10,000 rally in Kosovska Mitrovica

I hope this gathers pace and many can show the Embassy that the Athisarri plan stinks like rotten eggs - 2 weeks is enough time to prepare the eggs.

I just wanna suggest the money that you will spend during this two weeks period to take people to Belgrade and back, and all other expenses you can invest in other better projects. Guys, I think you cant see, Kosovo is gone, back to reality, and build your future. Nothing is not up to us or you guys, the big BOSSES decided US,UK.....just like they do all around the world.


Hoti, Kosovo

I hope that the Serbs in Kosovo realize that Kosovo is just as Albanian as Serbia in Serbian. Their protest is a loss of energy and time.

Quote:
Nothing is not up to us or you guys, the big BOSSES decided US, UK.....just like they do all around the world.
---
That’s exactly why we shouldn’t give it away. See we never liked Bosses in our history.
And we at least have enough rotten and other eggs…

Hopefully, with high attendance (seeing the importance of this), Serbians need to deliver a message with mass protests by the people.

Hoti - I am not Serbian but I have been following events very closely, and things are certainly not that clear cut. It is by no means certain that Kosovo will be carved off from Serbia and made independent. The precedent is just too dangerous for the entire global political situation.
Also, people in Kosovo who are not Albanian Serbs (ie. Albanians living in Serbia, such as yourself) are fully entitled to protest. Isn't a 'multi-ethnic' democracy what you are after??!

Protests of Serbs in Mitrovica,unhappy employees with their pay, strike in Belgrade,motorway at Sabac blocked,to me it looks like nothing has changed in Serbia.On the other hand Israel supports Independence of Kosova,Spain is changing their mind even Rumania is saying that they support Lord Ahtisaari's plan for Kosova.Week is getting better and better.The only thing I will miss from Serbia is "Plazma Keks".Cheerio.

Kate,
Nobody denied the right to protest. It was an advice from Hoti, not to spend money and energy on useless protests, while those efforts can be more usefull on building something nice for serbs in Kosovo

That is the point though Hermon. The Serbs do have have something nice (UNESCO sites for example) in Kosovo and they are well within their rights to protest about keeping it and not letting the remaining parts of their heritage be destroyed.

How many Serbian Orthodox Churches have been destroyed? Over 100. How many Serbs are still unable to go back to their homes in Kosovo? Please don't try and make it all sound so 'nice'.

"Lord Ahtisaari" hahahaha!!!! A lot of people posting comments are sounding pretty uneducated. As for the "big Bosses"... Serbs dont have to answer to them, THEY are the ones asking US to give up Kosovo!

Ahtisaari’s plan is met by ‘thousands’ of protesters who can’t possibly accept the breakaway region, Kosova, from gaining its deserved independence?
Where were these protesters in 1998, 1999? Not one Serbian official, to this day, has yet come out to express sorrow, to say the least, for what has happened in Kosova during the war. Furthermore, in an attempt to reverse the argument by debating ‘reasons’ as to why Kosova shouldn’t be independent, Belgrade intends to demonize the victim, here. Eight years later, Serbs don’t want to let go of Kosova! Serbia is not losing anything for Kosova was historically never their land.
Kosova is expected to gain independence, be it individually or Security Council approved. Its citizens, regardless of nationality, will no longer fear mass exodus or murder by a country that was lead by a modern day Hitler. As for the ‘rotten eggs’ argument by some in this commentary, the world knows who did just that in his Hague jail cell waiting to face justice he denied to millions. It’s a shame, for a lack of better word, for the people of Serbia to have had elected such a person then. But some things take time to change, as January’s elections exemplified-as the majority of voters in Serbia supported outright radical nationalists who are willing to go as far as to isolate the nation from the entire region and even Europe! Unbelievable and absolutely absurd! Unfortunately, for those who do want change and democracy in Serbia and want to move on with the rest of the civilized world, time seems to have trouble shifting gears.

Isn't a 'multi-ethnic' democracy what you are after??!
-----------------------------

Who gave you that ludicrous idea? How is a society 'multi-ethnic' when it is over 90% homogenous.

But you are right: it makes no sense to have 2 Albanian states.

Lets repeat this again....Kosovo isnt really that multi-ethnic because Albanians have been been expelling Serbs for decades and decades! Part of the Albanian plan, and we can also blame Tito.

Another thing, how can you say that Kosovo doesnt belong to Serbia? SHOW US PROOF BESIDES WHAT A ALBANIAN WROTE!!!!! THE OLDEST STRUCTURES ARE ALL SERBIAN. LET ME GUESS, SERBS STOLE THAT TOO?? ITS COMICAL AS TO HOW THE ALBANIANS THINK THEY ARE OWED EVERYTHING WHEN IN FACT, THEY HAVE BEEN STEALING LAND AND HISTORY FOR CENTURIES

Kate, It’s absolutely irrelevant whether you are Serb or not, you obviously are partially blinded since you can't see clearly what's going on. . You fail to mention that there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of K Albanians still refuge throughout the world unable to return to Kosovo because all they had was ruined by Serbia during 1998/99. At least some of the Serbs have decided to sell their assets and settle in Serbia for a better life.

All citizens of Kosovo should be able to return back if they wish to do so.

Churches were destroyed so were the mosques . I am pleased that the Kosovo government has decided to rebuild them and also start building new Catholic & protestant churches commencing with the St Mother Theresa’s cathedral in central Prishtina. It was the Serbian nationalism who destroyed everything between 1980 - 1999. . Kosovo cannot become a precedent because it is very unique case, 8 years under the protection of the UN.

Serbia should compensate for all the destruction they’ve caused and seek reconciliation by accepting Kosovo as their new neighbour state.

Kosovo /a will get some form of independence very soon

This decision has been made on January 2006

Kosovo isnt really that multi-ethnic because Albanians have been been expelling Serbs for decades and decades!
-----------------------------

Really? When? How many? How did the logistics work?

You keep harping on these allegations when they have absolutely no bearing on the ground.

The serbs leave today because Kosovo is a destitute province. The serbs leave today because they were complicit in crimes against their neighbor.

that's why the Serbs leave. Dont blame this on the legitimate anger of a bunch of Albanian peasants.

Bill - there were demostrations in 1998 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/67443.stm - But some things take time to change like you telling the truth..."Outright radical nationalists" did not win a majority in Serbia's recent election. They only got 28%.

Noel - there was many K-Albanians around Europe prior to 1999 so that is spurious argument that you make. Some Serbs have decided to sell their assets, but not out of any real choice and many others houses are now occupied.

kreshnik - There is plenty of evidence of Serbs being forcibly expelled and kidnapped. Also many Serbs left during the 1980s due to Albanian dominance of the provincial government.

Noel - I know where you're coming from on this issue and it would be unlikely to hear anything pro-Serbian from you. But I am not as biased as you seem to think.
I am aware that there was great suffering among the Kosovo Albanian people, and that many have been displaced and remain in poverty. Many also remain terrified of the KLA under whatever name it goes by now.
But the fact is that thanks to unprecented journalistic bias, any sort of defence or support of Serbs, or the telling of their mass suffering in Kosovo, can only be a fair thing. Why aren't I allowed to present the perspective from the opposite side to the mass media? I've never heard this from you.

http://serbblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/kosovo-needs-your-help.html

What sorrows in the history of Kosovo led to the exodus, under duress of NATO air war, of nearly a million ethnic Albanians, from March to June, 1999? Kosovo, in southern Serbia, is the cradle of Serb culture and identity. Ancient monasteries and nunneries of the Serbian Orthodox Church are there. During World War II, Nazi and Fascist occupiers of the Balkans administered Albania and neighboring Kosovo as one unit. A "Greater Albania" was promised sympathizers as reward for complicity with the Hitlerites. After the Partisans, led by Marshal Tito, expelled the Axis powers from the Peninsula in 1941, the province of Kosovo reverted to Serbia. But that dream of a Greater Albania, for some, never died.

Strategically, Kosovo is rich in coal and gas. Tito encouraged Albanian migration up into Kosovo, his objective being to integrate and mix well the various nationalities of Yugoslavia, thereby discouraging racist or separatist tendencies. But Tito's Kosovo policy failed to create parity. He did not anticipate the consequences of neighboring Albania's perennial poverty, the porous border, and Muslim families' higher average birthrate (six births per mother). By 1990, 85% of Kosovo was ethnic Albanian and 15% were Roma (gypsies) and ethnic Serbs.

Another contributor to population imbalance in Kosovo is decades of harassment of the Serb minority by certain factions of Albanian society. Serbs have been victims of murder, rape, robbery, and industrial sabotage (National Catholic Reporter, 6/18/99). The intimidation is intended to drive Serbs out of Kosovo. Indeed, between 1966 and 1989, 130,000 Serbs left Kosovo for good. The New York Times quoted a Kosovar official in 1982 explaining the harassment's objective is "an ethnically clean Albanian republic and merger to form a greater Albania." For the next seven years, the Nexis database attributes to Albanian nationalists each use of the terms "ethnic cleansing" or "ethnically clean." The Times reported in November 1987 that Muslim officials "have manipulated regulations to take land belonging to Serbs... Wells have been poisoned and crops burned... As Slavs flee the protracted violence, Kosovo is becoming an ethnically pure Albanian region."

A foundation for poor relations was.laid in 1952 when an Interior Minister and his secret police began terrorizing Kosovars. Tito sacked the minister in 1966 and began to redress the situation. In 1974, a new constitution granted increased autonomy to Kosova (the Albanian spelling will be used interchangeably here). By 1980, a Pristina University professor proclaimed, "Not a single minority in the world has achieved the rights the Albanian nationality enjoys in socialist Yugoslavia!" (New Military Humanism, Chomsky, p.24, 1999) But with Tito's death that year, the situation began to deteriorate. Relations between Muslims and Slavs and Muslims' ties to the Federation grew increasingly strained. Austere debt "restructuring" imposed on Yugoslavia by the International Monetary Fund cut-off most of Belgrade's financial support to Kosovo, worsening matters. University riots broke out in 1981 and dozens were killed. In 1982, a twelve-year-old Serb boy was set on fire. In 1985, a Serb policemen was mutilated. In 1987, an Orthodox nunnery was burned down. The Kosova independence movement was heating up.

In 1987, then-Communist Party chair, Slobodan Milosevic, gave a key speech at the most sacred Serbian cultural site in Kosovo, warning that Serbia would never let Kosovo go. That prophetic declaration sent shudders through the Yugoslav republics which, under increased economic duress, were considering looser confederation with, if not separation from, Belgrade. The Kosova resistance remained intransigent and in 1989, Milosevic abolished Kosovo's autonomous status. He fired a hundred thousand ethnic Albanian workers and banned the use of their language in schools. Dozens more died protesting these proscriptions.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
A fascinating twist then developed in the annals of Balkan history: a Gandhian non-violent movement led by Muslim intellectual Ibrahim Rugova. In late 1990, eschewing force, Kosova declared herself independent, although still "within the framework of Yugoslavia." Rugova was elected "President of The Republic of Kosova" with 99% of the Islamic vote. A dozen parallel governmental, educational and medical structures were created for Muslim society. Patriarchal patterns were reexamined and 2,000 "blood feuds" publicly reconciled by 1992. Milosevic tolerated (or ignored) the movement.

In early 1991, the West abruptly recognized the secessions of Slovenia and Croatia, without discussions on the fate of the Serb minorities there. When Muslim Kosova voted for sovereignty, Albania immediately recognized the prospective state. Serbs were skittish and it was hoped they would pull up stakes and migrate north. It may come as a surprise that the United States -- bombing not withstanding -- has never advocated Kosova's independence. Montenegro, Greece, and Macedonia each contain large Albanian minorities. The U.S. has not wished to encourage ethnic Albanian uprisings threatening stability in those states.

But eight years' non-violent action got Albanian Kosovars virtually nowhere in international circles, nor onto the map. They were politely ignored and then betrayed by NATO states. Rugova and delegation were relegated to a side room with TV monitor at a United Nations Balkans crises conference in London (Lessons from Kosovo, Chomsky, p.25, 1999). Neither the Dayton Accords nor Rambouillet (the negotiations preceding recent bombing) offered to legitimize Kosova independence. Only the return of autonomy under Belgrade was ever proposed. "The reward for non-violence was international neglect" (Current History, p.277, 4/99).

Rugova visited Washington in 1993 pleading for mediation of the worsening conflict with the central government. He went away empty-handed and grew retiring in his leadership of the non-violent movement. Rather than maintain the momentum of huge civil demonstrations of the early nineties, Rugova called less frequently for actions. Having guided the creation and sustenance of alternative universities and social services, he stalled expanding independent economic development and nixed possible alternatives to immediate independence, such as phased changes in constitutional status. Popular organizations continued to take non-violent resistance to the streets, right to the bitter end last spring. Students and professors initiated marches joined by hundreds of thousands. Throughout 1997 and 1998, streets would fill with men waving branches and women bearing loaves of bread to Serb refugees from other republics. Sit-ins packed the squares. The example of Gandhi's legendary patience was not lost on the ethnic Albanian peace movement.

THE KLA IS BORN
Yet not being included in the Dayton negotiations, where Milosevic represented Serbia, had broken many a pacifist's heart in Kosova. An armed guerrilla movement awaited those who lost patience. Formed from the decades-old Albanian resistance, with roots in large rural clans, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, or UCK in Albanian) grew rapidly. The armed revolt was funded by the Albanian diaspora and through drug dealings. According to the State Department, the KLA controls Afghani heroin routes into Zurich. The guerrillas partly trained with Pentagon contractors, Military Professional Resources, Inc., using weapons transferred from Bosnia in 1996, according to retired Army Colonel David Hackworth in a Fox Network interview. Militant Islamics in Iran and Pakistan also provided early training to the insurgents (A History of Kosovo, Miranda Vickers, 1998). Much of the KLA's armament was gleaned during Albania's social chaos in 1996, when collapsing pyramid schemes wiped out most Albanians' life savings. During the disorder, state armories were opened and pilfered.

KLA/UCK attacks on Serbs in Kosovo began in 1996. Postal workers, forest service employees, municipal police, and ethnic Albanian "traitors" (those who worked cooperatively with Serbs) were targeted. In February, simultaneous bombs went off in five refugee camps in Kosovo housing victims of the recent cleansing of Krajinan Serbs from Croatia. The KLA, 40,000 strong, controlled a third of Kosova. With another ambush of Serbian police, the Yugoslav federal government decided to go to war. Fighting began near villages assumed sympathetic to the KLA. These rural areas swapped hands repeatedly as federal and guerrilla forces ebbed and surged.

In 1998, 10,000 Serbian Interior police (later the notorious "ethnic cleansers" during NATO bombing) entered the fray. Still, U.S. envoy Robert Gelbard declared the KLA "without any question a terrorist group." Milosevic apparently interpreted Washington's opinion as a green light to vanquish the rebels. A 50-person massacre among the Jashari clan, a "roots" family of the KLA, ignited a general uprising in the countryside. Summer saw villages torched in Serb offensives, but KLA territory gradually increased.

In October 1998, the U.S. arranged a ceasefire. Serb troops withdrew a prescribed distance; the zone was to remain demilitarized. But KLA forces advanced and resupplied these positions within hours. The breaking point came on January 15, when 45 ethnic Albanians were killed, apparently by Serb forces in the village of Recak, "at a time when human rights violations were occurring on both sides" (The New Yorker, 5/10/99). Threatened with NATO bombing, the belligerents came to the table at Rambouillet, France, beginning two months of deliberations. The agenda: Where do we go from here?

http://www7.taosnet.com/amistad/yugo3.html

http://www.salon.com/news/1999/03/31newsa.html
KRESHNIK,

LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ME TO PASTE ANY MORE LINKS FOR YOU? BUT I THINK THERE IS PLENTY OF READING MATERIAL FOR YOU RIGHT HERE!

I'm afraid after much long debate, I am going to have to side with the Albanians living in Serbia, who are trying to make part of Serbia their own Country. However, I dont think we should stop there. I think the Egyptians, along with many others such as Indians (in India) and the Turks should fallow the footsteps of the other WONDERFUL people who have done the same as what the Serbs are asked of, and give a vast portion of their land back to other Countries who have occupied them at one point. Such as the Native Americans Gratiously giving all there wonderful land to us here in the U.S. don't worry Mexicans I wont leave you out. You were great in just giving up the lower half of our Country (US). So please the rest of the World why not do the same. Egypt I make this plee. Why not give a small portian of your country back to France, India you know that the Dutch desearve a piece of the pie too. And Turkey, come on you cant tell me you guys built all those Christian Cathedrals.After all it did belong to them at one point or another and dont get me wrong, I know it will be difficult. After all you dont have the funding terrorist groups in your country to help force a decision for you. And to those brave countries who are wanting a piece of what's "apparently" rightfully yours and your wanting to help force them to make a decision sooner, talk to the Albanians they can surely help you get in touch with Al Qaeda. I hear they've offered to help Albanians with their "Dipplomatic" progress. (Brooklyn Connection).

10,000 Serb protesters in Mitrovica, yeh right! The international press reported there were fewer than 1,000.
However, it's irrelevant, even if there were one million demonstrators it would not change a thing. Kosova is independent!!!

The rest of the world has a very long memory. No one will ever forget, seeing on TV, ONE MILLION Albanians forced out of Kosova in 1999 with the whole world watching. Their documents destroyed to deny them proof of citizenship, robbed of their personal belongings and money by their Serb neighbors and police. Thousands of Albanians killed including women, children and the elderly. Rapes commited by Serb Paramilitary on Albanian girls and women, in of all places, "sacred" Serbian Orthodox Churches used as "rape motels".

And you Serbs wonder why Albanians demand Kosova be Independent!

I have to agree with Bill on one thing.
"for those who do want change and democracy in Serbia and want to move on with the rest of the civilized world, time seems to have trouble shifting gears."
We, Serbs, DO HAVE TROUBLE SHIFTING GEARS.
It's clearly visable throught the 20th century. Take WW2 for example. Instead moving along the lines with other civilised people like Albnians, Croats, Muslims in Bosnia, and entire surrounding, Serbs decided to fight Germans.
We can think of it any way we want, but historically, this was a great mistake. It has been repeated several times in the last century. We have to move with the times.

I feel very sorry about them, hopefully they were as officials say "peaceful" but still I don't justify their parolls.
Let's see tomorrow, its 10th of January, and I sincerely hope that every thing goes peacefully.
When talking about history I only remember Agrary reform, Serbs got hundred of hectares of land whereas Albanians packed their things and went in Turkey (estimates are that around 4 million Albanians are currently in Turkey). They were from Kosovo. My grandfather was one of them. There are areas in Turkey where children's first words in Turkish are learned at school.

Ahtisari proposal will not be implemented if majority of people in Kosova do not want. According to indications, that proposal will change. 58 pages in that proposal, the word Albanian is not mentioned, the word Serbs is mentioned at least 5 times in each page. According to that proposal, there is only one church in Kosova, people know that there is one other church also that is Catholic church, let's not take into account the Mosques, that were main target during the war.

People today protested, same people who 10 years ago dropped glasses or what ever they had from the windows of apartments to the people who protested against Milosevic regime. Many of them were part of Serbian police or paramilitary forces. And now these people dear to call someone else terrorists, that's shame, disaster for a nation to which those people belong. This is valid also for some of those who provide comments in this web page.

Regards

RE: Economic Prosperity

The Albanian economy is barely ahead of the Serbian economy even with it's entire industrial based being bombed to the middle ages by NATO, that is saying something.

Serbia's economy will surpass Albanian in GDP , productivity and purchasing power in 2007.

“They will take what we still have, hospitals, schools, giving them a constitution, anthem and all our land”, Jakšić said, adding “this will not happen as we will give nothing to them”.

This guy needs to remove his head from the sand.

After seeing paragraphs attached to every article related to Kosovo, where numbers of Serbs that fled Kosovo are mentioned, I think those figures are inflated.

When you look at the number of Serbs in Kosovo, you will notice a sharp increase from the mid 90's to 1999.

Something that the government of Serbia or any individual in Serbia never mentioned is the fact that the government had a re-settlement program of all the refugees from Krajina (Croatia) to Kosova.

These poor war refugees were being dumped in Kosovo, and forced to live in schools, gymnasiums, to achieve government’s goal: change Kosovo's ethnic structure.

I have seen them residing in what used to be my high school in Prishtina. I have actually befriended many of them. I felt bad for them, knowing that they were being forced to Kosova since no one in Serbia wanted to deal with them (they openly admitted that).

Well, since they learned how much they could trust Serbian government during their Croatia experience, they left Kosovo as soon as the first NATO bomb hit the province. They were tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Krajina refugees all over Kosovo that left at that time.

These folks left first because they no longer wanted to live in a “contested” area and second, because they had no future in Kosovo (no economical prospects under the Serbian rule).

When Serb governmental and non-governmental groups throw their statistical data of “how many people were forced out of Kosovo”, they incorporate these numbers as well. That is not fair.

But again, this is Balkans. If you attempt to be fair here, people will consider you dumb or even assasinate you.

Arben, the world couldn't tell an Albanian from a Kazakh from a Moldovan from a Romanian. The world really doesn't care. It's all "that part of the world" to them. Not to belittle the horrors that did happen, but apart from the Jews and the Armenians, the world just lumps everyone else together.

By the way, show me where Serb churches were used as "rape dens" as you claim. I feel emotion is overpowering logic here.

90% homogenous??? Be Careful Kreshnik. Ethnically homogenous conjurs images of Kosovo and Metohija being inhabited by its owners. Albanians have never owned Kosovo and Metohija and never will unless its in direct violation of international laws. Sudo-Historical myth and legend that spouts the theory of a link between Illyrians and Albanians are frankly pathetic. Kosovo and Metohija is Serbian and regardless of what happens in the near future it will remain so. You would do well to remember 1912! Next time Serbs will not be so generous in her concessions. Especially if NATO is too busy to fight battles for cowards.

Kate: Have you ever lost someone due to genocidal attrocities? if not, you do not even know how it feels, so i don't even think you have a moral reason to argue about it.
I condemn burning of churches, and any other religious shrines.
To say that 100's of churches were burned it's absurd. Anyway whatever the number is, it's just not right it should be condemned to the harshest terms.
Also should be condemned the burning of Mosques by the Serbs as well, that way we can make a headway in resolving problems.
Serbian government is yet to condemn the genocidal attrocities committed against Albanians and other nations in the former Yugoslavia.
As a matter of fact the Serbs should appologize first, since they committed the harshest crimes.
As far as the right to independence.I hear a lot about the right to selfedetermination as to how bad it is and blah...blah...
Don't you people think that most of the nations gained independence in one form or another? And who is to deprive a nation of getting independence? Independence and freedom are god's given right to any nation.
And I am tired of listening that Kosova will set a pecedence, so what? Let every one who wants to be free, be free, with a set number of habitants, of let's say 500000 as a criteria.
What right does serbia have to hold hostage 2 million people?
Why the freedom of one nation should depend on someone who tried to wipe them out in it's entirety, use your heads and think rationally.
Kosova will be independent, that is as clear as the daylight, i know you do not like, but live with it.
Some even suggest that Serbia will bring it back some 50 or 100 years later, that just shows with what kind of nationalism we Albanians are faced with.
Anyway 50 or 100 years later its just an illusion and wrong prognosis, to bring Kosova back under Serbian rule.

Free at last KOSOVA

It's OK to protest but protest is not that much important. Millions of people worldwide protested war in Iraq but it didn't stop it. They (who ever want to) can declare independence and recognize it but it will not matter in a long run if Serbia does not accept it. We waited for 500 years to see Ottomans go (and we prevailed).Germans waited for almost 50 years to get East Germany back. Thingies are going much faster nowadays. Serbs simply can not give up on Kosovo not because they are stubborn but because they need to get fair arrangements and probably new borders for Serbia that will at least take Bosnian Serbs in and make partition of Kosovo. After vivisection of ex Yugoslavia it would be perfectly normal for USA , EU , UN and all Balkan actors to sit down and redefine borders fairly or we’ll have more wars in not that far future.
Even if Serbian government signs some kind of paper (and I don't see how they can legally do it) it wouldn't matter because it would be unconstitutional. Part of the Serbia is occupied and arrangements made under occupation are not legal and not working in a long run. We can wait.

The reason that albanians were cheering the bombing of Kosovo in 1999 is because it's not theirs. Nobody would cheer for the destruction of something that belongs to them. All the towns, street names, old churches, names, are all Serbian in Kosovo. Even the word 'Kosovo' comes from the Serbian word 'Kos', which is a blackbird. That's why I get a laugh out of albanians referring to it as 'Kosova', which means nothing in Serbian or albanian languages - it's humourous. The fact is, Kosovo will never belong to albanians, int never has and they know it. They are trying to take something that is not theirs. They will never succeed.

The 27th outside the US Embassy. I'll be there.

Dear Obilic,you shouldn't be so upset about me giving a title LORD to Ahtisaari.That is if Kosova were Kingdom then I bet all Kosovan Albanians would agree with me.The courage of President Ahtisaari is that he respects and considers Kosovan Albanians as a part of Europe, while you can never except that!!!For him to come up with the plan was very difficult.He said that to understand his plan you have to know the history of Kosovan Albanians after 1989.And Dear Obilic can you tell me what happened to Kosovan Albanians after 1989?!Misery,misery and more misery.And now the time has come,with our help from our friends that Kosovan Albanians have a right to live.And if you Obilic are educated enough you will understand what I mean!!!Cheerio.

Kate we are not terrified of the KLA, The KLA was and is us.
You seem to disagree with your countries policies and particularly the US, but had the US not intervened, the Balkans would still be at war today.
The same thing is with Bosnia, maybe even Croatia.
The US intervention and their involvement in the Balkans was crucial and irreplaceable.
Those who accuse the US for Balkan interference are those who Executed 8000 Muslims man and Boys in Srebrenica.
Are those who were shutting at children while they were playing, those who killed people, as they were quing to buy bread.
These were Serbs (blessed by Russia), who did not want US to get involved because they did not support their project to form a Great Serbia.
Sadly they did achieve something. 49% of Bosnia was taken away by Serbia. This territory is more than two and half Kosova.
Serbia people today still support such bloodthirsty projects.

For Kosova Serbs the 5% of Kosova population, their future is within Kosova, we are granting rights that no other country in the World gives their minorities of such miniature percentage.

Our fight our course continues to win the deserved freedom.
Remember this saying of your than leader:

“WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER “He said than

UNTIL KOSOVA BECOMES INDEPENDENT, We are saying now.

I wake up each morning and read B92 to find out what is happening in Kosovo. Alot of the time i am laughing my butt off and sometimes mad enough to chew nails. Some of the commenters speak of K_albanians being forced to leave there homes. Well they sure aren't trying hard to come back are they? During the summer time you see all of these BMW's, Mercedes and other high priced cars riding around kosovo. Those who left are making a good living abroad and why should they come back to where power outage or rampant, lack of jobs and infrastructure? Who ever wrote they could not come back should remove there head from the sand. to live abroad making good money, no POWER OUTAGES and other postiive area other than living in Kosovo. Yeah right if they wanted to come back they would. But they don't but they come to the forums and write about how good kosovo is and they would fight for Kosovo sure they would sit on there butts in Europe and make a living and send money via western union to there families in Kosovo. LOL i find this so humorous. Now the Serbs protest and demand self determeination now everyone thinks they are spending money that could make there lives better give me a break. They have the right to protest was it violent no, they had a right to gather and show there displeasure. Did UNMIK have to tear gas them to break it up? No they obeyed the law and assembled peaceful and went back to there homes. Everyone has a right to be free so the Serbs of North Kosovo want to be free is that a problem???

@femi:

that´s the problem.. I guess you are even proud of it when saying " the kla was and is us"...

a bunch of chickenthieves that was first labeled as terrorist by the US-administration, and later on changed to "freedomfighters" as they were useful idiots for the american political goals...

you should let this fanatism behind, but, I think it´s useless telling you that, since your obsession with a greater Albania seems to take away all your senses...

«As a matter of fact the Serbs should appologize first, since they committed the harshest crimes.»

I've been repeating this for years, and the Serbs seem to not understand the signification of the term responsability .

Louie, albanians have been putting Serbs through misery for hundreds of years so deal with it. And there is a place for Albanians..they are welcome to stay in Serbia (Kosovo) AFTER WHAT PUTIN JSUT SAID, KOSOVO ISNT GOING ANYWHERE!!! CHEERIO

Hey Jovo:
You talking about greater Albnia and how obsessed we Albanians are with that idea.
When comes to greater, Serbs are projecting that since they landed in the Balkans my friend, always occupying and expanding at the expense of the others.
The Albanian idea is not the greater Albaia, it is the idea of the Natural Albania, that is the lands that belong to them since the beggining of time, stipped away from them by the sharks of the Balkans with the help of the European powers, who finally realizing that what they did was wrong idea, giving Albanian lands to the wrong people.
Hey history is like a ladder, sometimes you on the top of it, sometimes you fall all the way to the bottom.

J.Ham: Your hate towards Albanians has no boundaries. It is clear by the way you write your posts.

Let me tell you why so many Albanians are abroad. The main reason for them to leave was because your Serbs did it through economic pressure forcing them out of Kosova, but that was another failed Serbain project to empty Kosova from large number of people.
And yes they drive Mercedes and BMW,as a matter of fact I am one of them, and proud of it, I made it with my own tireless efforts, i will by another BMW soon, right after the tax season, i made enough money with my tax preparation practice, you drive a Yugo if you find one, that way you'll bolster Serbias economy.

Free at last Kosova Independent.
Peace to all peace loving people.

10,000 rally in Kosovska Mitrovica

Maybe they were 10.000 participants, but they are not serious: yesterday, I’ve been told by my relatives in Mitrovica that the Serbs in Northern part of Mitrovica are selling their own apartments and all immovable property and that a lot of Albanians from south are very much interested for this chance. They told me also that Serbian government halted buying the Albanians property.
So, what’s the purpose of that rally with 10.000 participants?!

Reports of 10,000 Serbs in Mitrovica protesting for "their rights." 22 busloads of those supposed 10,000 came into Kosovo from Southern Serbia, a rally organized by whom we wonder... And, I also wonder, has anyone read Ahtisaari's plan? It offers more rights for K-Serbs that for any other minority I have ever seen anywhere in the world. Everyone would be better off staying home, reading the plan, and planning for the future.

I hope this gathers pace and many can show the Embassy that the Athisarri plan stinks like rotten eggs - 2 weeks is enough time to prepare the eggs.

I just wanna suggest the money that you will spend during this two weeks period to take people to Belgrade and back, and all other expenses you can invest in other better projects. Guys, I think you cant see, Kosovo is gone, back to reality, and build your future. Nothing is not up to us or you guys, the big BOSSES decided US,UK.....just like they do all around the world.


Hoti, Kosovo

I hope that the Serbs in Kosovo realize that Kosovo is just as Albanian as Serbia in Serbian. Their protest is a loss of energy and time.

Quote:
Nothing is not up to us or you guys, the big BOSSES decided US, UK.....just like they do all around the world.
---
That’s exactly why we shouldn’t give it away. See we never liked Bosses in our history.
And we at least have enough rotten and other eggs…

Hopefully, with high attendance (seeing the importance of this), Serbians need to deliver a message with mass protests by the people.

Hoti - I am not Serbian but I have been following events very closely, and things are certainly not that clear cut. It is by no means certain that Kosovo will be carved off from Serbia and made independent. The precedent is just too dangerous for the entire global political situation.
Also, people in Kosovo who are not Albanian Serbs (ie. Albanians living in Serbia, such as yourself) are fully entitled to protest. Isn't a 'multi-ethnic' democracy what you are after??!

Protests of Serbs in Mitrovica,unhappy employees with their pay, strike in Belgrade,motorway at Sabac blocked,to me it looks like nothing has changed in Serbia.On the other hand Israel supports Independence of Kosova,Spain is changing their mind even Rumania is saying that they support Lord Ahtisaari's plan for Kosova.Week is getting better and better.The only thing I will miss from Serbia is "Plazma Keks".Cheerio.

Kate,
Nobody denied the right to protest. It was an advice from Hoti, not to spend money and energy on useless protests, while those efforts can be more usefull on building something nice for serbs in Kosovo

That is the point though Hermon. The Serbs do have have something nice (UNESCO sites for example) in Kosovo and they are well within their rights to protest about keeping it and not letting the remaining parts of their heritage be destroyed.

How many Serbian Orthodox Churches have been destroyed? Over 100. How many Serbs are still unable to go back to their homes in Kosovo? Please don't try and make it all sound so 'nice'.

"Lord Ahtisaari" hahahaha!!!! A lot of people posting comments are sounding pretty uneducated. As for the "big Bosses"... Serbs dont have to answer to them, THEY are the ones asking US to give up Kosovo!

Ahtisaari’s plan is met by ‘thousands’ of protesters who can’t possibly accept the breakaway region, Kosova, from gaining its deserved independence?
Where were these protesters in 1998, 1999? Not one Serbian official, to this day, has yet come out to express sorrow, to say the least, for what has happened in Kosova during the war. Furthermore, in an attempt to reverse the argument by debating ‘reasons’ as to why Kosova shouldn’t be independent, Belgrade intends to demonize the victim, here. Eight years later, Serbs don’t want to let go of Kosova! Serbia is not losing anything for Kosova was historically never their land.
Kosova is expected to gain independence, be it individually or Security Council approved. Its citizens, regardless of nationality, will no longer fear mass exodus or murder by a country that was lead by a modern day Hitler. As for the ‘rotten eggs’ argument by some in this commentary, the world knows who did just that in his Hague jail cell waiting to face justice he denied to millions. It’s a shame, for a lack of better word, for the people of Serbia to have had elected such a person then. But some things take time to change, as January’s elections exemplified-as the majority of voters in Serbia supported outright radical nationalists who are willing to go as far as to isolate the nation from the entire region and even Europe! Unbelievable and absolutely absurd! Unfortunately, for those who do want change and democracy in Serbia and want to move on with the rest of the civilized world, time seems to have trouble shifting gears.

Isn't a 'multi-ethnic' democracy what you are after??!
-----------------------------

Who gave you that ludicrous idea? How is a society 'multi-ethnic' when it is over 90% homogenous.

But you are right: it makes no sense to have 2 Albanian states.

Lets repeat this again....Kosovo isnt really that multi-ethnic because Albanians have been been expelling Serbs for decades and decades! Part of the Albanian plan, and we can also blame Tito.

Another thing, how can you say that Kosovo doesnt belong to Serbia? SHOW US PROOF BESIDES WHAT A ALBANIAN WROTE!!!!! THE OLDEST STRUCTURES ARE ALL SERBIAN. LET ME GUESS, SERBS STOLE THAT TOO?? ITS COMICAL AS TO HOW THE ALBANIANS THINK THEY ARE OWED EVERYTHING WHEN IN FACT, THEY HAVE BEEN STEALING LAND AND HISTORY FOR CENTURIES

Kate, It’s absolutely irrelevant whether you are Serb or not, you obviously are partially blinded since you can't see clearly what's going on. . You fail to mention that there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of K Albanians still refuge throughout the world unable to return to Kosovo because all they had was ruined by Serbia during 1998/99. At least some of the Serbs have decided to sell their assets and settle in Serbia for a better life.

All citizens of Kosovo should be able to return back if they wish to do so.

Churches were destroyed so were the mosques . I am pleased that the Kosovo government has decided to rebuild them and also start building new Catholic & protestant churches commencing with the St Mother Theresa’s cathedral in central Prishtina. It was the Serbian nationalism who destroyed everything between 1980 - 1999. . Kosovo cannot become a precedent because it is very unique case, 8 years under the protection of the UN.

Serbia should compensate for all the destruction they’ve caused and seek reconciliation by accepting Kosovo as their new neighbour state.

Kosovo /a will get some form of independence very soon

This decision has been made on January 2006

Kosovo isnt really that multi-ethnic because Albanians have been been expelling Serbs for decades and decades!
-----------------------------

Really? When? How many? How did the logistics work?

You keep harping on these allegations when they have absolutely no bearing on the ground.

The serbs leave today because Kosovo is a destitute province. The serbs leave today because they were complicit in crimes against their neighbor.

that's why the Serbs leave. Dont blame this on the legitimate anger of a bunch of Albanian peasants.

Bill - there were demostrations in 1998 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/67443.stm - But some things take time to change like you telling the truth..."Outright radical nationalists" did not win a majority in Serbia's recent election. They only got 28%.

Noel - there was many K-Albanians around Europe prior to 1999 so that is spurious argument that you make. Some Serbs have decided to sell their assets, but not out of any real choice and many others houses are now occupied.

kreshnik - There is plenty of evidence of Serbs being forcibly expelled and kidnapped. Also many Serbs left during the 1980s due to Albanian dominance of the provincial government.

Noel - I know where you're coming from on this issue and it would be unlikely to hear anything pro-Serbian from you. But I am not as biased as you seem to think.
I am aware that there was great suffering among the Kosovo Albanian people, and that many have been displaced and remain in poverty. Many also remain terrified of the KLA under whatever name it goes by now.
But the fact is that thanks to unprecented journalistic bias, any sort of defence or support of Serbs, or the telling of their mass suffering in Kosovo, can only be a fair thing. Why aren't I allowed to present the perspective from the opposite side to the mass media? I've never heard this from you.

http://serbblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/kosovo-needs-your-help.html

What sorrows in the history of Kosovo led to the exodus, under duress of NATO air war, of nearly a million ethnic Albanians, from March to June, 1999? Kosovo, in southern Serbia, is the cradle of Serb culture and identity. Ancient monasteries and nunneries of the Serbian Orthodox Church are there. During World War II, Nazi and Fascist occupiers of the Balkans administered Albania and neighboring Kosovo as one unit. A "Greater Albania" was promised sympathizers as reward for complicity with the Hitlerites. After the Partisans, led by Marshal Tito, expelled the Axis powers from the Peninsula in 1941, the province of Kosovo reverted to Serbia. But that dream of a Greater Albania, for some, never died.

Strategically, Kosovo is rich in coal and gas. Tito encouraged Albanian migration up into Kosovo, his objective being to integrate and mix well the various nationalities of Yugoslavia, thereby discouraging racist or separatist tendencies. But Tito's Kosovo policy failed to create parity. He did not anticipate the consequences of neighboring Albania's perennial poverty, the porous border, and Muslim families' higher average birthrate (six births per mother). By 1990, 85% of Kosovo was ethnic Albanian and 15% were Roma (gypsies) and ethnic Serbs.

Another contributor to population imbalance in Kosovo is decades of harassment of the Serb minority by certain factions of Albanian society. Serbs have been victims of murder, rape, robbery, and industrial sabotage (National Catholic Reporter, 6/18/99). The intimidation is intended to drive Serbs out of Kosovo. Indeed, between 1966 and 1989, 130,000 Serbs left Kosovo for good. The New York Times quoted a Kosovar official in 1982 explaining the harassment's objective is "an ethnically clean Albanian republic and merger to form a greater Albania." For the next seven years, the Nexis database attributes to Albanian nationalists each use of the terms "ethnic cleansing" or "ethnically clean." The Times reported in November 1987 that Muslim officials "have manipulated regulations to take land belonging to Serbs... Wells have been poisoned and crops burned... As Slavs flee the protracted violence, Kosovo is becoming an ethnically pure Albanian region."

A foundation for poor relations was.laid in 1952 when an Interior Minister and his secret police began terrorizing Kosovars. Tito sacked the minister in 1966 and began to redress the situation. In 1974, a new constitution granted increased autonomy to Kosova (the Albanian spelling will be used interchangeably here). By 1980, a Pristina University professor proclaimed, "Not a single minority in the world has achieved the rights the Albanian nationality enjoys in socialist Yugoslavia!" (New Military Humanism, Chomsky, p.24, 1999) But with Tito's death that year, the situation began to deteriorate. Relations between Muslims and Slavs and Muslims' ties to the Federation grew increasingly strained. Austere debt "restructuring" imposed on Yugoslavia by the International Monetary Fund cut-off most of Belgrade's financial support to Kosovo, worsening matters. University riots broke out in 1981 and dozens were killed. In 1982, a twelve-year-old Serb boy was set on fire. In 1985, a Serb policemen was mutilated. In 1987, an Orthodox nunnery was burned down. The Kosova independence movement was heating up.

In 1987, then-Communist Party chair, Slobodan Milosevic, gave a key speech at the most sacred Serbian cultural site in Kosovo, warning that Serbia would never let Kosovo go. That prophetic declaration sent shudders through the Yugoslav republics which, under increased economic duress, were considering looser confederation with, if not separation from, Belgrade. The Kosova resistance remained intransigent and in 1989, Milosevic abolished Kosovo's autonomous status. He fired a hundred thousand ethnic Albanian workers and banned the use of their language in schools. Dozens more died protesting these proscriptions.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
A fascinating twist then developed in the annals of Balkan history: a Gandhian non-violent movement led by Muslim intellectual Ibrahim Rugova. In late 1990, eschewing force, Kosova declared herself independent, although still "within the framework of Yugoslavia." Rugova was elected "President of The Republic of Kosova" with 99% of the Islamic vote. A dozen parallel governmental, educational and medical structures were created for Muslim society. Patriarchal patterns were reexamined and 2,000 "blood feuds" publicly reconciled by 1992. Milosevic tolerated (or ignored) the movement.

In early 1991, the West abruptly recognized the secessions of Slovenia and Croatia, without discussions on the fate of the Serb minorities there. When Muslim Kosova voted for sovereignty, Albania immediately recognized the prospective state. Serbs were skittish and it was hoped they would pull up stakes and migrate north. It may come as a surprise that the United States -- bombing not withstanding -- has never advocated Kosova's independence. Montenegro, Greece, and Macedonia each contain large Albanian minorities. The U.S. has not wished to encourage ethnic Albanian uprisings threatening stability in those states.

But eight years' non-violent action got Albanian Kosovars virtually nowhere in international circles, nor onto the map. They were politely ignored and then betrayed by NATO states. Rugova and delegation were relegated to a side room with TV monitor at a United Nations Balkans crises conference in London (Lessons from Kosovo, Chomsky, p.25, 1999). Neither the Dayton Accords nor Rambouillet (the negotiations preceding recent bombing) offered to legitimize Kosova independence. Only the return of autonomy under Belgrade was ever proposed. "The reward for non-violence was international neglect" (Current History, p.277, 4/99).

Rugova visited Washington in 1993 pleading for mediation of the worsening conflict with the central government. He went away empty-handed and grew retiring in his leadership of the non-violent movement. Rather than maintain the momentum of huge civil demonstrations of the early nineties, Rugova called less frequently for actions. Having guided the creation and sustenance of alternative universities and social services, he stalled expanding independent economic development and nixed possible alternatives to immediate independence, such as phased changes in constitutional status. Popular organizations continued to take non-violent resistance to the streets, right to the bitter end last spring. Students and professors initiated marches joined by hundreds of thousands. Throughout 1997 and 1998, streets would fill with men waving branches and women bearing loaves of bread to Serb refugees from other republics. Sit-ins packed the squares. The example of Gandhi's legendary patience was not lost on the ethnic Albanian peace movement.

THE KLA IS BORN
Yet not being included in the Dayton negotiations, where Milosevic represented Serbia, had broken many a pacifist's heart in Kosova. An armed guerrilla movement awaited those who lost patience. Formed from the decades-old Albanian resistance, with roots in large rural clans, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, or UCK in Albanian) grew rapidly. The armed revolt was funded by the Albanian diaspora and through drug dealings. According to the State Department, the KLA controls Afghani heroin routes into Zurich. The guerrillas partly trained with Pentagon contractors, Military Professional Resources, Inc., using weapons transferred from Bosnia in 1996, according to retired Army Colonel David Hackworth in a Fox Network interview. Militant Islamics in Iran and Pakistan also provided early training to the insurgents (A History of Kosovo, Miranda Vickers, 1998). Much of the KLA's armament was gleaned during Albania's social chaos in 1996, when collapsing pyramid schemes wiped out most Albanians' life savings. During the disorder, state armories were opened and pilfered.

KLA/UCK attacks on Serbs in Kosovo began in 1996. Postal workers, forest service employees, municipal police, and ethnic Albanian "traitors" (those who worked cooperatively with Serbs) were targeted. In February, simultaneous bombs went off in five refugee camps in Kosovo housing victims of the recent cleansing of Krajinan Serbs from Croatia. The KLA, 40,000 strong, controlled a third of Kosova. With another ambush of Serbian police, the Yugoslav federal government decided to go to war. Fighting began near villages assumed sympathetic to the KLA. These rural areas swapped hands repeatedly as federal and guerrilla forces ebbed and surged.

In 1998, 10,000 Serbian Interior police (later the notorious "ethnic cleansers" during NATO bombing) entered the fray. Still, U.S. envoy Robert Gelbard declared the KLA "without any question a terrorist group." Milosevic apparently interpreted Washington's opinion as a green light to vanquish the rebels. A 50-person massacre among the Jashari clan, a "roots" family of the KLA, ignited a general uprising in the countryside. Summer saw villages torched in Serb offensives, but KLA territory gradually increased.

In October 1998, the U.S. arranged a ceasefire. Serb troops withdrew a prescribed distance; the zone was to remain demilitarized. But KLA forces advanced and resupplied these positions within hours. The breaking point came on January 15, when 45 ethnic Albanians were killed, apparently by Serb forces in the village of Recak, "at a time when human rights violations were occurring on both sides" (The New Yorker, 5/10/99). Threatened with NATO bombing, the belligerents came to the table at Rambouillet, France, beginning two months of deliberations. The agenda: Where do we go from here?

http://www7.taosnet.com/amistad/yugo3.html

http://www.salon.com/news/1999/03/31newsa.html
KRESHNIK,

LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ME TO PASTE ANY MORE LINKS FOR YOU? BUT I THINK THERE IS PLENTY OF READING MATERIAL FOR YOU RIGHT HERE!

I'm afraid after much long debate, I am going to have to side with the Albanians living in Serbia, who are trying to make part of Serbia their own Country. However, I dont think we should stop there. I think the Egyptians, along with many others such as Indians (in India) and the Turks should fallow the footsteps of the other WONDERFUL people who have done the same as what the Serbs are asked of, and give a vast portion of their land back to other Countries who have occupied them at one point. Such as the Native Americans Gratiously giving all there wonderful land to us here in the U.S. don't worry Mexicans I wont leave you out. You were great in just giving up the lower half of our Country (US). So please the rest of the World why not do the same. Egypt I make this plee. Why not give a small portian of your country back to France, India you know that the Dutch desearve a piece of the pie too. And Turkey, come on you cant tell me you guys built all those Christian Cathedrals.After all it did belong to them at one point or another and dont get me wrong, I know it will be difficult. After all you dont have the funding terrorist groups in your country to help force a decision for you. And to those brave countries who are wanting a piece of what's "apparently" rightfully yours and your wanting to help force them to make a decision sooner, talk to the Albanians they can surely help you get in touch with Al Qaeda. I hear they've offered to help Albanians with their "Dipplomatic" progress. (Brooklyn Connection).

10,000 Serb protesters in Mitrovica, yeh right! The international press reported there were fewer than 1,000.
However, it's irrelevant, even if there were one million demonstrators it would not change a thing. Kosova is independent!!!

The rest of the world has a very long memory. No one will ever forget, seeing on TV, ONE MILLION Albanians forced out of Kosova in 1999 with the whole world watching. Their documents destroyed to deny them proof of citizenship, robbed of their personal belongings and money by their Serb neighbors and police. Thousands of Albanians killed including women, children and the elderly. Rapes commited by Serb Paramilitary on Albanian girls and women, in of all places, "sacred" Serbian Orthodox Churches used as "rape motels".

And you Serbs wonder why Albanians demand Kosova be Independent!

I have to agree with Bill on one thing.
"for those who do want change and democracy in Serbia and want to move on with the rest of the civilized world, time seems to have trouble shifting gears."
We, Serbs, DO HAVE TROUBLE SHIFTING GEARS.
It's clearly visable throught the 20th century. Take WW2 for example. Instead moving along the lines with other civilised people like Albnians, Croats, Muslims in Bosnia, and entire surrounding, Serbs decided to fight Germans.
We can think of it any way we want, but historically, this was a great mistake. It has been repeated several times in the last century. We have to move with the times.

I feel very sorry about them, hopefully they were as officials say "peaceful" but still I don't justify their parolls.
Let's see tomorrow, its 10th of January, and I sincerely hope that every thing goes peacefully.
When talking about history I only remember Agrary reform, Serbs got hundred of hectares of land whereas Albanians packed their things and went in Turkey (estimates are that around 4 million Albanians are currently in Turkey). They were from Kosovo. My grandfather was one of them. There are areas in Turkey where children's first words in Turkish are learned at school.

Ahtisari proposal will not be implemented if majority of people in Kosova do not want. According to indications, that proposal will change. 58 pages in that proposal, the word Albanian is not mentioned, the word Serbs is mentioned at least 5 times in each page. According to that proposal, there is only one church in Kosova, people know that there is one other church also that is Catholic church, let's not take into account the Mosques, that were main target during the war.

People today protested, same people who 10 years ago dropped glasses or what ever they had from the windows of apartments to the people who protested against Milosevic regime. Many of them were part of Serbian police or paramilitary forces. And now these people dear to call someone else terrorists, that's shame, disaster for a nation to which those people belong. This is valid also for some of those who provide comments in this web page.

Regards

RE: Economic Prosperity

The Albanian economy is barely ahead of the Serbian economy even with it's entire industrial based being bombed to the middle ages by NATO, that is saying something.

Serbia's economy will surpass Albanian in GDP , productivity and purchasing power in 2007.

“They will take what we still have, hospitals, schools, giving them a constitution, anthem and all our land”, Jakšić said, adding “this will not happen as we will give nothing to them”.

This guy needs to remove his head from the sand.

After seeing paragraphs attached to every article related to Kosovo, where numbers of Serbs that fled Kosovo are mentioned, I think those figures are inflated.

When you look at the number of Serbs in Kosovo, you will notice a sharp increase from the mid 90's to 1999.

Something that the government of Serbia or any individual in Serbia never mentioned is the fact that the government had a re-settlement program of all the refugees from Krajina (Croatia) to Kosova.

These poor war refugees were being dumped in Kosovo, and forced to live in schools, gymnasiums, to achieve government’s goal: change Kosovo's ethnic structure.

I have seen them residing in what used to be my high school in Prishtina. I have actually befriended many of them. I felt bad for them, knowing that they were being forced to Kosova since no one in Serbia wanted to deal with them (they openly admitted that).

Well, since they learned how much they could trust Serbian government during their Croatia experience, they left Kosovo as soon as the first NATO bomb hit the province. They were tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Krajina refugees all over Kosovo that left at that time.

These folks left first because they no longer wanted to live in a “contested” area and second, because they had no future in Kosovo (no economical prospects under the Serbian rule).

When Serb governmental and non-governmental groups throw their statistical data of “how many people were forced out of Kosovo”, they incorporate these numbers as well. That is not fair.

But again, this is Balkans. If you attempt to be fair here, people will consider you dumb or even assasinate you.

Arben, the world couldn't tell an Albanian from a Kazakh from a Moldovan from a Romanian. The world really doesn't care. It's all "that part of the world" to them. Not to belittle the horrors that did happen, but apart from the Jews and the Armenians, the world just lumps everyone else together.

By the way, show me where Serb churches were used as "rape dens" as you claim. I feel emotion is overpowering logic here.

90% homogenous??? Be Careful Kreshnik. Ethnically homogenous conjurs images of Kosovo and Metohija being inhabited by its owners. Albanians have never owned Kosovo and Metohija and never will unless its in direct violation of international laws. Sudo-Historical myth and legend that spouts the theory of a link between Illyrians and Albanians are frankly pathetic. Kosovo and Metohija is Serbian and regardless of what happens in the near future it will remain so. You would do well to remember 1912! Next time Serbs will not be so generous in her concessions. Especially if NATO is too busy to fight battles for cowards.

Kate: Have you ever lost someone due to genocidal attrocities? if not, you do not even know how it feels, so i don't even think you have a moral reason to argue about it.
I condemn burning of churches, and any other religious shrines.
To say that 100's of churches were burned it's absurd. Anyway whatever the number is, it's just not right it should be condemned to the harshest terms.
Also should be condemned the burning of Mosques by the Serbs as well, that way we can make a headway in resolving problems.
Serbian government is yet to condemn the genocidal attrocities committed against Albanians and other nations in the former Yugoslavia.
As a matter of fact the Serbs should appologize first, since they committed the harshest crimes.
As far as the right to independence.I hear a lot about the right to selfedetermination as to how bad it is and blah...blah...
Don't you people think that most of the nations gained independence in one form or another? And who is to deprive a nation of getting independence? Independence and freedom are god's given right to any nation.
And I am tired of listening that Kosova will set a pecedence, so what? Let every one who wants to be free, be free, with a set number of habitants, of let's say 500000 as a criteria.
What right does serbia have to hold hostage 2 million people?
Why the freedom of one nation should depend on someone who tried to wipe them out in it's entirety, use your heads and think rationally.
Kosova will be independent, that is as clear as the daylight, i know you do not like, but live with it.
Some even suggest that Serbia will bring it back some 50 or 100 years later, that just shows with what kind of nationalism we Albanians are faced with.
Anyway 50 or 100 years later its just an illusion and wrong prognosis, to bring Kosova back under Serbian rule.

Free at last KOSOVA

It's OK to protest but protest is not that much important. Millions of people worldwide protested war in Iraq but it didn't stop it. They (who ever want to) can declare independence and recognize it but it will not matter in a long run if Serbia does not accept it. We waited for 500 years to see Ottomans go (and we prevailed).Germans waited for almost 50 years to get East Germany back. Thingies are going much faster nowadays. Serbs simply can not give up on Kosovo not because they are stubborn but because they need to get fair arrangements and probably new borders for Serbia that will at least take Bosnian Serbs in and make partition of Kosovo. After vivisection of ex Yugoslavia it would be perfectly normal for USA , EU , UN and all Balkan actors to sit down and redefine borders fairly or we’ll have more wars in not that far future.
Even if Serbian government signs some kind of paper (and I don't see how they can legally do it) it wouldn't matter because it would be unconstitutional. Part of the Serbia is occupied and arrangements made under occupation are not legal and not working in a long run. We can wait.

The reason that albanians were cheering the bombing of Kosovo in 1999 is because it's not theirs. Nobody would cheer for the destruction of something that belongs to them. All the towns, street names, old churches, names, are all Serbian in Kosovo. Even the word 'Kosovo' comes from the Serbian word 'Kos', which is a blackbird. That's why I get a laugh out of albanians referring to it as 'Kosova', which means nothing in Serbian or albanian languages - it's humourous. The fact is, Kosovo will never belong to albanians, int never has and they know it. They are trying to take something that is not theirs. They will never succeed.

The 27th outside the US Embassy. I'll be there.

Dear Obilic,you shouldn't be so upset about me giving a title LORD to Ahtisaari.That is if Kosova were Kingdom then I bet all Kosovan Albanians would agree with me.The courage of President Ahtisaari is that he respects and considers Kosovan Albanians as a part of Europe, while you can never except that!!!For him to come up with the plan was very difficult.He said that to understand his plan you have to know the history of Kosovan Albanians after 1989.And Dear Obilic can you tell me what happened to Kosovan Albanians after 1989?!Misery,misery and more misery.And now the time has come,with our help from our friends that Kosovan Albanians have a right to live.And if you Obilic are educated enough you will understand what I mean!!!Cheerio.

Kate we are not terrified of the KLA, The KLA was and is us.
You seem to disagree with your countries policies and particularly the US, but had the US not intervened, the Balkans would still be at war today.
The same thing is with Bosnia, maybe even Croatia.
The US intervention and their involvement in the Balkans was crucial and irreplaceable.
Those who accuse the US for Balkan interference are those who Executed 8000 Muslims man and Boys in Srebrenica.
Are those who were shutting at children while they were playing, those who killed people, as they were quing to buy bread.
These were Serbs (blessed by Russia), who did not want US to get involved because they did not support their project to form a Great Serbia.
Sadly they did achieve something. 49% of Bosnia was taken away by Serbia. This territory is more than two and half Kosova.
Serbia people today still support such bloodthirsty projects.

For Kosova Serbs the 5% of Kosova population, their future is within Kosova, we are granting rights that no other country in the World gives their minorities of such miniature percentage.

Our fight our course continues to win the deserved freedom.
Remember this saying of your than leader:

“WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER “He said than

UNTIL KOSOVA BECOMES INDEPENDENT, We are saying now.

I wake up each morning and read B92 to find out what is happening in Kosovo. Alot of the time i am laughing my butt off and sometimes mad enough to chew nails. Some of the commenters speak of K_albanians being forced to leave there homes. Well they sure aren't trying hard to come back are they? During the summer time you see all of these BMW's, Mercedes and other high priced cars riding around kosovo. Those who left are making a good living abroad and why should they come back to where power outage or rampant, lack of jobs and infrastructure? Who ever wrote they could not come back should remove there head from the sand. to live abroad making good money, no POWER OUTAGES and other postiive area other than living in Kosovo. Yeah right if they wanted to come back they would. But they don't but they come to the forums and write about how good kosovo is and they would fight for Kosovo sure they would sit on there butts in Europe and make a living and send money via western union to there families in Kosovo. LOL i find this so humorous. Now the Serbs protest and demand self determeination now everyone thinks they are spending money that could make there lives better give me a break. They have the right to protest was it violent no, they had a right to gather and show there displeasure. Did UNMIK have to tear gas them to break it up? No they obeyed the law and assembled peaceful and went back to there homes. Everyone has a right to be free so the Serbs of North Kosovo want to be free is that a problem???

@femi:

that´s the problem.. I guess you are even proud of it when saying " the kla was and is us"...

a bunch of chickenthieves that was first labeled as terrorist by the US-administration, and later on changed to "freedomfighters" as they were useful idiots for the american political goals...

you should let this fanatism behind, but, I think it´s useless telling you that, since your obsession with a greater Albania seems to take away all your senses...

«As a matter of fact the Serbs should appologize first, since they committed the harshest crimes.»

I've been repeating this for years, and the Serbs seem to not understand the signification of the term responsability .

Louie, albanians have been putting Serbs through misery for hundreds of years so deal with it. And there is a place for Albanians..they are welcome to stay in Serbia (Kosovo) AFTER WHAT PUTIN JSUT SAID, KOSOVO ISNT GOING ANYWHERE!!! CHEERIO

Hey Jovo:
You talking about greater Albnia and how obsessed we Albanians are with that idea.
When comes to greater, Serbs are projecting that since they landed in the Balkans my friend, always occupying and expanding at the expense of the others.
The Albanian idea is not the greater Albaia, it is the idea of the Natural Albania, that is the lands that belong to them since the beggining of time, stipped away from them by the sharks of the Balkans with the help of the European powers, who finally realizing that what they did was wrong idea, giving Albanian lands to the wrong people.
Hey history is like a ladder, sometimes you on the top of it, sometimes you fall all the way to the bottom.

J.Ham: Your hate towards Albanians has no boundaries. It is clear by the way you write your posts.

Let me tell you why so many Albanians are abroad. The main reason for them to leave was because your Serbs did it through economic pressure forcing them out of Kosova, but that was another failed Serbain project to empty Kosova from large number of people.
And yes they drive Mercedes and BMW,as a matter of fact I am one of them, and proud of it, I made it with my own tireless efforts, i will by another BMW soon, right after the tax season, i made enough money with my tax preparation practice, you drive a Yugo if you find one, that way you'll bolster Serbias economy.

Free at last Kosova Independent.
Peace to all peace loving people.

10,000 rally in Kosovska Mitrovica

Maybe they were 10.000 participants, but they are not serious: yesterday, I’ve been told by my relatives in Mitrovica that the Serbs in Northern part of Mitrovica are selling their own apartments and all immovable property and that a lot of Albanians from south are very much interested for this chance. They told me also that Serbian government halted buying the Albanians property.
So, what’s the purpose of that rally with 10.000 participants?!

Reports of 10,000 Serbs in Mitrovica protesting for "their rights." 22 busloads of those supposed 10,000 came into Kosovo from Southern Serbia, a rally organized by whom we wonder... And, I also wonder, has anyone read Ahtisaari's plan? It offers more rights for K-Serbs that for any other minority I have ever seen anywhere in the world. Everyone would be better off staying home, reading the plan, and planning for the future.