Developments in Kosovo

[Makedonia25]

Originally Posted by TirAlb

Ah,ok,its your personal opinion and not related to the video.Why exaxtly 3000?

No! It says it in the video, if you bother to click on it..

[Makedonia25]

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=qx5dFZkhxys

[Makedonia25]

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=E2dHfh37zpI

[zefs]

Is Kosovo the End of Europe?

http://www.phantis.com/news/read.htm...20080329131334
Saturday 29 March 2008, by Ash Narain Roy



Rene Magritte, the celebrated Belgian surrealist painter, once painted an apple and wrote on it, “This is not an apple.” He did the same on a pipe. Today, he could as well paint his country, Belgium, and certainly Kosovo, the youngest nation in the world, and write, “This is not a country.” Belgium is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions, with its majority Dutch-speaking, many French-speaking and few German-speaking citizens unable to decide what and for whom the state stands for. Kosovo is a self-inflicted pain and the world will not be able to withstand it given the can of worms its creation has opened. Mitrovica, witnessing intense violence, may emerge as a flashpoint of new conflict. Serbia is thinking of inviting Russian troops into Serb-dominated northern Kosovo as peacekeepers that may undermine the authority of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission, creating the potential for conflict leading to the partition of Kosovo.

Kosovo’s independence has dealt a blow to the nation-state. Many wonder if the nation-state in the 21st century is going out of fashion and whether a model of multi-cultural living, the hallmark of the nation-state, is on way to redundancy. In any case, China and Russia seem moving towards 19th century-style nationalism, militarism and assertive-ness. Many states would follow them.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence has won enthusiastic to grudging approval from some and vociferous to mild disapproval from others depending on which side of the fence one is sitting. But it has placed India on the horns of a dilemma. New Delhi is only studying the evolving situation as there are “several issues” involved in the declaration. There was a time when India took pride in being right than in being diplomatic. Today hard realities of “national interests” and pragmatism have become the main yardstick of its foreign policy. Silence and discretion are in, moralising is out. That perhaps explains what Shashi Tharoor says, why India feels comfortable with the “Burmese junta, than its janata”. India’s flirtations with the US and the desire to occupy the UN high table with the help of Washington are also coming in the way of taking a principled stand on global issues.

But New Delhi’s virtual silence on Kosovo is fraught with far-reaching consequences. It is unfortunate that even on an issue that concerns its own minorities and sub-national movements, India has chosen to look the other way. As the CPI-M mouthpiece People’s Democracy says, “at least on such a vital issue as the sovereignty of countries with minority populations and the challenges to a basic principle of international law, India should speak up.” Kosovo has created a new precedent and twisted international law that separatists all over the world would use to further their interests. Kashmiri separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shabbir Shah and Yasin Malik have already said that they see Kosovo as a ray of hope. North-East militants and the Naxalites would not be far behind in extracting some mileage out of Kosovo. Spain’s Basque and Catalan separatists have also welcomed Kosovo’s independence with a banner like, “Today Kosovo. Tomorrow Catalonia”. Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia have also intensified their autonomy demands, an obvious road to independence. Many believe the upsurge of violence in Tibet is not unrelated to Kosovo.





WHAT is the American gameplan in Kosovo? Russia certainly sees a red signal. Kosovo is a dress-rehearsal for redrawing boundaries in Eurasia and the Middle East. It is a new balkanisation, part of American and German geo-strategic plan, to tame Russia. The goal is to drive a wedge in the Balkans to advance a spurious form of European integration. A clear pattern is discernible. Since the former Yugoslavia was a thorn in the American-German flesh, it has been systematically targeted. The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 was a well-devised plan. It was no coincidence that Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided along ethnic and religious lines—Serb, Croat, Bosniak, Christians and Muslims. To these ethnic-religious divides have been added further sectarian divisions within Christianity—Eastern Orthodoxy versus Roman Catholicism.

Facts speak for themselves. Bosnia’s Constitution was written at a US Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio by American and European experts. Efforts are now on to establish a Greater Albania which will bring together what are now Albania and Kosovo as well as adjacent parts of Serbia and Montenegro, Western Macedonia and the north-western regions of Greece.

Kosovo has created a new divide even in the ranks of European states. While, Germany, Britain, Italy and France have recognised Kosovo, countries like Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus have opposed Kosovo’s independence. There is a perception among multinational, multi-ethnic and multicultural states that Kosovo’s independence will give a new lease of life to separatists in their own midst—Basques in Spain, Tiroleans in Italy, Hungarians in Romania and the like.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reacted most vehemently calling Kosovo’s independence as the “beginning of the end of Europe”. Moscow is right in maintaining that Kosovo’s independence will rekindle fire in the frozen conflict zones—Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria etc. Way back in 1992, South Ossetia had declared independence from Georgia. Only thanks to the presence of Russian peacekeepers a bigger conflict was avoided. Russia has not recognised South Ossetia as yet, but it could exercise that option. Moscow has also hinted that the Kosovo precedent could be invoked in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In fact, Moscow has decided to withdraw from a CIS treaty imposing sanctions against Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. It is not hard to imagine what happens if Russia decides to use the Kosovo approach to resolving conflicts in its own backyard. Even supposing Russian troops are sent to Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, it could create a flashpoint of conflict.

Is the US trying to appease the Muslim world by its support for Kosovo and thus seeking to make up for the folly of the Iraq war? It is possible that some Muslim regimes may see the American gameplan in that light. But what kind of message is Washington conveying to the Iraqi Kurds? The US says it is backing a federal Iraq where Arabs, Kurds, Turkomans, Assyrians as also Shias and Sunnis could live together. Can Iraqis be blamed for thinking that the federal formula is a cover to break the country?

The West’s stance is inconsistent and self-contradictory. If it supports Kosovo’s independence, why does it oppose the independence of Flanders in Belgium? Few believe Kosovo will actually be free; it will become a protectorate of the EU. What is worse, Kosovo is likely to see the Serb-dominated parts walking away. In pursuing their geo-strategic interests, the US and Germany may end up reviving old chauvinist passions and creating a monster that may turn their dream into a nightmare. It is too dangerous to fiddle with the Balkans’ fault lines. The US smiles at Kosovo only to frown at Russia. Come on America! Your bare teeth are showing.

The author is the Associate Director, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi.

[Truth Bearer]

Europe is breaking up in ever smaller pieces.Scotland and Wales will be 2 new countries.The Basque Republic and Catalonia in Spain.Southern France Basques & Corsica in France,Sardinia in Italy,Lvov region in Western Ukraine,Transnistria in Moldova all these are to be declared independant states within the next few years.Others sooner than later.All where minority congregate in one region and as long as they have more than 50% they are in control.The flaws of Democracy unfortunately.

[rainbow]

And this is more realistic thinking.
Any way i think that bad scenarios like this will happen very soon on the Balkan. Only the question is when that will happen. The Balkan was, is and always will be a "barrel with gunpowder".

[TirAlb]

Originally Posted by Draco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCAz6PW_h2k

Things never change,the only difference is that now Cetniks,wear jackets and tie.

[zefs]

The Oil factor in Kosovo independence

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

On February 17, Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared its independence. Not surprisingly it was instantly recognized as a state by the U.S., Germany, Britain and France. With 4203 square miles area, Kosovo may be a tiny territory but in the great game of oil politics it holds great importance which is in inverse proportion to its size.

Kosovo does not have oil but its location is strategic as the trans-Balkan pipeline - known as AMBO pipeline after its builder and operator the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation - will pass through it.

The pipeline will pump Caspian oil from the Bulgarian port of Burgas via Macedonia to the Albanian port of Vlora, for transport to European countries and the United States. Specifically, the 1.1 billion dollar AMBO pipeline will permit oil companies operating in the Caspian Sea to ship their oil to Rotterdam and the East Coast of the USA at substantially less cost than they are experiencing today.

When operational by 2011, the pipeline will become a part of the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fiber optic telecommunications lines. This pipeline will bring oil directly to the European market by eliminating tanker traffic through the ecologically sensitive waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.

In 2000, the United States Government’s Trade and Development Agency financed a feasibility study of pipeline which updated and enlarged the project's original feasibility study dating from early 1996. Brown & Root Energy Services, a wholly-owned British subsidiary of Halliburton completed the original feasibility study for this project.

The US Trade and Development Agency's paper published May 2000, which assesses that the pipeline is a US strategic interest. According to the paper, the pipeline will provide oil and gas to the US market worth $600m a month, adding that the pipeline is necessary because the oil coming from the Caspian sea will quickly surpass the safe capacity of the Bosphorus.

The project is necessary, according to a paper, because the oil coming from the Caspian sea "will quickly surpass the safe capacity of the Bosphorus as a shipping lane". The scheme, the agency notes, will "provide a consistent source of crude oil to American refineries", "provide American companies with a key role in developing the vital east-west corridor", "advance the privatisation aspirations of the US government in the region" and "facilitate rapid integration" of the Balkans "with western Europe".

The pipeline itself, the agency says, has also been formally supported "since 1994". The first feasibility study, backed by the US, was conducted in 1996.

In November 1998, Bill Richardson, the then US energy secretary, spelt out his policy on the extraction and transport of Caspian oil. "This is about America's energy security," he explained. "It's also about preventing strategic inroads by those who don't share our values. We're trying to move these newly independent countries toward the west.

"We would like to see them reliant on western commercial and political interests rather than going another way. We've made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it's very important to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right."

Professor Michel Chossudovsky, author of America at War in Macedonia, provides a deep insight into the Albanian-Macedonian-Bulgarian-Oil Pipeline project:

“The US based AMBO pipeline consortium is directly linked to the seat of political and military power in the United States and Vice President Dick Cheney's firm Halliburton Energy. The feasibility study for AMBO's Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline, conducted by the international engineering company of Brown & Root Ltd. [Halliburton's British subsidiary] has determined that this pipeline will become a part of the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fibre optic telecommunications lines.

“Coincidentally, White and Case LLT, the New York law firm that President William J. Clinton joined when he left the White House also has a stake in the AMBO pipeline deal.

“And upon completion of the feasibility study by Halliburton, a senior executive of Halliburton was appointed CEO of AMBO. Halliburton was also granted a contract to service US troops in the Balkans and build "Bondsteel" in Kosovo, which now constitutes "the largest American foreign military base constructed since Vietnam".

“The AMBO Trans-Balkans pipeline project would link up with the pipeline corridors between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea basin, which lies at the hub of the World's largest unexplored oil reserves. The militarization of these various corridors is an integral part of Washington's design.

“The US policy of "protecting the pipeline routes" out of the Caspian Sea basin (and across the Balkans) was spelled out by Clinton's Energy Secretary Bill Richardson barely a few months prior to the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia: This is about America's energy security. It's also about preventing strategic inroads by those who don't share our values. We're trying to move these newly independent countries toward the west. We would like to see them reliant on western commercial and political interests rather than going another way. We've made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it's very important to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right.

“In favour of the AMBO pipeline negotiations, the U.S. Government has been directly supportive through its Trade and Development Agency (TDA) and the South Balkan Development Initiative (SBDI). The TDI suggested the need for Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria to “use regional synergies to leverage new public and private capital [from U.S. companies]” while also asserting responsibility of the U.S. Government “for implementing the initiative.”

And the U.S. Government has fulfilled its role in promoting the AMBO project, granting several contracts to Halliburton for servicing U.S. troops in the Balkans, including a five year contract authorized in June of 2005 by the U.S. Army at a value of $1.25 billion, despite criminal allegations made against Halliburton that are currently being probed by the F.B.I., according to Craig A. Brannagan author of On the Political Executive: Public or Private?

This leaves little doubt that the war in the former Yugoslavia was fought solely in order to secure access to oil from new and biddable states in central Asia. It is obvious that the former Yugoslavia, especially Serbia, was a serious problem for the realization of the plan. The intervention in Kosovo and Metohija was carried out in order to please Albania, whose port of Vlore is the ultimate destination of the pipeline.

In 1998, fighting breaks out between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. President Milosevic sends in troops, and atrocities were committed. This opens the door for NATO’s Operation Allied Force, occupying Kosovo in 1999 and then handing it over to the UN, with a huge American presence in the area. UN resolution 1244 is drafted stipulating that Kosovo is Serbian land, and at the same time gives Kosovars governance autonomy.

June 1999, in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Yugoslavia, US forces seized 1,000 acres of farmland in southeast Kosovo at Uresevic, near the Macedonian border, and began the construction of Camp Bondsteel which is the biggest construction project of a US military base since the war in Vietnam. Now, why would the United States build such a massive camp in Kosovo?

In evaluating Kosovo’s independence, it is also important to know that Kosovo is not gaining independence or even minimal self-government.

It will be run by an appointed High Representative and bodies appointed by the U.S., European Union and NATO. An old-style colonial viceroy and imperialist administrators will have control over foreign and domestic policy. It is similar to the absolute power held by L. Paul Bremer in the first two years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. U.S. has merely consolidated its direct control of a totally dependent colony in the heart of the Balkans.

An International Civilian Representative (ICR) will be appointed by U.S. and E.U. officials to oversee Kosovo. This appointed official can overrule any measures, annul any laws and remove anyone from office in Kosovo. The ICR will have full and final control over the departments of Customs, Taxation, Treasury and Banking.

The E.U. will establish a European Security and Defense Policy Mission (ESDP) and NATO will establish an International Military Presence. Both these appointed bodies will have control over foreign policy, security, police, judiciary, all courts and prisons.

These bodies and the ICR will have final say over what crimes can be prosecuted and against whom; they can reverse or annul any decision made. The largest prison in Kosovo is at the U.S. base, Camp Bondsteel, where prisoners are held without charges, judicial overview or representation.

US has argued the case of Kosovo is unique and that separatists in other states in Europe and the Balkans will not receive aid and welcome from major powers. "It is incorrect to view this as a precedent and it doesn't serve any purpose to view it as a precedent," said Alejandro Wolff, US deputy permanent representative to the UN. He may be right because other separatists may not have any attraction for the oil giants.

However, the Kosovo independence bolsters hopes of militants in the Indian-controlled Kashmir to achieve the same status for the disputed territory. “The world community, the European Union in particular, should play a Kosovo-like role in getting the dispute resolved in Kashmir,” says Yasin Malik, chairman of pro-independence group Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.

Although several countries have recognized Kosovo as a new state but India said it was studying the legal ramifications. India is wary of recognizing Kosovo as an independent state because of its potential implications for Kashmir, racked by a nearly two-decade freedom struggle against New Delhi’s occupation that has left more than 43,000 people dead.


http://www.amperspective.com/html/th...in_kosovo.html

[Makedonia25]

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=hvdaPx9N0_A

[Makedonia25]

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiL7PH2jOhs