Posted on 02/10/2005 1:24:50 AM PST by Nennsy
By Branislav Krstic
MITROVICA, Serbia and Montenegro, Feb 8 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded on Tuesday under a car used by a moderate Kosovo Serb politician who has recently fallen out with Serb hardliners in the U.N.-run province.
No one was hurt in the blast which damaged Oliver Ivanovic's car parked outside his home in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica, a United Nations police source told Reuters.
The attack in the Serb-dominated north of the city came before mid-year talks planned by the United Nations on whether Kosovo becomes independent -- as demanded by the 90 percent Albanian majority -- or remains nominally part of Serbia and Montenegro.
Kosovo's U.N. overseers see Ivanovic as one of the more moderate political leaders to emerge from the Serb minority since Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate in 1999.
NATO forces occupied the province in that year after bombing Serbia for 11 weeks to expel Serb troops accused of ruthless treatment of civilians in a war on Albanian separatists.
Ivanovic openly defied the Serbian government in Belgrade in October last year by taking part in elections to Kosovo's Albanian-dominated parliament, though his party has refused its reserved seats after Serb voters shunned the poll en masse.
Ivanovic was branded a traitor by Serb hardliners who advocate a complete boycott of Kosovo's interim institutions, which they say are leading the province toward independence.
Tuesday's explosion will be seen as a worrying escalation of tensions in Mitrovica, an ethnically-divided town that has seen bitter clashes between Serbs and Albanians since the war.
__________________________________________________________
Pristina, 09 Feb (B92) - Gyorgy Kakuk, UNMIK spokesperson from Kosovska Mitrovica said that KFOR and UNMIK police give a big importance to this case and the first police reports shows that the bomb was in the car.
Fredric Shving, chief of the UNMIK police department for prevention of crime, stated yesterday that according to the current results of the investigation, it is believed that the explosive ordnance that blew up Ivanovic's car was activated by remote control. Shving assessed also that it is to early to talk about the motives and about the eventual suspects and that the final word for this case will be given to the Special unit for prevention of crime when the investigation will be done.
Milan Ivanovic, the member of the Serbian National Council did not want to comment on the attack on his political rival: "I think the investigation should be finished soon. I would not like to talk about it without some further information."
Jeff Bieley, UNMIK spokesperson called all citizens who knows something about this attack to help the police with the investigation.
Ping!
a moderate Kosovo Serb politician = a politician in the payroll of those whose next goal in Kosovo is to expell the 15% Serbs that were not expelled yet
He is a moderate politician, who enjoys good reputation among Kosovo Serbs, and he is working for their interests. In the end that’s all it counts.
Look, I've been to Serbia many times & live here in Bulgaria. Even these moderate Serbs hate all Albanians, Croats, Bosnians & Muslims. Sure, they're better that Milosobich & those other butchers.
But what we need to do is to send some guys in there to take out Karadivich, Radic & some other of these scumbags. In case you don't know it, the Serbian Mafia calls the shots there. Anything else is just a fantasy. Yes, they are making progress, but until someone gets serious & offs these mafia scum, it is hopeless.
WAR are dead Serbian terrorists & mass murderers
"Albanian majority" -- = Muslims. the ongoing Serb genocide continues.
"Milosobich" was not a butcher, he was protecting his people. He expelled the Albanians for good reason. It wasn't genocide like the lying press said.
I too have spend many years in the region. just look at what those Albanians are doing, destroying Othadox churches from the 14th century, using some as public urinals.
Remember ww2? Remember when Arafgats uncle Hussaini worked with Hitler, and was given an SS division, which was made up almost ebtirely of Albanian muslims, who then proceeded with the genocide not only of all the jews in the area, but also over 100,000 SERBS????
This is just the coninuation of the Islamic take over of the country, and stems even further back to the war in 1912 when the Srbs finally won their freedom from under the ottoman empire. (muslims)
Maybe you need to brush up on YOUR history. Call this war what it really is, not ide it under the "ethnic dispute" banner.
furthermore, the Albanians are armed to the teeth, while the Serbs are basicly defenseless, stripped of arms by the so called UN, while the Albanians are smuggling weapons, drugs and women to be used as sex slaves to the Muslims. Alquada controls much of the activity there, and the Alabnians get alot of support from Iran as well, which is nothing new. they have been meddling in the region for decades.
Unlike you, who visited Serbia many times and then went back to Bulgaria, I had a fortune or misfortune to be born and still live in Kosovo today.
Hatered seems to be the only thing to make progress in Kosovo, but shure is not one sided. Same goes for ex Yugoslavia as whole.
Am sorry to say, but I wasn't convinced that mayority of Kosovo Albanians are peace loving people, and that it's Serbian mafia calling the shots in Kosovo.
My personal experience tells me otherwise. Our burned Churches tell me otherwise. My home town cleansed of Serbs tells me otherwise.
However, you have a right to your opinion, although is far from facts on the ground.
We have found all too well how the muslims 'love' their neighbors.
Refreshing to hear from one of the Serb war crime apologists for a change. Normally on this forum, we only get the Serb war crime deniers.
Belgrade “ignoring Kosovo Serbs” | 11:38 February 09 | B92
PRISTINA -- Wednesday – The only Serbian minister in the Kosovo government today accused Belgrade of refusing to become involved in solving the problems of Kosovo Serbs.
Slavisa Petkovic said that the situation was reminiscent of the tactics of Slobodan Milosevic: “the more dead Serbs there are, the easier it makes politics”. For years, he said, Kosovo Serbs had had to listen to Belgrade instead of protecting their own interests.
“Serbs from Kosovo will never again work against their own interests for the sake of the present authorities in Belgrade, but will think with their own heads,” Petkovic told media.
He confirmed that he had written to President Boris Tadic, Prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, Parliament Speaker Predrag Markovic and the head of Belgrade’s Kosovo Coordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic, calling on them to take an active part in the process of refugee repatriations.
“So far I’ve had no reply from any of them. Apparently they don’t like my kind of politics, for them it seems better for there to be 250,000 refugees from Kosovo in Serbia still living like vagrants, than for them to actively assist repatriation,” said Petkovic.
Belgrade ignoring Kosovo serbs is false. Perhaps politically they are not being active in Kosovo for the serbs there, and i think that is a mistake.
Milosevich overreacted badly. But on the other end of it the KLA radicalized the conflict also. Both sides have the blame to share. Milosevich was not in full control of guys like Arkan and other paramilitary troops.
As to this assasination attempt. I would have to leave it on the KLA's hands. Serb Hardliners arent that stupid to kill a high profile Kosovo serb politican at this point. It would be counter-productive to their political goal.
That is oft-asserted, but there is no evidence to support it and lots to refute it; this was just discussed in a post on another thread.
I've got well over a year on the ground in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Albania plus more years spent on military staffs working Balkans issues. Trust me, everybody is looking for Al Qaeda. And nobody, not the Serbs, not UNMIK, not KFOR, and not the United States government or military has found evidence of Al qaeda operations in Kosovo over the past five and one-half years.
Everyone knows the USA is at war with Al Qaeda. And in the Balkans, everyone want the USA on their side. The Serbs to a very large degree and the Macedonians to a lesser degree scream and shout Al Qaeda every chance they get, but there's never any evidence. In places where Al Qaeda actually exists, there's lots of evidence--dead and injured Americans and other westerners, suicide bombs, captured Al Qaeda members, promotion of Islamist ideology, videotapes of executions, mullahs calling for sharia and imams pushing for jihad. In my military career, I've been in those kind of places as well. Kosovo isn't one of them.
Bratko, who "we"? We as Bulgarians who were ENEMIES OF U.S. in WWI and WWII and during THE COLD WAR? "
Or "We" like Bulgarian occupational troops who commited horrendous crimes in Serbia in WWI and WWII?
Before you dare give your original thoughts about the Serbs as a people, think first of Bulgarian baggage from WWI and WWII and the crimes Bulgarians commited in Serbia.
1914 – 1918: World War I. Serbs hold off Austrians for more than a year, inflicting 302,000 casualties. But Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian troops finally occupy Kosovo. In an epic retreat through Kosovo and the Albanian Alps in October 1915, 120,000 Serbian soldiers die. Albanians carry out reprisals. In October 1918, Serb, Italian, and French armies retake Kosovo. In the U.S., Serbians are hailed as heroes for their horrendous wartime sacrifices (about 800,000 Serbs died).
As of tellerance, do I have to remind you that Bulgaria has expelled Turkish minority when the end of Communism was near and Bulgaria still under Soviet umbrella? I guess this was an act of brotherly love.
What you dont tell people mark is that we have Interpol, and US congressional testimony that states(with evidence) that al qaeda operatives lead a KLA elite fighting force during the conflict.
The KLA was instructed to force them out if they wanted US support, but any rational person can determine that not all of the arab fighters left Kosovo during the conflict.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
December 13, 2000, Wednesday
SECTION:
CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
COMMITTEE:
HOUSE JUDICIARY
SUBCOMMITTEE: CRIME
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY "THE TREAT POSED BY THE CONVERGENCE OF ORGANIZED
CRIME DRUG TRAFFICKING, AND TERRORISM"...
"Another link to bin Laden is the fact that the brother of a leader in an Egyptian Djihad organization and also a military commander of Usama bin Laden, was leading an elite
KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict. In 1998, the KLA was described as a key player in the drugs for arms business in 1998, "helping to transport 2 billion USD worth of drugs
annually into Western Europe". The KLA and other Albanian groups seem to utilize a sophisticated network of accounts and companies to process funds. In 1998, Germany
froze two bank accounts belonging to the "United Kosova" organization after it had been discovered that several hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into those.."
http://www.theantidrug.com/pdfs/rmutschke.pdf
Unclassifed document stating arab links to Kosovo:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/cases/102/dia.pdf
Alex, this happened in Serb controlled north Mitrovica to a moderate (its all relative!) Serb politician who has avowed Serb enemies. Further, in the Balkans, you should also never rule out organized crime or personal revenge and so on. You could be right about the K-Albanian involvement, but there are enough other angles to this one that I think we should wait and see.
There is enough of evidence about AQ in U.S.A. after 9-11. But where was the same evidence before 9-11?
There is enough evidence of AQ in Spain after Madrid bombing. Where was the evidence prior to Madrid terror bombing to prevent it?
Lack of evidence does not mean that something clandestine does not exist.
In this case, there are more than enough of indirect clues. Canadian AQ turncoat Khadr has demonstrated that AQ has no problem to transport terrorists from Pakistan and Turkey to Bosnia. He demonstrated that AQ cells operate in Bosnia. But according to American Ambassador to Bosnia, there is no AQ in Bosnia. Never. It seems that US DOS has hired Baghdad Bob as a coach.
The same goes for Kosovo. I guess even if AQ opened a mission in Kosovo and put a brass plate on the mission wall, it would be no proof for those who want to project "There is no Al Qaeda in the Balkans" picture.
Even direct involvement of Bosnia in preparation of 9-11 was not enough to change anything.
What has to happen? Blond Al Qaeda operatives from the Balkans to detonate dirty bomb in European capital?
You dont know what you are talking about Mark. Islamic radicals have been KNOWN to be in the Balkans. Bosnia for one, has 900 newly naturalized citizens of arab decent left over from their conflict. Not to mention allegations that the Madrid train bombers trained or had logistical support from Bosnian operatives.
Albania itself arrests egyptian islamic jihad members constantly. Its only natural for al qaeda and other groups to see as the tense balkans as a staging ground for european operations.
its just that an assanation attempt by serb paramilitary guys would have killed him, not just blown up a car. I hope for the Kosvars sake that they didnt do that.
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