Posted on 02/21/2008 11:04:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.
Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.
Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.
The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.
Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
No, he set up the situation so the next President would be left holding the bag!
Bush took the easy way out, a few thousand angry Serbs throwing stones and setting fires. If he had rejected Albanian independence we would already be at war and the body bags would be on their way home!
John McCain ought to show the world he has a big pair and declare that he will punish these Putin funded terrorists, and then he can get back on the good side of the NYSlimes.
Okay here is the money quote I was looking for, thanks for the info. But I think this one puts things in perspective:”No wonder then that of all the incidents on which Slobodan Milosevic has been indicted for war crimes, the total body count is not 100,000, not 10,000, not even 1,800 — but 391!”
That is what I was looking for, thanks.
So anyone who doesn't support "Muslim interests in the Balkans" isn't "an American", now?
Bosnia Grand Mufti: U.S. Policy In Region Serves Muslims' Interests
In an interview with Islamonline on the sidelines at the “U.S. and the Muslim World” conference in Qatar, Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina Mustafa Ceric said that the U.S.'s policy in the Balkans serves the interests of the Muslims and of Islam.
Source: Islamonline.net, February 18, 2008 via MEMRI
Haven't you heard, wide-asleep? We are ALL "Serbs", now! except for you, who should go fight under a Crescent flag!
If the Serbs believe they retain sovereignty over Kosovo, let them quit whining and take it back with unmasked faces.
The Serbs do not get to dictate what nations the US does or does not recognize.
It really isn't their decision.
I remember the Serbs shot down one F-117....
Was it just a lucky shot?
Bingo
SO WHAT? In what world does any genocide or rapes are justified. Most of the boneheads like you are actually telling me that the Serbs are innocent. It is like saying, cats poop smell better than dog poop. Reread my posts because apparently you have no clue what the issues are...
Its no use my friend from Poland. Some Americans have to repeat the same internationalist lies in order to tow the party line. Our siding the muslims over Christian Serbia was sickening in the 90’s and sickening today.
Good point. But, I think you got your propaganda mixed up. Bosnia came before Saddam...
... in 1999
LOL!!! You’re hole just got deeper, you’re definitely not a policy wonk.
This is like saying "The Czechs invaded the Sudetenland! Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia to get them OUT of the Sudetenland".
Kosovo wasn't "invaded" by Serbia: it was part of Serbia. Here's an analogy by way of explanation.
Imagine it's the year 2020. Mexicans are now 80% of the population of Texas and the Aztlanteans want to secede. President Jeb Bush sends in the National Guard to stop them. Did America just invade Texas?
>>Yes my son, drink the kool-aid, it’s goooood for you.<<
I guess we’ll see. Then again, we may never know (if it is classified).
I know this - geopolitics is far more complicated than any here seem to grasp. We don’t even know what we don’t know, yet many sit in judgement of the decisions of others who are trained, and have experience in these matters. And I can GUARANTEE you they have information that neither I, nor YOU, have - effectively nullifying either of our opinions.
Such that they are. ;)
Sums it up. Best post on this thread. Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians, Croats... I don't give a rip (politically) who is right or wrong. Their entire history is a bloody muddle of treason, murder, expulsion and hate. We have NO business on the Balkans. And I say that as a convinced interventionist. Our business is Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan and soon Iran/Syria/Hezbullah/Hamas. We have no cock in the fight for the muddy Euro-backwater.
And Bush just walked right in to it.
If he had rejected Albanian independence we would already be at war and the body bags would be on their way home!
While I would not put it past this State Department to recommend rejecting Albanian independence, it would be somewhat tardy. Albania has been an independent nation for almost 100 years now.
What fact? That the Serbs are NOT pure as driven snow? Tell me again what is the matter with you?
I know nothing about the blue helmets but I have associated enough with UN personnel to know that they are overpaid, underworked, spoiled and anti-American.
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