30 August 2006

Restoration of Devic Monastery begins

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade, August 14, 2006 21:14

The restoration of the medieval monastery of Devic has begun in the region of Drenica. During the escalation of Albanian extremist violence on March 17, 2004, the monastery was significantly damaged. The Devic sisterhood returned to the monastery 10 days after the pogrom.

By the end of the year, as part of the restoration, the walls in the church of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple will be plastered and the floor construction repaired. Painting conservation work and the creation of an iconostasis are also planned.

The New World Disorder

WASHINGTON TIMES (USA), August 17, 2006, OPINION By Michael Djordjevich

 

Last in a three-part series.

 

Addressing a joint session of Congress on Sept. 1, 1990, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the advent of the New World Order. A new era of peace, prosperity, transnationalism and integration was ahead for long-suffering humankind.

 

The new system was based on the notion that nation-states are destructive to the progress of humankind because nationalism, like cancer, spreads and causes conflicts. Therefore, dominant and enduring international institutions should be empowered to coordinate worldwide efforts in the political, social and economic realms.

 

The collapse of communism presented the world with unforeseen problems. As the Cold War ended, many countries and people began to reclaim their individual national identity, traditions and self-interest. Future historians may well conclude that the Yugoslav civil-religious war (1991-1998) tested the viability of this new order. "Yugoslav carnage poses painful questions for the Western Alliance and the United Nations," possibly "foretelling a failure of the New World Order," said the May 15, 1992, New York Times.

 

Overwhelmed with realities of history and tradition, of nationalism and religion, of their own convictions and biases, the architects of the new order failed to implement their vision and successfully deal with its very first challenge. Simply, America was not ready for the New World (dis)Order.

 

The proponents of the new order saw the Yugoslav tragedy as a laboratory and a test for the New World Order concepts and collective actions by such supranational bodies as the United Nations, the European Union and NATO. Conceivably, they believed that by interfering in Yugoslav internal affairs and against Serbian nationalism they could set up an early example of how to stamp out national aspirations and interests, establish democracy and multiethnic-multireligious societies and states by collective mechanism of the New World Order. But it did not work out that way. Neither is it working now in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo, nor will it work in the Israeli-Palestinian clash.

 

In the ebb-and-flood tides of the struggle between Christianity and Islam beginning in the 8th century and continuing to the 20th century, each side had two major advances and two major reverses, approximately four centuries apart. We are now witnessing the fifth cycle, which is for the first time simultaneous. The West has been moving into the East economically and militarily. The Islamic tide almost invisibly is seeping into the West not by arms or economic power, but via steady immigration, settlement, threat of or actual violence and ongoing demographic expansion.

 

The struggle for the New World Order is unfolding in the Middle East with conventional warfare and suicide bombers, and within the ramparts of Western civilization as a new guerrilla type of combat threatening the foundations of democracy, free-market economies and pluralistic open society. This cunning and cancerous model was successfully used in Kosovo over the past 90 years.

 

There are currently two specific historical and geopolitical cases whose resolution will have an important long-term impact on this ongoing clash of civilizations - Kosovo and Israel. Although the dynamics and characteristics of the two conundrums are varied, they have basic common implications for the West. Serbs and Jews are fighting to preserve their ancestral land and the spring of their metaphysics. The Serbs have historically been the "Guardians of the Gate" of Europe against Islam, while the Jews are the only outpost of the Judeo-Christian civilization and its core values in the Islamic Middle East. Both are struggling for survival, their common and historical enemy being Islam.

 

No other issue dominates so pervasively and antagonistically the U.S.-Islam relationship as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its fair resolution is the prerequisite for peace between the West and Islam. As amply manifested in Kosovo and in the Middle East, ever-increasing concessions to radical Islamist alone will not end the clash. In addition to complex and difficult geostrategic decisions, the West must also candidly face the legacy of past flawed policies.

 

The West should stop blaming the Serbs for something they have not done - attempting to establish "Greater Serbia," and the Israelis for something they cannot do - give up Jerusalem along with their future security and survival. Solutions to grave world problems cannot be achieved by willfully disregarding the historical and legitimate aspirations of nations and people. Moreover, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law and respect for human rights and for religious and cultural diversity cannot be secured and sustained by double standards.

 

The survival of the West is doubtful, if dependent, upon global institutions and pursued only by economic and military power. As in the past, the current fight is not just about oil or other material riches. It is essentially and foremost a deadly contest of ideas and metaphysical beliefs.

 

We have received a "wake-up call" not only from Osama bin Laden but, more importantly, from the ayatollahs and imams.

Toward a Greater Albania

WASHINGTON TIMES (USA), August 16, 2006, OPINION By Michael Djordjevic

 

Part two in a three-part series.

 

With the fall of communism and emergence of America as the only world superpower, the hope for peace, freedom and progress was high. Nonetheless, in the twilight of the old order lurked a new global danger: fundamentalist Islam. This new challenge to world peace and stability is rooted in a cosmology older and stronger than ideologies of fascism or communism or ideas of the New World Order.

 

The Balkans have historically been the key battlefield between Islam and European civilization since the battle at Kosovo, where the Ottoman Turks clashed with the Serbs in 1389, to the present. At its apex, the Islamic tide reached and was stopped at the gates of Vienna (1683). It was finally pushed out in the Balkan War of 1912, when the combined armies of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria were stopped at the Gates of Istanbul (Constantinople) by the intervention of the great European powers of that period.

 

Although not admitted in the capitals of the West, the real and the first clash with this revived expansionist force took place in the Balkans in the 1990s. In reality we have fought on the side of our enemies.

 

As in Bosnia before, now in Kosovo, the West has again failed to deal with the basic and overarching Balkan problem - the Serbian Question. Simply, this issue originated from the fact that with the fall of Yugoslavia, nearly overnight one-third of the Serbs found themselves in a new sovereign state hastily recognized by the EU and then the United States. Due to years of experience of genocide and ethnic cleansing during WW II by the Croats, Bosnian and Albanian Muslims, the large Serbian minorities in these two countries demanded self-determination. This was denied as the West took the stand that "borders are inviolable." Yet now the Albanians in Kosovo are encouraged to violate the Serbian borders via self-determination, while the Bosnian Serbs in the entity of Republika Srpska are still denied the same right.

 

Kosovo, a province in Serbia, is about 15 percent of her territory. Within only two generations (1929-1980) from 15 percent of Kosovo population, Albanians reached 80 percent; the Serbs declined from 60 percent to 18 percent in the same period. This is a clear-cut example of what open borders, a high birthrate and wrong politics can produce.

 

After Serbia was bombed to submission in a "humanitarian" war in 1999, Kosovo was given to the United Nations for administration - with catastrophic results. Quickly, the province was methodically and ethically cleansed. It is now monoethnic. More than 150 Christian churches and old monasteries have been destroyed, while some 200 new mosques and a number of schools for the young were feverishly built by Wahhabi funds. Violent and corrupt, Kosovo has become a den of thieves, arm smugglers and white slavers and the key narcotics transfer point to Europe.

 

Threatening violence, the Islamists demand independence from Serbia. America and Europe are seriously considering forcing Serbia to cede her land in contravention to all international norms and laws and U.N. Resolution 1244. This would be the second Moslem sovereign state created in the Balkans in one decade by the international community. As correctly asserted, "even as Western societies worry about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the international community's ill-conceived policies for Kosovo...may prove to be directly responsible for production of Europe's own Taliban."

 

Independence for Kosovo will likely pave the tormenting road to "Greater Albania," thus assuring a permanent instability and turmoil in the Balkans.

 

The idea of a "Greater Albania" is essentially a mono-ethnic nationalistic construct originated in 1878 by the Albanian League. To many Albanians, an independent and monoethnic Kosovo is nothing but a phase of the process leading to fulfillment of these nationalistic aspirations. Of course, changing the now existing borders of four sovereign states in the volatile Balkans is nothing short of creating conditions for permanent instability and new cycles of wars. These conflicts would readily and easily be exploited by outside parties, particularly terrorists and international criminal networks.

 

So long as we fail to recognize Serbia's legitimate interests and continue to violate the moral norms and international legal system, the Kosovo problem cannot be solved. As Ambassador Jack Matlock correctly concluded in the New York Times in 1999: "Neither partition nor independence nor indefinite foreign occupation will win in the long run without the acquiescence of the Serbian people." As the Serbs have already waited five centuries to regain the cradle of their civilization and identity, they will certainly try to do so again, and in much shorter time.

The Balkan Mirror

WASHINGTON TIMES (USA), August 15, 2006, OPINION By Michael Djordjevich

 

Part one in a three-part series.

 

Together with the Middle East, the border lands of southeast Europe known as the Balkans have been a region of the world where seminal events and trends in human history have taken place. It has been called many names, including "the powder keg of Europe" or "the graveyard of empires." The conflicts in the region have also been a mirror of history.

 

Long before Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations," in the period between the 14th and 19th centuries, the incessant ebb and flow in the conflict between Islam and the West took place in the Balkans. Early in the 20th century, Serbian gun shots in Sarajevo ushered in World War I, Communism and Nazism. At the end of the century, Bosnian Muslim fundamentalists fired gun shots in Sarajevo, killing several Christian Serbs at a wedding party and began a bloody war in Bosnia among Christian Serbs and Croats and Muslims. This war may have well reflected in earnest the renewed clash of civilizations.

 

The Berlin Wall fell at the end of 1989. The Soviet Union imploded and the end of Communism as a global force followed. Balkan countries joined the trend. However, the pivotal and largest state, Yugoslavia, rapidly descended into a bloody civil-religious war and dissolution. This decade-long war at the end of 20th century mirrored a number of important political, legal, religious and geopolitical precedents for the post-Communist world. Of particular significance are those involving America, the European Union and the United Nations.

 

At first, the United States favored the preservation of Yugoslavia, or at least its peaceful and orderly dissolution. Changing this position abruptly, America did not oppose Germany's drive for the dismemberment of Yugoslavia and then sided with Islamists in Bosnia. Secretary of State James Baker said "we have no dog in this fight" -- but in the end America was the top dog in the fight.

 

The international community's engagement in the Balkans have so far been a textbook illustration of the dangers of contradictory policies, chronic indecisions, confusion and ignorance about historical forces in play, double standards and flawed precedents. America was not prepared for the peace and the role of the only superpower in the world. Our leadership has failed in this task so far.

 

Apparently, not much has been learned from this experience. We could replace the location, inserting Iraq instead of the Balkans, and the aforementioned assessment would be similar today.

 

The Balkan mirror also shows the impotence and irrelevance of the United Nations. Any country and any people would be foolhardy to place their destiny in the hands of this inept institution. With America's complicity, the United Nations did nothing when its embargo on arms shipments was violated by Iran sending planeloads of arms to Bosnian Muslims. Subsequently, when veteran jihadists came to the country to fight Serbs, the West was also supportive.

 

The Serbian province of Kosovo has been ethnically cleansed from Serbs, Roma and other non-Albanians while 150 churches and many medieval monasteries have been destroyed during 10 years of U.N. governance.

 

The mirror showed the duplicitous methods by which world media influenced world opinion. With few exceptions, it has abused its power and professional responsibility, failing to heed Ed Murrow's admonition to examine all sides of a story and aim to elucidate, not advocate. It did the latter and in general continues to advocate an Islamic agenda in Bosnia and Kosovo.

 

The Balkan realities also show a great adaptability of Islamists to present a worldly, democratic face. Readily accepted by the West, Bosnian leader and fundamentalist Islamist Alija Izetbegovic was tolerated and praised as a democrat. Nevertheless, in his book "The Islamic Declaration" Izetbegovic asserted absolute validity of dominance of Islam: "There can be neither peace nor coexistence between Islamic religion and non-Islamic social and political institutions," he wrote. Later in the war, Mr. Izetbegovic was influenced and financially and militarily supported by fundamentalist Islamists (including Osama bin Laden). Similarly, some Kosovo leaders, previously called terrorists and thugs by U.S. special envoy Robert Gelbard, are now afforded respect in the United Nations and elsewhere.

 

The ugliest and most dangerous reflection in the mirror is that of double-standards. As we are facing challenges and dangers of radical Islam and terrorism worldwide, let's not dismiss the Balkan experience. Our policies must contain moral dimensions. International agreements, legal precedents and evenhanded treatment of warring people were not followed in the Yugoslav tragedy. If we are to get out of the Middle East quagmire we must change these policies. Failing to realize that by endeavoring to resolve complex problems by double standards, we more often than not double them in the end.

 

In addition, the Balkan Mirror has provided important and troubling reflections upon Islam and the new world (dis)order.

 

Michael Djordjevich, an American of Serbian origin, founded and was the first president of the Serbian Unity Congress.

Kosovo: Serbian official denies readiness to divide province

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY), Aug-14-06 15:12

 

London, 14 August (AKI) - Serbia's government hasn't changed its position on the status of the breakaway province of Kosovo, according to an official. Comments made last week by the government's coordinator for Kosovo indicating it might be ready to divide the province had been "misinterpreted and taken out of context," Serbian prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia spokesperson Andreja Mladenovic, said on Monday.

 

Serbian government coordinator for Kosovo Sanda Raskovic Ivic was quoted as saying to BBC last Friday that Serbia might agree to split Kosovo in a compromise solution, with Belgrade retaining under its control 15-20 per cent of the province. The statement caused commotion and confusion in Belgrade, because the Kostunica's government has so far roundly rejected independence for Kosovo, offering ethnic Albanians only wide autonomy.

 

Raskovic-Ivic statement was actually, talking only about two kinds of autonomy in Kosovo, one for ethnic Albanians with regard to Belgrade, and the other for minority Serbs, in respect of Kosovo's Albanian dominated institutions, said Mladenovic.

 

Raskovic Ivic was vacationing in Greece and was unavailable for comment, but her spokesman, Slavko Zivanov, confirmed to Adnkronos International (AKI) that Mladenovic's interpretation was correct. "There has been no change in policy: Kosovo's independence, as well as partitioning, is out of the question," he said.

 

Kosovo's overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority of 1.8 million wants independence - which is opposed by its tiny 100,000 Serb minority and by the Serb authorities. The international community, which has safeguarded peace in Kosovo since it was put under United Nations control in 1999, also opposes partitioning, and is trying to arrive at a compromise solution in ongoing UN-mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

 

Seven rounds of UN sponsored talks in Vienna have however yielded scare results, triggering speculation that the UN might be forced to impose some kind of phased independence.

 

"The partitioning of Kosovo will not be tolerated, period," said UN administration spokesman in Pristina, Alexander Ivanko. Politicians in Belgrade also insist that Serbia cannot be partitioned, and that Kosovo must remain within its boundaries.

 

"To all those who are thinking about an imposed solution, Serbia can respond right now that such a solution would be unacceptable," Mladenovic commented.

 

Violence flared in the province when the Kosovo Liberation Army, supported by ethnic Albanians, came out in open rebellion against Serbian rule in the mid-1990s, triggering a brutal Yugoslav military crackdown.

 

Serbian forces began a campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' against Kosovo Albanians, triggering the NATO bombing campaign that drove Serb troops from the province. Some 800,000 people fled to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro and some 10,000 died in the conflict.

Kosovo police replace U.N. border forces


PRISTINA, Serbia, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Police in Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province on Monday replaced U.N. civilian forces overseeing Pristina's airport.

The Kosovo police units also assumed control of the province's borders with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro, Belgrade's Beta news agency reported.

Political analysts in Pristina saw the authority transfer from the U.N. administration to the Kosovo provincial police as recognition of high standards under which the ethnic-Albanian-led law enforcement is organized, Beta said.

Formally, Kosovo is Serbia's province, but since 1999 it has been administered by a U.N. civilian mission.

NATO troops have been deployed to prevent ethnic conflicts between the Serb minority of 100,000 and ethnic-Albanians who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.8 million population.

U.N.-led, Serb-ethnic Albanian talks, under way in Austria since February, will decide who will govern Kosovo once U.N. and NATO personnel leave.

German national named head of Kosovo UN mission

Deutsche Presse AgenturAug 14, 2006, 19:00 GMT

 

New York - A German national was appointed Monday to take over the leadership of the UN mission in Kosovo in September amid critical UN-led negotiations to decide the political future of the Serb province.

 

Joachim Ruecker was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to replace Danish diplomat Soren Jessen-Petersen, who stepped down in June for personal reasons, a spokesman said. Ruecker, already working in Kosovo, will assume his new post on September 1.

 

Ruecker was in charge of reconstruction and economic development in Kosovo under Jessen-Petersen, and previously worked as deputy high representative of the international community in Bosnia from May 2001 to July 2002.

 

He was the mayor of the city of Sindelfingen in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg from 1993 to 2001 before joining the international team in Bosnia-Herzegovina to restore peace and security there.

 

He held various posts in the German federal foreign office from 1979 to 1991 before becoming mayor of Sindelfingen.

 

As head of the UN mission, which is known as UNMIK, Ruecker will direct the implementations of a programme to democratize legal institutions in Kosovo and train the Kosovo police force that now has close to 7,000 members, including a majority of Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and other ethnic minorities.

 

UNMIK is composed of an international force of more than 2,100 police trainers from more than 40 countries in addition to a civilian staff. During Jessen-Petersen's term, Kosovo moved closer to becoming a full-fledged state through the transfer of authority from the UN mission in Kosovo, known as UNMIK, to local institutions.

 

UNMIK has been administering Kosovo since 1999, following NATO intervention that ousted Belgrade's security forces from the province and ended repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

 

The province has since been in diplomatic limbo, as Serbia insists on retaining sovereignty over Kosovo, while the dominant Albanian population has impatiently been expecting full independence.

 

The resolution of Kosovo's future political status has drawn nearer this year, with the launch of UN-brokered direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

 

The talks, led by UN mediator Marrti Ahtisaari, produced no progress yet toward a compromise after eight rounds. Both sides remain riveted to their original positions, raising the prospect of an imposed solution.

Twenty most heinous crimes since international deployment in Kosovo that remain unresolved

Coordinating Center of Serbia for Kosovo and MetohijaBelgrade, August 10, 2006

 

EXCERPT FROM LETTER OF SANDA RASKOVIC-IVIC TO HEAD OF UNMIK

 

TWENTY MOST HEINOUS AND YET UNRESOLVED CRIMES COMMITTED AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

 

The list comprising these crimes was sent to UNMIK, together with a repeated request that the perpetrators are apprehended and brought to justice

 

The list of most heinous crimes committed against the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija following the arrival of international civil and military presences, that remained unpunished to this day

 

The Results of Ethnic Cleansing in March 17th-19th 2004

 

* 8 Killed Serbs

* 143 Wounded Serbs

* Approximately 5,000 Serbs Expelled

* Torched 935 Homes Belonging to the Serb Owners

* Destroyed 10 Health and Education Facilities Belonging to Serbs

* Ethnically Cleansed Additional 6 Towns and 9 Villages

* Burnt Down Additional 35 Orthodox Religious Edifices (Churches and Monasteries)

* Desecrated Additional 3 Orthodox Cemeteries

 

1999

 

1. 22 July 1999 - 14 Serbian villagers were killed in a field near the village Staro Gracko, municipality of Lipljan. Natives of this village confirmed that massacred bodies of the harvesters had been found. The following persons were killed: Andrija Odalovic, brothers Radovan and Jovica Zivic, Novica Janicijevic and his father Momcilo, his uncle Mile and his cousin Slobodan Janicijevic, Bozidar and Stanimir Djekic, Sasa Cvejic, Ljubisa Cvejic, Miodrag Tepic, Nikola Stojanovic and Milovan Jovanovic. The international investigating authorities brought in four suspects of Albanian nationality, but after a while they were released.

 

2000

 

2. 3 February 2000 - Near Cubrelj village, 15 kilometres southeast of Kosovska Mitrovica, an anti-tank guided missile was fired to a bus carrying a clear UNHCR sign with 49 persons of Serbian nationality in it. In this terrorist attack Plana Rajkovic from Banje village and Budimir Jovanovic from Rudnik village were killed, while five persons were seriously wounded. In the moment of the attack there were many women and children in the vehicle. The bus operated from northern Kosovska Mitrovica to the villages of Banje and Suvo Grlo and this line was used exclusively by the Serbs. The attacked vehicle was accompanied by KFOR.

 

3. 3 February 2000 - A bomb explosion in Kosovska Mitrovica wounded about ten young men of Serbian nationality who were immediately transferred to a hospital. The attack occurred about nine o'clock p.m., when an explosive device was dropped to a catering establishment "Belami" in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, where a bigger group of young people stayed. As in previous bombing attacks, the attackers ran away from the spot. This act of terrorism caused a revolt of citizens who gathered in a large number first in front of the hospital entrance and than in the hospital area.

 

4. 8 March 2000 - In a series of terrorist attacks in a settlement called Bosnjacka Mahala in the northern Kosovska Mitrovica 22 Serbs and 14 members of KFOR French forces, one of which was an officer, suffered from severe or lighter wounds. The attacks started some time before noon and lasted almost for two hours. During that time several bombs were dropped and light and heavy weapons were used to attack a group of Serbs, mostly high school students. The attack was initiated by Albanian Ljuan Miftari, who rushed with a metal rod at Serbian young men without any reason. After that a fire was opened at Serbs from a nearby Albanian house called Kratez. The attack continued with bombs. All this happened in sight of KFOR members of German contingent who did nothing about it. French soldiers tried to protect Serbs by forming a cordon, but two bombs were also thrown at them. Later on it was announced that four Albanians were arrested on reasonable suspicion of participating in these terrorist attacks, but no information can be found on their conviction for such acts.

 

2001

 

5. 17 February 2001 - near Livadice village, municipality of Podujevo, a planted bomb blew apart a bus of the company Nis-express causing death of 11 Serbs (two of which were children) and wounding 40 people. The bus with number plate NI 117-61 was accompanied by KFOR in a convoy of vehicles transferring 250 Serbs towards Gracanica. Despite the arrest of several suspects after the investigation, they were all released except Florim Ejupi who was found directly connected to Albanian organized crime and circles of former OVK (Kosovo Liberation Army). For the "safety reasons" Ejupi was transferred to American military camp "Bondsteel", out of where he managed to escape after a while. This tragic day for Serbs from Kosovo could have been even more tragic. On the other side of Kosovo the Ukrainian KFOR soldiers stopped near Rudar a convoy of Serbs who were travelling for Strpce. The convoy was stopped and returned because six [remote activated] explosive devices were discovered on the road and dismantled.

 

2003

 

6. 4 June 2003 - A three-member family Stolic, natives of Obilic, were killed in their village. Slobodan and Radmila Stolic (80 years of age both) and their son Ljubinko (50 years of age) were killed. Having killed them the assailants massacred their bodies and set their house on fire. Although UNMIK chief Michael Steiner offered 50,000 Euros for information which would enable the arrest of the committers, the investigation ended up without a result.

 

7. 11 August 2003 - Dragan Tonic (45) from Skulanevo in the municipality of Lipljan deceased today having suffered wounding in the head. Two unidentified assailants shot Tonic in his mouth while he was fishing on the River Sitnica in the late afternoon. Tonic was given first aid in Kosovska Mitrovica where he was operated. Due to a critical condition he was transferred to Belgrade on 13 August for further treatment, but despite all efforts made by doctors he succumbed to his wounds. Ever since the international forces came to Skulanevo near Lipljan, where 350 Serbs live, Dragan Tonic is the third victim, while five persons have been wounded, three of them children. None of the committers of these murders was ever found.

 

8. 13 August 2003 - unknown persons opened fire from automatic weapon on Serbian children who were having a swim in the River Bistrica in the village Gorazdevac near Pec. Pantelija Dakic (10) and Ivan Jovovic (19) were killed in the assault, while Bogdan Bukumiric (15), Dragana Srbljak (14), Djordje Ugrenovic (20) and Marko Bogicevic (15) were injured. As in previous cases when victims were Serbs, the investigation showed no results and the [perpetrators] of this terrorist crime were not found.

 

9. 31 August 2003 - In a bombing attack on a shop owned by a Serb in Cernica near Gnjilane, Miomir Savic was killed, and Bosko Dinic, Milos Petrovic, Novica Trifunovic and Ljubisa Simic suffered light wounds. Savic, who got killed and the wounded inhabitants of Cernica were sitting in front of the village shop in the Serbian part of the village when a bomb was thrown at them.

 

2004

 

10. 9 February 2004 - In a terrorist attack near Lipljan Zlatomir Kostic (36) from Kosovo Polje and Milijana Markovic (24) from Staro Gracko were killed. Their bodies were found near a fire station, on the outskirts of the town. According to investigating authorities' statement they were killed on a transit road while being in Kostic's car. They were ambushed near the fire station in Lipljan.

 

11. 17 March 2004 - Father and son Stolic were shot on the very doorstep of their home in Drajkovce, a village in the municipality of Strpce, where they lived after the exile from Urosevac. D. Stolic (1955) and B. Stolic (1984) lived in the village bordering on the neighbour Albanian villages.

 

2005

 

12. 27 August 2005 - In the terrorist attack to a bus on the line Belgrade - Strpce, near Albanian villages Firaja and Brod, Staja Ilic from Strpce was shot to death by a fire-arm. A sharp bursts of machine gun fire directed to the bus caused severe wounds to Radoslav Dabic, a refugee from Urosevac, Dragan Veljkovic from Stpce and one more person.

 

13. 29 August 2005 Young men Ivan Dejanovic and Aleksandar Stankovic from Novo Naselje near Lipljan got killed, and Aleksandar Janicijevic and Nikola Dukic wounded in an armed assault in Banjica, on the road Urosevac - Strpce in Kosovo, which occurred late Saturday night. About nine o'clock p.m. four young men took a car, "golf" model, with a number plate from Pristina, and went from Lipljan to Strbac. They noticed that they were followed by a "Mercedes". Then, near the village Banjica, the four Serbs heard a shot and that they had a flat tyre. When they pulled over to change the tyre, the fire opened once more from the "Mercedes", which was still following them. Dejanovic and Stankovic were shot to death, and Janicijevic and Dukic were wounded. The attackers ran away from the spot.

 

14. 26 October 2005 - On the road Urosevac - Strpce, near the place called Doganovic, a fire was opened at a vehicle of Kosovo police. The armed assault begun around 20.00, but neither of three police officers from the vehicle was hurt. Although the vehicle received several shots, the driver managed to continue towards Strpce, where the vehicle was examined. These were Serbian policemen in their service vehicle returning from their duty on the border crossing "Djeneral Jankovic" towards Macedonia. It was the second assault on policemen of Serbian nationality in last month and a half on the road from Urosevac to Strpce. One Serbian policeman was wounded in a previous assault near the village Brod in the municipality of Strpce.

 

15. 11 November 2005 at 01.25 in the village Suvi Do, municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica, an unknown person of Albanian nationality opened fire on Ilija Petronijevic. About 01.20 Petronijevic heard some movements around his house, so he turned on the light in his courtyard, got out and spotted an unknown Albanian who, having seen Petronijevic shouted something in Albanian and started running towards Ibar River. Afterwards, several unidentified persons fired about 15 shots from an automatic rifle in short bursts and 5-6 shots from a pistol, and went away towards a nearby Albanian village on Ibar River.

 

16. 26 December 2005 around 01.30 in Kosovska Mitrovica - northern part of the town- in John Kennedy Street, in the courtyard of "Branko Radicevic" primary school, where containers and mechanization of a public enterprise "Vodovod" were, [an identified assailant] performed an armed assault on Branislav Antovic, son of Ratomir, from Kosovska Mitrovica (security officer). During the assault [the assailant] fired four shots from a fire-arm - 7.62 mm pistol, of which two shots hit Antovic in his abdomen. He was transferred to a hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica where doctors concluded injuries of liver and large intestine. Antovic was operated, but the wounds put his life in jeopardize. Four 7.62 mm cases were found on the spot.

 

17. 2. December 2005. About 19.00 in the village Malo Rudare, municipality of Zvecan, unknown persons dropped an explosive device (most probably hand-grenade) on the houses owned by Vlado Antanasijevic and Djura Markovic. The attackers approached the houses from the main road Kosovska Mitrovica - Zvecan, which was 40 metres away from the houses. That is the spot they threw the explosive device from, which fell in the courtyard of Vlado Antanasijevic's house. The explosion made a smaller crater and shrapnel broke one window on the front side of the house and made damage to the façade. The owners of the houses spotted a vehicle which went away after the attack towards the village Lipa, municipality of Zvecan, inhabited by Albanian people.

 

2006

 

18. 12 March 2006 - About 20.45 in Klina, Drini Bardh Street, an explosion occurred in the courtyard of an empty house owned by Branko M. Mazic. In the moment of the explosion the owner was in a bedroom of the other house. The incident was reported to UNMIK police on 13 March 2006. According to eyewitnesses' statements, two windows on the house where nobody lived were broken in the explosion. A police patrol with a forensic unit made on-the-spot investigation. A detonator needle wrapped in a tape was found in the courtyard where the device exploded.

 

19. 1 June 2006 - About 02.30 Miljan Veskovic, a Serb from Zitkovac, was killed on a local road Zvecan - Zitkovac. On that local road the unknown committers made an improvised road block made of broken branches, and when Veskovic stopped his vehicle in front of it, a fire from automatic rifles was opened.

 

20. 27 July 2006. - About 23.45 in Dragas, municipality of Gora, an explosive device was placed and activated by unknown persons in front of the entrance door of a family house of a [Goran] Rustem Agus, son of Ramiz, born on 13 December 1955 in Dragas, residing in Belgrade. In the time of the explosion no persons were harmed, but the house was severely damaged. In the house of Agus Rustem there was another explosive device placed two years before also by unknown persons.

Sanda Raskovic-Ivic's letter to Steven Schook

Coordinating Center of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija, Belgrade, August 10, 2006

 

LETTER OF PRESIDENT OF THE COORDINATION CENTER TO THE HEAD OF UNMIK

 

TERROR OF ALBANIANS IS BEING PERFORMED CONTINUOUSLY AND WITH IMPUNITY

 

The letter was forwarded to the ambassadors of the Contact Group countries

 

Dear Mr. Schook,

 

You are well aware of the fact that seven years have elapsed since the UN Mission was entrusted with the task under Resolution 1244 to ensure peace, security and respect for human rights to persons belonging to all the communities in Kosovo and Metohija. You are likewise well aware of the fact that 230,000 Serbs have been expelled from the Province and that for as many as seven years their return to their homes has been prevented.

 

But what is certainly the worst of all and is, undoubtedly, fully known to you is the fact that the Albanian separatists are practicing terror against the Serbs incessantly and with impunity. When crimes go unpunished, and that has become a rule in the Province over the last seven years, then the perpetrators of crimes - Albanian separatists start to believe that committing crimes against Serbs is the most natural thing to do.

 

You should know that any unpunished crime is in fact a double crime and that the international community is the most responsible for such a deplorable and tragic situation in Kosovo.

 

Regrettably, Albanian separatists have carried out hundreds and hundreds of attacks against the Serbs and nobody has been called to account for these crimes yet. The perpetrators of these crimes are at large and they interpret this as the best encouragement to commit new crimes.

 

I would like to remind you that way back on 22 July 1999 Albanian separatists killed and massacred 14 Serb peasants harvesting the fields in the village of Staro Gacko, Lipljan municipality and that the criminals have never been brought to justice. On 16 February 2001 Albanian separatists planted a bomb under a bus of "Nis Express" in Podujevo. Four people were killed and these criminals remain at large. An even more cruel crime was committed in Obilic on 23 June 2003 when the Albanian separatists massacred the Stolic family. You know full well that even this terrible crime has remained unpunished to this date. You also know that the Albanian terrorists who killed two Serbs with a hand-grenade on 3 February 2000 when a bus transporting the Serbs was hit in the vicinity of the village of Cubrelj have not been identified yet.

 

Many words were uttered and many worthless promises made to the effect that light would be shed on the most serious crime committed at Gorazdevac on 13 August 2003. On that occasion - you certainly know all the details - the criminals killed two Serb boys and wounded another four.

 

Please find enclosed herewith a detailed list of crimes of Albanian separatists that have remained unpunished to this date.

 

Mr. Schook, it is high time clear answers were given to the questions raised by each and every of the crimes committed by Albanian separatists. It is your duty to see to it that these criminals are put behind bars. It is also your duty - if they are not in prison - to give a full explanation why this is the case. It is my duty to persistently remind you should you forget this and I shall do this in the future as well.

 

I would like to ask you to take a careful look at the list of the most serious crimes that Albanian separatists committed with impunity against the Serbs and to do everything within the shortest possible delay for the criminals to be identified and punished.

 

Finally, I wish to underscore in particular that one of the most important tasks of the international mission in the Province today is to make it known to the Albanian separatists who are in action that to commit a crime against Serbs is not a normal thing to do and that every crime will sooner or later be punished.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

PRESIDENT

 

Dr Sanda Raskovic-Ivic

NATO's commander for southeastern Europe visits Kosovo's troubled north

Associated Press, Monday, August 14, 2006 4:45 AM

 

PRISTINA, Serbia-NATO's commander for southeastern Europe arrived in Kosovo Monday for a brief visit to the U.N.-run province that is in talks with Serbia to determine its future.

 

Adm. Harry Ulrich, commander of NATO's Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, is to meet Serb officials in Kosovo's northern town of Zvecan, said Col. Pio Sabbetta, a NATO spokesman in Kosovo.

 

He is also scheduled to meet U.N. officials in the ethnically tense town of Kosovska Mitrovica and will lunch with the top U.S. diplomat in Kosovo, Tina Kaidanow.

 

Ulrich is visiting the troubled north amid fears that tensions will rise between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and Serb minority as U.N.-mediated talks aimed at resolving the province's long-term status continue.

 

NATO-led peacekeepers are in the process of reopening a military base in the Serb-dominated north and increasing their presence alongside some 500 U.N. police officers recently deployed there.

 

The beefed-up security was triggered by calls from Serbian officials to boycott the province's ethnic Albanian-dominated institutions after a series of violent incidents that Serbian officials blamed on ethnic Albanians.

 

The talks are expected to conclude by year-end, but the two sides remain deeply divided.

 

Ethnic Albanians insist the province must become independent, while Serbia is offering broad autonomy, but not independence. Some Kosovo Serb leaders have warned of partition of the Serb-dominated north if independence is imposed upon them.

 

Meanwhile, Portugal's Defense Minister Nuno Severiano Teixeira is also visiting the province, where his country has about 300 soldiers as part of the 17,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force stationed in Kosovo.

24 August 2006

"War with Islamic terrorists" - Interview with Father Benedict (PART 2/2)

RENEW AMERICA (USA), August 12, 2006, By Mary Mostert

 

PART 2 OF 2

 

/CONTINUED/

 

7. Mostert: It appears that uncontrolled immigration from Albania into Kosovo during the years when Tito was the president of Yugoslavia has actually caused many Serbs to leave Kosovo. There has been a similar migration of millions of illegal aliens from Mexico into Southern California in recent years as many American citizens have left the area. Now many of those illegal Mexican aliens are refusing to learn English, claiming that area is really part of Mexico and demanding special privileges. If the international community allows Kosovo to become an independent nation, do you think that would create a precedent for the success of a similar demand for independence on the part of Mexicans in Southern California?

 

Father Benedict: If you ask me whether that "uncontrol" of the immigration of Albanian residents from Albania was indeed accidental or planned, I think it was planned and allowed by Tito who neither loved Serbs nor anything sacred to Serbs and the least of all Kosovo and Metohija.

 

When it comes to Mexico and South California, if Kosovo can gain independence, which, by the way, opposes all laws, then South California can gain independence as well. By allowing Kosovo to become independent, new rules for gaining independence will emerge around the world, which would not be in the best interest or either USA or civilized mankind.

 

8. Mostert: What do you believe will happen to the remaining Serbs, their churches and the monasteries in Kosovo if the international community hands it over to the Albanian Muslim majority as is being demanded?

 

Father Benedict: If Kosovo and Metohija is handed over to the Albanian minority (they are the minority in Serbia, and Kosovo is still an integral part of Serbia) I think that no monastery or church or Serbian village will ever again exist in Kosovo and Metohija. Apart from Kosovo independence they have one more goal - the cleansing of everything that reminds them of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. And our holy objects across Kosovo and Metohija testify in the best way to whom this land belongs. Still, I am sure that Kosovo and Metohija will never gain independence, no matter how much the situation continues to go that way. No matter how much people tried to reach some goal, finally everything comes out in God's way.

 

9. Mostert: It appears that religious differences have been the main problem the Serbs have faced for centuries in dealing with others in the region. Most of Europe today and its governments are secular, or even officially atheist, as has been the case with Albania. The history of the Serbs indicates that while other groups have used force to require Serbs to adopt their religion, Serbs have remained loyal to Serbian Orthodox Christianity but have not insisted that others abandon their religion. What sets Serbs apart from other Christians in Europe in their loyalty to Jesus Christ?

 

Father Benedict: Just one correction. There is no Serbian Orthodox Christianity, only Orthodox Christianity.

 

The first thing that makes Serbs different from the rest of the Europe is the fact that for more than one thousand years Serbian people have been devoted to Christ and they have praised the Lord with the same passion and same eagerness as in the time when they turned to Christianity. The other thing is the devotion to holy tradition and dogmas which are not altered, as it is the case with other Christian communities, Latin community or Protestants. Instead, we hold to that heritage which was given to us by holy Apostles. The same thing stands for The Russian Orthodox Church (since Russian people have also suffered a lot and still remained faithful to God and God's truth).

 

No matter how much they suffered and no matter how much they became estranged from God through history, Serbian people have always returned to Christ, as if they have followed the prophet David's example throughout their whole history and from that example learned how to be penitent and obedient to God.

 

10. Mostert: Would you comment on what you think will happen to the crime rate, the economy and the social problems in Kosovo if the province become independent and, if it is not independent, what the Serbian government could or would do to solve those problems?

 

Father Benedict: Since I am sure that Albanians will never own Kosovo and Metohija as their own state, there is no reason for me to comment on possible independence of Kosovo and the situation in independent Kosovo.

 

US-NATO bombing of Serbia allegedly happened because of Slobodan Milosevic and his regime. Let's remember the speech of US State secretary Madeline Albright during the bombing of Yugoslavia when she apologized to Serbian people via radio station "The Voice of America," repeating that the US has nothing against the Serbian people, but against the president of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic.

 

That man is not alive today. Serbia is ruled by a democratic government and I think that it would be fair enough to bring Kosovo and Metohija back to the Serbian people, just as it was before the bombing in 1999. I am sure that Kosovo and Metohija would be much safer and more secure and that it would be in the best interest of all residents of Kosovo and Metohija to be under the rule of Serbian government in Belgrade. What we see today in the area of Kosovo and Metohija is that just a small number of people, around 10%, can afford a normal life, while the remaining 90% in Kosovo and Metohija are struggling to survive. They face great economic crisis, great unemployment and finally, great hatred.

 

Great social and economic crisis, as well as great unemployment and hatred, stimulate the increasing development of extremism and utmost fanaticism especially among the youth. If things continue to go this way in Kosovo and Metohija, I think that, unless something changes quickly, the ensuing chaos will be very hard to repair, and its victims will surely be Serbs (because there is no one to protect them) and the UN Administration representatives because that administration has led the inhabitants in Kosovo and Metohija into this catastrophic condition by means of it voracity and arrogance.

 

Therefore, the only way to solve this problem is to bring Kosovo and Metohija back under the rule of Belgrade, of course only by means of democratic institutions in the Kosovo and Metohija province in which the representatives of all nations which live here can take equal parts. Not only Albanians, as it is the case now.

 

Some people think that Belgrade government is not ready for that undertaking, but in my opinion, those who think so are wrong. If the communist regime somehow managed to bear and face the problems of Kosovo and Metohija in years after the Second World War, the current Belgrade democratic government also can bear and face the problems of Kosovo and Methohija.

 

The present democratic government of Serbia was accepted and supported by many European countries, and the Serbian police and armed forces have great experience and strong will to maintain order in Kosovo and Metohija. If, in any case, the tensions of Albanian terrorists increase after the re-establishment of Serbian government in Kosovo and Metohija, our police and armed forces would solve that problem very quickly and efficiently. Of course, NATO experts could help by means of the knowledge they gained in Kosovo and Metohija during last few years.

 

This brings us to the beginning of our story. Just as Serbian people and St. Tsar Lazar's army once were the solid rampart that served as the protection of Christian Europe from aggressive Islam, Serbs present the same solid rampart today. Bringing back autonomous province Kosovo and Metohija into the de facto corpus of Serbia will lead to a crucial blow and defeat of Islamic terrorism in Europe and elsewhere.

 

11. Mostert: Father Benedict, in February of this year, a terrorist bomb blast destroyed the dome of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq. It was built in the 9th century and was a religious site sacred to Shiite Muslims. Almost immediately following the terrorists' action, George W. Bush warned about the threat of civil war and expressed support for the Iraqi government. Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the bombing a "criminal and sacrilegious act," urging Iraqis to show restraint and avoid retaliation and Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's ambassador to Iraq, and Gen. George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, issued a joint statement saying the US would contribute to the shrine's reconstruction.

 

Would you comment on the world political reaction to the terrorist bombing of a mosque in Iraq with the world political reaction to terrorist destruction of 160 ancient Orthodox Christian Churches in Kosovo?

 

Father Benedict: That is exactly what our eparchy, with archpriest bishop Artemije at the head of it, speaks about for seven years now. The double standards of the United Nations.

 

Unfortunately, we have about 160 churches and monasteries demolished by Albanian terrorists.

 

Throughout this entire interview I have been speaking about terrorists, because the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Albanian National Army (ANA) and other Albanian military groupings are nothing else but a group of armed bandits which oppose the order of one country, mercilessly killing everyone who stands in their way, and, at the same time, performing unprecedented crimes against the opponents. That means they are terrorists indeed, and that we did not name them terrorists because of hatred or politics. ANA is also on the terrorist list of the American administration, and KLA used to be on that list until the bombing of Serbia in 1999, when she was erased from it over night. Reasons for such an act are known only to Clinton's administration.

 

Medieval and modern churches and monasteries are not renovated until the present day, although about 130 churches and monasteries were demolished more than 7 years ago. Why is this the case only in Kosovo? If we could just remember the fuss which was made when Taliban regime demolished Buddha's statues. In Kosovo and Metohija, where everyone pretends to be for the restoration, nothing is actually renovated.

 

In particular, I can speak about the restoration in Prizren area, where our monastery is. The renovation of Holy Great Martyr George Church in Prizren has been the topic of discussion for a long time. Some even went so far that they announced that the renovation is in progress. But soon afterwards, all of it proved to be a lie. Instead, the interior of the roofless church was just wiped a little bit, and some scaffolding made so that, as we hope, the church could be renovated in near future.

 

Not only did the jewel of medieval art, The Church of Bogorodica Ljeviska in Prizren, burn on March 17, 2004, but it was the target of a robbery one year later. Namely, 100 square meters of lead were stolen from the roof of that church. Only one square meter which thieves had dropped was found afterwards. The rest of it was never found, although everyone know which company ordered this theft. No steps or measures are taken to bring that lead back. The worst of all, an Albanian firm has won the tender to re-built the roof, but one question still stands - what will they use to do that? Will they use lead, as it was before, or just a sheet metal coated with zinc, as it was the case with the Church of Christ the Savior in Prizren. Another question is whether the The Church of Bogorodica (Godmother) Ljeviska is going to be renovated completely or just patched.

 

Lead from the roof was also stolen from the Tutic's Church of St. Nicholas in Prizren. No investigation was conducted and no suspects were found in that case either, as if the theft had never happened. The same stands for all other churches in Prizren - St. Cosmas and Damian, St. Great Martyr Nedelja (Kyriakia), Runic's Church of St. Nicholas, Chapel of St. Panteleimon, Serbian Orthodox Seminary of St. Cyril and Methodius, and of course, our monastery. By what we can see, the same things happen elsewhere in Kosovo and Metohija. I have to emphasize once again that there is no renovation of churches in southern Serbian province known as Kosovo and Metohija. It is just a farce and we hope that God will reveal it soon and show to everyone what that so-called renovation meant and what its purpose was.

 

Bishop Artemije requested that the renovation of Serbian churches should be conducted by the building company of our eparchy "Rade Neimar," which would certainly be a real reconstruction, and not this so-called renovation. By my opinion, nevertheless, UNMIK and Council of Europe managed, by means of several bishops, and later by means of the entire Assembly of bishops, to impose a memorandum (business letter) about the renovation of churches to bishop Artemije, which he, as a bishop devoted to his Church, actually did, but he took no part in that reconstruction, because he knew where that so-called renovation led.

 

The same thing happened when our eparchy sued four NATO member countries in Strasburg Court : Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, because they neglected their soldiers in Kosovo and allowed terrorist to demolish our churches and monasteries and to kill Serbian people. Actually, they were just a décor, claiming they made mistakes in calculations. The culmination of negligence and laziness UN and KFOR was the fact that nobody was prosecuted for the crimes that happened on March 17. There was an investigation, but it ended as a great failure. As if the violence against Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija had never happened and as if we all live in a perfect peace and harmony.

 

That is why I think that the charges in International Court should be fulfilled so that everyone can bear his responsibility for what he did, or didn't do and should have done, as in this case. But, in this case it was forbidden to bishop Artemije to be a bishop, and Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church decided to withdraw the charges in International Court in Strasburg against the negligent soldiers and corrupted KFOR generals.

 

The following quotation of vicar bishop Teodosije to the international community shows how much some of our bishops believed, and still believe. More than one year ago he said: "People build churches as homes of prayer so that they could pray in them. Unfortunately, other demolished them because of envy and hatred. By renovating the demolished churches in Kosovo and Metohija we express our holy duty and testament. That renovation will send a powerful message to destroyers of these temples that violence will not and cannot be rewarded and that all destroyed monuments will be re-build by means of our effort, with the support of international community."

 

And as we can see now, one and half year after all these words were said, neither is there renovation, nor any kind of support international community, but only their playing with the reputation of our bishops who trusted them.

 

And the worst of all, Albanian violence proved to be rewarded, since there are no Serbs left, nor any Orthodox churches, churches which disturbed them and which are, therefore, demolished. That is a fact, and the rest of it is pure demagogy and rhetoric of powerful persons who newer recognize their defeat.

 

Translated by Masha Krsmanovic

 

To Contact Holy Archangels Monastery: svarhangeli@hotmail.com

 

Website: http://whymonastery.blogspot.com/

 

Mary Mostert is a nationally-respected political writer.

 

/END/