Posted on 06/27/2007 8:47:29 AM PDT by Bokababe
belgrade, 27 June (AKI) – Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic on Wednesday asked NATO to protect minority Serbs in breakaway Kosovo province as tensions grew over the status of the province with majority ethnic Albanians, which has been under United Nations control since 1999. Jeremic was quoted by Serbian media as telling NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Schefer in Brussels that the situation in Kosovo was complex and asked the western military alliance, which has a contingent of 17,000 soldiers (Kfor) stationed in Kosovo, “to do everything to protect peace and security of Serbs in Kosovo”.
“Regardless of political and diplomatic developments, maintaining peace and stability in Kosovo and the region must be absolute priority,” Jeremic said. His warning came as thousands of Serbs were planning to commemorate 617th anniversary of the historic battle of Kosovo in which Serbian army was defeated by Ottoman invaders, opening doors to six centuries of Turkish occupation of the Balkans.
Western powers are pushing for Kosovo independence to sooth majority ethnic Albanians, but Belgrade and Russia oppose the move. Moscow has threatened to use a veto in the UN Security Council and demanded fresh negotiations which might lead to a negotiated settlement.
Ethnic Albanians, who outnumber the remaining Serbs in the province by 17 to one, have grown restless over independence project being stalled in the Security Council and have hinted they might resort to violence.
“Schefer has completely agreed that the situation was complex, but he underlined that Kfor would do everything in its power to completely protect peace and stability in Kosovo,” Jeremic was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, a group of Serbian youths calling themselves “The Guard of emperor Lazar”, who embarked on a two-week march from Belgrade to Kosovo on June 14, reached Kosovo on Tuesday and was ready to take part in the commemoration at Gazimestan, near Kosovo capital of Pristina.
Emperor Lazar led Serbian forces at the historic 1389 battle, and the Guard rallies Serbian youths irritated over prospective loss of Kosovo. On the other hand, veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which started a rebellion against Serbian rule in 1998, have threatened to settle accounts “with the Guard of criminals” and warned Kfor not to try to protect them.
“Hands away from Kosovo and the provocations which might lead to new wars in the region,” KLA veterans said in a statement.
(Vpr/Aki)
” NO BLOOD FOR.....” What do they have again?
Clinton Lied and People Died!
Were we ever on the Serbian side? The Serbs are becoming more sophisticated. Rather than intervening themselves, they are learning the value of playing the victim.
That won’t work unless they film some “atrocity” real or simulated. Our government since Clinton has portrayed Serbs as little more than beasts, with the eager aid of the TV media.
I find tnhisd hard to say, but I agree with Russia. The Serbs got screwed in Kosovo. I wonder if the same thing will happen when the Mexicans try to claim Texas? I know one thing, we Americans would fight like hell too.
Yup....thanks to Clinton. He never could finish a job and his wife won’t either.
Not Muslim side, terrrorist side. By supporting Islamofascist terrorists in Kosovo, United States sends a strong message to Islamofascist terrorists elsewhere - WOT is joke.
Gaza already got the message.
Serbians should be protected from any harm. If the US or NATO can’t protect the Serb minority, then expect that Russia will.
The history of hatred and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans goes back many centuries.
President Bush has put us in the wrong position of favoring the Albanian terrorists who want to cleanse ethnic Serbs from Kosovo.
Another failure of failing to know and understand history.
And it all gets worse, because Chair of Our Foreign Relations Committee, Tom Lantos has said that if Kosovo doesn’t pass in the UN Security Council, the US will unilaterally recognize it: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857117/posts
If Kosovo independence happens, it sets the precedent for the forcible recognition of a Palestinian State and even an Aztlan. Every “independence group” in the world will take it as encouragement and respect for national sovereignty will be a thing of the past. This is the first domino in a chain and it must be stopped!
The last time they intervened and were turning back the Jihadists, NATO bombed them.
If they’ve learned a lesson, perhaps you should blame the teachers?
Unless you count that whole think with the sink, that is.
Meh - the Serbs are both white and Christian. They are the “majority”. Who cares if they die?
(/sarcasm)
This will be the start of another war. Bush needs attention on something else other than Iraq.
Serbs can protect themselves, let Serbian troops back into Kosovo, we’ll take care of business.
>>> I wonder if the same thing will happen when the Mexicans try to claim Texas? I know one thing, we Americans would fight like hell too.<<<
And then the wimps in Washington would sell out and try to make us feel as if we were barbaric, unsophisticated hicks.
Excuse me while I vent my pessimism.
You are exactly right.
To most of us, Kosovo is purely a pragmatic political issue, but to the Serbs, it is something different.
Here is a fragment of the poem, “The Battle of Kosovo” that every Serb is raised on. (”The Turks” were the advancing Moslem Ottoman Turk army, the first Moslems in the Balkans):
The Battle of Kosovo
Translated by John Matthias and Vladeta Vuckovic
Fragment
Yes, and from Jerusalem, O from that holy place,
A great gray bird, a taloned falcon flew!
And in his beak he held a gentle swallow.
But wait! it’s not a falcon, this gray bird,
It is a saint, Holy Saint Eliyah:
And he bears with him no gentle swallow
But a letter from the Blessed Mother.
He brings it to the Tsar at Kosovo
And places it upon his trembling knees.
And thus the letter itself speaks to the Tsar:
‘Lazar! Lazar! Tsar of noble family,
Which kingdom is it that you long for most?
Will you choose a heavenly crown today?
Or will you choose an earthly crown?
If you choose the earth then saddle horses,
Tighten girths- have your knights put on
Their swords and make a dawn attack against
The Turks: your enemy will be destroyed.
But if you choose the skies then build a church-
O, not of stone but out of silk and velvet-
Gather up your forces take the bread and wine,
For all shall perish, perish utterly,
And you, O Tsar, shall perish with them.”
And when the Tsar has heard those holy words
He meditates, thinks every kind of thought:
“O, Dearest God, what shall I do, and how?
Shall I choose the earth? Shall I choose
The skies? And if I choose the kingdom,
If I choose an earthly kingdom now,
Earthly kingdoms are such passing things-
A heavenly kingdom, raging in the dark, endures eternally.”
And Lazarus chose heaven, not the earth,
And tailored there a church at Kosovo-
O not of stone but out of silk and velvet-
And he summoned there the Patriarch of Serbia,
Summoned there the lordly twelve high bishops:
And he gathered up his forces, had them
Take with him the saving bread and wine.
As soon as Lazarus has given out
His orders, then across the level plain
Of Kosovo pour all the Turks.
The whole translated Ballad is here: http://www.rastko.org.yu/knjizevnost/usmena/battle_of_kosovo.html#songs
Beautiful!
A heroic saga for the ages. Reminds me of The Iliad.
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