Stratfor: Balkan Training Camps Pose a New Attack Threat

Yes they do have long memories, however, the Serbs should reevaluate their situation and decide whether or not it would be worth the effort to retain the entire region.

The Serbs should diligently seek to retain that land which currently contains all the historical, religious and cultural sites, and possibly defer the rest to the Albanians, not Kosovars. I refuse to introduce fictional ethnicities or nationalities into this discussion, Tito tried that with Bosnia and we already know the type of mess that little exercise in historical revisionism made.

But as NATO changes, so must U.S. forces, he said. American troop strength in Europe will drop from its current 112,000 to around 50,000, said European Command officials. American forces will go from two full divisions in Germany and a brigade combat team in Italy to a brigade combat team in Germany, another in Italy and up to one more rotating among forward-operating sites.

American forces in Europe will be in three types of bases, Jones said. The first are main operating bases, installations like Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and U.S. Naval Station Rota, Spain. These bases will remain hubs and have American forces assigned to them.

The second are called forward-operating sites. Jones calls these bases “light-switch operations” -- meaning all troops arriving have to do is turn the lights on and operations can proceed. Examples of these bases are Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, Camp Eagle in Bosnia, and Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. source

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ITT Federal Services International Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo., was awarded on March 30, 2005, a $9,402,295 increment as part of a $68,966,313 firm-fixed-price contract for management supplies and services for armed guard services. Work will be performed at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 28 bids solicited on Dec. 23, 2002, and six bids were received. The U.S. Army Contracting Agency, Wiesbaden, Germany, is the contracting activity (DABN01-03-C-0010).source

While I'm unaware of our actual troop rotation schedule for Kosovo, it looks like you and your "Kosovo back to Serbia" friends are going to have to set your watches back another 3 years.

At least.

LOL.

I'm not saying all of Kosovo back to Serbia. I view it realistically that it be split much alike Ireland/N.Ireland. That will be the only solution as the Serbs will accept that partition. What the US needs to do is placate the Albanians in Kosovo to do the same, hence all the arrests of all the past wars Albanian-war heroes.

US KFOR is leaving there within 12 months, if not less then 6-9 mo's.

All talk about partition of Kosovo becomes an agenda for those who may be eager to reignite the divisions and the flames of the past. Partition would betray European values of integration and coexistence. Partition would also sacrifice the 60 percent of Kosovo Serbs who do not live in the north.
SRSG Petersen, 2/24/05

A return to the pre-1999 status quo is no longer a realistic option. Kosovo must remain multiethnic. Partitioning Kosovo, annexing or unifying it with any country in the region will be a source of dangerous instability. There must be a clear European perspective, providing a powerful incentive for carrying out Western and European principles and values.
Greek FM Molyviatis, 3/25/05

So much for partition.

Next?

Partition would also sacrifice the 60 percent of Kosovo Serbs who do not live in the north.

There are hardly any Serbs left south of Mitrovitsa -- with the exception of a couple of ghettoes in/around Prishtina and Gnyilane. Contrary to your claim, as much as 80%-85% of the remaining Serbs live in the North.

Before any splitting, a denationalization process must take place; meaning the SOC should be given its land (Metohia) back. Metohia is a private property.

Hmmm...

JESSEN-PETERSEN: Those Kosovo Serbs who are in Kosovo do seem to remain but we should -- and I didn't mention that in my opening remarks -- we should be very careful. On one hand, we should work on promoting the return of the displaced, the structures and the conditions that would allow them to make a choice.

But our efforts should equally be focused on consolidating the presence of those who didn't leave, make sure that they feel safe, that they feel they have a future in Kosovo.

And I will just mention here, two-thirds of all Kosovo Serbs live rather scattered in small villages in the southern part of Kosovo and not up in the north near Mitrovica where we seem to have most of our attention.

Seems easy enough to clear up, Banat - what's the source for your claim?

At the same hearing which Jessen-Petersen was speaking at above: (CSCE "THE FUTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN KOSOVO", Transcript available online) the issue of Serbian Orthodox Churches is also discussed, albeit without providing a solution to the issue, which is to be left to Belgrade and Prishtina to negotiate.

Banat is correct in very few Serbs, less then 100 live in South Mitrovica. They live in a virtual ghetto protected by KFOR and that proforce is nominal at best. Making the Serb decision to leave that much easier for them to make.

Leaving the protection of Serb tenenaments in a weak state hastens the partitioning of Kosovo into two pieces.

This area will become the Ireland region of the Balkans, the Northern Iere and Republic of Ireland.

The war is done and over with. Get over it, accept it, move on.

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