Free Republic

When did you become interested in Balkan crisis? In March of 1999, when there was suddenly talk of America bombing a European country, I became very suspicious. Particularly because the president was a clown named Bill Clinton who had gotten into trouble too many times. It was obvious to me that this was being done against national interest and in Bill Clinton’s interest. I couldn’t believe that this was actually going to happen, that it was unstoppable. Everything started to feel surreal; my husband and I were going through life day to day as if just existing, just going through...

Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war' By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin and Malcolm Moore in Rome Last Updated: 10:28am BST 11/04/2008 Serb prisoners had their internal organs removed and sold by ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo war, according to allegations in a new book by the world's best known war crimes prosecutor. Harry de Quetteville: Snippets from Carla Del Ponte's bookCarla Del Ponte, who stepped down in January as chief prosecutor at the Hague tribunal for crimes committed in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, said investigators found a house suspected of being a laboratory...

Podgorica, Belgrade – The Association of the families of Serbs abducted and killed in Kosvo shall sue the former chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte for hiding of crimes committed against Kosovo Serbs by Kosovo Albanians that abducted and killed them, the president of that association Simo Spasic said. ‘In 2004 Del Ponte told us in The Hague that she had information that all abducted Kosovo Serbs were killed later on. She, however, has not told us that before they were killed, their body organs were taken out and sold’, Spasic told ‘Dan’ daily of Podgorica. In...

Last month, the Serbian province of Kosovo declared its independence. This week, Canada became the 31st country to recognize it. Foreign affairs critic Bob Rae wondered what took our government so long. Well — perhaps we hesitated recognizing what we went to war for because we recognized that we should have hesitated going to war for it. Wait a minute, someone might say. Canada didn’t go to war in 1999 as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to help Kosovo secede from Serbia. That would have been like Germany dismantling Czechoslovakia in 1938 to liberate the Sudetenland....

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Regional UNMIK chief Gerard Gallucci has resigned, but the UN HQ has not accepted his resignation. The U.S. diplomat in charge of the UN operations in Kosovska Mitrovica was asked to withdraw his resignation. This is what an anonymous diplomatic source told Beta news agency tonight, adding that Gallucci was "currently on vacation, and will resume his duties once he returns". Earlier today, KIM Radio reported that Gallucci, who is currently abroad, opted for this move because of the differences he has with Priština. KIM's sources with the UN mission in the province's capital confirmed this. "Gallucci...

The Hague, 11 March (AKI) – Three Croatian generals went on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday for crimes allegedly committed against Serb civilians in 1995. Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak, and Mladen Markac are the first Croatian officers to be tried for crimes committed in the operation, Storm, in August 1995. More than 350 Serb civilians were killed, thousands of homes were destroyed and up to 250,000 Serbs were deported from the country, prosecutor Alan Tieger told the court. He said he would prove that the three generals were part of a “joint...

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, PRIŠTINA, -- Kosovo Serbs yesterday marked Zadušnice, a religious holiday dedicated to the souls of the dead. Orthodox Christian Serbs observe four such days each year, when families visit cemeteries to light candles and say prayers at the graves of their loved ones. For many Serbs in Kosovo, especially those whose relatives were buried in cemeteries that are now located in ethnic Albanian communities, observing the holiday has since 1999 been a practice that endangered their personal safety, but also brought with it a particular heartbreak – that of finding the grave of a loved one desecrated. Serb...

Readers with exceptionally tenacious memories will recall that this pundit was opposed to the NATO intervention in Kosovo nine years ago. This may come as a surprise to readers without tenacious memories, since it is widely believed that I never saw a war I didn't like. Yet, believe it or not, I was opposed not only to the wanton bombing of Serbia, but also to the whole "inevitable" project of carving a new European Muslim state out of the flesh of that Orthodox Christian country. I was not without sympathy for the "plight of the Kosovars," however. Like virtually all...

“Without involvement in the wounds of the Balkans I would not be a true writer”. “There are no human rights, nor democratic guarantees. The remaining Serbs are not even allowed to tend their graves, they are living in terror. And the EU, headed by the Slovene Janez Janza, a leading criminal of the Yugoslav drama, will recognise its independence, otherwise the Albanians are threatening a new war”/

It is expected that early on in 2008, probably February, the United Nations-supervised Albanian Muslim Administration of the Serbian province of Kosovo will make a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI). The United States has said it is prepared to recognize Kosovo, despite the objections of the Serbian government and more importantly, despite the fact that Russia, a key ally of Serbia, does not want Kosovo independence. While unclear, it is likely a number of European countries starting with the United Kingdom, France and Germany will follow Washington's lead. Several other countries, notably Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia and Greece say they...

"What’s your connection to…this…Serbian thing?” I get that a lot. I usually answer: “Just being an American hyper-patriot.” That was, after all, my original motivation for protesting a war for the first time in my life at the age of 25. When my country bombed a European nation on behalf of Muslims making the usual claim of oppression, my concerns were two-fold: America’s security, and America’s soul. It’s hard to describe the dizzying disorientation I felt on March 24, 1999, the day I learned that the United States was going through with bombing an ally from two world wars. It...

Forget about status negotiations for a moment. The near-term outlook for Kosovo is unalterably grim: An economy stuck in misery; a bursting population of young people with "criminality as the sole career choice;" an insupportably high birthrate; a society imbued with corruption and a state dominated by organized crime figures. These are the conclusions of "Operationalizing of the Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans," a 124-page investigation by the Institute for European Policy commissioned by the German Bundeswehr and issued in January. This month the text turned up on a Web log. It is labeled "solely for internal use."...

The United States on Wednesday slammed as "baseless" a Serbian minister's accusation that Washington wanted to create a "NATO state" in Kosovo. A plan drawn up by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari -- which envisaged a supervised independence for Kosovo -- has been backed by the United States, the European Union and most Western countries. "Calling the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo a NATO state is quite a stretch," US State Department spokesman Gonzo Gallegos said, commenting on the reported remarks by Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic last week. "We do not consider this statement to represent the official view of the...

GRAČANICA -- Three unidentified persons kidnapped and raped a Serb girl in Gra�anica Monday evening, Tanjug reported. Another Serb, who was with her, was severely beaten and robbed, Kosovo Police Service (KPS) representatives told the agency Tuesday. KPS regional spokesman Agron Borovci said the incident occurred in Gra�anica at around 9 p.m. yesterday, and that police were in active search of the perpetrators. “An Opel Vectra automobile blocked the road ahead of the victims and then three persons dragged the young man out of his vehicle, beat him up and closed him in the trunk, from where he was released...

The younger brother of the slain 11-year-old Pantelija Dakic was carrying the cross to mark his brother’s grave at the funeral. August 13, 2003, Gorazdevac, Kosovo-Metohija, Serbia.Four Years Later: Massacre of Serbian Children Unpunished Monday August 13 marks the four year anniversary since the brutal massacre of two Serbian children and wounding of four more in the Bistrica River, in the village of Gorazdevac, close to Pec in Kosovo province. The memorial service held each year for the slain boys was held today in the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Gorazdevac. Out of six Serbian boys...

After my article exposing the farce of our Kosovo mission ran in American Legion Magazine last month, I heard from a soldier in Kosovo who was incredulous that someone was actually and finally talking about the region. I proceeded to publish two letters from him in this space, about his experiences and observations there, some of which confirm the free run that jihadists have in Kosovo, the fact that Albanians are being radicalized, and the notion that we should not have intervened in Kosovo as we did. Only there since November, the National Guard soldier stopped short of confirming the...

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) recently reported about Canadian officers being frustrated by inaction over On March 27, 2006, Taylor wrote again about the Medak Pocket slaughter in Croatia: “[...] Over 200 Serbian inhabitants of the Medak Pocket were slaughtered in a grotesque manner (the bodies of female rape victims were found after being burned alive). Our traumatized troops who buried the grisly remains were encouraged to collect evidence and were assured that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.... “Nevertheless in 1995, Ceku, by then trained by U.S. instructors as a general of artillery, was still at large. In fact,...

While few businesses seem willing to invest in ‘risky’ Kosovo, some wealthy New York Albanians hope to combine their patriotic instincts with their wish to make a profit. By Andi Balla in New York With its nondescript offices in Brooklyn, Triangle General Contractors could be a typical small American business aspiring to expand its niche market - roofing and construction in New York City. But its owner, Florin Krasniqi, has other plans. Against the advice of many, he bets that Triangle can flourish by investing in his native Kosovo. When the company won an international bid to reconstruct an 8.3...

Citizens of a free country ought to expect they won't be burdened with the kind of propaganda barrage that has come to be associated with Nazi "interior ministers" such as Josef Goebbles or Soviet "media spokesmen" like Vladimir Posner. However, the more information that comes out about the NATO war in Kosovo, the more evident is the fact that NATO made an apparent "policy decision" to lie about Serbian atrocities. It seems the western democracies "stole a page from the play books" of their former totalitarian adversaries in Germany and the Soviet Union. Writing recently in Liberty Magazine, David Ramsey...

VIENNA, Austria-Police said Saturday they arrested an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo after he allegedly stabbed a Serbian man during an argument at a hotel restaurant in eastern Austria. Authorities said the 52-year-old suspect, whose name was not released in line with Austrian privacy laws, stabbed the unidentified 33-year-old Serb with a hunting knife on Friday at the restaurant in Oberwart, in the easternmost province of Burgenland. Investigators said the victim was seated at the restaurant when the suspect and his 24-year-old son entered and approached him. They said the Serb was stabbed in the chest and face during the altercation,...

Washington/Belgrade, 23 July(AKI) – Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders were due to meet in Washington on US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on Monday to try and clarify the diplomatic impasse over the breakaway province's independence from Serbia. The Kosovan leaders and Rice will try and chart a way forward on the province's future status after the United Nations Security Council last Friday withdrew a draft resolution granting Kosovo internationally supervised independence. After repeated efforts to push through a resolution based on the proposal by UN special negotiator Martti Ahtisaari, western powers, which favour independence, decided to shift the problem to...

After my article “The ‘Successful War’ we Lost in Kosovo” came out in this month’s American Legion Magazine, I received a letter from an American soldier who deployed there last year. He was stunned that anyone was talking about Kosovo, even more that someone was aware of the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Kosovo and of the jihadists passing through there freely. “With all the attention on Iraq,” he told me by phone, “everyone underestimates this region. No one understands that what happens here will play a key role in European security for the next 10 [or more] years.” Following...

On July 8, 2007 the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army, Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës or UÇK) war veterans issued an announcement warning the international community and especially the United Nations (UN) not to interfere the process of recognizing Kosovo’s independence. The KLA announcement specifically said that the Albanian leaders of Kosovo should not accept more suspensions (delays) or new negotiations because these would lead to new hostilities. If their demands were not accepted, then the KLA veterans warned that they would have to take action as KLA soldiers and honor the oath of their national heroes. The announcement came while the...

<p>The man who helped overthrow Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic says the State Department is pressuring him to hand over Christian Bosnia to its powerful Muslim neighbor, threatening the delicate balance that ended the Bosnian War.</p> <p>The Bosnian Serbian entity was created under the 1995 Dayton peace accords.</p>

6 Fort Dix Terror Suspects Remain In Custody After Bail Hearing POSTED: 8:25 am EDT May 11, 2007 UPDATED: 11:19 am EDT May 11, 2007 CAMDEN, N.J. -- Six men arrested this week and charged with plotting to massacre soldiers at Fort Dix appeared in federal court Friday morning for a bail hearing. Four of the men -- Serdar Tatar, 23; Dritan "Anthony" or "Tony" Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka, 23 -- waived their rights to bail. They are charged with conspiring to kill uniformed military personnel, an offense punishable by life in prison. A fifth...

From last week’s Detroit Free Press: Mufti Naim Ternava, president of the Islamic Community of Kosovo, is in Michigan as part of a visit to the U.S. to garner support for making Kosovo an independent country… “Pray for the independence of Kosovo,” Ternava said through a translator during the Friday sermon to about two hundred Muslims at the Muslim Center of Detroit on Davison Ave. “Thousands of miles away from here, there are Muslim brothers in Kosovo who suffered for many, many years and who…went as shahids (martyrs) during all these sufferings [in Kosovo].” Ternava also spoke with Muslims at...

Posted: May 1, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Aleksandar Pavic For more than 10 years, the term "Srebrenica" has been used to denote the slaughter of "innocent Muslims" at the hands of Christians – more specifically, the Bosnian Serb army, alleged to have slaughtered, according to the version currently accepted by most major media, "between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslims" when it captured that small town in eastern Bosnia in mid-July 1995. As the story goes, the Bosnian Serbs captured this "U.N.-protected zone" and proceeded to take away and execute thousands of men, women and children in the space of several...

Next week the United Nations begins consideration of a U.N. negotiator's proposal to give supervised independence to Kosovo, the predominatly ethnic-Albanian province that is now part of Serbia. Though the province's independence is not assured, many Serbs have begun to disinter the bodies of relatives in Kosovo and transfer them to burial grounds elsewhere in Serbia. Sabina Castelfranco has this VOA report from Rome. The last time the dead left Kosovo in any great number was 1999. Back then the bodies were those of ethnic-Albanians killed in attacks by Serb forces. The killing only stopped when NATO launched an aerial...

Banjaluka, 22 March (AKI) - Former Bosnian Serb leader and top war crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic, made a secret deal with the United States in May 1996 to spare him from prosecution in return for abandoning politics and withdrawing from public life, Banjaluka weekly Fokus alleges in its latest issue. Karadzic and his wartime military commander Ratko Mladic are the two top fugitives wanted for trial at the United Nations Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Fokus published what it claimed is a copy of the alleged pact signed by Karadzic and the chief US mediator in the Balkan...

AKI) - Majority Muslims in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, on Monday demanded a special district for their municipality. They also called for the abolition of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month ruled that Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide by killing over 7,000 Muslim civilians in the UN enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, At a meeting called by Srebrenica Muslim mayor Abdurahman Malkic, local leaders demanded that the town be exempt from the jurisdiction of the RS, which they said was a "genocidal creation." They said Srebrenica should be...

Sister Serafima Killed by Three Albanians Serbian daily Kurir (Messenger) reports on March 2, 2007, that a Serbian nun, Sister Serafima (Andjelka Mijailovic) has been found with a broken neck next to railway tracks near Staro Selo. Sister Serafima, aged 34, was murdered on the night of February 21-22, 2007, on the Thessaloníki - Belgrade international train, and her body was found next to a railway in Staro Selo, near a small town of Velika Plana. Sister Serafima, born in Valjevo, was a nun at a monastery in Thessaloníki, and was buried yesterday at the Celije monastery near Valjevo, Serbia....

SLOBA THE VAMPIRE Man Drives Stake In Grave Of Slobodan Milosevic Be careful or Milosevic will get you from his grave, the police told the man who had driven a stake through Milosevic's grave. On Saturday, Miroslav Milosevic, a well known member of the Resistance from Pozarevac, invaded the grave of Slobodan Milosevic through his neighbour's courtyard and put up a hawthorn stake, report Serbian media. The time of vampiresHe visited Milosevic's grave twice that Saturday: the first time at 1 A.M., when he wrote the following words in the Book of Memory: "Dark to dark, he is buried...

The Philosophy Department of Kent State University will host Peter French on Wednesday March 7, 2007 to speak "On Being Morally Challenged by Collective Memories". In it, Peter French starts from a premise that Serbs are rapists and killers because, according to French, Serbian morality is handicapped by collective memory that was nurtured in Serbs. In other words, French believes that Serbs are morally deviant people because of a false collective memory of their past in Kosovo and as a result of their own delusion have collectively accepted morality of a rapist and a killer. See the promotional poster below:...

They are being asked to defend the principle that antisemitic Muslim terrorists should be rewarded for murder — and not only in Israel....

Few years before 9/11— a brutal attack on American civilians that some analysts believe was a direct consequence of deeply flawed U.S. foreign policies — the writing on the wall was both read and correctly interpreted by those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. James George Jatras, a former policy analyst at the United States Senate and a Director of American Council for Kosovo belongs to those few and far-between capable of properly interpreting the ominous signs. In February 1999, before the U.S.-led NATO bombarded Serbia for three months, demanding that Serbian troops relinquish control...

PRISTINA, Serbia, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Two U.S. military platoons moved to the north of Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province Friday to provide security for minority Serbs. The U.S. soldiers, accompanied by one Austrian and one Georgian platoon, are being deployed for one month at a NATO camp at Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, Kosovo's peacekeepers' headquarters announced. The redeployment is part of NATO's plan for rapid intervention aimed at providing security for some 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo, which is predominately ethnic-Albanian, Serbia's RTS radio-television reported. A U.N. civil administration mission and about 16,000 NATO protection troops...

The surprise withdrawal of KFOR troops from Orahovac has provoked unrest among the remaining Serbs and Roma there who have been living in the upper part of town for the past seven years under the protection of international forces, stated Orahovac coordinator Dejan Baljosevic. He said that KFOR’s decision to leave was incomprehensible. On Monday, without any previous announcement or notification, KFOR forces removed their armored vehicles and military equipment, abandoning the military base located in immediate proximity to the Serbian church in the upper part of Orahovac. According to Baljosevic, since KFOR’s departure this part of Orahovac is completely...

The stories about development of tourism are nothing more than fairy tales because everyone knows there is no rule of law in this area and that the surrounding mountains are swarming with armed smugglers, not hikers and mountain climbers," concluded Fr. Sava.....

Reaching a decision on the final status of the disputed Serbian province of Kosovo is becoming more difficult, because of Russian objections and a lack of consensus within the 25-nation European Union. VOA's Barry Wood has this report. A decision by the European Union on Kosovo's future has been in limbo sincethe end of NATO's bombing campaign in 1999. Coupled with a lack of Russian support, it seems a quick solution for the region is further out of reach, according to Kosovo expert Daniel Serwer. "I don't see the possibility of a peaceful, negotiated solution," he said. "Rather [I see]...

Podgorica, 8 Dec. (AKI) - Montenegro's special prosecutor for organised crime, Stojanka Radovic, on Friday indicted 18 ethnic Albanians, including five United States citizens, for planning terrorist attacks in the southern Malesia region, aimed at putting it under ethnic Albanian control. The group planned to take over police stations, border crossings to Albania and all key institutions in Malesia, with the aim of expelling the non-Albanian population and creating an ethnic Albanian controlled territory. The operation called the Flight of Eagle, which is an Albanian national symbol, was averted a day before it actually carried out its plans and maximal...

Moscow, 30 Nov. (AKI) - Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku got a cold shoulder from Russian leaders on Thursday in an effort to rig support for independence of the province which has been under United Nations control since 1999. Ceku's visit got a low profile treatment, aimed not to offend Belgrade, which opposes independence of the province in which ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs by 17 to one. He met with deputy foreign minister Vladimir Titov and president of the foreign policy committee of the Russian parliament, Konstantin Kosacov, but failed to get Moscow's commitment for independence. Kosacov suggested that the...

Pristina, 21 Nov. (AKI) - An explosive device went off early on Tuesday morning in a Serbian elementary school in the central Kosovo village of Ropotovo, but there were no casualties, police said. Kosovo police spokesman Veton Elsani said the device was placed in a storage cupboard. Fortunately, the classroom, which can hold up to 200 pupils, was empty, because the teacher didn’t show up for the classes and, apart from material damage, there were no injuries, he said. “By chance, due to the teacher’s absence, the fifth grade classroom in which the explosion took place was empty and the...

Pristina, 9 Nov. (AKI) - Ethnic Albanian leaders in the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo have said they are ready to unilaterally declare independence if the United Nations Security Council postpones a decision on the future status of the province, which has been under UN control since 1999. Most of Kosovo's overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority want independence, which is opposed by Belgrade and by the tiny minority of Serbs remaining in the province. Members of the ethnic Albanian negotiating team on the status issue told Kosovo television Wednesday night that they were ready to activate the so called 'Plan B'...

Belgrade, 31 Oct. (AKI) - The United Nations' special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, has unveiled his 50 page plan on the future status of Serbia’s breakaway Kosovo province, where majority ethnic Albanians demand independence. The "carefully worded" document makes no reference to the word independence and recommends the transferral of power during an 18-month interim period from the UN administration in Kosovo to local, ethnic Albanian institutions. At the end of the interim period, Kosovo could apply for membership of international institutions and could have its own army, Serbian news agency Tanjug on Tuesday quoted the document as saying....

UNITED STATES SENATE WASHINGTON, DC 20510 October 10, 2006 President George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President, I write to you today to express my deep concerns about the situation in Kosovo. I am concerned that we are moving too quickly toward a final status in Kosovo and have not developed a sound plan for implementation with support from both sides involved. We may be facing a crisis in Kosovo if we do not slow down and engage more heavily with Serbia and the Kosovar Albanians to ensure that the final...

PRISTINA, Serbia-Nicole Kidman began a tour of Kosovo on Saturday as a United Nations goodwill ambassador, pledging to provide a voice for the troubled province. Kidman arrived in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, after attending the premiere of her movie "Fur" at the inaugural Rome Film Festival. She is to spend two days in Kosovo. "I'm here ... to learn so that I can help your country at this crucial, crucial time for the future," Kidman said. "To meet people, hear their stories and educate myself, and I suppose be a voice for you if you need it." Kidman shook hands with...

But the U.S. gets a say, so let’s try giving a damn. Tell the following individuals to vote NO on Kosovo independence. That would be the Kosovo where Bill Clinton murals are almost as popular as bin Laden keychains......

"It must surely be true that the level of lies and hypocrisy that a society can tolerate is in direct proportion to the degeneration of that culture. Personally I am not particularly pro or anti Israel, pro or anti Arab or pro or anti Islam. But I do have a dislike of myth, hypocrisy and lies as opposed to reality, fairness and truth. Watching the bombing of Lebanon it is impossible not to feel horror and pity for the innocent civilians killed, wounded or rendered homeless. But certain of our politicians, seeking easy populism and the cheapest round of applause...

Martti Ahtisaari and Finland’s Nazi Past At the time of the illegal NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 when Martti Ahtisaari was the President of Finland, his government sought to commemorate and to honor Finland’s Nazi SS volunteers from the Holocaust. This offers irrefutable evidence of Ahtisaari’s direct links for support of Nazism and Nazi revisionism. If Ahtisaari had bothered to check the decisions of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunals, he would have found that that court held that all Waffen SS troops were war criminals guilty of war crimes and guilty of committing crimes against humanity, namely the mass...

The Conference on Kosovo was held at Capitol Hill Club (Eisenhower Lounge) in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, September 28, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM. The conference was organized by The American Council for Kosovo, Christian Solidarity International, and Religious Freedom Coalition. Good morning and thank you all for attending this important conference, “Reconsidering Kosovo.” As the archpastor of the Orthodox Christian Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija, I have visited the United States this week and met with executive and legislative branch officials and policy makers to describe the agony that has befallen the Christian people of Kosovo and to warn...