Yes, Islam is a GREAT religion.

Barbarians.

Do you think these people involved in the Code of Lek in Kosovo are recent (illegal) immigrants from Albania, or long standing citizens of Kosovo?

Did this stuff occur in Kosovo before the war - I thought it was mainly in Northern Albania? I know people - (Serbs and that one Jewish leader, for instance) - were mentioning many strangers from Albania crowding Kosovo after "liberation".

The "Code" is widely practiced. The Globe did an article on it last summer. Thousands of Albanian men are "shut ins"- that is they have a blood feud going and are afraid of being killed so they literally shut themselves in their house for years- utterly useless while their women do the work and provide for them. In that article one man - was shot dead becasue 20 years earlier- under the Communist Hoxha regime- his father had turned the dinner table over in a friend's house- a great act of disrespect. The friend's son had always remembered the act of disrespect to his family and -20 years later- killed the son of the man who turned his father's table over. Unreal.

If you read about these Shiptar barbarians...family farms are built like fortresses because of the constant blood fueds between families.

Honor killings is common place in Jordan and Pakistan, and no doubt other muslim nations. It is savagery, and even in Jordan, the law enforcement does not treat honor killings as just another murder. Islam has wrought so much evil on this world, and I find it so hard to believe that people can believe that evil is good.

Balkans Bump

I guess this is the beginning of another Code War . . . .

Hi,Joan!

Code of Leka Dukadjini was widely practiced in Kosovo for decades!It is not a resault of Allied Farce or Serbian repression!Yugoslav authorities had tried to bann the practice for decades and usually,put killers on trials.Sometimes,killings happened in the courts when members of the family shot defendant in revenge!This "Code of Honor" was a major nuissance!For instance,if you kill someone in a car accident his family will kill eather you or one male from your familly (age is not important)!We are not talking about murders here,but accidents!

A doctor was killed because,patient died on the operating table!!!

Very civilised!

Indeed while KosMet was governed by Yugoslav authorities there were instances of 'backward' types still using Code of Lek to settle scores. The same sort of stuff happened in Montenegro and even in Lika under their pre-modern customary rules.

However, these instances were decreasing and generally on their way out. That is until the KLA was heavily promoted by Clinton's Humanitarian Warriors.

The KLA has been a active promoter of customs they deem to be pure Albanian. The Code of Lek is one such practice which the KLA supports. According to Adem Demaci since Kfor has let the KLA run rampent in the occupation zone, 3 times as many Albanian civilians have been murdered as compared with the 2 years prior to Clinton's bombing.

There are many loyalist and moderate Albanians who daily have suffer through KLA terror. Do not forget that some 2,000 KosMetAlbanians fought alongside their Yugoslav betheran while the KLA could only recruit 500 active fighters from the local population.

Haxhere's story is a stark reminder that democracy has yet to reach everyone in this far-flung corner of the Balkans, even though progress is being made.

The author is schitzophrenic.
She writes at length about the great incomprehensible lapse in civilized behavior, and couches the argument in "political" jargon.
"Democracy has yet to reach..." ????

I may have missed it, but there is no mention of Islam or Muslims anywhere in the story.
Any semiliterate person knows that has by far a greater effect on social behavior than any political system.
It is impossible for me to believe that the omission of Islam is an accident.

Code of Lek was made illegal in SFRJ (Tito's Yugoslavia).. I don't know if it made it completely disappear..

Something similar (called "blood revenge") was also relatively common among rural Montenegrins...