Punitive measures of German KFOR against Serbian monks

Tanjug ^ | February 3, 2004

[GeraldP]

Are you prepared to look to the future, and try to put the past behind?

Regardless of my view of history, ancient or modern, I realize that the opposing side is just as passionate about their wounds, as mine is about theirs. However, if that's all we are looking at, we might miss the semi-truck that's coming at us at 100mph.

[duckln]

I don't have enough interest in the subject

Are you interested in the 'biggest trial' of the century that's been ongoing now for two years? It's NATO versus Milosevic at the Hague and confirms every thing Joan is saying. That is , the Serbs were and are the victims here. Check it out, get some reality of what's been going on.

Hitlers' Germany slaughtered Serbs by the thousands and still now are hell bent to replace them in the Balkans. The monastaries have belonged to the Monks for centuries. Why do you support cleansing people from their land?

Isn't Blau, blue in German? Could you be leaning toward Germany? Maybe not, but you don't come off as being objective.

[duckln]

Whatever opinion you have of "us people", you cannot deny almost 2 million people the chance to have freedom

It's not freedom that the Islamist supported KLA are after. They will even kill even Albanians that want freedom. What 'they' want is someone elses land without them on it, and their own uncontested 'state' religion.

I'm of the impression that Albanians flocked to Serbia's Kosovo because of better living conditions. Am I right in that they also flocked to Serbia proper for the same reason? Will they want ' a chance to have freedom' in Belgrade in the future by killing off the local police, government workers, etc?

[getoffmylawn]

I'm going to reply to this one using your own words: "Screw biased information. I don't believe in the pathetic Serbian propoganda anymore than I do in the pathetic Croat, Bosnian Muslim, or Albanian propoganda."

Let me call Heaven and let the 18 members of my family and the scores of other Serbs that were killed in their village when the Serbian Orthodox Church they were locked in was burned to the ground with them locked in it - ALIVE - and let them know what pathetic pawns they are of Serbian propganda.

I'm not talking some stupid "interviews" with "KLA" families. I'm talking my own dead flesh and blood.

Next you're gonna tell me that the Jews had it coming or the Holocaust was exagerated too, right?

[getoffmylawn]

Yes, I am a Serbophobe, however it is a fear phobia not a hate phobia. I fear Serbs because I see one thing they have plenty of, grudges. They have a grudge against Albanians, a grudge against Croats, a grudge against Bosnians, a grudge against Slovenes, and Montenegrins, and Macedonians, and they have a grudge against the U.S. and the West. I fear that these grudges will not go away,

Don't mess with them, they won't mess with you. That's the history of the Serbs. If you were really Albanian Orthodox, you'd have nothing to fear because even the most sociopathic Serbs don't hold a grudge against Orthodox Albanians. My guess is that you're a Catholic Albanian poser.

The gripe against Serbs isn't their innate aggresiveness, it's their seemingly involuntary and far too passionate overraction to being what they consider to be "assaulted". Stomp on a Serb's foot and they'll beat you to death with a 2x4. That is their biggest fault.

While neither me nor my family has harmed any other ethnic group at the same time we've been slaughtered at the hands of them, I don't have any "phobia" of them and have been taught to respect all people. I'm not supposed to fear them even though I personally have been subjected to hate from other Balkan ethnicities that is parralled only by the Jews of Europe during Nazi occupation or African-Americans in the front yard of Klansmen.

It's time you took the high road and disgarded your racist and superficial "phobias" (unless that truly IS an Albanian trait and I'm giving you much too much credit).

[GeraldP]

>>> Next you're gonna tell me that the Jews had it coming or the Holocaust was exagerated too, right?

Anybody with any sense can see past your romanticizing of hatred, and see where this is going. I'm sorry if the story you mentioned is true, but you dismiss the suffering of others so easliy, it is hard for me to sympathize with you. Maybe you should learn from Kosova's president, Ibrahim Rugova. His family was also killed at the hand of Serbs, but instead of talking about revenge and hatred, he decided that the only thing that could stop the bloodshed was peace and nonviolence( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/kosovo/110821.stm ). I cannot say that put in his position I would have done the same, but his Ghandhian approach was what kept the Kosovars from revolting for the better part of a decade, and was what probably won the support of the international community.
Hopefully one of these days Serbs will wake up and realize how deeply they have been indoctrinated and brainwashed, but I am not going to be holding my breath, if the last decade didn't do it, I am afraid nothing will.

And quite frankly it shouldn't make any difference whether I am Catholic or Orthodox, the only people who are interested in such differences are Serbs, because guess what, they have a grudge against Catholics as well. But I am Orthodox Albanian (my father's side of the family is all Orthodox, my mother's is Catholic, and everybody is 100% Albanian) and I feel no loyalty to you for the sole fact that we worship at the same church. My faith is not some football team, it is my personal relationship with the Almighty.

>>>It's time you took the high road and disgarded your racist and superficial "phobias" (unless that truly IS an Albanian trait and I'm giving you much too much credit).

My phobia is not toward a race, it is toward a people I feel to be deeply indoctrinated with hate. My fear of Serbs is similar to my fear of Saudis. I fear them not because of who they are, but because of what they have been brought up to think and to believe.

[getoffmylawn]

Anybody with any sense can see past your romanticizing of hatred, and see where this is going.

Huh??? My entire post was about how I don't hate anybody, no matter what has been done to my family, yet I've experienced hatred directed at me just for being a Serb long before 1989.

My phobia is not toward a race, it is toward a people I feel to be deeply indoctrinated with hate.

Aw hell no. While there are plenty of Serbs from Kosovo that truly do hate Albanians and there are plenty of Serbs from Krajina that truly do hate Croats, this "indoctrination" stems from the fact that the Serbs in those areas have been at the receiving end of the violence and they've had enough. I'm not saying this hatred is right. I'm just telling you where it's coming from.

These past 15 years I've been in a position to meet people from all over the world and I've yet to meet one single person from any country that likes Albanians. Why is this? I'm not saying that universal dislike of Albanians is right, as a matter of fact I've already told you that I happen to truly admire the Albanians that I do know, so I'm actually at the top of my list of non-Albanians that likes Albanians. Whenever I ask these people of various ethnic groups why they don't like Albanians, I get a barrage of different answers. They must think that because I'm of Serbian ancestry they've found a sympathetic ear. I'm curious as to why you think there is this universal dislike of Albanians.

[GeraldP]

>>>I'm curious as to why you think there is this universal dislike of Albanians.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092895/posts

Basically this is as a results of the political, economic situation in Albania and Kosova. The instability (again both political and economic) has spawned organized crime, and being that Albanians are good at practically anything they try their hand at, the people who have tried their hand at crime have managed to take over practically all branches of organized crime in Europe, in the process managing to also give the rest of us a bad name. Once the situation back home calms down and the economies start improving, the Albanian "mafia" will fade away along with certain people's dislike of Albanians.

There's a book in Italian I read over the Christmas break, its' called "L'Orda: quando gli Albanesi eramo noi." translated "The Horde: when the Albanians were we". Basically it discusses how in the early 20th century something like 30million Italians emigrated all over the world, and all the stereotypes that are placed on Albanians sometimes today were at the time used toward Italians.

[GeraldP]

[getoffmylawn]

Thanks for the heads up and let's hope our people finally get a grip and end the stupid cycle of violence.

Any chance that book has been translated into English?

[getoffmylawn]

My fear of Serbs is similar to my fear of Saudis. I fear them not because of who they are, but because of what they have been brought up to think and to believe.

I would like to take this time to expound on this situation a bit. There's this stereotype of Serbs that they tend to "hate" or "fear" or "dislike" all other ethnic groups that live side by side with them in the Balkans. This is simply not true.

Ask a Serb from Kosovo what they think of Croats and they'll shrug their shoulders and say that they have no problem with them. Ask a Serb from Krajina what they think of Albanians and they'll be completely indifferent to your question. Ask a Serb from Belgrade what they think of ANYBODY and they'll give you some hippy-dippy answer similar to "WE LOVE EVERYBODY!!" (and they REALLY believe that!) How many Croats or Albanians bitch about how they're treated in Belgrade?

It's like asking a Mississipian why they hate people from Nova Scotia or why a person from Maine hates Cubans. They'll look at you at laugh. This hatred isn't as universal as most people think. It really is much more local.

Hey, I have Bosnian Serb blood flowing through my veins into the fingers that are now typing these words, but let's face facts. The true nutcases in the Balkans are the Bosnians of ALL the different ethnic groups. The huge piles of bodies on all sides is proof enough ;-|