Analyst: Bush arms decision expected

'Another military analyst, Tomislav Đurin, says, however, that this contingent “cannot be called military aid,” as the nature of the weaponry is still unknown.'

Hmmmm. I suppose there is a possibility that the consignment will consist of water pistols, pea-shooters or children's catapults, but somehow I doubt it.

This man is away with the fairies or, more likely, a closet apologist for the US agenda.

The US has understood that two military strong Albanian states in the Balkans are a good counterbalance to Serbia, therefore a factor for stability in the region.

US is doing the right thing because Kosovars need to defend its country.
There is no need for big army(in numbers), but rather a professional one with high tech weapons.

George W. Bush providing weapons to Kosovo somehow reminds me of Ronald Reagan selling arms to the far right regime in El Salvador in the early 1980s (check Wiki for the Salvadoran civil war).
(Marco, Amsterdam, 21 March 2008 14:26

And if you recall, many of those weapons ended up in the hands of right wing death squads that murdered tens of thousands of Salvodoreans including outspoken members of the catholic clergy among them, one Archbishop Oscar Romero who championed the cause of the poor.

This is Bush the Younger's policy of repeating his father's America's 'backyard' policy of arming murderous right-wing governments like Samoza, Noreiga, junta in El Salavador, etc. to do Washington's dirty work.

The KLA are the now 'the junkyard dog' to quote the phrade once used by the CIA head in Central America, William Walker.

Marco,

You can add the Nicaraguan Contras and far-right Guatemalan government to that list of shameful US arms sales in the 1980s.

(The Swiss wrote:)
fortunately soon they will be part of their dirty past!

Like hell it will. This is the beginning of the ever present.

Just like George Bush started the Iraq thing. And then, 8 years laster, his son takes the presidency and finishes what the father started. The ultimate goal of occupying Iraq.

I also think this is also the case with Serbia. The Democrats and Bill Clinton started the process of destroying, invading and occupying Yugoslavia (the heart of the Balkans). And now, 8 years later, his party, perhaps even his will will complete the process into realization.

I predict that by 2010, we will have NATO & US & British tanks, troops patroling the streets of Belgrade. All this that is going on with Kosovo is being done to delieratly track Serbia into starting a war and getting invaded.

End result, we will have the same peace as Iraq does. The US and hiding the civilian "collateral damage" in Iraq. It's esitmated somewhere between 500,000 to 1.5 million people at present. These are all people. Someones father, mother, child, son, daughter. They killed more people in 5 years than Saddam killed in 40 years.

I fear that a similar fate awaits Serbia. Once the NATO and US forces occupy in the name of freedom and democracy, we will see 1 to 1.5 percent of out population killed as collateral damage.

Shame on the would, the EU, the International Community, and the US, and the Kosovo region for doing and being a part of this.

Why is Kosova's defense Serbia's business anyway? You tried, you failed. Army is one of the constituent part of a state. It's precisely, along with participation in international bodies, what Serbia has been trying to avoid throughout the negotiations. I remember Jeremic saying that we give Kosova everything, except army and international recognition. The outcome of negotiations is well-known, and Pristina's actions are of no surprise. In an ideal world no country would need the army but with the threat of Serbian Army just around the corner there is no other alternative. When Serbia disbands its VS, Kosova will need not army anymore.

Doesn't take a genious to figure out where a sizeable chunk of whose hands those guns will eventually end up in and it sure hell aint the 'Kosovo Army'.

I'd put the farm on that.

George W. Bush providing weapons to Kosovo somehow reminds me of Ronald Reagan selling arms to the far right regime in El Salvador in the early 1980s (check Wiki for the Salvadoran civil war).

Of course, what else can we expect from this administration apart from destabilization and war, fortunately soon they will be part of their dirty past!

So once again, as in the past, Balkan states and protectorates are used as proxies for larger external powers. Of course this now justifies Serbia taking in arms from Russia, thus creating the classic Security Dilemma model.

And with the porous borders between Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo Province, I'm sure we'll see these little toys "accidentally" slip into the hands of less and savory groups.

Just one question to our trigger happy Albanian commentors here: with the standards of living in Kosovo Province one of the lowest in Europe, how are guns and ammunition going to directly and personally better your life? Unless Thaci is enacting a Chicken in every Pot and an AK-47 in every Broomcloset policy, how will this benefit you directly?

"I predict that by 2010, we will have NATO & US & British tanks, troops patroling the streets of Belgrade. All this that is going on with Kosovo is being done to delieratly track Serbia into starting a war and getting invaded."

Thats a bit far fetched Svabo. If war does indeed break out and NATO crosses into unoccupied Serbia, then all bets are off. What you will most likely get is a proxy war, the kind that the unfortunate inhabitants of Central America are all too familiar with.

The aim of US and EU is to create armed forces that will serve all citizens of Kosova not matter their of nationality. Many Serb analyst don’t like the idea, but guys Kosovars want to have their forces to protect them not other

Niall O'Doherty wrote:
Thats a bit far fetched Svabo.

Nothing is far fetched anymore. The US in Iraq for 5 years and counting. The complete partition of Yugoslavia. Russia re-emerning from collapsed communism and the USSR, now even bigger and stronger. Truth is stranged than fiction.

There are a few things that are making me believe my statements about foreign occupation of Serbia within the next few years.

#1 - whats the big rush.
the Bush adminisration is about to get kicked out of office in a few months. ever since the Serb elevtions to pro-EU, there has been a big big rush into overdrive to separate Kosovo. if the world is going to recognize Kosovo, they will regonize Kosovo in 12 to 24 months. so whats the big rush for? whats about to happen? could it be that the current administration wants to make sure that they are engaged in the region long term? kind of hard to justify pulling your troops out of a high conflict area that you helped create.


#2 - manipulation
if seems like everything that the US and EU are doing are to try to force Serbia into a corner and antagonize the population. a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. similar to the position Serbia was put into before the NATO bombings. there was no way out of it. even if, but some miracle Serbia agree to Kosovo independence, you get a feeling that the Kosovoars would just go in and persecute the Serbs and the whole would would blame Serbia for not keeping their people under control in someone elses country.

#3 - weapons and money
why the weapons? why announced publicly? why so soon, i mean a few days after one of the most embaarrasing NATO/UMNIK episode in the Balkans? could it be that we are preparing the public for a war?

The Kosovo Albanians on here who are squaking, "We are a new country, give out government a chance to show you how we will treat out fellow Serbian nationals" is crock. Kosovo has had autonomy and no Serbian governemnt intervention for a very very long time. And what do they have to show for it? A 90 to 10 percent Albanians bs Serbian population split, and the Serbians are causing trouble and unrest and being directed by Belgrade, however, by some fluke freak of nature, 99% of the government positions and occupied by Albanians, so there rowdy Serba have been voting for Albanians into office.

I just wonder what Mr. Miroslav Lazanski think about this.

The state of Kosova needs a strong army to defend itself aginst
Serbia.

With a politically unstable Serbia, Radicals, Kushtunica in power from May, we need the strongest army that we can get.

As for poverty, Mike we are quite used living with it.

The word luxary does not appear as much in our dictionary.
We lived under poverty and fear.


To tell
you the truth as it is now never it is been better, belive me friend.

"Nothing is far fetched anymore. The US in Iraq for 5 years and counting. The complete partition of Yugoslavia. Russia re-emerning from collapsed communism and the USSR, now even bigger and stronger. Truth is stranged than fiction."

1. A sustained US presence in Iraq is something that would surprise only the neoconservatives back in the day.

2. Even when Yugoslavia was doing well back in the 1960s and 1970s, outsiders wondered what the country's internal divisions might produce in the case of a catastrophe.

3. Russia is _not_ bigger and stronger than when it was the core of the Soviet Union, having only half the population and economy of its 1990 peak.

4. Every country has gaps between ideal and actual behaviour and knowledge, alas. I learned this formally in my first anthropology class.


"if the world is going to recognize Kosovo, they will regonize Kosovo in 12 to 24 months. so whats the big rush for? whats about to happen?"

Bush wants to secure something positive in his legacy? Speaking as a North American, Bush simply does not have the credibility that he'd need to launch a major land war and occupation in Europe. At least an American occupation of Iran would make some kind of (crazy, dangerous) sense. But Serbia?

"if seems like everything that the US and EU are doing are to try to force Serbia into a corner and antagonize the population."

It's not Serbia's fault at all, none of it?

"why the weapons? why announced publicly? why so soon, i mean a few days after one of the most embaarrasing NATO/UMNIK episode in the Balkans? could it be that we are preparing the public for a war?"

Or, alternatively, perhaps it was letting Serbia know that an invasion would be a bad idea indeed. After the border-crossing burnings and the riots in Kosovska Mitrovica, one never knows.

"And what do they have to show for it? A 90 to 10 percent Albanians bs Serbian population split[.]"

What, exactly, is wrong with a Kosovo that's 90% Albanian by population? If it was achieved by violence, that would be a problem, but most of the rise in Kosovo's Albanian proportion from two-thirds of the population in 1921 to 85% or so in 1991 was produced by a very high birth rate. What's wrong with that?

US is doing the right thing because Kosovars need to defend its country.
There is no need for big army(in numbers), but rather a professional one with high tech weapons.

The state of Kosova needs a strong army to defend itself aginst
Serbia.

With a politically unstable Serbia, Radicals, Kushtunica in power from May, we need the strongest army that we can get.

As for poverty, Mike we are quite used living with it.

The word luxary does not appear as much in our dictionary.
We lived under poverty and fear.


To tell
you the truth as it is now never it is been better, belive me friend.

The US has understood that two military strong Albanian states in the Balkans are a good counterbalance to Serbia, therefore a factor for stability in the region.

The aim of US and EU is to create armed forces that will serve all citizens of Kosova not matter their of nationality. Many Serb analyst don’t like the idea, but guys Kosovars want to have their forces to protect them not other

Why is Kosova's defense Serbia's business anyway? You tried, you failed. Army is one of the constituent part of a state. It's precisely, along with participation in international bodies, what Serbia has been trying to avoid throughout the negotiations. I remember Jeremic saying that we give Kosova everything, except army and international recognition. The outcome of negotiations is well-known, and Pristina's actions are of no surprise. In an ideal world no country would need the army but with the threat of Serbian Army just around the corner there is no other alternative. When Serbia disbands its VS, Kosova will need not army anymore.

Doesn't take a genious to figure out where a sizeable chunk of whose hands those guns will eventually end up in and it sure hell aint the 'Kosovo Army'.

I'd put the farm on that.

Of course, what else can we expect from this administration apart from destabilization and war, fortunately soon they will be part of their dirty past!

I just wonder what Mr. Miroslav Lazanski think about this.

Marco,

You can add the Nicaraguan Contras and far-right Guatemalan government to that list of shameful US arms sales in the 1980s.

(The Swiss wrote:)
fortunately soon they will be part of their dirty past!

Like hell it will. This is the beginning of the ever present.

Just like George Bush started the Iraq thing. And then, 8 years laster, his son takes the presidency and finishes what the father started. The ultimate goal of occupying Iraq.

I also think this is also the case with Serbia. The Democrats and Bill Clinton started the process of destroying, invading and occupying Yugoslavia (the heart of the Balkans). And now, 8 years later, his party, perhaps even his will will complete the process into realization.

I predict that by 2010, we will have NATO & US & British tanks, troops patroling the streets of Belgrade. All this that is going on with Kosovo is being done to delieratly track Serbia into starting a war and getting invaded.

End result, we will have the same peace as Iraq does. The US and hiding the civilian "collateral damage" in Iraq. It's esitmated somewhere between 500,000 to 1.5 million people at present. These are all people. Someones father, mother, child, son, daughter. They killed more people in 5 years than Saddam killed in 40 years.

I fear that a similar fate awaits Serbia. Once the NATO and US forces occupy in the name of freedom and democracy, we will see 1 to 1.5 percent of out population killed as collateral damage.

Shame on the would, the EU, the International Community, and the US, and the Kosovo region for doing and being a part of this.

Niall O'Doherty wrote:
Thats a bit far fetched Svabo.

Nothing is far fetched anymore. The US in Iraq for 5 years and counting. The complete partition of Yugoslavia. Russia re-emerning from collapsed communism and the USSR, now even bigger and stronger. Truth is stranged than fiction.

There are a few things that are making me believe my statements about foreign occupation of Serbia within the next few years.

#1 - whats the big rush.
the Bush adminisration is about to get kicked out of office in a few months. ever since the Serb elevtions to pro-EU, there has been a big big rush into overdrive to separate Kosovo. if the world is going to recognize Kosovo, they will regonize Kosovo in 12 to 24 months. so whats the big rush for? whats about to happen? could it be that the current administration wants to make sure that they are engaged in the region long term? kind of hard to justify pulling your troops out of a high conflict area that you helped create.


#2 - manipulation
if seems like everything that the US and EU are doing are to try to force Serbia into a corner and antagonize the population. a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. similar to the position Serbia was put into before the NATO bombings. there was no way out of it. even if, but some miracle Serbia agree to Kosovo independence, you get a feeling that the Kosovoars would just go in and persecute the Serbs and the whole would would blame Serbia for not keeping their people under control in someone elses country.

#3 - weapons and money
why the weapons? why announced publicly? why so soon, i mean a few days after one of the most embaarrasing NATO/UMNIK episode in the Balkans? could it be that we are preparing the public for a war?

The Kosovo Albanians on here who are squaking, "We are a new country, give out government a chance to show you how we will treat out fellow Serbian nationals" is crock. Kosovo has had autonomy and no Serbian governemnt intervention for a very very long time. And what do they have to show for it? A 90 to 10 percent Albanians bs Serbian population split, and the Serbians are causing trouble and unrest and being directed by Belgrade, however, by some fluke freak of nature, 99% of the government positions and occupied by Albanians, so there rowdy Serba have been voting for Albanians into office.

'Another military analyst, Tomislav Đurin, says, however, that this contingent “cannot be called military aid,” as the nature of the weaponry is still unknown.'

Hmmmm. I suppose there is a possibility that the consignment will consist of water pistols, pea-shooters or children's catapults, but somehow I doubt it.

This man is away with the fairies or, more likely, a closet apologist for the US agenda.

George W. Bush providing weapons to Kosovo somehow reminds me of Ronald Reagan selling arms to the far right regime in El Salvador in the early 1980s (check Wiki for the Salvadoran civil war).

So once again, as in the past, Balkan states and protectorates are used as proxies for larger external powers. Of course this now justifies Serbia taking in arms from Russia, thus creating the classic Security Dilemma model.

And with the porous borders between Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo Province, I'm sure we'll see these little toys "accidentally" slip into the hands of less and savory groups.

Just one question to our trigger happy Albanian commentors here: with the standards of living in Kosovo Province one of the lowest in Europe, how are guns and ammunition going to directly and personally better your life? Unless Thaci is enacting a Chicken in every Pot and an AK-47 in every Broomcloset policy, how will this benefit you directly?

George W. Bush providing weapons to Kosovo somehow reminds me of Ronald Reagan selling arms to the far right regime in El Salvador in the early 1980s (check Wiki for the Salvadoran civil war).
(Marco, Amsterdam, 21 March 2008 14:26

And if you recall, many of those weapons ended up in the hands of right wing death squads that murdered tens of thousands of Salvodoreans including outspoken members of the catholic clergy among them, one Archbishop Oscar Romero who championed the cause of the poor.

This is Bush the Younger's policy of repeating his father's America's 'backyard' policy of arming murderous right-wing governments like Samoza, Noreiga, junta in El Salavador, etc. to do Washington's dirty work.

The KLA are the now 'the junkyard dog' to quote the phrade once used by the CIA head in Central America, William Walker.

"I predict that by 2010, we will have NATO & US & British tanks, troops patroling the streets of Belgrade. All this that is going on with Kosovo is being done to delieratly track Serbia into starting a war and getting invaded."

Thats a bit far fetched Svabo. If war does indeed break out and NATO crosses into unoccupied Serbia, then all bets are off. What you will most likely get is a proxy war, the kind that the unfortunate inhabitants of Central America are all too familiar with.

"Nothing is far fetched anymore. The US in Iraq for 5 years and counting. The complete partition of Yugoslavia. Russia re-emerning from collapsed communism and the USSR, now even bigger and stronger. Truth is stranged than fiction."

1. A sustained US presence in Iraq is something that would surprise only the neoconservatives back in the day.

2. Even when Yugoslavia was doing well back in the 1960s and 1970s, outsiders wondered what the country's internal divisions might produce in the case of a catastrophe.

3. Russia is _not_ bigger and stronger than when it was the core of the Soviet Union, having only half the population and economy of its 1990 peak.

4. Every country has gaps between ideal and actual behaviour and knowledge, alas. I learned this formally in my first anthropology class.


"if the world is going to recognize Kosovo, they will regonize Kosovo in 12 to 24 months. so whats the big rush for? whats about to happen?"

Bush wants to secure something positive in his legacy? Speaking as a North American, Bush simply does not have the credibility that he'd need to launch a major land war and occupation in Europe. At least an American occupation of Iran would make some kind of (crazy, dangerous) sense. But Serbia?

"if seems like everything that the US and EU are doing are to try to force Serbia into a corner and antagonize the population."

It's not Serbia's fault at all, none of it?

"why the weapons? why announced publicly? why so soon, i mean a few days after one of the most embaarrasing NATO/UMNIK episode in the Balkans? could it be that we are preparing the public for a war?"

Or, alternatively, perhaps it was letting Serbia know that an invasion would be a bad idea indeed. After the border-crossing burnings and the riots in Kosovska Mitrovica, one never knows.

"And what do they have to show for it? A 90 to 10 percent Albanians bs Serbian population split[.]"

What, exactly, is wrong with a Kosovo that's 90% Albanian by population? If it was achieved by violence, that would be a problem, but most of the rise in Kosovo's Albanian proportion from two-thirds of the population in 1921 to 85% or so in 1991 was produced by a very high birth rate. What's wrong with that?