Thaci: NATO bombing "historic event"

since Albanians were the victims of that bombing as well. Great numbers of the Albanians have lost their lives thanks to NATO merciful bombs but criminals as Thachi himself go around and thank them. Honestly, what kind of character the one must be to do such thing?
Poor Thachi, he must believe that NATO did this just for having great respect for the Albanians cause? Makes me smile, really.

However, I am not surprised coz very often Albanians used or better to say sacrificed own people for the purposes of propaganda. UCK criminals were always hiding in civilian houses and used civilians as a shield, not to mention kidnapping of own people and exposing them to brutal torture until finally killed.

I have been there at that time and heard much of this kind of stories from the Albanians as well, including the fact that wealthier Albanians could or had to buy out their military duty in UCK with great amount of money, otherwise they would have disappeared forever.

So, Thachi, make sure to thank many times to your NATO “friends” coz there will be no much chance to do it once you end up in Serbian prison for your misdeeds and crimes, where you truly belong to.

As for the independence that Thacni mentions all I can say that he is either delusional or unable to understand the meaning of independence.
Kosovo can be namned or called anyhow but not independent state. Thachi must be aware of the fact that Kosovo depends so much of Western mercy, including even dependence from Serbia on many issues which Thachi tries so hardly to deny, but that is the reality.

Remember resolution 1244 is still running the show and it will until Serbia says differently.

This angers me. Innocent people lost their lives as a result of this. And we, the public in the UK, were not told this was about “the just battle for Kosovo’s liberty and independence”. We were told that it was to protect innocent people not an agenda of independence. I don’t know why Thaci had to make any comment today. It is, at best, insensitive and reflects the continuing bitterness towards Serbs. Maybe that is understandable for “joe public” but for the head of a purported state it is not. This statement is about glorifying a dark day and rubbing others nose in it. BBC reports Thaci as saying it was “"a great historic day." They don’t report his statement about the bombing being for the purpose of “the just battle for Kosovo’s liberty and independence”. Someone is telling lies, either Thaci or Western Governments, who is it?

The NATO bombing was indefensible whatever way you look at it.

It was either unjust or it was a policy of not losing western lives and leaving ordinary people unprotected to suffer the dreadful consequences. For clarity, I am not defending Serbian actions in any way.

I remember at the time in the UK, the leader of the Scottish Nationalists condemning the bombing - he was totally destroyed by the press and the establishment. The thing was, he was not against intervention, he wanted troops on the ground. He didn't agree with innocent Serbs becoming victims and he didn't want to expose K-Albanian and K-Serb civilians to the backlash.

Be grateful as much as you want. It may have achieved something in the end but there was a price to be paid and a NATO life was worth more than thousands of civilian victims in Kosovo and Serbia.

A dark day in history in my opinion. The NATO bombing was a failure to protect the innocent. This is a day for sad reflection, a day to remember the innocent Serb and Albanian victims.

Nato bombing was too little and to late. It should have started during the Croatian war.It was to little because it bombed bridges,buildings,military bases,power plants.The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.The worst crimes since world war 2 needed a punishment.Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.

In Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve
Made a mistake
believing a.... (you finish)

OK, I finish it for you:

We won't repeat that mistake:
Never trust a talking snake!

(And don't feed pigeons either)

Sober up Thachi! You ain't Snake anymore but a PM of a banana land! Bombing cannot be called an 'event', sober up my friend because you have been high since 1999.

THANKS NATO! NATO stroke Serbia, just to let it know, what NATO means... A lot of thanks to NATO. VIVA FOREREVER NATO.

"Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)"

Wow. Just wow.

You bombed us and we survived. Will you and your satelite "countries" survive next ten years? You know the answer same as I and many others, so that is why you are so desperate.

Weave me a tapestry of propaganda on your spinning wheel, O Spinmaster!

He is neither honest nor smart.
An official who wants to normalize the relation with the neighboring country with such a history of the relations never allows himself such a comment. The really great guy would say: I'm sorry for your people who suffered during the bombing.
That's what normal people with normal set of human values do.

Its a shame that innocent life was lost as a result of this bombing (regardless of ethnicity), but one could argue that innocent civilians will die as a result any war; this is just one of the many reasons why I oppose all war. Even though I oppose NATO, they did attack FRYugoslavia for a reason. The situation escalated out of control. After Tito the Serbian officials from the 1980's onwards made things worse and worse for the K-Albanians, then Serbs wonder why the K-Albanians didn't want to put up with this oppression and resisted. The NATO bombings was a very dark period, but at the end of it there was some new light thankfully.

"Nato bombing was too little and to late. It should have started during the Croatian war.It was to little because it bombed bridges,buildings,military bases,power plants.The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.The worst crimes since world war 2 needed a punishment.Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)"

Why does the Serbian civilian population deserve to be punished? It wasn't Serb civilians who oppressed their neighbours. Even though I support the Rep of Kosovo, I would say that most Serbs are good people and I'm sure most innocent civilians in Serbia have never done any wrong doing to their neighbours.

I can't understand the purpose of bombing civilian targets. I can understand the purpose of bombing military and other strategic targets, but not civilians. Serbs Civilians were not responsible for what radical Serb leaders had done. I hate NATOt! Thanks to people like you, the innocent die. The people who "deserved" to be "punished" were Milosovic, his cronies and other people who committed war crimes, not civilians. Also I can't understand why you want a beautiful city like Belgrade to be flattened by bombs/ missiles. What good will that do? The killing of all people is wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. Also I think you need to be made aware that Serbs have also been "victim" to ethnic cleansing.

RIP everyone who was killed as a result of the Yugoslav wars.

"Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)"

Wow. Just wow.
(Mike, 24 March 2009 18:30)

The indiscriminate bombing of Dresden, Germany by the US allies was a blood bath where thousands of German citizens were burned alive.

Not only was Berlin burned to the ground but Dresden more so it did not have any military facilities to speak off.

Les us also not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki where again, the dropping of nuclear bombs on an entire city of citizens can never justify Truman's and America's actions of that era.

The dropping of Uranium depleted bombs has had catastrophic effect on not only Serbia but the entire Southeastern European peninsula where Serbs, Albanians and other nationalities live.

For Thaci to condone the combined NATO and KLA terrorism is irrehensible to say the least with total disregard of civilian life lost of both Albanian and Serbian citizens.

NATO's bombing hurt Kosovo more than serbia. It resulted in a serbian retaliation. In fact, most of what happened occurred AFTER the bombing began as a response to the bombing. It is noted that NATO bombed Kosovo with much depleted uranium, the effects of which are seen to this day. But there is more, the fact that the bombing helped the albanians in no way, just made their life a lot worse.

Ian@16. I think you should stick to Serbianna and New Kosova Report to continue peddling your rubbish there. What happened? You couldn't stand the debate there any longer?
Spare us the history lesson. We all know what happened and don't need you to tell us the version which you got from one Albanian family staying with you.
That's what you said on Serbianna. You had one Albanian family with you and are not totally convinced who the bad guys are, even though you must've had an interpreter because you swear you are not Albanian.

Now the rest of us know exactly what happened and have our information from more credible sources.

NATO bombing will remain one of the dark periods in history and you trying to justify it is inhumane. Anyone justifying this is morally bankrupt.

The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)

Mark,

I rarely give a "green" indicator to any comments and almost never a "red".
This time I made an exception. Just tell us: does this comment show a true Albanian face or just an ugly grimace?

Be careful tough: the bloodthirsty Aztec Quetzalcoatl cult did demand own human sacrifices, he was "fed" more, than just organs cut of from people belonging to neighbor tribes.

"Nice" to see you. I wouldn't be surprised if you cherish the "SS Skanderbeu" uniform of some of your forefathers.

If NATO hadn't fought Thaci's war for him, then he would have remained a terrorist.

The KLA were beaten militarily, despite NATO ground controllers being embedded with KLA units and calling in air strikes. The fabled 'Apache' gunships never got over the albanian mountains.

NATO barely made a dent in Kosovo, reports of hundreds of tanks destroyed being as fictitious as the '500,000' albanian men reported 'missing' by State Department propaganda.

Where were The 100,000 NATO ground troops that would be needed to stop, as we were told, to stop a 'potential' genocide?

Rapidly running out of military targets, bombing civilian infrastructure far from the Kosovo was much safer and spectacular. In effect, it was a 'punishment' bombing, political rather than military.

NATO intelligence estimated 40,000 JA troops in the field. 60,000 withdrew in good order. NATO was surprised and western military officers have said that they were impressed.

Neither did NATO win a great victory. They originally claimed that peace would be restored unilaterally on their terms, but it wasn't, hence the MTA (Military Technical Agreement) with the JA and UNSCR 1244 still standing.

Yelstin won the war for NATO by betraying the Serbs when he ordered Chernomyerdin to withdraw support for Yugoslavia.

NATO has been a mess ever since and is still searching for its ever elusive credibility.

with a "prime minister" like Touchy, you don´t need enemies... =)

bravo, since this will make some Europeans thinking about the true nature of this man.

thanks god, Serbia will prevail. you certainly know the saying "he who laughs last, laughs loudest"

Serbia will laugh very loud... just a question of time. it´s yours to wait for that...

this was not NATO bombing, this was the United States of America bombing the same way they bombed a certain German 60years ago. NATO was just used because Europe had to be pressured in since its obviously a European problem with Europe shamefully closing both eyes to what was happening in Kosovo. The bombing should have been with more force as many analysts have suggested afterwards and Belgrade should have been attacked like Berlin was attacked. The split should have come from day one of the defeat and not only for kosovo but for montenegro and vojvodina as well. That way we wouldnt have any problems today. When you punish a criminal you have to punish him that he can't get up and commit any crimes ever again.

Do not be surprised if Kosovo enters into a revolution years and years from now. Thaci does not represent Kosovo as he claims. For now, the USA/NATO are pumping large amounts of cash into Kosovo, and this action is helping to strain the already ailing economies of the USA/NATO. Eventually, the cash will run out. Kosovo is too small for the USA/NATO to keep supporting forever. As problems grow in much, much bigger countries as Pakistan and Afghanistan, the USA/NATO will eventually drop tiny Kosovo. Then Thaci will loose a lot of political power. The USA/NATO know nothing about how to govern someone else's country; only the people of that country know how to govern themselves. As a rule,the people the USA/NATO put into power in other countries eventually loose their power and popularity by abusing their position, being far too materialistic, being greedy, and are driven out of that government. A new government gets formed. Look at history and you will see my point.

>>Nato bombing was too little and to late. It should have started during the Croatian war.It was to little because it bombed bridges,buildings,military bases,power plants.The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.The worst crimes since world war 2 needed a punishment.Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)

i was curious to see what people would write, how they would react to this "great" anniversary. at any rate, i read the stories and the comments, so now is my turn.

first, i am not the least surprised at how the serbian nationalists and their allies are making total hay of this "occasion." it is sickening to use such anniversaries to push your nationalist agenda, but not the least bit surprising and utterly predictable.

as for those who take some pleasure in the BOMBing anniversary, i have heard such comments before. that is always disturbing to me. even still i have expressed my revulsion at such comments, esp.ly one particular comment about "belgrade being nuked." it was said with great pain and not a little hate and vengeance. i personally cannot take pleasure at the deaths of innocent civilians, or of anyone else for that matter. i have frnds in belgrade, and many other cities of the former YU and beyond.

by 1999, we knew exactly the situation in the balkans. slobo's gameplan was quite clear. everyone who writes that the nato bombing started the atrocities against the albanians is lying. they were well underway already, we have read (and heard) the truth and i won't argue with historical revisionists.

yes, we should have intervened long before, in 1991, in 1992, and so on. we should have made a robust reaction to slobo and his willing executioners, and should have "forced" a comprehensive and equitable peace plan on the area. but that is easy to say in retrospect, and was more or less impossible with the europeans coming from multiple POVs and unable to work together, and the US, even under clinton, unable or unwilling to lead. so hundreds of thousands died, there is unending bitterness on all sides, mass graves (mostly of bosniaks) continue to be discovered and exhumed... if you see what has happened in bosnia, and are not utterly prejudiced, it would break your heart.

so yes, we finally intervened, belatedly, in 1999. finally the clinton/blair team did what should have been done years before. unfortunately, tragically, the pace of serb-led genocide then stepped up, and without troops on the ground they just laughed at us, while doing the devil's work. we know this all to be true, so don't bother quoting me gen. mackenzie or some other lying revisionist historian, so called.

i supported the intervention at the time, as i continue to do till this day. NEVertheless, i was appalled at the air attacks inside serbia, esp.ly novi sad and blgrd. it would have been great to get slobo and his cronies, they would have been perfect targets. but of course they hid, comfortably, while parts of blgd burned, just like that funny looking guy with the mustache, half a century before. of course innocent people were killed, and many traumatized. i could never celebrate such a time. and i said so even then, as i was in touch with a (then) frnd in novi sad, by email, believe it or not. so i was not able to comfortably hide from the ugly reality, and i even helped him get an article printed in a bay area paper, despite my ambivalence about its content.

but we did liberate kosovo/a, and thank god for it, no matter what anyone says. things there are imperfect, but they are heaven compared to what was happening before. and we all know who is really pushing the instabilty factor there...

and meanwhile bosnia, politically, is an utter disaster, because we stopped short of what we needed to do. karadzic and his willing executioners have been largely successful in their goals, more's the pity.

there is precious little self-reflection, esp.ly by most serb/diaspora commentators here (and their allies) about what happened and why; but instead more and more aggression and boasting.

so sad how litte things progress, with demagogues in positions of leadership, by which specifically i refer to tadic and co. and dodik and co.

thank you, and i'm sure in the interest of free press you will print this.

roberto/ frisco

Some of my fellow Serbian posters can be cruel. Poor Thaci probably barks something out and then his owners pull on the choke chain.


(A certain Beqir Osmani from Drenica remembers well the youth of Thaci: “We know well who he is. We know what he did, how he was in school and what kind of education he received. Everyone on the Kosovska Mitrovica market had great problems with Thaci, who stole goods from traders. Even the customers complained. He fought in pubs of Mitrovica and Srbica. He has no education at all. He only attended two first classes of a certain secondary school. Today however he meets with international politicians. What he can actually discuss with them is far from being clear”.)

Look who the corrupt west pick to be there henchman in the Balkans.


http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=561

Roberto/frisco,
so you waited patiently that everybody speaks before it was your turn to make a grand conclusion?
Well, it wasn't worth the effort my friend; your 'conclusion' about how "WE did the right thing". By "WE" I am more than sure you mean NATO and a little country of Holland that found its way how to feel bigger within this alliance.

Your reasoning shows all the shortcomings of a Dutch style of political judgement, it
has many holes to say the least.

It is pitiful to listen to your statement, I really think so. It is hardly a statement- it looks rather like any mainstream magazine abstract about the 1990's in the Balkans.

I think my mother in law who is Dutch could have written a more interesting and insightful analysis.

My advice is invest some time and money and read a book about this theme.There are a couple of pretty good ones that will broaden your horizon.

#14, Ian

History did not start when the CNN cameras arrived in kosovo, you referral to the 2 leaders of the 1980's

You should go back further in history, if you did you would know that the Serbian population of Kosovo was decreasing rapidly after WW2, Most of Serbians and there family's fled or went missing from Kosovo because of the level of discrimination against Christan Serbs and non Muslims.

This is not new to Serbs we have received the bad end of the stick for over 660 years, first the ottomans then the Nazis the then Communism then the Nazis ustasa again (fascist Croatians)then the mujaheddin (Bosnian Muslims) ottomans and Al-kidia and the Taliban again (Albanian KLA)and then you mention "The NATO bombings was a very dark period, but at the end of it there was some new light thankfully."

What light are you talking about, are you blind?

Ask Thachi how much money he makes from Al-kidia, Heroin, and Prostitution racket in Eastern Europe.

What a great situation to be in!

I really don't understand the flawed logic of comments that suggest Nato spared Serbia when it should have annihilated the country. Apart from the hypocrisy of these comments i.e. it's Ok for me to annihilate you but you can't do it to me, they do nothing but perpetuate animosity and hatred. That said Kosovo is Serbian territory and Serbia is within it's rights defending it's sovereign territorial existence.
The real legacy of NATO's bombing was it's precedence since Belgrade we have had Baghdad and a couple of episodes of Isreal bombing Palestine, if Blair and Bush can get away with it then so can others. Thanks to Blair and Bush the world became much more volatile.

Nato bombing was too little and to late. It should have started during the Croatian war.It was to little because it bombed bridges,buildings,military bases,power plants.The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.The worst crimes since world war 2 needed a punishment.Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.

since Albanians were the victims of that bombing as well. Great numbers of the Albanians have lost their lives thanks to NATO merciful bombs but criminals as Thachi himself go around and thank them. Honestly, what kind of character the one must be to do such thing?
Poor Thachi, he must believe that NATO did this just for having great respect for the Albanians cause? Makes me smile, really.

However, I am not surprised coz very often Albanians used or better to say sacrificed own people for the purposes of propaganda. UCK criminals were always hiding in civilian houses and used civilians as a shield, not to mention kidnapping of own people and exposing them to brutal torture until finally killed.

I have been there at that time and heard much of this kind of stories from the Albanians as well, including the fact that wealthier Albanians could or had to buy out their military duty in UCK with great amount of money, otherwise they would have disappeared forever.

So, Thachi, make sure to thank many times to your NATO “friends” coz there will be no much chance to do it once you end up in Serbian prison for your misdeeds and crimes, where you truly belong to.

As for the independence that Thacni mentions all I can say that he is either delusional or unable to understand the meaning of independence.
Kosovo can be namned or called anyhow but not independent state. Thachi must be aware of the fact that Kosovo depends so much of Western mercy, including even dependence from Serbia on many issues which Thachi tries so hardly to deny, but that is the reality.

Remember resolution 1244 is still running the show and it will until Serbia says differently.

In Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve
Made a mistake
believing a.... (you finish)

OK, I finish it for you:

We won't repeat that mistake:
Never trust a talking snake!

(And don't feed pigeons either)

THANKS NATO! NATO stroke Serbia, just to let it know, what NATO means... A lot of thanks to NATO. VIVA FOREREVER NATO.

Sober up Thachi! You ain't Snake anymore but a PM of a banana land! Bombing cannot be called an 'event', sober up my friend because you have been high since 1999.

This angers me. Innocent people lost their lives as a result of this. And we, the public in the UK, were not told this was about “the just battle for Kosovo’s liberty and independence”. We were told that it was to protect innocent people not an agenda of independence. I don’t know why Thaci had to make any comment today. It is, at best, insensitive and reflects the continuing bitterness towards Serbs. Maybe that is understandable for “joe public” but for the head of a purported state it is not. This statement is about glorifying a dark day and rubbing others nose in it. BBC reports Thaci as saying it was “"a great historic day." They don’t report his statement about the bombing being for the purpose of “the just battle for Kosovo’s liberty and independence”. Someone is telling lies, either Thaci or Western Governments, who is it?

The NATO bombing was indefensible whatever way you look at it.

It was either unjust or it was a policy of not losing western lives and leaving ordinary people unprotected to suffer the dreadful consequences. For clarity, I am not defending Serbian actions in any way.

I remember at the time in the UK, the leader of the Scottish Nationalists condemning the bombing - he was totally destroyed by the press and the establishment. The thing was, he was not against intervention, he wanted troops on the ground. He didn't agree with innocent Serbs becoming victims and he didn't want to expose K-Albanian and K-Serb civilians to the backlash.

Be grateful as much as you want. It may have achieved something in the end but there was a price to be paid and a NATO life was worth more than thousands of civilian victims in Kosovo and Serbia.

A dark day in history in my opinion. The NATO bombing was a failure to protect the innocent. This is a day for sad reflection, a day to remember the innocent Serb and Albanian victims.

He is neither honest nor smart.
An official who wants to normalize the relation with the neighboring country with such a history of the relations never allows himself such a comment. The really great guy would say: I'm sorry for your people who suffered during the bombing.
That's what normal people with normal set of human values do.

NATO's bombing hurt Kosovo more than serbia. It resulted in a serbian retaliation. In fact, most of what happened occurred AFTER the bombing began as a response to the bombing. It is noted that NATO bombed Kosovo with much depleted uranium, the effects of which are seen to this day. But there is more, the fact that the bombing helped the albanians in no way, just made their life a lot worse.

Ian@16. I think you should stick to Serbianna and New Kosova Report to continue peddling your rubbish there. What happened? You couldn't stand the debate there any longer?
Spare us the history lesson. We all know what happened and don't need you to tell us the version which you got from one Albanian family staying with you.
That's what you said on Serbianna. You had one Albanian family with you and are not totally convinced who the bad guys are, even though you must've had an interpreter because you swear you are not Albanian.

Now the rest of us know exactly what happened and have our information from more credible sources.

NATO bombing will remain one of the dark periods in history and you trying to justify it is inhumane. Anyone justifying this is morally bankrupt.

Weave me a tapestry of propaganda on your spinning wheel, O Spinmaster!

"Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)"

Wow. Just wow.

You bombed us and we survived. Will you and your satelite "countries" survive next ten years? You know the answer same as I and many others, so that is why you are so desperate.

If NATO hadn't fought Thaci's war for him, then he would have remained a terrorist.

The KLA were beaten militarily, despite NATO ground controllers being embedded with KLA units and calling in air strikes. The fabled 'Apache' gunships never got over the albanian mountains.

NATO barely made a dent in Kosovo, reports of hundreds of tanks destroyed being as fictitious as the '500,000' albanian men reported 'missing' by State Department propaganda.

Where were The 100,000 NATO ground troops that would be needed to stop, as we were told, to stop a 'potential' genocide?

Rapidly running out of military targets, bombing civilian infrastructure far from the Kosovo was much safer and spectacular. In effect, it was a 'punishment' bombing, political rather than military.

NATO intelligence estimated 40,000 JA troops in the field. 60,000 withdrew in good order. NATO was surprised and western military officers have said that they were impressed.

Neither did NATO win a great victory. They originally claimed that peace would be restored unilaterally on their terms, but it wasn't, hence the MTA (Military Technical Agreement) with the JA and UNSCR 1244 still standing.

Yelstin won the war for NATO by betraying the Serbs when he ordered Chernomyerdin to withdraw support for Yugoslavia.

NATO has been a mess ever since and is still searching for its ever elusive credibility.

Its a shame that innocent life was lost as a result of this bombing (regardless of ethnicity), but one could argue that innocent civilians will die as a result any war; this is just one of the many reasons why I oppose all war. Even though I oppose NATO, they did attack FRYugoslavia for a reason. The situation escalated out of control. After Tito the Serbian officials from the 1980's onwards made things worse and worse for the K-Albanians, then Serbs wonder why the K-Albanians didn't want to put up with this oppression and resisted. The NATO bombings was a very dark period, but at the end of it there was some new light thankfully.

>>Nato bombing was too little and to late. It should have started during the Croatian war.It was to little because it bombed bridges,buildings,military bases,power plants.The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.The worst crimes since world war 2 needed a punishment.Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)

i was curious to see what people would write, how they would react to this "great" anniversary. at any rate, i read the stories and the comments, so now is my turn.

first, i am not the least surprised at how the serbian nationalists and their allies are making total hay of this "occasion." it is sickening to use such anniversaries to push your nationalist agenda, but not the least bit surprising and utterly predictable.

as for those who take some pleasure in the BOMBing anniversary, i have heard such comments before. that is always disturbing to me. even still i have expressed my revulsion at such comments, esp.ly one particular comment about "belgrade being nuked." it was said with great pain and not a little hate and vengeance. i personally cannot take pleasure at the deaths of innocent civilians, or of anyone else for that matter. i have frnds in belgrade, and many other cities of the former YU and beyond.

by 1999, we knew exactly the situation in the balkans. slobo's gameplan was quite clear. everyone who writes that the nato bombing started the atrocities against the albanians is lying. they were well underway already, we have read (and heard) the truth and i won't argue with historical revisionists.

yes, we should have intervened long before, in 1991, in 1992, and so on. we should have made a robust reaction to slobo and his willing executioners, and should have "forced" a comprehensive and equitable peace plan on the area. but that is easy to say in retrospect, and was more or less impossible with the europeans coming from multiple POVs and unable to work together, and the US, even under clinton, unable or unwilling to lead. so hundreds of thousands died, there is unending bitterness on all sides, mass graves (mostly of bosniaks) continue to be discovered and exhumed... if you see what has happened in bosnia, and are not utterly prejudiced, it would break your heart.

so yes, we finally intervened, belatedly, in 1999. finally the clinton/blair team did what should have been done years before. unfortunately, tragically, the pace of serb-led genocide then stepped up, and without troops on the ground they just laughed at us, while doing the devil's work. we know this all to be true, so don't bother quoting me gen. mackenzie or some other lying revisionist historian, so called.

i supported the intervention at the time, as i continue to do till this day. NEVertheless, i was appalled at the air attacks inside serbia, esp.ly novi sad and blgrd. it would have been great to get slobo and his cronies, they would have been perfect targets. but of course they hid, comfortably, while parts of blgd burned, just like that funny looking guy with the mustache, half a century before. of course innocent people were killed, and many traumatized. i could never celebrate such a time. and i said so even then, as i was in touch with a (then) frnd in novi sad, by email, believe it or not. so i was not able to comfortably hide from the ugly reality, and i even helped him get an article printed in a bay area paper, despite my ambivalence about its content.

but we did liberate kosovo/a, and thank god for it, no matter what anyone says. things there are imperfect, but they are heaven compared to what was happening before. and we all know who is really pushing the instabilty factor there...

and meanwhile bosnia, politically, is an utter disaster, because we stopped short of what we needed to do. karadzic and his willing executioners have been largely successful in their goals, more's the pity.

there is precious little self-reflection, esp.ly by most serb/diaspora commentators here (and their allies) about what happened and why; but instead more and more aggression and boasting.

so sad how litte things progress, with demagogues in positions of leadership, by which specifically i refer to tadic and co. and dodik and co.

thank you, and i'm sure in the interest of free press you will print this.

roberto/ frisco

this was not NATO bombing, this was the United States of America bombing the same way they bombed a certain German 60years ago. NATO was just used because Europe had to be pressured in since its obviously a European problem with Europe shamefully closing both eyes to what was happening in Kosovo. The bombing should have been with more force as many analysts have suggested afterwards and Belgrade should have been attacked like Berlin was attacked. The split should have come from day one of the defeat and not only for kosovo but for montenegro and vojvodina as well. That way we wouldnt have any problems today. When you punish a criminal you have to punish him that he can't get up and commit any crimes ever again.

The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)

Mark,

I rarely give a "green" indicator to any comments and almost never a "red".
This time I made an exception. Just tell us: does this comment show a true Albanian face or just an ugly grimace?

Be careful tough: the bloodthirsty Aztec Quetzalcoatl cult did demand own human sacrifices, he was "fed" more, than just organs cut of from people belonging to neighbor tribes.

"Nice" to see you. I wouldn't be surprised if you cherish the "SS Skanderbeu" uniform of some of your forefathers.

with a "prime minister" like Touchy, you don´t need enemies... =)

bravo, since this will make some Europeans thinking about the true nature of this man.

thanks god, Serbia will prevail. you certainly know the saying "he who laughs last, laughs loudest"

Serbia will laugh very loud... just a question of time. it´s yours to wait for that...

Do not be surprised if Kosovo enters into a revolution years and years from now. Thaci does not represent Kosovo as he claims. For now, the USA/NATO are pumping large amounts of cash into Kosovo, and this action is helping to strain the already ailing economies of the USA/NATO. Eventually, the cash will run out. Kosovo is too small for the USA/NATO to keep supporting forever. As problems grow in much, much bigger countries as Pakistan and Afghanistan, the USA/NATO will eventually drop tiny Kosovo. Then Thaci will loose a lot of political power. The USA/NATO know nothing about how to govern someone else's country; only the people of that country know how to govern themselves. As a rule,the people the USA/NATO put into power in other countries eventually loose their power and popularity by abusing their position, being far too materialistic, being greedy, and are driven out of that government. A new government gets formed. Look at history and you will see my point.

"Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)"

Wow. Just wow.
(Mike, 24 March 2009 18:30)

The indiscriminate bombing of Dresden, Germany by the US allies was a blood bath where thousands of German citizens were burned alive.

Not only was Berlin burned to the ground but Dresden more so it did not have any military facilities to speak off.

Les us also not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki where again, the dropping of nuclear bombs on an entire city of citizens can never justify Truman's and America's actions of that era.

The dropping of Uranium depleted bombs has had catastrophic effect on not only Serbia but the entire Southeastern European peninsula where Serbs, Albanians and other nationalities live.

For Thaci to condone the combined NATO and KLA terrorism is irrehensible to say the least with total disregard of civilian life lost of both Albanian and Serbian citizens.

Roberto/frisco,
so you waited patiently that everybody speaks before it was your turn to make a grand conclusion?
Well, it wasn't worth the effort my friend; your 'conclusion' about how "WE did the right thing". By "WE" I am more than sure you mean NATO and a little country of Holland that found its way how to feel bigger within this alliance.

Your reasoning shows all the shortcomings of a Dutch style of political judgement, it
has many holes to say the least.

It is pitiful to listen to your statement, I really think so. It is hardly a statement- it looks rather like any mainstream magazine abstract about the 1990's in the Balkans.

I think my mother in law who is Dutch could have written a more interesting and insightful analysis.

My advice is invest some time and money and read a book about this theme.There are a couple of pretty good ones that will broaden your horizon.

Some of my fellow Serbian posters can be cruel. Poor Thaci probably barks something out and then his owners pull on the choke chain.


(A certain Beqir Osmani from Drenica remembers well the youth of Thaci: “We know well who he is. We know what he did, how he was in school and what kind of education he received. Everyone on the Kosovska Mitrovica market had great problems with Thaci, who stole goods from traders. Even the customers complained. He fought in pubs of Mitrovica and Srbica. He has no education at all. He only attended two first classes of a certain secondary school. Today however he meets with international politicians. What he can actually discuss with them is far from being clear”.)

Look who the corrupt west pick to be there henchman in the Balkans.


http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=561

What a great situation to be in!

#14, Ian

History did not start when the CNN cameras arrived in kosovo, you referral to the 2 leaders of the 1980's

You should go back further in history, if you did you would know that the Serbian population of Kosovo was decreasing rapidly after WW2, Most of Serbians and there family's fled or went missing from Kosovo because of the level of discrimination against Christan Serbs and non Muslims.

This is not new to Serbs we have received the bad end of the stick for over 660 years, first the ottomans then the Nazis the then Communism then the Nazis ustasa again (fascist Croatians)then the mujaheddin (Bosnian Muslims) ottomans and Al-kidia and the Taliban again (Albanian KLA)and then you mention "The NATO bombings was a very dark period, but at the end of it there was some new light thankfully."

What light are you talking about, are you blind?

Ask Thachi how much money he makes from Al-kidia, Heroin, and Prostitution racket in Eastern Europe.

"Nato bombing was too little and to late. It should have started during the Croatian war.It was to little because it bombed bridges,buildings,military bases,power plants.The serbian civilian population deserved to go through the same pain and suffer that they put slovenians,croatians,bosnians & albanians.The worst crimes since world war 2 needed a punishment.Belgrade should have looked like berlin after that war. Nato should have given you some of your own medicine but thay spared you for this time.
(Mark, 24 March 2009 17:56)"

Why does the Serbian civilian population deserve to be punished? It wasn't Serb civilians who oppressed their neighbours. Even though I support the Rep of Kosovo, I would say that most Serbs are good people and I'm sure most innocent civilians in Serbia have never done any wrong doing to their neighbours.

I can't understand the purpose of bombing civilian targets. I can understand the purpose of bombing military and other strategic targets, but not civilians. Serbs Civilians were not responsible for what radical Serb leaders had done. I hate NATOt! Thanks to people like you, the innocent die. The people who "deserved" to be "punished" were Milosovic, his cronies and other people who committed war crimes, not civilians. Also I can't understand why you want a beautiful city like Belgrade to be flattened by bombs/ missiles. What good will that do? The killing of all people is wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. Also I think you need to be made aware that Serbs have also been "victim" to ethnic cleansing.

RIP everyone who was killed as a result of the Yugoslav wars.

I really don't understand the flawed logic of comments that suggest Nato spared Serbia when it should have annihilated the country. Apart from the hypocrisy of these comments i.e. it's Ok for me to annihilate you but you can't do it to me, they do nothing but perpetuate animosity and hatred. That said Kosovo is Serbian territory and Serbia is within it's rights defending it's sovereign territorial existence.
The real legacy of NATO's bombing was it's precedence since Belgrade we have had Baghdad and a couple of episodes of Isreal bombing Palestine, if Blair and Bush can get away with it then so can others. Thanks to Blair and Bush the world became much more volatile.