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)
I can’t answer your question, but that is exactly the precedent this piece of diplomatic ignorance has set.
agree
Clinton should have been done as wesley clark should have been done for war crimes
we have helped to kill the native people of a country, we have helped to ethnically cleanse a country all for muslim appeasment
Bush is on the wrong side of this and we should not be doing anything except helping the serbs against muslim albanian fanatics who are spreading across Europe though immigration and terrorism
Kristol makes me sick with his smug nonsense. What an idiot.
Bite me monty
Read my post at #285 and pick on someone else who cares...
Do you doubt the proven ties of the KLA and Al Qaeda? I am dismayed that our embassy was attacked by an unruly mob but I can not abide in a blind eye to islamic terrorists in inconvenient places.
Not all.
It’s better that the sh*t hits the fan today before the t*rds get bigger tomorrow.
I agree.
Are you talking to me? LOL! Back at you bubba
Not saying that Tito was particularly good... He certainly made the pot boil, but the lid didn’t fly off at least. There can be no doubt that Titos regime was the most stable period of the Balkan’s history.
I said this before & I’ll say it again.
So which of these is more offensive to you?
1. Muslim destruction of 150 ancient Christian churches on OUR watch, with US help. Video of Albanian Muslims tearing down the cross & burning a church: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFPSMK6ftWs
And then th US gives the Muslims Albanians a piece of Serbia for “their efforts” to destroy all traces of ancient Christianity in Kosovo!
2. Or some young pissed off Serbs set fire to a US embassy with no one in it and get stopped by Serbian police? Video of the embassy attack http://video.news.sky.com/skynews/video/?&videoSourceID=1305768&flashURL=/feeds/skynews/latest/flash/belgrade_1800_170208.flv
I’ll defend the Cross before I defend the policies of corrupt politicians anytime, anywhere! We are so on the wrong side of this, and you don’t have to be “Serbia’s best friend” to see that!
2000 dead in four years. Not much of a genocide that, more like a comparatively gentle New Orleans. And - stretching the analogy - instead of blaming the gangsters for the New Orleans deaths, we're all busy blaming FEMA.
Cool picture btw.
I guess that’s what happens when you bomb people into submission and then allow for the giveaway of their heartland to Muslims. The fact that we recognized this should make us all angry at the Bush Administration.
Exactly. People are talking about Mexico and the Southwest but “Palestine” is where this is leading.
And again you ignore what I said. I DO NOT CARE FOR ANY ETHNIC GROUP in former Yugoslavia. They are all bad. You cannot deny it. I think you are either a Serbian or a sympathizer and are trying to reinvent history....
Both Carter’s and Clinton’s policies which they set in motion regarding Iran and the Balkans have created extremist, Islamic theocratic states. That’s the bottom line.
I’ve just seen that too
We should not be helping albanian muslims to ethnically cleanse serbs fromtheir own country.
I cannot even fathom out how Bush thought of doing this and also where is the left on this, or this alright because clinton started it.
Evevn the media are clueless and saying how about those bad serbs how dare they yet forgetting how we are ethnically cleansing serbs from their own country.
Truely sickening and the media too
The serbs have every right to go in to Kosovo and stop this as it is there country not Britains, France or America’s.
We dont like being told, imagine a part of America being taken away because china says so
“Is there another group of Islamic Extremists that need a new country?”
The Palestinians?
“Palestinians ‘may declare state’:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/7254434.stm
“Palestinian aide suggests Kosovo a model”:
“I personally think recognizing Kosovo’s claim of independence is going to come back to haunt us for decades to come.”
Nay friend. Much, much sooner. Days or a few weeks at best. Beware Serbs when they are threatened and oppressed.
The US has done both in recent years.
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