Thaci: Serbia’s approach “chauvinistic”

Well, I've just about had enough of these aggressive noises coming from Pristina.

I think that Tadic should respond in a firm, but polite way.

The message should be that:

the Kosovo Albanian leadership does not recognise that the Milosevic regime is long gone.

That Serbia is committed to using diplomatic means to achieve its goals in Kosovo, regardless of provocations.

That Serbia is ready to negotiate final status, whilst Kosovo Albanians are unwilling to compromise.

That the Kosovo Albanian is stepping up their verbal attacks on Serbia to dissuade IDP's from returning to Kosovo and to make it clear to remaining Serbs in Kosovo that they are not welcome. That accompanied with a statistic on how many IDP's have returned and perhaps something about limited freedom of movement.

That the Kosovo Albanian leadership is obviously worried about recent Serbian diplomatic efforts and is trying to increase support in Serbia for a hardline policy on Kosovo, in order to prove that today's Serbia pursues the same policies as Milosevic's Serbia.

Of course much of the hardline statements made by the current Kosovo Albanian leadership are for Kosovo Albanian internal consumption, but that kind of message from Tadic would not be so effective.

The point is that there is only so much being pushed around that one can take. It will be upto Pristina's politicians to decide how much political mileage there is in continuing the hardline language, but in diplomatic terms such language has to receive a response.

Keep waiting Thaci and keep stringing your people into impossible missions. Hope is one thing but delusion is something completely different.

When the snake speaks like this it makes me smile knowing that he is getting increasingly desperate.

Enjoy your illegal UDI celebrations my Albanian friends. As we all know, nothing has really changed in fantasy land.

I think Thaci has become a man of many trades, not only was he a one time terrorist rebel leader, a criminal and a "politition" he has now began dabbeling in the field of comedy; How can a man like him possibly have the cheek to call anyone a chauvinist? Hes basically Haradinaj who is an open and active chauvinist aswell.

Serbia will defend itself foreign occupation and imperialism, it has always been that way through history and it will remain so. We have proven that our resolve will never faulter in our history and that is why our pride is everlasting.

european,

It is pure theft of sovereign Serbian land, this 'greater albania' German policy that the EU has adopted. Serbs are against being raped by the west, as well as against gross anti-Serb double standards.
Why is the right to self determination applied to all ethnic groups in ex-Yugoslavia except the Serbs? Why is an independent Republika Srpska not recognized by the EU because of the 'will of the overwhelming majority of its citizens'? Or how about the will of the Serbs in the Mitrovica pocket, or in Krajina? Please explain that one to me mr. european.
Do Serbs miss albanians you ask? No, I believe they don't. However, Kosovo is the cradle of Serbian civilization as the monuments there prove, and it belongs to Serbia, and can not be taken away illegally, and it will not. You can not give Kosovo to the albanians, because it is not yours to give.
Serbs will not ever accept to be treated as fools or slaves. We want truth, justice, and respect, and will settle for nothing less. If Europe persists in its German influenced anti-Serbian policies, then I promise you, you will never, ever, have peace in the Balkans.
Cheers!!

He said that while Serbia aspired to EU and NATO membership, its relations with Kosovo remained completely chauvinistic in order to try and compromise Kosovo’s territorial integrity.

Sort of like you compromised Serbia's territorial integrity when you chose to steal a chunk of it's territory.

So when you decide you will take what you want it is not chauvinistic, but when Serbia refuses to let go of her territory you consider it chauvinistic.

You certainly like to throw words such as chauvinistic, genocide, Milosevic mentality around a lot.

Mr. Thaci, do you honestly believe that just because you throw an accusation like it's still Milosevic mentality over there you will make Serbia back off. If protecting your territory is Milosevic mentality, then I say he had the right idea.

Chauvinistic? Serbia is just trying to solve the question of Kosovo's status in a peaceful and legal manner. Since when did that become chauvinistic?

This guy is in total desperation.
He knows that 1244 guarantees Kosovo as a part of Serbia,EU,NATO,UN membership is not achievable and that`s it.
Thaci,keep on crying I`m afraid nobody is hearing you...

I would love to hear the Snake's spin on the organized organ harvesting.

Go easy guys. Thaci is merely increasing his vocabulary. He doesn't talk of "Kosovo's institutions" and the "600km of roads built" but has added new terms such as 'genocide' etc

I would like to ask Serbian posters here - what exactly is it that you miss from Kosovo? Its been 10 years that Serbia has had no authority over Kosovo, and nobody seems to have noticed the difference, but you want it back. I would like to know what you would gain from having Kosovo back? If Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians were able to live free, happy and harmoniously inside or outside of Serbia, what difference would it make in concrete terms to have it inside Serbia? Aside from matters of macho historical pride, I havent yet heard why Serbia wants Kosovo. After all, most Serbs dont even like Albanians, and would not be happy with a parliament made up of 20% Albanians. Most Serbs didnt go and visit Prizren or Gracanica on holidays. If you recognised Kosovo's independence what would you actually loose??

Thaci means well. All he wants is for the people of Kosovo and Serbia to be well. He is calling for Serbia to end this Anti-Kosovo campaign. It is a waste of time and money for Belgrade and Pristina. Serbia should accept the irreversible reality of the Rep of Kosovo; by Serbia not doing so it is negatively affecting Serbia, Kosovo, EU, US, Russia and the whole world. Thaci said he wants to "normalise" things between Kosovo and Serbia, so Serbia should do just that, instead of wasting time and money, which could be spent in different areas such as on the people of Serbia or towards EU membership. Tadic is a good man, he is good for Serbia and I'm sure he will eventually see how pointless his policy on Kosovo is.

@ Kate

I'm fully aware that Thaci was in the KLA and that he was a senior member. Yes you may call the KLA terrorists, but there is a famous saying "one man's terrorist is another mans freedom fighter". Another famous saying is "terrorism is a poor mans war". The KLA was in response to terrible regime of Milošević and what it did to Kosovo.

I am also aware that Kosovo was 15% of Serbia. This is no reason for Kosovo not been allowed to be independent. Whats your point that Kosovo was 15% of Serbia?

I also know that Serbian and other non-Albanian communities currently "live behind barbed wire" and that "it is a hotspot for human, drug and arms trafficking", this is why I support EULEX as they should be able to sort things out in Kosovo, where UNMIK failed especially in the North.

I actually would not be happy if some "took 15% of my country", like with Ireland. But like Serbia, Britain lost the right to rule Ireland. Serbia lost the right to rule Kosovo in 1998/9. My father was in St John's Ambulance at the time of the Kosovo War and some Kosovo refugees stayed at my father's house for a few weeks until they could be relocated to a permanent place. It was upsetting to see the state that they were in and to hear what they had experienced. Then people like you act shocked when they are surprised to see that the people of Kosovo want to be independent. Kosovo declared independence the same way Serbia did from the Ottoman Empire and remained unrecognised for around 9 years. Kosovo declared independence the same way as many countries did; unilaterally.

Also people do just hand over chunks of land, they UK did lots of that in the second half of the twentieth century.

You said "Under UN Resolution 1244 Kosovo legally remains a province of Serbia." You are actually wrong it said a province of Yugoslavia not Serbia. Serbia and Montenegro replaced Yugoslavia. Then after Serbia and Montenegro came Serbia as the successor, meanwhile Kosovo was a UN administrated province. Serbia was the successor state of two states before, but can it really inherit a UNSC resolution? It will be interesting to see what the ICJ has to say about UNSC resolution 1244, it might not even still be valid.

I'm glad that the UK has recognised Kosovo as the people of Kosovo deserve it. Recognition of an independent Kosovo helps correct where the 1913 Treaty of London went wrong.

I can see that this uneducated man is totally plagiarazing the Western propaganda tactics. He is apparently trying to influence the people that know the facts better than he does since he is in total denial and blinded by reality. Witnessing Germany's transparent policy in the Balkans, and using Taci's logic, the world would be left with no other alternative but to conclude that noting has changed in Germany since Hitler. Leave the lying and the prpaganda to your historian Megallomatis and to your new propaganda agency to which you shelled out millions of US and EU's tax payers dollars.

for hash: worry about that arrest warrant we have out for you. talking jibberish doesn’t make it go away.

for wise 'european' guy. lets not talk beads and mirrors for poor serbs. as in, why do you need your land, here, have some beads and mirrors instead. that was a whole different continent where 'europeans' did that. how about our continent? it was the nazis who tried to have first and second class nations in europe. they didn’t succeed. neither will anyone else trying. there's this thing that keeps the sane world together called international law. serbian international borders are sacred just like spain's, just like france's. lets leave nonsense out of it. serbia will fight for kosovo for as long as one serb exists in this world. even when spain lets catolonia be independent, even when romania lets transilvania do the same, even when belgium falls apart in three independent states, we serbs will still fight for our country. why? because kosovo is serbia. there is no kosovo without serbia and there is no serbia without kosovo.
wise people understand already, others will catch up in good time.

ha ha ha

cry me a river ...

seems like trash-talking-interviews for anglo-saxon media is all of office that left for the self-declared state-leader, the prince of pristinars or unmikistanis ....

Well said Kate. Too many people from the West look at Serbia and it's recent history in very simplistic terms. Too many people have gained their 'facts' from biased Western media reports.

I say good on Serbia for standing up for justice.

Peggy considering how Kosovars actually do own their own homes this only explains the fact that you don't understand the concept of ownership.

Furthermore, these borders have been around since the 70s, it's not as if PM Thaci declared the DOI and claimed half of Serbia.

bganon,
we tried to negotiate with the likes of Jeremic for over 13 months there were no results. If Serbia has no plans to return our missing from Serbia proper, the pensions, and other things...then why should we negotiate?

it is obvious that someone who is using this vocabulary to describe the "neighbour" has no interest in normalising relations to that "neighbour". western diplomats don't use this kind of vocabulary when they are talking to the serb leadership. they talk about "differences in opinion", not about chauvinism. i guess thaci is talking to his western backers in the same way as he did when he wanted (and succeeded) to get them to bomb serbia. however, the western policies towards serbia definitely changed and they are even showing they want to accept that serbs won't recognise kosovo anytime soon. they want to get countries in the region to work together. unfortunately some people still don't realise that and thaci is one of them.

LOGIC

The answer is because its the right thing to do. And I must admit I am not aware that Serbian Albanian negotiations have been going on the for the last 13 months either.... In my opinion we haven't even begun negotiations.

And anyway the less you are willing to negotiate the worse (or better) the chance you have of losing support from western backers.

Choosing the hardline route, gives you the best chance of losing a winning hand. At the same time is strenthens extremists in your own camp and in the Serb camp. Ultimately you have to decide what kind of society you want. If you want uncompromising leaders they will rule you with an iron fist.

Ian, UK - You clearly know nothing about Thaci's background or the KLA.

Do you even realise that Kosovo is 15% of the entire country of Serbia? Or how many Serbian, Roma, Albanian 'traitors' (deemed traitors by the KLA for eg. speaking to Serbian neighbours) and other people have been killed or terrorised into leaving since the so-called 'liberation' by Nato?

Do you realise that Serbian and other non-Albanian communities currently live behind barbed wire in their own country in Kosovo? Or that the mafia run the province and it is a hotspot for human, drug and arms trafficking?

Read about it via Interpol, Europol etc.

Come to that, do you even know anything about WWII history? Look it all up - the genuine stuff, not the rubbish about Dardinia and Illyria spouted on here.

You may not care if someone took 15% of your country, but I certainly would. Under UN Resolution 1244 Kosovo legally remains a province of Serbia.

People don't just hand over chunks of land.

I speak as a UK person as well. I am not Serbian, but I am disgusted at what my country has done.

Thaci is right, and a brave politician, well I know that for Serbs his saying doesn't sound good but you'll get it by passing the time.

Your approach to the organ harvesting issue is very chauvinistic.

When people who ethnically cleansed Kosovo of Serbs and Romani call others "chauvinists" it is the height of Orwellian irony. The people who destroy ancient churches with impunity, desecrate graves, harvest organs, etc. The people who proudly claim they are the successors to the Fascist Balli Kombetar, calling others "chauvinists"! This is pure comedy. It's the classic case of making the aggressors into the victims. There was no "oppressive" policy towards the Kosovo Albanians, ever. Not under Milosevic, not under Tito, not under anyone. Kosovo Albanians elected their own police, had schools and newspapers in their own language, and had cultural rights that minorities in other countries would only dream of having. Now under KLA mafia rule, Serbs have no such rights. They are being driven out. They live in ghettos. They have no basic services like water and electricity. But the Serbs are the chauvinists! Get real. Giving this terrorist thug the opportunity to spew his nonsense through the news media is akin to giving Osama bin Laden a public platform. I say stop reporting on what the "Prishtina" mafia say. Stop giving a platform to hate and terror.

"I actually would not be happy if some "took 15% of my country", like with Ireland. But like Serbia, Britain lost the right to rule Ireland. Serbia lost the right to rule Kosovo in 1998/9. My father was in St John's Ambulance at the time of the Kosovo War and some Kosovo refugees stayed at my father's house for a few weeks until they could be relocated to a permanent place. It was upsetting to see the state that they were in and to hear what they had experienced. Then people like you act shocked when they are surprised to see that the people of Kosovo want to be independent. Kosovo declared independence the same way Serbia did from the Ottoman Empire and remained unrecognised for around 9 years. Kosovo declared independence the same way as many countries did; unilaterally. - Ian UK"

Ian, let me set the record straight with you mate. Who are you to say that Britain lost the 'right' to rule Ireland. Fact is, it never had had that right in the first place. You invaded my country, which had its own government, courts, centres of learning, rule of law. You destroyed all of that.

You oppressed us, starved us, beat us, murdered us, drove us off our lands, condemned us to death during the Great Famine, burned our crops and farms during the various uprisings that we had. You ruled us as a colony. You exploited our resources for your own selfish benefits. My grandparents lived under British rule and for them until the day they died they never recognised your right to rule us.

We the Irish people are natives to our land, with our language, customs, traditions etc. We are wholly unique unlike the ethnic Albanians in Kosmet who are a) settlers in a Serbian province and b) have their own country, its called Albania. Kosovo has no legal right to be independent as it does not come under the Colonies and occupied territories stipulation and Right of Self Determination of Peoples (as rightly pointed out by India).

Serbia never 'lost' the right to rule Kosovo because it always had that right. The Serbs are native to Kosovo. It was part of Stefan Dusan's kingdom. They took it back from the Turks in 1912 after nearly 500 years. It is the centre of their culture of their very heritage. Kosovo i Methojia is the very essence of all Serbdom. It is their identity. You cant take that away, you cant buy that or trade it for no price, its priceless. Do you not get that? Yugoslavia never practised genocide in Kosovo so therefore your moralistic Blairite nonesense goes out the window and it has been proven. What about Palestine? The Basque country, Tibet, Kurdistan. Surely they have the right to have their own state. I dont see you extolling Turkey to leave Kurdistan or advocating that we bomb Madrid.

Please you are simply parroting the line of British imperialists. Nothing has changed with you lot. The hypocrisy and double standards is sickening.

Two excellent intewies of PM Thaci.

Kosova shoudl not fear to repeat and repeat the TRUTH.

Kosova was the victim of the fascist policy of teh Milosevics regime and it is still in deangeor from teh same forces today REPRESENTED in the Serbian GOVERMNET (Milosevic's SPS) and is STILL a MAJOR POLITICAL orientation in Serbia RADICAL PARTY OF SERBIA

Ian,UK

You are wrong. Serbia is the successor state of Yugoslavia. So Kosovo is still a Serbian province.

By the way: it was part of Yugoslavia BY BEING PART OF SERBIA.

If the Midlands are an English province and Scotland and Wales leave the UK, does that mean Midlands is no longer an English province.

You see, international law is on the Serbian side. But US only uses international law when US can use it for own puropose!

(Ian, UK, 12 February 2009 15:22)

Kate,

There is no need to waste your time with Ian. He has shown with nearly every post, his ignorance of anything outside his own backyard.

Kate, show me one proof that Kosovo's territory / Serbia's territory = 15%.

Last time I checked Kosova's territory makes up 10,908km2, did we aquire Presheva valley that I didn't know about?

Ugh, not again with the genocide! How does this guy expect "good, neighbourly relations" with Serbia when he throws around accusations like these? Genocide is 6 million jews killed by the Nazis, 1.5 million Armenians killed by the Ottomans, 1 million Tutsis killed by the Hutus, 500 000 Serbs killed by Ustashe (I don't even think that Nanking and Srebrenica can classify as genocide, since they were not planned against the entire nation in question) etc. There was nothing close to this in Kosovo, save for some organized massacres (which is a common occurence in any war, and something that just about every ethnic group has been found guilty of), but this does not fit in with the definition of "organized, systematic extermination of a particular group of people by another group of people.".

The funny thing is he is defending Kosovo's interests, but finds it inconcievable for Serbia to do the same (ie. he wants them to bend to his will), yet he wants "good, enighbourly relations" with them, but because they fight for their own interests, they are the "face of genocide" in Kosovo.

Surely out of that population of 2 million people, they can find someone better than this clown. Sejdiu looks like a decent politician, he's educated and diplomatic, why can't they find more like him?

This guy should should become a security guard at a mall.

Can’t believe this guy was surprised by Serbia’s reaction. Was he expecting romance and dark chocolate? Was he left out in the cold holding a bunch of flowers and crying over his broken heart?
He’s got his priorities all wrong. Concentrate more in getting them 100 recognitions that you promised and stop looking for romance. isn’t going to happen.

Thaci and his fellow nu-demokrats, Sakishvilli the warrior, are awaiting their course books for module 2- vocabulary for politician in suit.
One day he's organising demos against the hand that's feeding him (EU), now he's giving us the pained leader performance. Well, you've had your party, you've got your country, at massive cost to those of us who know what your people are like when they head west, and now you're looking for a bit of sympathy too. Next he'll be telling us his faux nation's skint and needs more money to help it along the way to (gulp) democracy. Then, the minute the EU leaves in exasperation, we'll read he's done an arms deal with Iran/N Korea/China-y'know, for defence purposes. History's gonna repeat itself and Serbia is going to have sort the mess out.

Hashim Thaqi is obviously bringing the complete Serbian Government in the defensive, with only two interviews within one week.

Too long have the Kosovar Institutions remained silent to the propaganda coming from Belgrade. In the last 2-3 years, Serb officials were trying to convince the whole world that 17 March 2004 is equal to 1999, that Albanians are the agresors, that UCK is the real terror.

For too long have the Kosovars been silent, in order not to bring their supporters (USA, EU) in an uncomfortable position.

Obviously, this silence has ended. Now you will hear the truth from Kosovo.

To Jeremic: for too long you have been spreading lies. Your time is over. The world still has not learned the real massacres that were commited ON YOUR NAME, and on the name of your nation, Mr. Jeremic.

Thaci has to realize that Serbia doesn't have to comply with his wishes. Serbs can make whatever choices they desire. Thaci can say whatever it is he desires, throwing out inflammatory terms like genocide, but that's not going to change the fact that Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's UDI. Further, these days nobody cares about Kosovo in the US. I suggest to Albanian posters that you go to the Washington post's website and search for Kosovo and see just how important Kosovo is to the current administration. Nobody cares right now because the US and EU nations have far greater concerns, most notably the global economy. Essentially, while Thaci says what he likes and keeps on giving the thumbs up, he's doing it to an empty audience, with the exception of a few of us for whom this is an interesting issue.

@Kate

You keep referring to history, now its my turn. Have you heard of this thing called the British Empire? Yes we did just give away chunks of land.

@ Niall O'Doherty

I agree with you. The British have been "ba****ds" to the Irish in the past. I know what we did was wrong and I accept that.

I know what you are saying by we didn't have the right to rule Ireland, but technically under the 1800 Act of Union, we legally did have the right to rule Ireland.

Also not many Irish are native to Ireland, only ethnic/ celtic Irish are technically native to Ireland, many Irish are of Norman/ Scandinavian/ Welsh/ English/ Scottish decent.

Also Serbs are not native to Kosovo either, Illyrians (Albanians) are native to Kosovo and the Western Balkans as a whole. Serbs/ Southern Slavs emigrated to the Balkans thousands of years after the Illyrians had been there living in peace. So I could really use your own argument against you.

Also Tito almost gave Kosovo status in the SFYugoslavia, so Kosovo would have had the exact same right as the rest of the Yugoslav Republics to declare independence. Kosovo declared independence the same way Ireland did, then you accuse me of double standards.

Also please don't judge me from two comment on a news article. For your information I'm Scottish and I would appreciate an independent Scotland, so does that really make me an imperialist?

Ian UK: Okay, I get where you're coming from now, and how pointless it is trying to speak about history and international legal charters and frameworks. David Jones is right.

Please tell me what land exactly the UK 'gave away' during the 20th Century? Are you speaking about the local government reorganisation of boundaries during the 70s?

How are you comparing this to one ethnic group annexing a large propertion of national territory?

Britain is rightly prepared to defend her own territory as much as any other country, including Serbia.

Niall - I am English and I agree with you 100%. Ireland should always have been a separate country (but I am against the IRA as well as the UDF and other violent factions).

Put Ian UK back into his colonial mentality box. We are not all like that.

What Britain did to the Irish people during the famine and beyond was absolutely terrible. They weren't allowed to feed their own children food grown on their own soil.

Landowners starved their own people in England as well. Whole communities such as those in Yorkshire. Horrendous thought.

Ian UK has clearly never seen Serbian refugees - why does he have exclusive pity for one ethnicity and not the other?

Populist pony, mate.

I could not agree more than with lan's comments. He is apsolutely right. Serbia should forget about Kosovo, and start creating a good neighborhood relations.

greetz

Come on people, you have been in Europe(Balkans)for over fourteen centuries and haven't yet gained an European mentality. Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia and B&H are now interdependent, live with it and try living a better life and build a better one for your children. Stop with your hatred like you are better than everyone else and try being like every one else. You are loosing the respect you once commended everywhere in the world and that is sad.

first of all: has this man really said that he is proud of kosovo´s funcionality as a state???

unbelievable....

I am convinced he is smarter than that - that can only be sweetwater-showering for the desperate k-albanian separatists.

as for "europe":

the one and only reason that counts for you is: we won´t give Kosovo and Metohija away because it is ours! got it?

as for your nick-name: you should at least have the guts to admit being an albanian before you dream of being an european.

hope that was clear enough.

I am qute glad, since with "leaders" like him, it will be even easier to secure Kosovo´s serbian future.

" agree with you. The British have been "ba****ds" to the Irish in the past. I know what we did was wrong and I accept that. "

No argument there.

"I know what you are saying by we didn't have the right to rule Ireland, but technically under the 1800 Act of Union, we legally did have the right to rule Ireland."

You took Ireland through force of arms. Nobody invited you in. The Act of Union of 1801 was an act imposed on the Irish people rubberstamped by Westminster. We did not at the time get a say to vote on it. Without the consent of the Irish people, your occupation of my country was illegal. And the fact that the Irish used force of arms to assert our freedom in 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and 1916 solidifies my argument and how many felt. It was illegal end of. Your colonial administration had no legtimacy as we were not given the opportunity to decide our fate through the ballot box.

"Also not many Irish are native to Ireland, only ethnic/ celtic Irish are technically native to Ireland, many Irish are of Norman/ Scandinavian/ Welsh/ English/ Scottish decent."

Actually, yes we are, however our Celtic culture, language, music, customs etc. is imported (Celtic invasions circa 500BC). The Irish as an ethnic group are blood related to the Basque of northern Spain. Studies have proven that. Unlike in the UK, blood mixing has not occured to a great extent.

"Also Serbs are not native to Kosovo either, Illyrians (Albanians) are native to Kosovo and the Western Balkans as a whole. Serbs/ Southern Slavs emigrated to the Balkans thousands of years after the Illyrians had been there living in peace. So I could really use your own argument against you."

All the modern peoples of the Balkans are migrants. I'm surpirsed that you have signd up to the Albanian irredentist lie that they are decendents of the Illyrians. that also has been disproven. The Albanians like Serbs are migrants wo assimilated the ancient tribes who were in region during antiquity. They simply adopted elements of their language and customs and moved on from there. Also, the modern concept of Albanianism didnt emerge until very late in the day. The 1878 League of Prizren was the first time in modern history that the Albanians asserted themselves (and rightly so) as a seperate ethnic group, with language,sense of belonging etc.

The fact that there is no trace of anything Albanian in Kosovo until the late 17th century also seems to have escaped you despite the fact that the Serbian churches in Kosmet are a hell of a lot older than that. Look at place names for example. Kosovo (Kosova) is a Serbian name. Pristina/Prishtine, Pec/Peje, Mitrovica/ Mitrovice, Decani/Decan, Orahovac/Rahovec, Vucitrn, Vushtrii, Klina/Kline, Gnjilane/Gjilan. What does this tell you. The names were originally Serbian but Albanized. The Brits the same in Ireland. They simply Anglicised the local names. That is whats happened here. The placenames in Kosovo is another indicator of the Serbian heritage of the province. The Churches and monasteries being the other. The Illyrians like the ancient Macedonians are long gone I can assure you.

"Also Tito almost gave Kosovo status in the SFYugoslavia, so Kosovo would have had the exact same right as the rest of the Yugoslav Republics to declare independence. Kosovo declared independence the same way Ireland did, then you accuse me of double standards."

Kosovo and Ireland are 2 completley different things. Its like comparing chalk and cheese. One was a constuent part of a federation with widespread autonomous powers, the other was a colony. Kosovo although granted autonomous status (like Vojvodina) on par with that of the republics, did not have republican status so therefore under the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution it had no right to seceede from Yugoslavia. The SAP of Kosmet was politically part of the SR Serbia as was Vojvodina. The reason Tito never gave the Hungarians or Albanians republican status was because 1) they were seen as minority groups not as constituent national peoples like Serbs, Slovenes etc. & 2) they already had countries or homelands of their own, Hungary and Albania respectively. Get a map of SRFJ and a copy of the 1974 Constitution and read it.

Also Kosovo is not covered under the UN Charter that recognises the right of self-determination or under the UN designated status for colonies & colonial peoples as India has rightly pointed out over the case of Kosovo. Secondly the majority people of Kosovo are ethnic Albanians who speak Albanian. There are no people called Kosovan, Kosovan language or distinct Kosovan culture where there are for the Irish because we are unique as a people. Now what do you have to say about the Kurds, Basque, Abkhazians, Tibetans. These are seperate and unique peoples yet they do not have their own independent state. Do you see where the double standards is and what i'm implying at.

"Also please don't judge me from two comment on a news article. For your information I'm Scottish and I would appreciate an independent Scotland, so does that really make me an imperialist?
(Ian, UK, 13 February 2009 16:05)"

FYI, the Scots along with the English were the main empire builders of the British Empire as was witnessed in Ireland when Protestant Scottish planters forcibly evicted native Cathloic Irish from the land set up Plantations. Scots were also the main thrust behind Empire in Ausralia, India and Africa where they dominated the colonial administration and judging from your support for Anglo American imperialist policy in the Balkans, i.e. Kosovo that makes you sir an Imperialist.

@Blero,

Blero, i'm as Irish as the Blarney Stone. I havent one ounce of Serb blood in me. Look at my name, that should give you a clue. You can rest assured sir that they are not many O'Dohertys in Belgrade, Novi Sad or Nis.

You invaded my country, which had its own government, courts, centres of learning, rule of law. You destroyed all of that.
You oppressed us, starved us, beat us, murdered us, drove us off our lands, condemned us to death during the Great Famine, burned our crops and farms during the various uprisings that we had. You ruled us as a colony. You exploited our resources for your own selfish benefits.

(Niall O'Doherty, 13 February 2009 12:43)

I know that this is long shot but Niall could you please pick a single point from the above list that Serbia did not do in Kosovo.
Only once you have done that, and once you actually read as who are the natives of Kosovo will you see the truth.
Will you accept that, well that is a different question all together.
Until then Niall, everything you write is a simple propaganda. If you are Irish (as you seem to try to prove) you should be the first one to understand what being oppressed is (well this is based on what you just wrote about British and Irish). But I guess you are not.

With Hashim Thaqi as PM, we are sure that we Albanians will accomplish the mission of UQK/KLA: Kosova to join with Albania.

Thaqi, you took the words right out of my mouth...
There is nothing positive to expect from Serbia.
We Should Concentrate on building our country,economy,defence.. so that the citizens of republic of kosova feel safe and that they never have to suffer as they did in the past..
Is the serbia that needs to apologise...and even if they do,we should never forget or Forgive for what they are capable of..
Kosova is a closed case,you can 'cry me a river' if you want,but it won't help you or us..



U.S.Albania

"Enjoy your illegal UDI celebrations my Albanian friends. As we all know, nothing has really changed in fantasy land."


Oh don't worry, we will celebrate. Big time. On February 17th.

yeah, right, albania is just waiting for unmikistanis.

waiting like in 1999 when they closed borders or this time realy?

blero, niall definitely is irish and he understands what being oppressed means. however, he also understand the british imperialist treachery. as do indians who rightly point out that the case of kosovo is different. and so do many others who had experience with this in the past. this, not russia, is the main obstacle to the recognition of kosovo. local conflicts were used by big powers for their own ends. many don't simply see you as an oppressed group, but also as a group who has decided to serve the interest of the big powers to the detriment of your neighbours and imo rightly so. serbs and albanians should find a way to live together or separately, but they need to find a way to do this together. reyling on others will just keep you divided and you will not prosper as much as you could otherwise.

(Ian, UK, 12 February 2009 21:11)

Ian UK, long time that I heavn't read such a good and articulated post here.

Nial is just superficial on his replays and stereotypes.

Nial if you want to infrom yourself you may also check other sources of history than the Serbian one. But if you are in love with the para science...

Some people are very happy living their lives with their head in the sand. They can very easily be manipulated to believe absurd stories such as the ones where they claim that 800 thousand K-Albanians were displaced because of NATO bombs and that they ran to Serbian army to ask for help. This is why I don’t get surprised when I hear their version of Albanian history, Illyrians etc. Obviously, they will only believe what they want to believe and no amount of proof will ever change that.
Some of them even compare KLA with IRA. They probably have no idea how the Serbs reacted when KLA attacked a police station in Kosovo or how Britain reacted while IRA was planting bombs in London, 500 miles away from Belfast. They dare to compare British vs. Serbian aggression?! Do they have any idea what would have happened if Albanians ever planted car bombs in Belgrade?

@44. Erik (Germany)
Dear Erik
Maybe You should get better informed
about this issue, and Germany`s role in it, after all nice things Germans have done there in WWI, WWII (and now of course), before you give any statement about Serbia.
Danke schön!

Two excellent intewies of PM Thaci.

Kosova shoudl not fear to repeat and repeat the TRUTH.

Kosova was the victim of the fascist policy of teh Milosevics regime and it is still in deangeor from teh same forces today REPRESENTED in the Serbian GOVERMNET (Milosevic's SPS) and is STILL a MAJOR POLITICAL orientation in Serbia RADICAL PARTY OF SERBIA

Thaci is right, and a brave politician, well I know that for Serbs his saying doesn't sound good but you'll get it by passing the time.

Thaci means well. All he wants is for the people of Kosovo and Serbia to be well. He is calling for Serbia to end this Anti-Kosovo campaign. It is a waste of time and money for Belgrade and Pristina. Serbia should accept the irreversible reality of the Rep of Kosovo; by Serbia not doing so it is negatively affecting Serbia, Kosovo, EU, US, Russia and the whole world. Thaci said he wants to "normalise" things between Kosovo and Serbia, so Serbia should do just that, instead of wasting time and money, which could be spent in different areas such as on the people of Serbia or towards EU membership. Tadic is a good man, he is good for Serbia and I'm sure he will eventually see how pointless his policy on Kosovo is.

Well, I've just about had enough of these aggressive noises coming from Pristina.

I think that Tadic should respond in a firm, but polite way.

The message should be that:

the Kosovo Albanian leadership does not recognise that the Milosevic regime is long gone.

That Serbia is committed to using diplomatic means to achieve its goals in Kosovo, regardless of provocations.

That Serbia is ready to negotiate final status, whilst Kosovo Albanians are unwilling to compromise.

That the Kosovo Albanian is stepping up their verbal attacks on Serbia to dissuade IDP's from returning to Kosovo and to make it clear to remaining Serbs in Kosovo that they are not welcome. That accompanied with a statistic on how many IDP's have returned and perhaps something about limited freedom of movement.

That the Kosovo Albanian leadership is obviously worried about recent Serbian diplomatic efforts and is trying to increase support in Serbia for a hardline policy on Kosovo, in order to prove that today's Serbia pursues the same policies as Milosevic's Serbia.

Of course much of the hardline statements made by the current Kosovo Albanian leadership are for Kosovo Albanian internal consumption, but that kind of message from Tadic would not be so effective.

The point is that there is only so much being pushed around that one can take. It will be upto Pristina's politicians to decide how much political mileage there is in continuing the hardline language, but in diplomatic terms such language has to receive a response.

He said that while Serbia aspired to EU and NATO membership, its relations with Kosovo remained completely chauvinistic in order to try and compromise Kosovo’s territorial integrity.

Sort of like you compromised Serbia's territorial integrity when you chose to steal a chunk of it's territory.

So when you decide you will take what you want it is not chauvinistic, but when Serbia refuses to let go of her territory you consider it chauvinistic.

You certainly like to throw words such as chauvinistic, genocide, Milosevic mentality around a lot.

Mr. Thaci, do you honestly believe that just because you throw an accusation like it's still Milosevic mentality over there you will make Serbia back off. If protecting your territory is Milosevic mentality, then I say he had the right idea.

Peggy considering how Kosovars actually do own their own homes this only explains the fact that you don't understand the concept of ownership.

Furthermore, these borders have been around since the 70s, it's not as if PM Thaci declared the DOI and claimed half of Serbia.

bganon,
we tried to negotiate with the likes of Jeremic for over 13 months there were no results. If Serbia has no plans to return our missing from Serbia proper, the pensions, and other things...then why should we negotiate?

Keep waiting Thaci and keep stringing your people into impossible missions. Hope is one thing but delusion is something completely different.

When the snake speaks like this it makes me smile knowing that he is getting increasingly desperate.

Enjoy your illegal UDI celebrations my Albanian friends. As we all know, nothing has really changed in fantasy land.

I would like to ask Serbian posters here - what exactly is it that you miss from Kosovo? Its been 10 years that Serbia has had no authority over Kosovo, and nobody seems to have noticed the difference, but you want it back. I would like to know what you would gain from having Kosovo back? If Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians were able to live free, happy and harmoniously inside or outside of Serbia, what difference would it make in concrete terms to have it inside Serbia? Aside from matters of macho historical pride, I havent yet heard why Serbia wants Kosovo. After all, most Serbs dont even like Albanians, and would not be happy with a parliament made up of 20% Albanians. Most Serbs didnt go and visit Prizren or Gracanica on holidays. If you recognised Kosovo's independence what would you actually loose??

I would love to hear the Snake's spin on the organized organ harvesting.

I think Thaci has become a man of many trades, not only was he a one time terrorist rebel leader, a criminal and a "politition" he has now began dabbeling in the field of comedy; How can a man like him possibly have the cheek to call anyone a chauvinist? Hes basically Haradinaj who is an open and active chauvinist aswell.

Serbia will defend itself foreign occupation and imperialism, it has always been that way through history and it will remain so. We have proven that our resolve will never faulter in our history and that is why our pride is everlasting.

@ Kate

I'm fully aware that Thaci was in the KLA and that he was a senior member. Yes you may call the KLA terrorists, but there is a famous saying "one man's terrorist is another mans freedom fighter". Another famous saying is "terrorism is a poor mans war". The KLA was in response to terrible regime of Milošević and what it did to Kosovo.

I am also aware that Kosovo was 15% of Serbia. This is no reason for Kosovo not been allowed to be independent. Whats your point that Kosovo was 15% of Serbia?

I also know that Serbian and other non-Albanian communities currently "live behind barbed wire" and that "it is a hotspot for human, drug and arms trafficking", this is why I support EULEX as they should be able to sort things out in Kosovo, where UNMIK failed especially in the North.

I actually would not be happy if some "took 15% of my country", like with Ireland. But like Serbia, Britain lost the right to rule Ireland. Serbia lost the right to rule Kosovo in 1998/9. My father was in St John's Ambulance at the time of the Kosovo War and some Kosovo refugees stayed at my father's house for a few weeks until they could be relocated to a permanent place. It was upsetting to see the state that they were in and to hear what they had experienced. Then people like you act shocked when they are surprised to see that the people of Kosovo want to be independent. Kosovo declared independence the same way Serbia did from the Ottoman Empire and remained unrecognised for around 9 years. Kosovo declared independence the same way as many countries did; unilaterally.

Also people do just hand over chunks of land, they UK did lots of that in the second half of the twentieth century.

You said "Under UN Resolution 1244 Kosovo legally remains a province of Serbia." You are actually wrong it said a province of Yugoslavia not Serbia. Serbia and Montenegro replaced Yugoslavia. Then after Serbia and Montenegro came Serbia as the successor, meanwhile Kosovo was a UN administrated province. Serbia was the successor state of two states before, but can it really inherit a UNSC resolution? It will be interesting to see what the ICJ has to say about UNSC resolution 1244, it might not even still be valid.

I'm glad that the UK has recognised Kosovo as the people of Kosovo deserve it. Recognition of an independent Kosovo helps correct where the 1913 Treaty of London went wrong.

Ian,UK

You are wrong. Serbia is the successor state of Yugoslavia. So Kosovo is still a Serbian province.

By the way: it was part of Yugoslavia BY BEING PART OF SERBIA.

If the Midlands are an English province and Scotland and Wales leave the UK, does that mean Midlands is no longer an English province.

You see, international law is on the Serbian side. But US only uses international law when US can use it for own puropose!

Well said Kate. Too many people from the West look at Serbia and it's recent history in very simplistic terms. Too many people have gained their 'facts' from biased Western media reports.

I say good on Serbia for standing up for justice.

With Hashim Thaqi as PM, we are sure that we Albanians will accomplish the mission of UQK/KLA: Kosova to join with Albania.

Chauvinistic? Serbia is just trying to solve the question of Kosovo's status in a peaceful and legal manner. Since when did that become chauvinistic?

Ian, UK - You clearly know nothing about Thaci's background or the KLA.

Do you even realise that Kosovo is 15% of the entire country of Serbia? Or how many Serbian, Roma, Albanian 'traitors' (deemed traitors by the KLA for eg. speaking to Serbian neighbours) and other people have been killed or terrorised into leaving since the so-called 'liberation' by Nato?

Do you realise that Serbian and other non-Albanian communities currently live behind barbed wire in their own country in Kosovo? Or that the mafia run the province and it is a hotspot for human, drug and arms trafficking?

Read about it via Interpol, Europol etc.

Come to that, do you even know anything about WWII history? Look it all up - the genuine stuff, not the rubbish about Dardinia and Illyria spouted on here.

You may not care if someone took 15% of your country, but I certainly would. Under UN Resolution 1244 Kosovo legally remains a province of Serbia.

People don't just hand over chunks of land.

I speak as a UK person as well. I am not Serbian, but I am disgusted at what my country has done.

Hashim Thaqi is obviously bringing the complete Serbian Government in the defensive, with only two interviews within one week.

Too long have the Kosovar Institutions remained silent to the propaganda coming from Belgrade. In the last 2-3 years, Serb officials were trying to convince the whole world that 17 March 2004 is equal to 1999, that Albanians are the agresors, that UCK is the real terror.

For too long have the Kosovars been silent, in order not to bring their supporters (USA, EU) in an uncomfortable position.

Obviously, this silence has ended. Now you will hear the truth from Kosovo.

To Jeremic: for too long you have been spreading lies. Your time is over. The world still has not learned the real massacres that were commited ON YOUR NAME, and on the name of your nation, Mr. Jeremic.

This guy is in total desperation.
He knows that 1244 guarantees Kosovo as a part of Serbia,EU,NATO,UN membership is not achievable and that`s it.
Thaci,keep on crying I`m afraid nobody is hearing you...

I can see that this uneducated man is totally plagiarazing the Western propaganda tactics. He is apparently trying to influence the people that know the facts better than he does since he is in total denial and blinded by reality. Witnessing Germany's transparent policy in the Balkans, and using Taci's logic, the world would be left with no other alternative but to conclude that noting has changed in Germany since Hitler. Leave the lying and the prpaganda to your historian Megallomatis and to your new propaganda agency to which you shelled out millions of US and EU's tax payers dollars.

european,

It is pure theft of sovereign Serbian land, this 'greater albania' German policy that the EU has adopted. Serbs are against being raped by the west, as well as against gross anti-Serb double standards.
Why is the right to self determination applied to all ethnic groups in ex-Yugoslavia except the Serbs? Why is an independent Republika Srpska not recognized by the EU because of the 'will of the overwhelming majority of its citizens'? Or how about the will of the Serbs in the Mitrovica pocket, or in Krajina? Please explain that one to me mr. european.
Do Serbs miss albanians you ask? No, I believe they don't. However, Kosovo is the cradle of Serbian civilization as the monuments there prove, and it belongs to Serbia, and can not be taken away illegally, and it will not. You can not give Kosovo to the albanians, because it is not yours to give.
Serbs will not ever accept to be treated as fools or slaves. We want truth, justice, and respect, and will settle for nothing less. If Europe persists in its German influenced anti-Serbian policies, then I promise you, you will never, ever, have peace in the Balkans.
Cheers!!

Kate, show me one proof that Kosovo's territory / Serbia's territory = 15%.

Last time I checked Kosova's territory makes up 10,908km2, did we aquire Presheva valley that I didn't know about?

"I actually would not be happy if some "took 15% of my country", like with Ireland. But like Serbia, Britain lost the right to rule Ireland. Serbia lost the right to rule Kosovo in 1998/9. My father was in St John's Ambulance at the time of the Kosovo War and some Kosovo refugees stayed at my father's house for a few weeks until they could be relocated to a permanent place. It was upsetting to see the state that they were in and to hear what they had experienced. Then people like you act shocked when they are surprised to see that the people of Kosovo want to be independent. Kosovo declared independence the same way Serbia did from the Ottoman Empire and remained unrecognised for around 9 years. Kosovo declared independence the same way as many countries did; unilaterally. - Ian UK"

Ian, let me set the record straight with you mate. Who are you to say that Britain lost the 'right' to rule Ireland. Fact is, it never had had that right in the first place. You invaded my country, which had its own government, courts, centres of learning, rule of law. You destroyed all of that.

You oppressed us, starved us, beat us, murdered us, drove us off our lands, condemned us to death during the Great Famine, burned our crops and farms during the various uprisings that we had. You ruled us as a colony. You exploited our resources for your own selfish benefits. My grandparents lived under British rule and for them until the day they died they never recognised your right to rule us.

We the Irish people are natives to our land, with our language, customs, traditions etc. We are wholly unique unlike the ethnic Albanians in Kosmet who are a) settlers in a Serbian province and b) have their own country, its called Albania. Kosovo has no legal right to be independent as it does not come under the Colonies and occupied territories stipulation and Right of Self Determination of Peoples (as rightly pointed out by India).

Serbia never 'lost' the right to rule Kosovo because it always had that right. The Serbs are native to Kosovo. It was part of Stefan Dusan's kingdom. They took it back from the Turks in 1912 after nearly 500 years. It is the centre of their culture of their very heritage. Kosovo i Methojia is the very essence of all Serbdom. It is their identity. You cant take that away, you cant buy that or trade it for no price, its priceless. Do you not get that? Yugoslavia never practised genocide in Kosovo so therefore your moralistic Blairite nonesense goes out the window and it has been proven. What about Palestine? The Basque country, Tibet, Kurdistan. Surely they have the right to have their own state. I dont see you extolling Turkey to leave Kurdistan or advocating that we bomb Madrid.

Please you are simply parroting the line of British imperialists. Nothing has changed with you lot. The hypocrisy and double standards is sickening.

LOGIC

The answer is because its the right thing to do. And I must admit I am not aware that Serbian Albanian negotiations have been going on the for the last 13 months either.... In my opinion we haven't even begun negotiations.

And anyway the less you are willing to negotiate the worse (or better) the chance you have of losing support from western backers.

Choosing the hardline route, gives you the best chance of losing a winning hand. At the same time is strenthens extremists in your own camp and in the Serb camp. Ultimately you have to decide what kind of society you want. If you want uncompromising leaders they will rule you with an iron fist.

ha ha ha

cry me a river ...

seems like trash-talking-interviews for anglo-saxon media is all of office that left for the self-declared state-leader, the prince of pristinars or unmikistanis ....

Go easy guys. Thaci is merely increasing his vocabulary. He doesn't talk of "Kosovo's institutions" and the "600km of roads built" but has added new terms such as 'genocide' etc

(Ian, UK, 12 February 2009 15:22)

Kate,

There is no need to waste your time with Ian. He has shown with nearly every post, his ignorance of anything outside his own backyard.

Your approach to the organ harvesting issue is very chauvinistic.

@Kate

You keep referring to history, now its my turn. Have you heard of this thing called the British Empire? Yes we did just give away chunks of land.

@ Niall O'Doherty

I agree with you. The British have been "ba****ds" to the Irish in the past. I know what we did was wrong and I accept that.

I know what you are saying by we didn't have the right to rule Ireland, but technically under the 1800 Act of Union, we legally did have the right to rule Ireland.

Also not many Irish are native to Ireland, only ethnic/ celtic Irish are technically native to Ireland, many Irish are of Norman/ Scandinavian/ Welsh/ English/ Scottish decent.

Also Serbs are not native to Kosovo either, Illyrians (Albanians) are native to Kosovo and the Western Balkans as a whole. Serbs/ Southern Slavs emigrated to the Balkans thousands of years after the Illyrians had been there living in peace. So I could really use your own argument against you.

Also Tito almost gave Kosovo status in the SFYugoslavia, so Kosovo would have had the exact same right as the rest of the Yugoslav Republics to declare independence. Kosovo declared independence the same way Ireland did, then you accuse me of double standards.

Also please don't judge me from two comment on a news article. For your information I'm Scottish and I would appreciate an independent Scotland, so does that really make me an imperialist?

"Enjoy your illegal UDI celebrations my Albanian friends. As we all know, nothing has really changed in fantasy land."


Oh don't worry, we will celebrate. Big time. On February 17th.

for hash: worry about that arrest warrant we have out for you. talking jibberish doesn’t make it go away.

for wise 'european' guy. lets not talk beads and mirrors for poor serbs. as in, why do you need your land, here, have some beads and mirrors instead. that was a whole different continent where 'europeans' did that. how about our continent? it was the nazis who tried to have first and second class nations in europe. they didn’t succeed. neither will anyone else trying. there's this thing that keeps the sane world together called international law. serbian international borders are sacred just like spain's, just like france's. lets leave nonsense out of it. serbia will fight for kosovo for as long as one serb exists in this world. even when spain lets catolonia be independent, even when romania lets transilvania do the same, even when belgium falls apart in three independent states, we serbs will still fight for our country. why? because kosovo is serbia. there is no kosovo without serbia and there is no serbia without kosovo.
wise people understand already, others will catch up in good time.

it is obvious that someone who is using this vocabulary to describe the "neighbour" has no interest in normalising relations to that "neighbour". western diplomats don't use this kind of vocabulary when they are talking to the serb leadership. they talk about "differences in opinion", not about chauvinism. i guess thaci is talking to his western backers in the same way as he did when he wanted (and succeeded) to get them to bomb serbia. however, the western policies towards serbia definitely changed and they are even showing they want to accept that serbs won't recognise kosovo anytime soon. they want to get countries in the region to work together. unfortunately some people still don't realise that and thaci is one of them.

Can’t believe this guy was surprised by Serbia’s reaction. Was he expecting romance and dark chocolate? Was he left out in the cold holding a bunch of flowers and crying over his broken heart?
He’s got his priorities all wrong. Concentrate more in getting them 100 recognitions that you promised and stop looking for romance. isn’t going to happen.

When people who ethnically cleansed Kosovo of Serbs and Romani call others "chauvinists" it is the height of Orwellian irony. The people who destroy ancient churches with impunity, desecrate graves, harvest organs, etc. The people who proudly claim they are the successors to the Fascist Balli Kombetar, calling others "chauvinists"! This is pure comedy. It's the classic case of making the aggressors into the victims. There was no "oppressive" policy towards the Kosovo Albanians, ever. Not under Milosevic, not under Tito, not under anyone. Kosovo Albanians elected their own police, had schools and newspapers in their own language, and had cultural rights that minorities in other countries would only dream of having. Now under KLA mafia rule, Serbs have no such rights. They are being driven out. They live in ghettos. They have no basic services like water and electricity. But the Serbs are the chauvinists! Get real. Giving this terrorist thug the opportunity to spew his nonsense through the news media is akin to giving Osama bin Laden a public platform. I say stop reporting on what the "Prishtina" mafia say. Stop giving a platform to hate and terror.

Ian UK: Okay, I get where you're coming from now, and how pointless it is trying to speak about history and international legal charters and frameworks. David Jones is right.

Please tell me what land exactly the UK 'gave away' during the 20th Century? Are you speaking about the local government reorganisation of boundaries during the 70s?

How are you comparing this to one ethnic group annexing a large propertion of national territory?

Britain is rightly prepared to defend her own territory as much as any other country, including Serbia.

You invaded my country, which had its own government, courts, centres of learning, rule of law. You destroyed all of that.
You oppressed us, starved us, beat us, murdered us, drove us off our lands, condemned us to death during the Great Famine, burned our crops and farms during the various uprisings that we had. You ruled us as a colony. You exploited our resources for your own selfish benefits.

(Niall O'Doherty, 13 February 2009 12:43)

I know that this is long shot but Niall could you please pick a single point from the above list that Serbia did not do in Kosovo.
Only once you have done that, and once you actually read as who are the natives of Kosovo will you see the truth.
Will you accept that, well that is a different question all together.
Until then Niall, everything you write is a simple propaganda. If you are Irish (as you seem to try to prove) you should be the first one to understand what being oppressed is (well this is based on what you just wrote about British and Irish). But I guess you are not.

Thaci and his fellow nu-demokrats, Sakishvilli the warrior, are awaiting their course books for module 2- vocabulary for politician in suit.
One day he's organising demos against the hand that's feeding him (EU), now he's giving us the pained leader performance. Well, you've had your party, you've got your country, at massive cost to those of us who know what your people are like when they head west, and now you're looking for a bit of sympathy too. Next he'll be telling us his faux nation's skint and needs more money to help it along the way to (gulp) democracy. Then, the minute the EU leaves in exasperation, we'll read he's done an arms deal with Iran/N Korea/China-y'know, for defence purposes. History's gonna repeat itself and Serbia is going to have sort the mess out.

Come on people, you have been in Europe(Balkans)for over fourteen centuries and haven't yet gained an European mentality. Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia and B&H are now interdependent, live with it and try living a better life and build a better one for your children. Stop with your hatred like you are better than everyone else and try being like every one else. You are loosing the respect you once commended everywhere in the world and that is sad.

Niall - I am English and I agree with you 100%. Ireland should always have been a separate country (but I am against the IRA as well as the UDF and other violent factions).

Put Ian UK back into his colonial mentality box. We are not all like that.

What Britain did to the Irish people during the famine and beyond was absolutely terrible. They weren't allowed to feed their own children food grown on their own soil.

Landowners starved their own people in England as well. Whole communities such as those in Yorkshire. Horrendous thought.

Ian UK has clearly never seen Serbian refugees - why does he have exclusive pity for one ethnicity and not the other?

Populist pony, mate.

I could not agree more than with lan's comments. He is apsolutely right. Serbia should forget about Kosovo, and start creating a good neighborhood relations.

greetz

" agree with you. The British have been "ba****ds" to the Irish in the past. I know what we did was wrong and I accept that. "

No argument there.

"I know what you are saying by we didn't have the right to rule Ireland, but technically under the 1800 Act of Union, we legally did have the right to rule Ireland."

You took Ireland through force of arms. Nobody invited you in. The Act of Union of 1801 was an act imposed on the Irish people rubberstamped by Westminster. We did not at the time get a say to vote on it. Without the consent of the Irish people, your occupation of my country was illegal. And the fact that the Irish used force of arms to assert our freedom in 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and 1916 solidifies my argument and how many felt. It was illegal end of. Your colonial administration had no legtimacy as we were not given the opportunity to decide our fate through the ballot box.

"Also not many Irish are native to Ireland, only ethnic/ celtic Irish are technically native to Ireland, many Irish are of Norman/ Scandinavian/ Welsh/ English/ Scottish decent."

Actually, yes we are, however our Celtic culture, language, music, customs etc. is imported (Celtic invasions circa 500BC). The Irish as an ethnic group are blood related to the Basque of northern Spain. Studies have proven that. Unlike in the UK, blood mixing has not occured to a great extent.

"Also Serbs are not native to Kosovo either, Illyrians (Albanians) are native to Kosovo and the Western Balkans as a whole. Serbs/ Southern Slavs emigrated to the Balkans thousands of years after the Illyrians had been there living in peace. So I could really use your own argument against you."

All the modern peoples of the Balkans are migrants. I'm surpirsed that you have signd up to the Albanian irredentist lie that they are decendents of the Illyrians. that also has been disproven. The Albanians like Serbs are migrants wo assimilated the ancient tribes who were in region during antiquity. They simply adopted elements of their language and customs and moved on from there. Also, the modern concept of Albanianism didnt emerge until very late in the day. The 1878 League of Prizren was the first time in modern history that the Albanians asserted themselves (and rightly so) as a seperate ethnic group, with language,sense of belonging etc.

The fact that there is no trace of anything Albanian in Kosovo until the late 17th century also seems to have escaped you despite the fact that the Serbian churches in Kosmet are a hell of a lot older than that. Look at place names for example. Kosovo (Kosova) is a Serbian name. Pristina/Prishtine, Pec/Peje, Mitrovica/ Mitrovice, Decani/Decan, Orahovac/Rahovec, Vucitrn, Vushtrii, Klina/Kline, Gnjilane/Gjilan. What does this tell you. The names were originally Serbian but Albanized. The Brits the same in Ireland. They simply Anglicised the local names. That is whats happened here. The placenames in Kosovo is another indicator of the Serbian heritage of the province. The Churches and monasteries being the other. The Illyrians like the ancient Macedonians are long gone I can assure you.

"Also Tito almost gave Kosovo status in the SFYugoslavia, so Kosovo would have had the exact same right as the rest of the Yugoslav Republics to declare independence. Kosovo declared independence the same way Ireland did, then you accuse me of double standards."

Kosovo and Ireland are 2 completley different things. Its like comparing chalk and cheese. One was a constuent part of a federation with widespread autonomous powers, the other was a colony. Kosovo although granted autonomous status (like Vojvodina) on par with that of the republics, did not have republican status so therefore under the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution it had no right to seceede from Yugoslavia. The SAP of Kosmet was politically part of the SR Serbia as was Vojvodina. The reason Tito never gave the Hungarians or Albanians republican status was because 1) they were seen as minority groups not as constituent national peoples like Serbs, Slovenes etc. & 2) they already had countries or homelands of their own, Hungary and Albania respectively. Get a map of SRFJ and a copy of the 1974 Constitution and read it.

Also Kosovo is not covered under the UN Charter that recognises the right of self-determination or under the UN designated status for colonies & colonial peoples as India has rightly pointed out over the case of Kosovo. Secondly the majority people of Kosovo are ethnic Albanians who speak Albanian. There are no people called Kosovan, Kosovan language or distinct Kosovan culture where there are for the Irish because we are unique as a people. Now what do you have to say about the Kurds, Basque, Abkhazians, Tibetans. These are seperate and unique peoples yet they do not have their own independent state. Do you see where the double standards is and what i'm implying at.

"Also please don't judge me from two comment on a news article. For your information I'm Scottish and I would appreciate an independent Scotland, so does that really make me an imperialist?
(Ian, UK, 13 February 2009 16:05)"

FYI, the Scots along with the English were the main empire builders of the British Empire as was witnessed in Ireland when Protestant Scottish planters forcibly evicted native Cathloic Irish from the land set up Plantations. Scots were also the main thrust behind Empire in Ausralia, India and Africa where they dominated the colonial administration and judging from your support for Anglo American imperialist policy in the Balkans, i.e. Kosovo that makes you sir an Imperialist.

@Blero,

Blero, i'm as Irish as the Blarney Stone. I havent one ounce of Serb blood in me. Look at my name, that should give you a clue. You can rest assured sir that they are not many O'Dohertys in Belgrade, Novi Sad or Nis.

Ugh, not again with the genocide! How does this guy expect "good, neighbourly relations" with Serbia when he throws around accusations like these? Genocide is 6 million jews killed by the Nazis, 1.5 million Armenians killed by the Ottomans, 1 million Tutsis killed by the Hutus, 500 000 Serbs killed by Ustashe (I don't even think that Nanking and Srebrenica can classify as genocide, since they were not planned against the entire nation in question) etc. There was nothing close to this in Kosovo, save for some organized massacres (which is a common occurence in any war, and something that just about every ethnic group has been found guilty of), but this does not fit in with the definition of "organized, systematic extermination of a particular group of people by another group of people.".

The funny thing is he is defending Kosovo's interests, but finds it inconcievable for Serbia to do the same (ie. he wants them to bend to his will), yet he wants "good, enighbourly relations" with them, but because they fight for their own interests, they are the "face of genocide" in Kosovo.

Surely out of that population of 2 million people, they can find someone better than this clown. Sejdiu looks like a decent politician, he's educated and diplomatic, why can't they find more like him?

This guy should should become a security guard at a mall.

Thaci has to realize that Serbia doesn't have to comply with his wishes. Serbs can make whatever choices they desire. Thaci can say whatever it is he desires, throwing out inflammatory terms like genocide, but that's not going to change the fact that Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's UDI. Further, these days nobody cares about Kosovo in the US. I suggest to Albanian posters that you go to the Washington post's website and search for Kosovo and see just how important Kosovo is to the current administration. Nobody cares right now because the US and EU nations have far greater concerns, most notably the global economy. Essentially, while Thaci says what he likes and keeps on giving the thumbs up, he's doing it to an empty audience, with the exception of a few of us for whom this is an interesting issue.

Thaqi, you took the words right out of my mouth...
There is nothing positive to expect from Serbia.
We Should Concentrate on building our country,economy,defence.. so that the citizens of republic of kosova feel safe and that they never have to suffer as they did in the past..
Is the serbia that needs to apologise...and even if they do,we should never forget or Forgive for what they are capable of..
Kosova is a closed case,you can 'cry me a river' if you want,but it won't help you or us..



U.S.Albania

yeah, right, albania is just waiting for unmikistanis.

waiting like in 1999 when they closed borders or this time realy?

(Ian, UK, 12 February 2009 21:11)

Ian UK, long time that I heavn't read such a good and articulated post here.

Nial is just superficial on his replays and stereotypes.

Nial if you want to infrom yourself you may also check other sources of history than the Serbian one. But if you are in love with the para science...

blero, niall definitely is irish and he understands what being oppressed means. however, he also understand the british imperialist treachery. as do indians who rightly point out that the case of kosovo is different. and so do many others who had experience with this in the past. this, not russia, is the main obstacle to the recognition of kosovo. local conflicts were used by big powers for their own ends. many don't simply see you as an oppressed group, but also as a group who has decided to serve the interest of the big powers to the detriment of your neighbours and imo rightly so. serbs and albanians should find a way to live together or separately, but they need to find a way to do this together. reyling on others will just keep you divided and you will not prosper as much as you could otherwise.

Some people are very happy living their lives with their head in the sand. They can very easily be manipulated to believe absurd stories such as the ones where they claim that 800 thousand K-Albanians were displaced because of NATO bombs and that they ran to Serbian army to ask for help. This is why I don’t get surprised when I hear their version of Albanian history, Illyrians etc. Obviously, they will only believe what they want to believe and no amount of proof will ever change that.
Some of them even compare KLA with IRA. They probably have no idea how the Serbs reacted when KLA attacked a police station in Kosovo or how Britain reacted while IRA was planting bombs in London, 500 miles away from Belfast. They dare to compare British vs. Serbian aggression?! Do they have any idea what would have happened if Albanians ever planted car bombs in Belgrade?

first of all: has this man really said that he is proud of kosovo´s funcionality as a state???

unbelievable....

I am convinced he is smarter than that - that can only be sweetwater-showering for the desperate k-albanian separatists.

as for "europe":

the one and only reason that counts for you is: we won´t give Kosovo and Metohija away because it is ours! got it?

as for your nick-name: you should at least have the guts to admit being an albanian before you dream of being an european.

hope that was clear enough.

I am qute glad, since with "leaders" like him, it will be even easier to secure Kosovo´s serbian future.

@44. Erik (Germany)
Dear Erik
Maybe You should get better informed
about this issue, and Germany`s role in it, after all nice things Germans have done there in WWI, WWII (and now of course), before you give any statement about Serbia.
Danke schön!