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)
If two is company, does three make a mob?
By your logic, we should be at war with China dumbsh*t.
I agree with the “slipped the surly bonds” on this one.
Your post #762 - a fantastic post.
You can’t apply logic to the padded room crowd.
So if you go back to 1999, when the fighting started in Kosovo, you will find that almost 30% of Kosovo's population was Serbian.
If you take into account the number of Albanians who have snuck into Kosovo over the past decade, you will likely find that Kosovo was pretty close to being evenly split between Albanians and Serbs.
Good post, PM. Agreed. “We” are on the wrong side in a battle we should never have entered in the first place.
Yes, especially the last paragraph. LOL.
It’s a bunch of uninformed rubbish, I’m sorry to say.
You might want to look at the relations between Germany and Croatia.
Had the US not stepped up to the plate, NATO would have in essence died on the spot, and there were in fact some in Europe and especially in Russia who were hoping for just that. Within Europe some see NATO as an organization that is not European but controls their security. On the streets the average European sees NATO post Cold War as superfluous. There have been numerous attempts at building pan-European security organizations “outside” of NATO control. France especially within Europe sees their influence being based on security concerns and NATO stands in direct competition to this. There is a reason why when tension rose between the Germans and US in 2002/3, the French immediately suggested that they can place Europe under protection of the French nuclear umbrella, something they seem to float every time there is tension. Had we not acted, this would have precipitated a European response outside of NATO eventually, but before that would have happened, NATO would have died. It would have been a breech in confidence we can nearly expect from half of them on a continuous basis, but we can’t allow for our selves if we want to preserve an international security system like NATO. Yes, it would have ripped NATO to pieces.
They were cleansing Serbs out of Kosovo as far back as the 60's with regards to modern Kosovo history.
Well, I’m not saying you should find a new forum, but I agree with him on the rest.
Any time we support the side of Muslims, we are on the wrong side. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
Don’t think so. The Europeans don’t have the balls, and, Kosovo is not *THAT* important to them. I think what we have here is the EU and the US misjudging how important this is to the Russians and the Chinese. That’s what crisis are made of. However, if the Russians press the EU where they’re weak (Russians are masters of linkage), I betcha they fold.
Furthermore, US has the world’s only real expeditionary capacity, and that’s mostly tied up in ME. If NATO was going to get to Kosovo by ground, they’d have to do an amphibious landing in Montenegro (no ports of sufficient size are really available in Albania). It’d be a logistics nightmare. And with resources already thin with the ME engagement, it’d be just an opportunity the Jihadists and Iran would want/need to destabilize Iraq and possibly other countries.
Yea it’s a mess but the scary thing is if Serbia rolls tanks with Russian support there’s not that much that anyone could realistically do. An airborne division of Russian troops would make life seriously nasty down there. Tho, questions remain regarding the levels of Serbian combat readiness - it’s questionable whether they’d even be capable of mustering much to roll with.
True conservatives would never have bombed civilians WWI and II allies in a phony war.
They would have made things right after the Clinton fiasco...Bush did not.
I guess we are not in Kansas any more...
The ghost of Milosovic is restless...
Very accurate/informed statement. There’s a lot of tension within NATO itself, as France and Germany struggle to be the leaders of the EU continent. A number of smaller members realize, howerver, that only the US is the ultimate guarantor of their security.
The problem is where extended in ME, and if the Russians push back this time things could really get interesting.
It’s not that simple. I am learning from Red6’s posts.
Now, do either you or I know the State Dept. rationale for recognizing Kosovo sovereignty or nationhood? I honestly don’t, unless I look it up. Maybe everyone just got tired of it being a U.N. territory.
Red6b has a point, NATO had to reinvent itself or die, but stupidly it has enabled terrorists.
This is only a small part of a big chess board. In their own best interests, everyone -— particularly Kosovo and Serbia — needs to make nice now and let the excitement die down.
Asking if I know their rationale is like asking for strategery.
And yes, it is that simple.
No, just information.
And yes, it is that simple.
Kosovo is a declared ally of al Qaeda?
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