Do Violent Displays Hurt Serbia's Cause?

State Department Orders Most Diplomats, Families Of American Personnel To Leave Serbia

(AP)  Violent protests rocked Serb-dominated northern Kosovo on Friday, as mobs chanting "Kosovo is ours!" hurled stones, bottles and firecrackers at U.N. police guarding a bridge that divides Serbs from ethnic Albanians.

The scenes evoked memories of the carnage unleashed by former Serb autocrat Slobodan Milosevic the last time Kosovo tried to break away from Serbia, which considers the territory its ancestral homeland.

There were disturbing signs the riots in Belgrade, Serbia, and in Mitrovica have the blessing of nationalists in the Serbian government. The government hopes somehow to undo the loss of the beloved province, the site of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's authorities have repeatedly vowed to reclaim the land, despite U.S. and other Western recognition of Kosovo's statehood. Some hard-line government ministers have praised the violent protests as "legitimate" - and in line with government policies of retaining control over Serb-populated areas.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was time for Serbs to accept that Kosovo is no longer theirs. She also suggested it was time to drop centuries of grievance and sentimentality in the Balkans.

"We believe that the resolution of Kosovo's status will really, finally, let the Balkans begin to put its terrible history behind it," Rice said Friday. "I mean, after all, we're talking about something from 1389 - 1389! It's time to move forward."

Serbian President Boris Tadic called an emergency meeting of the national security council and said the rioting that engulfed the capital must "never happen again."

"I most sharply condemn the violence, looting and arson," Tadic said in a statement. "There is no excuse for the violence. Nobody can justify what happened yesterday."

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. The province, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Serbia'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.

The U.S. ambassador to Serbia demanded that authorities do more to guarantee the safety of foreign diplomatic missions after nationalists in Belgrade set fire to the U.S. Embassy in riots Thursday that left one dead and more than 150 injured.

The State Department ordered nonessential diplomats and the families of all American personnel at the embassy to leave Serbia after the attack.

In his first post-independence interview, Kosovo's prime minister told The Associated Press that the violence is reminiscent of the Milosevic era.

"The pictures of yesterday in Belgrade were pictures of Milosevic's time," said Hasim Thaci, a former guerrilla leader of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, said at his office in Pristina, the capital. "What we saw were terrible things."

He said the violence was reminiscent of Milosevic's bloody 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo - which was only halted by NATO airstrikes on Serbia.

In Kosovska Mitrovica, some 5,000 Serbs rallied in the tense town, waving Serbian flags and chanting "Kosovo is ours!" in a fifth day of protests since the independence declaration. Protesters lobbed firecrackers in a skirmish with police.

The clashes took place on the Kosovska Mitrovica bridge over the Ibar River - dividing Kosovo Serbs from ethnic Albanians - long a flashpoint of tensions in Kosovo's restive north.

"Kosovo is Serbia and we will never surrender, despite blackmail by the European Union," Serbian government official Dragan Deletic told the crowd, which responded by chanting: "Kosovo is Serbia."

He was referring to the several EU countries, including Britain, Germany, France and Italy, that have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence.

The EU warned Serbia that the embassy attacks risked harming efforts to bring the Balkan nation closer to the EU.

"These acts of violence lead nowhere and they cannot help anybody," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. He told reporters that negotiations on an agreement designed to prepare Serbia for eventual EU membership would have to wait until things "calm down."

Tensions were higher than usual Friday after French NATO peacekeepers on Kosovo's border refused to allow in several busloads of Serbs who wanted to join the rally.

There were fears that Serbian soccer hooligans, the same ones who attacked the U.S. and other embassies in Belgrade, were among those on the buses. Some of the hooligans apparently managed to evade the blockade, leading the clashes at the bridge.

Kosovo Serbs have been venting their anger over Kosovo's statehood by destroying U.N. and NATO property, setting off hand grenades and staging noisy rallies.

Even so, some Serbs seeing the violence can't help thinking the spasm of outrage will set back their cause. Pictures of women returning repeatedly for armfuls of clothes at trashed boutiques drew particular note.

"It is sending the picture of Serbia as bandits," said Miobor Stosic, 67, a retired airline official. "We are so ashamed."

Toma Rajcic, 40-year-old lawyer from Belgrade, was depressed over what happened.

"It is disgusting. It is all coming back, the fighting, darkness," he said. "It is disgusting. It's time to leave this country."

Pro-Western politicians in Serbia accused hard-line nationalists in the Kostunica's government of inciting the violence.

Parties of Tadic and Kostunica are united in a coalition government that has ruled Serbia since mid-2007. But the two differ sharply on Kosovo, with Tadic saying Belgrade must press on with efforts to join the EU regardless of Kosovo, and Kostunica seeking to drop the bid because most EU countries plan to recognize the province's independence.

Kostunica appealed for an end to the violence.

"This directly damages our ... national interests. All those who support the fake state of Kosovo are rejoicing at the sight of violence in Belgrade," he said. He made no mention of the damaged embassies.

Police said that in addition to the U.S. and Croatian embassies, the missions of Turkey, Bosnia, Belgium and Canada also were targeted.

The U.S. ambassador to Bosnia said he had closed the consulate in the northwestern city of Banja Luka a day after protesters burned the U.S. flag and tried to storm the building.

Bosnia consists of two ministates, one run by Bosnian Serbs, the other by Bosniaks and Croats. The Bosnian Serb parliament has condemned Kosovo's move and said it will consider a referendum to secede from Bosnia if more countries recognize Pristina's government.

[lorinkundert]

I don''t blame the Serbs for acting this way, how do you think we would act here if the illegal aliens who have invaded our country decided to declare independence? and no Kosovo is not unique. Serbia''s sovereignty which is guaranteed by the UN has been violated.

[vlore_77]

I do not understand why the media is not reporting more accurate statements about KOSOVO. The battle in 1389 was not between SERBS and TURKS, but coalition forces which included Albanian fighters againts the TURKS. The reason why KOSOVO should be independent is not because what happened in the 90''s or that the overwhelming population there is Albanian. The real reason is the Serbs have taken by force many times since their arrival in the Ballkans in late 6th century AD the land that does not belong to them. If Kosovo is the cradle of their history then it is written with the blood of the indigenous Albanian people.

[toolmangler-2009]

Again with this false choice?
Let me be clear on this Roseanne: Hillary has little to no experience which would qualify her to be president; her HUSBAND has the experience. I''m an expert computer programmer; this does not mean that I can send my wife to clients to do my work...
She has SOME legislative experience (less than Obama, in fact), some experience as an AIDE to President Clinton. Not quite the high levels of executive experience she makes it out to be.
It IS a fact that Obama has no executive experience; the simple fact is that NONE of the candidates currently in play have that kind of experience.
So the choice is NOT Inspiration vs Experience: that''s just one candidate''s spin. Obama''s camp would state that Hillary''s "experience" is strictly in the political camp, and that her only attempt at true leadership failed so miserably that she ended up cosying up to PhRMA afterwards.
My opinion: look at each candidate''s actual platform; best place to do so in on their websites.
(Full Disclosure: I originally supported Edwards, and am now an Obama supporter. I''m not a huge fan of Obama, but I simply don''t believe Hillary can beat McCain. And preventing a third Bush term is by FAR the most important issue).
(posted by Droberts to Roseanne Barr in ''The Huntington Post'')

[toolmangler-2009]

Geezus creepers! For once I have to agree with terrorislam0...ROFL!
Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 01:38 PM : Feb 23, 2008



Fools are like clocks, they can''t be wrong every time. (A clock is right at least once a day)

[prinzowhales]

The declaration was illegal under international law. Apparently, mineral wealth trumps legality.

Serbia and its allies are entitled to use any means necessary to retain this province. The US and Britain like to provoke their opponents into making the first strike so as to bleat about the injustice of it to the dolts who provide the men and treasure to fight their wars for private gain and public expense.

The first strike in this war occurred when Clinton and his allies invaded Kosovo and attacked Yugoslavia.
The agreements to end the fighting have been arbitrarily broken by the West.

[rowdytexan2]

Experience vs. Inspiration

When I fly in an airplane I want the pilot with the most experience, not the one who can inspire hope in me that I get to where I am going. When I pay my taxes, I want the person filing them to be experienced, not the new person who inspires hope in me that he can do the job. When I hire someone to fix my washing machine, I want the tried and true experienced person, not the one who inspires me to hope that he can fix it. When I go to the doctor I do not want to get the one who inspires hope in me that s/he can cure what''''''''s wrong, but the one who knows what the hell to do the minute I call. It''''''''s not really the job of a public servant to inspire, but to get the job that the people demand done. The democrats think that if they have hope and are inspired things will get better, but they actually won''''''''t. When Oprah makes her employees sign her fifty page non-disclosure statement, she doesn''''''''t "hope" they can''''''''t break it, she pays teams of experienced lawyers to MAKE SURE they can''''''''t break it, or be sued in an experienced court by an experienced judge.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ro
seanne-barr/experience-vs-inspiratio_b_8
7982.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by terrorislam0 at 08:39 AM : Feb 23, 2008

Geezus creepers! For once I have to agree with terrorislam0...ROFL!

Go Hillary 08!

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by jimmyc1955 at 11:56 AM : Feb 23, 2008



You and CBS_Oliver are right and I was wrong, Thank you for straightening me out. I did what I accuse others of, "reacting without thinking" my apologies.

[jimmyc1955]

Toolmangler - What I think he meant was the headline denotes an opinion - not a news report. It is infact an oped piece passing as a news report.

[jimmyc1955]

Just a few facts - most of the European Union recognized Kosovo''s independance before the US did. Israel did not "come before" the UN but was in fact created by a UN mandate - a precedent of the UN mandating who will live where.

Many nations recognized Kosovo''s independence - so for those who wish to find the blame for people burning the US Embassy in what GWB did - how do you explain that this report somehow targets only the US and not the 5 or 6 other embassies that were attacked that same night by that same mob? Funny how that never seems to show up in any of the ongoing reports.

I also don''t see anybody here noting that Russia (Putin) is threating to invade if NATO does something they don''t like.

While your spending more time pushing pins into the Bush voodoo dolls maybe you better look up to see Russia rebuilding the soviet union and using their army to again repress independent people.

Does anybody remember the Prague spring of 1968?

And you think the US is militaristic - you forget your history easily.

[toolmangler-2009]

"Do Violent Displays Hurt Serbia''''s Cause?"
Not an appropriate headline for a "news" story.
Posted by CBS_Oliver at 11:07 AM : Feb 23, 2008



I disagree, Serbia has the right to be unhappy about something, They ''do not'' have the right to destroy private or public property in demonstrating their feelings, an old quote says "Your right to swing your fist stops where my nose begins".