Free Republic

As the son of Cuban exiles, junior Florida senator Marco Rubio should be particularly sensitive to attempts at painting a people as crazed criminals, often done in service of an underlying political agenda. But in his speech last week at the Jesse Helms Center in North Carolina, Senator Rubio said, “The American armed forces have been one of the greatest forces of good….They stopped Nazism and Communism and other evils such as Serbian ethnic cleansing.” A year after our leaders lied to us in 1999 about the particularly insidious but ultimately mythical “Operation Horseshoe” (the ethnic cleansing plan subsequently shown...

Porous borders, especially in the north, are blamed for the trend. [Reuters] Kosovo hаѕ achieved the dubious distinction аs а transit country, but іs unprepared to handle the situation. Since 1999, Kosovo has ѕeen аn increasing number of asylum seekers frоm Asia and Africa. They have other destinations in mind, but use Kosovo aѕ transit point аnd оften end uр being arrested bу police at thе borders for illegal passage. Mainly, their countries of origin arе Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan and Nigeria. It іѕ uр tо thе internal affairs ministry tо determine whethеr thеy wіll remain in Kosovo or be deported....

Tito We have reported earlier of the possible transfer of the U.S. stealth fighter technology to China from the Serb Army which got its hands on it from the downed Stealth Bomber F11 during NATO's bombing campaign in 1999, as it was reported by other sources as well. This will not be the first time for such significant, possibly turning-point, military transfers to originate in the Balkans. The MA theses of Mehta Coleman Armstrong named "'A Rat Hole to be Watched'? CIA Analyses of the Tito-Stalin Split, 1948-1950" talks about the same type of transfer of the top military technology...

Violence on the border between Kosovo and Serbia continued to escalate on Wednesday as members of the Serbian minority in northern Kosovo set fire to a border post that has been in dispute since Monday. The attackers also reportedly fired shots at a nearby outpost run by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR). The border station has been contested since the beginning of the week when Kosovo's special police seized two northern border crossings in attempt to enforce an import ban on Serbian goods. On Tuesday a Kosovar police officer was killed, reportedly with a gunshot to the head. KFOR troops...

Serbian authorities have arrested Goran Hadzic, the last remaining fugitive war crimes suspect sought by the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr Hadzic, now 52, led Serb separatist forces during Croatia's 1991-1995 war. Within hours of the arrest, a Serbian court approved his extradition to the Hague. He has been charged with the murder of hundreds of non-Serbs. The arrest comes less than two months after Serbia caught former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic. Serbian President Boris Tadic confirmed Mr Hadzic's arrest at a news conference. He said the suspect had been detained early on Wednesday in the...

The high school in Vitez, where the Croat children attend classes on the upper floor and the Bosnian children on the lower floor. In Bosnia, the complex system of checks and balances between ethnic groups has cemented the divisions rather than healed them, local residents say, and reconciliation has still not happened. VITEZ, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA — Every morning at the local grade school formerly known as Brotherhood and Unity, the Catholic Croat children head to the right, and the Bosnian Muslims head to the left. The Croats study in the school’s cheerful looking main building, which was recently renovated....

Aleksandra's Note: Ironically, even though it was Great Britain who betrayed General Mihailovich in the Second World War, it was some of her officers, diplomats, and journalists who were fairest and most effective at pinning down and exposing the truth about what really happened in Yugoslavia during WWII and the British complicity in the consequences of what transpired during and after the war. A number of excellent and honest articles about the Mihailovich tragedy were published in independent British papers during and after his trial at the hands of Tito's Yugoslav communists in 1946. Of those, the following essay by...

Dr. Archibald Rudolph Reiss Aleksandra's Note: Three proverbs capture the essential nature of how things work in the Balkans. They are: "History repeats itself", "The first casualty of war is truth", and "What's old is new again". The more one researches the history of the Balkans the more one becomes struck with just how relevant the past is to today's events. The unfortunate thing about this phenomenon is that those in power and the policymakers and the historians and journalists who evaluate what is going on presently never seem to pay attention to the fact that the same lies keep...

I don’t think any civilized and informed person either condemns or doubts the reason why Ratko Mladic was arrested by Serbian security forces, and handed over to an international war crimes trial in The Hague. He is alleged to have led a force that slaughtered 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, and almost certainly did so. He was captured because Belgrade desperately wants to become part of the European Community, and knows it has to expunge any former connection with ethnic cleansing and tribal atrocities. The chances are that many in the Serbian government knew full well where Mladic had...

BELGRADE, Serbia – Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic says he's innocent of war crimes charges that include orchestrating some of the worst atrocities of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, the suspect's son said Friday after visiting the former fugitive in jail. "His stand is that he's not guilty of what he's being accused of," Darko Mladic told reporters. After spending a night in jail, Mladic was due back in a Belgrade court for a second hearing on his extradition to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands on charges that include directing the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys...

President Obama is calling the arrest of Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb general charged with genocide and other crimes against humanity in the 1990s, as “an important day for the families of Mladic’s many victims, for Serbia, for Bosnia, for the United States, and for international justice.” However, Obama noted in a statement, the United States and others must “recommit ourselves to supporting ongoing reconciliation efforts in the Balkans and to working to prevent future atrocities.” Here’s Obama’s full statement: “Fifteen years ago, Ratko Mladic ordered the systematic execution of some 8,000 unarmed men and boys in Srebrencia. Today, he...

The Krajina Chronicle By Srdja Trifkovic The Krajina Chronicle reviewed by Amb. James Bissett, Chairman of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies.Srdja Trifkovic is no stranger to Chronicles readers, many of whom have found his articles commenting on foreign affairs, with particular attention to the Balkans, to be insightful, penetrating, and written with authority. His latest book, The Krajina Chronicle, provides further confirmation of his extraordinary talent. The book is a history of the Serbian warrior-farmers who formed the first line of defense against Islamic invasions into the Habsburg Empire. It is a story of heroism and tragedy that...

American investors plan to build Las Vegas in Croatia-Istria has the best chances for this investment In a year or two, Croatia should get its own Las Vegas, a city of entertainment that will offer casinos, Formula 1 route, rock concerts, horse racings, top restaurants and much more. The entire project would cost 1.5 billion $. Behind trhis is a group of American investors from the real Las Vegas, which is visiting Croatia this week. Istria has the best chance to get that investment. We visited several locations in Croatia, near Dubrovnik, Zadar and several locations in Istria. Istria has...

"In a single week, we prevented a potential massacre, stopped an advancing army (loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi) and expanded the coalition," Clinton said... "The situation is painful. There's no place to sleep, there's no water, electricity, there's shooting everywhere," the rebels say... "The fact is that we have reached a solid and sustainable consensus about our goals among all NATO members, which is necessary in order to achieve them. I have spoken in detail with many colleagues regarding concrete steps and we all need to make an effort in order to isolate Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and protect...

The large military base in southern Kosovo faces reduction or closure as strategic attention shifts from the Balkans, US ambassador Christopher Dell tells Jane's.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. authorities have arrested a 51-year-old Croatian-born woman in Kentucky who is accused of war crimes against civilians during the Bosnian civil war in the 1990s. Azra Basic, who was living in Stanton, Ky., is accused of torturing and murdering ethnic Serbs at prison camps from April to June 1992. Bosnia and Herzegovina officials want Basic returned to that country to stand trial Eyewitnesses Radojica Garic and Dragan Kovacevic said Basic murdered Blagoje Djuras, who had been beaten to unconsciousness by Croatian police and soldiers, by slitting his throat with a knife, according to a court document....

In the eyes of his family and friends, Arid Uka was a model youth... The young man, who was from Kosovo, helped his mother at home, cleaned floors, took out the trash and even gave her half his salary for the pilgrimage to Mecca. Mr. Uka, 21, was a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day, but also liked to play video games on a PlayStation and watch “The Simpsons” with his brothers, 27 and 12... But last Wednesday, that vision of normal life vanished, after Mr. Uka was arrested in connection with an attack on an American military...

Two American airmen were shot dead and another left fighting for his life today after a Kosovo Albanian gunman stormed their bus before opening fire at Germany’s busiest airport where he allegedly worked. Officials said the gunman, identified as Arid Uka, 21, shouted out 'Islamic slogans' before opening fire. He gunned down his first victim as the soldier stood in front of the vehicle at Terminal 2 before turning his weapon on the driver as he sat behind the wheel. A fourth man was lightly injured and both he and the gravely wounded man are now being treated at the...

The virus of the "Arab revolution" seems to be spreading to Europe. Mass anti-government demonstrations took place in Croatia; there were protesters' clashes with the police. Nationalist trace is visible in these events directly related to the outcome of the war in Yugoslavia 15-20 years ago. A rally with thousands of participants gathered in Zagreb on Tuesday. The participants demanded the resignation of Prime Minister, leader of the Conservative party Croatian Democratic Union Jadranka Kosor. The main opposition, Socialist Party, was not favored either as the protesters burned its flag in the same way as they have the Conservative banner....

On March 2, two US airmen were killed and two injured, at least one critically, in front of Terminal 2 of the second continental Europe’s busiest Frankfurt Airport. Reportedly, the US forces were on the way to Afghanistan from their base Lakenheath airfield in England. The perpetrator was a “Kosovar,” the term invented by the western media. There is no “Kosovar” nation outside the media creations. There are a number of nationalities who live in Kosovo, i.e. Albanians, Serbs, Roma, Gorani, and others. None of them are identifying themselves as “Kosovars.” The perpetrator, who fired nine times before his gun...