U.S. On The Wrong Side In Kosovo By: Joseph Puder, The Bulletin
05/02/2007 The Wall Street Journal reported on April 25 that "Russia gave its strongest hint yet that it will veto a U.N. plan for eventual Kosovo independence (currently a province of Serbia and administered by the U.N., JP) stirring outrage in Pristina (Kosovo's capital, JP) and U.S. concern." For once, the Russians seem to be on the right side of an issue. Moreover, the Russian policy on Kosovo, unlike that of the U.S. has been consistent, coherent, and credible. Should the U.S. go along with the Europeans in advancing an Albanian-Muslim led Kosovo to independence from Serbia, it will reveal a great deal of inconsistency and hypocrisy. Whereas in Iraq, the U.S. policy is to maintain a unitary state, (in spite of the Kurds well deserved right to self-determination and an independent state in Northern Iraq, after suffering more than 100 years of broken promises, denial and oppression) in Kosovo the West is eager to welcome an independent Islamic state without considering the consequences of what Michael Radu, Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and co-chair of the Center on Terrorism, called (in referring to the a Albanian-Muslim Kosovo Liberation Army - KLA) "a criminal gang" running Kosovo. Radu called Kosovo "the black hole of criminality in the Balkans" and charged that the U.S. is "supporting Kosovo's independence without having the courage to call it by name." Moreover, he said that the U.S. policy is based on "ethnic majority preference," a criteria the U.S. does not apply to Iraqi Kurdistan. The plan proposed by U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari which would eventually grant Kosovo the independence sought by its Albanian majority, has been rejected by Serbia and veto-wielding Russia. In the meantime, more than 10,000 Serb refugees have flocked to the border of Serbia's breakaway province, Kosovo, to highlight their plight to a U.N. fact-finding mission. Milan Ivanovic, spokesperson for the Kosovar-Serb refugees, pointed out that, "by their presence on the administrative border [between Serbia and Kosovo], the refugees want to show that the international community has failed to ensure a crucial provision of [U.N.] Security Council Resolution 1244 - the return of tens of thousands of Serb families forced out of their homes by Albanian extremists' reprisals." Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended the war between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999. Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica reiterated the proposal to make Kosovo an internationally-controlled autonomy as an alternative to the Ahtisaari plan that calls for independence and urges the UN to consider the autonomy option. Kostunica exposed U.N., U.S. and EU duplicity when he claimed that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, drafted to end the NATO bombing, reaffirmed that Kosovo belonged to Serbia and, separating it from Serbia violates the U.N. Charter. He further declared that "when we mention the need for legality, some of these officials (U.N., EU, U.S.) become exasperated, even agitated. They respond with various comments to the effect that we should not be bound by 'mere' legality." An interesting parallel exists between Serbia and Israel. The two-state solution foreseen at the end of the U.S. sponsored roadmap would separate Judea and Samaria - the heartland of biblical Israel - from the Jewish State and create a Palestinian terror state in its place. Similarly, the demand by the U.S., EU, and U.N. for Serbia to give up Kosovo, the locus of its Serbian Orthodox-Christian faith and their "Holy Jerusalem," in order to establish an Albanian-Muslim State, would only serve the cause of resurgent Islam and worldwide Jihad and reinforce the Islamization of Europe. The West is conveniently ignoring the dangers it will face by setting a precedent whereby Muslim Albanian illegal immigrants would have the right to declare independence over territory belonging to a sovereign state - Serbia - and from which its inhabitants were forced to flee. At the beginning of the 20th century, Serbian Christians comprised about two-thirds of Kosovo's population. Muslim Albanians were about one third. As a result of WWI, about 800,000 Serbs were killed. During WWII, Yugoslav Serbs refused to join the Nazis resulting in the massive destruction of Yugoslavia and the killing of about a million Serbs and Jews. After the Nazi invasion in 1941, Serbia was divided between the Italians and Bulgarians who encouraged pro-Nazi Albanians to attack the Serbs and destroy ancient Serb Orthodox churches and shrines. In 1943, Nazi Germany created the 21st SS "Skanderbeg" a division made up of Muslim Albanian volunteers who proceeded to ethnically cleanse the area of Serbs and Jews (albeit, some Bosnian and Albanian Muslims did hide and save Jews during the war) resulting in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Serbs and Jews in Croatian death camps. The "Skanderbeg" SS division also partook in the rounding up of Jews who were sent to their death in Bergen Belsen and other Nazi death camps. Bedri Pejjani, a Kosovo Muslim was appointed by the Nazis to rule occupied Kosovo and set out to establish a greater Islamic state in the region with the blessing and support of Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Hitler's protégé and friend. Reestablished Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito did not restore the pre-war ethnic balance and did not permit Serbs who had escaped persecution to return to Kosovo. Conversely, tens of thousands of Albanian Muslim infiltrated into Kosovo from the repressive neighboring Albania. In 1974, bending to Muslim demands, Tito allowed Kosovo political, economic and judicial autonomy along with large agricultural subsidies, which served to, and encouraged an influx of Muslims from across the Albanian border. Why should the U.S. be "concerned" about a Russian possible veto? Is it because successive U.S. administrations have continually appeased the Saudis with intervention on behalf of Muslims? In Somalia, and Bosnia, might not be able to deliver for them in Kosovo? It appears that the Saudis want more than a unitary (and Sunni-led) state in Iraq. They want a two-state solution in Kosovo, and the creation of a Muslim state in the heart of Europe. America, it appears, is on the wrong side in Kosovo. Advertisement Joseph Puder is the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel (ITAI). He can be reached [EMAIL PROTECTED] Also on Free Republic at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1827377/posts with comments. Stella http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18289122 <http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18289122&BRD=2737&PAG=461&de pt_id=576361&rfi=6> &BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6
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