Sums it up. Best post on this thread. Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians, Croats... I don't give a rip (politically) who is right or wrong. Their entire history is a bloody muddle of treason, murder, expulsion and hate. We have NO business on the Balkans. And I say that as a convinced interventionist. Our business is Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan and soon Iran/Syria/Hezbullah/Hamas. We have no cock in the fight for the muddy Euro-backwater.
Bingo. I never could understand why the US and Europe got involved. Some were concerned that it would spill over into the rest of Europe. Not likely, because the folks in the Balkans were far too busy finding new and inventive ways to slaughter one another.
Dude! Thank you! You would BELIEVE the insults and demagoguery that I have gotten for stating this position! My position was all groups hate each other and NONE of them are right when it comes to genocide and rapes. And I still haven't gotten an answer WHY we have to step in and stop the fighting. It is in the Europeans' backyard. Can't they take care of their messes?
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.
Their history is loaded with hate. And their representatives in this thread are acting childishly, calling freepers morons and idiots, etc.
And wideawake, kudos on putting up with all the badgering/flak you're getting for a very poignant point: whether or not supporting Kosovo's independence was bad or good, supporting an attack on the American embassy--American soil--is siding with Serbia over the United States. An American generally shouldn't side with a foreign state over their own... unless somehow the United States becomes extremely oppressive, or something similar--an improbability and not applicable in this case.
And enough with the 'Christian' Serbs against the 'Muslim' Albanians. It's embarrassing how many freepers have fallen for that, too. They're acting the same way the Muslims that they criticize do. Some Danish cartoonist makes a cartoon insulting Mohammed, and so Christians in Turkey and Nigeria are murdered and American flags burned. Some Saudi, southwestern Asian, and southeast Asian Muslims murder people, and so these freepers act as if Kosovars will automatically act as these 'paragons' of Islam.
For much of the latter part of last century, Yugoslavia was ATHEIST. The Yugoslavs had a Communist government. That history, along with the region's looking toward the EU, the United States and the West, makes them quite Atheistic 'Muslims.' To the Serb freepers (whether they are legally Serbian, American, or both): STOP PLAYING THE RELIGION CARD. An actual Christian would approve of Christians who did bad things against a non-Christian (such as a Muslim) being punished. And actual Christians might even support taking action to protect that non-Christian (such as a Muslim) from predation from those 'Christians.' Now, in the case of the former Yugoslavia, actually support Kosovo being part of Serbia. The Muslim Yugoslavs were not innocent--nor were the 'Christian' Serbs such darlings. You've failed to mention how the 'Christian' Croats fought for their independence from you, too. The same with Slovenia. Anyway, losing the cradle of your culture would be quite a blow, especially for a people whose heyday was in history. Russia lost the Ukraine. India lost Pakistan. You aren't alone. Some freepers might actually approve of New England being ceded....
And enough with the flowery language and verbiage. Acting as if in the 1990s innocent Serbs were attacked without provocation and all those killed were innocent children your butt. And don't use the word genocide lightly. There was no Albanian--much less American--genocide of Serbs. Many Serb civilians were cruelly murdered by other Balkan ethnicities. However, the goal was not the extermination of the Serb 'race.' Pretending that what the Serbs faced and are facing is genocide is an insulting figurative slap in the face to the Jews, Roma, Tutsis, [potentially Armenians], etc. who were actually victims of genocide.
After World War 2, Germany lost a fair chunk of its eastern, pre-war territory (they lost more after World War 1). Japan lost the southern half of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands plus Korea and Formosa (Taiwan). For both losing powers, ethnic Germans and Japanese living in surrounding countries were brought to the new Germany and Japan, respectively, even though they may not have set foot in those lands before. Germans from eastern Europe and Japanese from Korea and Formosa (Taiwan) were 'repatriated.'
Granted, at least percentage-wise, Serbs have lost more land than the Germans or Japanese. However, there is precedent. Germany and Japan (for the most part) have come to terms with their losses, and generally do not hold grudges against Poland, the Czech Republic, North and South Korea, and China for taking 'their' land.
In any case, non-Russian Europe is moving more and more toward unifying into a single state, more or less as the United States has/have done. Serbia and Kosovo might just become two states in a United States of Europe, with no more enmity than West Virginia has with Virginia (a small chunk of a country declaring independence and being recognized by the United States..... hmmmm).
As for the California/Azatlan thing: doesn't such an analogy p.o other Californians? California is not some little province. California has a larger economy and is more advanced than Kosovo, Serbia, and Mexico--combined. Granted, that isn't the point. Still, as mentioned, the West Virginia/Virginia case might be more appropriate. California will not secede because of Mexicans and unassimilated Mexican-descendants. As opposed to Serbia, the United States has strong history of assimilating immigrants (though this could be becoming more difficult), and generally doesn't have a policy of trying to 'ethnically cleanse' Mexicans. Such Mexican-descendants would not have as much motive to secede as did the non-Serb Yugoslavs. Too many Mexican immigrants are more loyal to Mexico than the United States. Less so their children. Even less so their children. And so on. While not ideal, California will not be ripped away the way Kosovo has been.
And what if California was replaced with Texas (one freeper sort of did that). Surely some Texans would be ticked off? Suspect that more similar about California as Texans are about Texas than other Californians. At least one Californian has made the California/Azatlan comment. More Californians should have the same attitude about California as Texans do about Texas. Anyhoo.....
The racist (term used as a label for those who ascribe genes as the primary determinant for behavior/personality, not as a slur) freepers might argue that this hatred and anger so symptomatic of southeast Europeans and southwestern Asians is because of genes they have in common. (Or might not, considering most freeper racists are of European extraction).
Personally would argue that this hatred and anger so symptomatic of southeast Europeans and southwestern Asians is because of cultures they have in common. (And cultures are not primarily based on genes, though genes could have played a role in the birth of that culture: a foreigner can assimilate into any culture he chooses, though the foreigner's native people might not have come up with that culture by themselves).
So, again, enough with the Christian/Muslim spiels. In this case, it's in your cultural genes, not your religious (or racial) ones.
Hopefully one day you and all Balkan people will learn how to grow up, get along with one another (so that at least you don't want each other dead), and then work on developing your country(s).