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Keyword: balkans

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  • Railroading Radovan Karadzic

    11/04/2009 5:04:36 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 9 replies · 203+ views
    Nolan Chart / Balkan Report ^ | November 3, 2009 | Andy Wilcoxson
    The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague is considering imposing a defense lawyer on former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic against his will. Radovan Karadzic Much of the, for want of a better term, "news coverage" of the Radovan Karadzic war crimes trial in The Hague has teetered fatuously somewhere between the hysterical and the completely irrational. The coverage often amounts to little more than shrill and often childish name-calling with Karadzic continually referred to as a "butcher", a "demon", a "monster" and every other spiteful epitaph our so-called "journalists" can think to hurl at him. Comparisons...
  • Former President Clinton unveils statue in Kosovo (Welcome to the Theatre of the Absurd)

    11/01/2009 9:23:14 AM PST · by NormsRevenge · 20 replies · 613+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 11/1/09 | NEBI QENA - ap
    PRISTINA, Kosovo Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo's capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton on Sunday as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name. Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. This is his first visit to Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last year. Many waved American, Albanian and Kosovo flags...
  • Police charge Serbia president for drinking at stadium

    10/16/2009 10:11:59 AM PDT · by Decombobulator · 5 replies · 395+ views
    timeslive.co.za ^ | 10/16/2009
    Belgrade police charged Serbian President Boris Tadic for allegedly violating anti-hooligan laws by opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate Serbia's World Cup qualification, they said today. Tadic and a number of other officials uncorked the champagne in a VIP lounge at Red Star Belgrade stadium last Saturday after Serbia's victory over Romania qualified them for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Police filed charges to a magistrate in Belgrade against Tadic, Serbia's Football Association chief Tomislav Karadzic, Sports Minister Snezana Markovic-Samardzic and other officials for "violating the law preventing violence and indecent behaviour at sports matches," the statement...
  • American Police Force of Hardin, Montana is a front group for Blackwater

    10/01/2009 10:39:41 AM PDT · by LastCrusade · 46 replies · 2,824+ views
    KULR-8 Television ^ | September 10, 2009 | Nick Lough
    "...Two River Authority officials have entered into a 10-year contract with an out-of-state security firm to bring 1,000 prisoners to the Hardin jail by mid March, but law enforcement has never heard of the firm..."
  • APF(American Police Force) Show Up IN HARDIN, Montana-Comandeer Jurisdiction

    09/28/2009 11:51:20 PM PDT · by ebiskit · 226 replies · 10,176+ views
    http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/61320122.html ^ | Sep 24, 2009 at 7:00 PM MDT | By Nick Lough
    BILLINGS - American Police Force officials showed up in Mercedes SUV's that had "Hardin Police" stenciled on the vehicles. The twist, the city of Hardin doesn't have a police department. Two Rivers Authority officials say having APF patrol the streets was never part of their agenda. "I have no idea. I really don't because that's not been a part of any of the discussions we've had with any of them," said Two Rivers Authority's Al Peterson. As it stands now the Big Horn County Sheriff's Department is contracted to patrol the city and APF has no jurisdiction. If that was...
  • When Goldstone Indicted a Fictional Character (and a Dead Man)

    09/29/2009 10:35:16 AM PDT · by Nachum · 6 replies · 387+ views
    Israel National News ^ | 9/29/09 | Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
    (IsraelNN.com) Judge Richard Goldstone, whose recent United Nations Human Rights Council investigation purported to find evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, once indicted a fictional Serbian character and a dead man for war crimes as well. As in Gaza, those indictments were also allegedly based on "eyewitness testimony." The problem for NATO forces in tracking down the serial rapist was that Gruban from Bijelo Polje, also known as Gruban Malic, is a fictional character. established by the United Nations in 1993. In 1995, one year into his term as chief ICTY prosecutor, Goldstone presented an indictment of several Serbs...
  • BROOKLYN RESIDENT INDICTED FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER OVERSEAS...

    09/24/2009 12:58:01 PM PDT · by Cindy · 10 replies · 685+ views
    US DOJ.gov/usao/nye - Press Release ^ | September 24, 2009 | n/a
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2009 PRESS RELEASE BROOKLYN RESIDENT INDICTED FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER OVERSEAS AND CONSPIRACY TO PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT TO TERRORISTS An indictment was unsealed in federal court this morning charging Betim Kaziu, a U.S. citizen and resident of Brooklyn, with conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.1 Kaziu is scheduled to be arraigned later today before United States Magistrate Judge Joan M. Azrack, at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York. The charges were announced by Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for...
  • Bosnian Muslim leader weapons smuggler

    09/24/2009 7:30:53 AM PDT · by montyspython · 4 replies · 318+ views
    Serbianna ^ | Sep 23, 2009
    Bosnian Muslim leader weapons smuggler Sep 23, 2009 The leader of the Bosnian Muslim extremist political party, the SDA, is also the main kernel in the Bosnian Muslim network of weapons smuggling says Bosnian Muslim expert on security and terrorism Dzevad Galijasevic. Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the SDA and a son of the late extremist Muslim leader, Alija Izetbegovic, who invited al-Qaeda into Bosnia, is the main organizer in smuggling of illegal weapons into Bosnia says Galijasevic and notes that the former SDA leader Hasan Cengic, who is very close to the radicals in Iran, control the black market...
  • Israel opposes Kosovo recognition, urges talks

    09/16/2009 9:11:20 PM PDT · by montyspython · 12 replies · 694+ views
    serbianna.com ^ | Sep 16, 2009
    Israel opposes Kosovo recognition, urges talks Sep 16, 2009 Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Serbia Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic have agreed that new negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina is the only way to achieve a long-term and stable solution for the future status of Kosovo. Lieberman said that direct talks is the only way that a comprehensive peace in the region can be achieved. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, left, and Serbia Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic meet in Serbia September 16, 2009. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, left, and Serbia Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic meet in Serbia September 16,...
  • Martin Luther monument vandalized in Subotica

    09/15/2009 9:17:13 AM PDT · by Alex Murphy · 21 replies · 762+ views
    B92 ^ | 14 September 2009
    SUBOTICA -- Vandals have knocked down a statue of Martin Luther located in central Subotica. The monument was erected less than two years ago. Vice President of the Evangelistic Church Municipality Rudolf Vajs said that he believed that more than one person was responsible, because the monument weighed 300 kilograms. The police have been informed and have investigated the scene. An investigation is ongoing and we hope that it will be successful and the culprits will be caught, Vajs said. He said that Subotica had sent a negative message to the world with this act, adding that it was important...
  • A GUIDE TO BELGRADE, SERBIA

    09/12/2009 1:39:26 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 9 replies · 965+ views
    Sept. 11, 2009 | Alex M. in Belgrade
    From Alex M. in Belgrade, Serbia:For all my friends abroad - those of you who wish to learn about Belgrade or are planning to come for a visit, and for my countrymen abroad who feel nostalgic for home, I have written my own guide to Belgrade. A lot of effort went into this. I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Read it slowly, and try to imagine the pictures as you are reading. Enjoy!NOTE from Ravnagora: I have included the photos in Alex's piece and they have been taken from various sources on the internet. ***** According to...
  • U.S. to relocate missile defense system

    08/27/2009 8:25:27 PM PDT · by sonofstrangelove · 25 replies · 1,988+ views
    Space War ^ | 8/27/2009 | UPI
    Washington may relocate the controversial missile defense system planned for Eastern Europe to the Balkans, Turkey or Israel, a Polish newspaper reports. The U.S. plan included 10 long-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. That plan will almost certainly be scrapped, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports. Washington is now looking for alternative locations including in the Balkans, Israel and Turkey, the daily says, citing U.S. administration officials and lobbyists based in Washington. "The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defense is concerned, the current...
  • US Man Conspired Jihad With Bosnian Muslim

    08/25/2009 9:08:18 PM PDT · by Amerisrael · 234+ views
    A 23-year-old U.S. man was found guilty Wednesday by a federal jury in Atlanta, Ga. of supporting terror groups by sending videos of U.S. landmarks abroad and plotting violent jihad in Europe. Ehsanul Islam Sadequee could face up to 60 years in prison after he was convicted on four counts of providing material support to terrorism. Sadequee and his co-conspirators developed relationships over the Internet and maintained contact online, along with other supporters of violent jihad, among other places in Bosnia as well. U.S. prosecutors said Sadequee, during his stay in Bangladesh, began to conspire more closely with Tsouli and...
  • SERBIA marks 65th Anniversary of Operation Halyard!

    08/22/2009 6:55:54 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 4 replies · 688+ views
    www.generalmihailovich.com ^ | August 22, 2009 | Aleksandra Rebic, Lt. Col. John Cappello, and RTS
    Plaque in Pranjani dedicated to the Halyard Mission on September 12, 2004. The plaque next to it reflects the same inscription in the Serbian language. Photo courtesy of OSS Halyard Mission radioman Arthur "Jibby" Jibilian Serb soldiers in front of the Halyard Mission monument first dedicated in September of 2004,in Pranjani, Serbia August 15, 2009. Photo courtesy of Lt. Col. John Cappello Ohio National Guard troops that are in Serbia doing work on schools in South Serbia. They are working with Serb soldiers, some of which are also in the photo. The older folks are those who participated in assisting...
  • China and Serbia forge strategic partnership

    08/22/2009 9:42:34 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 20 replies · 721+ views
    China Economic Net ^ | August 20, 2009 | Xinhuanet
    Chinese President Hu Jintao and Serbian President Boris Tadic on Thursday agreed to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries. During their talks held Thursday afternoon, the two heads of state exchanged views on building and developing a strategic partnership and reached a broad consensus. Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) welcomes visiting Serbian President Boris Tadic in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 20, 2009.(Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)Hu highly valued Chinese relations with Serbia, saying the two peoples have traditional friendship and no matter what happened in the world, the relations between the two countries have developed healthily. He put forward...
  • Albanians block EU organ harvest probe

    08/13/2009 7:37:48 AM PDT · by montyspython · 7 replies · 303+ views
    Albanians block EU organ harvest probe Aug 12, 2009 The European Union (EU)s efforts to probe the Serb allegations that Serb civilians had been kidnapped in Kosovo in 1999, taken to Albania and had organs removed ran into obstacles in Albania where angry local people blocked the investigation, local media reported Tuesday. A family in northern Albania on Monday refused to meet the Council of Europe team to investigate the Serb allegations that their house had been used as a makeshift clinic to harvest organs from Serbs abducted during the 1999 conflict between the Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo....
  • Speaker At Hizb Al-Tahrir Conference In Lebanon Calls For Jihad In Cyprus, Balkans, Caucasus

    07/20/2009 1:16:50 PM PDT · by Cindy · 3 replies · 607+ views
    Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Speaker At Hizb Al-Tahrir Conference In Lebanon Calls For Jihad In Cyprus, Balkans, Caucasus At the annual conference of the Islamist organization Hizb Al-Tahrir in Lebanon, on the subject of jihad, organization member Sheikh Adnan Mizyan said yesterday that in light of the fact that many countries of Muslims are today under occupation, including Palestine, Iraq, Cyprus, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, the Islamic ummah must take jihad measures in order to free them. Source: Al-Safir, Lebanon, July 20, 2009 Posted at: 2009-07-20
  • Serb convicted for killing of Croatian POWs

    06/23/2009 7:35:19 PM PDT · by Tailgunner Joe · 24 replies · 788+ views
    AP ^ | June 23, 2009 | DUSAN STOJANOVIC
    BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbia's war crimes court convicted a Croatian Serb on Tuesday for his role in the 1991 torture and killing of 200 Croatian prisoners at a pig farm during the Balkan conflicts. Damir Sireta was sentenced after a six-month trial to serve 20 years in prison for war crimes. He was the 14th former paramilitary convicted for the killings near the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar during Croatia's 1991-95 war for independence from the former Serb-led Yugoslavia - one of the worst massacres of POWs during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Serb paramilitary units seized the victims...
  • Gates Urges Orderly Reduction in NATOs Kosovo Force

    06/11/2009 4:52:53 PM PDT · by SandRat · 3 replies · 424+ views
    BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 11, 2009 With NATO defense ministers having agreed to reduce the alliances military presence in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 troops by the years end, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today urged that the reduction take place as an organized process. On the first day of an alliance defense ministers conference here, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the force reduction today, noting that Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, NATOs supreme allied commander for Europe, has proposed moving toward a deterrent presence in Kosovo that will require fewer troops in the country. Gates said...
  • New plans for honoring the 'Halyard Mission' heroes

    05/23/2009 11:00:48 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 6 replies · 856+ views
    Sewickley Herald ^ | May 21, 2009 | Rachel Weaver
    It was the best moment of Carl Walpusk's life. He was 19 years old, and the plane he was flying over Nazi-occupied Serbia had just been shot down. He jumped from the aircraft and pulled his parachute cord. Feeling the chute open, relief hit him. He realized he would make it. U.S. Airman Carl Walpusk and his wife Virginia. // Photo courtesy of Milana "Mim" Bizic "When you're that high up, you can't even tell you're moving," said Walpusk, now in his eighties. "But the last couple hundred feet, I tried to climb back up my chute." Despite his efforts,...
  • Serbia doesn't have to recognise Kosovo for EU bid: Biden

    05/20/2009 2:51:15 PM PDT · by Tailgunner Joe · 12 replies · 580+ views
    AFP ^ | May 20, 2009 | Katarina Subasic
    US Vice President Joe Biden offered Belgrade a clean slate in ties here Wednesday promising Serbia would not have to recognise the independence of breakaway Kosovo. "The United States does not, I emphasise, does not expect Serbia to recognise the independence of Kosovo," Biden told a joint media conference with Serbia's pro-Western president Boris Tadic. "It is not a precondition for our relationship or our support for Serbia becoming part of the European Union." Biden, the most senior US official to visit Serbia since Jimmy Carter came to the then Yugoslav republic as president in 1980, said the US administration...
  • Joe Biden looks to improve America's relationship with Serbia

    05/19/2009 12:52:58 AM PDT · by Schnucki · 11 replies · 815+ views
    Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | May 19, 2009
    Joe Biden, the US Vice-President, departed Washington for the Balkans on Monday, seeking to press a "reset button" with Serbia after relations plummeted over Kosovo's independence last year. More broadly, a US administration official said Mr Biden hoped to demonstrate President Barack Obama's commitment to engage with a region where Washington invested heavily in the past to end wars in the 1990s and promote stability. The Vice-President will be the highest-level US official to visit Serbia since Jimmy Carter who when he was president toured what was then Yugoslavia in June 1980. Mr Biden will spend Tuesday in Bosnia-Herzegovina ...
  • Washington D.C. Commemorates Victims of Jasenovac Death Camp

    05/08/2009 5:46:01 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 4 replies · 498+ views
    RAS International ^ | May 6, 2009 | RAS
    Washington D.C. On May 5, 2009, Washington, D.C.s City Council passed a resolution recognizing April 22 as the Nations Capital Jasenovac Day. The Resolution, prepared by RAS, the International Serbian Organization, and sponsored by the Chairman of the City Council, is to educate the residents of Washington, D.C. about the holocaust that happened at Jasenovac death camp during WWII. This resolution signifies that the Capital City of the United States, home of the US Holocaust Museum, honors the innocent victims of the Ustasha Nazi regime, that their suffering and deaths will not be forgotten, diminished or revised, and that...
  • GEERT WILDERS ON ISLAM

    05/04/2009 10:58:06 AM PDT · by Conservative Coulter Fan · 8 replies · 1,010+ views
    CCR ^ | April 5, 2009 | Geert Wilders
    ‘In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe?’ Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem... The speech was sponsored by the Hudson Institute on September 25. Dear friends, Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in...
  • UAW revelation

    05/04/2009 9:43:03 AM PDT · by Graybeard58 · 55 replies · 2,192+ views
    Waterbury Republican-American ^ | May 4, 2009 | Editorial
    If there ever was any doubt about who is primarily responsible for the decline of the Big Three automakers, it disappeared when the Italian automaker Fiat demanded major union concessions to ride to Chrysler's rescue. Big Labor is big indeed in Italy, where pensions alone gobble up 14 percent of GDP and massive strikes are common. Coming to America from this environment, Fiat executives recognized the UAW for what it is: a parasite that sucks the vitality out of the American automaking genius of which Chrysler once was a major contributor. So the UAW had to make significant concessions to...
  • Three Brothers Sentenced to Life Prison Terms for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers

    04/28/2009 8:12:06 PM PDT · by Cindy · 45 replies · 2,022+ views
    US DOJ.GOV/opa - Press Release ^ | April 28, 2009 | n/a
    Note: The following text is a quote: Three Brothers Sentenced to Life Prison Terms for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers WASHINGTON -- Three brothers who were convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to life prison terms, Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the FBI, announced. U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced Dritan Duka and Shain Duka...
  • 4 Serbs found guilty of Kosovo massacre

    04/24/2009 12:43:21 PM PDT · by Tailgunner Joe · 4 replies · 651+ views
    AP ^ | April 23, 2009 | DUSAN STOJANOVIC
    BELGRADE, Serbia A war crimes court on Thursday found four Serbian former policemen guilty of the massacre of 48 Kosovo Albanians and sentenced them to up to 20 years in prison. The Serbian court's judges said the victims of the worst single massacre of civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo war included 14 children, two infants, a pregnant woman and a 100-year-old woman. After a three-year trial, two of the men were sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in jail, one to 15 years and another to 13 years. All the defendants had denied the charges. Three other men...
  • Holocaust Survivors of Jasenovac Testimonial Book Banned on April 10th

    04/15/2009 12:30:36 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 5 replies · 790+ views
    Wanda Schindley | April 14, 2009 | Wanda Schindley
    On April 10th, the day the Independent State of Croatia was born in 1941 to begin a state-mandated campaign of genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Romas, a U.S. judge, for the first time in Western history, issued (on behalf of Barry Lituchy) a permanent ban against a book containing testimonies of Holocaust/genocide survivors.Below: I. Brief History of the Lawsuit A. Initial demands of Lituchy, et al. B. Demands in the Complaint C. Claims in the Complaint D. The lawsuit against Kingsborough E. Preliminary Injunction F. Settlement demands G. Lituchys attacks II. Current Status A. Appeal to the Second Circuit III....
  • Horrors of KLA prison camps revealed

    04/09/2009 12:14:04 PM PDT · by kronos77 · 13 replies · 1,995+ views
    Michael Montgomery BBC Radio 4, Crossing Continents The man spoke plainly as he explained the horrors he lived through in a Kosovo Liberation Army prison camp 10 years ago. He told me about how he watched people beaten with steel pipes, cut with knives, left for days without food, and shot and killed. Civilians were detained by the KLA and kept in prisons where some were killed "What can you feel when you see those things?" he said. "It's something that is stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. You cannot do those things to people, not...
  • The Balkan Chameleon

    04/07/2009 6:17:42 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 13 replies · 998+ views
    Electric Politics ^ | March 30, 2009 | George Kenney
    I first laid eyes on Richard Holbrooke (he won't remember) on Monday evening, September 21, 1992. Some ridiculously wealthy Manhattan socialite had thrown a party for Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, then the new cause du jour, and some boutique human rights group a bogus one, I realized in retrospect, now defunct, though its chieftain has since moved to greener pastures and is still active had decided that I might be useful and had flown me up for the soire. As it was, nobody was interested in me, I had a drink or two, ate some peanuts, and went...
  • The withdrawal of Kosovo recognition possible with the new Czech government

    Из других извора се сазнаје да ће потпредседник парламента Војтех Филип иницирати процедуру на првој седечој седници парлемента. The withdrawal of Kosovo recognition possible with the new Czech government 26 March 2009. The Czech Parliament Vice-Speaker, Voitech Filip, said that, after the voting of no confidence to the minority government, a possibility of reconsideration of the Czech decision to recognize independence of Kosovo is opened. The toppled government recognized the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo despite the stands of most parliamentary parties and the president of the state, which opens up a possibility of reconsideration of that decision, Filip told...
  • Croatia allies with Serbia, takes swipe at Slovenia

    03/20/2009 12:08:48 PM PDT · by Tailgunner Joe · 6 replies · 425+ views
    AFP ^ | March 20, 2009 | David Vujanovic
    Croatia said Friday it would help former foe Serbia with EU integration, vowing not to behave like Slovenia by blocking the process over disputes left over from Yugoslavia's collapse. "Croatia will not be to Serbia what Slovenia is to us," Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told reporters in Belgrade after meeting with his Serbian counterpart Mirko Cvetkovic. "It won't be good for any of us if we're bad towards our neighbours," he said in a dig at Slovenia, whose row with Croatia over their shared border is threatening the latter's hopes of joining the European Union by 2010-2011. The 18-year...
  • US criticizes Spain on Kosovo pullout

    03/20/2009 12:17:37 PM PDT · by Tailgunner Joe · 79 replies · 2,692+ views
    AP ^ | March 20, 2009
    The United States is issuing unusually strong criticism of NATO ally Spain by expressing surprise at its decision to pull out its troops from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. State Department spokesman Robert Wood says the United States was "deeply disappointed" by the decision. He says Washington only learned of the move shortly before Spain announced it publicly. Defense Minister Carme Chacon made the announcement Thursday, saying, "The mission has been completed and it is time to return home." Asked if the United States shared that assessment, Wood said, "Not at all."
  • Grave Matters/ Graves Matter(Desecretion of Christan Graves..By Guess Who..?)

    03/18/2009 8:28:13 AM PDT · by gitmogrunt · 1 replies · 515+ views
    Even before their conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman Turks referred to The Citys inhabitants as Rum, or Romans. In this, they were simply following the local practice: thats how Constantinopolitan Christians referred to themselves, and continue to refer to themselves to this day. They knew themselves to be citizens of the Christian Roman Empire. They would never have heard of the word Byzantine, a term first used to describe the Eastern Roman Empire in the 16th century, and had you called them Hellenes or Greeks they would have felt affronted, thinking you were calling them pagans. No, they were...
  • We must stop appeasing Islamist extremism

    03/14/2009 9:03:57 PM PDT · by Free ThinkerNY · 24 replies · 1,066+ views
    telegraph.co.uk ^ | March 14, 2009 | Ed Husain
    There is something happening inside Britain's Muslim communities. The disgraceful, treacherous protest in Luton last week at the homecoming of the brave Royal Anglian regiment is an indication of resurgent extremism. Does our Government have the political stamina to fight it? It's comfortable for us to think that these are the actions of a small minority but are they? The vile mob that hurled abuse against returning troops does not operate in a vacuum, somehow removed from other Muslims. Only two weeks ago, the same group of extremists openly marched in Tower Hamlets, Britain's most densely populated "Muslim area"....
  • Croatias Secret Reparations Revealed

    03/14/2009 4:59:43 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 5 replies · 644+ views
    Institute for War and Peace Reporting ^ | March 13, 2009 | Goran Jungvirth
    ICTY - Tribunal Update Zagreb awarded damages to families of victims killed in detention. Croatia secretly paid 1.8 million kuna (250,000 euro) to the families of people killed in the notorious Lora prison camp in the early 1990s, confirmed officials this week. Lora, a Yugoslav-era naval base in the coastal city of Split, was taken over by Croatian forces in 1991, the start of the Croatian war of independence, as the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army, JNA, forces withdrew. From 1992 to 1997, it functioned as a prison camp for mainly Serbian, but also Bosnian and Montenegrin, civilians and prisoners of war,...
  • Don't Forget Yugoslavia

    03/01/2009 8:19:35 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 15 replies · 791+ views
    John Pilger.com ^ | August 14, 2008 | John Pilger
    As we enter March and with it the promise of Spring, this month marks the 10 year anniversary of the 78 day bombing campaign against Serbia waged by the Clinton Administration in 1999 over the issue of "Kosovo". The following are comments made in August of 2008 that are every bit as appropriate today. ________________ In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger digs beneath the received wisdom for the break-up of Yugoslavia and points to a largely ignored memoir by the former chief prosecutor in The Hague - and an echo from current events in the Caucasus....
  • The Balkans' Mujahedin

    02/27/2009 3:10:18 AM PST · by Doctor13 · 13 replies · 717+ views
    International Politik ^ | 26 February 2009 | Marko Atilla Hoare
    The wars in the former Yugoslavia are not a field of study known for having spawned objective and dispassionate literature. Perhaps no topic is more controversial than the role of Al Qaeda in the Balkans in the 1990s. This much is known: Several thousand foreign mujahedin from the wider Islamic world fought on the Bosnian Armys side during the 1992-1995 war, and Al Qaeda was closely involved in their transport and activities there. Almost everything else is highly contested. Sensational claims have been made that the Bosnian government itself was closely linked to Al Qaeda, and that Bosnias wartime president,...
  • Croatia's Franjo Tudjman would have ended up in the Hague

    02/22/2009 6:47:33 PM PST · by Ravnagora · 2 replies · 552+ views
    B92 ^ | February 22, 2009 | Jutarnji List (Morning News)
    ZAGREB -- Had he lived, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman would today be in the Hague accused of war crimes, a former American ambassador to Croatia claims. Peter Galbraith told Zagreb daily Jutarnji List that Croatia, "had it not been for the war and Tudjman", would now be an EU member. Galbraith testified at the Hague Tribunal in the trial of Ante Gotovina and two other former Croatian generals charged with Operation Storm crimes committed in 1995. Nearly a quarter of a million ethnic Serbs were driven out of their homes during the Croatian army and police campaign. Now the Zagreb...
  • KOSOVO STOLEN - a banned Czech documentary

    02/21/2009 4:21:41 PM PST · by Mel70 · 37 replies · 1,674+ views
    June 2008. | Czech TV
    This excellent documentary was banned in Czech Republic by Czech TV, and most probably in all mainstream globalist media in western countries. It will reveal to you the horrifying story of Kosovo that nobody ever wanted to tell you... (from the description on YouTube) part1part2part3part4part5part6
  • Serbia's President Boris Tadic: A judicial approach on Kosovo

    02/21/2009 6:04:14 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 2 replies · 434+ views
    The Washington Times ^ | February 17, 2009 | Boris Tadic
    Serbia's contest against secession sets a new Balkan standard A year ago today, a great disturbance with global implications was felt throughout the international system - the unilateral declaration of independence by the ethnic-Albanian authorities of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo. This blatant attempt at secession is in direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), the U.N. Charter, and the Helsinki Final Act. As a result, a vast majority of U.N. member states, including many with multiethnic populations, have refused to recognize Kosovo's independence. At the time, we stated clearly that Serbia would never recognize Kosovo's unilateral...
  • Kosovo Albanian with suicide vest arrested

    02/17/2009 2:53:37 AM PST · by kronos77 · 14 replies · 923+ views
    February 16, 2009 – 7:15 pm A Kosovo Albanian from the city of Kacanik has been arrested in a cafe in the southern village of Strpce in Serbia’s province of Kosovo report police spokesman Arber Beka. The arrested Albanian wore a suicide vest loaded with explosives. He was arrested in the cafe called Kvatro around 8:00 pm today. Police and NATO troops have surrounded the perimeter and are investigating. The arrest came after a cafe patron spotted that one of the three Albanians who just walked into the cafe had wires under his jacket. The police was immediately called in...
  • Thousands of Serbs protest Kosovo security force

    02/10/2009 7:37:55 PM PST · by Ravnagora · 4 replies · 572+ views
    The Hindu News ^ | February 10, 2009 | AP
    MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP): Several thousand Serbs are protesting in Kosovo's north against the formation of an ethnic Albanian security force. The protesters claim the new Kosovo Security Force is designed to harass the Serb minority, and say they will not allow the NATO-trained force to deploy in the Serb-dominated north. They are urging Serbia's government to hold a Feb. 17 session in Kosovo as the former Serbian province marks its first anniversary of independence. Serbia rejects Kosovo's statehood. Kosovo's security force is dominated by ethnic-Albanians and commanded by a former rebel leader that fought Serbia during the 1998-99 war. It...
  • Tudjmans Police Minister Admits Croatia Started the War by Attacking Serbs

    02/14/2009 8:08:46 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 22 replies · 1,381+ views
    De-Construct.net ^ | February 13, 2009 | De-Construct.net
    Serbs and Yugoslavia were Under Attack, Not Croatia In the exclusive interview, Franjo Tudjman’s Internal Affairs Minister Josip Boljkovac admitted Croat leadership carried out planned attacks on Croatia Serbs in 1991, in order to start a war. “Tudjman wanted the war at any cost, following the concept according to which Serbs must disappear from Croatia,” Boljkovac said. Croat media censored reports from Boljkovac’s testimony at the trial against former Osijek mayor Branimir Glavaš, war criminal responsible for horrific crimes against the local Serbs, concealing parts of his testimony which charge Croatia with instigating the war. “During the testimony, Glavaš accused...
  • In Kosovo, whole families return to Catholic faith

    02/10/2009 12:22:07 PM PST · by Tailgunner Joe · 5 replies · 656+ views
    catholicnews.com ^ | February 9, 2009 | Victor Gaetan
    PRISTINA, Kosovo (CNS) -- Although armed conflict in Kosovo ended nearly a decade ago, the capital city still feels like a place hit recently by war or natural disaster. Electricity goes out often, water is strictly rationed, U.N. jeeps are ubiquitous and people look harried. Along the main road leading to Pristina, every other lot is full of old cars, stolen from other European countries and picked clean or abandoned by families who fled the war. But during Sunday Masses at the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, an active Catholic community packs the pews. There are families and old...
  • Balkan Basket Case

    02/08/2009 12:26:55 PM PST · by Ravnagora · 112 replies · 2,759+ views
    Washington Times ^ | February 8, 2009 | Jefferey T. Kuhner
    From Iceland to Latvia, the growing financial crisis is triggering popular revolts. Several European governments are on the verge of being toppled. Yet, it is in the Balkans where the rising tide of discontent may have the most significant impact. The bloody breakup of Yugoslavia left in its wake successor states - all of whom, with the exception of Slovenia, are mired in economic stagnation. The region's biggest disappointment, however, has been Croatia. It is now badly lagging behind its northern Slovene neighbor due to massive political corruption. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader vows to lead his country into the...
  • 'Wahhabists To Persecute Serbs From Kosovo'

    01/30/2009 4:54:43 PM PST · by Bokababe · 6 replies · 722+ views
    Javno ^ | January 30, 2009 | Karmen Horvat
    FROM PAKISTAN TO MITROVICA: Bosniak mahala locals are convinced that wahhabists are planning to persecute Serbs from the settlement and in entire Kosovska Mitrovica. An armed group of some 30 wahhabists, Muslim fundamentalists, have been patrolling the Bosniak mahala, a settlement with mixed population in the center of Kosovska Mitrovica. Armed with guns, they patrol the streets at night and ID Serbs from the Bosniak mahala, right next to Kosovo police and KFOR soldiers, the Kurir Serbian daily writes. Wahhabists recruited heroin addicts who were treated in mosques in the Southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. The group leader is Ekrem...
  • Jutarnji List: Barack Obama to visit Croatia, Albania in April?

    02/04/2009 10:53:40 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 15 replies · 1,611+ views
    Focus Information Agency ^ | 4 February 2009
    Zagreb. U.S. President Barack Obama might visit Croatia and Albania in April, the Croatian Jutarnji List writes on its Internet site. According to anonymous White House sources Obama will most probably visit Zagreb and Tirana immediately after the NATO summit in Strasbourg. If Obama does not visit the two countries on organizational grounds, the prime ministers of the two NATO newcomers will visit the White House, the Jutarnji List says.
  • Bosnia genocide victims protest Gaza offensive ("Srebrenica 1995 - Gaza 2009")

    01/09/2009 2:39:43 AM PST · by kronos77 · 55 replies · 1,887+ views
    SARAJEVO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims protested in front of the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo on Thursday to call on Washington to stop Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. Munira Subasic, who lost her son and husband when Bosnian Serbs took over the eastern town of Srebrenica, said she felt solidarity with the Palestinian people. "In 2009, Palestinian mothers are going through ordeals we experienced in 1995 and we are raising our voice because we know about pain and suffering. We know how it feels to lose a child or husband,"...
  • Bosnia`s Main Parties Back Decentralisation Plan (a new administrative division into four parts)

    01/26/2009 10:32:22 PM PST · by Diocletian · 9 replies · 877+ views
    Javno ^ | January 26, 2009 | staff
    The leaders of Bosnia's main Muslim, Croat and Serb parties gave their support on Monday to a decentralisation plan for the ethnically divided country that fought a civil war from 1992-95. Details of the plan, which would be enacted as a revision to the constitution, remained sketchy, but it calls for a division of the country into four administrative units, officials said. It was unclear how this would fit with Bosnia's efforts to join the European Union (EU), which wants the Balkan country to strengthen its central state before it joins the 27-member bloc. "We agreed that Bosnia should be...