Bad news from Kosovo again. The Western countries and their journalists seem increasingly in "Croatian mode" - showing the same neglect to human rights that they showed in Croatia between 1992 and 1995 when it came to Serb citizens.
First there was the report of "clashes between Serbs and Albanians" in Mitrovica during the elections for the parallel institutions. I put "clashes" between brackets because these are no real clashes: this is a return to a situation before mid 2000 when Albanians regularly held demonstrations in Mitrovica that invariably ended in an attempt to storm the bridge to Northern Mitrovica. Then there was little doubt that that would end in the cleansing of Northern Mitrovica. I have little doubt there are similar political goals now. In 2000 the internationals ended these demonstrations as it was obvious that they would be forbidden in any Western country as racist and a threat to public order.
Another disturbing fact is the ongoing misinformation in the international press. We are not only misinformed about those demonstrations, but also about those elections. Most media put prominently that only 25% of the electorate went to vote. But nobody took the effort why so many people chose to stay home. It looked like they preferred to believe that this signaled that Kosovo's Serbs are turning towards the Pristina government - what very well may not be true.
The situation is looking more and more like that in Croatia between 1992 and 1995 where the Western countries were bleating about the restoration of territorial integrity while the Croat army was consistently violating an UN brokered truce and 400,000 people where driven in permanent exile.
5 comments:
uradWim is in conspiracy-mode.
Local media has reported that the "clashes" were started by Serbs, after that Albanian organized a peaceful protest against the illegal(RoK, EU, US, UNMIK) Serb elections in Kosovo.
The most basic rule in a democracy is to have freedom of expression, and I thought that you coming from Netherlands, known in the world as one of the most liberal countries, supported this. But I was wrong since you now for many months have been supporting limiting freedom of expression in Kosovo and to overthrow democratically elected institutions by suggesting in true imperialist-style "EU should just...","Feith should...". Kosovo is obliged by its constitution to guarantee its citizens full freedom of expression as long as they do not pose any threat to others. This was confirmed by KFOR.
Protesting against illegal elections is highly legitimate and denying people this right would be the end of democracy in Kosovo. Elections do not have anything to do with race, but are about politics. By the way Albanians and Serbs look almost the same and the are no racial differences between them so using the "racist" is also wrong from this point of view.
The low number of Serbs that participated is due to the game Serbia is playing with the Serbs. Abusing them for their hegemonic aims in Balkans and feeding them with hate against Albanians*, has not brought them anything during the 11 years that have passed since 1999. Instead of cooperating with the other nationalities to create a civic state that no one could claim as their own, they have been oppressed to oppose democracy in Kosovo.
*Read the Early Warning-reports by UNDP showing the number of Serbs opposing to live in the same street as Albanians or working with Albanians have reached alarming levels.
I don't know where "urad" in front of Wim came from. Maybe while i typed the "word verification".
Freedom of expression is not freedom to intimidate. In countries like the Netherlands a restraining order is used for people who abuse their freedom to express in that way. The demonstrators clearly crossed the line with intimidation when they tried to cross the bridge.
If you look at Northern Ireland, where the Protestant orange walks that lead through Catholic neighborhoods in the past caused regular problems you will see that they nowadays are regulated - and this concerns people who can claim a historic right.
Citizens playing judge undermines the foundation of the rule of law.
So in the Netherlands protests were protesters put themselves on the seat on the judge are seriously frowned upon.
Without evidence of the contrary I prefer to believe that people are rational being and not stupid monkeys who can easily be misled by propaganda. So when I read that Serbs in Kosovo are less inclined to live near Albanians since the independence declaration my first hypothesis is that they may have a good reason for that. When I see Albanian protestors taking liberties that would be unthinkable two years ago I think this is very probably true.
Great example of blaming the victims. During the time you mention, the Serbian army was engaging in a brutal occupation of one-third of Croatia. Yet you ignore the unprovoked aggression and brutality of what was naked imperialism by Serbia, and lay all blame on the country that was invaded.
What next. A discussion of Polish/German relations in 1939 in which the villain of the Poles is the main subject?
The Croats were both victims and perpetrators. Given how they behaved the Croatian Serbs had good reason to rebel. Too bad they took so much more than their fair share. But that was no excuse for ethnic cleansing.
Post a Comment