Free Republic

Well, it looks like the Albanian mafia in this country—much of whose proceeds are exchanged with al Qaeda et al—is outpacing both its Italian and Russian counterparts. Boy, it’s a good thing we “rescued” and resettled that clan here. In Kosovo, meanwhile, the Albanian Muslims have been attacking UN and NATO ever since NATO “saved” them, and gearing up for all-out war against the West this year if it stands in the way of the logical conclusion of the jihad we helped them fight six years ago. That is, full independence (i.e. an Islamic-narco-terror mafia state without peacekeeper oversight). Such...

January 2006 -- A bus was attacked with an explosive device in central Kosovo overnight, causing damage but no injuries. The vehicle was traveling from the town of Dragas to the Serbian capital Belgrade with 57 passengers on board. A bus traveling between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia was also attacked late last year, with no injuries. The UN has administered Kosovo since June 1999 when NATO air strikes chased Serbian forces from the province. The majority ethnic-Albanian population is seeking independence for the province, while Belgrade says it must remain part of Serbia. (AFP/Reuters)

Pristina, 5 Dec. (AKI) - Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova’s religious beliefs have become the subject of wild speculation as the health of the 61 year old, who is spearheading Kosovo's independence drive, worsens. Rugova has been hospitalised since last week with lung cancer and there have been widespread rumours in Pristina that he has told close associates he wants to be buried as a Catholic. About 95 per cent of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are Muslims and the matter of Rugova’s religion has until now never been raised. Kosovo political analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu says that Rugova was a Muslim, though he...

ROGATICA, Bosnia, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The wife of a Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect was killed in a shoot-out when European Union (EUFOR) peacekeepers moved in to arrest her husband at their home on Thursday, doctors in Bosnia said. Suspect Dragomir Abazovic and the couple's 11-year-old son were also shot and injured in the morning raid in a village near Rogatica in eastern Bosnia and there had been an exchange of gunfire, police said. "Rada Abazovic died of kidney and abdominal wounds," a doctor in Foca hospital told Reuters by telephone. Hospital officials said the husband was treated for...

One problem though: Thaci refuses to discuss decentralisation issue during the status negotiations since the reformation of local power is an issue, which concerns Kosovo institutions. Although other members of the Albanian status negotiating team unanimously stated that decentralisation couldn't be part of the talks, one may wonder if Thaci’s unpredictable temper may change the course of history. Since 1995, there is a new Albanian movement called “Vetevendosje” (self determination) in Kosovo guided by a 30-year old former student leader and political prisoner Albin Kurti, who reminds of Thaci of old times: relentless, determined (though non violent). Famous American Balkan...

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A policeman in Kosovo shot and killed a man during his interrogation in an Albanian-style "blood feud" to avenge the murder of his brother. Police said the officer shot the 38-year-old suspect late on Tuesday as he was being questioned about illegal firearms at the Pec police station in the west of the United Nations-run province. The officer was subsequently arrested. Local reports alleged the detainee's brother had stabbed to death the police officer's brother at a nightclub six months ago. The Pristina daily Express quoted the detainee's lawyer as saying he...

COMMENTARY Jeffrey T. Kuhner's Commentary column asked about the prospect for an "Islamist state in Europe" (The Washington Times, Dec. 18). It is not a question of "if," but of "when." We need only look at what is happening in Europe. Today there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Anglicans in England. In one demonstration in front of British Parliament, signs were carried reading, "Islam, our religion today, your religion tomorrow." France is a basket case, plagued with riots between Muslim youths and the government. Young non-Muslims girls there are accosted on the streets for not covering their hair. In...

One Funeral Away From Civil War January 2, 2006: The head of UNMIK (UN operations in Kosovo) believes that 2006 will be an important year for Kosovo. That’s because 2006 appears to be the year Kosovo's "final status" (either independence or an autonomous province of Serbia) is determined. Meanwhile, 17,500 peacekeepers remain on duty in Kosovo. Austria issued a statement asking that "the dignity of the Serbs" (ie, Kosovar Serbs) be respected as Kosovo's "new status" is resolved. This statement and several like it indicate that the UN and nations in the region believe Kosovo will become a separate country....

BELGRADE (AP)--Unknown assailants threw an explosive device at the Albanian embassy in Belgrade, causing minor damage, police said Tuesday. The device was thrown Sunday evening, causing some damage to the facade of the embassy building. Police gave no other details. The incident comes before crucial U.N.-brokered talks on Kosovo, Serbia's southern province which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians. Albania has supported the desire of the Kosovo Albanians to gain independence from Serbia but Belgrade wants to retain at least formal control over the province. Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when a NATO air war against Serbia...

PRISTINA -- Tuesday – A bus carrying Serbs from Orahovac and Velika Hoca to Kosovska Mitrovica was attacked this morning. A group of Albanians surrounded the bas and threw bricks and other large rocks at the bus, which was carrying 55 passengers including children. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. The bus is a United Nations operated vehicle and was being escorted by the Kosovo Police Service. The vehicle itself suffered numerous damages. After UNMIK officials arrived at the seen, the bus took off and continued on its way to the northern section of Kosovska Mitrovica. According to...

OSCE/KVM OBSERVERS HAD AN UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW OF THE RACAK GULLY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE ANTI-TERRORIST OPERATIONWritten by: Andy Wilcoxson Col. Bogoljub Janicevic, the former chief of the Urosevac SUP, continued his testimony at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Friday. On Thursday he testified that OSCE/KVM personnel had been spotted plotting the GPS coordinates of tunnels and bridges throughout Kosovo, which causes suspicion that NATO may have been using the Observer mission as a cover to locate potential bombing targets. In addition to this fact, Janicevic testified today that the KLA's activities increased and that it became better armed while the...

Released : Dec 29, 2005 5:59 AM PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-U.N. and Kosovo police said Thursday they have stepped up security in the tense north of the province following an increase in violent crimes. Police increased patrols and vehicle checkpoints in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, a town divided between the Serb-dominated north and the ethnic Albanian south, a police statement said. The town, 45 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital, Pristina, and divided by a river, has been the scene of violent clashes in the past and has come to epitomize Kosovo's prevailing ethnic divide. Tensions in that part...

MAGIC FORMULA FOR PEACE IN BOSNIA Consultations, compromise and consensus By Ivan Bacak There are no such categories as "friends" or "enemies" between politicians. Partners, coalitions, oppositions… anything and no emotions. Memories are allowed, but yesterday is history, today's passing and tomorrow? It depends… In a multiethnic or better to say polynational societies all sides should respect the magic formula for peaceful coexistence: C + C + C = C Consultations, Compromise, Consensus could create circumstances for Coexistence. *** There has not been a serious meeting of leading Croatian and Serbian politicians from Bosnia since Karadzic – Boban talks in...

PARIS 6 AUG. (IPS) Iran announced Monday that two of its nationals, detained last week by the U.S. forces in Kosovo, are still in captivity and only one has been released. "There is no new word on the fate of the two health workers, but, efforts are still under way to help release them", the foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi told a Tehran press conference.

Marking the tenth anniversary of the fall of the 'Republic of Serbian Krajina', an eloquent comment from IWPR's Balkan Crisis Report by a journalist who covered the parastate's four-year existence for The Independent (London)Ten years ago I sat in the front room of a house in west London in company with a number of Croats, all eyes glued to the fast-changing footage of the satellite television that was carrying programmes from Croatian state television. ‘Come round,’ my friend had said. ‘Something’s up.’ That ‘something’, it turned out, was the ignominious fall of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK), the Serb entity that...

December 22, 2005 -- Australian government's travel advisory and consular assistance service has issued a terror alert for Bosnia on Tuesday citing a growing risk of a terrorist attacks and violent crime. Father of the Bosnian Wahhabi leader, Enes Mujkanovic, in the village of Gornja Maoca, Bosnia "Terrorism is a threat throughout the world. There is a risk of terrorist attack in Bosnia and Herzegovina," says the Australian advisory. "We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in Bosnia because of the risk of being caught up in incidents associated with ethnic tension or...

The papers report that a group of U.S. congressmen members of Serb lobby have written a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush where they ask him to support institutions of Serbia and engage in the status of Kosovo issue. The letter reads that direct involvement of President Bush would be necessary to resolve the “delicate final status of Kosovo”. Congressmen in the letter also suggest that several principles would have to be adopted to lead to a successful conclusion of negotiations on Kosovo. The initiative of the Serb lobby in the United States has been welcomed by Serbian President...

Never in my lifetime have I seen the United States so hated and despised around the globe. Only five years ago, the world’s image of the US was generally positive. No longer. Thank the neocon cabal that has been running US foreign policy. But many Americans still don’t know, or care, that much of the outside world sees their nation as a dangerous rogue state, and President George Bush and mentor VP Dick Cheney as the real axis of evil. They are as brainwashed as were Russians who depended on Soviet party-line media for their view of the world. Every...

"We're accustomed to live here. We returned to our own house and we will accept whatever God has prepared for us," said Grandmother Momirka. She is one of 500 residents determined to stay in her home despite the hostile Albanian environment. Located between Djakovica, Decane, Prizren and Pec, Orahovac is one of the smallest Serb enclaves. The former small town with its own municipal assembly, court and secondary school has become a barbed wire-enclosed concentration camp for Serbs. Their freedom of movement is limited to a circumference of 500 meters. In order to go outside this they need an armed...

Imagine yourself away from your home, perhaps vacationing, during which time a self appointed authority sells your home and in anticipation of your grievance sets up a panel of judges that will decide whether you are deserving of a compensation and in what amount. It's bad enough that you lost control of your own property and have to go through unnecessary legal proceedings but when the panel of judges decides to pay you way less then what you could have sold the property... you decide to leave. Congratulations! You've been successfully cleansed from the territory. Well, this is exactly what...