Posted on 08/16/2005 7:31:32 PM PDT by mark502inf
Sorry, MarMema, your source is off by 450%; which--come to think about it--is actually more accurate than most of the Serb victimization posts around here. A total of nine Serbs and eleven Albanians were killed in the 2004 riots. Three other Serbs were killed for the entire rest of 2004. The lack of Serb victims would normally be considered good news, but when Serbs in Kosovo are valued less as human beings and more as poster children to support Serb ethno-bigotted nationalist rants, the more dead Serbs, the better--even when you have to lie about it.
I hope you're not holding your breath!
As to Serbia's right to rule over Kosovo, Senator Jesse Helms explicitly covered that in his famous speech to the United Nations:
The sovereignty of nations must be respected. But nations derive their sovereignty -- their legitimacy -- from the consent of the governed. Thus, it follows, that nations can lose their legitimacy when they rule without the consent of the governed; they deservedly discard their sovereignty by brutally oppressing their people. Slobodan Milosevic cannot claim sovereignty over Kosovo when he has murdered Kosovars and piled their bodies into mass graves. Neither can Fidel Castro claim that it is his sovereign right to oppress his people. Nor can Saddam Hussein defend his oppression of the Iraqi people by hiding behind phony claims of sovereignty.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER.
Oh sure. Whatever you say. Your bias toward the KLA is not well-known here either, right?
Helmes was naive as to what Islamists were all about. He bent to all the preposterous accusations of the MSM, all of which was completely false or exaggerated. Problem is that there were literally no 'mass graves'. This has been proven at the Hague Tribunal. 'Kosovars' involved were soldiers of the KLA and legitimately opposed by Milosevic.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER.
Huh??
Get serious!!!
#1 Sadam's mass graves are all over for all to see. He personally ordered suspect politicians beaten and then shot during a party public meeting.
Milosevic is no Sadam!
#2 Castro confiscated all property and outlawed private businesses, down to 'apple peddlers'. In the course of this there were, literally, regular firing squads reminiscent of the guillotining during the French revolution.
Castro was a purist 'communist', Milosevic was a 'socialist' with the highest per capita income in the 'eastern block'.
Milosevic is no Castro.
At least you had the sense not to compare him with Hitler or Pol Pot.
Yeah "Clashes"
It seems to me that Mark, and his Islamophilic buddies, will do anything to obfuscate the fact that Kosovo Albanians are caveman-like agressors that the world has yet to get to know.
One day, America will wash its hands of any association with Albanians the way we now wash our hands of having supported and built up the Taliban.
Because we missed so many lessons in Kosovo.
You mean no mass graves like this one in a story from a week ago?
Serbia returns bodies of 84 ethnic Albanian war victims to Kosovo
MERDARE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Serbian authorities on Wednesday returned the bodies of 84 ethnic Albanians killed during the Kosovo war - the largest single return of war dead to the province.
The remains are believed to be those of ethnic Albanian civilians killed by Serb forces during the 1998-1999 war and removed from Kosovo in an apparent cover-up attempt by former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
"The families have been waiting for too long," said Jose Pablo Baraybar, head of the UN-run office of missing persons and forensics in Kosovo. "It is very important . . . not to forget that there are families behind these numbers."
The remains were exhumed from a mass grave on the grounds of a police training centre just outside Belgrade and are believed to be those of ethnic Albanian civilians killed by Serb forces in the central town of Kosovo Polje during the war.
Out of 836 bodies of Kosovo Albanians found in mass graves in Serbia, 486 have been returned to their families. About 350 remaining bodies are still in Serbia and are expected to be identified by the end of the year, Baraybar said.
The families have repeatedly demanded that all the war dead exhumed be returned immediately. Nearly 3,000 people were still listed as missing.
Hundreds of bodies recovered from mass graves in Kosovo and Serbia were to be identified through the matching of DNA from bone samples with that of the relatives of missing people.
Does the KLA help with donations to FR on your behalf?
As to what the MSM said at the time, I don't care and neither should you.
I saw a Dutch video which convinced me that the Serbs were on the right track.
I saw a whole lot of burned houses, looted villages, ransacked schools, dynamited mosques, and refugee camps which convinced me that there are a whole lot of Serb war criminals.
Peace will only return to Kosovo when the Serb Army does.
And they will, bank on it.
Why don't we substitute them (Americans) with Russians or Serbs?
This is not about Milosevic, never was. Kosovo and Metohija is property of Serbian people and Serbian state. By terror, lies and force it was stolen from them. Milosevic is just excuse.
You can negotiate/enforce/impose what ever you want. Criminals and traitors in Belgrade will probably sign everything. Wheel of time turns and when things change, Kosovo and Metohija will be returned to their rightful owners. This will happen - one way or another.
Except for the five centuries out of the last six when it wasn't. And with Albanians being the majority population in Kosovo since the mid-18th Century, it belongs to you sort of like Michigan belongs to the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians.
Having said that, after Kosovo was awarded to Serbia as part of the Ottoman Empire break-up/WWI settlements, although there were a lot of outraged Albanians, nobody else was pushing for border changes. That is, until the Serbs brought it on themselves by putting Milosevic into power on a platform of extremist Serb nationalism. Your Greater Serbia project, fighting wars with four of your neighbors and your ethnic cleansing of non-Serb untermenschen resulted in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo all cutting away from Belgrade as fast as they could by any means necessary. And even with Milosevic already in jail, such are the joys of living under Serbian rule that it looks like Montenegro is next to go with the minorities in Vojvodina and the Sandzak making noises as well.
You may want to contemplate why NOBODY wants Belgrade in charge. HINT: The reason does not lie outside of Serbia.
This is not about Milosevic
Exactly right. Its about treating people like human beings--with dignity and respect for their individual rights. Any government that does not do so, whether run by Milosevic or anyone else, loses its right to rule. A great American--Senator Jesse Helms--explained that a few years ago in a speech to the United Nations:
We are endowed with ... "inalienable rights, as Thomas Jefferson proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, not by kings or despots, but by our Creator.
The sovereignty of nations must be respected. But nations derive their sovereignty their legitimacy from the consent of the governed. Thus, it follows, that nations can lose their legitimacy when they rule without the consent of the governed; they deservedly discard their sovereignty by brutally oppressing their people.
Slobodan Milosevic cannot claim sovereignty over Kosovo when he has murdered Kosovars and piled their bodies into mass graves. Neither can Fidel Castro claim that it is his sovereign right to oppress his people. Nor can Saddam Hussein defend his oppression of the Iraqi people by hiding behind phony claims of sovereignty. And when the oppressed peoples of the world cry out for help, the free peoples of the world have a fundamental right to respond.
Where can you find Serb killing Serb in Kosovo?
You and I both know that drugs run rampant through Presevo Valley instead of Kosovo. Isn't that why the Albs were fighting for "independance"? So drugs can run through with their mafia couriers?
If the US pulled out, Serbs in Kosovo would move out from their barricades and begin fighting back with the same force the Albanians use. The Albanians would try and attack the remaining Serbs, a big mistake on their part.
Keep the US at Bondsteel, the presence needs to remain.
There are many ppl bought and paid for on both sides, so things aren't what they seem to be in that conflict. Who you think is on the Serb side, isn't necassarily so (i.e Destro) and such.
I saw a whole lot of burned houses, looted villages, ransacked schools,...
Although you've got some Seselj-like hyperbole going on, there were in fact numerous atrocities committed by the Albanians against the Serbs--especially in the summer of 1999. The difference being that there are not a bunch of nut-job Albanians on this forum variously saying the atrocities never happened, they didn't do it, and the Serbs deserved it anyway.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.