Kosovo May Explode -- Here

CNSNews.com Commentary ^ | March 16, 2006 | Julia Gorin

[tgambill]

The War on Terror suffered a major blow three years before it was ever announced. It happened when the people of this democracy were misled into attacking the sovereign, emerging post-Communist democracy of Yugoslavia, over rumors of genocide and ethnic cleansing that proved false. In so doing, we delivered the Balkans to al Qaeda.

Today we are being asked to seal that historical blunder, the repercussions of which are still escalating seven years later. The people we "rescued" have turned their weapons against United Nations and NATO forces.

While NATO spends most of its time rooting out terror cells in Kosovo and Bosnia, which served as the planning bases for the London and Madrid bombings, the 2006 deadline to complete our eagerly forgotten debacle and determine the province's final status is fast approaching.

To persuade the international community that only one final status will be acceptable, our Albanian "rescuees" have been stepping up the violence. This is a message to the West that it has only one possible exit strategy: grant unconditional independence -- without border compromises with Serbia and without protection guarantees for what's left of the non-Albanian minorities.

Here is the size of that hole so far: In November, 2001, what should have been an explosive article appeared in the European edition of the Wall St. Journal. Headlined "Al Qaeda's Balkan Links," it read: "For the past 10 years ... Ayman al-Zawahiri (bin Laden's second in command) has operated terrorist training camps [and] weapons of mass destruction factories throughout Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Bosnia ... Though the Clinton administration had been briefed extensively by the State Department in 1993 on the growing Islamist threat in former Yugoslavia, little was done to follow through ...".......

(continued)

[tgambill]

An outstanding article and true to the situation.

[eleni121]

The link has expired. Please post that link again as it is so very important.

[tgambill]

Good article

[Fintan]

I forget...who was president then?

[ThreePuttinDude]

When Clinton Lied - Serbs Died

[tgambill]

Full article can be viewed here

[tgambill]

Clinton involved us in the Balkans and Kosovo

[Cicero]

Quite a few Freepers understand that clinton fought that war on the wrong side. But I have yet to hear a single Republican politician or influential conservative pundit say it.

They remind me of the three monkeys. Hear no evil. See no evil. Shut your eyes and ignore it, and maybe it will go away.

Well, it won't go away, and if they agree to give Kosovo to Albania, it will only be the first step toward an effort to build Greater Albania in Europe.

[bkepley]

Compared to most Muslim areas this one is a model of peace and tolerance.

[Fintan]

I forgot to post this with my comment...

[eleni121]

This is sickening...a tragedy in the making...after so many in the region.

I do hope that our incompetent state dept is listening...I know that John Bolton spoke against our bombing the wrong side in the 90s and spoke out against our involvement on the wrong side. And of course the million dollar question is why...why did NATO and the traitor Clinton go ahead with bombing and involvement.

[Retired Chemist]

And the Democrats are still pandering.

[tgambill]

Exactly.......Now, it seems the Bush administration has worked something out with Russia and China. Both said that they would not stand in the way of the independence.

---

Russia and China pledge not to block new Kosovo

Russia and China have told the US that they will not block the independence of Kosovo, the breakaway Serbian province, according to western diplomats.

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, discussed the issue with Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, in Washington last week and was told Moscow would not stand in the way of independence, the officials said. Russia and China would probably abstain in a proposed UN resolution that would grant independence.

Kosovo, with its ethnic Albanian majority and Serb minority, has been a ward of the UN since Nato forces bombed Serbia to halt ethnic cleansing in 1999 and then took control of the province. But the debate has entered a new phase with the start of UN-brokered negotiations to decide Kosovo's final status."

The US and UK are pushing strongly for Serbia to accept that Kosovo will become independent, while Russia, which had previously worried that the province would set a precedent for its own republic of Chechnya, has scaled down its objections.

The officials, who asked not to be named, said the Bush administration had persuaded Moscow and Beijing that independence for the Serbian province was "unique" and would not set a precedent for Chechnya, or for the Chinese-claimed territories of Taiwan and Tibet.

However, analysts said some in Moscow wanted a better deal with Washington that might leave open the possibility of a Kosovo-type solution for other regions, including Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, which is backed by Russia.

Last week Jack Straw, UK foreign secretary, said Kosovo's independence was "almost inevitable". But Philippe Douste-Blazy, his French counterpart, stuck closer to the European Union's official line by saying that the "negotiations should not be prejudged".

[Mr. Mojo]

Quite a few Freepers understand that clinton fought that war on the wrong side. But I have yet to hear a single Republican politician .....say it.

That's because all but a few of them were solidly in Clinton's corner. They bought the propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

[tgambill]

"Compared to most Muslim areas this one is a model of peace and tolerance."

*****I assume that you are using /sarc. correct? As you probably know this is one of the worse examples in Kosovo. The Serbs have been cleansed since 1999 and it continues. The attacks against the Serbs has been going on since after the "retalitory murders" following the bombing. This also includes Albanian politicians that are not inline with the Greater Albania or the Mafia. Most Albanian targets have been members of the LDK party and FARK. Kosovo has been almost as bad as other Muslim areas but we have tolerated it, that is the difference.

[Decepticon]

You sir....are an FR legend. I always look for Fintan's smoking cigar....

[Cicero]

Very disheartening. I wonder what Bush promised Russia to get them to agree to betray their Little Brother Serbs.

[eleni121]

In addition to Bolton, who spoke out against Clinton and the bombing of Yugoslavia, - Senators who voted with Bob Smith against funding President Clinton's unconstitutional bombing of Yugoslavia were:

Allard (R-Col.), Bunning (R-Ky.), Burns (R-Mont.), Cleland (D-Ga.), Craig (R-Idaho), Crapo (R-Idaho), Enzi (R-Wyo.), Feingold (D-Wis.), Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), Gramm (R-Tex.), Grassley (R-Iowa), Gregg (R- N.H.), Helms (R-N.C.), Hutchinson (R-Ark.), Inhofe (R-Okl.), Nickles (R-Okla.), Santorum (R-Penn.), Sessions (R-Ala.), Thurmond (R-S.C.), and Voinovich (R-Ohio).

[t2buckeye]

I believe Clinton involved us and backed Kosovo thinking that he could appease the Islamic terrorists....it has of course done no such thing and has instead emboldened them. Another mess left over from the Clinton years.

[Cicero]

Thanks. Jesse Helms is much missed.