War Criminal Fall Guys* Arrested from Kosovo's "Security Forces"; and: "Serbian Myth" of Greater Albania Becomes Reality |
Two Kosovo Albanian security officers held over war crimes (Reuters, Nov. 15) The European Union police and justice mission in Kosovo (EULEX) arrested three ethnic Albanians, two of them officers in a NATO-trained security force, on Thursday on suspicion of war crimes. During and after the war there were many political killings of Kosovo Albanians by their own kin, sometimes over allegations of collaboration with Serbian authorities. [Notice the casual, fluid way that's inserted. As if the press knew it all along — and as if they let us know about it — begging the question how it was so easy for Washington to get Kosovo from one undeserved stage of statehood to the next.] The suspects were once KLA fighters, Krasniqi said. Two are now members of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), trained by NATO. The 2,500-strong KSF is lightly armed and its main tasks are crisis response, civil protection and ordnance disposal. Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008, expects to transform KSF into its own army in the future but no dates have been set. […] (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Mark Heinrich) Yes, the KLA-turned-KPC-turned-KSF is just a "lightly armed" disaster-response civilian-helper organization staffed by the most violent men this side of Hell. At least there was a subtle after-mention that it "expects" to transform into an army — oh but this is all abstract as "no dates have been set." Never mind that an army is exactly what the agreement we signed in 1999 said Kosovo couldn't have. In addition to that omitted factoid, the reporters — a Serb and his ethnic German and Albanian Reich overseers — conveniently fail to mention that the plan isn't so abstract, and the KSF not so lightly armed — anymore. Recall Russia's solitary outrage when Bush shipped arms for the KPC: U.S. arming 'former terrorists' in Kosovo, Russia says (March 20, 2008) Moscow will meet NATO to discuss Washington's authorization for arms supplies to Kosovo…. By supplying weapons to Kosovo's government, the United States was arming "former terrorists" and the move could stoke violence in the region, Tass quoted Russia's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin as saying. U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday authorized arms supplies to Kosovo, saying it would "strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace", according to a document on the White House Web site. "They [Washington] say the weapons will help fight terrorism. At the same time, it is namely former terrorists who are in power in Kosovo right now," Itar-Tass quoted Rogozin as saying in Brussels. "How can you fight terrorism, supplying weapons to former terrorists?" "Any other [arms] supplies are illegitimate." Kosovo's ethnic Serbs, who want to remain part of Serbia, clashed this week with U.N. and NATO security forces… [Look how the MSM used to know that Kosovo Serbs wanted to remain part of Serbia, as opposed to the usual pretense we get from them about Serbs wanting to "secede" and "join" Serbia.] "I would hate to think that these arms supplies aim to coerce Serbs and other ethnic minorities by force to stay within the borders of an illegally proclaimed state," Lavrov said. "I don't believe this will add stability to the Balkans — probably, just the other way round." In an item a week later, from Russia's RIA Novosti but also published in Canada's Edmonton Journal, one learns that Bush armed the terrorists two days after Rice urged Moscow to be more cooperative: Supply of weapons will make peace impossible (By Tamara Zamyatina, March 31, 2008) …Bush issued this order two days after the Moscow visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who urged Moscow to promote co-operation, expand consultations and display more openness in general. The haste with which the Pentagon is trying to take the fledgling Kosovo under its wing demonstrates the West's lack of confidence that peace will come to the Balkans after Kosovo's [secession]. But the West was actively using this rhetoric — the need to put an end to the Yugoslav crisis — in order to justify its support for the Kosovo separatists. There can be no peace when one side is being equipped with weapons against the other. This means pouring more fuel on the fire. The Serbs have already got the message. In the city of Kosovska Mitrovica (in northern Kosovo), they desperately rushed to defend their last shelter — a courthouse. Previously, it was the venue of Serbian justice, but now it is occupied by international lawyers who will turn it over to their Albanian colleagues. Blood was spilled there during clashes with peacekeepers… One of the reasons behind Washington's decision to supply Kosovo with arms is its intention to keep Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo…. But the main goal is to give Kosovars carte blanche to suppress the protests in Serbian enclaves on Kosovo's entire territory. …Arms shipments to Kosovars are designed to legalize future Albanian efforts to oust the Serbian minority from the province. In other words, the Kosovars are given a chance to complete what they have started — drive non-Albanians out of the province, but with their own hands so as not to cast a shadow on the NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers, not to mention the United States. …[I]nitially Washington will supply Kosovo with small arms and armoured vehicles without heavy equipment. Subsequently the Albanians will be trained for air force and tank units. […] Next stage of the evolution: Kosovo's new armed forces take control of security (Jan. 21, 2009) Kosovo armed forces took over security duties on Wednesday, less than a year after the territory declared independence and in the face of strong protests from Serbia. The Kosovo Security Force replaces a 3,000-strong civilian emergency organization formed out of the disbanded ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought Serbia in a 1998-99 war. Serbia — which insists Kosovo remains a part of its territory — said it would file a protest with the United Nations against the new force, which it says is designed to intimidate the Serb minority in Kosovo. New commander Lt. Gen. Sylejman Selimi, a former rebel fighter, said the 2,500 lightly armed troops would fulfill security duties in Kosovo, but would remain under the supervision of NATO's 15,000 peacekeepers in charge of overall security. [The 15,000 that are now down to 6,000 and will eventually not be there at all.] [Ah, it's lovely to see the Allies and Axis working so nicely together. New motto for 21st Century America: If you can beat 'em, join 'em anyway.] And a BBC report on the arrest last week of the KLA/KSF men: EU police arrest ex-KLA fighters for Kosovo war crimes (Nov. 16)
Three former KLA rebel fighters have been arrested in Kosovo by EU police over war crimes committed against civilians in 1999. A spokesman for the EU's rule of law mission Eulex said two of the men were current members of the Nato-trained Kosovo Security Force (KSF). Its predecessor, the Kosovo Protection Corps, absorbed many former KLA fighters. That BBC item linked to a March 13, 2007 BBC article titled "Kosovo Cadets Forge Ahead." It was revealing, particularly about the onset of Greater Albania:
"The future starts here," reads the sign above the entrance to the academy, based in the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) training centre on a hill above the once Serbian-run city. Judging by the Albanian national flags around the site, the future at Pristina's two-year-old military academy is distinctly Albanian but the 23 cadets within are training for Kosovo, says Maj Valon Ahmeti, one of its officers. "We don't talk politics at the academy," says Capt Berat Shala, head of the academy. If the final status process is held up, theoretically the cadets will graduate as KPC lieutenants. Otherwise, they will serve in a Kosovo Security Force, planned to have up to 3,300 members under the UN final status plans. KSF tasks are defined as "crisis response, explosive ordinance disposal and civil protection", suggesting it too will function much like a National Guard. However, the atmosphere at the training centre, which occupies the former technical faculty of Pristina University, is decidedly martial. [Hmm.] [And, indeed, what is the National Guard doing at this moment? Shooting at Serbs.] Albanian double-headed black plaster eagles with red eyes decorate the perimeter while a mural of a KLA leader, Hamez Jashari, looks down on the staircase up to the academy. It has always been Blerand's dream to be an officer and serve his country, going to the very top "if I deserve it". Which neatly brings us to this week's news: 12-meter Albanian national flag raised over Pristina (FOCUS Information Agency, Nov. 20) On Monday, at 10 a.m., in accordance with the program for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Albania's independence, a 12-meter silk Albanian national flag was hoisted replacing the Kosovo national flag on a special pole at the main south gates of Pristina, Preportr informs. The national flags of Albania and Kosovo are raised side by side over governmental, public and private buildings, over streets and shops, decorating public transport vehicles, taxis and private automobiles. By decision of the Kosovo Assembly, November 28 - the national holiday of Albania and former Flag Day of Kosovo, was declared a non-business day in Kosovo.
Tirana conference on Kosovo's role in the foundation of the Albanian state (FOCUS, Nov. 20) At a conference organised by the Kosovo Embassy in Tirana, in the framework of the 100th anniversary of Albania's independence, PM Sali Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama praised the historical role of Kosovo in the foundation of the Albanian state, Albanian media report, as quoted by Preportr. In his speech delivered at the conference, Albanian PM Sali Berisha emphasised on the role of Kosovo in the history of the Albanian nation. "Without Kosovo the 100th anniversary celebrations would be incomplete. It is time to reveal the historical truths, because Albania's history has been manipulated and Kosovo extracted from it and prohibited", Berisha stated and stressed that "Kosovo's role in the foundation of the Albanian state and its follow up has been great. The Albanian national idea was born in Prizren and Kosovo became the cradle of the consolidation and development of the Albanian national ideal and effort. The Berlin Congress left a nation with a large geographical coverage in the Balkans without a state, but the national movements in Kosovo responded deservedly to the attitudes of The Porte and the Balkan monarchies", the Albanian PM concluded his emotional speech. The Chairman of the Socialist Party, Edi Rama, emphasised that today Kosovo and Albania have an opportunity to establish a national strategy that transcends borders, will serve to heal the wounds from the past and cope with the challenges that will follow from the unification of the two countries within the EU.
Unification "within the EU," of course, not being the only unification they mean when they say "unification." Recall this coded-language interference coming from the Albanian capital with regard to elections in Serbia: Berisha: Tirana to support legitimate requests of the Albanians in South Serbia (Macedonia Information Agency, April 2, 2008) Albanian PM Sali Berisha late Monday in Tirana encouraged the representatives of the political parties of the Albanians in South Serbia that they will have support from the Albanian government for their legitimate requests. Previously representatives of these parties discussed with Berisha the political situation in Serbia prior to early parliamentary elections in Serbia on May 11 and expressed need of respect of fundamental rights of the Albanians in Serbia. Prior to this, Albanian FM Ljuljzim Basha assessed Monday that Albanians from Presevo Valley should vote massively in elections in Serbia on May 11. […] And of course there's this from Nov. 16: INA: The Albanians in Macedonia have the right to Revolt Albanian news agency INA days ago published a special article, which called Albanians in Macedonia to revolution. Citing the American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, [writer Valbona Vardari] pays particular attention to his book "On civil disobedience." …Vardari believe[s] that Albanian people in Macedonia [are] "in a state of endless misery under colonial occupation in FYROM [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] and aggravated by political elites must take their fate into their own hands and stop in obedience to the government that is tyranny." "This resistance against colonialism, and the antialbanic terrorist state is vital for the realization of freedom, so everyone has to work against the slavonic Government, so finally there can be achieved decolonization, self-determination and the right to a referendum on the establishment of a single nation-state called Albania," the author writes. The material finally ends with a call - 'act and fight against the colonial slavonic-macedonic power for the freedom of your children.' A word last month on the reality of Greater Albania, from Serbia: "Greater Albania poses threat to all of Balkans" (Blic, Oct. 23) Serbia's Ambassador to France Dušan Bataković says that the Greater Albania project is seriously endangering the fragile stability in the Balkans. This diplomat, a historian by trade, noted that the term "Natural Albania" was but another name for "Greater Albania", and added: "For a number of years this project has had a significant support of Albanian elites in all the countries where Albanian live, and it is, as has been announced, gradually becoming a reality." "This process has advanced a long way, and it threatens our vital national interests in an essential manner, and seriously endangering the fragile stability in the Balkans," Bataković told the Belgrade-based tabloid Blic. As a historian, Bataković has been studying the Kosovo problem for decades, to recently publish a book on the subject entitled, "Serbia's Kosovo drama: A historical perspective". In it, he points out to the neglected aspects of the Serb-Albanian relations from the era of the Yugoslav Communist dictator Josip Broz Tito, and the roots of the conflicts after 1945, especially the methods used to drive Serbs and other non-Albanian ethnic groups out of Kosovo. "There was a scientific need for a comprehensive study to take into account the whole Kosovo drama, and especially its dominant, Serb dimension, as opposed to books published in English based on a one-sided concept, which treat the one thousand years of history of Old Serbia's central region as exclusively a part of the Albanian question," he told the newspaper. Bataković also stressed that it was "a great ideological misconception that the Kosovo legend was our grand illusion", and added that as a nation, we are at this point undergoing "a great identity crisis, shaken at the foundations by the negative aspects of Yugoslavism and Titoism". "A return to the tried-and-tested values offered by our heritage, aerated by modern sensibilities, is a big task ahead of our elites," the ambassador concluded. "Our grand illusion" is a reference to the constant depictions by media and governments of it being a figment of subjective Serb thinking that Kosovo is the Serbs' birthplace. Until the West decided it could detach land from one country and gift it to a third party, references to Kosovo as the "Serbian Jerusalem" were not attributed by media, historians, or American politicians to Serbs, but were stated as historical, contextualizing fact. Finally, no Islamic pretensions on land or dominance in the Balkans would be complete without Turkey stepping in to help make it happen: Turkey Pledges Military Aid For Kosovo (Balkan Insight, Sept. 20) A senior Turkish General on a visit to Kosovo said Ankara will help strengthen the capacities of the Kosovo Security Forces, the KSF. A senior Turkish General on a visit to Kosovo said Ankara will help strengthen the capacities of the Kosovo Security Forces, the KSF. Turkey has pledged to help Kosovo raise its military capacity, by aiding the Kosovo Security Forces, KSF, to reach its full operational potential. The Commander of Turkish Ground Forces, General Hayri Kivrikoglu, who is visiting Kosovo, conveyed the message to the KSF Commander, General Kadri Kastrati. On Wednesday he went to visit the teaching facilities of the KSF in Ferizaj [Serbian Urosevac]. In a statement after visiting KSF headquarters and the teaching facilities on Wednesday, General Hivrikoglu was quoted as saying that "the Turkish Army will support the further development of Kosovo's Security Forces". Turkey has recently increased its economic presence in Kosovo, investing in a wide range of concerns. Turkish companies have bought the power distribution company and the country's only airport and are currently building the highway from Kosovo to Albania. [Name suggestion: Highway to Hell] Turks are also present in the banking sector. A Turkish firm has also pre-qualified, along with four other companies, to buy 75 per cent of the shares of Kosovo's state owned post and telecom company, PTK. By the end of the year, Kosovo expects to hear from the North Atlantic Council whether its security forces have reached their full operational potential. After that decision, parliament will have to debate the mandate of the force, and whether it wants to transform the security forces into a conventional army. [Ah, there it is: As with all things West-vs.-Serbia, the original, limited, agreed-to-or-bullied-into mandates become open to interpretation and evolution.] NATO's Kosovo Force, KFOR, has supported the creation of KSF, which replaced the former Kosovo Protection Corps, KPC. The territory's first quasi-military body was set up after the end of the 1998-99 war between ethnic Albanians and the Serbian police and military, and overwhelmingly comprised ethnic Albanian war veterans. One is reminded that in 1999 Turkey likewise threatened military intervention on Albanians' behalf, if the West didn't do it. And so, following the tried and failed logic of, "So that they don't turn to the Muslims, let's do Islamic bidding in place of the Muslims," NATO implemented Turkey's intervention. The motto again: If you can't stop 'em from doing what they're doing — or even if you can — just do it for them. An even more audacious Turkish item was this overlooked Serbian-language bit from May, when PM Erdogan visited Kosovo capital Pristina: Erdogan: Turkey Will Give Military Help to Albanian Brethren in Kosovo (New Serbian Political Thought, May 7, 2012) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would help the Albanian brethren, even militarily, if necessary, and said that Albanians have the right to self-determination and the establishment of the State Council, wrote today [Albanian newspaper] Bota Sot…He said that it is possible disintegration of Macedonia unless they were respected the rights of Albanians. That's tantamount to saying either that "we will invade Serbia again," and/or that Macedonia and Greece are next. The reader sending me the item above reminded: The creation of Albania was Turkey's only victory from the series of liberation wars fought against them by the Balkans people — that too was thanks to foreign help…There's one big mistake the Orthodox nation in Balkans made: they gave in to Western pressure, and decided not to proceed with the plan to drive Turks from Europe ENTIRELY, and liberate Greek-inhabited areas of Asia Minor. They were certainly able at the time — it's a well known fact that the Turks would have stood no chance, if it weren't for the French (the Serbs, during the First Uprising, were faced with Napoleon's artillery), and later the English (who twisted the arms of Balkans nations, and talked them out of taking Constantinople). Now it's too late. The enemy is again at the gates. But this enemy is nothing compared to the danger the West poses. After all, no problem is unsolvable until America (led by interest of the few) decided to step in, and "fix" things. ======= * The reason I call them fall guys is that the entire Kosovo political and military establishment is composed of war criminals. Some are just more protected than others, and when a sacrifice is needed for the appearance of balance between how Serbs and Albanians are treated by the internationals, a few are plucked out. ******UPDATE******* I came across this article by Professor Michel Chossudovsky from 2000, which relates to the KPC phenomenon and Washington's nefarious support of it: The United Nations Contributed to the Establishment of a Mafia-State in Kosovo (June 10, 2000) The United Nations in a recent report submitted to Secretary General Kofi Annan now concedes that the Kosovo Protection Force (KPC) (inaugurated under UN auspices in September 1999) has been involved in "criminal activities-killings, ill-treatment/torture, illegal policing, abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of political neutrality and hate speech"1. And in a cruel irony, "the United Nations is paying the salaries of many of the gangsters."2 The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) –known for its connections to organized crime and the Balkans narcotics traffic was officially dissolved and transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) modelled on the US National Guard. Funded by US military aid, the KPC is trained by Military Professional Resources Inc (MPRI), a mercenary outfit based in Alexandria, Virginia. The KPC was slated by the United Nations to become –in the words of UNMIK Special Representative Bernard Kouchner [now France's Minister of Foreign Affairs] "a civilian, disciplined, uniformed and multi-ethnic emergency response… with a mandate to "providing humanitarian assistance… and contributing to rebuilding infrastructure and communities…."3 Shift in military labels. KLA Commander Agim Ceku was appointed Chief of Staff of Kosovo's newly created Armed Forces. In the words of Bernard Kouchner during the inauguration ceremony: I look to him [Agim Ceku] to lead the new members of the Corps in the footsteps of Cincinnatus, the model citizen-soldier of ancient Rome — who left his plow standing in the field to answer the call to arms and at the end of the war refused all honors in order to return to his civic duties.4 Barely a few weeks later, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced it was "investigating Ceku for alleged war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between 1993 and 1995." 5 The information, however, was known to military and intelligence analysts well in advance of Ceku's appointment. It had been withheld from public opinion by the ICTY during the mandate of Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour. Jane Defence Weekly (10 May 1999) had confirmed that Ceku had "masterminded the successful HV [Croatian] offensive at Medak [in 1993] and in 1995 was one of the key planners of the successful Operation 'Storm ". United Nations Special Representative Dr. Bernard Kouchner (who is a 1999 Nobel Peace Laureate for his role as co-founder of Doctors without Borders) must have known. The UN and NATO had access to the files of the ICTY. The Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor knew and had the responsibility under the statutes of the ICTY of reporting the matter to the UN Secretary General. In a cruel irony, the United Nations had casually proceeded with the appointment of an individual who according to the files of a United Nations body (namely the ICTY) was an alleged war criminal. Surely some questions should have been asked. When the information was released barely a few weeks after Ceku's appointment: "a diplomat close to Bernard Kouchner the UN special representative [declared] "If we lose him {Agim Ceku] it will be a disaster," … "When you get to the second level of the TMK [Kosovo Protection Corps], you're down to a bunch of local thugs."… 6 "American diplomats… have suggested any indictment of Ceku would most likely be "sealed" and thereby kept out of the public domain… "[T]he NATO-led peacekeeping force, could not contemplate a public relations disaster with the Albanians by arresting Ceku".7 According to the Sunday Times (London), "[t]he possibility that Ceku, a respected figure in Kosovo, could be accused of war crimes, [had] sent shivers through the international community… "8. Meanwhile, the ICTY had reassured public opinion that the "[T]he court's inquiries … relate[d] to atrocities committed in Krajina, … between 1993 and 1995″… Ceku's record in Kosovo itself is not thought to be in question, although the office of Carla del Ponte, the new chief prosecutor, said an investigation into his activities with the KLA could not be ruled out…"9 While calling for the installation of democracy based on "transparency" and "good governance", the US and its allies have installed in Kosovo a self proclaimed civilian paramilitary government with links to organised crime. The outcome is the outright "criminalisation" of State institutions in Kosovo and the establishment of what is best described as a "Mafia State". The complicity of NATO and the Alliance governments (namely their relentless support to the KLA provisional government) points to the de facto "criminalisation" of KFOR and of the UN peace-keeping apparatus in Kosovo. The donor agencies, the United Nations and Western governments in providing financial support to the KPC are, in this regard, also "accessories" to this criminalisation of State institutions. Through the intermediation of a paramilitary group (created and financed by Washington and Bonn), NATO and the UN bear the burden of responsibility for the massacres of civilians and the prevailing reign of terror in Kosovo. 1. Quoted in John Sweeney and Jen Holsoe, Kosovo Disaster Response Service Stands Accused of Murder and Torture, the Observer, 12 March 2000. |
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
War Criminal Fall Guys* Arrested from Kosovo’s “Security Forces”; and: “Serbian Myth” of Greater Albania Becomes Reality
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