us embassy overrun in belgrade

[manu1959]

well the third front seems to be developing.....

[manu1959]

well the third front seems to be developing.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7256158.stm

[Gaffer]

A new muslim country established, just what the world needs. Watching the news now about the riots. Some potential for real trouble developing there.

[truthmatters]

They have found a charred body in the rubble.

[Dilloduck]

They have found a charred body in the rubble.

I bet thats where bin laden has been the WHOLE time .

[manu1959]

They have found a charred body in the rubble.

officials say it is a protester all the us folks are accounted for.....

[diuretic]

It's not a third front, it's just a bunch of arseholes who have been stirred up by their arsehole government.

[manu1959]

It's not a third front, it's just a bunch of arseholes who have been stirred up by their arsehole government.

well if russia desides to back belgrade you may get to eat those words....the us is seen as weak.....perfect time for russia to strike....

[Kathianne]

well if russia desides to back belgrade you may get to eat those words....the us is seen as weak.....perfect time for russia to strike....

Yep, the US is bluffing about concern.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTliZmY2NDgzMjYwMjk1YzRkZWFlYjYzNDNmM2VjM2U=



Kosovo Was Then, This Is Now... [Victor Davis Hanson]

Quite apart from the undeniable merits of independence, in political terms Kosovo 2008 is not quite Kosovo of 1998. Let us count the post-9/11 ways:

1. The rise of radical Islam, especially in Europe, has made Western publics edgy about Muslim-identified states, especially inside Europe.

2. Russia is no longer a basket case, but rearming, aggressive, overflowing with petro-dollars, and eager to use oil — and more — as a weapon.

3. Milosevic is long dead.

4. For six years there has been a steady anti-American drumbeat in Europe and caricatures of the use of “preemption” and “unilateralism”; Euros have so turned off Americans that there is no support for reintervention to solve a “European” problem that should of course, if it worsens, be adjudicated at the Hague and other European Utopian agencies.

5. This was a Clinton thing, and predated George W. Bush. The current tension reminds us of our forgotten American Balkan presence, that seems to have been necessary for the past decade — and without a treaty no less! And did we ever ask Congress to bomb over there, or did we go to the sacrosanct U.N.? Suddenly there are few liberal Harry Reid/Nancy Pelosi talking points to be heard on Kosovo.

6. After Afghanistan and Iraq, there is no likelihood that Americans want a third war, especially for Kosovo. Can you imagine the EU begging the Texan, twangy Halliburtonite, bible-thumping George Bush to please do something now!? I imagine right now President Bush is getting a different sort of phone call from his European friends, “Yo George?”

7. Yet given NATO’s dismal performance in Afghanistan, it has little fides in the Balkans, and the American attitude might be ‘you didn’t want to fight much for Afghanistan, so why should we for Kosovo?’

8. There is some EU support, especially in Eastern Europe and among Orthodox and Greek-speaking communities, for Serbia. Perhaps unfaddish and most un-European, but support nonetheless.

Where does all this leave us? It might be a fine and noble thing for the Kosovars to have their own state like the rest of the regions of the former Yugoslavia. But let us pray that neither Serbia nor Russia calls the Western bluff about guaranteeing Kosovar autonomy, because in the present climate it really would be, well, a big fat bluff.

[diuretic]

well if russia desides to back belgrade you may get to eat those words....the us is seen as weak.....perfect time for russia to strike....

Russia won't "strike" anyone, especially not over something as pissy as Serbia going off because of Kossovo. The hyper-nationalists in Serbia couldn't contain their rage. The fact that an obvious target for hyper-nationalists wasn't guarded by police is an indicator that this behaviour, if it wasn't encouraged by the government, has at least been tolerated. This - and the stupidity of recalling ambassadors - is about as strong as it will get for Serbia. The Russians will do the united Slav thing but no-one is going to "strike" anyone over this, there's simply no value in it.

[manu1959]

Russia won't "strike" anyone, especially not over something as pissy as Serbia going off because of Kossovo. The hyper-nationalists in Serbia couldn't contain their rage. The fact that an obvious target for hyper-nationalists wasn't guarded by police is an indicator that this behaviour, if it wasn't encouraged by the government, has at least been tolerated. This - and the stupidity of recalling ambassadors - is about as strong as it will get for Serbia. The Russians will do the united Slav thing but no-one is going to "strike" anyone over this, there's simply no value in it.


yea the poles and cechs said this in the 30's....

[Kathianne]

The Balkans have always been a hell hole, entering them is dangerous for anyone.

[diuretic]

yea the poles and cechs said this in the 30's....

And that means what?

[actsnoblemartin]

we need more muslim countries, like we need more meth-heads

[Kathianne]

and so it begins, meaning Europe is not going to take care of it's own and is looking for NATO. Glad they noticed we moved out first. We should not do this one, get our guys serving under blue helmets or NATO out of the Balkans, they are Europe's problem; we're already picking up their part of NATO in Afghanistan:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/wserbia124.xml


EU withdraws from Kosovo as Serbia protests

Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 24/02/2008

Hopes for a peaceful conclusion to the declaration of Kosovo's independence were fading as the European Union announced it had withdrawn its staff from the north of the fledgling country in the face of increasingly angry Serb protests.
# Riots force US embassy staff to leave Serbia

The civilian staff were meant to be preparing for the EU to take over responsibility for security in Kosovo from the United Nations.
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The announcement of the withdrawal came as the United States - which backed Kosovo's drive for independence - began to evacuate its American staff and their families from Serbia, offering US citizens the chance to join a convoy of 40 cars leaving Belgrade for Croatia.

"We are not sufficiently confident that they are safe here," said US ambassador Cameron Munter. On Thursday protesters stormed and burned the US embassy in Belgrade. A week after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Kosovan capital Pristina to celebrate the country's unilateral declaration of independence, Kosovo is already effectively partitioned.

The mostly Serb-populated northern region around the divided town of Mitrovica, next to the Serbian border, has made it clear that it wants no part of the newborn country that Serb officials consider "illegal". The bridge on the Ibar River that divides the Albanian and the Serb parts of Mitrovica has been closed to traffic, guarded by UN police and Nato on one side, and Serb strongmen on the other.

At the same time, KFOR, the Nato-led peacekeeping force, sealed the border to Serbia, after angry mobs torched border crossings. "This is a beginning of a secession of the northern part of Kosovo," Oliver Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb leader from Mitrovica, told The Sunday Telegraph. "I fear it will lead to attacks on the remaining Albanians living in northern Mitrovica to force them to flee across the river.

.....

[avatar4321]

Russia won't "strike" anyone, especially not over something as pissy as Serbia going off because of Kossovo. The hyper-nationalists in Serbia couldn't contain their rage. The fact that an obvious target for hyper-nationalists wasn't guarded by police is an indicator that this behaviour, if it wasn't encouraged by the government, has at least been tolerated. This - and the stupidity of recalling ambassadors - is about as strong as it will get for Serbia. The Russians will do the united Slav thing but no-one is going to "strike" anyone over this, there's simply no value in it.

With all due respect, I have to disagree with your certitude on this. I was reading an opinion of an academic prior to World War I who was certain that the great world powers would never go to war again because our economies were so integrated. That was the year before World War I started.

Reality is that we could be in major world conflicts at any time. I don't anticipate them soon or immediately, but I think it's foolish to declare that they will never happen.

Nor is saying it would be stupid a strong argument for why it wont. Reality has also repeatedly demonstrated that there are a lot of stupid people in the world. Just because something is stupid, doesn't mean someone won't do it.

[avatar4321]

well the third front seems to be developing.....

Maybe I'm missing something, but I am not entirely sure what you mean by the third front. What is the First and Second? Front to what?

[diuretic]

With all due respect, I have to disagree with your certitude on this. I was reading an opinion of an academic prior to World War I who was certain that the great world powers would never go to war again because our economies were so integrated. That was the year before World War I started.

Reality is that we could be in major world conflicts at any time. I don't anticipate them soon or immediately, but I think it's foolish to declare that they will never happen.

Nor is saying it would be stupid a strong argument for why it wont. Reality has also repeatedly demonstrated that there are a lot of stupid people in the world. Just because something is stupid, doesn't mean someone won't do it.

I was, when I wrote that, thinking in terms of benefit. I do believe that rational foreign policy (ie running on national self-interest) by the Russians would preclude them getting involved in this basically pride-based kerfuffle in other than a purely symbolic manner. They may bang on about the brotherhood of the Slavs but they know the Serbian government is going to lose this one. Still, they'll make some noises and no doubt they'll also be thinking about some of their own potential Kossovos but I really do think they'll only be waving the flag and won't be loading any weapons.

[Kathianne]

I was, when I wrote that, thinking in terms of benefit. I do believe that rational foreign policy (ie running on national self-interest) by the Russians would preclude them getting involved in this basically pride-based kerfuffle in other than a purely symbolic manner. They may bang on about the brotherhood of the Slavs but they know the Serbian government is going to lose this one. Still, they'll make some noises and no doubt they'll also be thinking about some of their own potential Kossovos but I really do think they'll only be waving the flag and won't be loading any weapons.

I can see why you thought so, it would be commonsense; IF Europe was willing to back Kosovo. It's not and the US, I certainly hope is NOT going to pick up the slack this time.