THE BALKANS: Gangsters and Albanian Nationalism

August 17, 2003: It appears the new spate of violence in Kosovo that began in late June has yet to taper off. The Albanian National Army (ANA) is now back to shooting at Kosovar police. This incident took place inside Serbia, across the Kosovo border. The ANA fired on a Serb police post. No one was killed. The attack on the police post follows two other attacks across the Serb-Kosovo border where the ANA claimed to have fired mortars at a Serb military compound and fired at a police patrol. Also on August 17, in the Kosovo village of Gorazdevak, two Serb children were shot at by a sniper. The children--fortunately-- were not hit. However, since June several similar attacks have occurred, with fatalities. Call it what it is --- a continued low-level civil war with "ethnic cleansing." This time the Serbs are the victims. UNMIK is trying to stop it. What keeps the ANA in business? Crime --mostly smuggling and corruption.

August 18, 2003: Someone, probably Albanians, opened fire on a group of Serbian children in Kosovo. No one was hurt. Many Albanians expect Kosovo to become an independent state, or merge with Albania, and are armed and willing to fight for this. But they will have to fight Kosovo Serbs and NATO peacekeepers to make this happen.

August 17, 2003: The Albanian National Army (ANA) has taken credit for a recent attack on Serbian police (which hurt no one).

August 14, 2003: UNMIK reported two Kosovo Serb teenagers were shot to death in the village of Zahac. Five people were wounded, including a Kosovar Albanian woman. Witnesses reported attackers opened fired with machine guns on the teenagers as they were swimming in the Bistrica River. It was feared that this incident would trigger another round of fighting between armed Serbs and Albanians.

Good post as usual, Wraith. You've distilled your experience and observations down to its/their basic meaning and made the significance comprehensible to even the most hard-headed among us.

And speaking of the "Red Room" I wonder if our friend Fusion is familiar with a certain bar in Phnom Penh known as "Heart of Darkness"? If so, he can tell us about the ashtrays there. (Actually, the bathroom is even more interesting, but I digress.) Or Mr. D should certainly be able to. Heck, Fusion should be able to guess the answer without even having to consult Mr. D., don't you think?

To the rest of you: Hey it is old home week! Good to "see" you all here!

Ronly Bonly, The Balkans are no bowl of cherries. The Serbs,(especially) the Croats, and the Montenegrins are certainly no angels. However, I believe the Albanians, particularly in their Muslim form are the devils, at this time, in this witch's brew. For us to take their side as allies in this internecine struggle was ludicrous. What about Jihad and Albanians are you missing?

Racially, Albanians are no different than any other European. The only way one might tell them apart from anyone else, is if they are taking your car on a stormy night in Dusseldorf, or Oslo, or any other European city.

Surely, even a non-bigot such as yourself finds it at least a bit odd that an entire nation's largest (and by a huge percentage) foreign currency earner is stolen cars, parts, and heroin. Even Colombia exports oil and coffee to balance out the cocaine trade. No such luck from Albania. Why their energy is directed outwards, and not toward developing Albania, which has vast economic potential, is just a cosmic mystery. I believe in international understanding. But with the Albanians, someone is going to have to first get their attention, with the international equivalent of a very hard slap up the side of the head. That is going to happen. It's not going to be pretty, and it may involve the US, NATO, and Russia getting into a very bad mess. But nonetheless, it will happen.

Speaking of racism, you ought to read up on Albanian treatment of the Gypsies (excuse me, The ROM people). You are of course, entitled to join in the Albanian megalomaniacal jihad for the "Greater Albania." Their leaders realize that if this strange and feral people were to be restricted to their true homeland, they would only continue to kill each other in the senseless round of blood feuds, the dismal record of which is their tragic history.

Well said Mr. Kenny Bunk. You hit it right on the head with the heroin connection. Kosovo, the white line of the Balkan Road. A sensitive area on relations with the KLA terrorists and one particular NATO partner, I suspect...... What the bone man should acknowledge are the Albanians that have been outright executed by the KLA as suspected traitors(which is why Latif Gashi was arrested by NATO) which still goes. Yes not only do they kill Serbian kids swimming in rivers they also kill their own and with little evidence, but then again things are a lot more cut and dry in the Balkans. The poor KLA are in fact masters at manipulation and perception. Seen it at Recak. Their own people, imagine that.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.