What do members think about Kosovo?

[Maggie Hansen]

I’m interested to know what people on the forum think about Kosovo?

Peter Lemkin is the only member here so far to start a topic about it and it didn’t seem to get very far though what he posted was very interesting. I am interested to know why it is not on everyone’s radar. Is it a case of everyone being okay about the Albanians getting their independence from the evil Serbs? No big thing? What do people think the future will hold for the new nation, the old Serbia, Europe and the world in general?

[Scott Deitche]

The city I live in has a large number of post 1990s Bosnian, Albanian , and Serbian refugees and immigrants. They seem to get along well enough here.

Ethnic conflicts are always dicey affairs; having an aquaintance who was Serbian I heard a POV that was not the popular one.

As an aside, on a purely criminal front, the Kosovo Liberation Army has for years been linked to arms and drug trafficking. In the aftermath of the war, Albanian organized crime groups have exploded across the region and into Western Europe. In Italy, ALbanians are frequent partners with the Neapolitan Camorra and Calabrian 'ndragentha in narcotics trafficking, arms trafficking, cigarette smuggling, and dealing in stolen merchandise. In Eastern Europe, the Albanian gangs have been linked to white slavery.

[Richard Welser]

Peter Stated: "Says it all....not just Kosovo, but the intentional destruction of a functioning alternative model to the Corporate Free-market-for-rich Capitalism of the USA in all of Yugoslavia. [We had to destroy them to bring them 'freedom'.] "

Some wondering.....

I wonder if anybody has a good listing of the resources available for plunder in Kosovo. So, in addition to the plundering of resources, the Straussian division and chaos model keeps rolling towards the east..... I wonder if mother Russia will intervene in some way at this choice point or bide her time for the really big confrontations waiting round the bend....

Everybody in the Central Asia' SCO and all the way to China, I would suppose, know what's what with the Empire. As an aside, I have also wondered just what weapons the Empire has that gives everybody apparent pause. The 'Triangle' things? Etc.

[Maggie Hansen]

Thanks for replying. I can see that this subject is like the previous thread on banking -not very sexy. Like banking I do find it a sexy issue but I am obviously in a minority here.

Thanks for the Parenti link Peter. It does say it all. Parenti, Michel Chossudovsky http://www.globalresearch.ca/and Diane Johnstone http://www.zmag.org/bios/homepage.cfm?authorID=100 have been covering the Balkanisation issue since the beginning as have the International Action Centre (Ramsey Clarke) http://www.iacenter.org/. Rick Rozoff has tirelessly gathered almost all of the mainstream and international English language press coverage on the NATO take over since it started. These can be accessed here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/ and here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yugoslaviainfo/ General and specific history of the area and issues here:http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/62/index-c.html for any one who wishes to do any follow up of their own.

Richard,

The area of Kosovo covers nearly 11,00 square kms of prime multi purpose land in a temperate climate. Itself a huge prize. There is also the infrastructure, roads, railways, buildings. Serbia in general is 25% covered by forests and more so in the Kosovo region. Then there are the minerals. Seventy five per cent of Serbia's deposits are here. Kosovo is very rich in minerals. Lead, zinc, cobalt, gold, platinum, nickel, tin, copper, and lignite coal. The coal alone is worth 13.5 billion Euros. The other minerals are worth 20 billion $US more (UN stats) The jewel in the crown is the state owned Trepca mine complex. Despite 37,00 sorties by Nato planes the mines remained untouched. Almost all other industrial infrastructure was destroyed. Prior to the mid 1999 the government had started privatization of the mine. It had signed partnership contracts with Mytileneos Holdings S.A. a Greek metals company for US$519 million to redevelop parts of th mine. Mytileneos is still demanding that their contracts be honored. The British, who built the plant in 1927 and claim to have a 50 year concession, terminated in 1941, are demanding compensation. This part of Kosovo is under the administration of France and they are also wanting to get their share as they lost out in Bosnia. By international law it still belongs to Serbia/Yugoslavia and under UNSC resolution 1244 which maintains the integrity of the internationally recognized borders of Serbia post WW2. UNMIK has a current position for a national assets disposal officer http://www.unmikonline.org/boards/JobAnnou.../f0500?OpenForm so I suppose it will be sold off to the highest bidder amongst western corporations. The US has also established the biggest from scratch base there since Vietnam, Camp Bondsteel, built by the familiar name of Kellog, Brown and Root. It is so big it has its own uptown, mid town and down town districts. It is also the largest employer in Kosovo. More info here http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/oil-a29.shtml.

Scott,

Yes, the KLA is a criminal and terrorist organization. Funded by heroin and sex slavery as well as money from Albanians outside Kosovo and ponzi schemes, training by CIA asset OBL and friends. A region/country now ethnically cleansed of nearly all Serbs, Roma, and Jews. Kosovo will likely become a mafia fiefdom and continue to be a haven for black ops. While not every Albanian is involved in these criminal activities the more moderate ones have been intimidated and excluded from the political process. There will be no true independence for the majority of Kosovo Albanians just a puppet state. My own opinion is that the US are going to use Kosovo like a cuckoo in European nest. They will try to stir up nationalism and divide and rule amongst the Europeans and other nations particularly the former Soviet Union and Central Asia. The European Union (and therefore the Euro) will become as useless and weak as the UN. Even if the US$ and economy is on the slide this may buy them some time and they are happy to wreak havoc among others so they can't be strong either. I don't think it is going to be pretty.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Maggie Hansen