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Keyword: balkans

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Serbia says 11,000 people trapped in remote villages by snow; Europes death toll rises to 123

    02/02/2012 7:23:14 PM PST · by Ravnagora · 33 replies
    Washington Post ^ | February 2, 2012 | AP
    BELGRADE, Serbia At least 11,000 villagers have been trapped by heavy snow and blizzards in Serbias mountains, authorities said Thursday, as the death toll from Eastern Europes weeklong deep freeze rose to 123, many of them homeless people. The harshest winter in decades has seen temperatures in some regions dropping to minus 30 C (minus 22 F) and below, and has caused power outages, traffic chaos and the widespread closure of schools, nurseries and airports. The stranded in Serbia are stuck in some 6,500 homes in remote areas that cannot be reached due to icy, snow-clogged roads with banks...
  • CROATIA - FASCIST ENOUGH FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION

    01/27/2012 9:15:36 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 4 replies
    Free Nations ^ | January 2012 | Rodney Atkins
    While Germany and Austria have just blocked Serbia's entry into the European Union Croatia was admitted in a ceremony at which David Cameron shook the hand of Croat leaders, whose country by any democratic or moral standards is a disgrace. Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, in an exact reprise of the fascist 1940s, have been systematically attacked and dismembered by Germany and Austria since the 1980s. Germany, without the support of other countries, the EU or the UN, joined the Vatican in illegally recognising Croatia in 1991 which led to that State effectively declaring war on Yugoslavia (of which it...
  • Resurgent Serbia

    01/26/2012 10:48:33 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 4 replies
    Bangkok Post ^ | January 26, 2012 | Pongpet Mekloy - Travel Editor
    Belgrade may hold the pulse, but the soul throbs well beyond the capital cityAs peace has returned to most of the Balkans, countries in the region, including those that broke off from the former Yugoslavia, are opening their doors to tourists. And Serbia, despite the unsettled conflict with Kosovo to its south, is no exception. To the Serbs, religion is a crucial part of life. And the most important spiritual sanctity in Belgrade is this grand cathedral dedicated to Saint Sava, the first archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the founder of Serbian law and literature. Saint Sava was...
  • Angelina Jolies Blood and Honey directorial debut a flop

    01/12/2012 10:43:29 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 17 replies
    1389 Blog - Counterjihad! ^ | January 12, 2012 | Peter Brock
    The critics and movie-goers “doth protest too much.” Make that a silent protest because apparently they have better things to do than say much of anything about Angelina Jolie’s inaugural attempt at writing/directing “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” The first month’s box office take will likely not even amount to a .01-percent trickle of the $13 million blown on this celluloid cliché that promoters had tried to hype as a Romeo and Juliet tragedy set against the recent Bosnian war. By late January, the three-week mini-run that soaked $90,000 in ticket sales from gullible movie-goers is sputtering. Only...
  • Kosovo: Risk of radical Islam, says ambassador to Italy

    01/12/2012 10:41:18 AM PST · by bayouranger · 5 replies
    emg.rs ^ | 1-11-12 | Cristiana Missori
    Four years on from its independence, Kosovo is attempting to reaffirm its native traditions and is calling on the West for help to avoid being swallowed by the slow advance of radical Islam, which is taking advantage of tolerant traditions. Four years on from its independence, Kosovo is attempting to reaffirm its native traditions and is calling on the West for help to avoid being swallowed by the slow advance of radical Islam, which is taking advantage of tolerant traditions. The scenario is one of inter-religious dialogue that is progressing at its own slow pace, without making any fuss and...
  • Albania slams Kosovo hardliner's call for Serbian border blockade

    01/13/2012 5:56:45 AM PST · by DeaconBenjamin · 2 replies
    EU Business ^ | 12 January 2012, 22:14 CET
    (TIRANA) - Albania on Thursday slammed calls from a Kosovo hardline opposition leader to temporarily block the border with Serbia as a way of barring Serb products from entering the breakaway territory. Albania's foreign ministry said in a statement that the attempt to block the border was contrary to constructive efforts to make Kosovo a democratic state and multi-ethnic society. "The use of nationalist and pseudo-patriotic rhetoric" will not help key goals of the Albanians in both Kosovo and Albania to progress towards integration into the European Union, or new recognitions of Kosovo's independence, the ministry warned. Albin Kurti, a...
  • Who are Americas allies in the Balkans?

    01/09/2012 10:58:41 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 19 replies
    Canada Free Press ^ | January 4, 2012 | Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski
    A new set of issues for Christians in Southeastern Europe has arisen, largely as a result of misdirected policies of the Clinton/Albright and successive Washington administrations.Believe it or not, Christmas Carols in the Washington Embassy of Romania which, once-upon-a-time, was the instrument of a strident Stalinist-style government that was overthrown in 1990! I say once-upon-a-time because, though not so long ago, it seemed to me like a fairy-tale. There we were, about seventy invited guests, in the upstairs reception Hall of the Embassy, where a 4-man Brass Quartette from a Romanian Baptist church in Virginia presented a concert of about...
  • Feds: Man planned terrorism attacks in Tampa

    01/09/2012 8:50:17 AM PST · by NautiNurse · 15 replies
    Tampa Tribune via TBO.com ^ | January 9, 2012 | ELAINE SILVESTRINI
    Federal agents over the weekend arrested a Pinellas Park man described as having extremist jihadist beliefs who wanted to blow up a target in Tampa and create "terror" in victims' hearts. "I want to do something terrifying," he said, according to a federal complaint, "like one day, one night, something's going to happen. Then six hours later, something else." Sami Osmakac, 25, was taken into custody after an FBI sting operation in which he tried to buy explosives, at least 10 grenades, Uzis and an AK-47, authorities said. Osmakac's intended target shifted over the course of the investigation, which spanned...
  • Nazi memorial in Croatia a disgrace to Europe

    01/05/2012 10:14:01 AM PST · by gitmogrunt · 11 replies
    Jerusalem Post ^ | 01/04/2012 | EFRAIM ZUROFF
    <p>Imagine for a minute that memorial masses were held in two major cities in Germany on the anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler. Needless to say, such a ceremony would arouse fury, indignation, and widespread protests not only in Germany, but throughout the entire world. Last week, the local equivalent of such an event took place in Croatia, but instead of anger and demonstrations, not a single word of protest was heard from anywhere in the country.</p>
  • Officially and unofficially, the euro reigns in the Balkans

    12/30/2011 8:57:35 PM PST · by Olog-hai · 2 replies
    EUBusiness.com ^ | 27 December 2011, 13:40 CET | (AFP)
    The eurozone crisis has not prompted panic in the Balkans even though the euro is the currency of reference here and Montenegro and Kosovo use it despite being a long way from membership. Throughout the region, loans are taken out and savings made in euros while salaries are determined based on the European single currency. "In the past, all of us in the Balkans were in love with the German mark. Since it disappeared, the euro rules," explained Zoran Jovanovic while sipping coffee at the popular Belgrade Biblioteka caf. "It is the case in Belgrade, Zagreb, Podgorica, Skopje, Tirana, Sarajevo...
  • MACEDONIA, EUROPE'S NEW TRANSIT COUNTRY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

    12/29/2011 11:36:52 AM PST · by markomalley · 2 replies
    LE TEMPS/Worldcrunch ^ | 12/16/11 | Jean-Arnault Drens
    Several dozen young men are basking in the warm mid-day sun. They are Afghan and Pakistani. Behind them, on a white wall, is graffiti extolling the glories of the UK -- ex-Kosovo Albanian guerilla fighters.Over the past two years, the Macedonian village of Lojane, which borders Serbia, has become a stop-over on the illegal migration routes to Western Europe. It started when groups of three or four would arrive periodically. It didnt disturb us at first, says Selam Mehmeti, the head of the village community. But since this summer, its grown to a whole other dimension: there were 500 in...
  • One of 5 remaining Serbs in Kosovo town dies

    12/28/2011 9:16:51 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 14 replies
    B92 ^ | Dec. 26, 2011 | B92
    DJAKOVICA -- An 82-year-old woman - one of only five remaining Serbs in the town of Djakovica in Kosovo - has died, it has been reported. Jela Mijovich and four other elderly women were the only Serbs left in the town after the March 2004 pogrom perpetrated by ethnic Albanians. They all lived in a rebuilt structure located in the yard of a Serbian Orthodox monastery in the town. Prior to 1999, several thousand Serbs lived in Djakovica. The four elderly women who still remain there live under 24-hour protection of the Kosovo police (KPS). One of them, 64-year-old Vasiljka...
  • Angelina Jolie inflames new ethnic emotions in Bosnia with her debut as film director

    12/17/2011 8:19:42 PM PST · by PieterCasparzen · 41 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 12/17/2011 | Philip Sherwell
    Angelina Jolie has aroused praise and criticism in Bosnia with her first film as a director, a story of love and war set during the bloody Balkans conflict. ... But in the Balkans, another world from the star-studded American premieres and glitzy after-parties, the film is inflaming old and deeply-held emotions. ... Former Bosnian Muslim war prisoners and relatives of massacre victims, some of them initially critical, lauded In the Land of Blood and Honey after being invited to a private screening to allay earlier fears about the subject matter. But the leader of a Bosnian Serb prisoners group has...
  • Croatia signs EU accession treaty

    12/10/2011 7:49:48 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 5 replies
    In Sofia, Croatian ambassador to Bulgaria Danijela Barišić and Leszek Hensel, ambassador of Poland – current holder of the EU Presidency – hosted a celebration on December 9 of Croatia’s EU accession treaty signing. Ambassadors and guests from EU and other countries turned out in force to offer congratulations. Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer Croatia signed on December 9 2011 its accession treaty with the European Union and if all goes according to plan, will join the bloc in July 2013. Before the process progresses further, the country must within 30 days from December 9 approve in a referendum accession to the...
  • Excavations in Serbia Raising New Questions About Early Humans in Europe [ Sicevo Gorge ]

    12/06/2011 8:06:30 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 13 replies
    Popular Archaeology ^ | Monday, November 28, 2011 | unattributed
    The Sicevo Gorge is a rugged, picturesque river canyon cut into the Kunivica plateau in southeastern Serbia... contains a series of caves, at least one of which has yielded evidence of human presence during the shifting glacial times of the Ice Age of present-day Europe... in 2008, anthropologists uncovered a partial human mandible (lower jaw), complete with three teeth, while excavating in a small cave... a fossil specimen, definitely a human that, at least in terms of morphology, predated the Neanderthal and may have had more in common, physically, with Homo erectus, thought by many scientists to be the precursor...
  • U.S. Commander Condemns Attacks on Kosovo Force

    11/30/2011 4:00:27 PM PST · by Ravnagora · 11 replies
    U.S. Department of Defense ^ | November 29, 2011 | Donna Miles
    Georgia National Guard soldiers stack behind a wall during training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, Nov. 9, 2011. National Guard soldiers from several states -- including the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade -- are part of the KFOR 15 rotation preparing to deploy to Kosovo in upcoming months. U.S. Army photo by Lynn Davis WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2011 A senior U.S. military leader in Europe condemned recent violence against NATO troops in Kosovo just as a Wisconsin Army National Guard unit prepares to take command of the 15th rotation of peacekeeping forces...
  • Northern Kosovo: Serbs make their last stand

    11/26/2011 8:23:18 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 13 replies
    RT.com ^ | November 26, 2011 | RT.com
    Tensions run high on Serbia's border with northern Kosovo, as neither of the conflicting sides is prepared to rule out a further escalation of violence. Local Serbs say NATO forces are to blame, for breaking an agreement by trying to remove a barricade blocking the way to one of a number of disputed checkpoints. The move prompted violent clashes that left dozens injured on both sides. Last night in Northern Kosovo passed without violence though this does not mean that the source of tensions has disappeared. On November 23 the NATOs KFOR forces attempted to remove a barricade put up...
  • Is Justice Going To Be Served: Grisly Albanian Organ Harvesting Crimes

    11/23/2011 5:40:18 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 9 replies
    Modern Tokyo Times ^ | November 21, 2011 | Vojin Joksimovich Ph.D
    KLA Detention Camps In my late December essay in 2010 called Amorality of US Kosovo Policy: Friends with the Snake I have published reactions to the Council of Europe (CoE) 27-page report authored by the Swiss-Italian politician, senator and prosecuting lawyer Dick Marty. The report, after his two-year investigation, claimed that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) thugs headed by the current Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci, known as the Snake, abducted mostly Kosovo Serbs but also some Albanian so called collaborators, transported them to northern Albania, murdered them, extracted their organs like the kidneys, and sold them on the black...
  • Northern Kosovo "could declare independence"

    11/19/2011 11:39:42 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 3 replies
    www.B92,net ^ | November 18, 2011 | TANJUG
    BELGRADE -- Oliver Ivanović says he does not rule out the possibility that Serbs from northern Kosovo may "declare independence" of that part of the province. Oliver Ivanović (Beta, file) This could happen if the West continues to insist on the implementation of the agreement on customs stamps and other issues in Priština's favor, the Ministry for Kosovo state secretary said in Belgrade on Friday, after a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Kosovo and Metohija. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in early 2008, but Serbia rejected it as an illegal act of secession. Serb north of the...
  • Triumph The Insult Comic @ Occupy Wall Street (Really Funny)

    11/17/2011 10:04:11 PM PST · by southern rock · 17 replies
    YouTube ^ | 11/04/11 | Conan O'Brian
    Triumph the Insult Comic Dog gives it to bankers, protestors and a bull.
  • Russian official: Arrival of Serbs would be "repatriation" (Kosovo Serbs seeking citizenships)

    Source: Beta, Interfax MOSCOW -- The possible arrival of Serbs to Russia, says Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, would represent "a treasure" for his country. Dmitry Rogozin (Tanjug, file) Rogozin spoke after announcements that some Serbs from Kosovo, faced with the ongoing crisis in the province, would seek Russian citizenship. But the diplomat welcomed even the idea that they might move to his country - which is experiencing "great demographic problems". Those Serbs would easily adapt to the new surroundings, "and there should be no issues with employment", according to Rogozin. He also added: "Serbs from Kosovo should be...
  • Faking History: Titos Phony War

    11/15/2011 7:37:49 PM PST · by Ravnagora · 19 replies
    www.generalmihailovich.com ^ | November 15, 2011 | Carl Savich / George Jatras
    Thank goodness for those among us who remain vigilant against the lies... Review: Titos War by John Brown, World War II History Magazine, November, 2011, Volume 10, No. 7, pp. 54-61. Review by Carl Savich In the November, 2011 issue of the military history magazine "World War II History", published in Herndon, Virginia, an article entitled Titos War by Australian author John Brown purports to chronicle the conflict in Yugoslavia between Draza Mihailovichs Chetnik guerrillas and Josip Broz Titos Communist Partisans during World War II. This account is fake. It is a phony history of World War II. John Brown...
  • "1,000 Serbs killed in Kosovo since end of war"

    11/12/2011 10:08:53 AM PST · by Ravnagora · 16 replies
    B92 ^ | November 11, 2011 | BETA
    BELGRADE -- More than 1,000 Serbs have been murdered in Kosovo since June 1999 - when the war ended and international forces were deployed in the province. This is according to Assistant Minister for Kosovo Kruna Kaličanin, who spoke in Belgrade on Thursday. She also noted that "almost nobody" was charged and put on trial for those crimes. The international community, in the meanwhile, showed a tendency to "minimize" the importance of Serb victims, Kaličanin added. These statements came a day after a Serb man was shot and killed, while two others were wounded in Kosovska Mitrovica. Kaličanin also accused...
  • KUHNER: Radical Islam in the heart of Europe

    11/11/2011 1:59:39 PM PST · by americanophile · 6 replies
    Washington Times ^ | 11/10/11 | Jeffrey T. Kuhner
    Is Bosnia-Herzegovina doomed? The small Balkan nation is being subverted by powerful internal forces that threaten its existence. The West must wake up before the former Yugoslav republic descends once again into sectarian bloodshed. Last month, an Islamic terrorist from neighboring Serbia, Mevlid Jasarevic, opened fire on the U.S. embassy in Bosnias capital, Sarajevo. The 23-year-old jihadist was armed with hand grenades and an automatic weapon. Fortunately, no one was killed. Mr. Jasarevic was protesting American policy toward the Muslim world. He was arrested and is awaiting trial. Police also raided a northern Bosnian village, Gornja Maoca, which is a...
  • Brit Womans Refugee Gang Rape

    11/09/2011 1:55:09 PM PST · by ventanax5 · 34 replies
    The brutal gang rape of a British woman by five Afghan refugees has sparked a massive protest against illegal immigrants in a Serbian spa town. The 38-year-old woman - who bravely managed to film the attack on her mobile phone - was repeatedly raped after befriending a group of Afghan men in a park in Banja Koviljaca. Despite handing the video footage to police, only one alleged attacker - identified by police only as Abdurashid D., 25 - has been arrested. Now local mothers have told police they are boycotting local schools from next week (nov 7) unless they clear...
  • Kosovo leader won't sue Swiss politician over organ trading report

    11/03/2011 8:47:10 PM PDT · by DeaconBenjamin · 1 replies
    The Local (Switzerland) ^ | 03 Nov 2011 17:14 GMT+1
    Hashim Thaci will not file a legal claim against Swiss politician Dick Marty who wrote a Council of Europe report linking the Kosovo prime minister to organ trafficking in the 1990s, media reported on Thursday. Thaci "does not want to influence the (independent) investigation opened by US prosecutor John Clint Williamson," Kosovo deputy prime minister Hajredin Kuci told local media. Prosecutor Williamson heads up a working group set up by the European Union's EULEX rule of law mission in Kosovo to investigate the claims made in Marty's report. In the report, Marty said that members of Thaci's Kosovo Liberation Army...
  • US embassy attack in Bosnia underscores radical Islamist threat in the Balkans

    10/30/2011 8:45:34 AM PDT · by Decombobulator · 4 replies
    Washington Post ^ | 10/30/2011
    The young man wore a long beard and pants that stopped above his ankles. He sprayed the U.S. embassy in Bosnia with machine gun fire. The recent rise of militant Wahhabis and other Islamic radicals across the Balkans, including in Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and even European Union member Bulgaria, has triggered concerns that the region could become a breeding ground for terrorists with easy access to Western Europe or the U.S. The shooter in Fridays incident, 23-year-old Mevlid Jasarevic, came from Serbia the southern region of Sandzak, a Wahhabi stronghold but also had strong links...
  • Man opens fire outside US Embassy in Bosnia

    10/28/2011 11:15:57 AM PDT · by americanophile · 16 replies
    Ap via Yahoo! News ^ | October 28, 2011 | SABINA NIKSIC
    SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) A man opened fire with an automatic weapon outside the U.S. Embassy in Bosnia on Friday, and authorities said he was targeting the building in a terrorist attack. The man injured at least one police officer guarding the embassy before police surrounded him. After a 30-minute standoff, the sound of a single shot echoed and AP Video showed the shooter brandishing a Kalyshinkov on a street corner outside of the embassy slump to the ground. Police arrested the wounded man and took him away in an ambulance as pedestrians watched from behind buildings and...
  • Bosnia: Suspected Wahhabi attacks U.S. embassy

    10/28/2011 1:48:04 PM PDT · by BabaYaga · 16 replies
    SARAJEVO -- An unidentified man on Friday in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, fired shots at the building housing the embassy of the United States. The shooter is seen at a Sarajevo intersection (Tanjug) Initially, local media in Sarajevo said that the shooter was "shot and killed by members of the Bosnian police", but Tanjug news agency is reporting that it received confirmation that the man was lightly injured and arrested. Some local media also claimed that the attacker was accompanied by two other men. A Bosnian police officer was also injured during the incident. Eyewitnesses claimed earlier on Friday that the attacker...
  • Reuters: Two security guards wounded in shooting at US embassy in Sarajevo

    10/28/2011 8:04:22 AM PDT · by nuconvert · 20 replies
    Reuters/FOCUS News Agency ^ | 28 October 2011 | FOCUS Information Agency
    Sarajevo. A gunman with an automatic weapon opened fire at the United States embassy in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Friday and police rushed to the scene, a Reuters witness said. A Reuters photographer said police were trying to surround the gunman, who was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle. A source close to the embassy said two security guards had been wounded. The U.S. embassy is located in the central business, university and shopping district of the capital.
  • Tear gas at the barricades: NATO sprays Serb protests (video)

    10/20/2011 9:34:02 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 12 replies
    RT.com ^ | October 20, 2011 | RT.com
    NATO peacekeepers have used tear gas against Serb protesters in northern Kosovo. They dispersed the crowd in order to start dismantling barricades erected in a protest against deployment of customs checkpoints on the border. The tension has already spilled into violence in Kosovo, reports RTs Maria Finoshina. One Serb was gunned down and two wounded near the city of Pec in the west of the province. The shooting was done by their Albanian neighbor, she says. Meanwhile some 300 Serbs tried to prevent the Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) from tearing down the barricades in Kosovos north, but the soldiers were...
  • Army of stones: Serb barricades stand firm

    10/18/2011 10:24:17 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 10 replies
    RT.com ^ | October 18, 2011 | RT
    As the deadline for Serbs in northern Kosovo to dismantle their border barricades nears, they remain firm in their protest. The barricades are meant to stop attempts by Kosovan police, and NATO and EU forces to take over border crossings with Serbia. Stones and sand of the barricades are the only weapons the Serbs living in Kosovo have in their arsenal to make the others listen to them. The roadblocks they have set up throughout the northern part of the region are making headlines and getting feedback. Local resident Voityla is reading a leaflet that KFOR, a NATO-led international peacekeeping...
  • Turkey's House of Cards

    10/05/2011 7:14:22 AM PDT · by Kaslin · 30 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | October 5, 2011 | Caroline Glick
    To the naked eye, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to be moving from strength to strength. Erdogan was welcomed as a hero on his recent trip to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. The Arabs embraced him as the new face of the war against Israel. The Obama administration celebrates Turkey as a paragon of Islamic democracy. The Obama administration cannot thank Erdogan enough for his recent decision to permit NATO to station the US X-Band missile shield on its territory. The US is following Turkey's lead in contending with Syrian President Bashar Assad's massacre of his people. And according...
  • Kosovo Serbs dig in as border dispute turns bloody

    10/01/2011 8:24:02 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 9 replies
    The Irish Times ^ | October 1, 2011 | DANIEL McLAUGHLIN in Jarinje
    KFor soldiers from the US stand guard at a barricade at the closed Serbia-Kosovo border crossing of Jarinje. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters Cultural claims persist in regions as Belgrade refuses to acknowledge independence of Kosovo MILEVA PREMOVIC and her neighbours while away the afternoon in the shade of a broad tree. The unseasonable warmth makes it hard to imagine that the green Kapaonik mountains, rising up a few miles away in Serbia, will soon be white with snow and busy with skiers. It would also be hard to believe that bullets were fired and blood shed here just a few days...
  • Germany Makes Another Balkan Mess

    09/26/2011 4:59:22 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 20 replies
    The National Interest ^ | September 26, 2011 | Ted Galen Carpenter
    German chancellor Angela Merkel has received undeserved praise for adopting an uncompromising position regarding Kosovo in meetings with Serbian president Boris Tadic. The latest example of a laudatory reaction is the piece [3] by Morton Abramowitz and James Hooper. Abramowitz and Hooper are thrilled that she made it clear to Tadic that Kosovo would not be partitioned and that the area inhabited by Serbs north of the Ibar River was Kosovo territory. Further, she told the leader of a still-fragile democratic Serbia that the Kosovo issue had to be resolved before Serbia could enter the EU. Rather than meriting praise,...
  • The Anti-Serb Thing from a Cuban-American. [Rubio] (Really?) (I Mean, Really?)

    09/26/2011 3:01:44 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 12 replies
    Republican Riot ^ | September 21, 2011 | Julia Gorin
    As the son of Cuban exiles, junior Florida senator Marco Rubio should be particularly sensitive to attempts at painting a people as crazed criminals, often done in service of an underlying political agenda. But in his speech last week at the Jesse Helms Center in North Carolina, Senator Rubio said, The American armed forces have been one of the greatest forces of good.They stopped Nazism and Communism and other evils such as Serbian ethnic cleansing. A year after our leaders lied to us in 1999 about the particularly insidious but ultimately mythical Operation Horseshoe (the ethnic cleansing plan subsequently shown...
  • Kosovo Becoming Asylum Transit Country

    08/23/2011 1:32:31 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 13 replies
    Daily News Corner ^ | August 20, 2011 | Muhamet Brajshori for Southeast European Times in Pristina
    Porous borders, especially in the north, are blamed for the trend. [Reuters] Kosovo hаѕ achieved the dubious distinction аs а transit country, but іs unprepared to handle the situation. Since 1999, Kosovo has ѕeen аn increasing number of asylum seekers frоm Asia and Africa. They have other destinations in mind, but use Kosovo aѕ transit point аnd оften end uр being arrested bу police at thе borders for illegal passage. Mainly, their countries of origin arе Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan and Nigeria. It іѕ uр tо thе internal affairs ministry tо determine whethеr thеy wіll remain in Kosovo or be deported....
  • A Rat hole to be watched? Balkans as a center of military technology transfer

    08/19/2011 6:45:40 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 2 replies
    The Balkan Chronicle ^ | August 18, 2011 | BC & Agencies
    Tito We have reported earlier of the possible transfer of the U.S. stealth fighter technology to China from the Serb Army which got its hands on it from the downed Stealth Bomber F11 during NATO's bombing campaign in 1999, as it was reported by other sources as well. This will not be the first time for such significant, possibly turning-point, military transfers to originate in the Balkans. The MA theses of Mehta Coleman Armstrong named "'A Rat Hole to be Watched'? CIA Analyses of the Tito-Stalin Split, 1948-1950" talks about the same type of transfer of the top military technology...
  • Serbian Attackers Shoot at NATO Soldiers [Kosovo]

    07/28/2011 6:52:47 AM PDT · by DeaconBenjamin · 3 replies
    Spiegel.de ^ | 07/28/2011
    Violence on the border between Kosovo and Serbia continued to escalate on Wednesday as members of the Serbian minority in northern Kosovo set fire to a border post that has been in dispute since Monday. The attackers also reportedly fired shots at a nearby outpost run by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR). The border station has been contested since the beginning of the week when Kosovo's special police seized two northern border crossings in attempt to enforce an import ban on Serbian goods. On Tuesday a Kosovar police officer was killed, reportedly with a gunshot to the head. KFOR troops...
  • Serbia holds Croatia war crimes suspect Goran Hadzic

    07/20/2011 5:06:31 PM PDT · by LjubivojeRadosavljevic · 1 replies
    BBC ^ | July, 20, 2011 | BBC
    Serbian authorities have arrested Goran Hadzic, the last remaining fugitive war crimes suspect sought by the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr Hadzic, now 52, led Serb separatist forces during Croatia's 1991-1995 war. Within hours of the arrest, a Serbian court approved his extradition to the Hague. He has been charged with the murder of hundreds of non-Serbs. The arrest comes less than two months after Serbia caught former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic. Serbian President Boris Tadic confirmed Mr Hadzic's arrest at a news conference. He said the suspect had been detained early on Wednesday in the...
  • Bosniaks and Croats, Divided in Class and at Play

    07/02/2011 10:55:36 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 4 replies
    The New York Times ^ | July 1, 2011 | MATTHEW BRUNWASSER
    The high school in Vitez, where the Croat children attend classes on the upper floor and the Bosnian children on the lower floor. In Bosnia, the complex system of checks and balances between ethnic groups has cemented the divisions rather than healed them, local residents say, and reconciliation has still not happened. VITEZ, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Every morning at the local grade school formerly known as Brotherhood and Unity, the Catholic Croat children head to the right, and the Bosnian Muslims head to the left. The Croats study in the schools cheerful looking main building, which was recently renovated....
  • THE MYSTERY OF MIHAILOVICH - Was General Draza Mihailovich a Traitor or a Patriot?

    06/13/2011 4:16:46 PM PDT · by Ravnagora · 7 replies
    www.generalmihailovich.com ^ | 1946-2011 | Donovan Touche
    Aleksandra's Note: Ironically, even though it was Great Britain who betrayed General Mihailovich in the Second World War, it was some of her officers, diplomats, and journalists who were fairest and most effective at pinning down and exposing the truth about what really happened in Yugoslavia during WWII and the British complicity in the consequences of what transpired during and after the war. A number of excellent and honest articles about the Mihailovich tragedy were published in independent British papers during and after his trial at the hands of Tito's Yugoslav communists in 1946. Of those, the following essay by...
  • How the Serbs treat their prisoners of war

    06/04/2011 10:08:49 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 14 replies
    www.heroesofserbia.com ^ | June 4, 2011 | R. A. Reiss / Aleksandra Rebic
    Dr. Archibald Rudolph Reiss Aleksandra's Note: Three proverbs capture the essential nature of how things work in the Balkans. They are: "History repeats itself", "The first casualty of war is truth", and "What's old is new again". The more one researches the history of the Balkans the more one becomes struck with just how relevant the past is to today's events. The unfortunate thing about this phenomenon is that those in power and the policymakers and the historians and journalists who evaluate what is going on presently never seem to pay attention to the fact that the same lies keep...
  • Reasons for Mladics arrest shameful

    06/02/2011 6:03:50 AM PDT · by Clive · 7 replies
    QMI Agency via Sun Media via Calgary Sun ^ | 2011-06-02 | Michael Coren
    I dont think any civilized and informed person either condemns or doubts the reason why Ratko Mladic was arrested by Serbian security forces, and handed over to an international war crimes trial in The Hague. He is alleged to have led a force that slaughtered 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, and almost certainly did so. He was captured because Belgrade desperately wants to become part of the European Community, and knows it has to expunge any former connection with ethnic cleansing and tribal atrocities. The chances are that many in the Serbian government knew full well where Mladic had...
  • Son: Mladic says he's not guilty of war crimes

    05/27/2011 5:19:55 AM PDT · by arderkrag · 10 replies
    AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 05/27/2011 | JOVANA GEC
    BELGRADE, Serbia Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic says he's innocent of war crimes charges that include orchestrating some of the worst atrocities of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, the suspect's son said Friday after visiting the former fugitive in jail. "His stand is that he's not guilty of what he's being accused of," Darko Mladic told reporters. After spending a night in jail, Mladic was due back in a Belgrade court for a second hearing on his extradition to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands on charges that include directing the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys...
  • Mladic's arrest is celebrated

    05/26/2011 2:35:28 PM PDT · by ColdOne · 14 replies
    Politico44 ^ | 05/26/11 | ALEX GUILLEN
    President Obama is calling the arrest of Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb general charged with genocide and other crimes against humanity in the 1990s, as an important day for the families of Mladics many victims, for Serbia, for Bosnia, for the United States, and for international justice. However, Obama noted in a statement, the United States and others must recommit ourselves to supporting ongoing reconciliation efforts in the Balkans and to working to prevent future atrocities. Heres Obamas full statement: Fifteen years ago, Ratko Mladic ordered the systematic execution of some 8,000 unarmed men and boys in Srebrencia. Today, he...
  • Krajina: The Unfinished Story based on the Krajina Chronicle

    04/21/2011 5:51:21 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 3 replies
    Modern Tokyo Times ^ | April 21, 2011 | James Bissett
    The Krajina Chronicle By Srdja Trifkovic The Krajina Chronicle reviewed by Amb. James Bissett, Chairman of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies.Srdja Trifkovic is no stranger to Chronicles readers, many of whom have found his articles commenting on foreign affairs, with particular attention to the Balkans, to be insightful, penetrating, and written with authority. His latest book, The Krajina Chronicle, provides further confirmation of his extraordinary talent. The book is a history of the Serbian warrior-farmers who formed the first line of defense against Islamic invasions into the Habsburg Empire. It is a story of heroism and tragedy that...
  • American investors plan to build Las Vegas in Croatia

    04/20/2011 8:29:57 AM PDT · by Ravnagora · 8 replies
    www.guide2croatia.net ^ | April 20, 2011
    American investors plan to build Las Vegas in Croatia-Istria has the best chances for this investment In a year or two, Croatia should get its own Las Vegas, a city of entertainment that will offer casinos, Formula 1 route, rock concerts, horse racings, top restaurants and much more. The entire project would cost 1.5 billion $. Behind trhis is a group of American investors from the real Las Vegas, which is visiting Croatia this week. Istria has the best chance to get that investment. We visited several locations in Croatia, near Dubrovnik, Zadar and several locations in Istria. Istria has...
  • "We prevented new Srebrenica in Libya" [Hillary Clinton]

    04/16/2011 7:15:20 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 28 replies
    Source: B92 ^ | Saturday, April 16, 2011 | unattributed
    "In a single week, we prevented a potential massacre, stopped an advancing army (loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi) and expanded the coalition," Clinton said... "The situation is painful. There's no place to sleep, there's no water, electricity, there's shooting everywhere," the rebels say... "The fact is that we have reached a solid and sustainable consensus about our goals among all NATO members, which is necessary in order to achieve them. I have spoken in detail with many colleagues regarding concrete steps and we all need to make an effort in order to isolate Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and protect...
  • US 'Winding Down' Bondsteel Base in Kosovo

    03/30/2011 1:16:21 PM PDT · by Bokababe · 31 replies
    Balkan Instight ^ | 3/28/11 | Lawrence Marzouk
    The large military base in southern Kosovo faces reduction or closure as strategic attention shifts from the Balkans, US ambassador Christopher Dell tells Jane's.