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Amid growing calls from Tory MPs for David Cameron to respond to the Ukip threat by bringing forward legislation on an EU referendum, Farage warned that his party would not go away even if No 10 "starts singing the same song". William Hague, who famously suffered a major defeat in the 2001 election after tacking to the right, called for a cautious response to Ukip as he warned of the dangers of "quick fixes". Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, said many Ukip voters were "frustrated Conservatives". As the Tories work out their response to Ukip, which won nearly a quarter...

Aleksandra's Note: One of the best publications ever issued about the Kosovo legacy is KOSOVO by William Dorich, published in 1992. If you can find the book, get it. Dorich's beautiful tribute includes an essay by Thomas Emmert which should be a must-read for anyone searching to understand what the legacy of Kosovo is all about. It should also be a must-read for Serbs who need to be reminded about this legacy and why it is essential to preserve and protect their sacred KOSOVO. Sincerely, Aleksandra Rebic ***** "THE KOSOVO LEGACY" By Thomas Emmert On 28 June, 1389 an alliance...

[This is a companion piece to an essay I posted earlier in the week in regard to the tenth anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq: #22 The Quiet Funeral of Bush Lied - Thousands Died! Bill Clinton's war with Serbia over Kosovo in 1998 starkly illustrates the double standards of contemporary American liberals. It is written in the first person to liberals, but also for conservatives.]     Liberals believe that former President Bush lied to the American people to get support for invading Iraq (this erroneous belief will be completely debunked in #22 The Quiet Funeral of “Bush Lied – Thousands Died!”)....

Former Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned of “sleeping war demons” in Europe and compared the current situation to the year before the outbreak of the first world war, when everybody took peace for granted. “For my generation, the common currency always meant politics of peace. Today, I am to some extent saddened to see that too many in Europe are again lost in petty national thought processes,” the Luxembourg Prime Minister said in an interview with Der Spiegel published on Monday (11 March). … “Those who think that the question of war can never be raised in Europe any...

Controversy has erupted over next Tuesday's European Parliament resolution "on eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU", meant to mark international women's day, after libertarian Swedish MEPs from the Pirate Party spotted the call for a ban in the small print. While not legally binding, the vote could be the first step towards European legislation as the EU's assembly increasingly flexes its political muscle within Europe's institutions.

Miss Kosovo 2012 for last December's Miss Universe pageant at Planet Hollywood in Vegas was a gal named Diana Avdiu, hailing from Mitrovica, Kosovo (former Yugoslavia)... Since turning 15 she's been dedicated to modeling, and even lived in NYC for a spell.   Diana's fair complexion is contrasted strikingly by brunette hair and sparkling green eyes, and she placed in the top 16 at Miss Universe, apparently making quite an impression in the event... More at Reaganite Republican... Miss Universe (official)   BeautyPageantNews   MadeMansion   BeautyConstests   Listal.com   ABDI

The supposed “responsibility to protect” has taken America into a war on the side of the ultimate killers of innocents. (See also "Rebel Libya: ‘Brothers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, now is the time to defend your land!" on the Tatler.) In the absence of any evident national interest justification for bombing Libya, the Obama administration is said to have been motivated by the so-called responsibility to protect — or “R2P” per the wonkish English acronym. In American discussions, “R2P” has quickly come to be associated with Obama advisor Samantha Power. But “R2P” did not emerge full-grown from the...

By John Crewdson, Tribune senior correspondent. Reporting and research assistance was provided by Drew Crosby in Madrid MADRID -- The most sweeping criminal indictment to arise thus far from the Sept. 11 attacks reflects a quiet but dramatic change in understanding by investigators here and across Europe of the terrorist organization known as Al Qaeda, and the international Islamic radical-terrorist network of which, they now agree, it is merely a part. As laid out in the indictment, the defendants' alleged activities--from arranging travel and providing introductions to procuring false documents and, especially, moving money--provide the first detailed look at one...

Serbians reacted angrily at the acquittal of a former Kosovo guerrilla leader by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), less than two weeks after the court freed two Croatian military commanders who were accused of war crimes, EurActiv Serbia reports. The acquittal of ex-Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leader Ramush Haradinaj was met by fierce criticism of The Hague tribunalÂ’s work. Serbian officials said the decision was a blow to international justice and made the process of reconciliation in the region more complicated. Â… Belgrade considers that the tribunal has lost credibility and has shown bias in acquitting...

U.S. Kosovo policy pits National Guard against Christian Serbs resisting rule by U.S.-backed Muslim Albanian mafia rewarded with independence; ethnic cleansing threatens.Always on hand to promote the American-made Muslim state of Kosovo, The Wall St. Journal praised Obama’s praise and rhapsodized in typical Slavophobic tones how in 1999 President Clinton “bypassed the United Nations and sent in the U.S. Air Force…President Bush stood up to Russian bluster and European ambivalence to push for its independence.…though Serbia and Russia have tried to undermine it.” The editorial closed with a straight-faced reference to something that elicits snickers among those in the know:...

The so-called EULEX mission, with a staff of roughly 2,500, has cost more than €1 billion since 2008. Nevertheless, the European Court of Auditors finds that levels of organized crime and corruption remain high, while the judiciary is inefficient and suffers from too much political influence. I compare the development of a police force in Kosovo with that of the Obilic power plant near the capital, Pristina. Since NATO drove the Serbs out of Kosovo in 1999, there have been plans to install a filter at the plant. The plant continues to spew pollution unabated into the air. It's the...

The most striking proof that the Arab anti-Israel cause is a common meeting ground for both Nazis and Communists --and that the Arabs welcomed supporters of both ilks-- lies in the friendship of Carlos, the notorious master terrorist who served the PLO, with Fran*ois Genoud, an old Nazi, one of the leading Nazis in pre-War Switzerland, later a financier who provided funds for Habash's faction of the PLO. "Carlos" (his nom de guerre) was what is called a "red diaper baby." His fabulously rich father, a Venezuelan lawyer and owner of estates, gave "Carlos" the name Ilich, Lenin's patronymic, as...

Belgrade (dpa) - If the European Union sets the recognition of Kosovo as a condition for membership, then Serbia "will abandon the European path," President Tomislav Nikolic said in an interview published Tuesday. Nikolic told the Vecernje Novosti daily that Serbia has met the conditions previously set and that new terms would be unacceptable. "We reached a level where we can count on EU membership and now it keeps us at a distance only because of Kosovo," he said. "But it can keep us there the next 100 years and we will not change our position." "If they start adding...

CRIME & WAR CRIMES | OCTOBER 4, 2012 | 16:44 Radical Islamist leader threatens Serbia SOURCE: BETA BUCHAREST -- Radical Islamist leader Omar Bakri has warned that terrorist attacks would be launched against Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and other countries in the region. The reason for this, the Syria-born extremist told Bulgaria's newspaper 24 Chasa, is that those were "territories that belong to Islam". Bakri further explained: "When Islam enters a territory, it becomes Islamic, therefore Islam is under obligation to eventually liberate it." The Mediafax news agency is also reporting that he listed all "Muslim territories" as follows: "Spain, Bulgaria,...

A historic baptistery structure has been unearthed at one of the most important ancient sites in Kosovo by Turkish archaeologists. It is the first such excavation to be carried out by Turkish archaeologists in Europe Since the beginning of excavations in July in Kosovo’s ancient city of Ulpiana, a baptistery dating from the Byzantine period have been unearthed by Turkish archaeologists of the Mimar Sinan University. At an excavation site in Kosovo’s ancient city of Ulpiana, a team of Turkish archaeologists have discovered a baptistery dating from the Byzantine period. The archaeological team, consisting of archaeology students from Istanbul’s Mimar...

GAZIMESTAN, PRIŠTINA -- 16 Serb children were injured when Molotov cocktails were thrown at them as they were returning from the Vidovdan ceremonies in Gazimestan on Thursday.A man carries the Serbian flag surrounded by KPS members at Gračanica on Thursday (Tanjug) The attack happened in Priština. B92 has learned that two Serbs received serious injuries and were treated in the nearby enclave on Gračanica. Gračanica Health Care Center Radmila Trajković told Tanjug that they treated 16 Serb children - between eight and 16 years of age - and that they were injured when their buses returning from Gazimestan came under...

The European Parliament on Wednesday (13 June) approved draft laws that would strongly increase Brussels' power over eurozone countries' budgets. But they tempered the previously austere proposals with measures for growth, debt redemption and democratic scrutiny. "This is the core of a fiscal union," said Austrian MEP and socialist leader Hannes Swoboda. "This is the first time that there is a structural solution [to the eurozone crisis] on the table," said Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt. His Green counterpart Daniel Cohn-Bendit called it a "milestone" for the strength of agreement among MEPs. The pair of laws—also known as the two-pack—is among...

(Reuters) - At least three Kosovo Serbs and a NATO soldier were wounded in a gunfight on Friday, as peacekeepers tried to dismantle Serb barricades blocking traffic, a Reuters witness said. NATO troops in the Kosovo Force (KFOR) fired tear gas and small arms and some protesters fired back with handguns. The troops, in armored personnel carriers, were confronted by hundreds of Serbs who pelted them with stones near roadblocks in the villages of Rudare and Dudin Krs outside the town of Zvecan in a Serb-dominated northern area of Kosovo. The roadblocks are among the last on major roads yet...

Who could not despise the tottering Bashar al-Assad dictatorship in Syria? The Syrian strongman has killed some 10,000 protestors over the last year; thousands of Syrians are now refugees. The autocracy arms and aids the terrorist organization Hezbollah. It targets democratic Israel with thousands of missiles, and still does its best to ruin neighboring Lebanon. Theocratic and terrorist-sponsoring Iran has few allies -- but Syria remains its staunchest. Almost no country over the last half-century has proved more hostile to the United States than has Syria. With sanctions not working, and with the Chinese, Iranians and Russians not eager to...

PRISTINA, Kosovo – A Syrian dissident said Thursday his country's opposition is turning to Kosovo's former rebels-turned-politicians for advice on how to topple Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus. Ammar Abdulhamid, an exiled anti-Assad activist, said that seeing a new country "emerging out of the nightmare and emerging as a state" could be inspiring for Syrian dissidents. Assad's government has cracked down on a 13-month-old popular uprising in Syria, leading to an estimated 9,000-plus deaths. "We are here to learn," Abdulhamid said during an interview with The Associated Press in Pristina. "Kosovo has gone through an experience that I think will...