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 should they make nice? The Albanians wanted to pick a fight and they got one but the brave terrorists hid behind the NATO banner.
What a naive and simplistic thing to say. So youre willing to sacrifice the world (the US especially) in a nuclear armageddon for some piddly piece of crap po dunk chunk of Muslim land ? Do as we say or screw you ? Wouldn’t that be something the Islamists would cheer as a gift from allah (provided some the cockroaches survived) ?
That’s *NOT* what America I believe in stands for. I believe in the America that is the beacon of freedom and justice that acts rigteously like it did in the last century freeing millions from opression. Not rewarding an insurgent minority with the worst precedent that returns us 100 years back when wars were fought every few years moving the borders.
The sheer arrogance on display here by you is mind boggling.
Please be aware that a lot of what you read and what you saw was pure propaganda. It is very reasonable that you, or anyone else, whose sole source of information about the conflict was what they saw reported in the media, might believe that Serbia is in the "wrong". Unfortunately, the vast majority of that information was deliberate distortions.
You mention that you're not an expert in Yugoslavian history. That too is one of the reasons that distortions about the current situation have been able to propagate so easily. Without the context of history, this conflict would seem like a civil war (which it is not).
The truth is pretty simple. Kosovo is part of Serbia, but over centuries has been "ethnically cleansed" of Serbs and repopulated (in several waves by the Ottoman Turks, the Nazis, and the Communists) by muslims. Now, after the latest conflict (started by a group of terrorists with DIRECT ties to Osama bin Laden; their #2 is the brother of his #2) the Serbian population in Kosovo is less than 10%. Since they are now the overwhelming majority, they believe they have a right to claim it as their own. Unfortunately for the Serbs, our state department agrees with them.
And, honestly, you can’t ‘look that up’. That’s a classified report, with decisions made in a classified meeting at the highest levels. We’ll find out 50 years from now when all of them are dead. Maybe even not that soon.
Its the only state that I know of with a known war criminal also wanted by INTORPOL as a PM. Since when is the US in the business of sanctioning a criminal state?
It won’t come to that. I doubt this’ll end in shooting war. But Russians will push a lever somewhere else. EU, and, probably US as well, will be embarrassed/its life made hell somewhere else other than Kosovo. Russians are masters of linkage. They’ll cause trouble somewhere where we’re weak.
You are conferring with a jihadi apologist, dhimmis aren’t well versed in logical thinking.
Nice summation.
Yea right. Hard to do that once you’ve been pissed on. The loser in the deal has absolutely no incentive do so, especially knowing that the players on the other side don’t have much stomach for taking the game to the next level.
That’s like sucker punching someone, and then saying, “Calm down, let’s make nice let excitement die down”. Slightly unrealistic, don’t you think ?
Tho it is a large chessboard being played, and, consider this : Kosovo is a first grade issue for the Russians and Serbs. It’s big pain in the ass to the EU and especially the US, who have far bigger fish to fry.
So - why put the Russians in a spot where their FUNDAMENTAL interests are threatened ? Why ? Unless, the US and EU don’t believe that this is a fundamental issue for the Russians. Crises are borne of such misjudgements.
The Serb people and other Balkan Christians like the Greeks have been on the FRONT LINES defending against Muslim jihad for over 1000 years...do you even know that?
Get a clue partner...
I don't think the Russians will be able to push any levers unless the world knows that they are willing to start shooting. This is a pivotal turning point for both Putin and Russia. If Russia is going to be considered a world power, they are going to have to flex their muscle here.
The World is a very dangerous place. The Bush Administration just made it a little more dangerous.
So, would Serbia be better incorporating Kosovo?
Given that Kosovo now has the Albanian muslim majority and alleged alQaeda connection, with the potential to be a terrorist state, what is the best move for Serbia?
Isn’t rioting and burning the U.S. embassy like shooting yourself in the foot when you should be making smart moves against your real enemy, the Albanian terrorists? Shouldn’t Serbia be trying harder to win the support of the U.S. and other free world allies? Allegedly, they have instead tied themselves to Russia. How wise is this?
You seem to have a good sense of the situation. I would add that Milosovic stood up to ‘muslim terrorists’ grabbing land and he got sent to the Hague to die for it. The propaganda machine surrounding that whole affair was quite effective no doubt.
grabbing land = & murdering innocent civilians
I think the world is changing beyond the reach of any of the world powers, and we now look for convenient ways to place blame. President Bush has done more to hold off Jihad than any of the Democrat presidential candidates would have.
I agree 100%, but they can push big, big levers without shooting. For example, they supply 25% of EU’s natural gas. Or, they have large minorities of Russians in neighboring states they can ‘encourage’ in various ways.
People (especially leftists) are often surprised when State/National interests supercede economic interests. And yes that’s exactly the point - if a resurgent Russia is to secure itself in its own sphere of influence it must act here. Yeltsin fell because he got slapped by the west as irrelevant. Putin came to power so. You think he might remember how that played out. I think he’s a bit smarter and/or stronger than Yeltsin was. This *will* get interesting.
Hey, that was a great post!!
I think that is the biggest non-sequitur I have ever read on this forum.
Since when were the Russians unfriendly to islamists? Hah.
Everywhere you look these days, the choice is to appease islamists in some form or other. Who can explain the growth of this cancer? But the U.S. is the last to blame, imho.
Good assessment, thanks.
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