The Herald of Kosovo and Metohija _Special issue

7/30/2019 The Herald of Kosovo and Metohija _Special issue

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THE END OF INTERNATITHE END OF INTERNATITHE END OF INTERNATIONAL LAW?ONAL LAW?ONAL LAW?

TTTHEHEHE HHHERALDERALDERALDOFOFOF

A parallel new Bush doctrine is emerging, in the last days of thesoon-to-be-ancien regime, and it needs to be strangled in its crib.Like the original Bush doctrine -- the one that Sarah Palin couldn'tname, which called for preventive military action against emergingthreats -- this one also casts international law aside by insisting thatthe United States has an inherent right to cross international bordersin "hot pursuit" of anyone it doesn't like.

They're already applying it to Pakistan, and this week Syria was thetarget. Is Iran next?

Let's take Pakistan first. Though a nominal ally, Pakistan has been thesubject of at least nineteen aerial attacks by CIA-controlled drone aircraft,killing scores of Pakistanis and some Afghans in tribal areas controlled by

pro-Taliban forces. The New York Times listed, and mapped, all nineteensuch attacks in a recent piece describing Predator attacks across the Afghanborder, all since August. The Times notes that inside the government, theU.S.Special Operationscommand and otheradvocates are pushing for amore aggressive use of suchunits, including efforts tokidnap and interrogatesuspected Taliban and AlQaeda leaders. ThoughPresident Bush signed anorder in July allowing U.S.

commando teams to moveinto Pakistan itself, with orwithout Islamabad'spermission, such raids haveoccurred only once, onSeptember 3.

The U.S. raid into Syria onOctober 26 similarlytrampled on Syria'ssovereignty without so much as a fare-thee-well. Though thePentagon initially denied that the raid involved helicopters and on-the-ground commando presence, that's exactly what happened. Theattack reportedly killed Badran Turki Hishan al-Mazidih, an Iraqi

facilitator who smuggled foreign fighters into Iraq through Syria. TheWashington Postwas ecstatic, writing in an editorial:

"If Sunday's raid, which targeted a senior al-Qaeda operative, servesonly to put Mr. Assad on notice that the United States, too, is nolonger prepared to respect the sovereignty of a criminal regime, it willhave been worthwhile."

Is it really that easy? To say: We declare your regime criminal, andso we will attack you anytime we care to? In its news report of theattack into Syria, the Postsuggests, in a report by Ann Scott Tysonand Ellen Knickmeyer, that the attack is raising cross-border hotpursuit to the level of a doctrine:

"The military's argument is that 'you can only claim sovereignty if youenforce it,' said Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Centerfor Strategic and International Studies. 'When you are dealing withstates that do not maintain their sovereignty and become a de factosanctuary, the only way you have to deal with them is this kind ofoperation,' he said."

The Times broadens the possible targets from Pakistan and Syria toIran, writing (in a page one story by Eric Schmitt and ThomShanker):

"Administration officials declined to say whether the emergingapplication of self-defense could lead to strikes against camps insideIran that have been used to train Shiite 'special groups' that have

fought with the American military and Iraqi security forces."That, of course, has been a live option, especially since the start of

the surge in January, 2007,when President Bushpromised to strike atIranian supply lines in Iraqand other U.S. officials,including Vice PresidentCheney, pressed hard toattack sites within Iran,regardless of theconsequences.

On October 24, I went tohear Mike Vickers, theassistant secretary ofdefense for specialoperations and low-intensity conflict, speakingat the Washington Institiutefor Near East Policy(WINEP), a pro-Israelithinktank in Washington.

He spoke with pride about the vast and growing presence of thesecommando forces within the U.S. military, noting that their budgethas doubled under the Bush administration and that, by the end ofthe decade, their will more than 60,000 U.S. forces in this shadowy

effort. Here are some excerpts of Vickers' remarks:"If you look at the operational core of our Special Operations Forces,and focus on the ground operators, there are some 15,000 or so ofthose -- give or take how you count them -- these range from our

Army Special Forces or our Green Berets, our Rangers, our Seals,some classified units we have, and we recently added a MarineCorps Special Operations Command to this arsenal as well. Inaddition to adding the Marine component, each of these elementssince 2006 and out to about 2012 or 2013 has been increasing theircapacity as well as their capabilities, but their capacity by a third.This is the largest growth in Special Operations Force history. By the

The unmanned aerial vehicle Predator


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time we're done with that, there will be some things, some gaps weneed to fix undoubtedly, but we will have the elements in place for whatwe believe is the Special Operations component of the global war onterrorism.

"Special Operations Forces, I think through this decade and into thenext one, have been and will remain a decisive strategic instrument. ...

"There's been a very significant -- about a 40 or 50 percent increase inoperational tempo and of course more intense in terms of the actionsince the 9/11 attacks. On any given day that we wake up, our SpecialOperations Forces are in some sixty countries around the world. Butmore than 80 percent or so of those right now are concentrated in thegreater Middle East or the United States Central Command area ofresponsibility -- the bulk of those of course in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Notice what he said: operating in 60 countries.

Of course, the very invasion of Iraq was illegal in 2003, and it floutedinternational law. So some may say, these cross-border raids are smallpotatoes. But they're not. This is a big deal. If it becomes a standardpart of U.S. military doctrine that any country can be declared "criminal"

and thus lose its sovereignty, then there is no such thing as internationallaw anymore.

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked about this, here'swhat he said, as quoted in the Postarticle cited earlier:

"'We will do what is necessary to protect our troops,' Defense SecretaryRobert M. Gates said in Senate testimony last month, when askedabout the cross-border operations. Under questioning, Gates said thathe was not an expert in international law but that he assumed the StateDepartment had consulted such laws before the U.S. military wasgranted authority to make such strikes."

Not an expert in international law? He'll leave it to the StateDepartment? And this is the guy that Barack Obama's advisers sayought to stay on at the Pentagon under an Obama administration?

Last week, I wrote a post here about the emergence of a parallel newBush admininstration doctrine that allows US forces to raid countries atwill whenever supposedly "actionable intelligence" reveals the presenceof bad guys.

Today, in the New York Times, there is explosive confirmation of that:

The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authorityto carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against AlQaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, accordingto senior American officials.

These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces,were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H.Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of PresidentBush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authorityto attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a moresweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war withthe United States. ...

The 2004 order identifies 15 to 20 countries, including Syria, Pakistan,Yemen, Saudi Arabia and several other Persian Gulf states, whereQaeda militants were believed to be operating or to have soughtsanctuary, a senior administration official said.

This is outrageous, and it gives President Obama yet another secretBush directive to undo at one minute after noon on January 20. Heshould also make sure to seek out and fire every single lawyer at theDefense Department and Justice Deparment who approved this order.

Once that's done, Obama and his national security team ought to startthe process of reining in the sprawling, out-of-control US special forces.The Joint Special Operations Command and the office of AssistantSecretary of Defense for Special Operations have run amuck, and it'slong overdue that they have their wings clipped.

Robert Dreyfuss, 10/28/2008 and 11/04/2008

THE HERALD OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJATHE HERALD OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA Page 2

Belgrade/Pristina, 6 Nov. (AKI) - The international community isexerting strong pressure on Serbian and Kosovar leaders to agree onthe deployment of the European mission in Kosovo (EULEX),politicians and analysts said on Thursday. NATO Secretary-generalJaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Kosovo's capital of Pristina on Tuesday,followed by British Foreign Minister David Milliband a day later,prodding Kosovar leaders to accept Belgrades conditions for thedeployment of EULEX.

Before travelling to Pristina, Milliband talked to Serbian president BorisTadic and foreign minister Vuk Jeremic in Belgrade in an effort to bridgethe gap between Serbian and Kosovan leaders on EULEX'sdeployment.

Belgrade continues to oppose Kosovo's independence and resists thedeployment of EULEX, which should replace the current United Nationsadministration (UNMIK).

Belgrade sees UNMIK's presence as a last straw to hold on to Kosovo,because the UN mission was deployed in the province in 1999, basedon Security Council Resolution 1244, which officially treats Kosovo asan integral part of Serbia.

As most EU countries recognised Kosovo's independence, along withthe United States, the EU decided to send 2,000 judges, policemen andprosecutors to Kosovo to replace UNMIK. But the idea was met withstrong resistance in Belgrade and in the Serb-populated areas of northof Kosovo.

However, Serbias pro-European president Boris Tadic has saidEULEX would be acceptable if its presence was based on Resolution1244 and remained neutral on the Kosovo status.

Kosovar leaders, on the other hand, oppose Resolution 1244 and insistthat Kosovo's independence is irrevocable and non-negotiable.Tadics main policy goal is Serbias membership of the EU. But EUcommissioner for enlargement Ollie Rehn said on Wednesday that,apart from cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal, Serbia shouldbe cooperative on EULEX's deployment in order to proceed towardsEU membership.

Serbia is playing an important role in the region and the EU demandsits constructive approach towards EULEX deployment in Kosovo,Rehn said.

Furthermore, he said Serbia should be constructive on the issue of

KOSOVO: BELGRADE AND PRISTINA PRESSED TO ACCEPT EUKOSOVO: BELGRADE AND PRISTINA PRESSED TO ACCEPT EUKOSOVO: BELGRADE AND PRISTINA PRESSED TO ACCEPT EU


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Kosovo's participation in regional initiatives and international forums,which is interpreted in Belgrade as a demand for recognition of Kosovo.Scheffer and Milliband had tried to convince Kosovo's leaders that thepresence of EULEX and a 16,000-strong NATO force wouldnt infringeon Kosovo's independence.

Kosovo's government is responsible for the sovereignty over Kosovoand no one can force it to accept possible compromises, Millibandsaid.

Meanwhile, Serbian opposition leaders have accused Tadic of treasonand indirect recognition of Kosovo for the sake of European integration.Slobodan Samardzic, vice-president of former Prime Minister VojislavKostunicas Democratic Party of Serbia, said Tadic was deceiving the

public and trying to smuggle in EULEX in return for political favoursfrom Brussels.

Belgrade analyst Cvijetin Milivojevic told Adnkronos International (AKI)that hectic diplomatic activity was "just an empty rhetoric."

"In the end it will be the way the international community decides,Milivojevic said.

The UN Security Council had been due to discuss the Kosovo issue onFriday, but the session was postponed until next Tuesday.Milivojevic said Tadic was just looking for a face-saving way out of theKosovo crisis, and conceded that some kind of a deal might be madeby next week.


AHTISAARI STANDS BY KOSOVO INDEPENDENCEAHTISAARI STANDS BY KOSOVO INDEPENDENCEAHTISAARI STANDS BY KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE04 November 2008 Pristina _ Former UNenvoy for Kosovos final status and NobelPeace Prize Laureate Martti Ahtisaari,stands by his decision in backing Kosovosindependence, in his new autobiography.

His book, Suomalaisten kovat paikat orFinnish in difficult circumstances has justbeen published in his native Finland.

Ahtisaari writes that Kosovo is a European

issue, and the European Union shall notpermit a frozen conflict as has happenedin other similar cases around the world.

He adds that countries which have not yet recognised Kosovosindependence due to their own internal problems will very soon do so.

Ahtisaari adds that these countries will soon accept that Kosovo is aunique case and not a precedent for other separatist movements.

Ahtisaari, also a former Finnish President, was appointed in 2005 asthe United Nations special envoy for talks on the final status of Kosovo,seven years after he played a key role in bringing an end to hostilitiesthere.

After no results in the talks between Serbian and Kosovos ethnicAlbanian officials he recommended supervised independence forKosovo.

The Ahtisaari plan served as the basis for Kosovos declaration ofindependence from Serbia on February 17, and the reforms itprescribed were pursued in the following months by Kosovosgovernment.

Last month he was the winner of this years Nobel Peace Prize.

Ahtisaari is an outstanding international mediator, a committeespokesman said in announcing his win.

The committee cited Ahtisaaris significant role in establishingNamibias independence and his central part in mediating theconflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh in 2005.

That year the 71-year-old career diplomat oversaw the end of athree-decade conflict between the Indonesian government andFree Aceh Movement rebels that killed some 15,000 people.

FFFIVEIVEIVESSSERBSERBSERBSINJUREDINJUREDINJUREDINININCLASHESCLASHESCLASHESWITHWITHWITHETHNICETHNICETHNICAAALBANIANSLBANIANSLBANIANS

Kosovska Mitrovica, 30 Oct. (AKI) Five Serbs were injured on Thursdayin clashes with ethnic Albanians in the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica,local officials said. Deputy police chief Predrag Vasovic told media that theincident occurred when a group of ethnic Albanians crossed into the Serb-controlled northern part of the city to repair their houses, which weredamaged during ethnic fighting in 1999.

The Serbs gathered to prevent them, and the clashes broke out, Vasovicsaid. He said that wooden and metal sticks were used in the fighting, buteyewitnesses said that fire from automatic weapons was heard in the area.

Doctors in Mitrovica hospital said that five Serbs were treated for lightinjuries, but were later discharged.

Mitrovica has been a divided city ever since the withdrawal in 1999 of

Serbian forces from the province, whose majority ethnic Albaniansdeclared independence last February.

The southern part of the city is controlled by ethnic Albanians and thenorthern part by Serbs.

The majority of some 100,000 Serbs that remained in Kosovo live north of

Mitrovica, close to Serbia. Kosovo's authorities have little control over theSerb-populated north.

Thursday's clashes were broken up by United Nations police andinternational forces stationed in Kosovo (KFOR), officials said.

Former Kosovo prime minister, Agim Ceku, said recently that Kosovo'sauthorities should establish control over northern Kosovo by force, despitean international presence in the province.

Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic said Thursday's incident waspremeditated provocation".

"Ethnic Albanians have done this according to an organised andsynchronised plan to establish the so called independent state of Kosovoon the entire territory, Ivanovic said.

Serbia opposes Kosovo's independence and is waging a diplomatic battleto retain the province under its control. But most European countries andthe United States are among some 50 states that have recognisedKosovo's independence so far.


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The Balkans waited nearly 15 years for the U.S. economic crisis. Theyconcluded wisely that sooner or later the "champions of democracy" inthe U.S. and their European pals would one day have too little time to

worry about their small, artificially molded satellites. The U.S. knewabout the pending financial crisis and refused to temporarily forgo theirpivotal role in the Balkans without first leaving the Europeans somethingto remember them by a time bomb called independent Kosovo. Thebomb wasn't at all simple, as it turned out later. It had dispensingwarheads that resounded loudly far and wide even reaching theCaucasus. And after taking the Kosovo precedent into account, manyof the world's unrecognized and half-recognized nations began askingthe European community one very logical question: "Why is it okay forthe Albanians, but not for us?" Europe hasn't yet been able to provide apersuasive answer because it simply doesn't know what to say.

The U.S., the last global empire, made a fiendish calculation. Whilestruggling through the future economic crisis, they realized, Europe

could finish its integration processes and ultimately become aninternational "center of strength." Instead, they decided, it would bewiser to keep Europe occupied with peacekeeping, hundreds ofthousands of refugees, humanitarian aid packages and missions andinvestigating mass graves.

The same thing happened in the 1990s when the U.S. used the ferventBalkans to prevent Europe from becoming the continental authorityafter the fall of the Soviet Union. The first split was the creation of thestrange, quasi-state known as Bosnia and Herzegovina. As tour guidesoften boldly admit in their introductions: "The state structure of thecountry is the most complex in the world." Bosnia and Herzegovina iscomposed of two completely autonomous sections the Muslim-CroatFederation and the standalone Republic of Serbia. This mix of "bulldogand rhinoceros" was artificially established during negotiations in the

American city of Dayton in November 1995. The country has a unifiedgovernment in Sarajevo, which international observers closely monitor.Both parts of the country have their own police. And as 13 years ofcoexistence have shown, the three peoples in Bosnia andHerzegovina, with their different religions and lifestyles, have nothing incommon except for their currency, passports and hatred for oneanother.

CCCOUNTRYOUNTRYOUNTRYOFOFOF"""WARWARWARCRIMINALSCRIMINALSCRIMINALS"""

The landscapes in the Republic of Serbia rings of European serenity.After about an hour driving alongside the rows of neat, white houses,with their brick roofs, and insulated glass cowsheds, I couldn't help but

haze. It seemed as though the land had gone untouched by war sincethe creation of the world. But when looking closer, I began to seeaccurately plastered bullet holes on the blinding white walls. Thewindow apertures were covered in pock marks, and it's clear peoplehad been angrily shooting here for a long while.

On public buildings, I often saw posters reading: "Carrying anddemonstrating weapons is prohibited." And in the capital, Banja Luka,the impressive arena of governmental buildings looks like a small-scalecopy of Moscow City. Architectural attributes of authority are a commontrait for states with unclear statuses. I saw the same thing in SouthOssetia before the Georgian Grad missiles had been dropped. The

state house in Tskhinvali was big enough to house the parliaments ofhalf of the nations of Europe.

But I should add another important detail. Crowds of young menswarmed the streets, who were around 18 years old. These were the"children of the war," a trace of the demographic explosion that resultedwhen an ethnicity's defense mechanism was triggered. As a rule, menaged 30-40 wore their hair trimmed noticeably shortly. Nearly everysecond or third wore an M65 army jacket or military pants. Mycompanion caught my stare.

"These are all war criminals," he said. "Each and every one of us,according to Brussels, are war criminals. But on the other hand, therewere only angels then... With machine guns, of course..."

Late that night, we stood on the outskirts of Banja Luka. My companionkept talking about what I had seen earlier that day.

"You see that block over there?" he asked. "It was once built for officersof the Yugoslavian army. But today only 'war criminals' live there. Howabout we go over and talk to them?"

The restaurant we headed towards looked as though it had closed fora long time. But after a tentative knock at the door, a heavy curtainswung aside, and through the window we saw all hullabaloo. Everyone

inside already knew the "Rusi voynik jurnalist" (ed. "Russian warjournalist") who covered the events in Kosovo was coming. Ourinvestigatory features on the "Kosovo killers," which were published inKP, had a loud resonance in Serbia and the Republic of Serbia (see.KP's March 12-14, 2008 issues, or on kp.ru). Anyone who wasn't ableto read the actual articles or the Serbian translations caught thetelevision specials on the issue.

They told me why the restaurant looked so hidden. It didn't have alicense to work at night, they said, so the "war criminals" were forced tokeep their cover while out on the town, as they were afraid of the police.


Brano Vuchetich was 9 years old when soldiers from theMudzhakheddin brigade killed his family. But in the West, this isn'tconsidered a genocide, even though the soldiers didn't hide their feats...

WILL THE U.S. ECONOMWILL THE U.S. ECONOMWILL THE U.S. ECONOMIC CRISIS SPARK A WAR IN THE BALKANS?IC CRISIS SPARK A WAR IN THE BALKANS?IC CRISIS SPARK A WAR IN THE BALKANS?


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It sounded funny. Behind the bar counter sat a police officer deep inthought, drinking coffee. Across from him was a computer connected toa cash register. The screen saver didn't look at all like the intelligentbartender standing before me. In the photo, he had no glasses, wasclean-shaven and held a machine gun up to the sky.

Deyan, with whom I spoke at the bar, was pardoned by the Republic of

Serbia. He was a major "war criminal." He had set fire to a carbelonging to "Doctors Without Borders." For some reason, a Germanintelligence officer had been riding inside. It turned out around 500,000German marks were hidden in the minibus payment for Muslimmercenaries based in the town of Bikhach, which was protected by UNpeacekeepers. Where else would such a large sum have been headedduring a war across a combat zone? Deyan said with a smile that Godmust have wanted him to earn an honest living. When he set fire to thevehicle, he hadn't known about the money. The details only came tolight many years later when the international community beganinvestigating the deplorable incident to one's cost.

"Everyone was really sincerely happy when Russia acted on Ossetia'sand Abkhazia's behalf," Deyan said. "For the first time, someoneanswered the Americans and their hangers-on the right way. We didn'tdoubt Russia... Well, we stopped doubting, more exactly."

"But what would have happened if Russia had kept silent?" I asked."Then you would have had the same thing there that we have here," he

replied. "The international protectorate, limited sovereignty, and all thepeople who fought would in the war would be war criminals. Theywould have thought up a Srebrenitsa for the Ossetians and Abkhaz,too, and they would have been justifying actions they didn't commit forthe next 10 years. And in this case it's easier for the guilty to just die."

WWWASASASTHERETHERETHEREACTUALLYACTUALLYACTUALLYAAA SSSREBRENITSAREBRENITSAREBRENITSA???

Trying to pinpoint the guilty party in a civil war is truly a mug's game. Butit's certainly doable. In the civil war in Bosnia, the Serbs were ultimatelylabelled as the perpetrators. A new term was even born as a resultdescribing the "hateful Serbs," which translates directly into Russian as

the "genocide nation." The basis for this horrid accusation were the actsthat allegedly took place in Srebrenitsa an inhabited area whosename occupies a place after Khatyn, Oradour-sur-Glane and Son My inthe public consciousness of the West .

Western nations assert that in the spring of 1995, Serbian armed forcesannihilated 8,000 people in the demilitarized zone of Srebrenitsa.

Today, though, even UN experts are skeptical about this figure. Toomany blank spots were left on the exhumation charts, they say, emptyspaces where the specialists simply didn't want to lie.

As a rule, these blank spots were connected to the cause of death.Back in the 1990s, though, no one paid much attention to theinconsistencies in the exhumation charts. Their double standardsworked well for them in the Balkans, and helped the West to control theconflict to their own gain. As a result, in recent years, pressureincreased on the Republic of Serbia, a small autonomous nation thatonly "arose thanks to ethnic cleansing" and is despised in the West forits independent and, frankly speaking, pro-Russian behavior. But theSerbs turned out to be quick learners, and the old adage "it's impossibleto fool to everyone all the time" proved very true.

The Serbs began their fight for freedom by dispelling media myths.Soon after the war, a non-commercial organization was establishedunder the name "Srebrenitsa A Historical Project." Experts and

journalists were invited from around the world to participate. Theseindividuals, to put it lightly, had a broader view of new European history.

Ilya Goryachev, a Russian participant in the project, who is a historianand Balkan studies specialist, said that the West needed a weightyaccusation to hold against the Serbs at the end of the war to help theirdiplomats control the situation. The only thing capable of somehowunnerving mankind today, he added, is genocide.

"You can double-check everything that I'm saying at any Europeanlibrary," Goryachev said. "The French Foreign Ministry was behind the

first media-rigging on the issue of 'ethnic cleansing' back in 1993. Theirinformation hit the press, but didn't go far as it wasn't marketed. Thesecond rigging took place in autumn that year. Aliya Izetbegovich toldhis close allies that [then-U.S. President] Bill Clinton advised him to'sacrifice Srebrenitsa,' so NATO would have a reason to interfere in theconflict. But full-scale media rigging only began two years later at theend of the war. This was the first time the number '8,000 dead'sounded. The world was shaken, and didn't catch on to the ruse.

Among the deceased were 914 people, for example, who lived abroadand somehow voted in the 1996 elections. Soldiers of the opposingforces were also victims of the genocide, and even Serbs who werekilled by the Bosnian army on the outskirts of Srebrenitsa. Over 3,000innocent, ethnic Serbian civilians were killed there... But this isn't

considered a genocide for some reason."Lyubishe Simich, who worked with the reports of the Hague experts,repeated what I had learned from Goryachev. According to thedocuments, he said, individual fragments of bodies, such as a littlefinger, were counted as an entire corpse in 1,125 cases.

"Around 500 of the examined bodies didn't have shrapnel or gunshotwounds," Simich said. "I can only assert with confidence about 584bodies that those people were killed."

It's a shame no one was interested in the postmortem arithmetic whenthe world decided the fate of the Serbs in those years. The West had


The outskirts of Srebrenitsa. A memorial to the Serbs who died

in the town of Bratunats. Judging objectively, without emotion,

the number of causalities was the same on both sides.


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reached their goal. Yugoslavia was divided into parts once and for all,and the small, European, pro-Russian "center of strength" ceased toexist. What was left, though, was a brand on all Bosnian Serbs. Butwho should that worry besides those who were deemed "warcriminals?"

FFFRIENDLYRIENDLYRIENDLYGESTURESGESTURESGESTURESOFOFOFTHETHETHE"""GENOCIDEGENOCIDEGENOCIDENATIONNATIONNATION"""The Bosnian Serbs counted on Russia's support to gain independence.

And they have made numerous, more than evident gestures offriendship. There is no visa regime with Russia, and Russianbusinesses feel at home in the republic. The Russian peacekeepersand residents of Tskhinvali can also thank the Republic of Serbia forOrkan missiles not being fired on South Ossetia in August.

In October 2006, Georgia secretly held negotiations with Bosnia and

Herzegovina to purchase Orkan missile systems, but the Serbs laterbroke the agreement. Shortly after, they prohibited the systems frombeing taken from the republic through the use of firepower and chasingaway the Georgian helicopters. Another agreement with the Georgians

was recently reported as being broken by the Serbs. Georgia plannedto buy optics and 82- and 120-millimeter mortar launchers from therepublic, and Bosnian instructors had even visited the country topartake to simulated combat.

I spoke with Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Milorad Dodikabout the issue, and he didn't hide his opinion of European politicstoday.

"I'm the only politician in the region who unilaterally supported Russia'saction and called Georgia's conduct 'aggression,'" he said. "The West,as they say in Russian, 'made a distinction without a difference,' andended up fooling itself. The former UK ambassador to Bosnia bestdescribed the whole situation, the situation in Kosovo, our situation,

when he said: 'The Albanians and Serbs killed and raped each other inKosovo. Okay, well, then live apart, independent of one another. InBosnia, the Serbs, Bosnians and Croats all did the same. Why shouldthey have to live together?'"

"Do you want to secede?" I asked.

"You must understand that Bosnia and Herzegovina can't exist andfunction in its current form. The hatred hasn't gone anywhere," Dodiksaid. "Our independence and autonomy are incontestable, and theliquidation of the Republic of Serbia is impossible. Today, they want toplace our police under Sarajevo's control for the sake of Europeanintegration. But I don't think European integration will solve all ourproblems, which is why I'm saying that I pick our police! The European

Union is creating problems for itself at the drop of a hat."To Dodik's point, politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina aren't blind andunderstand where the Republic of Serbia is heading. But they can't doanything about this yet. Serbian politicians have picked an aggressivestrategy, and are currently winning the race. It's possible the trial of the"genocide nation" will continue in Hague or Brussels. It's no accidentthat evidence is being collected.

"Attempts have been made to review the fact of genocide that tookplace in Srebrenitsa and rescind the accusations against the Serbs.Could this happen?" I asked.

"The events in Srebrenitsa were covered one-dimensionally. They'forgot' about many issues, and these are worthy of being reviewed bythe European court. There were no few victims on either side. TheWest doesn't like to remember that Srebrenitsa was a demilitarizedzone under the protection of the UN since 1993. Dutch peacekeeperswere stationed there as was the 28th Bosnian Division for some

reason. They attacked Serbian villages from that very zone. Go toKravitsa. On Christmas Eve, the Muslims killed 70 people in that village.Go go any Serbian village near Srebrenitsa..."

FFFORGOTTENORGOTTENORGOTTENVICTIMSVICTIMSVICTIMS

It's only a four-hour drive from Banja Luka to Srebrenitsa. From aRussian point of view, the scale of things are just child's play.

The district where the horrible events started in the early 1990sbordered "big" Serbia. The country is very close by right behind theDrina River. Muslims and Orthodox still live together in Srebrenitsa. Buteven though many years have passed, no one has forgotten or plans toforget their insults.

We picked up a young Serb, Brano Vuchetich, after meeting him atwork at the supermarket. Vuchetich doesn't look anything like a"professional victim," who willingly and without pause recounts thehorrors of war.

In the village of Belovats, several kilometers from Srebrenitsa, we stoodwith Vuchetich on a hill covered with grass. This is all that is left of hishome, he told us. He spoke quietly and with difficulty.

"It was Sept. 14, 1992," he said. "They came down from the hills. [Hepointed to the cornfields behind the road.] They attacked the villagesthat neighbor the border. They probably liked doing what they did rightbefore Serbia's eyes."

That night, the 28th Bosnian Division killed 109 people.

"We heard gunshots, so I hid in the cellar. My father and brother ran intothe courtyard with their guns," he said. "They were killed during theshooting. The soldiers threw a grenade into the cellar, and I lostconsciousness and was hit by shrapnel. I was pulled out by people withgreen arm bands. They held a knife to my throat. They usually cut offtheir victims' heads. But their commanding officer told them to takeeveryone who was still alive to Srebrenitsa. I was held hostage there 56days. We bandaged each other because there was no medical aid. Theshrapnel exited my wounds themselves... They were small fragments. Iforgot how to read and write during those days..."

"How old were you?" I asked.

"Nine. That's why I was one of the first people traded for the deadMudzhakheddin soldiers or elder Muslims. I'm sorry..." he said. "I try notto come here anymore... Can we go?"

We still had time before our bus back to Belgrade. I decided to visit thememorial to the Serbs who had died in these areas two rooms on acentral street in the town of Bratunats. There are several thousandportraits there, printed off a computer in neat frames. The ages of thevictims were very different. Only their dates of death were the same 1992 or 1993. In this pleasant, household memorial, it was somehowintolerably cold, even though autumn in the Balkans had only justbegun.

Dmitriy Stepshin 11.11.2008



7/12

Every evening at 5pm a group of demonstrators meets on

Republic Square in central Belgrade to protest "against the

occupation of Kosovo" by the European Union.

For these people, the apparently harmless transfer of power from

one international administration (the United Nations, which has

governed Kosovo since 1999) to another (the EU) - a transfer

which is supposed to take place formally in December, but which

is already being implemented as EU personnel are even now

being deployed to the province - is in fact a matter of principle. The

EU treats Kosovo as an independent state, whereas the UN

administration is based on a Security Council Resolution which

proclaims it to be part of Serbia.

The nightly demonstrations are notable for two things. First, the

turnout is very low - perhaps twenty or thirty people in a city ofnearly two million. The Western-backed destruction of Yugoslavia

has been going on for sixteen long years now (since 1992) and

most Serbs are now so exhausted and demoralised by it that they

are incapable of offering any further resistance. Second, the

demonstrators carry Russian flags and sing the Russian national

anthem. Vladimir Putin is said to be the most popular politician in

Serbia, and Russia generally is regarded now (by anti-EU Serbs at

least) as their only remaining hope.

However understandable, this hope is shortly to be dashed. Ever

since the violent overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic on 5 October

2000, Serbia has had an uninterrupted line of pro-Westerngovernments and presidents. This pro-Western orientation has

brought Serbia only further sales of the country's economic assets

to foreigners, and the further stripping of territory from Belgrade's

control. In 2006, Montenegro proclaimed its independence from

democratic Serbia, only to be followed by Kosovo this February.

Both acts were encouraged by the West. Serbia is therefore

damned if she opposes the West (as she did from 1990 to 2000

under Milosevic) and damned if she supports it (as she has done

did since 2000 under Prime Ministers Vojislav Kostunica and

Zoran Djindjic and the current president, Boris Tadic). No wonder

some Serbs look to Russia.Moreover, in order for the Western (EU and US) policy on Kosovo

to take effect, the existing United Nations Administration in Kosovo

must be dissolved. This can happen only with a vote in the

Security Council and therefore only with Moscow's consent.

Moscow has said that it will not agree to anything which Belgrade

opposes, and Belgrade does indeed currently oppose both the

independence of Kosovo and the transfer of authority to the EU.

However, people who are in the know in Belgrade - including those

who have exercised the highest offices of state - are certain that the

present government's public opposition to the transfer of power from

the United Nations Mission in Kosovo to EULEX (the acronymgiven to the EU administration), and indeed to the independence of

Kosovo itself, is merely cosmetic. The present Foreign Minister of

Serbia, Vuk Jeremi, said recently in a private meeting with the US

State Department officials responsible for Kosovo that his

government's only problem was how to find a way of sugaring the

bitter bill of Kosovo independence in such a way that Serbian public

opinion could be convinced to swallow it.

The Belgrade government has indeed inched towards an

acceptance of EULEX and therefore of the independence of

Kosovo. It has said that it will accept EULEX on three conditions - if

it is approved by the United Nations Security Council; if it is neutraltowards the status of Kosovo; and if it does not implement the

Ahtisaari plan for (internationally supervised) Kosovo

independence. Although it is difficult to see how these last two

conditions can ever be met (the EU mission is inseparable from the

change in status, otherwise there would be no need to install it in

place of the current UN administration), it is obvious from his acts

that President Boris Tadic is prepared to pay any price for Serbia's

entry ticket to the EU. Serbia's appeal to the International Court of

Justice for an advisory ruling on Kosovo (whose independence has

been recognised by less than one third of the member states of the

UN), an appeal which was successfully accepted at the beginningof this month, is likely to lead to an ambiguous judgement which is

any case will be non-binding and which will probably be overtaken

by events in the meantime.

Some sort of fudge - of the sort which the European Union is

already a world expert at concocting-will therefore be produced

between now and December to square the circle between

Belgrade's declared opposition to Kosovo independence and its de

facto acceptance of it. Such a fudge is certainly very dangerous for

the province itself, since government and policing cannot function

without very clear lines of authority - as an UNMIK policeman said

to me last week, "How can you arrest someone if you do not have

the clear right to do so?" Crime and corruption, already rampant in

Kosovo, will only prosper even more so. But if Moscow currently

does hold the key to Kosovo in virtue of its veto in the Security

Council, and if Russia therefore represents a beacon of hope for

patriotic Serbs, there is little she can do with this power if Belgrade

itself is determined to throw it away.

John Laughland is a British historian and political scientist, Director

of Studies at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris.

RIA Novosti, 28/ 10/ 2008


RUSSIA, SERBIA AND TRUSSIA, SERBIA AND TRUSSIA, SERBIA AND THE KOSOVO PROBLEMHE KOSOVO PROBLEMHE KOSOVO PROBLEM


8/12

Four months after Serbia swore in a pro-Europe government in a moveaway from its nationalist past, the Serbian Orthodox Church is decidingwhether to stick to its hardline course or become more moderate.

The new face of a church that has long defined Serbs' national identitywill emerge after elders decide at a meeting on Tuesday whether toaccept the resignation of ailing 94-year-old Patriarch Pavle and choosea successor.

If his resignation is accepted, a new patriarch will be chosen some timein the next three months.

"Now Serbia is after war, after bombing, now Serbia is a very normaldemocratic country and everything has changed in this country -- onlynot the church," said Zivica Tucic, the Belgrade-based editor of anindependent publication on the church. "It was not possible with the oldpatriarch."

Patriarch Pavle was elected to the church's top

position in 1990 during the dying days of Yugoslavia.He presided as Serbs warred with neighboursduring the 1990s in Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia andKosovo, with his priests often blessing soldiersheading to battle those from other religions.

Patriarch Pavle was the one who gave late Serbianleader Slobodan Milosevic the green light tonegotiate an end to the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict onbehalf of all Serbs.

Serbs, Croats and Bosnia's Muslims are divided bytheir religion - Croats are mainly Catholic and Serbsare predominantly Orthodox.

With the Balkan nations still sorting out their place inthe world, religion has a big influence.

"The Serbian Orthodox Church still plays a majorrole in Serbian society," said Paul Mojzes, author ofYugoslavian Inferno: Ethnoreligious Warfare in theBalkans.

He said the Church was likely to remain "highlyvisible" as long as Kosovo, which declaredindependence from Serbia on February 17, remained an issue andquestions remained about the future of the Bosnian Serb half of Bosnia.

TTTHREATHREATHREATTOTOTOSTABILITYSTABILITYSTABILITY???

These issues could still threaten peace in the Balkans at a time when

Serbia needs stability to attract foreign investment and eventually jointhe European Union.

EU accession is a goal of the coalition government sworn in on July 7after an election in which the pro-EU Democratic Party emerged as thelargest party, suggesting voters want Serbia to take its place in theEuropean mainstream.

Pavle stepped aside from running the Church earlier this year andnationalist Metropolitan Amfilohije Radovic became acting head.

"If the Metropolitan of Montenegro, Amfilohije, becomes patriarch, thechurch remains on the same hardline nationalistic course," said

Vjekoslav Perica, author of "Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism inYugoslav States."

"If he loses, the new Serbia as shown in the last elections becomes

more likely. However, the Church will not change its line regardingKosovo."

Kosovo is the cradle of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbiannation.

Its independence has been recognised by the United States and othercountries. But Serbia and historically Orthodox Russia and Greece areamong those that refuse to recognise Kosovo, where more than 90% ofpeople are ethnic Albanians.

"Serbia's whole history is there, it is its spiritual centre," Amfilohije toldReuters in an interview last month.

The Orthodox bishop in Kosovo has ordered his priests not to talk toAlbanian and international officials there for fear

that this might suggest they recognise Kosovo'sindependence.

Mojzes expects the new patriarch will be able toinfluence Serbia's Kosovo policy.

"If a hardliner becomes patriarch, then it (policy) willremain very confrontational," he said.

A more moderate candidate, he said, could shift thefocus on to expanding the civil and religiousliberties of Serbs who live in Kosovo.

OOOTHERTHERTHERCANDIDATESCANDIDATESCANDIDATES

Several others, including Metropolitan Nikolaj Mrdjain Bosnia, are seen as candidates.

"Several possible successors could lead theSerbian Orthodox Church into a much more rigidposture," said Mojzes, a Protestant US scholar whogrew up in Yugoslavia.

"This would likely be the case if MetropolitanAmfilohije ... were to be elected or a much moresophisticated, gentler posture if someone like

Bishop Irinej Bulovic of Backa were to be elected."

Amfilohije, who estimates worldwide Serbian Orthodox membership at9 to 10 million, denied the Church could have done more to avert thespread of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

"During these war circumstances, including during the First and Second

World Wars, the Church was also focused on tending to the suffering ofthe soul," he told Reuters at his headquarters in Cetinje, Montenegro.

"It does not support military activities but it helps people who aresuffering."

Whoever becomes patriarch, change is unlikely to be fast.

"I don't expect straightforward changes in church policy," said RadmilaRadic, a biographer of Patriarch Pavle. "The Church is a conservative,slow-changing institution.

Reuters, Nov 9, 2008


SERBIAN CHURCH AT ASERBIAN CHURCH AT ASERBIAN CHURCH AT A CROSSROADSCROSSROADSCROSSROADS

The Patriarchate of the SerbianOrthodox Church


9/12

Beta reports that the Assembly did not take a vote on this issue,deciding instead that the ailing 94-year-old will remain at thehelm of the Church until his death.

Some of Pavle's duties will be transferred to the Montenegrinand Lateral SPC Metropolitan Amfilohije, it was decided inBelgrade on Tuesday the news agency reported, adding that hehas been given "somewhat broader powers than before".

The Assembly also failed to change the procedures for theselection of the patriarch.

Unofficial information says that the regular May 2009 session ofthe Holy Synod will adopt changes to that process, and the SPC

Constitution.

The Assembly will continue its meeting on Wednesday.

However, officially, it has still not been confirmed whether thishighest SPC body even decided to include the patriarch'srequest into the agenda of the session.

Earlier today, reports said that should the bishops at the Synodaccept Pavle's plea, a new patriarch would be chosen, and onemethod that has been touted for doing so would be a randomdraw of the name of one of the three candidates who receive themost votes from their fellow bishops.

The most serious contenders, according to the Belgrade press,were Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro, Bishop of Ni Irinej,Bishop of ia Hrizostom, Bishop Grigorije of Zahumska-Hercegovina and Bishop Ignatije of Branievo.

A liturgy led by Amfilohije and attended by all 46 bishops, washeld this morning at Belgrade Cathedral to mark the opening ofthe SPC ordinary session. The Synod is taking place in thepatriarchal chapel of St. Simeon Mirotoivi in Belgrade.

Since the news of the patriarchs plea came out in public, anatmosphere of complete uncertainty has reigned not only inpublic, but among church officials too.

Bishop Irinej of Ni said that although under the SPCconstitution the patriarch kept the position until his death, thesame principle could be applied as the one applying to bishops.

The election of bishops is for life, but it can be overturnedeither through canonic guilt or through proof of inability toperform ones duties, or through personal choice to resign andreceive a pension, Irenej explained.

So, thats how it works for bishops, but it can also be applied tothe patriarch, as the patriarch is only the first among equals, headded.

11 November 2008, B92, Beta


PAVLE REMAINS SERBIAPAVLE REMAINS SERBIAPAVLE REMAINS SERBIAN PATRIARCHN PATRIARCHN PATRIARCH

Patriarch Pavle

Belgrade -- Sociologist Mirkoorevisays that the Serbian Orthodox Church(SPC) Synod has never denied its ties to extremist groups such as Obraz.

As the SPC waits to select a new patriarch,orevi told daily Danas thatSPC hard-liners were using para-church formations such as the extremist

Right-wing organization Obraz to exertpressure on reformers, following Obrazs callfor a prayer walk for the dignity of theSerbian patriarch.

According to a statement from theorganization, the prayer walk is for thecleanliness of the Orthodox faith, the respectfor century-old tradition and the unity of theSaint Sava church.This is the second public move by Obrazahead of the SPC assembly, which beginstoday and should end with changes within

the ranks of the churchs senior clergy.Some 50 Obraz members interrupted a liturgy in Smederevo on Sunday,calling the priests leading the service heretics, zealots and Catholicsamong other things.

A similar protest took place on October 19 in the village of Jasenak.It is hard to believe that Obraz members could get away with interruptingchurch services while calling for a walk for the dignity of the patriarch at thesame time if they were not being supported by someone from within theSPC.Obraz Secretary General Milan Obradovi confirmed to Danas that theorganization enjoyed the support of certain SPC clergy, though he did notname any names.orevi warned that there was a strong connection between the extremeRight wing and a section of the SPC, but that it was not official and wasbeing kept under wraps.If the Synod publicly denied its links to Obraz, it would remove anysuspicion that it supported the organization. This way, there is a lot ofsuspicion that Obraz has ties to the harder-line SPC officials who opposereforms, he said.It is symptomatic that these people are making public statements moreregularly, which clearly demonstrates that these groups are spearheadingthe pressure on others ahead of the Synod opening, orevisaid

11 November 2008, Danas

DAILY INVESTIGATES TDAILY INVESTIGATES TDAILY INVESTIGATES TIES BETWEEN SPC, EXTREMIST GROUPSIES BETWEEN SPC, EXTREMIST GROUPSIES BETWEEN SPC, EXTREMIST GROUPS

Mirko orevi


10/12

BRUSSELS - Kosovo is plagued by corruption and organisedcrime and it has little will to fight the problem, the EuropeanCommission said Wednesday in its first progress report since

the region broke away from Serbia."Corruption is still widespread and remains a major problem inKosovo," said the report.

"This is due to insufficient legislative and implementingmeasures and a lack of determination and the weakness of the

judicial system," it said.

The report, the first by the EU's executive body since Kosovodeclared independence in February, said its ethnic Albanianleaders had no strategy to fight organised crime.

"The determination and capacity required to effectively tackleorganised crime is lacking," it said.

"The police tend to focus on maintaining order rather than onorganised crime."

The justice system lacked the capacity to tackle crimes such ashuman trafficking, while prosecutors and judges were workingunder such bad pay and conditions that they were no longermotivated, it added.

On drug trafficking it said simply: "There has been no progress to report.".

It also drew attention to what it called a parallel governmentsystem run by ethnic Serbs that hampered the Kosovogovernment from exercising authority in many Serb-dominated

areas."In some Serb-majority areas the government has limitedauthority over the police, the courts, customs, transport,boundaries and Serbian patrimony," it said.

A persistent lack of coordination between ministries, the failureto follow the relevant legal procedures, and weak governance ofstate enterprises were still stunting economic environment, itadded.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, after

NATO launched an aerial bombing campaign against formerSerbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic's forces to stop theethnic cleansing of Albanian separatists.

Kosovo, almost half of whose population live in poverty and

where the unemployment rate is more than 40 percent, declaredindependence from Serbia on February 17, a move that mostbut not all EU nations have recognised.

Serbia and its UN veto-wielding ally Russia vehemently opposedindependence. 05 November 2008


KOSOVO LACKS WILL TO FIGHT CRIME, CORRUPKOSOVO LACKS WILL TO FIGHT CRIME, CORRUPKOSOVO LACKS WILL TO FIGHT CRIME, CORRUPTION: EU REPORTTION: EU REPORTTION: EU REPORT

BELGRADE/TIRANA Serbia said on Wednesday it will askthe Council of Europe to persuade Albania to agree to aninvestigation into allegations of trafficking of human organs takenfrom Kosovo Serbs during the 1999 conflict.

Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic saidAlbania's Prosecutor General Ina Rama had rejected a requestto allow an investigation into the allegations made by formerU.N. war crimes prosecutor despite evidence presented onMonday.

'We are going to address the issue to the Council of Europe,'said Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimesprosecutor. 'We'll present them with all the evidence we have.'

Vukcevic had planned on Monday to visit a house in northern

Albania believed to be a makeshift clinic but Albanian authoritiesdenied him access, an Albanian judiciary source said. Serbiasays it has evidence suggesting mass graves in the area.

Albanian prosecutors said in a statement that the issue had

already been investigated by local authorities as well as by aninvestigator of the United Nations war crimes tribunal.'The allegations did not prove to be true,' it said.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha also rejected comments,attributed to Vukcevic, that he had asked the secret service 'todestroy important documents under the influence of RamushHaradinaj', a former Kosovo guerrilla leader who later become aKosovo prime minister.'This is a concoction of a sick and hallucinatory imagination, afantasy of fiction,' his office told Reuters.

BELLINZONA, Switzerland: Switzerland's Federal Criminal

Court has sentenced Ragip Shabani of Kosovo to 15 years inprison for operating one of Europe's largest heroin selling rings.

The court has sentenced his brother Kemal Shabani to asuspended two-year term. He will only have to go to jail if hecommits another crime during the next three years. A thirddefendant, Tariq Shabani, the 69-year-old father of the twomen, was acquitted Thursday.

The two men were convicted of using their base in the

southeast European country to import 1.5 metric tons (1.65 UStons) of heroin from Turkey for sale elsewhere.

Police in Kosovo, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France,Slovenia and Hungary confiscated 970 kilograms of heroin inthe case.

The Associated Press, October 30, 2008

SSSWISSWISSWISSCOURTCOURTCOURTCONVICTSCONVICTSCONVICTS 222 FORFORFORHEROINHEROINHEROINSMUGGLINGSMUGGLINGSMUGGLING

SERBIA SEEKS EUROPESERBIA SEEKS EUROPESERBIA SEEKS EUROPE HELP IN ALBANIA ORGANS PROBEHELP IN ALBANIA ORGANS PROBEHELP IN ALBANIA ORGANS PROBE


11/12

Former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte wrote in abook entitled 'The Hunt' that her team had investigated reportsthat around 300 Serbians held in Albania had had organsremoved, apparently for trafficking. Albanian Prime Minister SaliBerisha had dismissed Del Ponte's charges as fiction.

In 2004, U.N. investigators searched a house belonging to anAlbanian family for evidence that ethnic Albanian guerrillas inKosovo had removed body organs from Serbs seized duringNATO's 1999 air campaign against Serbia to stop ethnic killings.

The investigators had found blood stains, a gauze in thegarbage area and syringes they dug out from an area near theriver flowing below the meadow.

They returned the next day with axes to open graves in a localcemetery but villagers protested they were the graves of their

dead and stopped them from exhuming them. An Albanianprosecutor also took the villagers' side.

Ivana Sekularac and Benet Koleka, REUTERS, October 29, 2008


The police in Serbias separatist province of Kosovo isseeking to arrest the third doctor in connection with organextraction.

We are continuing the investigation of a Turkish doctorYoussef Ercin Sonmez who performed illegal organ

transplants in Kosovo, said chief of police Veton Elhani.

Two Kosovo Albanian doctors, Tuna Pervorfaj and LutviDervisi, have already been arrested after an unnamedwitness identified Kosovo Albanian doctor Dervisi as aman that was seen in places where Kosovo Albanianseparatists were extracting organs out of Kosovo Serbcivilians that they kidnapped.

The witness gave testimony to the Serbian war crimesprosecutor that he saw doctor Lutvi Dervisi in placeswhere organs of the kidnapped civilians were taken out,

reports a source.Former prosecutor for war crimes atthe Hague court, Carla del Pontewrote in her book that she wasinvestigating organ trade ran by theKosovo Albanian separatist leaderswho engaged in abduction of KosovoSerb civilians, killing them then takingorgans from their bodies so they cansell them.

Some of the killings were done in Albania

in the village of Burelj.The Albanian government has refused toconduct the investigation claiming thatSerbian prosecutor, who presented the Albanian prosecutor withthis evidence, fantasizes and is a liar.

As a result of the testimony by the unnamed witness, doctor Dervisiwas found on November 3 in Kosovo capital where the policeuncovered an illegal organ transplant clinic called Medikus.

The arrested doctors were also doctors for the Clinicalcenter in Pristina controlled by the separatist government.

Medikus was licensed on June 2, 2008 that approvesorgan transplants and that license was signed by a so-called secretary of the Albanian separatist ministry of

health, Ilir Recaj.

However, the Chief investigator in this case, Zef Komani,says that Medikus has a medical license but thattransplantation of organs, that is illegal.

The license itself has no protocol number and the datesare inconsistent.

Separatist minister of health Aljusa Gasi says thatregulations prohibits specific medical practices such astransplants.

We expect new arrests, said Elhani.

The Turkish doctor Sonmezthat is being sought out hasalready been arrested 6times in Turkey for similarviolations.

Sonmez was arrested lasttime in 2007 when the Turkishpolice found him in a hospitalwith 4 kidney donors and 4patients paying for the organtransplant.

You could call me dr.Frankenstein, recentlysaid Sonmez to the

separatist daily Express.

Kosovo is a serbian province that has illegally declaredindependence and US has recognized it claiming it islegal.

November 6, 2008, SERBIANNA

Yellow House in Albania described by witnesses as aplace where kidnapped Serbs were dismembered and

their organs taken out for sale.

MORE ARRESTS OVER KOMORE ARRESTS OVER KOMORE ARRESTS OVER KOSOVO ORGAN TRAFFICSOVO ORGAN TRAFFICSOVO ORGAN TRAFFIC


12/12

When Kosovo won its independence from Serbia aftersome nine years of United Nations tutoring, there wasconfidence that the Kosovars would be able to govern

themselves effectively. So far this is not happening, as ahandful of political "dons" battle each other for power andthe government struggles to stand up new institutions andgain wider international recognition.The first nationalelection brought topower a coalition led byformer freedom fighterHashim Thaci and sawthe rise of other newpolitical leaders at theexpense of the followersof Ibrihim Rugova, thedeceased leader of thei n d e p e n d e n c emovement.It should have usheredin a pe r i od o f blossoming nationalp r i d e , e c o n o m i cprogress and international acceptance. Instead thepoverty-stricken economy remains stagnant, recognition bythe international community is stalled and the political elitesseem more interested in game playing than in the future oftheir country. Slowly the people are losing confidence in

their government and in democracy itself.All politics is personal in Kosovo with political parties beinglittle more than vehicles to promote the narrow personalinterests of their leaders. The result is a self-defeatingHobbesian political war of "all against all." There are noGeorge Washingtons or Thomas Jeffersons in the newKosovo state. There are only self-absorbed power addictsendlessly maneuvering for positions of personal leverageand influence who too often are manipulated by foreigninterests and governments.Take the case of Veton Surroi, the well-educated andcosmopolitan son of a former Yugoslav diplomat who

played an important role in the drawn-out negotiations thatled to Kosovo's independence. Many thought Mr. Surroiwould be the new government's foreign minister. It was notto be and probably should never be.When Mr. Surroi's party did poorly in the election heimpulsively announced his "withdrawal" from political life

and abandoned the party he had founded. This onlyreinforced the impression that Mr. Surroi is not a seriousperson, more of a dilettante than a man dedicated to the

future of his country. It is said that Mr. Surroi at best is apoor loser who is not tough enough for Kosovo's rough andtumble political world, much less for dealing effectively withthe international community.

For now, Mr. Surroi sitscomfortably on thes ide l ines second-g u e s s i n g t h egovernment in hisnewspaper financiallysupported by foreigninterests and though hiselite Foreign PolicyClub.More worrisome areopen questions aboutthe sources of Mr.Surroi's considerablewealth and relationshipswith certain foreign

interests. How much control and influence does Mr.Surroi's financial benefactor, the political activist andmultibillionaire George Soros, have over him? And why isthe shadowy Bilderberg Group of old foreign policy lionsfrom the United States and Europe apparently assisting

him with access to their network and trying to prepare himfor bigger things?Complicating matters further, what is the explanation forthe $40 million Mr. Surroi claimed as his personal wealth inthe 2004 assembly election that two years later he saidplummeted to $3 million? Is this why the U.S. Embassy hasmade no secret that it does not like Mr. Surroi and has attimes worked against him?In Kosovo there are too many stories about aspiringleaders like Veton Surroi who talk big but act small. Thisdoes not augur well for the long-suffering people ofKosovo.

Samuel Hoskinson is a former president of the Alliance fora New Kosovo, an American group that actively promoted

independence for Kosovo.Samuel Hoskinson, November 2, 2008


KOSOVO AGAIN IN PERIKOSOVO AGAIN IN PERIKOSOVO AGAIN IN PERIL?L?L?

NATO: USNATO: USNATO: US WILLWILLWILLREMAINREMAINREMAINCOMMITTEDCOMMITTEDCOMMITTEDTOTOTOTHETHETHEALLIANCEALLIANCEALLIANCE

SLATINA, Kosovo: NATO's leader says he believes the next U.S. president willmaintain Washington's commitment to the alliance.NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says Republican John McCain andDemocrat Barack Obama are both "fully committed to NATO and its operations" innations such as Afghanistan and Kosovo.Scheffer spoke at Kosovo's Slatina airport after meeting with local and international

officials in the capital, Pristina. He led a delegation of NATO's governing body, the NorthAtlantic Council.Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February with the support of the UnitedStates and most EU nations.NATO has 16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo in charge of its security. More than 1,000 ofthem are U.S. soldiers based in southern Kosovo.

The Associated Press, November 4, 2008

The Herald of Kosovo and Metohija _Special issue

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