Free Republic

Do you guys honestly think it will be beneficial for the US will get involved in a war between China and Taiwan? I don't think so. Maybe just some type of covert operations, but nothing big.

Officials have said they put 12 military satellites in orbit in 2003 and plan to launch at least 10 this year

Looks like Putin is serious about restoring the Russian military to its former glory.

Russia has 100 satellites in orbit, about 60 of them with defense uses.

Does anyone know how many the US has? I'm also interested in China.

There are Christian Albanians, but they are all in Albania, and a few in Montenegro. The Albanians in Kosovo (and Macedonia) are all Muslim. If there are any Catholic Albanians in Kosovo, they are an extremely small minority (maybe 1% of Kosovo's population) because they do not show up in any statistic I've ever seen.

1) Most conservatives hate Bubba with a passion and it happened under Bubba's watch so it was inherently wrong.

That has nothing to do with it. Conservatives aren't so stupid that they support or oppose something simply because of who orders it. Clinton ordered many strikes against Iraq during the late 90's, did you hear conservatives complaining about that? Of course not, because it was the right thing to do. The opposition to Clinton's war exists because it was wrong, not because Clinton was in charge when it happened.

2) They mistakenly view it as a religious conflict.

Mistakenly? Did the Albanians destroy hundreds of Christian churches, or did they not? Did many "mujahiden" come to fight for the Albanian cause or did they not? The Albanians have been trying to portray themselves as "moderate muslims" after 9/11 but before 9/11 they were bragging to Arabs how muslim they were in order to get help from Arabs.

Yes Vasa Cubrilovic was one man, so let's move on to another man. Let's see if you can guess who said it: "Serbia may lose the war, but there will be no more Albanians in Kosovo"

You just don't get it. Statements made by anyone are irrelevent unless they are made as oficial statements of the government representing the people. There are thousands of Albanians who make similar statements about Serbs, so what?

How convenient to state this, considering that it is well documented Serb military tore the papers of many Kosovars as they were kicking them out of Kosova.

It's not well documented, this was claimed by Albanian refugees but it has never been proven, and Albanian refugees aren't exactly known for telling the truth. The fact is, when someone is born, his birth is recorded at his local church, which then copies the information to the municial government, which then copies the information to the federal government in Belgrade. This is how it was done all over ex-Yugoslavia. So proof would exist in several different places and if someone was born in Yugoslavia (to legal citizens) it would be impossible to erase all traces of it.

Serb myth, sort of like the one that said there were 16 unclaimed bodies from Albania proper in the morgues after the riots (thoroughly debunked). I would be shocked if the total number reached 5%. Ethnic Albanians have been the majority in Kosova at least since the end of the 17th century; I suggest you look at birth rates and Serb emigration patterns for a real explanation of why the Albanian majority rose to such a high percentage.

In 1455, Turkish cadastral tax census (defter) of the Brankovic dynasty lands (covering 80% of present-day Kosovo) recorded 480 villages, 13,693 adult males, 12,985 dwellings, 14,087 household heads (480 widows and 13,607 adult males). By ethnicity:

12,985 Serbian dwellings present in all 480 villages and towns
75 Vlach dwellings in 34 villages
46 Albanian dwellings in 23 villages
17 Bulgarian dwellings in 10 villages
5 Greek dwellings in Lauca, Vucitrn
1 Jewish dwelling in Vucitrn
1 Croat dwelling

Thus, Serbs were the overwhelming majority in Kosovo in 1455 according to TURKISH sources.

In 1871, According to Austrian colonel Peter Kukulj in a study done for the internal use of the Austro-Hungariann army: In the mutesarifluk of Prizren (corresponding largely to present-day Kosovo)) there was some 500,000 inhabitants, out of that:

318.000 Serbs (64%),
161.000 Albanians (32%),
10.000 Roma (Gypsies) and Circassians,
2.000 Turks

Thus, Serbs were the majority in 1871 according to AUSTRIAN sources.

I hope you'll agree that neither Turkish nor Austrian sources would have any reason to lie in favor of Serbs. In fact, the first source which puts Albanians at a majority is the Yugoslav census of 1948, which puts Albanians at 68%. So the tipping scale probably happened during WWII (when the Albanian Nazi division SS Skenderbeg killed tens of thousands of Serbs and drove many thousands more north). And it would be impossible to go from 68% in 1948 to 90% in 40 years in a population of 1.5 million, unless there was immigration of Albanians from Albania, emmigration of Serbs out of Kosovo, or both.

If Kerry wins, Holbrooke will probably be named Secretary of State. One of his first goals will be to make Kosovo independent. I believe that's why every American of Serbian descent will vote for Bush.

Oh no, 6000 or 7000 dead terrorists. I'm weeping. Oh, if only those terrorists were still alive, so that they could kill some more people or burn down some mure churches in Kosovo today. Please note the extreme sarcasm.

The conclusions this article makes are the direct opposite of reality. It was the left who was pushing for interference in the Balkans and bombing the Serbs, while the right was mostly of the opinion that this was the ex-Yugoslavs' problem and the west should let them sort it out themselves.

As for Vasa Cubrilovic he was just one man, and his opinions were never supported by the Serbian government. I don't understand why Albanians constantly refer to him. I'm sure I could find some random Albanian somewhere who advocates the expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo, does that mean I should constantly refer to that random Albanian as if he speaks for the Albanian government?

By the way I do support the expulsion of all Albanians from Kosovo who do not have documentation proving that they are Serbian citizens. We both know it would have been impossible for Albanians to become such a large majority in Kosovo if there wasn't some illegal immigration from Albania. I estimate at least 50% of Kosovo Albos are illegal immigrants, or the offspring of illegal immigrants. They should be kicked out. That's not ethnic cleansing.

The first picture didn't show up, here is the correct link.

Hophead: That paragraph you quoted refers to arrests carried out for last March's riots. We are discussing arrests for war crimes committed by the KLA since 1998. You have yet to provide any proof at all that Albanians have made any effort to bring KLA war criminals to justice, the way Serbia has.

A doctor moved to Nis and began building a house. A gypsy saw him, and began copying the doctor, building an identical house next to the doctor's. When they were finished, the doctor said, "Well Gypsy, how much do you think our houses are worth?"
The Gypsy said, "Yours is worth 100,000 and mine 200,000!"
Doctor: "But they are identical, why is yours worth twice as much?"
Gypsy: "Because I have a doctor in my neighborhood, and you have gypsies!"

Your original assertion: the fact is those arrests were ordered by internationals requires you to disprove that any of the warrants were issued by the local Kosovar Albanian judges - I was laughing then, I'm laughing harder now.

I have searched for several articles about KLA arrests, and all the ones I found say the arrests were carried out and/or ordered by non-Albanians. That proves my point. If you wish to disprove me, all you need do is show me an article about Albanians being responsible for some of the arrests. Come on, you can do it. Keep searching. I'm sure you would've already triumphantly produced an article if you could find one. Here is an article about Serbs being arrested and tried in Serbia, by Serbian court. Show me the same kind of article, except about Albanians.

And while you're at it, why don't you see if you can come up with some creative reason why the Serbs were looting and destroying the K-Albanian's homes "for their own safety" while they were booting them out of them?

That never happened, that's just anti-Serb propaganda. There was NO looting of houses, or intentional destruction of houses, in Kosovo by the Serb army.

There were 350,000 Kosovar Albanian refugees in Kosovo before we started bombing.

Even if that's true, it doesn't prove ethnic cleansing. There was fighting going on between the army and the rebels. Removing civilians from the danger zone (forcefully if they resist) is what any country would have done in Serbia's situation. It's for their own safety. Of course these Albanians probably went and told every reporter that they were "forced from their homes".

The fact that I didn't find any cases in my search of Albanians being responsible for any arrests suggests that they are not.

You can't ask someone to prove a negative, Hoplite. Proving that something isn't true is usually not possible. If you think something is true, you try to prove that it is, and if you cannot, then it's probably not. So the onus of proof falls on you. Get cracking, show me evidence that Albanians have made any effort to chastise KLA members who committed crimes against Serbs, the way Serbs did to punish Serbian soldiers suspected of crimes against Albanians.

This is one of those "put up or shut up" moments you've gotten yourself into here, Hoppie. Kindly choose a course of action.

The PZL-230F Skorpion. Good looking plane. Too bad it was never built.

the police did not open fire.

WTF?? They should have entered Kosovo and slaughtered the terrorists.

Why should I waste time finding proof for something that you can easily verify yourself? Here is what I found in about two and a half minutes of searching on Google:

American KFOR troops last night arrested former Kosovo Liberation Army Commander Fatmir Mahmeti for jeopardizing peace and security.

KFOR arrested the former commander of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army Sami Lushtaku

U.N. police said on Tuesday they had arrested five Kosovo Albanians on charges of war crimes dating back to the 1999 conflict, a move denounced by former guerrillas in the province.

The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has arrested a number of former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders, sparking violent protests in the former Yugoslav province.

UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR) in Kosovo arrested three ethnic Albanians suspected of war crimes during the 1998-99 war

Peacekeepers investigating a organised crime ring have arrested a Kosovo guerrilla commander and nine associates

An international investigative magistrate today began interrogating four members of the Kosovo Protection Corps

The impression one gets from reading articles about Albanian war criminals being arrested is that their arrests are not attributed to Albanian authorities. Any arrests which can be attributed to Albanians occur only because of immense pressure. Also keep in mind that all Albanian war criminals who have been arrested so far have been arrested for crimes against other Albanians, I have yet to read an article about any being arrested for their crimes against Serbian civilians. This shows that the Albanians will never be capable of running a tolerant Kosovo where Serbs are treated as equals, so the only solution is to bring the province back under Serbian control.

Are you really that much of a baboon or are you just pretending to be? Why is it relevent who actually carried out the arrests? What matters is who ordered the arrests, and the fact is those arrests were ordered by internationals (internationals means non-Albanians in case you didn't know). The fact that some Albanian police officers may have been doing the arresting couldn't possibly matter less. They have to do whatever the international authorities in charge of Kosovo tell them to do, even if they don't want to. I thought this was common knowledge but apparently you need to do a lot more research. This is the exact opposite of what is happening in Serbia, where Serbia itself it arresting suspected war criminals, and where there are numerous human rights organizations and activists (Serbian human rights activists, not foreign ones) who are making sure that the arrests take place. How many Albanian human rights activists are there in Kosovo who are saying anything about the countless war crimes committed against Serbs, or even against moderate Albanian "collaborators"? I'll give you a hint, there are zero. The bottom line is that Serbia is now a true democracy where war criminals are held accountable for their actions and where the vast majority of the population has no problem with war criminals being tried, while Kosovo is still a very racist society which has more in common with some third world dictatorship than with Europe, where war criminals are considered heroes and protests take place whenever one is arrested. Don't worry, the Kosovo problem will be solved as soon as the Serbs are given the green light to return. THEN the KLA terrorists will be sorry. Oh yes.

Perhaps you missed the part where 19 deaths and 4,000 refugees resulted in over 250 arrests

Those arrests are attributed to KFOR/UNMIK, not the K-Alb authorities. You can't claim the Albanians are arresting their guilty, quite the opposite. There are massive protests when one of their "KLA heroes" is arrested. This is in direct contrast to the Serbian soldiers on trial for crimes in Kosovo, who are being tried by the Serbian government itself. When the Kosovo Albanians start trying their war criminals, then call me.

I am not sure how the MiG can be an even swap for the F-16. Don't these two aircraft have noticeably different missions?

Yep, the F-16 Block 50/52 is a multirole fighter. It carries a very wide assortment of weapons which allow it to be used for everything from dogfighting to bombing to anti-ship missions. The Mig-29A that Poland currently has is a point defence fighter optimized for dogfighting. It is a deadly dogfighter, but it can't do much else, it can't even carry guided air to surface weapons.

I think, that it is going about the cost - 3.8 billion USD.

Yes, but after you factor in all the investment that the US will make in Poland as part of the deal, it will cost Poland a lot less. Poland got an extremely good deal here, which is why they chose the F-16's over the more capable JAS-39.