"Serbia would win legal action over Kosovo"

Tonyt - Your reasoning that Serbia should lose Kosovo because of what happened in 1999 is not based on reality. The UN, Nato and all parties involved signed an agreement leading to Resolution 1244 which recognised the sovereignty of Serbia as a means to end the war.

That was the time to try and argue against sovereignty. Now, 9 years later, nobody can just decide to change the contents of a UN resolution and the legal sovereignty of a territory.

Alfa - Like Tony your argument has no substance. The law is very clear on this matter and there is every chance that Serbia would win such a legal battle. The EU countries know that full well, and they also know that the most dangerous opponent is one without anything to lose.

to tonyt:

So the law doesn't apply to kla right? Is that what you are saying? The kla can kill, murder, rape, kidnapp, plant bombs at cafes, bridges? Are you aware that Serbs did not start killing people first? The truth is the kla started the war with cowardly provocations! You need to accept that fact and stop playing the victim game. The real victims were and still are Serbs. I will give you one example, In 99 after nato came in to occupy Serbian KiM - albanians continued their ethnic clensing of Serbs. They tried blowing up bridges in Kosovska Mitrovica.

albanians are the real ethic clensers, not Serbs. Since 99 over 200,000 Serbs and non-albanians have been ethnically clensed from their homes! To this day they can't even return to their homes. That's disgrace. Also, today there are more albanians in KiM then in 99 - so how is this possible? Well more albanians came into KiM then had previously left. And that is a fact - they were not forced out, they left because of nato bombing and kla threats. It was the uck that forced albanians to leave in big numbers so they can show propaganda on western media outlets. So tony please stop spreading your propaganda on B92!

bler, how many 1999s were there then, let's hear it :)
and while you're at it, how many 1980s, when albanians had kosovo under 1974 continution and still staged bloody demonstrations to separate from yugoslavia
may i remind you that milosevic usurped power only 7 years later, in 1987
and then, how many
1941s
1942s
1943s
1944s
1945s
when millions of serbs died at the hands of nazis and their collaborators
and then you have 1997s and 1998s when albanian terrorists killed our people in kosovo, and anyone loyal to our state is our people to me, and albanian terrorists killed serbs and abanians alike, for which some of them are at the hague today
and how many 1999s and 2004s when serbs were driven out of their homes and our world heritage christian churches and monasteries burned and desecrated in the vilest of vile manners?
you use poor arguments to hide a century long quest to take territory legally owned by a country with a un seat and flag flying at east river;)
that illegal desire of yours did not start in 1999.
it started because kosovo was taken from albania and given to serbia?
i do not dispute that your self-inflicted basement education might have taught you that. but the facts are that there was never an Albanian state until 1912 or was it 1913? nothing was taken from you. make distinction between tribal principles that claim right to territory on the basis of ethnicity, and the european concept of states and their borders.
and was it you who said that kosovo must now make a secession because yours is not the same ethnicity and religion, and language, and whathaveyou, hairstyle, as the country kosovo belongs to? well. just as well then that kosovo in any of its forms will never join the eu. you would find the variety of nations and religions there shocking and horrible.
i won't go into how they would find you.

So Dennis,

You must support the indepedence of the Krajinian, Bosnian and Kosovo Serbs as well then. Since they suffered TRUE genocide in REAL concentration camps. Did Serbians "have all the right in this world to protect themselves by opting out of a state with a clear record of persecution and animinosity towards this population"? Or does that only apply to Albanians? Keep in mind, no one in the Balkans has a positive history of reasonable treatment towards minorities. Every ethnicity did terrible things to their minorities.

The reality is Dennis, that while the ratio of Albanian victims to Serbian victims is 10 to 1, so is the population. In addition, Serbs make up a far HIGHER per capita of the missing and ethnically cleansed as well.

Yes, Serbian forces killed approximately 2,000 Albanians in Kosovo fighting an insurgency with strong grass roots support BEFORE the bombing started. However, compared to a similar situation like Iraq, where some estimates put just the civilian death toll at 900,000, it just doesn't add up.

I'm all for the Right To Self Determination for all Serbs and all Albanians. I support partition based on agreement and compromise. However, giving all of Kosovo indepedence based solely on one-sided propaganda is only going to cause major problems in the future.

Much like the Iraq war, the bombing of Serbia was entirely based on COMPLETELY FALSE propaganda claiming 100's of thousands of Albanians were being killed in Kosovo.

Do we really want to live in a world where the deaths of only 2,000 people results in the bombing and division of a country? Just think if we applied this to every similar conflict in the world what would happen?

Should we be giving Blacks in the US their own country? They've suffered as much as the Albanians have. What about Native Americans? Their Independence movement in the 60's and 70's was brutally crushed by the American government. What about Mexico? Should Hispanic people's be allowed to use violence to support indepedence in California and Texas? If they did, would the use of force to suppress it result in granting their requests?

I'm no fan of Milosevic, but I just can not support the actions taken against Serbia for the deaths of just 2,000 people. Yes, I know the final number of deaths is higher, but the fact remains, it was all started when only 2,000 died. Although the American people were lied to and told it was 100,000. Absolutely shameful.

The Albanian claim that Kosovo deserves independence because of what happened in 1999 doesn't hold. If anything the Albanians should be punished for 1999.

The combined total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other or unknown ethnic groups.

The war only really started after the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement in 1998. Milosevic withdrew Serbian troops in accordance with the agreement and the KLA took the oppourtunity to take-over territory in Kosovo in violation of the terms of the cease-fire.

The Albanians are 90% of Kosovo's population and only 50% of the dead and missing from the war. Leaving The remaining 10% of non-Albanians to make-up the other 50% of the dead and missing.

If anything the Albanians are the ones who should be sued for war crimes in 1999.

The problem with the legal action is that the greatest outlaw of the world doesn't give a toss about the law and
thisis why they've refused to
sign to the juristiction of the court in Hague.I don't believe that legal action will have any effect.
The EU & US understand only the language of threats and
blackmail.

I think you'll find, Blero, that other European countries need to trade with Serbia as well. As throughout history, Serbia is in a strategic position in Central Europe.

You take things too far talking about Serbia not 'ruling the world' (did I say it did?) and equating the events of 1999 with the legal position 9 years later.

It may pain you to admit it, but legally Serbia is in a very strong position, even if there is a UDI and recognisition by certain EU nations. It will only ever become legal if agreed by the UN.

There is a way for this to be sorted out which is to return to proper negotiations. Serbia is meeting with and speaking to the same nations (in some cases the same leaders) involved with attacking it in 1999.

If they can find the diplomatic skills to do that, I am sure that the Kosovo Albanians can stop being so cut and dry about the whole situation and start dealing with Serbia directly.

I love how all of the sudden Serbia is interested in upholding the law through international courts.
It seems like they just brush off anything to do with forcibly expelling 1 million people and murdering of 10,000 in a period of 3 months.
Albanians should immidiatly follow up with a counter lawsuit to this nonsense
One cannot uphold the law when it is convenient- especially when it comes to premeditated murder and expulsion.

This is the joke of the Century.
Serbia's chance are=Russia suing all countries for recognizing former USSR states.

International Law says Kosovo independence is illegal. Someone please explain to me how the EU and US can possibly justify breaking international law? This has nothing to do with nationalism, or pride. Its a simple matter of fact that the LAW says Kosovo independence is ILLEGAL.

If the international community recognizes Kosovo, then they might as well throw out all the UN treaties and resolutions because they will then be worthless.

Call it KosovA, make a new flag, make a new anthem, do all you want, but the bottom line is KosovO will never be independent from Serbia. International law agrees with me, so go ahead make any arguement you want, it still wont be enough.

"Win a legal case over Kosovo"? What in the world? I mean so the hell what? What a fantastic waste of time and money. Do you really think the Kosovars who have martyred thousands and thousands of their people for freedom from oppressive Serbian rule are ever going to be ruled by Serbia again, any more than the Irish are going to be ruled by Britain, or the Algerians and Vietnamese by France, or the Poles by Russia and Germany?

Oh, but I forgot, the careers of the entire crowd of Serbian pseudo-politicians of all parties that arose out of the matrix of the "anti-bureaucratic (counter) revolution" are at stake, and chauvinism is the necessary ingredient to keep them in power and provide the masses with circuses.

Fortunately, international politics and diplomacy is not like a movie and not everything is possible. Thomas Fleiner as a CONSULTING and “expert” should play like that; he and his friends will probably get paid for by Serbian taxpayers so who cares about playing with the nationalist sentiment of Serbia’s ordinary citizens. Only a short visit to the International Tribunal for Crimes in Ex-Yugoslavia website may convince even the most incredulous of us that chances for Serbia to win this battle are NUL!

Kate,

O boy, you wish if it was only 1999.
Do you know how many 1999 have happened in Kosovo?
Did Serbia look at any legislation when the many 1999’s occurred?
Oh yes, I forgot. You are of the team that believes that any law that suits Serbia must be followed to the point. And those that don’t, well just toss them under the carpet.
Well Kate, sorry to disappoint you but Serbia does not rule the world any more.
You mentioned an opponent with nothing to lose. Well, you are wrong again.
Serbia has a loot to lose if it continues the way it is.
Who loses the most if Serbia decides to cut the links with the states that recognise Kosovo.
Sorry but the countries that will recognise Kosovo are, well almost the whole Europe.
Will Serbia decide to become an Asian Country since it will not want to deal with most of the European states?

Am curious to see so many comments about this article from albanians given that it's between Serbia & the ICJ - although is nice to see them interested in upholding the law for a change :)

I am not a lawyer, but I find it hard to believe this legal Serbian victory. How does a country who sends its army and massacres, burns, and ethnically cleanses (a fact accepted by all) a region within its territory claim full rights on this part of the population and territory? Albanians have all the right in this world to protect themselves by opting out of a state with a clear record of persecution and animinosity towards this population. And when over 45% of the Serbs vote for a nationalist hard liner - the Albanians have even a greater incentive to move away from this state. How many times should they suffer tragedies like the one during the 1999, so the world knows that Serbia is not their country.

Kate- your argument is naive and childish at best. If you want to speak about reality check it appears that you do need one. The fact of the matter is that KS will become an independent state and there is nothing you or your gvmnt can do about it.
Further, let us not forget why this resolution was brought into effect. Because of the aforementioned crimes it was imposed upon Serbia-so please spare us the upholding of the law by your state. Any average lawyer would be able to make a substantial defence based on the facts that happen.

"In an Ideal World, I say Absolutely YES. (femi, 11 February 2008 23:06)"
Then you would agree with me that partition is the only moral solution based on the crimes the Albanians of Kosovo committed against the Serbs in retaliation and before? If you look at the situation in a per capita sense, the crimes are in fact nearly equal. In my view KLA's intentions were to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Serbians and they seem to have done a pretty good job of it, unlike Milosevic. Where is the punishment for those actions?
The thing is, the crimes that occurred in Kosovo before the NATO bombing campaign really were relatively minor compared to other events around the world that happen everyday. You have to put things in perspective, and as horrible as that sounds, the World is a horrible place for the majority of its population.
Now that being said, I do feel terribly for the innocent civilians that got caught up in all of it, sometimes its very hard to differentiate between combatants and non-combatants when you have such strong grass roots support. The US made the same mistakes in Vietnam and some US soldiers should have been tried for War Crimes. Yes, some Serbs most certainly did behave in a terrible manner. I've heard enough stories from Albanians here (whom I trust) to know you guys did suffer. If it means anything to you, I'm sorry for that and I apologize. I also greatly respect those Albanians who have come forth and condemned the crimes committed against the Serbians, to me that is true bravery.
I like my Albanian friends, I think you've got a way cool flag, and I'm from a mixed clan, so you have my respect. I wish there was an easy solution, but I think both sides are going to have to some disappointments in the outcome. The reality is our people there need to be protected, and what we consider to be the cradle of our civilization should be respected.
For the time being, Serbia does have International Law on its side. In an ideal world, all crimes would be condemned and treated equally based on how terrible they actually were, not on what false claims were reported in the media. Personally, I'm disgusted that the IC only took an interest because Kosovo is in Europe. We Serbs have been demonized for two decades now for crimes that pale in comparison to what happened in places like Rwanda, where the IC couldn't care less.
Its all politics, and its sickening. The West just wants to keep the Balkans divided so they can keep control. You guys are going to end up in even worse shape than Bosnia with no real hope for a future, unless you can actually compromise instead of trying to force an illegal declaration of independence down our throats.
Personally, I'd like for it all to be over. I'd like to visit Kosovo and feel safe and know our monuments are safe as well. If we continue in this direction, its going to be decades of this nonsense. The legal system moves very very slowly...

Dear Mathew asked "Do we really want to live in a world where the deaths of only 2,000 people results in the bombing and division of a country?"

In an Ideal World, I say Absolutely YES.

Especially when the killing is organised and carried it out by the state, as it was the case with Serbia in Kosova.

In my view Milosevic’s intentions were to ethnically cleanse Kosova of Albanians.

In summer 1998, most of the Dukagjini plains and villages were emptied. The city was almost completely destroyed, and become like a ghost. Even the Serbian Church in Decani at that time accused the Serb authorities for using too much force and destroying so many Albanian homes, without much of a reason.

The only human being that reminded there were the KLA fighters. Remember, it was when Richard Holbrook went for himself to see the city and met with the only citizens which were the KLA?
This was the turning point of US politics, in favour of the Kosovo freedom. America understood what Serbs were after, they've seen all before in Bosnia.

The intervention was brilliant, to tell every country in the World, that you cannot do whet ever you can

To Smile. Your "self-inflicted basement education" shows that you (Serbs) are still the same and will remain the same, you will never accept your crimes against others and definitely there is no way you and us can live together. Species like you who deny massacres of civilians should be sent to Hague

On 26 February 2007, the International Court of Justice found Serbia guilty of having violated the Genocide Convention by its failure to prevent genocide in Bosnia and to punish those responsible.
In its judgement, the ICJ
ordered

"... that Serbia shall immediately take effective steps to ensure full compliance with its obligation under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to punish acts of genocide as defined by Article II of the Convention, or any of the other acts proscribed by Article III of the Convention, and to transfer individuals accused of genocide or any of those other acts for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and to co-operate fully with that Tribunal."

A year has passed, and Serbia has still not complied with the orders of the Court.

A government that continues to defy international law by ignoring the orders of the World Court now has little credibility when it calls on international law in defens of its own interests. If either Tadic or Kostunica were serious, they would arrest Mladic first and hand him over to The Hague, before threatening to take other countries to court for alleged violations of international law.

It is interesting enough to see how indoctrinated the some Serbian nationals are. No distinct international historian would draw himself into debate on to whom Kosovo has, is and should belong. It is sad to see to what level the Serbs can be manipulated by local historians. Let international historians say the truth, since the local historians may be biased. Nearly 100 books (from international authors), that I read, about the Balkans, approx. 95% say that Kosovo Albanians are there, together with Greeks the oldest nations in the Balkans. They have even populated a significant part of today's Serbia , even above the Nis city for centuries, before being systematically ethnically cleansed. So think twice before you discuss Kosovo at higher level. However this is just a discussion segment so anyone can express any opinion regardless of how crazy may sound. Anyway, it is very unlikely that anyone will heed Serbian government court case. As an historian I have learned, and everyone should remember that JUSTICE TAKES TIME, BUT FINALLY COMES. Kosovo finally is counting last days for justice to come.

Would this person above(presumably Albanian) who calls himself Steven O'Neill (number 35 of this thread) please learn to speak proper English before pretending to be a native English speaker!

Dennis Drennan, You're right. You are not a lawyer so you cannot comment on the legalities of this situation.

Much propaganda has passed through our news in order to get to this point. The Albanians had to be seen to be the only victims of the war in order for them to score some sort of moral victory. Legal victory was not going to be theirs as the law is clearly on Serbia's side so the west had to manipulate the news a lot to justify any sort of backing for an independence.

Unfortunately for the Albanians, even if they do have some sort of warped moral victory it is not enough to break international law over.

RE:
Would this person above(presumably Albanian) who calls himself Steven O'Neill (number 35 of this thread) please learn to speak proper English before pretending to be a native English speaker!
(Marko G, 13 February 2008 11:03)

you're far too concerned with how it's presented vesus the messsage within the text. read the writing on the wall because the rest of the civilized world has placed it in super BOLD print!
(mark, 13 February 2008 16:59)

Mark, let me bolden it up for you. The person who claims to be Steven O'Neill, historian, is neither a historian, nor a Steven O'Neill. He's a fraud. Just like the rest of the Albanian nationalist propaganda your supposedly 'civilised' world has chosen to swallow.

And one thing that everyone seems to have swallowed is the idea that the Albs were victims of ethnic cleansing rather than perpetrators of it. The war in 1999 saw atrocities against all ethnic groups. But even leaving out their ‘cleansing’ of Kosovo’s Serbians under the Ottoman, Nazi and NATO Empires, the Albanians under the Communists emptied Kosovo of 120,000-plus Serbians and other non-Albs just in the period from 1961-1981. In peacetime. Before “Slobba”. “Ethnic cleansing” being the phrase they coined to describe it. People should stop apologising to the Albanians. Their nationalists have run their show for nightmare decades. And collective apologies they really do not deserve.

If one listens to the lawyers risks that all his life to pass in the courts

better to listen the youngs of the belgrade phylo faculty, don't you think?

Smile,

1. Serbia is in one way or another responsible for the most horrific crimes committed against humanity since the WW2. When you accept this fact we can discuss any wrongdoings towards Serbia.
2. This is from a basement education services to “Milosevic school of history”. Since Kosovo became a part of the Serbia, every year has been 1999.
3. When are you going to understand one very simple fact: You need to have the power to inflict any harm. Now, (with your “non basement” high education) can you please give me any time that Kosovo Albanians had the power in their hands (I know that I will be reading about the infamous SS Skanderbeg from you).
4. You obviously never lived in Kosovo. So please spare me of your observations from the high up. I was there in the 70s,80s,90s and 2000s. You can sell your views to tourists.
5. 1974 – I know that this has always been the thorn in Serbia’s eyes. It was the only time that Albanians were close to being equal to Serbs. And you didn’t like it.

Yeah, start the lawsuit and sent it to Milosevic and his fellows at the Hague while youre at it. The only good chance for you to win in any case is a free drink in Kosova after it declares its independence. Peace out.

to Matthew:

you shouldn´t take comments like this one from " dennis drennan" too serious...

if someone has not the guts to write a comment under his real identity..whad can you expect from that dude?

so, keep that in mind, when you answer some naive comments here..

some of them simply aren´t worth it.

Much of the purported atrocities by Serbs has been dispelled, albeit not on front page headline news of major newspapers. Solid reporting of the events in recent Serbian events get the backpage lower corner correction page. It has been proven that much of the reported atrocities were false, from the AP photographs to the claims of genocide. Hundreds of thousands of Serbs went to their deaths during WWII along with the other victims of the Holocaust. Albanians sided witht the militant Fascist groups and the Nazis against my people. Just like the naysayers of the Holocaust, the Albanians know their game, check out their websites, the surveys ask: "what country should the Albanians take over next?... Macedonia? Bulgaria? This story is about oil, about money, about who is going to get the control over the region. Unfortunately law stands to sort this out. Not accusations. Those of you who think Albanian are entitled will see how Albanian terrorist thugs will run a government. It is an illusion that Kosovo Albanian institutions can live up to norms of civilized society. these people are committing crimes far greater than those they were allegedly subjected to, right before our very eyes - yet we are asked by their apologists to cave in to demands of political extortion stemming from terrorism. If we do so, the lesson will not be lost on scores of rogue elements around the globe, our painstaking efforts in the war on terror having been delivered a fatal blow.

Kate

I think that you are right.
Nothing to loose than time! If you can afford it … up to your country! Kosovo clearly can’t afford it. So go your way!

Village-Bey,

I liked your artwork the other day.

I agree that an unacceptable percentage of civilians were killed or injured. However, if any conflict where violent separatists have such strong support grass roots support of the local population its often difficult to separate the two at all times. That happened in Vietnam and is happening currently in Iraq. As a stated, worst case estimates for Iraq go up to around 900,000 Iraqi civilians killed, moderate estimates are 200,000-300,000.

If the US can not avoid 100’s of thousands of deaths in Iraq, why was Serbia bombed for what was in reality a relatively mild death rate?

Of course, Serbia’s actions after the bombing started were terrible. However, if we are to apply the same reasoning behind the bombing to all conflicts the world over, no government would be able to react to violent actions taken by members of the population.

I remain unconvinced that Serbia was exclusively targeting civilians only before the bombing started.

Anyway, I am not saying that Serbia was completely innocent in all of this, clearly they made mistakes, big mistakes. However, the KLA does share in the responsibility for what happened. Its just not the case that it was a completely one sided affair where Serbs were the Bad Guys exclusively. Its not like the Jews and the Nazi’s where the Jews never attacked anyone and had no military forces.

I just think Serbia should be judged in relation to other conflicts in the world. 30,000 were killed in Turkey’s fight with the PKK. Why isn’t anyone bombing Turkey? The only reason is hypocritical politics.

total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other
---…--

Brian do you have a source for this?
Thanks
(craig, 12 February 2008 04:20)

Brian obviously being too busy to respond, let me do so on his behalf.
- Source: Humanitarian Law Center. One of the Western-financed, Belgrade-based organisations usually cited by Western media as credible in discussions about Serbia and the Balkans. Anyone got a problem with it now?

Dear Mathew,
The first thing that teach you about statistic and politics it to be sceptical about the figures and how they are presented. Your figures per capita rightly focus on the killing figures for Kosovo and you argue that on proportionality both sides are equally to blame. The flip side of your argument is that even if we take your figures at face value, Albanian los of life would spreads very unevenly for the actual Serbian population of Kosova. That would mean that prior to NATO intervention 1 Albanian death corresponds to 200 Serb inhabitants. After the conflict had finished the ratio jumps right up to 1 Albanian death to 20 Serbs inhabitants.
The huge qualitative difference here is that in 1998 war prime targets Serbian military machine were civilians. It is all about intention of the state that supposedly was there to protect rights of the same citizens.
We have fought god knows how many times with Montenegrins and generally our battles have been based on a certain code of honour. Contrary to that, the last war waged on us by the Serbs was anything but honourable hence our desire to separate.

Serbia is in no position to win any case at this moment in the world court. Not even 80% chance, either.

That world court gave Serbia a 'freebie' when they voted 5-4 not guilty of genocide in Bosnia but failure to stop the genocide of 8000 men in Srebrenica.

total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other
----------------------

Brian do you have a source for this?
Thanks

"and they also know that the most dangerous opponent is one without anything to lose."

Yes, if the opponent had substance that would make it dangerous. Otherwise, it's just suicide for the opponent.

hey, go ahead with your legal case, blgd. you have no chance of winning, but i believe in court cases, and getting it "all" out in the open, in front of the world. we, the pro-democracy, pro independence side will have our own court cases, believe me, over which you will have no control. see you in court.

i hate to bring this teeny little fact up (again!) but you need to turn over your indicted war criminals. and if i read one more time that their wherabouts are yet unknown, i will scream so loudly you will hear me all the way from san francisco to serbia. funny about international law...

robert-0 from frisco

Kate,
Heaven forbid you let the facts get in the way of your personal opinion. Another point you should keep in mind in that a large portion of Serbia’s parliament today are nationalists. What makes you think that the rest of the world will appease them in lieu of atrocities committed by these like minded people?! 1244 will be null & void come Sunday.

total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other
---…--

Brian do you have a source for this?
Thanks
(craig, 12 February 2008 04:20)

ofcourse he has sources and those sources are belgrade and serbianna.com & with sources like that, i suspect strides by leaps & bounds.

I always had my doubts about this Thomas Fleiner fellow. A federalist expert advising a unitary state, something just doesn’t add up.
All this business of international relations has one main end goal: Making approximate predictions so the respective country can adjust as best as it cans to the possible outcomes. Serbia got every possible prediction wrong. Wrong when outstripped Kosova of its autonomy. Wrong when it introduced discriminatory laws. Wrong when it decided that things would remain quiet as long as Serbia had total military control. Wrong when it did not to take advantage of a passive resistance. Wrong when it contemplated of solving this issue through military and final means. Wrong again when it thought that sovereignty rights would be enough to claim a territory.

Credit when is due, Serbia achieved our desired political mobilisation and maturity that was probably not happening at the time. Every action has a reaction and this must be the ultimate reverse action.
People familiar with the institution of marriage I’m sure will understand although I have a gut feeling that we are a minority in here.

Perhaps this should read

"Kosovo Albanian victims would win legal action over Serbia"

I’m sure the Serbian taxpayer has it in his/her capacity to meet these costs.

Would this person above(presumably Albanian) who calls himself Steven O'Neill (number 35 of this thread) please learn to speak proper English before pretending to be a native English speaker!
(Marko G, 13 February 2008 11:03)

you're far too concerned with how it's presented vesus the messsage within the text. read the writing on the wall because the rest of the civilized world has placed it in super BOLD print!

I love how all of the sudden Serbia is interested in upholding the law through international courts.
It seems like they just brush off anything to do with forcibly expelling 1 million people and murdering of 10,000 in a period of 3 months.
Albanians should immidiatly follow up with a counter lawsuit to this nonsense
One cannot uphold the law when it is convenient- especially when it comes to premeditated murder and expulsion.

I am not a lawyer, but I find it hard to believe this legal Serbian victory. How does a country who sends its army and massacres, burns, and ethnically cleanses (a fact accepted by all) a region within its territory claim full rights on this part of the population and territory? Albanians have all the right in this world to protect themselves by opting out of a state with a clear record of persecution and animinosity towards this population. And when over 45% of the Serbs vote for a nationalist hard liner - the Albanians have even a greater incentive to move away from this state. How many times should they suffer tragedies like the one during the 1999, so the world knows that Serbia is not their country.

"Win a legal case over Kosovo"? What in the world? I mean so the hell what? What a fantastic waste of time and money. Do you really think the Kosovars who have martyred thousands and thousands of their people for freedom from oppressive Serbian rule are ever going to be ruled by Serbia again, any more than the Irish are going to be ruled by Britain, or the Algerians and Vietnamese by France, or the Poles by Russia and Germany?

Oh, but I forgot, the careers of the entire crowd of Serbian pseudo-politicians of all parties that arose out of the matrix of the "anti-bureaucratic (counter) revolution" are at stake, and chauvinism is the necessary ingredient to keep them in power and provide the masses with circuses.

Fortunately, international politics and diplomacy is not like a movie and not everything is possible. Thomas Fleiner as a CONSULTING and “expert” should play like that; he and his friends will probably get paid for by Serbian taxpayers so who cares about playing with the nationalist sentiment of Serbia’s ordinary citizens. Only a short visit to the International Tribunal for Crimes in Ex-Yugoslavia website may convince even the most incredulous of us that chances for Serbia to win this battle are NUL!

This is the joke of the Century.
Serbia's chance are=Russia suing all countries for recognizing former USSR states.

To Smile. Your "self-inflicted basement education" shows that you (Serbs) are still the same and will remain the same, you will never accept your crimes against others and definitely there is no way you and us can live together. Species like you who deny massacres of civilians should be sent to Hague

Kate,

O boy, you wish if it was only 1999.
Do you know how many 1999 have happened in Kosovo?
Did Serbia look at any legislation when the many 1999’s occurred?
Oh yes, I forgot. You are of the team that believes that any law that suits Serbia must be followed to the point. And those that don’t, well just toss them under the carpet.
Well Kate, sorry to disappoint you but Serbia does not rule the world any more.
You mentioned an opponent with nothing to lose. Well, you are wrong again.
Serbia has a loot to lose if it continues the way it is.
Who loses the most if Serbia decides to cut the links with the states that recognise Kosovo.
Sorry but the countries that will recognise Kosovo are, well almost the whole Europe.
Will Serbia decide to become an Asian Country since it will not want to deal with most of the European states?

Kate- your argument is naive and childish at best. If you want to speak about reality check it appears that you do need one. The fact of the matter is that KS will become an independent state and there is nothing you or your gvmnt can do about it.
Further, let us not forget why this resolution was brought into effect. Because of the aforementioned crimes it was imposed upon Serbia-so please spare us the upholding of the law by your state. Any average lawyer would be able to make a substantial defence based on the facts that happen.

On 26 February 2007, the International Court of Justice found Serbia guilty of having violated the Genocide Convention by its failure to prevent genocide in Bosnia and to punish those responsible.
In its judgement, the ICJ
ordered

"... that Serbia shall immediately take effective steps to ensure full compliance with its obligation under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to punish acts of genocide as defined by Article II of the Convention, or any of the other acts proscribed by Article III of the Convention, and to transfer individuals accused of genocide or any of those other acts for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and to co-operate fully with that Tribunal."

A year has passed, and Serbia has still not complied with the orders of the Court.

A government that continues to defy international law by ignoring the orders of the World Court now has little credibility when it calls on international law in defens of its own interests. If either Tadic or Kostunica were serious, they would arrest Mladic first and hand him over to The Hague, before threatening to take other countries to court for alleged violations of international law.

Kate

I think that you are right.
Nothing to loose than time! If you can afford it … up to your country! Kosovo clearly can’t afford it. So go your way!

Yeah, start the lawsuit and sent it to Milosevic and his fellows at the Hague while youre at it. The only good chance for you to win in any case is a free drink in Kosova after it declares its independence. Peace out.

Smile,

1. Serbia is in one way or another responsible for the most horrific crimes committed against humanity since the WW2. When you accept this fact we can discuss any wrongdoings towards Serbia.
2. This is from a basement education services to “Milosevic school of history”. Since Kosovo became a part of the Serbia, every year has been 1999.
3. When are you going to understand one very simple fact: You need to have the power to inflict any harm. Now, (with your “non basement” high education) can you please give me any time that Kosovo Albanians had the power in their hands (I know that I will be reading about the infamous SS Skanderbeg from you).
4. You obviously never lived in Kosovo. So please spare me of your observations from the high up. I was there in the 70s,80s,90s and 2000s. You can sell your views to tourists.
5. 1974 – I know that this has always been the thorn in Serbia’s eyes. It was the only time that Albanians were close to being equal to Serbs. And you didn’t like it.

I always had my doubts about this Thomas Fleiner fellow. A federalist expert advising a unitary state, something just doesn’t add up.
All this business of international relations has one main end goal: Making approximate predictions so the respective country can adjust as best as it cans to the possible outcomes. Serbia got every possible prediction wrong. Wrong when outstripped Kosova of its autonomy. Wrong when it introduced discriminatory laws. Wrong when it decided that things would remain quiet as long as Serbia had total military control. Wrong when it did not to take advantage of a passive resistance. Wrong when it contemplated of solving this issue through military and final means. Wrong again when it thought that sovereignty rights would be enough to claim a territory.

Credit when is due, Serbia achieved our desired political mobilisation and maturity that was probably not happening at the time. Every action has a reaction and this must be the ultimate reverse action.
People familiar with the institution of marriage I’m sure will understand although I have a gut feeling that we are a minority in here.

If one listens to the lawyers risks that all his life to pass in the courts

better to listen the youngs of the belgrade phylo faculty, don't you think?

Serbia is in no position to win any case at this moment in the world court. Not even 80% chance, either.

That world court gave Serbia a 'freebie' when they voted 5-4 not guilty of genocide in Bosnia but failure to stop the genocide of 8000 men in Srebrenica.

Am curious to see so many comments about this article from albanians given that it's between Serbia & the ICJ - although is nice to see them interested in upholding the law for a change :)

Dear Mathew asked "Do we really want to live in a world where the deaths of only 2,000 people results in the bombing and division of a country?"

In an Ideal World, I say Absolutely YES.

Especially when the killing is organised and carried it out by the state, as it was the case with Serbia in Kosova.

In my view Milosevic’s intentions were to ethnically cleanse Kosova of Albanians.

In summer 1998, most of the Dukagjini plains and villages were emptied. The city was almost completely destroyed, and become like a ghost. Even the Serbian Church in Decani at that time accused the Serb authorities for using too much force and destroying so many Albanian homes, without much of a reason.

The only human being that reminded there were the KLA fighters. Remember, it was when Richard Holbrook went for himself to see the city and met with the only citizens which were the KLA?
This was the turning point of US politics, in favour of the Kosovo freedom. America understood what Serbs were after, they've seen all before in Bosnia.

The intervention was brilliant, to tell every country in the World, that you cannot do whet ever you can

total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other
---…--

Brian do you have a source for this?
Thanks
(craig, 12 February 2008 04:20)

ofcourse he has sources and those sources are belgrade and serbianna.com & with sources like that, i suspect strides by leaps & bounds.

It is interesting enough to see how indoctrinated the some Serbian nationals are. No distinct international historian would draw himself into debate on to whom Kosovo has, is and should belong. It is sad to see to what level the Serbs can be manipulated by local historians. Let international historians say the truth, since the local historians may be biased. Nearly 100 books (from international authors), that I read, about the Balkans, approx. 95% say that Kosovo Albanians are there, together with Greeks the oldest nations in the Balkans. They have even populated a significant part of today's Serbia , even above the Nis city for centuries, before being systematically ethnically cleansed. So think twice before you discuss Kosovo at higher level. However this is just a discussion segment so anyone can express any opinion regardless of how crazy may sound. Anyway, it is very unlikely that anyone will heed Serbian government court case. As an historian I have learned, and everyone should remember that JUSTICE TAKES TIME, BUT FINALLY COMES. Kosovo finally is counting last days for justice to come.

hey, go ahead with your legal case, blgd. you have no chance of winning, but i believe in court cases, and getting it "all" out in the open, in front of the world. we, the pro-democracy, pro independence side will have our own court cases, believe me, over which you will have no control. see you in court.

i hate to bring this teeny little fact up (again!) but you need to turn over your indicted war criminals. and if i read one more time that their wherabouts are yet unknown, i will scream so loudly you will hear me all the way from san francisco to serbia. funny about international law...

robert-0 from frisco

Dear Mathew,
The first thing that teach you about statistic and politics it to be sceptical about the figures and how they are presented. Your figures per capita rightly focus on the killing figures for Kosovo and you argue that on proportionality both sides are equally to blame. The flip side of your argument is that even if we take your figures at face value, Albanian los of life would spreads very unevenly for the actual Serbian population of Kosova. That would mean that prior to NATO intervention 1 Albanian death corresponds to 200 Serb inhabitants. After the conflict had finished the ratio jumps right up to 1 Albanian death to 20 Serbs inhabitants.
The huge qualitative difference here is that in 1998 war prime targets Serbian military machine were civilians. It is all about intention of the state that supposedly was there to protect rights of the same citizens.
We have fought god knows how many times with Montenegrins and generally our battles have been based on a certain code of honour. Contrary to that, the last war waged on us by the Serbs was anything but honourable hence our desire to separate.

Kate,
Heaven forbid you let the facts get in the way of your personal opinion. Another point you should keep in mind in that a large portion of Serbia’s parliament today are nationalists. What makes you think that the rest of the world will appease them in lieu of atrocities committed by these like minded people?! 1244 will be null & void come Sunday.

I think you'll find, Blero, that other European countries need to trade with Serbia as well. As throughout history, Serbia is in a strategic position in Central Europe.

You take things too far talking about Serbia not 'ruling the world' (did I say it did?) and equating the events of 1999 with the legal position 9 years later.

It may pain you to admit it, but legally Serbia is in a very strong position, even if there is a UDI and recognisition by certain EU nations. It will only ever become legal if agreed by the UN.

There is a way for this to be sorted out which is to return to proper negotiations. Serbia is meeting with and speaking to the same nations (in some cases the same leaders) involved with attacking it in 1999.

If they can find the diplomatic skills to do that, I am sure that the Kosovo Albanians can stop being so cut and dry about the whole situation and start dealing with Serbia directly.

So Dennis,

You must support the indepedence of the Krajinian, Bosnian and Kosovo Serbs as well then. Since they suffered TRUE genocide in REAL concentration camps. Did Serbians "have all the right in this world to protect themselves by opting out of a state with a clear record of persecution and animinosity towards this population"? Or does that only apply to Albanians? Keep in mind, no one in the Balkans has a positive history of reasonable treatment towards minorities. Every ethnicity did terrible things to their minorities.

The reality is Dennis, that while the ratio of Albanian victims to Serbian victims is 10 to 1, so is the population. In addition, Serbs make up a far HIGHER per capita of the missing and ethnically cleansed as well.

Yes, Serbian forces killed approximately 2,000 Albanians in Kosovo fighting an insurgency with strong grass roots support BEFORE the bombing started. However, compared to a similar situation like Iraq, where some estimates put just the civilian death toll at 900,000, it just doesn't add up.

I'm all for the Right To Self Determination for all Serbs and all Albanians. I support partition based on agreement and compromise. However, giving all of Kosovo indepedence based solely on one-sided propaganda is only going to cause major problems in the future.

Much like the Iraq war, the bombing of Serbia was entirely based on COMPLETELY FALSE propaganda claiming 100's of thousands of Albanians were being killed in Kosovo.

Do we really want to live in a world where the deaths of only 2,000 people results in the bombing and division of a country? Just think if we applied this to every similar conflict in the world what would happen?

Should we be giving Blacks in the US their own country? They've suffered as much as the Albanians have. What about Native Americans? Their Independence movement in the 60's and 70's was brutally crushed by the American government. What about Mexico? Should Hispanic people's be allowed to use violence to support indepedence in California and Texas? If they did, would the use of force to suppress it result in granting their requests?

I'm no fan of Milosevic, but I just can not support the actions taken against Serbia for the deaths of just 2,000 people. Yes, I know the final number of deaths is higher, but the fact remains, it was all started when only 2,000 died. Although the American people were lied to and told it was 100,000. Absolutely shameful.

The Albanian claim that Kosovo deserves independence because of what happened in 1999 doesn't hold. If anything the Albanians should be punished for 1999.

The combined total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other or unknown ethnic groups.

The war only really started after the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement in 1998. Milosevic withdrew Serbian troops in accordance with the agreement and the KLA took the oppourtunity to take-over territory in Kosovo in violation of the terms of the cease-fire.

The Albanians are 90% of Kosovo's population and only 50% of the dead and missing from the war. Leaving The remaining 10% of non-Albanians to make-up the other 50% of the dead and missing.

If anything the Albanians are the ones who should be sued for war crimes in 1999.

Tonyt - Your reasoning that Serbia should lose Kosovo because of what happened in 1999 is not based on reality. The UN, Nato and all parties involved signed an agreement leading to Resolution 1244 which recognised the sovereignty of Serbia as a means to end the war.

That was the time to try and argue against sovereignty. Now, 9 years later, nobody can just decide to change the contents of a UN resolution and the legal sovereignty of a territory.

Alfa - Like Tony your argument has no substance. The law is very clear on this matter and there is every chance that Serbia would win such a legal battle. The EU countries know that full well, and they also know that the most dangerous opponent is one without anything to lose.

The problem with the legal action is that the greatest outlaw of the world doesn't give a toss about the law and
thisis why they've refused to
sign to the juristiction of the court in Hague.I don't believe that legal action will have any effect.
The EU & US understand only the language of threats and
blackmail.

to tonyt:

So the law doesn't apply to kla right? Is that what you are saying? The kla can kill, murder, rape, kidnapp, plant bombs at cafes, bridges? Are you aware that Serbs did not start killing people first? The truth is the kla started the war with cowardly provocations! You need to accept that fact and stop playing the victim game. The real victims were and still are Serbs. I will give you one example, In 99 after nato came in to occupy Serbian KiM - albanians continued their ethnic clensing of Serbs. They tried blowing up bridges in Kosovska Mitrovica.

albanians are the real ethic clensers, not Serbs. Since 99 over 200,000 Serbs and non-albanians have been ethnically clensed from their homes! To this day they can't even return to their homes. That's disgrace. Also, today there are more albanians in KiM then in 99 - so how is this possible? Well more albanians came into KiM then had previously left. And that is a fact - they were not forced out, they left because of nato bombing and kla threats. It was the uck that forced albanians to leave in big numbers so they can show propaganda on western media outlets. So tony please stop spreading your propaganda on B92!

to Matthew:

you shouldn´t take comments like this one from " dennis drennan" too serious...

if someone has not the guts to write a comment under his real identity..whad can you expect from that dude?

so, keep that in mind, when you answer some naive comments here..

some of them simply aren´t worth it.

Perhaps this should read

"Kosovo Albanian victims would win legal action over Serbia"

I’m sure the Serbian taxpayer has it in his/her capacity to meet these costs.

bler, how many 1999s were there then, let's hear it :)
and while you're at it, how many 1980s, when albanians had kosovo under 1974 continution and still staged bloody demonstrations to separate from yugoslavia
may i remind you that milosevic usurped power only 7 years later, in 1987
and then, how many
1941s
1942s
1943s
1944s
1945s
when millions of serbs died at the hands of nazis and their collaborators
and then you have 1997s and 1998s when albanian terrorists killed our people in kosovo, and anyone loyal to our state is our people to me, and albanian terrorists killed serbs and abanians alike, for which some of them are at the hague today
and how many 1999s and 2004s when serbs were driven out of their homes and our world heritage christian churches and monasteries burned and desecrated in the vilest of vile manners?
you use poor arguments to hide a century long quest to take territory legally owned by a country with a un seat and flag flying at east river;)
that illegal desire of yours did not start in 1999.
it started because kosovo was taken from albania and given to serbia?
i do not dispute that your self-inflicted basement education might have taught you that. but the facts are that there was never an Albanian state until 1912 or was it 1913? nothing was taken from you. make distinction between tribal principles that claim right to territory on the basis of ethnicity, and the european concept of states and their borders.
and was it you who said that kosovo must now make a secession because yours is not the same ethnicity and religion, and language, and whathaveyou, hairstyle, as the country kosovo belongs to? well. just as well then that kosovo in any of its forms will never join the eu. you would find the variety of nations and religions there shocking and horrible.
i won't go into how they would find you.

total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other
----------------------

Brian do you have a source for this?
Thanks

"and they also know that the most dangerous opponent is one without anything to lose."

Yes, if the opponent had substance that would make it dangerous. Otherwise, it's just suicide for the opponent.

Would this person above(presumably Albanian) who calls himself Steven O'Neill (number 35 of this thread) please learn to speak proper English before pretending to be a native English speaker!
(Marko G, 13 February 2008 11:03)

you're far too concerned with how it's presented vesus the messsage within the text. read the writing on the wall because the rest of the civilized world has placed it in super BOLD print!

International Law says Kosovo independence is illegal. Someone please explain to me how the EU and US can possibly justify breaking international law? This has nothing to do with nationalism, or pride. Its a simple matter of fact that the LAW says Kosovo independence is ILLEGAL.

If the international community recognizes Kosovo, then they might as well throw out all the UN treaties and resolutions because they will then be worthless.

Call it KosovA, make a new flag, make a new anthem, do all you want, but the bottom line is KosovO will never be independent from Serbia. International law agrees with me, so go ahead make any arguement you want, it still wont be enough.

"In an Ideal World, I say Absolutely YES. (femi, 11 February 2008 23:06)"
Then you would agree with me that partition is the only moral solution based on the crimes the Albanians of Kosovo committed against the Serbs in retaliation and before? If you look at the situation in a per capita sense, the crimes are in fact nearly equal. In my view KLA's intentions were to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Serbians and they seem to have done a pretty good job of it, unlike Milosevic. Where is the punishment for those actions?
The thing is, the crimes that occurred in Kosovo before the NATO bombing campaign really were relatively minor compared to other events around the world that happen everyday. You have to put things in perspective, and as horrible as that sounds, the World is a horrible place for the majority of its population.
Now that being said, I do feel terribly for the innocent civilians that got caught up in all of it, sometimes its very hard to differentiate between combatants and non-combatants when you have such strong grass roots support. The US made the same mistakes in Vietnam and some US soldiers should have been tried for War Crimes. Yes, some Serbs most certainly did behave in a terrible manner. I've heard enough stories from Albanians here (whom I trust) to know you guys did suffer. If it means anything to you, I'm sorry for that and I apologize. I also greatly respect those Albanians who have come forth and condemned the crimes committed against the Serbians, to me that is true bravery.
I like my Albanian friends, I think you've got a way cool flag, and I'm from a mixed clan, so you have my respect. I wish there was an easy solution, but I think both sides are going to have to some disappointments in the outcome. The reality is our people there need to be protected, and what we consider to be the cradle of our civilization should be respected.
For the time being, Serbia does have International Law on its side. In an ideal world, all crimes would be condemned and treated equally based on how terrible they actually were, not on what false claims were reported in the media. Personally, I'm disgusted that the IC only took an interest because Kosovo is in Europe. We Serbs have been demonized for two decades now for crimes that pale in comparison to what happened in places like Rwanda, where the IC couldn't care less.
Its all politics, and its sickening. The West just wants to keep the Balkans divided so they can keep control. You guys are going to end up in even worse shape than Bosnia with no real hope for a future, unless you can actually compromise instead of trying to force an illegal declaration of independence down our throats.
Personally, I'd like for it all to be over. I'd like to visit Kosovo and feel safe and know our monuments are safe as well. If we continue in this direction, its going to be decades of this nonsense. The legal system moves very very slowly...

Village-Bey,

I liked your artwork the other day.

I agree that an unacceptable percentage of civilians were killed or injured. However, if any conflict where violent separatists have such strong support grass roots support of the local population its often difficult to separate the two at all times. That happened in Vietnam and is happening currently in Iraq. As a stated, worst case estimates for Iraq go up to around 900,000 Iraqi civilians killed, moderate estimates are 200,000-300,000.

If the US can not avoid 100’s of thousands of deaths in Iraq, why was Serbia bombed for what was in reality a relatively mild death rate?

Of course, Serbia’s actions after the bombing started were terrible. However, if we are to apply the same reasoning behind the bombing to all conflicts the world over, no government would be able to react to violent actions taken by members of the population.

I remain unconvinced that Serbia was exclusively targeting civilians only before the bombing started.

Anyway, I am not saying that Serbia was completely innocent in all of this, clearly they made mistakes, big mistakes. However, the KLA does share in the responsibility for what happened. Its just not the case that it was a completely one sided affair where Serbs were the Bad Guys exclusively. Its not like the Jews and the Nazi’s where the Jews never attacked anyone and had no military forces.

I just think Serbia should be judged in relation to other conflicts in the world. 30,000 were killed in Turkey’s fight with the PKK. Why isn’t anyone bombing Turkey? The only reason is hypocritical politics.

Would this person above(presumably Albanian) who calls himself Steven O'Neill (number 35 of this thread) please learn to speak proper English before pretending to be a native English speaker!

total of dead and missing from the Kosovo war is 9,702: 4,903 Albanians, 2,322 Serbs and 2,477 from other
---…--

Brian do you have a source for this?
Thanks
(craig, 12 February 2008 04:20)

Brian obviously being too busy to respond, let me do so on his behalf.
- Source: Humanitarian Law Center. One of the Western-financed, Belgrade-based organisations usually cited by Western media as credible in discussions about Serbia and the Balkans. Anyone got a problem with it now?

Dennis Drennan, You're right. You are not a lawyer so you cannot comment on the legalities of this situation.

Much propaganda has passed through our news in order to get to this point. The Albanians had to be seen to be the only victims of the war in order for them to score some sort of moral victory. Legal victory was not going to be theirs as the law is clearly on Serbia's side so the west had to manipulate the news a lot to justify any sort of backing for an independence.

Unfortunately for the Albanians, even if they do have some sort of warped moral victory it is not enough to break international law over.

RE:
Would this person above(presumably Albanian) who calls himself Steven O'Neill (number 35 of this thread) please learn to speak proper English before pretending to be a native English speaker!
(Marko G, 13 February 2008 11:03)

you're far too concerned with how it's presented vesus the messsage within the text. read the writing on the wall because the rest of the civilized world has placed it in super BOLD print!
(mark, 13 February 2008 16:59)

Mark, let me bolden it up for you. The person who claims to be Steven O'Neill, historian, is neither a historian, nor a Steven O'Neill. He's a fraud. Just like the rest of the Albanian nationalist propaganda your supposedly 'civilised' world has chosen to swallow.

And one thing that everyone seems to have swallowed is the idea that the Albs were victims of ethnic cleansing rather than perpetrators of it. The war in 1999 saw atrocities against all ethnic groups. But even leaving out their ‘cleansing’ of Kosovo’s Serbians under the Ottoman, Nazi and NATO Empires, the Albanians under the Communists emptied Kosovo of 120,000-plus Serbians and other non-Albs just in the period from 1961-1981. In peacetime. Before “Slobba”. “Ethnic cleansing” being the phrase they coined to describe it. People should stop apologising to the Albanians. Their nationalists have run their show for nightmare decades. And collective apologies they really do not deserve.

Much of the purported atrocities by Serbs has been dispelled, albeit not on front page headline news of major newspapers. Solid reporting of the events in recent Serbian events get the backpage lower corner correction page. It has been proven that much of the reported atrocities were false, from the AP photographs to the claims of genocide. Hundreds of thousands of Serbs went to their deaths during WWII along with the other victims of the Holocaust. Albanians sided witht the militant Fascist groups and the Nazis against my people. Just like the naysayers of the Holocaust, the Albanians know their game, check out their websites, the surveys ask: "what country should the Albanians take over next?... Macedonia? Bulgaria? This story is about oil, about money, about who is going to get the control over the region. Unfortunately law stands to sort this out. Not accusations. Those of you who think Albanian are entitled will see how Albanian terrorist thugs will run a government. It is an illusion that Kosovo Albanian institutions can live up to norms of civilized society. these people are committing crimes far greater than those they were allegedly subjected to, right before our very eyes - yet we are asked by their apologists to cave in to demands of political extortion stemming from terrorism. If we do so, the lesson will not be lost on scores of rogue elements around the globe, our painstaking efforts in the war on terror having been delivered a fatal blow.