All posts in Kosovo

It’s on

by admin on March 5, 2009 in Balkans, Croatia, Kosovo with 1 Comment

“Nate, man, can you please pass me the slivo,” Bashkim said, referring to the bottle of plum moonshine next to me in the backseat of his 1998 Opel Corsa. This wouldn’t have seemed out of the ordinary had my Kosovar Albanian friend/fixer/translator/driver not been at the wheel of the his European hatchback as it braved the Croatian toll road somewhere between Zagreb and Split amid rain and violent winds about 3 a.m.

Bashkim had so far demonstrated remarkable skill and discipline at the wheel, and I, having not slept in the past 36 hours was in no position to argue. Sensing my discomfort with the alcohol enterprise, Bashkim reassured me that he required just a drop of the potent liquor — made by his girlfriend’s father — on his tongue just for the purposes of stimulating his senses.

Such began the road to Kosovo.

An anniversary

by admin on March 24, 2008 in Kosovo with No comments

Today marks nine years since the start of NATO’s bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to end Slobodan Milosevic’s brutal crackdown on Kosovar Albanians. Belgrade is marking the occasion by proposing an ethnic partition of parts of northern Kosovo where Serbs are a majority.

Creating a Republika Srpska-style zone in Kosovo may prove to be the best short-term solution in order to prevent any further outbreaks of violence like the recent unrest in Mitrovica. But maintaining what is in essence the status quo is not a viable endgame. Maybe things will fester for another five or 10 years with a deteriorating economic condition for the Serbs. That sounds a like a crock pot for ultra-nationalism. Seeing first-hand the state of Serbs in the enclave of Gracanica in 2006, I find it abundantly clear that maintaing isolation will merely add to their frustrations.

So what then? Those in the West who see closure of the Balkan problem in Kosovo’s well-deserved declaration of independence are sorely mistaken. An independent Kosovo is a bitter pill to swallow, even for EU-wanting, nationalist-hating moderates. Not only have they lost the heart and soul of their country, the realization of ethnic Albanian dreams came with the price of fodder for Serb nationalists.

Kosovo finds more love

by admin on March 19, 2008 in Balkans, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Uncategorized with 3 Comments

Croatia and Hungary (aka Kolbaszorszag) have joined the growing list of countries that recognize Kosovo’s independence. Naturally, Serbia responded by recalling its ambassadors from both countries.  Hopefully this won’t screw over the few hundred thousand Hungarians living in the Serbian province of  Vojvodina.  At least Magyar State Secretary Marta Fekszi Horvath has their back: 

         We think it is not in the interests of the Serbian government for the Hungarians in Vojvodina to suffer atrocities.”

That’s called sticking it to them, Magyar style. 

  

Mitrovica parties like it’s 1389

by admin on March 17, 2008 in Kosovo with No comments

Taking the molotovian approach to protest, Serbs in the northern Kosovo flashpoint city of Mitrovica attacked U.N and NATO forces with the explosive cocktails, grenades and small-arms fire after the raid of a Serb-occupied courthouse. It’s the worst violence since Kosovo’s declaration of independence last month, with scores of injuries reported on both sides. The U.S. has reportedly withdrawn and KFOR is patrolling. This is troubling to say the least, and hopefully this isn’t the beginning of a Belgrade-sponsored violent uprising. Such a moronic move, however, would not be surprising.

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