Matthew
pre 17 godina
Louie,
I absolutely sympathize with Albanians and what you suffered. My family is all in Krajina and Dalmatia in Croatia. My wife personally experienced ethnic cleansing, and afterwards had to live day to day in plain view of the snipers on the Croatia side of the river. You could see them from the kitchen window. I know full well how the Ustashe treated Serbs in WWII, so I can only imagine that Albanians feel very much the same towards Serbians as we Serbians often feel towards Croatians. I absolutely respect the Albanian viewpoint, and I know they feel the same about Independence that I feel about retaining our cultural heritage. Both feelings are valid and I do not believe its appropriate for either side to insult the other's belief system. I truly hope that we can find a compromise that respects these feelings on both sides and sets the foundation for peace and stability in the future, although I am pessimistic that such a solution based on compromise is possible at this time, when wounds are still so fresh in everyone's memory. Regardless, I will always promote Kosovo as the cradle of Serbian civilization and as I've said, I simply can not support complete indepedence for Kosovo at this time. I honestly wish I could. However, no one should confuse that with support of ethnic cleansing or the abuse of the Albanian population, in my mind those are separate issues.
I have some Croatian friends here in the States (despite my strong negative feelings toward the Ustashe), and they think I'm absolutely crazy for wanting to invest in real estate out there, or that I would want to live out there. My family has a rich history on the Coast (we were Knez's in Risan since the 10th century) and its beautiful there. My retirement savings (Social Security) will not go far in supporting me in my old age here in Silicon Valley where I live, so retiring to the coast is the logical thing to do. I feel very comfortable in the Balkans, I always wondered why I love coffee and bacon and cheese and grilled meat so much. Serbs are very emotional and out-going party fun loving kind of people, and I felt like I fit in for the first time in my life. So yeah, I put in for a transfer to our Brussels office so I could be closer to the Balkans and my investments there.
I travel to Europe a couple of times a year, although I generally go through Germany as I fly into Zagreb generally to visit my wife's family. I am sure that I will be in London at some point in the future though, and yeah, I'd love to have a drink with you. Same goes for any Albanian. The best we as individuals can do at this point in time is to create friendships on an individual basis and hope that our children have a brighter future then our parents. I can be contacted at lazslow@hotmail.com
Anyone on either side is free to send hate mail as well if you wish, however, please use facts and reason if you wish to debate me.
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