Posted on 02/22/2008 6:19:41 PM PST by jhpigott
February 22, 2008, 23:17 Tensions rise as Serbs push into Kosovo http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/21256
Kosovo border police have reported Serb tanks are taking positions near the Kosovo-Serb border. On Friday, police in Kosovo's northern city of Mitrovica have been holding off thousands of Serb protesters who were trying to cross the bridge dividing the Serb and ethnic Albanian sides of the city.
Hundreds of ethnic Serbs have arrived in the province to show their support for the Serbian minority living there. Kosovo authorities have already introduced restrictions preventing Serbs from entering the region.
Police have been given the green light to use tough measures to keep any rioting under control but apart from isolated incidents, the rally passed off peacefully.
Authorities feared a repeat of the overnight violence that gripped the Serbian capital Belgrade, killing one and injuring around 130. The violence has also resulted in damage to a number of Western embassies.
In Belgrade President Boris Tadic has called on the Council for National Security to discuss the situation in the country.
He said there was no excuse for violence and nothing could justify Thursday's unrest.
Meanwhile, Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, says alliance officials in Kosovo should not overstep the bounds of their mandate.
“Some high-ranking NATO officials are giving orders that are obviously inconsistent with their authority, such as an order to block the border in northern Kosovo, where mostly ethnic Serbs live. This means that Kosovo Serbs are cut off from Serbia itself. If the Albanians decide to break away, that doesn't mean they can seize someone else's property and citizens.
The thing is that the Serbs in Kosovo, who were previously citizens of their country, suddenly do not know who they are - Kosovars or inhabitants of an independent territory. Besides, we're disturbed by reports, although it needs checking, that some NATO military chiefs are considering whether to stop representatives of the Serbian administration entering Kosovo. This is not in their mandate. For us, the main thing is that NATO shouldn't intervene in politics, but stick to a neutral position on Kosovo, as it always did,” Rogozin said.
It sure does.
NATO and the UN lack the ground troops to take on the Serbians. NATO however does has the airpower advantage, but that will be negated if Russia defends Serbia.
Well, we are already in it as we have military deployed in Kosovo. It would appear war is imminent. It may only be days away. I wonder if we will end up being a major combat force in such a war? Most of the guys in my unit in Germany would probably love to get deployed to Kosovo, because we would get to do something. I don’t think most civilians can appreciate that. Even if you get deployed a few times a year, you still itch to get out of garrison. I’m hoping to get to leave in a few weeks/months to go learn Persian Farsi. Would be a great opportunity...
I think maybe because we are in it so deep, we can’t change course without making a lot of people mad.
The English tried it in Ireland in 1921 and look at the results. Are our leaders that stupid that they cannot learn by the mistakes of the past?
Are we on the same side as Russia? You can forget that we both fight radical muslims. We both also are vying for influence with “secular” ones. Russia and SA exchange pleasantries and yet Russia crushes Muslims in Grozny with impunity? All politics are local.
Someone else n FR wrote that the impetus for this separation was as much economic as political. As we should be doing, we are dividing and taking advantage of idiots who can’t get along because of ethnicity. It’s great fun and we as a nation have profited mightily over the decades by doing so. We aren’t instigating anything. The seeds of instigation were planted a long long time ago in that region.
Clark had higher priorities like dropping cluster bombs on Belgrade churches on Easter sunday.
My understanding is that the Serbs held themselves to be the defenders of Europe from Islamic invasion for centuries. Heritage dies hard, especilly when you can see the effects of Islamid culture daily in the UK, France, Denmark, etc etc.
Looks like the only obstacle to creating a large unified Muslim state is Montenegro. Could this be the next target for the UN and a supremely misguided NATO?
btt
That was my understanding of the history there as well. With the U.N. enforcing this new muslim state there at the gates of Greater Europe and these “YouTube” idiot voters in the U.S. likely to install this closeted jihadist Obama in the White House, “head for the hills” is probably the best advice. Western culture seems to have chosen suicide.
Go Serbs!!
tbm....those were the cardboard tanks they blew up.... more here
Some SUVs and pickup trucks are bad enough, but tanks are a series error.
Here we go...
It’s a strange world when Russia and China are on the right side of something, ain’t it?
“It was NATO that backed down and gave in to the Serbs!”
Right — guess the Serbs got what they wanted when they had to evacuate all their forces from Kosovo and turn it over to NATO and then later UN administration.
What a moron.
Pressed By US, Serbs Play On Moscow Card —
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080223/world/serbia_kosovo_politics_diplomacy_russia
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