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“I do not lack knowledge of the Balkans or its history.”

Sure you do...

Skenderbeg was of serbian origin.

“Skenderbeg, the 15th century Serb Prince of Albania:
Genealogy compiled by his descendant
Loris Castriota-Scanderbegh
and 12 W. European genealogists

This genealogy shows that Skenderbeg was descended from Branilo Castriota, his great grandfather and a Serb nobleman who was duke of Janina and Kastoria in the late 14th century. He was assassinated by a Turkish sympathizer, his lands were taken by the Ottomans and his sons, Paul & John fled to Albania & organized an anti-Ottoman resistance which Skenderbeg continued. Skenderbeg’s brother was named Stanisa (a pagan Serb name). Stanisa’s son was named Branilo a pagan Serb name. Skenderbeg’s sisters Jela, Valica and Marica also have pagan Serb names. . “

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7681/perpjekja_2.html

“This is the most complete genealogy of the Kastriota’s that has ever been put together. According to this genealogy:

a) Skenderbeg is the great grandson of Branilo, the Serb duke of Kastoria.

b) Skenderbeg’s brother was named Stanisa, a contemporary Serbian name.

c) Stanisa’s son (Skenderbeg’s nephew) was also named Branilo.

d) Skenderbeg’s mother was Vojislava daughter of the Serb ruler of Polog

e) Skenderbeg’s sisters Valica and Jela mean ‘little wave’ and ‘dear’ in Serbian. Branilo and Stanisa are both Serbian names meaning ‘defender’ and ‘the one who stands,’ respectively. Note that neither Branilo, Stanisa, Valica nor Jela exist as Bulgarian names. “

Skenderbeg & the Kastrioti clan: Slavic noblemen

http://www.geocities.com/aia_skenderbeg/skenderbeg.html

“ALBANIAN HISTORIANS: SKENDERBEG WAS A SLAVIC PRINCE:
QUOTE #4:

Not long ago, for example, I wrote of myths and mentioned Skenderbeg and the Battle of Kosovo. I told of how the Albanians have forgotten that Skenderbeg was a Slav. I was attacked by Ismail Kadare, incensed at how I could possibly say that Skenderbeg was a Slav and that the history and culture of Albanians is on the level of Serbs.

That’s the way it is with our culture, which is mythomaniac, national-communist, romantic, self-glorifying. You can’t say anything objective without people getting angry. The Albanians are a people who still dream. That is what they are like in their conversations, their literature...In light of Hoxha and ‘pyramid schemes, Albanians are a people who still dream. That’s just the way they are...

Fatos Lubonja
famous Albanian dissident”

http://www.geocities.com/aia_skenderbeg/albanian_sources.html

Very interesting material re Skanderbeg, but it is very much beside the point.

Your argument is similar to denying that Richard Lionheart was King of England by (truthfully) claiming his ancestry and culture were predominantly French.

But he was in fact King of England, and led the English kingdom and its armies.

And Skanderbeg was an Albanian chieftain (or a chief of Albanians, as you like) and led Albanian tribes in resisting the Turks and Moslems. The point here is that Albanians also resisted the Turks, and they were, like the Serbs, also defeated. There is no reasonable argument that can be made about the uniqueness of Serbian resistance, or the purity of the issues because even the Serbs submitted, in craven terms on occasion, as in when they assisted their enemies in defeating an army of Christian liberation. Complex situation and motivations ? Definitely.

This is also an illustration of the misuse of history, which is commonplace on the left, not the right, and that is because they have no respect for it. The proper appreciation of history does not lie in pushing isolated facts, but in developing perspective. Please do not fall into this trap.

The usual leftist perversion of history works like this, by analogy - Say a naturalist undertakes to write a book describing a certain forest, which book is to serve as a general guide. Now, this particular naturalist is obsessed with bear droppings, and considers them the most important - no - the only relevant facts, even independent of the bears themselves. So, using all his skill and great effort, he writes a book recording in detail all the bear droppings he can find in the forest, and calls his book “A Description of the Forest”.

If you want an example of this, I recommend the despicable Howard Zinn’s atrocious “A Peoples History of the United States”. Do not be like Howard Zinn.