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The travel section of the paper featured a story on Kosovo the other day with a recommendation that readers visit this latest "must see" spot on the globe. It made me laugh. Almost forty years ago--1971 to be exact -- I traveled in what was then called Yugoslavia and is now called Kosovo. The memories of that trip remain so vivid and so utterly at odds with this report.

American Deputy Secretary of State John Bolton believes the United States committed a serious mistake when it recognized the independence of Kosovo. He fears such policy may escalate tensions in the Balkans. In an interview for the Russian news agency Interfax, Mr. Bolton remarked that Washington’s policy was on autopilot since the regime of the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. But the situation has changed considerably after the democratic government took over, which, in Mr. Bolton’s opinion, makes support for Kosovo’s independence a pointless atavism.

On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Some are concerned about what NATO, the United Nations, and the European Union have nurtured there since the military and humanitarian intervention in 1999. James Jatras, a U.S.-based advocate for the Serbian Orthodox Community, put it bluntly last year when he said Kosovo was a “a beachhead into the rest of Europe” for “radical Muslims” and “terrorist elements.” It’s an assertion without evidence. “We’ve been here for so long,” said United States Army Sergeant Zachary Gore in Eastern Kosovo, “and not seen any evidence of it, that we’ve reached the assumption...

[JURIST] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) [official website] announced Wednesday that it will prepare a report [press release] on allegations of organ trafficking in Kosovo. Former prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Carla Del Ponte [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has alleged in a new book [JURIST report] that about 300 Serbian and other non-Albanian prisoners were victims of organ trafficking during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, but that a 2003 probe by her ICTY team failed to obtain sufficient evidence to prosecute. In response, parliamentarians submitted a motion [text] in...

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment deployed to the Balkans earlier this year to provide Kosovo Forces with armored capabilities during Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia, according to Army officials. Information on the deployment was kept under wraps until now because of the mission’s sensitivity. In the days following Kosovo’s declaration of independence, protesters marched in the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica. Kosovo Force troops and U.N. police closed the border with Serbia after hearing that protesters were being bused to Mitrovica to join the protest. During the deployment 1-4 soldiers were manning Bradley fighting...

MOSCOW, June 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is not opposed to an EU mission replacing the UN force in Kosovo, but the move should have the formal backing of the UN Security Council and Serbia, a senior Russian diplomat said on Monday. "We are not opposed to the European Union taking on part of the responsibility for what is happening in Kosovo," Vladimir Chizhov, envoy to the European Communities, said adding a European mission should be approved by a UN Security Council resolution and Belgrade. Chizhov said UN Security Council Resolution 1244 was currently the only legal basis for an...

(UNITED NATIONS) - The United States on Friday defended UN chief Ban Ki-moon's plans to transfer some powers from the UN mission in Kosovo to the European Union despite opposition from Serbia and its ally Russia. US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad told the Security Council that Washington backed Ban's plan to reconfigure the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) by transferring responsibilities in the areas of police, justice and customs to a EU mission. He told Ban that despite objections raised by Serbia and Russia, "You have to act. 1244 gives you that discretion," referring to the Security Council...

A group comprising survivors and relatives of the victims of the massacre in Srebrenica have called on a court in The Hague to lift the United Nations' immunity. The six thousand Bosnians want to bring charges against the UN and the Netherlands for their role in the fall of the Muslim enclave. But that can only happen if the judge in The Hague makes legal proceedings against the UN possible. The judge will consider the request and deliver a ruling in mid-July. The Muslim enclave in Srebrenica fell on 11 July 1995 into the hands of Bosnian Serb troops who...

The disconnect between what Democrats are saying about Iraq and what is actually happening there has reached grotesque proportions. Democrats won an exhilarating electoral victory in 2006 pledging withdrawal at a time when conditions in Iraq were dire and we were indeed losing the war. Two years later, when everything is changed, they continue to reflexively repeat their "narrative of defeat and retreat" (as Joe Lieberman so memorably called it) as if nothing has changed. It is a position so utterly untenable that John McCain must seize the opportunity and, contrary to conventional wisdom, make the Iraq War the central...

Synagogue walls daubed with anti-Jewish graffitiBenedict Moore-Bridger and Robert Mendick 15.05.08   Message of hate: a council worker cleaning anti-Israel graffiti off a wall in Stamford Hill   London's Jewish community has been targeted by a wave of anti-Semitic graffiti. Residents were today warned to look out for suspicious activity following the racist attack in north-east London. Vandals sprayed shops, pavements and walls outside four synagogues in Clapton Common and Stamford Hill on Tuesday night. Worshippers were yesterday confronted with slogans such as "Jihad to Israel" and "Jihad to Tel Aviv". Hackney council is removing the graffiti, which consisted...

Lee Smith laments that American Muslims have to read almost exclusively about scary Muslims and slightly less scary Muslims in the mainstream American media. “One can only sympathize with American Muslims,” he writes, those who may or may not be religious, but surely have no attachment to the obscurantist fanatics that drove them from the region, and must now be wondering what is wrong with the New York Times that the only Muslims that register with the paper of record are very scary ones, and less scary ones. I have noticed and been annoyed by this tendency myself, and it...

To see photos: please go to Bernard KouchnerInvolved in Albanian Organ Market Milijana Mitrovic was one of Carla del Ponte`s sources for information on death camps in which organs were taken from people, the Kurir daily writes. She claimed Albania is not only a Serbian “blue tomb”, but organs were taken from Romanians, Greeks, Montenegrins, Russians and Arabs as well. The very Albanian political top was in on it, along with KFOR and UNMIK representatives. Among other things, Mitrovic claimed that thanks to the fact she was close to an influential Albanian businessman, she had the opportunity to see the...

PRIŠTINA -- The Kosovo Albanian government will not investigate Carla Del Ponte's claims that Kosovo Serbs were kidnapped to have their organs removed. This was reported today in Priština by the Albanian language daily Express. The former chief Hague prosecutor, now Switzerland's ambassador to Argentina, wrote in her book "The Hunt" that she investigated allegations that after the end of the 1999 war in the province, some 300 Kosovo Serbs were kidnapped, transported to Albania, where they had their organs removed, after which they were killed and buried in mass graves. She also said the 2003 probe into the case...

Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war' 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. Carla 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 for the illegal trade. A senior adviser to Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister and a leading member of the Kosovo Liberation Army which is...

MOSCOW, April 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Ministry has asked the Hague to provide details on crimes described in a book by former chief criminal prosecutor Carla del Ponte, the ministry said on Tuesday. In her book called The Hunt: Me and War Criminals, Carla del Ponte described atrocities against Kosovo Serbs and other ethnic groups committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). "Batching freedom of speech concerning crimes against civilians, one may assume, is aimed at softening the reaction within international social and political circles to the facts revealing the criminal prehistory to the illegitimate sovereignty of Kosovo,"...

It's important for Muslims to keep reminding us that there is absolutely, positively no relationship between Islam and violence. Otherwise it's easy to forget. The latest excuse for Islamic bonhomie is the documentary "Fitna" by Geert Wilders. In the 15-minute film, showing on YouTube and other Internet sites, the Dutch MP says that far from getting Islam wrong, terrorists understand their religion only too well. "Fitna" (Arabic for "upheaval" or "ordeal") has verses from the Koran -- which Wilders calls a "fascist book" -- artfully interspersed with scenes of carnage from 9/11 and the March, 2004 Madrid train bombing, as...

Moscow - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that NATO's willingness to enlarge eastward had 'nothing positive' about it and followed 'a Cold War logic.' Lavrov had tough words for the alliance's decision last week to keep its doors open to former Soviet states wishing to join. 'We will do everything in our power to prevent Georgia and Ukraine's acceptance into NATO,' Lavrov was quoted as saying Tuesday in an interview with radio station Ekho Moskvy. Russia views NATO's expansion eastward as a betrayal and an effort by Western states to persevere in the Cold War policy of containment....

MOSCOW, April 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russia does not see any sense in sending troops to Kosovo, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an exclusive interview with the Echo of Moscow radio. He indicated that the situation around the UN mission in the breakaway Serbian province has not witnessed any dramatic changes compared with the period several years ago when Russia decided to pull its military contingent out of there. "We took this decision because we were unwilling to get associated with the policies conducted by KFOR, which could be described as 'the reverted ethnic cleansing'," Lavrov said.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has promised his country will recognize Kosovo. The King confirmed his stance during a meeting that he held with Albania's parliament speaker, Jozefina Topalli in Riad. Saudi Arabia's number one expressed his support for the cause of Albanians and congratulated the newest country of Europe. Jozefina Topalli gave special thanks to the King for his promise to recognize the Republic of Kosovo, stressing that such a move by the most powerful country of the Arab world would have a great influence on the Islamic Conference, which consists of around 56 countries. Recent developments in Albania,...

Within this year, Kosovo expects to launch its own army, to be called the Kosovo Security Force (KSF). Compared to other military forces in Europe, the KSF will be small and lightly equipped; its size will be limited to 2,500 active troops and 800 reserves. It will be primarily responsible for crisis response, explosive ordinance disposal and civil protection. The plans are to develop the force out of a current emergency response organisation, the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC). Established eight years ago under UNMIK and KFOR supervision, it is involved in activities such as firefighting, search and rescue and medical...

A New York City cabbie who operates an extremist Islamic anti-American Web site that features violent images — including mocking the deaths of GIs in Iraq — says he’s doing the country a service by “exposing the truth.” Yousef al-Khattab, who runs RevolutionMuslim.com from his home in Queens, told FOX News that he also wants the U.S. to embrace Islam and Sharia Law, which prohibits alcohol and can include stoning to death or severe flogging for pre-marital sex and adultery. On any given day, log on to al-Khattab's site and a host of startling images appear: — The Statue of...

  Get off my bus, I need to pray   Prayers please ... the driver holds out hands with palms facing sky    By ALEX PEAKE and ANDY CRICK Published: 29 Mar 2008       A MUSLIM bus driver told stunned passengers to get off so he could PRAY. The white Islamic convert rolled out his prayer mat in the aisle and knelt on the floor facing Mecca. Passengers watched in amazement as he held out his palms towards the sky, bowed his head and began to chant. One, who filmed the man on his mobile phone, said:...

BELGRADE -- PM Vojislav Koštunica says Serbia needs a stable government that will have a unanimous policy on Kosovo. The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader told the public broadcaster RTS last night that parliamentary elections had been called for this reason, following the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence. Koštunica did not directly answer the question whether he would cooperate with the Radicals after the vote, or whether he would participate in a government with the same partners. He said he would cooperate with the parties that support his party's key principles - "Kosovo Is Serbia," membership in the EU...

Serbia has formally proposed partitioning Kosovo along ethnic lines for the first time, asking the United Nations to ensure that Belgrade can control key institutions and functions in areas of the newly independent country where Serbs form a majority. In a document sent to the UN in New York, proposed to the UN in Kosovo last week and published in the Belgrade press yesterday, the government in Belgrade insists that Serbia be allowed to control the police, the courts, the judiciary and customs in the Serbian enclaves in Kosovo and in the northern strip around the tense Serb-controlled town of...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Sunday accused NATO peacekeepers and United Nations police of using "snipers and banned ammunition" to quell a Serb riot against Kosovo's independence. "It was the international forces," he told the daily Vecernje Novosti in an interview, referring to a riot in the Kosovo Serb stronghold of Mitrovica last Monday in which a Ukrainian U.N. policeman was killed and a Serb badly wounded in the head. "Obviously, the situation in Kosovo is very difficult and there are reasonable and unreasonable people. The battle is on for the whole of Kosovo," Kostunica said....

Text of report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA Sarajevo, 21 March: Five persons suspected of trafficking weapons, military equipment and planning acts of terrorism have been arrested in Sarajevo, the BiH [Bosnia-Hercegovina] Prosecution has confirmed for SRNA. Acting on the Prosecution's orders, anti-terror officers from the BiH Federation MUP [Interior Ministry] searched four premises in Sarajevo and two in Bugojno, and arrested five people on suspicion that they were trafficking arms and military equipment, but there is also indication that they were planning acts of terrorism. The Federation MUP has finished dealing with the suspects and today they are...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush authorized Wednesday supplying Kosovo with weapons, signaling the establishment of government-to-government relations after recognizing its independence, the White House said. In a memo to the State Department made public by the White House, Bush said: "I hereby find that the furnishing of defense articles and defense services to Kosovo will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace." A senior official said the authorization followed US recognition of Kosovo's independence and was part of the normal process of establishing relations with a new government. In a comment apparently meant to...

PRISTINA, Kosovo - The United Nations accused Serbian officials Tuesday of complicity in the violence in northern Kosovo that left a U.N. policeman from Ukraine dead and dozens of people hurt. Larry Rossin, the deputy U.N. administrator for Kosovo, told reporters in Pristina that "it is clear to us that the violence ... was orchestrated." At the very least, Rossin said, Serbia's government failed to use its influence to prevent ethnic Serbs in Kosovo from launching the attacks, which left more than 60 U.N. and NATO forces and 70 Kosovo Serb protesters wounded. The U.N. pulled out of the Serb-dominated...

BELGRADE -- Belgrade has demanded assistance from the World Health Organization over a crisis in Kosovo. A shipment of medicines and medical supplies, worth RSD 3.5mn, has been confiscated by the Kosovo Albanians and UNMIK in the province as it reached Kosovska Mitrovica. It was destined for the isolated Serb enclaves, where hospital officials are now warning they are running out of medicines. Health Minister Tomica Milosavljević has reacted today by saying the government will ask the WHO to intervene. The representatives of the UN mission in the province, UNMIK, said they "will not comment" on the increasingly difficult circumstances...

Today there seems to be little if any national memory of history to influence the foreign policy of the American super-power – merely what appears to be the most expedient at the moment, whether it conforms to international law and a United Nations organization established to act as a moderating force among nations, or not. How else to view Washington’s latest project to foist a second Albanian state on the international community: Kosovo, which has been torn out of Serbian territory rich in historic meaning and tradition to a Slav Orthodox Christian people who consider it to be the very...

....(Albanian) Women used to be relegated to restrictive lives at home, guarded behind the high-walled compounds that traditionally housed extended ethnic Albanian families, or clans. It wasn't freedom, but it was out of the reach of outside exploitation. Traffickers brought women from elsewhere, such as Moldova and Romania, initially to be shuttled to Italy or other parts of Europe and, after the war, to remain in Kosovo to "service" a growing international population..... ...After a brutal crackdown by Slobodan Milosevic in 1999, Kosovo came under the stewardship of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United Nations. During the years...

Here is the After-Action video report for the rally that took place today in West Los Angeles against the independence of the Islamic state of Kosovo in the heart of Europe. Update from this thread.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALYW5OlZ1dQ

Specialist Robert Terrio and his wife, Kary, thought they had avoided a dangerous deployment a few months ago when he learned that his Missouri National Guard unit would do a tour in Kosovo instead of Iraq or Afghanistan. "There's a certain amount of relief that we weren't being deployed to an active war zone,'' Robert Terrio said. Then, last month, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, a move Serbia refused to recognize. Suddenly, Kosovo started to look a little more dicey. Demonstrators torched the U.S. Embassy in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, mobs attacked several United Nations border posts, and gun...

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Sweden's foreign minister said Saturday that the United Nations will have to stay in Kosovo to act as a buffer between nations that recognize Kosovo's statehood and those that do not. Carl Bildt said the U.N., European Union and NATO would need to adjust their plans in Kosovo after the U.N. was sidelined last month when Kosovo declared independence, due to a deadlock caused by Russia's opposition and U.S. and key European countries' backing for the new country. "We are operating in a somewhat different situation from the one that we were planning for," Bildt told...

KURSUMLIJA, Serbia: Serbian police have stopped hundreds of ex-army reservists from going to the border with Kosovo. Former Serb fighters from the Kosovo war planned to remove a border sign saying "Republic of Kosovo" at the Merdare border crossing. But hundreds of police blocked the reservists from leaving the town of Kursumlija. Police scuffled with the protesters but there were no serious incidents. The demonstrators are dispersing but have pledged to come back again on Monday. The Serbs are angry over the Feb. 17 declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership.

excerpt - BELGRADE: Serbia's government collapsed on Saturday and early elections loomed as pro-Western President Boris Tadic and nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica faced off over Kosovo and EU integration. Kostunica said his cabinet would meet on Monday to formally dissolve parliament and urged Tadic to call new elections for May 11, the same date as existing municipal polls. "The government of Serbia has no united policy any more on an important issue related to the future of the country, Kosovo as a part of Serbia," Kostunica told reporters in Belgrade. "Such a government could not function any more. This...

BELGRADE, Serbia -- As editor-in-chief of Serbia's oldest and most prestigious daily newspaper, Politika, I am at a loss to explain the West's stubborn support for Kosovo independence to my readers. Only nine years ago, my country was bombed for 78 days by the most powerful military alliance the world has ever seen, and the last thing I want is to pour oil over the fire of anti-Western sentiment. But the truth is, I find myself grappling with the same bitterness and resentment as most of my countrymen. I was very much part of the democratic upheaveal that rid Serbia...

It is hardly a conservative policy to support the establishment of an Islamist state on the European continent, turn a blind eye to the well-documented persecution of an ancient Christian community, engage in a Woodrow Wilson-style passion for nation building and follow in the footsteps of Bill Clinton. Yet that is what the United States has done by recognizing the independence of Kosovo. Kosovo is the ancient heartland of the Serbian people going back to the dawn of their history. It certainly had a Muslim ethnic Albanian majority before Clinton and his Secretary of State Madeline Albright bombed Belgrade back...

Free Expression Quashed: YouTube Removes 'Blasphemies' Against Islam By Warner Todd Huston The Islamofascists are mad at YouTube… or at least there were. They aren’t anymore, of course, because YouTube has folded to a cyberterror campaign launched in Islamabad, Pakistan. Islamists in Pakistan launched a cyber attack against YouTube over the video service’s hosting of the trailer to a Dutch documentary that claims that Islamic doctrine is an “inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror.” So, in another strike against freedom of expression, YouTube has promised to eliminate any content that is deemed by extremist, Islamists half way across the world...

Once again the United States has sold out the good people and rewarded the bad. I am speaking of the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state by our government. As a bit of background information, the Jewish Defense League was the only activist Jewish organization to support the Serbian people and their right to their ancestral homeland during the war that dissolved Yugoslavia during the 1990s. While we did not approve of alleged war crimes by some Serbians, we understood they felt they were entitled to settle the score with their Nazi-loving Croatian and Bosnian neighbors. . . ....

PRISTINA, Feb 28 (IPS) - After the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo on Feb. 17, ethnic tensions are rising dangerously again in the region, especially in Northern Kosovo and the other Serbian enclaves scattered around the province. Daily protests in northern Mitrovica, an area with an ethnic Serb majority, the attacks on border checkpoints Jarinje and Brnjak by thousands of Serbs, and regular damaging of buildings and vehicles used by United Nations staff indicate a Serb determination to counteract the proclaimed independence of Kosovo. But there is something more than raw anger that cultivates tensions in this case. A...

Last Sunday's unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, former warlord/commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), heralds the birth of a new European narco state. The illegal dismemberment of Serbia, completing the U.S./EU/NATO destruction of Yugoslavia, is proclaimed by ruling elites and their sycophants as an exemplary means to bring "peace and stability" to the region. This provocative move, outside the framework of international law, threatens any sovereign state with similar treatment should they deviate from the "Washington consensus." Far from bringing "peace" let alone "stability," an "independent" Kosovo will serve as a militarized outpost for...

Kosovo declared independence Sunday, but it's unlikely any time soon to become the world's 193rd country. What it will almost certainly be is a failed state, unrecognized by the United Nations, unable to govern itself, dependent on Europe for its police and NATO for its armed forces. After eight years as an international protectorate and billions of dollars in aid and reconstruction funds, its economic prospects are grim. Unemployment is 57 percent, and among youths it's more like 70 percent; half the population is under 25. Small wonder then that its chief export is organized crime. It remains ethnically cleansed...

Does Kosovo’s declaration of independence have any specific significance for Israel? The resulting call for a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood by Mahmoud Abbas’s aide Yasser Abed-Rabbo was so quickly disavowed by his boss, that Israel is well advised to focus its investigations on other consequences. Kosovo’s independence further destabilizes the Balkan and creates more confusion than clarity. While no answer about the consequences of this step for Israel is yet possible a useful first approach to analyze its relevance is thus to ask first who gains and who loses from it. ... Another beneficiary is the Muslim world, which...

PARIS -- A Basque separatist leader yesterday said that his "struggle was inspired by the Kosovo example". Gabriel Mueska, who spent 17 years in prison for his membership in the terrorist group ETA, was speaking in a French television debate, dubbed "The death of nations", that also included Serb, Albanian and Flemish separatist representatives, and French analysts. "The Basques were exceptionally happy after the declaration of Kosovo's independence," he confided. "I was with the young people when the declaration took place and I did not manage to explain to them why us Basques do not have this possibility for freedom,"...

PRISTINA, Kosovo-A NATO peacekeeper caught in a shootout in western Kosovo is being treated for slight injuries. NATO officials say a stray bullet hit the soldier in the leg Wednesday when two rival groups opened fire at each other in the town of Prizren, 80 kilometers west of the capital Pristina (50 miles). The soldier, who is not being named, sustained slight injuries to the leg but is able to walk. Three people died in the shootout that took place in the center of the town. Authorities believe it was a conflict between two ethnic Albanian criminal gangs. NATO has...

Restitution of Serbian Orthodox Church Property in Kosovo-Metohia ProvinceSerbian Orthodox Church is the legal owner of 5,300 hectares of land in Kosovo province. The word Metohia, an integral part of the name of southern Serbian province, is derived from the Greek word "metoch", denoting the land owned by the Church. Photo: Pec Patriarchate built in 1260, the seat of Serbian Orthodox Church, Kosovo-Metohia, Serbia. Raska and Prizren Diocese (encompassing Raska region and the province of Kosovo and Metohia) of the Serbian Orthodox Church will soon receive a decision stating the return of 5,300 hectares of land (13,097 acres) that was...

The man all but certain to win Russia's presidency warned Wednesday that Kosovo's independence could destabilize Europe. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is expected to easily win Sunday's presidential vote, said Kosovo's independence has "jeopardized security and stability of the vast region." Medvedev said recognition of Kosovo's declaration Feb. 17, spearheaded by the United States, has "put Europe in a very difficult situation." "The United States is far away and is not facing any risks, but Europe could go ablaze," he said in a campaign speech in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod. "It's enough to put...

BELGRADE, February 27 (RIA Novosti) - The UN mission in Kosovo has drafted a plan to hand over power to a new European Union mission and the local government, the UN mission press secretary said on Wednesday. The EU has announced plans to deploy a 2,000-strong police, justice and civil administration mission in the Albanian-dominated region, which declared independence from Serbia on February 17, to replace the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). "Given from the European Union's statement that Brussels is prepared to take on some authority in Kosovo along with local government bodies, the UN mission...

On June 28, 1389, the Serbs lost to the Ottomans at Kosovo Field in the Battle of Kosovo. This began a 500-plus year dominance by the Ottoman Turks in Central Europe, and particularly in that powder keg known as the Balkans. It also meant that Islam—the faith of the Ottoman Empire—now had a door into Christian Europe. The Serbs, a proud people, never forgave themselves for that loss and that foot in the door. They would harbor a 600-year guilt, as evidenced by a June 28, 1989, speech by Slobodan Milosevic at that infamous battlefield site at Kosovo; it was...