“Kosovo mafia investing in real estate”

And Serbia is a land of Angels where no Mafia exists? Let's engage in a little bit of self-reflection please. The Zemun clan in Serbia killed a prime minister for God's sake. The Serb mafia is one of the most organized and most ruthless in Europe. While I am not denying that the Albanian mafia is equally pervasive, we can't sit here and pretend that the Albanians are the only country in Europe to have organized crime. Thus, any argument along the lines of "All Albanians are mafiosi, thus Kosovo is Serbian" are not worthy of any serious consideration.

To add to my post above, I find it funny how the article posted on B92 is tuned specifically to the "Kosovo mafia" and fails to mention anything about the other mafias which the original article discusses at length. This is what I call "cut & paste journalism". Here are a few additional lines that the WSN article contains:

"The latest report by the State Department which was issued on the 27th of February 2009, points out that all Balkan states have serious organized crime problems and the local authorities have a great challenge to overcome."

"In Serbian drug use has increased and the role of private security firms operating as mafia front companies is being in question."

"Further, "Yugoslavian" gangs encompassing citizens from most ex-federation countries are active as well as networks including Middle Eastern and Western Europeans."


Let's try to portray the whole picture next time.

Perhaps the World Security Network should have dialogue with the peace-keeping forces?

Who's the head of this Kosovan mafia - the snake, perhaps?

here a quote from the report ...
"Kosovo remains the undisputed center of every major crime related network in the region "

B92, once again you have been duped! Ioannis Michaletos writes for Serbianna http://www.serbianna.com/columns/michaletos/ , check them out to see his /their integrity. Every article Ioannis Michaletos has written is against Kosova independence from "Islamic". to "Narco-Mafia." Hardly an objective analyst

Some of the recent articles on B92 (ignored by some commentators0, highlighting the lack of crime in Serbia:

“Former Zemun Clansman rearrested in Spain”

“More anti-corruption raids, arrests”

“Monaco police net more Pink Panthers”

“MUP cracks central Serbia drug ring”

“Report: Bribery still way of life in Serbia”

“Serbian arrested over Croatian journo murder”

“Crime boss kept in custody”

“Zlatibor in hands of Mafia”

“Suspected cigarette smuggler points finger at RTS chief”

“Dačić: 35 to 40 criminal groups in Serbia”

“Police bust group of kidnappers”

“Serb caught trying to smuggle Albanian teens”

“EUR 1.7bn laundered in Serbia"

“Policeman shot by robbers dies”

“Police collar Valjevo crime boss”

“Man killed in Belgrade shootout”

“NGO: Public purchasing hotbed of corruption”


..... an on and on......

Rebel

dont waste your time with Serbian posters in here. They know that organised crime and mafia are running Serbia.
Guys, Italians used to be associated with organised crime, Russians, Romanians, Turks, Serbs and Albanians are still.

Rebel,

Did the "cut and paste" journalism bother you when the newswires were flooded with fairytales surrounding deaths of over 10,000 kosovars?

Guys, Italians used to be associated with organised crime, Russians, Romanians, Turks, Serbs and Albanians are still.
(Olf, 1 July 2009 17:54)

If I remember well you are leaving in Kosovo, so you should certainly know what is happening there, but it look that you are very well informed about Serbia too to make such a broad accusation....
I can tell you for sure that the drug trafficking in Switzerland is controlled by the Albanians and these are not guesses but official statistics!

Rebel,

This is a news article, quoting an article from a montenegrin newspaper.

It is not a full report on criminal activity in the balkans.

Remember, from a Podgorica newspaper.

Thanks.

Sad but true, I am Albanian and we all now what is going on in Kosovo. Try to open any big business in Kosovo you have MR 10% in Dukagjin Ramush and MR 10% in the north Thaqi.

Yes its sad and they are raping Kosova just as much as Milosevic did.

Dragodan you see new buildings and all parties got their building dont say no this or that.

I was driving from EU through and from Medrane to PR you have a gas station every 2.3KM and a Motel every 4.1 this is crazy its not like we are in adriatic.

Money is being washed there day and night even Capon would be zelous of it. Not just Albanian Mafia, Serbian, Montenegro, Bulgarian, Russian this people dont care they see no borders.

At same time we hate each other Go pleas and lets wake up and stop hating each other and save our homes and lands New South america is being developed here

Rebel,

The article speaks for itself.

You accuse others of copying and pasting and you are doing exactly the same in your post.

Rather hypocritical.

Good Moorning Montenegro!!!! You wake up in new reality - Your friends from Kosovo pseudostate are mafia!! What a surprise!! ;)

Next time - You must thinking before You recognize any pseudostate.

Typical. As soon as you mention anything about crime committed by Albanians they scream as loud as they can that Serbia is no better.

Even if this were true, let's debate the article and acknowledge that you have a huge crime problem before we point fingers at another.

Are you denying that you have a huge crine problem in Kosovo?

Montenegro is at their mercy now. Too small to resist. They should've never left Serbia. Together they would be strong now they can't even control their own part.

TO - nikshala

Playing "tit for tat" isn't becoming of you. Let's just call a spade a spade.

The reason this article was written is due to fact. Albania is the poorest country & kosovo due to the invaders is right behind; therefore, mafia. Perhaps you best clean up your backyard before you cut & paste what you did (and I don't mean to continue to destroy & desecrate OUR Holy land).

CCCC

"...are being laundered in Montenegro for the needs of Albanian criminal groups."

Ha ha ha! Now I understand why Montenegro recognized Kosovo. It's all about cash money!

Thumbs down for B92

Even the original article has a general heading:

"Organized crime concerns in the Balkans"

And B92 heading implies that organized crime is an explicitly Kosovo problem. How can somebody issue such a biased heading?

@ Nikshala

Good research!

It's interesting to watch the spin of the Albanian posters, as always. Their response seems to be something along the lines of, well, there is crime in Serbia, too, and Serbia also has well-organized crime units, as if a handful of jewel thieves were tantamount to a corrupt, backward nation.

That misses the point. The main contention is that right now there is no distinction between the province of Kosovo and organized crime itself. The two things are one in the same, which is not something you could say about the rest of Serbia.

Many of the commentators here seem blind to the fact that the BIG difference between serbian and albanian organized crime is that Serbia is doing everything it can to prevent it.

No serb can deny the fact that mafia grew under sanctions and Milosevic and it takes time and will to fight it. BUT It is done in SErbia, just look at "Sablja" the crackdown on organised crime after the murder of Djindjic.

I haven't seen any political will exept empty words in Pristina to fight it in the same way. Maybe because todays leadership there are to involved, just as the leadership of the early to mid 90:s were in Belgrade.
But we have proceede with the fight against crime in Serbia, Pristina has not.

Many of the commentators here seem blind to the fact that the BIG difference between serbian and albanian organized crime is that Serbia is doing everything it can to prevent it.

No serb can deny the fact that mafia grew under sanctions and Milosevic and it takes time and will to fight it. BUT It is done in SErbia, just look at "Sablja" the crackdown on organised crime after the murder of Djindjic.

I haven't seen any political will exept empty words in Pristina to fight it in the same way. Maybe because todays leadership there are to involved, just as the leadership of the early to mid 90:s were in Belgrade.
But we have proceede with the fight against crime in Serbia, Pristina has not.
(Srboslav, 2 July 2009 08:55)

Srboslav is quite correct. We all know that organized crime is not exclusive to Kosovo or the Balkans. The United States is testimony to that as Ataman pointed out. The key difference is that Kosovo is NOT fighting organized crime at all. Serbia is. Croatia is. Other are. I work here, and I know firsthand that we are stopped every single time we try to investigate high-level crime. Recall the 47 kilos of heroin missing from Kosovo Police custody?! Before, the UN made some cases but now? Nothing. At least there are arrests and active investigations elsewhere in the Balkans. This is by no means a blanket condemnation of Kosovo Albanians. Most are not criminals but rather they are held hostage by a corrupt group in charge in Pristina, as well as corrupt parties in the EU and US. For some to deny that it is not worse here than anywhere else is intellectually dishonest.

I did read the article and I am not to happy about it.

If anyone knows "Average American" mentality, they can understand, why.

Average American does not know anything about ex-YU, except maybe that "the women are regularly raped there and they cleanse each other ethnics". There are bunch of suspicious countrylets there and you can't walk on the street in Ljubljana (Slovakia) without Kalashnikov falling on your head or you being killed, robbed and raped (in that order). Say "thanks" to Fox, CNN and the rest.

We know the reality, but such articles do not do any good for anyone: they scare away tourist Dollars everyone needs so dearly and there is nothing there what the organizations with three letters (CIA, FBI, FSB, BND) do not know about.

The author should better write about "nice" unincorporated township of East Palo Alto, California or maybe San Bernardino. With no apparent reason I got a 9 mm bullet in my rear bumper while driving in East Palo Alto. I understand the mafia problem, but for a tourist there are bigger chances to get a bullet in East Palo Alto than to see a single mafiosi during his Balkan trip.

national or racial card.
(Friedrich Haas, 2 July 2009 15:08)

Technically, there is nothing even "racial" because even the ethnic element everyone agrees to hate (Gypsies) are of the same race than most ancient Slavs or what-not. And except two ethnic elements (Hungarians and Turks) the rest is speaking a language belonging to Indo-Iranian group, Gypsies including.

Thinking about a "nation" largely did not exist before 17th-18th century. Most of it came even later - during 19th century romantic "national awakening".

Before that we can speak about tribal loyalty to traditions, loyalty to local customs, defending (or attacking) other tribes or rulers. It was no French or Iranian nation, only kings of what is now France or Persian Shahs.

Here is the article.

http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/showArticle3.cfm?article_id=17685&topicID=55

B92:
"Mafia groups from Kosovo have amassed several million dollars over the years and invested it in real estate, according to the World Security Network. "

WSN's report (see #3 above) actually states 'several billion' not 'million.


Rebel:
Cut & paste journalism? Typo above actually shows the opposite.

And accusing B92 of bias here is actually quite amusing. They left out this bit for instance: "...whilst Kosovo remains the undisputed center of every major crime related network in the region. "


Simple Mind:
When citing a narrow subset of 'Transparency International's report, perhaps you should include the context.

Results were obtained by completing a multi-choice questionaire assigning ratings of 1 (least corrupt) to 5 (most) for 6 categories by about a thousand 'locals'.

Hardly what I'd call an objective analysis.. more like an 'opinion poll'.

Would imagine 'Kosovo' would score even better if you conducted a poll amongst the K-albanian supporters here ;)

tststsss.it is a commanded article,just because albanians in montenegro do not want to sell their homes and shops to russian maffia and serbian maffia....

"Name and nationality of the author of this report shows everything.
(Ujku, 3 July 2009 12:30) "

Don't like greeks?

Senior BND source stated: "The German government had allowed itself to be dragged by the nose through global politics by a country in which organized crime is the form of government"

How about germans? :)

'Average American does not know anything about ex-YU, except maybe that "the women are regularly raped there and they cleanse each other ethnics".'

You must be in a good mood to be so flattering of Average Americans today. I'm not convinced they're aware that Yugoslavia no longer exists, and they certainly couldn't identify any of the former republics, now countries.

As for the war in 1999 - they get it mixed up with Desert Storm. (From my limited observations, the foreign news segment - all 45 sec of it or so - is time for going to the kitchen or the bathroom in American households.)

So thanks for the kind words, but I think you're acquainted with a skewed sample of Americans, if you've found some with definite views of any kind about recent European history.

Would be good to read the WSN report carefully, who's talking about a regional threat and not about Kosovo problem. e.g. "In Serbian drug use has increased and the role of private security firms operating as mafia front companies is being in question." or "worrying trend is the formation of ethnically mixed gangs in the Balkans" or " 'Yugoslavian' gangs encompassing citizens from most ex-federation countries are active as well as networks including Middle Eastern and Western Europeans". We will never ever get rid of one organized crime problem, if we tend to describe it as a problem of the others or reduce it to one of the other ethnicity or nation. It is the tragedy of the region, that the organized crime business performs an excellent inter-ethnic cooperation, while politicians still play the national or racial card.

Nobody is denying that there is organized crime in Kosova(o), and that is the cancer of every society but it is absolute stereotypical and naïve to identify an entire society with some criminal gangs. Transparency International has made recently a better corruption ranking for Kosova(o) then for every other Balkan state incl. Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina etc. but still there is to much of corruption and organized crime in Kosova(o) that has to be rooted out entirely!!!

You must be in a good mood to be so flattering of Average Americans today
(Amer, 2 July 2009 01:54)

Amer, I did answer few questions of them on travel forums and their questions speak a lot about what they do not know. Their concern #1, #2 and #3 is the "safety" and the entire Balkan strikes some horrible fear in their mind.

The "Western" tourist organizations do a good destructive work, too - for instance they simply delete railway lines like between Nis and Thessaloniki or Nis and Sofia at will. I made few test calls pretending to be a naive American and the result was devastating so from Serbian as from Croatian or Albanian point of view.

With that experience I just can't cheer this article because as said, it does not do any good. And who is the audience? Politicians are welcome to inquire at "three letter" agencies and it's where they ask anyway. The guys with long mustache and long fustanella or with long mustache and long opanak will read it and find an other reason to fight (aren't enough already?). And most importantly, your "Average American" will read it and book a flight to Mexico - which is far more dangerous.

Name and nationality of the author of this report shows everything.

The Swiss

I work in Kosovo and Serbia.
That is not a broad accusation, that is a fact admitted by the International Organisations, Serbian possition and opposition, NGO's, Newpappers and most importanly Serbian people.
Albanians could be running something like that in Swiss, just like Jamaican's in UK, Serbs in Hungary, Slovakia Checz etc.

And Serbia is a land of Angels where no Mafia exists? Let's engage in a little bit of self-reflection please. The Zemun clan in Serbia killed a prime minister for God's sake. The Serb mafia is one of the most organized and most ruthless in Europe. While I am not denying that the Albanian mafia is equally pervasive, we can't sit here and pretend that the Albanians are the only country in Europe to have organized crime. Thus, any argument along the lines of "All Albanians are mafiosi, thus Kosovo is Serbian" are not worthy of any serious consideration.

Rebel

dont waste your time with Serbian posters in here. They know that organised crime and mafia are running Serbia.
Guys, Italians used to be associated with organised crime, Russians, Romanians, Turks, Serbs and Albanians are still.

Perhaps the World Security Network should have dialogue with the peace-keeping forces?

Who's the head of this Kosovan mafia - the snake, perhaps?

Rebel,

Did the "cut and paste" journalism bother you when the newswires were flooded with fairytales surrounding deaths of over 10,000 kosovars?

To add to my post above, I find it funny how the article posted on B92 is tuned specifically to the "Kosovo mafia" and fails to mention anything about the other mafias which the original article discusses at length. This is what I call "cut & paste journalism". Here are a few additional lines that the WSN article contains:

"The latest report by the State Department which was issued on the 27th of February 2009, points out that all Balkan states have serious organized crime problems and the local authorities have a great challenge to overcome."

"In Serbian drug use has increased and the role of private security firms operating as mafia front companies is being in question."

"Further, "Yugoslavian" gangs encompassing citizens from most ex-federation countries are active as well as networks including Middle Eastern and Western Europeans."


Let's try to portray the whole picture next time.

Some of the recent articles on B92 (ignored by some commentators0, highlighting the lack of crime in Serbia:

“Former Zemun Clansman rearrested in Spain”

“More anti-corruption raids, arrests”

“Monaco police net more Pink Panthers”

“MUP cracks central Serbia drug ring”

“Report: Bribery still way of life in Serbia”

“Serbian arrested over Croatian journo murder”

“Crime boss kept in custody”

“Zlatibor in hands of Mafia”

“Suspected cigarette smuggler points finger at RTS chief”

“Dačić: 35 to 40 criminal groups in Serbia”

“Police bust group of kidnappers”

“Serb caught trying to smuggle Albanian teens”

“EUR 1.7bn laundered in Serbia"

“Policeman shot by robbers dies”

“Police collar Valjevo crime boss”

“Man killed in Belgrade shootout”

“NGO: Public purchasing hotbed of corruption”


..... an on and on......

B92, once again you have been duped! Ioannis Michaletos writes for Serbianna http://www.serbianna.com/columns/michaletos/ , check them out to see his /their integrity. Every article Ioannis Michaletos has written is against Kosova independence from "Islamic". to "Narco-Mafia." Hardly an objective analyst

Rebel,

The article speaks for itself.

You accuse others of copying and pasting and you are doing exactly the same in your post.

Rather hypocritical.

Thumbs down for B92

Even the original article has a general heading:

"Organized crime concerns in the Balkans"

And B92 heading implies that organized crime is an explicitly Kosovo problem. How can somebody issue such a biased heading?

@ Nikshala

Good research!

here a quote from the report ...
"Kosovo remains the undisputed center of every major crime related network in the region "

The Swiss

I work in Kosovo and Serbia.
That is not a broad accusation, that is a fact admitted by the International Organisations, Serbian possition and opposition, NGO's, Newpappers and most importanly Serbian people.
Albanians could be running something like that in Swiss, just like Jamaican's in UK, Serbs in Hungary, Slovakia Checz etc.

Here is the article.

http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/showArticle3.cfm?article_id=17685&topicID=55

Rebel,

This is a news article, quoting an article from a montenegrin newspaper.

It is not a full report on criminal activity in the balkans.

Remember, from a Podgorica newspaper.

Thanks.

Good Moorning Montenegro!!!! You wake up in new reality - Your friends from Kosovo pseudostate are mafia!! What a surprise!! ;)

Next time - You must thinking before You recognize any pseudostate.

Guys, Italians used to be associated with organised crime, Russians, Romanians, Turks, Serbs and Albanians are still.
(Olf, 1 July 2009 17:54)

If I remember well you are leaving in Kosovo, so you should certainly know what is happening there, but it look that you are very well informed about Serbia too to make such a broad accusation....
I can tell you for sure that the drug trafficking in Switzerland is controlled by the Albanians and these are not guesses but official statistics!

tststsss.it is a commanded article,just because albanians in montenegro do not want to sell their homes and shops to russian maffia and serbian maffia....

Nobody is denying that there is organized crime in Kosova(o), and that is the cancer of every society but it is absolute stereotypical and naïve to identify an entire society with some criminal gangs. Transparency International has made recently a better corruption ranking for Kosova(o) then for every other Balkan state incl. Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina etc. but still there is to much of corruption and organized crime in Kosova(o) that has to be rooted out entirely!!!

'Average American does not know anything about ex-YU, except maybe that "the women are regularly raped there and they cleanse each other ethnics".'

You must be in a good mood to be so flattering of Average Americans today. I'm not convinced they're aware that Yugoslavia no longer exists, and they certainly couldn't identify any of the former republics, now countries.

As for the war in 1999 - they get it mixed up with Desert Storm. (From my limited observations, the foreign news segment - all 45 sec of it or so - is time for going to the kitchen or the bathroom in American households.)

So thanks for the kind words, but I think you're acquainted with a skewed sample of Americans, if you've found some with definite views of any kind about recent European history.

Typical. As soon as you mention anything about crime committed by Albanians they scream as loud as they can that Serbia is no better.

Even if this were true, let's debate the article and acknowledge that you have a huge crime problem before we point fingers at another.

Are you denying that you have a huge crine problem in Kosovo?

Montenegro is at their mercy now. Too small to resist. They should've never left Serbia. Together they would be strong now they can't even control their own part.

TO - nikshala

Playing "tit for tat" isn't becoming of you. Let's just call a spade a spade.

The reason this article was written is due to fact. Albania is the poorest country & kosovo due to the invaders is right behind; therefore, mafia. Perhaps you best clean up your backyard before you cut & paste what you did (and I don't mean to continue to destroy & desecrate OUR Holy land).

CCCC

"...are being laundered in Montenegro for the needs of Albanian criminal groups."

Ha ha ha! Now I understand why Montenegro recognized Kosovo. It's all about cash money!

B92:
"Mafia groups from Kosovo have amassed several million dollars over the years and invested it in real estate, according to the World Security Network. "

WSN's report (see #3 above) actually states 'several billion' not 'million.


Rebel:
Cut & paste journalism? Typo above actually shows the opposite.

And accusing B92 of bias here is actually quite amusing. They left out this bit for instance: "...whilst Kosovo remains the undisputed center of every major crime related network in the region. "


Simple Mind:
When citing a narrow subset of 'Transparency International's report, perhaps you should include the context.

Results were obtained by completing a multi-choice questionaire assigning ratings of 1 (least corrupt) to 5 (most) for 6 categories by about a thousand 'locals'.

Hardly what I'd call an objective analysis.. more like an 'opinion poll'.

Would imagine 'Kosovo' would score even better if you conducted a poll amongst the K-albanian supporters here ;)

Name and nationality of the author of this report shows everything.

It's interesting to watch the spin of the Albanian posters, as always. Their response seems to be something along the lines of, well, there is crime in Serbia, too, and Serbia also has well-organized crime units, as if a handful of jewel thieves were tantamount to a corrupt, backward nation.

That misses the point. The main contention is that right now there is no distinction between the province of Kosovo and organized crime itself. The two things are one in the same, which is not something you could say about the rest of Serbia.

Many of the commentators here seem blind to the fact that the BIG difference between serbian and albanian organized crime is that Serbia is doing everything it can to prevent it.

No serb can deny the fact that mafia grew under sanctions and Milosevic and it takes time and will to fight it. BUT It is done in SErbia, just look at "Sablja" the crackdown on organised crime after the murder of Djindjic.

I haven't seen any political will exept empty words in Pristina to fight it in the same way. Maybe because todays leadership there are to involved, just as the leadership of the early to mid 90:s were in Belgrade.
But we have proceede with the fight against crime in Serbia, Pristina has not.

You must be in a good mood to be so flattering of Average Americans today
(Amer, 2 July 2009 01:54)

Amer, I did answer few questions of them on travel forums and their questions speak a lot about what they do not know. Their concern #1, #2 and #3 is the "safety" and the entire Balkan strikes some horrible fear in their mind.

The "Western" tourist organizations do a good destructive work, too - for instance they simply delete railway lines like between Nis and Thessaloniki or Nis and Sofia at will. I made few test calls pretending to be a naive American and the result was devastating so from Serbian as from Croatian or Albanian point of view.

With that experience I just can't cheer this article because as said, it does not do any good. And who is the audience? Politicians are welcome to inquire at "three letter" agencies and it's where they ask anyway. The guys with long mustache and long fustanella or with long mustache and long opanak will read it and find an other reason to fight (aren't enough already?). And most importantly, your "Average American" will read it and book a flight to Mexico - which is far more dangerous.

I did read the article and I am not to happy about it.

If anyone knows "Average American" mentality, they can understand, why.

Average American does not know anything about ex-YU, except maybe that "the women are regularly raped there and they cleanse each other ethnics". There are bunch of suspicious countrylets there and you can't walk on the street in Ljubljana (Slovakia) without Kalashnikov falling on your head or you being killed, robbed and raped (in that order). Say "thanks" to Fox, CNN and the rest.

We know the reality, but such articles do not do any good for anyone: they scare away tourist Dollars everyone needs so dearly and there is nothing there what the organizations with three letters (CIA, FBI, FSB, BND) do not know about.

The author should better write about "nice" unincorporated township of East Palo Alto, California or maybe San Bernardino. With no apparent reason I got a 9 mm bullet in my rear bumper while driving in East Palo Alto. I understand the mafia problem, but for a tourist there are bigger chances to get a bullet in East Palo Alto than to see a single mafiosi during his Balkan trip.

Many of the commentators here seem blind to the fact that the BIG difference between serbian and albanian organized crime is that Serbia is doing everything it can to prevent it.

No serb can deny the fact that mafia grew under sanctions and Milosevic and it takes time and will to fight it. BUT It is done in SErbia, just look at "Sablja" the crackdown on organised crime after the murder of Djindjic.

I haven't seen any political will exept empty words in Pristina to fight it in the same way. Maybe because todays leadership there are to involved, just as the leadership of the early to mid 90:s were in Belgrade.
But we have proceede with the fight against crime in Serbia, Pristina has not.
(Srboslav, 2 July 2009 08:55)

Srboslav is quite correct. We all know that organized crime is not exclusive to Kosovo or the Balkans. The United States is testimony to that as Ataman pointed out. The key difference is that Kosovo is NOT fighting organized crime at all. Serbia is. Croatia is. Other are. I work here, and I know firsthand that we are stopped every single time we try to investigate high-level crime. Recall the 47 kilos of heroin missing from Kosovo Police custody?! Before, the UN made some cases but now? Nothing. At least there are arrests and active investigations elsewhere in the Balkans. This is by no means a blanket condemnation of Kosovo Albanians. Most are not criminals but rather they are held hostage by a corrupt group in charge in Pristina, as well as corrupt parties in the EU and US. For some to deny that it is not worse here than anywhere else is intellectually dishonest.

"Name and nationality of the author of this report shows everything.
(Ujku, 3 July 2009 12:30) "

Don't like greeks?

Senior BND source stated: "The German government had allowed itself to be dragged by the nose through global politics by a country in which organized crime is the form of government"

How about germans? :)

Sad but true, I am Albanian and we all now what is going on in Kosovo. Try to open any big business in Kosovo you have MR 10% in Dukagjin Ramush and MR 10% in the north Thaqi.

Yes its sad and they are raping Kosova just as much as Milosevic did.

Dragodan you see new buildings and all parties got their building dont say no this or that.

I was driving from EU through and from Medrane to PR you have a gas station every 2.3KM and a Motel every 4.1 this is crazy its not like we are in adriatic.

Money is being washed there day and night even Capon would be zelous of it. Not just Albanian Mafia, Serbian, Montenegro, Bulgarian, Russian this people dont care they see no borders.

At same time we hate each other Go pleas and lets wake up and stop hating each other and save our homes and lands New South america is being developed here

national or racial card.
(Friedrich Haas, 2 July 2009 15:08)

Technically, there is nothing even "racial" because even the ethnic element everyone agrees to hate (Gypsies) are of the same race than most ancient Slavs or what-not. And except two ethnic elements (Hungarians and Turks) the rest is speaking a language belonging to Indo-Iranian group, Gypsies including.

Thinking about a "nation" largely did not exist before 17th-18th century. Most of it came even later - during 19th century romantic "national awakening".

Before that we can speak about tribal loyalty to traditions, loyalty to local customs, defending (or attacking) other tribes or rulers. It was no French or Iranian nation, only kings of what is now France or Persian Shahs.

Would be good to read the WSN report carefully, who's talking about a regional threat and not about Kosovo problem. e.g. "In Serbian drug use has increased and the role of private security firms operating as mafia front companies is being in question." or "worrying trend is the formation of ethnically mixed gangs in the Balkans" or " 'Yugoslavian' gangs encompassing citizens from most ex-federation countries are active as well as networks including Middle Eastern and Western Europeans". We will never ever get rid of one organized crime problem, if we tend to describe it as a problem of the others or reduce it to one of the other ethnicity or nation. It is the tragedy of the region, that the organized crime business performs an excellent inter-ethnic cooperation, while politicians still play the national or racial card.