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Wary of a Kosovo-type fate, Colombo wants to adopt a cautious approach to the issue of political settlement of Tamils, a senior Sri Lankan official told The Hindu here. “We need to move forward on the process of empowerment. But one problem with federalism in a small country is that it is more subject to splitting. Take Kosovo. They [The West] said give autonomy and we will guarantee unity. But two years later they supported independence. Clearly a promise should be a promise. We have to be careful,� said Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights Rajiva...

Radovan Karadzic’s defence against 11 charges of genocide did not get off to the best possible start at the Hague last week. The chief prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia opened proceedings by releasing transcripts of tapped telephone conversations of the Bosnian Serb leader from 1991, which record Karadzic saying: “There are 20,000 armed Serbs around Sarajevo ... it will be a black cauldron where 300,000 Muslims will die. They will disappear. That people will disappear from the face of the earth.” It’s true that these recordings do not mention Srebrenica, where 7,000 captured Bosnian Muslim...

TBILISI -- The chairman of Georgia's opposition Labor Party is in Washington to discuss Georgian-U.S.-Russian relations and the recognition of Kosovo and Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. Labor Party Secretary-General Joseph Shatberashvili told RFE/RL that the main goal of Shalva Natelashvili's visit to Washington is "to start a dialogue with Moscow and Washington� on Moscow’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Washington’s recognition of Kosovo. Shatberashvili says that Labor Party leaders believe that if Washington would revoke its recognition of Kosovo's independence it would cause Russia to reconsider its decision...

AS EVERYONE scrambles to predict a possible future outlook for war-ravaged Afghanistan, the negative variables continue to mount. The Taliban have boldly stepped up their attacks in the power vacuum created by the failed August elections and the countrywide apathy in anticipation of the upcoming Nov. 7 presidential run-off vote. October was by far the deadliest month of the war with 50 Allied soldiers killed, including yet another Canadian. The daring assault against the United States guest house in the fortified centre of Kabul last Tuesday — coincidental with an equally brash attack against the posh foreigners-only Serena Hotel —...

Former President Bill ClintonBill Clinton attends an unveiling of a statue of himself.

Kosovo unveils a statue of Bill Clinton The statue portrays the former president with his left arm raised while holding documents bearing the date when NATO started its air campaign against Yugoslavia – 24 March 1999. Why this is a farce: 1. It was illegal 2. It was poorly executed 3. It helped the wrong side 4. It produced the wrong outcome

PRISTINA, Kosovo (Nov. 1) - 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...

The 11-foot statue, dedicated to the US president to thank him for launching a Nato bombing campaign to halt the killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbian troops in 1999, sits on a boulevard also named for Mr Clinton. "I am profoundly grateful that I had a chance to be a part of ending the horrible things that were happening to you 10 years ago, giving you a chance to build a better future for yourself," Mr Clinton told the crowd. "I never expected ... anywhere someone will make such a big statue of me," he said after the statue was...

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...

The UNHRC endorsed Goldstone's Gaza report and I, for once, am happy for this just and timely decision. However, it is clearly not enough, as there are still criminals walking among us, some of whom are even occupying key positions in the US and European governments. To fix this unbearable situation, in which criminals are not persecuted simply because of the high positions they occupy, I would like to propose for the Human Rights Council to start from the very head of the pyramid of power, to set an example for all other would-be war criminals. And what example could...

A 70-year-old Albanian man kept his two daughters chained for 22 years, saying they were mentally ill and aggressive, local media reported Tuesday. 'They were both ill, and I kept them in chains to keep them from running away,' the man told local media. 'I have fed them and washed them, but I had no time to go and look for them if they ran away,' he said. The two women, aged 38 and 47, were living in a small room with only a blanket on the floor. Media reported that the older sister had her left foot chained, while...

Enter the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations. This is anything but a minor ministry in the Russian government. Shoigu has essentially run the ministry since 1994. He is a member of the powerful and selective Russian Security Council -- a key advisory body to the Russian executive on national security -- and has roots in the foreign military intelligence directorate, better known as the GRU, which is one of the most powerful and shadowy institutions in Russia. The ministry is an unofficial wing of the GRU and an outgrowth of its activities. It handles more than natural emergencies: It is...

Missy Loewe, Academic Dean of Washington School of Photography (middle) was instrumental in making the exhibit possible. The exhibit opened on Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, in the Gallery of the Washington School of Photography in Bethesda, Maryland. Organized by RAS-The International Serbian Organization, and the Washington School of Photography, a premier school of photography in the Washington Metropolitan area, this exhibit presents photographs made by the Serbian children who live in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija . Hundreds of Serbian children, together with thousands of adults, live behind barbed wires, in concentration camp conditions and in...

18.10.2009, 20.31 BELGRADE, October 18 (Itar-Tass) -- The October 20 visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Belgrade will have a historic significance for Serbia from the point of view of political and economic cooperation, Serbian Vice-Premier, Interior Minister and Cochair of the Serbian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee for Trade and Economic Cooperation Ivica Dacic said on Sunday. Medvedev will visit Serbia at the invitation of Serbian President Boris Tadic to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Belgrade liberation from the Nazi. “The sides think alike about many important international problems, including the Kosovo status and preservation of Serbia’s territorial integrity,� Dacic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8LHOdZGRdo

Living With Osama bin Laden: First Wife Tells of Husband's Bid To Train His Sons As Suicide Bombers Daily Mail Reporter 12th October 2009 Osama bin Laden was a tyrant who trained his own children to be suicide bombers and murdered their pets, his first wife has revealed. In a new book about her time living with bin Laden, Najwa Ghanem has told how she gave birth to 11 of his 14 children because bin Laden said that Islam needed many warriors. And millionaire bin Laden would not allow any modern appliances in his home, even refusing his son medicine...

“A large number of Arabs and Turks in this city, who have increased in number as a result of wrong policies, have no productive function other than the fruit and vegetable trade,� he said. “The Turks are conquering Germany in the same way the Kosovars conquered Kosovo: through a higher birth rate,� he said. “I don’t have to acknowledge anyone who lives off the state, rejects this state, doesn’t properly take care of the education of his children and constantly produces little girls with headscarves,� he said. About 70 per cent of the Turkish and 90 per cent of the...

Holbrooke meets Kosovo Albanian terrorists and does not wear shoes during the meeting, an Islamic symbol that says he supports their cause.Holbrooke supported Balkan Muslim sepratists in Bosnia and Kosovo and delivered victory to al-Qaeda in Europe. Then from Bosnia they turned on the US on 9/11. Holbrooke now heads Afghan policy for Obama. Obama’s WarEight-year old Bush’s Afghanistan war has become Obama’s war. Obama has declared that war was both necessary and winnable. He committed 21,000 additional troops this year, bringing the U.S. force to 68,000 and more are likely to be sent. The current expenditures amount to $2.6...

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...

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,...

Have you read the latest news about the cutest squirrel in the world jumping in front of a young couple’s camera on vacation? Did you know that Michael Jackson’s brain wasn’t buried with the rest of his remains? How about the outrage over that evil Republican yelling “You lie!” to Obama, in the midst of another of his historical speeches? How horrific is the announcement that Oprah might quit her daytime show after this season, her only 19,678th in a row? Welcome to the Western mainstream media, where you get well entertained and superbly brainwashed, but never properly informed. The...

Beautiful picture of a bridge in Kosovo (Bing Sept. 4, 2009).

The ongoing de-Christianization of Kosovo continues and unlike the past frenzy of the anti-Serbian mass media in the West, we mainly have a deadly silence about the reality of Kosovo and the continuing Albanianization of this land. However, how is it “just” and “moral” to persecute minorities and to alienate them from mainstream society; and then to illegally recognize this land without the full consensus of the international community? How ironic it is that the same United States of America and the United Kingdom, two nations who were in the forefront of covertly manipulating the mass media; remain mainly silent...

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale won't reveal who paid for his recent trip to Kosovo, but when asked about the junket on Monday, he said the company doesn't do business with the county. Before and after a meeting of the Halls Republican Club at the Mandarin House on Maynardville Highway, the mayor briefly addressed a reporter's questions about the trip. He also faced a couple of tough questions from audience members during the meeting itself...... The eight-day trip to several cities in Kosovo was part of sister-city program, according to the mayor's office, paid for by an unnamed business. Ragsdale...

The EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, has confirmed that it is now involved in the investigation into allegations that three Serbs attempted to secure false testimony about organ trafficking. Christophe Lamfalussy told Balkan Insight that a mixed team of Kosovo and EULEX prosecutors in Pristina were now investigating the case. Three Serbs were arrested in June by Kosovo police, accused of trying to bribe Kosovo Serbs to falsely testify that they were victims of organ harvesting during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict. EULEX was not involved in the initial arrests. Milutin Radanovic and Predrag Zelkovic are Serbian citizens....

Pristina, the capital of an Anglo created Islamic Jihadist state, which of course it is never sold as, is a true show case for what any Christian nation has to face if and when its majority falls from power. This of course is nothing new for our ancient ancestors who witnessed this and knew why they fought against Islam. Unfortunately, the present day West, decadent in its form, ignorant in its self love, intellectually bankrupt and lazy, refuses to see the hell they have forced on Orthodox Christian victims and that they themselves soon face. In Pristina, the show case...

A man from Kosovo wanted in a New York City slaying awaits extradition from South Texas. The Border Patrol said Wednesday that Arber Mustafaj, 35, was detained with two other men from the former Yugoslavia, including his brother, just before midnight Monday. The three were stopped on a rural road northwest of the Border Patrol’s inland Falfurrias checkpoint. The Border Patrol says Mustafaj became a legal permanent resident after coming to the U.S. as a refugee. His brother, whose name was not released, was found to be under a deportation order and was held for deportation proceedings, said Border Patrol...

A man from Kosovo wanted in a New York City slaying awaits extradition from South Texas. The Border Patrol said Wednesday that Arber Mustafaj, 35, was detained with two other men from the former Yugoslavia, including his brother, just before midnight Monday.....

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....

McALLEN — A man from Kosovo wanted in a New York City slaying awaits extradition from South Texas. FALFURRIAS — U.S. Border Patrol agents caught a man born in Kosovo wanted in New York City for murder. Agents encountered Arber Mustafaj along Singer Road, west of U.S. Highway 281 on Wednesday near the Falfurrias checkpoint, local Border Patrol spokesman John Lopez said. Mustafaj, 35, claimed he was a permanent U.S. resident to agents, but could not provide documents that proved his immigration status, agents said. Agents escorted Mustafaj to the Falfurrias checkpoint, where a search of federal databases revealed he...

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin has stated that the Moscow authorities are paying special attention to the forthcoming visit of President Dmitri Medvedev, who will come to Belgrade on October 20, the day when the Serbian capital was liberated in 1944 from the Fascist occupiers. While saying that Medvedev and Serbian President Boris Tadic have agreed in yesterday’s phone conversation to make this visit a landmark in the bilateral relations, the Russian Ambassador has specified that the talks will primarily touch upon the economic cooperation and issues relating to investments. In stressing that Russia will probably grant a credit...

PRAGUE — Europe’s leading human rights group began an investigation on Monday into Serb allegations that Serbian civilians were abducted in Kosovo during the Kosovo war of 1998-99 and taken to Albania, where their organs were extracted for sale before they were killed. The inquiry, by the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, is being led by Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, who previously investigated the existence of alleged secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons in Europe used to interrogate terrorist suspects. The Council said Mr. Marty would meet this week with leading war crimes officials and human rights groups...

I never figured myself for some weepy tree hugger. Not when the village sent the letter about the big elm tree in our front yard, not when the Serbians showed up in the morning. "You feel bad. This I understand," said Bogdan Mijic, 23, whose father, Nedeljko, and Bogdan's younger brothers, Branislav and Borislav, run the County Tree Service in Stickney. "People feel sad," said Bogdan, blond hair cropped short, eyes far too old for a young man in his 20s. "They're sad. You lose something. I understand this." Bogdan lost something too, but of far greater value than a...

Pristina | 28 July 2009 | By Arber Kuci FBI logo Kosovo Albanian Hysen Sherifi has been charged in the US alongside six others in connection with an international terror plot, which included a potential attack on Kosovo. The 24 year old, who is a US resident, was indicted in Raleigh, North Carolina, for attempting to engage in ‘violent jihad’, the FBI announced on Tuesday. Prosecutors claim Sherifi visited Kosovo in July 2008 “to engage in violent jihad�, before returning to the US in April 2009 to raise “funds and personnel to support the mujihadeen�. All seven defendants are charged...

Note: The following text is a quote: Seven Charged with Terrorism Violations in North Carolina RALEIGH, NC—Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division, announced today. On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the...

The Balkan states of Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina are artificial constructs that are dependent on international organizations to function. Unlike in Iraq, there is no end in sight for this foreign rule and Europe seems to have little in the way of an exit strategy.....

2009-07-16 18:57:55 Former fighters from the Kosovo Liberation staged Thursday a protest demonstration in the capital of the Kosovo Republic Prishtina. About 50 men who fought in the KLA in 1998-1999 rallied in demand of an increase of their government pensions, BGNES reported. The demonstrators even threw a hand-made bomb and two explosives in the yard of the Cabinet headquarters in Prishtina but they failed to go off. NATO troops from KFOR arrived at the spot of the incident in order to remove the explosives, and the police isolated the whole quarter. The leaders of the KLA protesters have vowed...

When Governor Palin went to Kosovo nearly two weeks ago, one key aspect not photographed or video recorded was her elevating the ranks of three soldiers. This video shows the promotion ceremony from a distance with voice-over and is the only multimedia available on this specific event. Promotion ceremony starts at 00:44 and ends in 0:52. Frame grabs were taken from the video, so that this action by Alaska's Commander-in-Chief is preserved. Should better video or photos become available, they will be posted here.

Twelve alleged Muslim radicals who were mostly arrested in Serbia's southern region of Sandzak have been jailed for plotting attacks on an imam and others. Their alleged leader, Senad Ramovic, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for terrorist offenses and illegal possession of arms and explosives. Eleven defendants got terms ranging from eight years to six months, two were acquitted and one faces retrial. All pleaded not guilty when their trial opened in Belgrade in January 2008. Most of the 15 defendants were arrested near Novi Pazar, Sandzak's main town, in 2007. Police displayed weapons said to have been...

Kosovo is a Sacred Serbian Land“620 years since the fateful Battle of Kosovo, we have gathered here to honor our glorious ancestors who have laid down their lives so we can live in Kosovo and Metohija today. They knew why the Kosovo Battle was fought, they knew what were they defending and whom were they defending. “We today also know why have we gathered here: to pray to the Lord and to say that Kosovo is a sacred Serbian land, drenched in blood, tears and sweat of our forefathers. Kosovo was, is and will be the heart of Serbia, just...

Speaking to a group of servicemen in Kosovo, Gov. Sarah Palin responded to a crack made by Sen. John Kerry earlier this week. Sen. Kerry joked he wished Palin went missing along with Sanford. "He looked quite frustrated and he looked so sad," she said. "I just wanted to reach out to the TV and say 'John Kerry, why the long face?'," she concluded.

Belgrade, 26 June (AKI) – Serbian leaders have reacted angrily to a Bulgarian court's decision to release former Kosovo prime minister and war crimes suspect Agim Ceku, whose extradition is being sought by Belgrade. Deputy prime minister Ivica Dacic said that the decision of Bulgaria’s court would not help “good neighbourly relations” between the two countries. Ceku was arrested on Tuesday at a border crossing between Macedonia and Bulgaria by police acting on a Serbian Interpol arrest warrant. But he was set free by a Bulgarian court on Thursday. “Obviously, the work of Interpol is burdened by political pressures on...

SOFIA (AFP) — Bulgaria on Thursday released former Kosovo premier Agim Ceku, arrested on a warrant from Serbia, where he is wanted on war crimes charges, an AFP photographer in the court reported. Ceku walked free after a prolonged hearing into whether or not Sofia should extend his detention. He was initially held in custody only for a period of 72 hours. The former Kosovo premier was, however, asked to remain in Bulgaria until July 2, in case the prosecution appealed his release, judge Sonya Kocheva was cited by national radio as saying. Prosecutors hinted they would not appeal. Serbia's...

A spectacular 61km section of highway through mountainous northern Albania opens on Thursday, creating a strategic link with fellow ethnic Albanians in landlocked Kosovo. For Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia last year, the modern four-lane route is a vital commercial link through a friendly country. At more than €600m (£510m, $840m) the new stretch of road will cut the eight-hour journey between Tirana and Pristina by at least two hours, according to Ernest Noka, Albania’s deputy transport minister. It was the toughest construction challenge on a corridor linking Albania’s Adriatic port of Durres with the Balkan interior and pan-European...

Anchorage, AK – Governor Palin is in Kosovo visiting Alaska Army National Guard aviators who are deployed for 12 months on a peacekeeping mission.

June 25, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin is in Kosovo visiting approximately 140 Alaska Army National Guard aviators who are deployed for 12 months on a peacekeeping mission. The 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment is providing aviation support with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to U.S. forces and coalition forces. This is an air assault mission in which the unit will be tasked with various duties including passenger and cargo airlift, external sling load deliveries, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “I am happy to pass on the message of sincere thanks from all Alaskans,” Governor Palin said. “We are so...

A former Kosovo prime minister, Agim Ceku, has been arrested in Bulgaria on an international warrant issued by Serbia for alleged war crimes. The Bulgarian interior ministry said Mr Ceku was detained as he crossed the border from Macedonia and a court would consider his case in the next few days. Serbia accuses Mr Ceku of committing war crimes in 1998-99. At the time he was commander of the ethnic-Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which was fighting Serbia. He has dismissed the charges as politically motivated, and says the arrest warrant has no legal basis. He was arrested at the...

The March 11, 2006 death of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic while in U.N. custody at The Hague was the tragic end to an unjust war and prosecution. The U.N. war crimes tribunal had tried unsuccessfully for four years to convict Milosevic. Since 2004, the health of the former Yugoslavian President had been in decline. For several months before his death, Milosevic claimed that he was being poisoned and requested a trip to Russia for medical treatment. Of course, all requests were denied by the U.N. A January blood test given to Milosevic showed traces of the rarely used antibiotic...

THIS WEEK marks the 10th anniversary of NATO’s entry into the war-torn Balkan province of Kosovo. I can still vividly recall those violent and terror-filled days as I packed up my gear and fled north amidst the Serbian refugees and the withdrawing Yugoslav security forces. For 78 days the allied NATO air force — including Canadian aircraft — had pounded infrastructure targets throughout Kosovo and Serbia in a failed attempt to force the Serbs to capitulate and accept the terms U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had proposed at the 1999 Rambouillet peace talks. What the nearly $13 billion worth...

Budapest, June 18 (MTI) - Kosovo could become a regional centre for energy production, which could help the country tackle political problems, former UN Special Envoy for the Kosovo status process Martti Ahtisaari said at a ceremony in Budapest on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate diplomat, who was Finland's president in 1994-2000, received the George Soros founded Central European University's Open Society Award. Ahtisaari said he had been profoundly impressed by what he had seen in Kosovo on the first anniversary of the country's independence. Kosovo is much more peaceful, and this could allow a slow and careful start...