open Democracy News Analysis - reimagining yugoslavia - Comments

Kosovar on "Kosova and Albania: history, people, identity "

Kosovar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:59:31 +0100

Republic of Kosovo is an independent state.

laptopreview1 on "The Kosovo war: between two eras "

laptopreview1 — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:02:06 +0100

I remember the beginning of this war and didnt think much of it. Quite frankly I didnt even know it was still going on. I always just thought they were fueding and what not. It is wierd to know this war has been silently going on in the background for the past 10 years.

Jill Starr on "Radovan Karadzic: the politics of an arrest"

Jill Starr — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:18:00 +0000

What It’s Like to Chill with the Most Ruthless Men in the World
Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic:
Confessions of a Female War Crimes Investigator

[Moderator's note. You appear to have copied a page from your blog here which is not allowed. Ifound the blog and here is the URL if anyonewants to read it (it's worth the effort) - BigC]

http://lpcyu.instablogs.com/entry/what-it-s-like-to-chill-with-the-most-ruthless-men-in-the-world-ratko-mladic-and-radovan-karadzic-confessions-of-a-female-war-crimes-investigator/

Joshua Alzona on "Kosovo: one year on"

Joshua Alzona — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:02:20 +0000

I believe you are looking at this through a very biased lens here. Your first point is quite irresponsible since Belgrade had always stated their position as regards to Kosovo, even before Kosovo declared independence. The interests of the Serbs in Kosovo may indeed be impeded by the blockades but the interests of Serbs in Kosovo has always been to remain part of Serbia. Your specious reasoning of "never...succeed in turning back the clock" is duplicitous when you speak of an independent Kosovo which broke off from a state called Serbia which was a republic in the broken Yugoslavia. It seems like geography can be redrawn and the failure of Kosovo (which will be imminent) can only mean a further negotiation with Belgrade in an attempt to gain better relations. Kosovo would and will always rely on aid from NATO, the EU and the West and it will barely resemble a stable economy. It's going to be a pumped up state filled by donations and there will be very little progress. Little statelets like these, especially one that gained independence in haste of its former sovereign power, is faced with doom. The only reason why this has gone on for so long is because this was the US and NATO's pet project.

Point two relates more to power politicking rather than "irresponsibility". Russia has strategic interests of its own; Kosovo is not part of that and backing Belgrade to counter the US influence makes perfect sense, and not "irresponsibility".

Point three misses the obvious point of precedence: how could these states recognise the independence of a former autonomous province like Kosovo, which had no flag, no anthem and no language, (everything is in Albanian) and then refuse to recognise their own separatists movements that is pushing and sputtering within their own borders.

This comment seems more like the "irresponsibility" here.

quintin hoare on "Kosovo: one year on"

quintin hoare — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:36:07 +0000

Although recognitions have indeed come more slowly than Kosova's leaders and people had hoped, and this fact does indeed cause difficulties for the newly independent state, the main reasons for the latter's problems are: 1. Belgrade's blind intransigence, which is as damaging to its own interests and those of Kosova Serbs as it is to Kosova itself (and which will never, of course, succeed in turning back the clock); 2. Moscow's opportunistic and irresponsible backing for Serbian intransigence: this is the main stumbling block to Kosova's entry into international bodies and to ending what the author refers to as the 'alphabet soup'; 3. the equally irresponsible failure of Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain to act in the interests both of the EU of which they are members and of Kosova and its population.

quintin hoare on "Kosovo and Serbia, one year after: a quiet compromise? "

quintin hoare — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:20:33 +0000

'It would probably be too much to expect the Serbian government to announce plans for recognition, just as it would be too much to expect the Kosovo government to announce plans for closer ties to Serbia.'
False parallelism! Belgrade has not merely repeatedly declared that it will 'never' recognise Kosova, it has even enshrined this stance in its constitution. Kosova's leaders, meanwhile, have repeatedly declared their readiness for closer ties to Serbia.

mirel on "The International Court of Justice: Serbia, Bosnia, and genocide"

mirel — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:59:41 +0000

you are right. of course all serbs say that bosnian muslims were killing serbs but i thing that has been proven and the whole world has seen who has done the killing during the war.
"Behind Enemy Lines" movie proves it even more.

Mila Duncovic on "Kosova and Albania: history, people, identity "

Mila Duncovic — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:28:03 +0000

Kosovo is province in Serbia.

as on "Kosova and Albania: history, people, identity "

as — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:43:37 +0000

kosova is the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well i love it

Not logged in on "Kosova and Albania: history, people, identity "

Not logged in — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:41:51 +0000

nope name siptar are people who lived in Kosova ,he has it right in article.

anak on "Kosovo: the Balkans’ last independent state"

anak — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:55:16 +0100

very objective and accurate fcts aspecially on kosova`s history.
quite pleased with the work,doing an essay on the recognition of new states at the moment and want to argue kosova`s status on it.
thanks for giving me few ideas.

Brian Day on "Kosova and Albania: history, people, identity "

Brian Day — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:12:18 +0100

Isa Blumi views pre-conflict Kosovo as an ‘amalgamation of autonomous communities’ consisting of hundreds of multi-ethnic villages and towns, which were largely politically marginalized by elite based in Pristina. Rural Kosovo had resisted the Serbian state’s territorial expansion and domination since 1920 through to the 1990s because Belgrade wanted to divide the people along racial lines through exaggerating racial difference. Blumi refers to Ger Duijzings’ ethnographic case studies to illustrate the fact that rural populations (mainly consisting of Albanians) traded with Serbs, Bosniaks, Gorans and Roma, and often lived in the same village and prayed at the same holy site. (See Blumi, I. (2003) ‘Ethnic Borders to a Democratic Society in Kosova: The UN’s Identity Card’, in Bieber, F. and Daskalovski, Z., eds. (2003) Understanding the War in Kosovo, Frank Cass, London and Portland, Oregon, USA, pp. 217-236.)

Duijzings conducted a series of ethnographic case studies in Kosovo during the 1980s up to the beginning of the conflict in 1999. He describes the region as a ‘poor, peripheral and conflict-ridden society, where the central authority of the state has been nominal for much of its modern history’. Kosovo consists of a majority rural population whereby the extended family acts as an economic safety net, and provides group solidarity in a harsh and highly competitive environment. (See Duijzings, G. (2000) Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo, Hurst & Company, London, pp. 6-7.) Duijzings’ analysis supports Blumi’s assertion that there was not a single ‘Albanian’ community or a ‘Serb’ community in pre-conflict Kosovo.

Violence in March 2004 appears to have been coordinated by Albanian extremists, resulting in the forced expulsion of every single Serb, Roma and Ashkali in dozens of locations across Kosovo after their homes were burned, from the capital city to small towns and villages. After two days of rioting on March 17 and 18, at least 550 homes, 19 people had been killed, 954 wounded, 27 Orthodox churches and monasteries had been burned, and approximately 4,100 Serbs, Roma, Ashkali, and other non-Albanian minorities displaced. There were at least thirty-three major riots across Kosovo, involving about 51,000 participants. There are hardly any Serbs living in the capital, Pristina, except for a few isolated families. Ethnic Albanian protests in Pristina on March 17 appear to have been well-organized. (See Human Rights Watch, http://hrw.org/reports/2004/kosovo0704/7.htm#_Toc77665988.

Analysis of the Albanian violence against Roma could lead the reader to conclude that Albanian nationalists and/or extremists intended to destroy the Roma cultural identity and remove all trace of their existence from the national consciousness, even if they are unable to physically expel all Roma. However, there is no evidence that any political party associated with the Albanian community is responsible for the organizing of violence against non-Albanian minorities.

AlexM on "Kosovo: the Balkans’ last independent state"

AlexM — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:32:25 +0100

I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!

Maestro on "Radovan Karadzic: the politics of an arrest"

Maestro — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:51:46 +0100

There is no justice, only greed and interest. There is as much justice as the big powers allow it. You make war somewhere else, then you decide which side to blame...Then you come in and bomb them, helping "innocent" side. Then you become a "good" guy, soon implementing your "peacekeepers" on foreign territory, gaining access to natural weatlhs, controling the middle of europe. And on, and on...Not much different methods were used by Hitler.

Aphonse on "Radovan Karadzic: the politics of an arrest"

Aphonse — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:39:22 +0100

Justice has to be made