Posted on 02/21/2008 11:04:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.
Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.
Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.
The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.
Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
Why don’t you mention that fact Bosnian Muslims and Croatian nationalists were a part of the Black Hand as well?
Huh? If I remember correctly, the Serbs massed in Kosova and were just about to do the same thing they did in Bosnia. We had to bomb them out of Kosovo. Are you nit picking here because genocide isn't a laughing matter..?
Especially when Blue helmets try to enforce this secession. Of course by that time the media will regale us with tales of “American Rape rooms” and “USA Genocide against poor Aztlan communities”. I think some people would actually believe it too.
“Let azltan(spel?) slice off a piece of the US and see how Americans would react over that. Maybe they would have a little empathy on how the Serbs feel.”
You’d think, huh?
The only one I know is a goon and cheat-shot artist. Is that on the right track?
What if the San Gabriel Valley declared it's independence from the United States and Mexico recognized the new country?
How many Mexican Embassies in the United States would suddenly find themselves in flames?
Don’t beat yourselves up too much, self-described Amerikkans :0)
The betrayal of Serbia by Clinton/the West was terrible, but it was just the one incident. 99% of the time America and NATO have been a hugely positive force for good.
I say this as a non-American. We British (and the French) did something very similar, and equally bone-headed/shameful - take your pick - over the Sudetenland in the run up to WWII. At the time it seemed the best thing to do, but of course it wasn’t.
With stupid posts like yours, Wahhabists could use people like you...
You have no idea what you’re talking about, you sound like NYT flunky, a little short on facts.
Check that. There is credible evidence that things did not happen in the way they were represented. The UN went in to get evidence for war crimes, torture, genocide by Serbia and I don’t believe they found any.
I have not seen so much as one article from the MSM in this regard. I do know some who made claims of rape, torture and genocide have been arrested and will be tried. This keeps coming up and I can never find this information, although I have seen it, it keeps disappearing. There was proof of what these Muslims we are protecting now did to the Serbs in WW2. In fact, they were so good at what they did Hitler envied them.
If nothing else, this was poor diplomacy on our part. This will set a really bad precedent. So look out Israel, Indonesia and any number of other spots on the globe.
In fact, so was Bill bombing Belgrade itself when Serbia had never done one thing to America.
Well actually I believe we are being stupid. I think we’re misjudging the importance of this issue to the Russians. We brushed them aside in ‘99, and intervened in Kosovo over their objections. The result was fall of Yeltsin and Putin’s rise. Yeltsin looked weak as he was casually brushed aside by the west.
The same is happening this time, except, Putin cannot afford to look weak. Furthermore, WHAT possible geopolitical benefit is there to us creating another Palestine equivalent in the hart of southern Europe, legitimizing what already serves as the primary narcotics transshipment route into western Europe ? I mean, seriously. There’s nothing there. No resources. No oil. Just millions of uneducated, unemployed, Muslim welfare cases that we and Europe now must feed. And for all that we’re willing to piss off the two powers on the Asian continent that directly compete with us (Russia & China). While being overextended in the Middle East.
Holy crap is that overconfidence in Russian’s ability to swallow another slap in the face without reprecussions.
Again you side with the Muslim murderers. The only big massacre in Bosnia was the Bosnian Muslims murdering Serbs and Croats.
Cool. Let’s pull out of there and end all aid to them. Non-interventionism is looking better and better by the day, and it’s oh so much cheaper for the taxpayer.
“Huh? If I remember correctly, the Serbs massed in Kosova”
You remember what the media convinced you of. How did the Serbs “mass in Kosovo? It was THEIR country invaded by illegal alien Muslim Albanians. The US needed to mind their own business.
If you are gonna call me a liar... show me the links that back up whatever agenda you have because I sure don’t see any...
Serbs have a right to be angry. I do understand why. Bill Clinton had a war started to help us to get our minds off of Monica Lewinsky.
Don’t worry, Obama can negotiate with them, I’m sure if we just sit down and talk we see how this was all just a misunderstanding that could have been avoided with dialogue.
If Putin had any kind of balls his tanks would already be there, perhaps Bush did look into his soul and he knows better.
The truth is that stuff like this starts world wars.
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