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)
American policy in Balkans is CRIMINAL and not diplomatic. You can use by-words but you cannot hide how the thing really looks like. Serbian reaction is absolutely natural and American administration got from them what really deserve. If you spite on somebody’s face then don’t expect reasonable reaction.
My wife worked for him on bioth elections and now wishes she hadn’t this second term of Bush has truely left mde with a sour taste in my mouth
we had no buisness helping the ethnic cleansing by albanian muslims if we did then it should have bene helping to rid Kosovo of Islamic terrorists but no
Clinton wanted to give muslims something so they would like him so the left stays silent while clinton and wesley clark goes to war and ethnically cleanses part of serbia
Now Bush comes along and gives these Islamic terrorists a country of their own and I bet we will be bombing and losing good Americans because of this inthe future
Serbia in the past have been brave good allies and still could have been against islamic terrorists yet we reward these terrorists
So here we are Bin laden , saudi arabia etc and other islamic nutjobs laugh at the sheer incompetence of this, islamic training camps now get set up
You can bet this has spurred the muslims to look at macedonia now
Hey why not they got what they wanted because of the ignorance of Clinton, the media, wesley clark and Bush
Yeah I read that Romania, like the Georgians, still has integrity. God Bless them.
He is a politician....they are all full of it.
Not at all! Appeasing the Albanians was a serious mistake. We could pay a much higher price by alienating Russia!
I don’t blame them.
Here's a little tip. When deciding who to back in a conflict, even a multi-sided complex conflict, never choose the Muslims.
That’s the bottom line here. W and Condi just helped our Islamist enemies carve their own little nation out of ancient Serbia and it will come back to bite us sooner rather than later.
Michael Frazier
Bush must be so proud to have helped along with clinton and wesley clark for setting up the first muslim country in Europe
Bush you truely have messed this up
Serbia has every right to go into Kosovo and stop this as it is still their country, just because 12 countries around the world say we are taking that part away and giving it to a muslim state now
How on earth can anyone take Bush seriously anymore after this, troops in Iraq and Afghanistan , our borders are open and now he sets up an islamic state
unbelievable this truely is
YES, MASTER! WHAT EVER YOU SAY. Who are we to doubt the British Crown!
Ha! Ha!
“Any American who supports burning down an American embassy is a traitor.”
Call me what you wish, then, sir.
Because - although I can’t say I “support” burning down our embassy - I can certainly understand how our past actions provoked the Serbians into doing it.
If we don’t want our embassies torched, perhaps we should show some respect to sovereignty of the nations in which those embassies stand....
- John
Exactly. One weeps at the injustice of this war and its aftermath, and the absolute ignorance of our people.
An Indian fellow I work with asked, “Why do Americans put up with all this nonsense?”
I told him, “American schools are the worst in the free world. And the parents either don’t know it, or don’t care.”
How can even the media support this
the reason why the serb army went in was because of albanian extremist muslims was trying to force the serbs out of their own country.
clinton helps the muslims and now Bush decides to recognise this new muslim country.
Imagine if you saw part of your country being ethnically cleansed, so you send in your army only for a superpower to bomb you then years later saying that it is not part of your coiuntry now as it belongs to the muslims who was forcing out your country men inthe first place
and some in the media are upset about a flag or an embassy
muslims now look at map and say hey we now head to macedonia for our next country
Is this all worth it against Russia, china when we are supposed to be fighting islamic extremists
You’re welcome. Like others have said on the thread...very bad precedents set here on a much larger scale.
The Palestinians will use any type of manipulation against Israel. Because of the example set by Kosovo, now they are even more emboldened and will try to use this to legitimize themselves.
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