Free Republic

Serbfest celebrates Serbian traditions and Eastern Orthodox beliefs. But the priest at Holy Trinity Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church, which was established a century ago, also made a point Saturday to express his love of the United States. "The more you know about America, the more you love it," the Rev. Radomir Chkautovich, who fled socialist Yugoslavia in 1963, said with an accent. Chkautovich, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and chaplain, regularly leads tours of his church during Serbfest to explain its history and Serbian traditions....

BELGRADE -- A commemorative service was held in Belgrade to mark 15 years since the Croatian military Operation Storm and the exodus of ethnic Serbs from that country. Serbian president Boris Tadic, right, attends the service (Tanjug) Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej held the service before a number of officials, including Serbian President Boris Tadich, Deputy Prime Minister Jovan Krkobabich and General Secretary of the Serbian parliament Veljko Odalovich, as well as many people who gathered on the occasion. "We have gathered here today to remember in prayer the people killed 15 years ago, who were guilty first of being...

...."In the case of non-compliance... for example challenges to fundamentals of the Bosnia and Herzegovina state, the [envoy] will be able to recommend to the EU High Representative [Lady Ashton] that Council impose travel bans and/or the freezing of assets in the EU," said the paper seen by The Daily Telegraph. "This option should be made more accessible by a Council decision to impose a travel ban on those individuals who have challenged key provisions." European diplomats have confirmed that the new measures will be used against "anyone deemed to be obstructive", including Milorad Dodik, the elected prime Bosnian Serb...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The United Nations' highest court said Thursday that Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia did not break international law. The judges voted 10-4 to pass the nonbinding opinion, setting the stage for Kosovo to renew its appeals for further international recognition. The opinion, read by International Court of Justice President Hisashi Owada, says international law contains no "prohibition on declarations of independence" and therefore Kosovo's declaration "did not violate general international law."

Ramadan Ramadani, Imam of the Isa-Bey Mosque in Skopje (Photo: Maja Zlatevska, Dnevnik ) Western diplomats and religious experts have voiced concerns about the spread of radical Islam among Muslim communities in the Balkans, after it transpired that alleged Wahabist radicals are operating and increasing their influence in Macedonia. The foreign-inspired religious group is active in the area around Skopje, Macedonia's capital. It has tried to perform a putsch in the Islamic religious community (IRC) after an incident in the Isa-Bey Mosque in Skopje last week. The Isa-Bey Mosque has turned into a stronghold of radical Islam, Ibrahim Shabani, Skopje's...

Forced to have sex with as many as 10 men every day, women clandestinely interviewed by MSNBC.com as part of a four-month investigation into the sex trade ran by ethnic Albanians, insisted that their real identities not be revealed. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/4138089#4138089 (Warning: Some of this testimony is pretty graphic)

The Israeli government is blaming IHH extremists for the violence that erupted onboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara when troops boarded it at sea on Monday. In this photo of the ship before setting sail, a white and green IHH banner is draped on the hull, between Turkish and Palestinian flags. (Photo: IHH) The Turkish organization responsible for the ill-fated attempt to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip is part of an Islamic “charitable” network that was designated by the U.S. government in 2008 for funding Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza. Although the State Department points out...

The Hague, 10 June (AKI) – A United Nations tribunal on Thursday sentenced two Bosnian Serbs to life in prison for committing genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Muslim civilians. The UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found that Vujadin Popovic and Ljubisa Beara guilty for their role in the massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995. The court jailed five other defendants for between five and 35 years in jail. The case is the largest yet at the tribunal, set up to deal with...

<p>Looking back in hindsight, one can always find things that perfectly portended the future. Note the date of this article - 1988 - BEFORE any of the republics seceded from Yugoslavia and the wars of the 1990s began.</p> <p>A group of American-Croatians called a small but decorous press conference in the Bismarck Hotel last week to speak from the American heartland about strife in their homeland thousands of miles away.</p>

Over the past two years, Turkey has launched a massive political, social, and economic offensive across the Balkans, focusing primarily on Bosnia-Herzegovina. More than two decades after Turkey first formally applied to join the European Union, it now appears to be developing a two-pronged strategy: turning its attentions to its eastern neighbors (notably Syria, Iran and Russia), while at the same time seeking to enhance its prospects for EU membership by intensifying its influence in the Balkan countries, which are growing closer to Europe. Turkey's ambitions in the Balkans have forced the EU to pay more attention to political processes...

European Union governments are conducting an assessment of the effectiveness of the EULEX rule of law operation in Kosovo. EULEX deployed two years ago. One goal was a reduction in corruption in Kosovo's government. Beginning in summer 2009, several European diplomats dealing with Balkan issues began criticizing the Kosovo government's lack of progress regarding internal corruption. EULEX officials also noted that organized criminal syndicates continue to operate in Kosovo. EULEX has approximately 2000 people serving in Kosovo. The EULEX operation includes customs officers, police officers, and a judicial and prosecutor team. May 24, 2010: Turkey's and Brazil's diplomatic efforts regarding...

A former Serb general convicted of Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War had his neck slashed open by three Muslim prisoners in a British jail yesterday. Radislav Krstic, 62, serving a 35-year sentence for war crimes, was in a critical condition in hospital after the attack at top security Wakefield Prison. The Serbs were the deadly enemies of Bosnian Muslims during the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s. At least one of Krstic's attackers is said to be a Bosnian Muslim. The incident is a huge embarrassment to prison bosses because Krstic is regarded as one of Britain's...

Sweden's Migration Board (Migrationsverket) has increased its forecast to 31,000 for the number of people expected to seek asylum this year. It has also requested an additional 60 million kronor ($7.86 million) in 2010 to cope with the increased pressure. "There has been a sharp upward revision. This is the second time this year we have increased the projection," said Dan Eliasson, the director general of the Migration Board. Previously, the Migration Board estimated that there would be 25,000 asylum seekers in 2010, but in February, it increased its forecast to 28,000 and asked for an additional 50 million kronor...

Okay I have found the perfect Free Republic Thread! Top This! A Pit Bull bites the leg of a Mormon Missionary who is campaigning door to door for Duncan Hunter 2012 and tries to defend himself against the Pit Bull with a Sarah Palin for President yard sign and stumbles into the street where he is hit by a car with a Ron Paul 2000 bumper sticker. Then you would have the perfect Free Republic thread.

SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West and recruit fighters for jihad in Afghanistan. According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the Balkans. Strict Wahhabi and Salafi factions funded by Saudi organisations are clashing with traditionally moderate local Muslim communities. Muslims stage a protest against the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed Fundamentalists have financed the construction of scores of mosques and community centres as well as handing some followers up to £225 a month. They are expected not only to...

NOTE: The following story was published in the Herald Palladium of Southwest Michigan on the same day that Arthur Jibilian, who is featured at the end, passed away. My thanks to Don Alsbro of 'Lest we Forget' for making me aware of this story. Aleksandra Rebic ***** Don Alsbro, left, and Frank Buckles March 2010 Frank Buckles last weekend got a big smile on his face as the Lest We Forget veterans left his house and said they were looking forward to his 110th birthday in 2011. Buckles, 109, is America's last living veteran of World War I. The Lest...

A RETIRED US general today said Dutch UN troops defending Srebrenica in the Bosnian war failed to prevent the 1995 genocide partly because their ranks included openly gay soldiers. John Sheehan, a former NATO commander and senior Marine officer, made the remarks at a senate hearing where he argued against plans by US President Barack Obama to end a ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the US military. Gen Sheehan said that after the end of the Cold War, European militaries changed and concluded "there was no longer a need for an active combat capability". He said this...

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Hillary: talks over Falklands “not too much”; talks over Kosovo too much? March 2, 2010 – 8:37 am At a press conference with Argentina’s President Kristina Kirchner, Hillary Clinton infuriated the Brits by saying that US supports talks over status of the Falkland islands. Said she: “We would like to see Argentina and the United Kingdom sit down and resolve the issues between them across the table in a peaceful, productive way…we want very much to encourage both countries to sit down.” Argentina is one of the majority of the states in the world that has not recognized Kosovo fearing...

(The Bleiburg memorial, with the Ustasha and Muslim symbols, dedicated "In memory of the innocent victims of the Bleiburg tragedy, May 1945") At the end of February, Al-Jazeera showed an interview with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, currently on trial before the ICTY in The Hague. It was done as part of a 40-minute report with Rageh Omaar. The report opened with the rows of green funeral shrouds, wailing Muslim women, and the rows of names on the Potocari monument, near Srebrenica. The images that follow suggest that the Serbs rounded up some eight thousand civilians, and shot them in...