubt we've heard the last of the KLA, they're not the force they were in 1999, as they require the presence of an oppressive regime in order to be attractive to the constituents. I think they'll fade back into the obscurity from whence they came.

[Jacob Kell]

"Really? The ANA, UCPMB, and KLA itself have all been undercut by local political changes - the Nationalist forces they were opposing have now stolen a plank from their platform in calling for ethnic partitions of both Macedonia and Kosovo."

Maybe somewhat undercut, but definetely not dead. They can still stir up a lot of trouble and try to torpedo a political settlement. That was probably what the ANA were trying to do by bombing the railway. They don't just believe in the Nationalist cause, they want to rule their independent Kosovo, or their greater Albania or greater Kosovo. There's still the possibility of a political solution going south.

[Hoplite]

They can try to act as spoilers and foment unrest, but ultimately they will suffer the same fate as any other party that relies upon a destructive ethos rather than a constructive one.

It bears watching, in an 'export stability or import instability' kind of way, and so long as we do, I don't expect any major train wrecks (a return to full-on armed ethnic conflict).

[Jacob Kell]

"They can try to act as spoilers and foment unrest, but ultimately they will suffer the same fate as any other party that relies upon a destructive ethos rather than a constructive one."

Tell that to the Bolsheviks. They relied on a destructive ethos and succeeded in taking power and holding on to it for aobut 70 years. They eventually fell, of course, but it may not have been as etched in stone as some may have thought. Mao, Khomeini, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and Fidel Castro all relied on destructive ethos and they basically succeeded in taking power. Never underestimate the enemy.

"It bears watching, in an 'export stability or import instability' kind of way, and so long as we do, I don't expect any major train wrecks (a return to full-on armed ethnic conflict)."

Maybe, but terrorism is still possible or maybe small-scale guerilla warfare, maybe very small-scale, but still a possibility.

[Jacob Kell]

Also, nowadays, you don't have to be numerous to do damage. Take a look at what McVeigh and a couple of his friends did in Oklahoma City.

[Hoplite]

Damage and effectiveness are two different things - McVeigh and Al-Qaeda both scored big, but methinks events really didn't unfold according to their respective plans after that.

Similarly, I don't think the KLA was really looking to share power, much less lose an election to their rivals after the war.

What it comes down to is my belief that when the hate subsides, people will choose prosperity over monoethnicity, and the KLA and it's various branches aren't really geared towards prosperity, apart from for themselves, and that pretty much holds true for the rest of the Balkans governments who pursued ethnic agendas.

[Jacob Kell]

Maybe, but I don't think it's a good idea to trust or underestimate the KLA. After all, the article said that a couple of former KLA members in the KPC tried to committ a act of terrorism.