http://yomayorrrkudapo.md http://yomayorrrkudapo.md

Re: the Alb allegation that they descend from the Illyrians. Even had this been true (it isn't) what would this have to do with Kosovo as opposed to any other area of the Balkans? Kosovo's is a millennium-old name recorded on all old history maps, which name derives from (a) the Serbian language ('Kos' aka 'blackbird' in Serbian) and (b) Orthodox Christian tradition (the full name being 'Kosovo i Metohija', with 'Metohija' meaning lands possessed by the Serbian Orthodox church when the territory was named.)
So the history of Kosovo is on the Serbian side.
But using pseudo-history, Albanians could move into any area of the Balkans and claim it on exactly the same basis they do Kosovo, namely: 'we reckon we had some ancestors that lived everywhere round here thousands of years ago, so we'll just take this part of everywhere round here as well').
Watch out, Bulgaria, Belgrade or anywhere Balkan which has or gets an Albanian diaspora - their specious historical claim has already provided the intellectual justification for a great deal of true violence on the Albanian part.
2) Moving into the present re Kosovo:
Isn't it amazing how the EU can ignore the judgment of its own commission set up to establish precisely which parts of the then Yugoslavia had the right to independent statehood? The Badinter Commission in 1991 excluded Kosovo from having that right. It decided that parts of Yugoslavian republics (Krajina, Kosovo) could not usurp the sovereignty of Yugoslavian republics themselves (ie that of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia). So what's going on now? If not Krajina then, why Kosovo now?
Particularly as Krajina had been entitled under international law to abandon secessionist Croatia in favour of staying in Yugoslavia. Whereas Kosovo's Albanians can have no right under international law to rip away the territory on which they live from the rest of the Republic of Serbia of which that same territory forms a part.

there must be a Global Summit immediately to recognise Kosovo. Kosovans must decide themselves to maintain new balance with Russia or get taken by rueters and bbc press untill a full socialist/democratic cooler is fixed on the citizens heads......the systematic exploitation that the world has taken since secularists and zionists refused to retire yet is equally going to hurt new societies for quite long.

A greek giving opinions about Albanians.
Now that is rich,

"ALSO Tito let 650.00 albanians walk in Kosovo (open borders) and got free land and houses."

Wrong!

Albania was a sealed country during communism; no one could get in, no one could get out.

If someone did manage to get out, his family, friends, and relatives would be punished by the government. So, no one even tried to get out for the sake of their family.

It is a known fact that a part of the Albanian elite, along with communists fought the nazis during WWII. Albanian fighters even crossed the borders into Yugoslavia and assisted in its liberation from the Nazis. Another part of the Albanian elite, like those in most other countries collaborated with the Nazis.

The elite was greatly, and rightly so, deeply concerned with the emergence of communism, and some of them saw the alliance with the Nazis (while wrong and criminal) logical to them.

However, many Jews lived in Albania and they were protected by the Albanians. This fact was acknowdged by Isreal's government.

Most times, the history is never so black and white as Hollywood movies.

Israel has not recognized Kosove, not because it cares about Serbs, but because Israel cares about Israel, which is normal. It is the same as Kosovars cared about Kosovars, and not about Russia or other contries with oppressed nations and the problems it would create for them.

There is another side to your story -- many albanians have left Kosovo in the middle of XX century and settled inside present Albania. During the communist rule (1945 - 1991) many Albania Albanians wanted to defect and couldn't cross the border to Yugoslavia, ie Kosovo without being shot. The ones that managed to do that moved on and settled in the West (USA and Europe), which was their aspiration in the first place.

Tito was a croat and a moderate communist. He saw trouble with Albanians and made concessions. Later on when Serbia reversed those concessions, it is then when conflict arose.

If we use Serb's rationaly, if we were to annul Kosovo's independence, we should also annul that of many other eastern european countries that lived under Yugoslavia and USSR, that broke up without permission. Furthermore, we should also reverse the process of independence of all English, German, French colonies in Asia, Africa etc, which also broke up without permission.

It is a don-quixotesque rationale, borne out of obsessive, sick nationalism.

Kosovars always wanted independence, now they could and did it, and Serbia could not stop them. Serbia will force them back again if it can. The same with arab countries. They would take Israel off the map if they could. They tried but could not. Make no mistake, Serbia will not give up, it will try (yes, by force), but it will be up to Albanians to associate with strong allies and stay independent. Just like Israel.

During Tito's presidency over 300.00 serbs are forcefully - forced out without any monetary compesations ALSO Tito let 650.00 albanians walk in Kosovo (open borders) and got free land and houses.

So making a big albania started more than 50 years ago
and muslimanization of whole Europe. Europe will starts to safer

from those mistakes within less than 5 years.

todays European politician are BLIND and do not see
the trouble is coming.

Someone here brought up the analogy between the Civil War in US and Serbia/Kosovo. -- Lincoln used military force to keep the union, and Serbia should fight to stop secession as well. It is an illogical analogy for several reasons:

1. The issue of the the Civil War was the abolition of Slavery, not independence because of previous atrocities.
2. There is a reason why it is called Civil War - it means war inside one national group, americans against americans.
3. US leaders always believed that keeping and having a strong Union was important to deal with outside powers and dangers.

Some people are stuck in nostalgia and with the mentalities of the 1989: keep artificial federations. Wake up, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia broke up. The world superpowers created them as a collection of several nations under on roof, kept together by communist force. This did not work. When this force was no longer there, slovens, croats, kazakhs, beloruss, etc. macedonians, even montenegrons went their separate ways. The same thing happened with Kosovo; when Serbian force was no longer applied it went its own way too. It is the new order and we need to live with it.

If our polititians know the history better, they would act more responsibly on the Balkans as well as in the other parts of the World.
In the post WW II era not a single international problem was solved with the help of the UN or "superpowers", but many problems were created with their involvent. The biggest problem today is that we are deviding, not unifying the forces of progress and democracy, and keep ignoring the fact that our own existence is challanged by the almost unavoidable collosion between the cultures, among which one is particulary aggressive and compromiseless.
Albanians in Kosovo no less than any other people deserve to live happy life, but not on the expence of national interest of others.
Imagine, that in Florida Cuban Americans become an ethnic majority and declear independence from the USA. Stop the nonsense and use common sense, old Lady Europe and restless Uncle Sam!

If our polititians know the history better, they would act more responsibly on the Balkans as well as in the other parts of the World.
In the post WW II era not a single international problem was solved with the help of the UN or "superpowers", but many problems were created with their involvent. The biggest problem today is that we are deviding, not unifying the forces of progress and democracy, and keep ignoring the fact that our own existence is challanged by the almost unavoidable collosion between the cultures, among which one is particulary aggressive and compromiseless.
Albanians in Kosovo no less than any other people deserve to live happy life, but not on the expence of national interest of others.
Imagine, that in Florida Cuban Americans become an ethnic majority and declear independence from the USA. Stop the nonsense and use common sense, old Lady Europe and restless Uncle Sam!

Before 1999. in Pristina (The capital of Kosovo) lived 40.000 Serbs (of 200.000 citizens). Now in Pristina "living" only 10-20 Serbs (of 600.000 citizens). Only in Pristina, Albaniens grab 10.000 private apartments of Serbs. There are 250.000 refugees from Kosovo(Serbs, Roms). So, it is not blah-blah, it is shame for democracy and dead human rights. It is not question between Russia and USA it is question of modern civilization. In long order waiting parts of Greece, Macedonia,Montenegro, south Serbia+Kosovo+Albania=Big Albania

Hello there,

I am an Albanian living in New York. I don't see the real reason that Mr. Konstandaras is trying to avoid. He has not spoken of the hundreds of years of Serbia's almost holocaust in Kosovo. I understand that Mr. Konstandaras is Greek first, and resentment towards Albanian culture is obvious a part of his upbringing, which brings me to the point that: his comments are irrelevant. He has to bring the history of Albanians to the discussion but of course for him this is not relevant. Don't forget people that Albania is the only country that borders its own people. That would tell you how greedy the other countries have been with Albania lands. From the north as well as the south. So please, be happy, people that were killed like sheep can have a normal life. Mr.Konstandaras is preoccupied of the life Kosovo would have alone. Oh dear Mr.Konstandaras, is not your journalist job to worry. Let the people that lived through horror and obscurity to handle their own faith. If you had a little compassion you would be a real Christian and embrace the people's choice of a little bit of peace of mind. How in this entire article you didn't even say once that the Serbs should at least apologize for the killing and extermination of thousands of entire families? But of course it is not your concern, right.

Read and understand better:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/
ASIN-7C7S7Z?OpenDocument

http://www.justiceforall.org/kosova-history.asp

I can not help but see the parallel between Kosovo and Chechnya – in one case Russia was able to retake its rebel republic with its full military might, in the case of Kosovo, Nato intervened and now Kosovo has declared independence – illegally I might add. There are two operative lessons here.
1) If a country wants its sovereignty respected – by the west, it must be strong enough and its people must have the will to fight for it. While I am not an apologist for Milosevic – he shares some of the blame (along with people like Tudman) for what happened in the bloody break up of Yugoslavia, although he had been made a convenient scapegoat in the western media, he was ABSOBLUTELY right in fighting the terrorists from KLA, an organization that the US state department once branded as terrorist organization!! NATO’s argument of intervening on humanitarian grounds was baseless. No doubt, there were civilian casualties in the conflict, but there are civilian casualties in every conflict. So why is that Kosovo Albanians died at the hands of Serbia security force were considered victims of Serb “genocide”, while innocent Iraqis, by the thousands, met their death at the hands of their foreign occupiers are called collateral damage? Why is NATO not moved by the plight of Palestinian people – are Palestinians less human than Kosovo Albanians? Talk about hypocrisy!!

2) There are no international laws, but the laws of jungle that governs the international relations today. The west and US, in particular, can twist and turn any and all UN resolution to suit its needs. The talk of western respect for rule of law is nothing but a myth perpetuated by a sophisticated propaganda machine – aka western media, and euphemistically called free press.

It's funny to read from some of you here, "Kosovo should be part of Serbia" well at the end of the day it wasn't your families who got killed and abused so I guess you can just say whatever you feel because it is your personal interests that come first.

However the truth is leaving out history that in the Kosovo war the Serbs killed and abused Albanians and there is no way a People can trust such a nation again. Remember Germany lost a lot of territory after the second world war, and Serbia should be no different, consequences must be faced.

For those of you who support Serbia all I can say try and look at justice and truth, then you will understand why Kosovo should not be part of Serbia.

Remember that the Albanians will never accept to be part of Serbia again because they have lost a lot. But Serbia can get over it because they are getting let off lightly.

Of course, it is "special". Arguing that genocide happened does not make sense. Of course, the war crimes have been committed, around 5000 dead albanians killed by serbs, 2000 serbs killed by albanians, about 3-4000 serbs killed by NATO, and then there is a little known fact of albanians killing albanians who were considered serb collaborators, and some number of albanians killed by NATO as well, but albanians forgive that since they were saviours and heroes.
One other thing, why are Americans not supporting secession of Kurds in Turkey? They have suffered, and as we speak are still suffering, far too bigger crimes that any nation in past 20 years. Too many questions unanswered, not just this one. The decision was strictly based on lobbying of important people, rather than common sense.

well both parties have valid points in one way or another....

http://www.night-directory.com/

excellent article! for every separatist group, their case is "special".

Also, what about borders? kosovo borders were set up by Serbs, by the way.

Visar
3) Where is your data, I just see the sentence that there was a census and no data at all. The one that is detailed says the census was done on only 54% of the territory. Doing census in Albania is not easy since albanians still live in mountinous ranges and are organized in clans/tribes (I really don't mean that in a bad way, I don't mind, it's just a fact).
Census was done but how precise it was and what area it covers that is not mentioned.

My first two points are valid and that is why you are not replying to them. And it's not a point really, more like a fact that everyone who lived in former Yugoslavia can confirm.

4) Why do Kosovo albanians say they speak albanian then if they don't understand it so perfectly. Croats and serbs have almost the same language but each call it differently - croatian and serbian language. I am sure even within Albania there are few different dialcts, coastal region for sure has it's own. In any way, your argument that it takes a 1000s of years to develop a dialect does not stand, it took Americans less than 200 years to develop several different dialects/accents.

Alex
3) There was never official census in albania between ww2 and the 80s

These are the years in which there was official population censuses in Albania. 1918, 1923, 1930, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1960, 1969, 1979, 1989.

source: http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/suedost/seiner/index.html

u need to do some research buddy.

your first two points arent worth replying to.

as for the fourth point? How would you know what the difference is between the two. give sources of where you got the information from? Not what your family told you. Now the way i know, is well from books, and from the fact that I (from kosovo) can not fully understand people from Albania. Not because of the accent, but because of the dialect. Even though dialect and accent go hand in hand.

Alex
3) There was never official census in albania between ww2 and the 80s

These are the years in which there was official population censuses in Albania. 1918, 1923, 1930, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1960, 1969, 1979, 1989.

source: http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/suedost/seiner/index.html

u need to do some research buddy.

your first two points are worth replying to.

as for the fourth point? How would you know what the difference is between the two. give sources of where you got the information from? Not what your family told you. Now the way i know, is well from books, and from the fact that I (from kosovo) can not fully understand people from Albania. Not because of the accent, but because of the dialect. Even though dialect and accent go hand in hand.

Visar:
1) Kosovo was the black hole of Yugoslavia, but not because of neglect of central government, but because of corruption of local albanian officials. Taxes were deducted from everyone's salary in Serbia for the development of Kosovo. Instead of developing it, local albanian officials were using it for themselves, for planning the secession, and buying weapons from corrupted military officers
2) Albanian people have risked their lives to cross the border with Serbia, much like Cubans do to enter into the States
3) There was never official census in albania between ww2 and the 80s
4) Albanian language in Kosovo and Albania is the same, and it is just a different accent not dialect. It's like moving from NY to Houston, you will pick up some accent and if not you then your kids for sure

I do not hate albanians at all, they are mostly good people, just like serbs, croats and others. The solution is not to break apart the country but to make it work for everyone, and without Milosevic in power that is possible.

Someone mentioned that Albanians migrated from ALbania to Kosovo and thats how the pop. demographics changed. That argument does not stand for many reasons, i am going to state four:

1) Kosovo has been the black hole of yugoslavia because of neglect from the central government of Yugoslavia. Albania was equally poor during this time, which means that, if anyone is in pursue for a better life, they would not move from one poor place to another.

2) Albania under the paranoid communist leader Enver Hoxha, was sealed and nobody was allowed in or outside the country. Its paranoya is reflected from the many bunkers you see all around albania. This means that no Albanian was allowed to cross into Yugoslavian territory, especially coz Albania at that time feared yugoslavia the most.

3) Third reason that this argument does not stand is because, If such a large exodus of the albanian population did occure, this would have been reflected in a decrease of population within Albania. However this did not happen, instead there was steady increase in its population. Albanias population is small, it would be easy to notice population trends in such a small population.

4) FOurth reason is dialect: Kosovars have profoundly different dialect from those people in ALbania. It doesnt take 70 years for a new completely dialect to develope. These processess usually take thoussands of years.

So this leaves the truth and only the truth: The reason why the population of Kosovo increased is because of combination of ethnic cleansing of albanians from southern Serbian cities such as "Nis, Novi Pazar, Vranje, etc." Those people now live in Kosovo and are called "Muhaxher" That in combination of high birth rate, has lead to increased population, and decrease of serbs, due to social and economic situation in Kosovo.

I tried to post on the main board, but it does not take posts. I tried to send an email using report the offensive comments link, my email system is shot down. Is there a problem with parts of this site?

What is the relationship between a land and its people? Is the current generation living on a land the undisputed owner of the land and can do what it wants to it, or are they the custodians of the land left to them by previous generations, responsible for its safe keeping and obligated to surrender it to the next generation intact and unharmed? Does a generation living in a land trusted to them by their forefathers have the right to break it up or such an act is beyond the rights and privileges bestowed upon them? Does a contract among generations, a generational contract, exist and if so, should it be honored by the world community?

I believe such a contract exists and it is the predominant force behind the legitimate resistance to regional cessation desires around the world. Because of this contract not even the magority will among the ones who want to cease is enough to break up such unions. America’s civil war is a good example of this legitimate resistance. It explains why changes to the boundary of a state are always bloody and by overwhelming force.

Does the Kosovo cessation fit this model? Kosovo is independent because of forceful intervention of NATO and the cessation is disputed by the Serbs as they are obligated to do so.

The stated purpose of NATO’s intervention was to stop genocide. With that accomplished, NATO should have recognized and respected the Serbs obligation to keep the land in one piece. The logical next step was a plan for reconciliation not separation. Breaking the generational contract opens a wound that will burn Balkans for years to come.

Why are there still members of Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and in Kosovo? Have you ever been to Kosovo? The main industry is human trafficking, drugs, prostitution. Biggest customers: UN peace keepers.
Serbia is offering full autonomy for albanians in Kosovo: their own government, police, even army, everything but the seat in the UN. Why are they doing that? There is still about 100 000 serbs living in Kosovo and they mostly live in ghetos. The massacres of serbs by albanians that have taken place in March 2004 in front of the eyes of UN peace keepers proved that albanians are not to be trusted by a second state in that region.

The Greeks were of no help during the Bosnian struggles. I visited one Serb town which was previously Muslim in the Bosnian Serb Republic. My host was one of the biggest ethnic cleansers in the region, and he proudly showed a Greek pennant given to him by a visiting Greek delegation. The Greeks are no one to cast blame; they should have warned off their friends years ago instead of complaining now.

Boston:

"I want to know, if Serbs want Kosovo to be part of Serbia, what are the offering to 2M albanian currently living there. Are you just looking for the land and kill all of them or actually you have a plan where the Albanian have a place in the Serbian Society"

You are right on the problem. It is very easy to get the answer to you question, just read how Serbian "democratic" Prime Minister addressed the Serbs with his Milosevic-style speech. He said the following: "Kosovo is Serbia; Kosovo belongs to the Serbian people". How ludicrous is to say that -- 90% of Kosovo's inhabitants are Albanian -- if Kosovo belongs to the Serbian people, than what are we ghosts there?

Have you heard a key Kosovar Albanian leader, no matter which political spectrum it belongs to saying "Kosovo belongs to Albanians". That's righ -- no! We know that would be shameful for us to say since there are about 10% of non-Albanians living there. We are a democratic society and if you read the declaration of independence carefully, you will see what principles it promotes.

In addition, the Serbian Minister for Kosovo, Samarzic, publicly stated (as quoted by BBC) that "the aim was to make Kosovo a criminal state". This is exactly how Serbs have tried to always sabotage everything that we tried to do.

He is either an idiot to say that publicly, or he is a psychopath like Milosevic! Even the nationalist, Rada Trajkovic of Kosovo asked Kostunica to remove him from his post as he is seemed as dangerous and inciting violence.

I'm sorry? "The patience will run out someday when the Western Europeans will educate themselves and see these nations for what they really are, full of bigot and racist extremists"

Ok, those of you who are calling him a 'subjective prick' have a right to do this, but then you bring your own emotions into the argument (if you even had an argument) you are tyring to imply. To the quote above, I am from Serbia, and these EXTREMIST NAITONALISTS make up a very small minority inside Serbia. THE WHOLE MAJORITY are good, honest people.. Hypocricy is so easy to succumb too, is it not?

AND WHAT'S THIS? THINKING YOU KNOW THE WHOLE TRUTH? SEBRIA WAS NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT COMMITTED GENOCIDE AND MURDER. Kosovo had their share of murder onto Serbians, so did Croatia.. Jesus PEOPLE, wtf!! AND THINK ABOUT IT, Serbia was the only country punished in the so-called '78 day bombing' onto Serbia through NATO..

I'M DISSAPOINTED, do we seriously live in an eye-for-an-eye world? Do as to others as others do onto us? Let's be civilised beings, and TRY to come up with a solution for this problem, NOT BLAME THE SERBS! Too many times have I heard people come to a hasty conclusion, because oh GOD NO! We wouldn't want anobydoy trying to press the REAL issue at the comfort of their own homes!

It is unfortunate that I keep hearing "OH MY GOSH, WW3 WILL HAPPEN!" But I highly doubt it. A dissagreemnt over Kosovo is not enough.

Just my two cents.^^ Cheers

Most of you are missing the issue here, just because you need a place to shout.

The question is not if Kosovo Albanians deserve independence, but HOW and WHY this was granted to them by US/NATO/EU in violation of International Lay and UN Resolutions.

The arguments that the Albanian majority's oppression, or their feelings, are of importance to the decisions taken, are ridiculous in this context, even though it states a fact. Palestinians have been genocided for the last 60 years. No UN/NATO/EU bombed Israel, placed troops in Palestine and created an sovereign state there. Come on, do you believe the stuff you are writing?

Kurds in Turkey are being oppressed systematically . PKK is a terrorist organization for the US, just as UCK was. So I believe we can expect Ocalan to be Prime Minister of independent Kurdistan pretty soon, right?

Oh, about the PhD-In-History wiseguys.

BOSTON:

Homer's blue eyed, blond Greeks were Achilles and Helen. The blue eyes and blond hair were considered traits of exceptional beauty precisely because they were rare.

Alexander occupied greece. Athens under Pericles occupied half Greece. The Spartans the other half. Later, Thebes occupied a large chunk of Greece. That's the way things worked here, because of the separate CITY-STATES and kingdoms. Sorry, people weren't that civilized back here back then.

Apart from that, I do not in any way believe that Greeks have a gene-pool based solely, or even basically, on that of the ancient Greeks. But, national identity does not rest solely on thousand-year-old genes. If it were so, there would be no Americans, would there?

Boston:
Demographics throughout the history right here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Kosovo
So it does show serbs being majority in Kosovo prior to balkan wars not in 1940, so for that misinformation I apologize. The fact stays, albanians fought on the side of Nazis. How do you explain the explosion of albanian population after WW2? It nearly quadrupled in about 30 years. This is naturally not possible. Albania was until 1990s such an oppressive regime, just as the North Korea is now, the bunkers were surrounding the country and can still be seen. Albanians were fleeing their own country to Serbia where they had free health care, free education and social assistance. I will never-ever call Albanian people bad names, they are just people like everyone else. And I don't feel that was a bad move to let many albaninans into Serbia, people should be helped when in need. The same way, I despise Milosevic's regime. During the conflicts in 1998-99 they killed around 5000 albanians, expelled about a million during the bombing (which can be disputed since they were fleeing NATO bombing of Kosovo - same thing happened in Afganistan, people leave war zones). But the same goes for the albanians, killed about 2000 serbs since UN came to Kosovo.
Serbia gave every freedom to albanians in Kosovo for 45 years, and Milosevic's regime was oppressive for 5. Not to defend him or anything but KLA were terrorizing Serbs and many albanians who they called collaborators just because they were working in serbian factories. I would like to see what would USA do if they had 3000 armed terrorists in one of their states.

Well, I'm shocked how many historical "facts" are listed here that support Kosova independence claims. First off I suggest you to get a real history book and read it instead of Wikipedia. Secondly, I suggest you to read the Declaration by United Nations, which was, amongst other great powers, signed by Yugoslavia in 1942. Then you will learn what are the facts and what is "evil Serbian propaganda", and that afore mentioned "evil Serbian propaganda" is actually based on arguments. I'm not saying that all Serbian claims and arguments are true, but they are not all wrong too. I agree that Kosova people have a right to seek independence, but if such claim is not legal and in accordance with UN law, then you'll have a republic that is built on a shaky ground and will ultimately fail.

Let's not forget that Albanians made up the Nazi 21st SS Division Skanderbeg while the Serbians fought against the Axis powers during WWII. Albanians committed atrocities against Serbs and Jews during the war. You "historians" will have difficulty disputing or spinning these facts.

Albanians already have a country - it's called Albania. Kosovo will never be considered to be a legitimate country. It's renegade province of Serbia now.

Luke,

Please enlighten us which part of the Albanian comments are actually lies?

When they state the Genocide and the killing done by Serbs?

I haven't seen a single comment where the Serbs actually agree to the crimes they have commited not only in Kosovo but actually in Bosnia and other now free countries?

Marko,

In which book did you read that during 1940 there were actually more Serbs than Albanian living in KOSOVO?

Always refer to actuall facts not the books or stories your family told you.

I am aware that in Serb schools is taught that actually Kosovo was populated by Albanian emmigrants (which came from Albania) however as far as I know we never has such a large excodus to actually populate an area as large as Kosovo?

If that is the case how come the Albanians in Kosovo actually have a different accent from the rest of Albania.

We can actually recognize each albanian from its accent as to what citi it comes from and actually Kosovars have a very strong accent that is not related to any of the accents in Albania.

In addittion, please please please I want to hear one Serb agree on their origin, which by Schoolars is identified as from IRANIAN tribes. And there many factual direct correlation of Albanian language is derived by Illyrian,

I prefer to know all the facts and I have read many Serb History view points and it is biased as muchs as the Albanian ones; however if you read sources from other historians you can create a clear idea of what actually happened in the past 2000 years.

Last but not least: Irrelevant to the Historic disputes. I want to know, if Serbs want Kosovo to be part of Serbia, what are the offering to 2M albanian currently living there. Are you just looking for the land and kill all of them or actually you have a plan where the Albanian have a place in the Serbian Society.

What have you done so far to integrate youself with this "minority". No Serb ever mentions the Albanians in Kosovo, but just the Land of Kosovo. Please let me hear your plan:

The amount of garbage spewing out of the albanians mouths is astounding! Do you guys really believe your own lies???

Its really funny reading the comments the albanians are making regarding this article. In the past 10 years or more, most media outlets have been spewing out anti-serb propaganda and potraying albanian lies as truth. but now we have an article which is a bit more even sided and they are jumping up an down in anger. they cant take their own medicine! how sad

There is no doubt this has already set a precedent, but i judt hope i live to see the day when minorities in the US start declaring their own independence.

Is this a myth:
in both WWI and WWII Albania was on a German side- Nazis.
Both WWI and WWII Serbia was attacked and on the side of the allies, in fact the first resistance movement in Europe was in Serbia.
During and after WWII, majority of people in Kosovo were serbs. Communist government accepted thousands of albanian people who fled oppressive regime in Albania. As a thanks, they decide to claim independence in 1968, but they get autonomy, local government. Few decades later under this pressure number of serbs in Kosovo decreased dramatically. It was time to get put the idea of independence on the table again. This time through terrorist organization Kosovo Liberation Army. KLA was until 1999 officially considered a terrorist organization by the US. Many among their ranks were coming from Al Qaeda, which many claim is still present in Kosovo and parts of Macedonia.

Kosovo has never been legally part of Serbia. During the 1912 and 1913, while Ottoman Empire was collapsing, Serbia, together with the help of some regional allies, seized the moment and invaded the territory of Kosovo what was then called "Ottoman Vilayet". Now, this was not legal because no one had recognized Serbian sovereignty over the province. The new country of Turkey recognized only Belgrade's authority over Kosovo under the understanding that Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia. So, Serbia never really had legal sovereignty over Kosovo. That is why when Kosovar Albanians became vocal and wanted their status defined in 1968, Josip Borz Tito responded with the 1974 act that gave Kosovo its autonomy within Yugoslavia. So, in other words, Kosovo was really kept by force illegally under Serbia just as it was snatched by force from the crumbling Ottoman Empire in 1912. Now you can argue all day long that Serbia had a "moral" right to take Kosovo back from the Ottomans, and the ensuing nonsense that "Kosovo is a Jerusalem of Serbia", but the historical facts of last century are laid out in open for everyone to see.

That's why Serbs usually respond to Kosovo's independence with a fury of opinions and emotions loaded with myths, because the facts are not on their side. This, in addition, to trying to eradicate more than 2 million Kosovar Albanians from the face of the earth during the late 1990s. But the most outrageous act is that Serbs show no remorse for crimes against humanity that were committed on their behalf by their leaders during the last decade not only in Kosovo, but Bosnia and Croatia as well.

Now, it is no surprise that Serbia has always tried to rewrite history when it came to its relationship with its neighbors. But it is really amazing how they still attempt to deny mass killings of Albanians just a few years back---although it was one of the most documented wars of the last century and more bodies of Albanians have just recently been dug up in Serbia.

And it’s not just their leaders. Don’t forget that Slobodan Milosevic was promoted (by the majority of Serbian voters) as president of Yugoslavia in 1997 even though his fascist policies had already killed more than 100,000 Bosnians and Croats by then.

But this time, they seem to be in a really deep hole but still denying their own predicament. Pathetic!

Some of the pro-Serbian comments here are nothing more but the typical type of garbage that has actually remained of the self-perpetuating pathology of Serbian lies and propaganda.

You know, before the world discovered the true face of the Serbian fascism, Serbs tried to portray Albanians as creatures living on trees. When this racism didn't work in the modern world, the Serbs switched to another desperate mode of attempting to make Kosovo look like some Islamic place infested by islamofascists that would start exporting terrorism across Europe. Then they realized that can't actually make the international community swallow this garbage as Kosovars are the most pro-western, pro-American, non-religious people in the entire continent.

What are they up to now?

You see from the post above. Another pathetically desperate move to try and make the place a criminal heaven. And this is not just from anybody. Slobodan Samardzic, a Serbian minister in charge of the so-called Kosovo affairs, was quoted on BBC a few days ago as saying: "Our aim [Serbian] is to make Kosovo look as a criminal state". Of course they are going to try to do this, just like they tried everything against Kosovo Albanians, but in the end, Kosovars triumphed because the democratic world discovered the true face of Serbian fascism and eventually decided to put a stop to it.

What has remained of Serbia and Serbs today is nothing but empty slogans, resentment, desperation among people, and a moral and political breakdown of leadership.

Or as Mark Mardell of BBC put it today: "The toothless Serb syndrome".
What a tragedy for these people.

Here is a list of wise steps that Serbia could take following Kosovo’s independence:

1. Recognize it
2. Open an Embassy to start building diplomatic relations with its new neighboring COUNTRY
3. Promote Albanian language courses for the benefit of Serbian citizens for two main reasons:

a. Considering that the region is dominated by a large Albanian population and much of the trade is going to occur between Serbs and Albanians, it would help Serbs a lot to speak Albanian just like many Albanians already speak Serbian.

b. As Serbia is a landlocked country following Montenegro’s independence, many Serbs will start planning their vacations to the beautiful Albanian coast; thus, knowing the local language could prove as a great asset for having a great vacation. Otherwise, Serbs will have to resort to spending their vacations in Siberia, where, certainly, they will be “warmly” welcomed by their Slavic brothers.

On the other hand, the Republic of Kosovo along with the European Union would do everything they can to help Serbia move ahead towards its European path. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, has already expressed that he believes that Serbia belongs to Europe and should not hesitate to seek Kosovo’s support in getting there, despite our troubled past. The capital of the Republic, Prishtina, has also expressed its readiness to provide Belgrade with the much needed expertise in democratic governance and political reform. Kosovo has a long tradition of organizing free and democratic elections, so there too, the Kosovo expertise will be crucial in helping the Serbian people to identify leaders with radical and fascist platforms and implement ideas on how they can avoid electing them in the future.

Therefore, for all of those who have been skeptical about Kosovo—Serbia relationship, they are wrong. The Republic of Kosovo will be there for Serbia as it recovers from these difficult times.

I am American-Albanian, and two of my closest friends, one is serb from Belgrade, the other a Croat from Dubrovnik.

Of course New York is the great equalizer, and we cannot really understand what people that actually lived in Kosovo (albanian and serb) have gone through.

Living in a democratic society we are far-removed from the passions born out of killing or hating each other.

We do understand though that such a abusive relationship, beating of each-other, physical harm etc should really be solved with a divorce. It is better for both parties. Serbs are acting like a mad spouse not accepting the fact that their spouse filed for divorce. Instead serbs are yelling "you can't divorce, the church order said that in death shall we part!!!! Not anymore. Let's live each-other alone for some time, if we miss each other (which I seriously doubt) than we can get back together, otherwise good luck with your life. This is what people do in a civilized society. Is this so difficult to take?

Alex,

Many countries are multi-ethnic and this is not a requirement for the break-up. Countries with democratic societies, where minorities are respected and treated as equal -- these countries are fine. But this was not the case in former Yugoslavia.

For those who state that Albanians have done atrocities on Serbs as well, I have news for you -- no one is an alter-boy over there. However, Serb's oppression of Kosovo Albanians for many years or decades is well documented, there is no question about it. An analogy is that the wolf is crying why the lamb kicked back a few times in self-defense or retaliation.

Yugoslavian constitution barred any secession, but this did not stop Croatia etc. to go its own way. One might say Croatia was a separate republic, while Kosovo is part of the Serb Republic. However, UN separated Kosovo in 1999 from Serbia. Kosovo has distinct borders, has been an governmental, administrative and political entity separate from Serbia, not unlike many emerging countries in the history.

Kosovo will also be a good lesson for those regimes that oppress minorities or other ethnic groups to the point that forces UN to shelter them as protectoriates.

@DMITRY

The only mistake that U.S.A and Europe powers have done, is that they gave Kosovo to Serbia in 1913. They gave them something that did not belong to them.

I agree with your opinion of this issue. What the U.S. is doing will be remembered for a long time, and one day the U.S. will indeed have greater issues to deal with than Kosovo. The problem that I don't quite understand is why Europe is blindly rubber-stamping wrong decisions by the U.S. and for how long will Europe continue to blindly follow its friend across the ocean.

I see no reason to treat Serbia nicely or offer them a special path toward EU. Freedom and self determination is more important than fake sovereignty.

Russia defending law - now that's an oxymoron.

Of the neighboring countries, Greece and Romania are against independence, but they don't share a border with Kosovo. Their stance towards Kosovo is strictly selfish, based on the principles that caused the first Balkan war in 1912, and completely ignoring the principles of freedom and self-determination.

Croatia is proindependence, but they don't share a border with Kosovo either.

Albania is proindependence.

Macedonia will respect the wishes of 1/3 of its population, recognize independence, and thus secure its own unity.

Montenegro remains to be seen.

The point is that the time when problems in the Balkans are solved at the expense of Albanians is over. Greece should get used to this idea too.

WIR:
I was never really talking directly to you, just stating what I think is right. I do have serbian background (my mom is serbian) and I follow this topic closely. I am not nationalist, just trying to stay informed. I could direct the same question at you: so should we break apart any country that has mixed ethnic demographics? This does not relate to soviet republics since Kosovo is constitutionally part of Serbia. I don't hate albanians, it is just that this does not seem right.

NYC Albanian:
There was around 10 000 dead in that war, more than half caused by NATO bombing of Serbia. All victims should be respected and I do not defend Milosevic's tactics. However, KLA has killed thousands too, just over a period of couple of years so it does not sell great to western media.

Andrew Sellers:
Thanks for the comment. You must be serbian/greek or russian?

Why does USA want Kosovo? That is the question. It would be quite naïve to think that Kosovo will ever be independent of USA. Look at what happened in Afghanistan. USA helped them get independence from USSR and now USA controls Afghanistan. So what's the deal with Kosovo?

Andrew and Alex Walsh:

If I was to follow your reasoning I would need to stitch back together soviet republics into the mighty Soviet Union. Oh yes, the same for the Yugoslav ones.

There is plenty of proof now that artificial federations do not last. Why to this day are people surprised and shocked that Kosovo broke away?

Can anybody be naive enough to believe that Serbia and Kosovo can co-exist under one roof, sort of wolf and lamb in the den?

LegalEye,

If there has been injustice, albanian or serbian alike, it needs to be righted, but don't forget that no one is a saint in that part of the world.

In terms of economic and institutional readiness for a country to be independent, I have a little trouble applying your standard, since about 75% of the countries in this planet do not meet that and would need to lose their independence. Serbia has outsmarted Albanians in the past by creating nice alliances thus was able to acquire some of the Albanian territory (1913?). This time Albanians were the smart ones.

The nationalistic make-up of Serb leadership got in their own way.

Mitch: I couldn't agree more with you about Albanians making themselves heard as much as Serb are.

I must agree with Alex Walsh here, he seems to have this moderate tone supported by facts.
International law must be respected in this case and supporting the separation of one part of a country on ethnic principals is just not good politics. As I understand, UN Administration is in charge in Kosovo, so there is no prosecution of Albanians any more. Serbians agree to protect the albanians now that they overthrown Milosevic's regime and are allowing albanians to govern themselves. They just don't want to have a part of their homeland taken away.

Serbia got off easy from the war in 1999. It lost a territory which it wasn't hers in the first place. Forget about "apologies" for atrocities and causing close to 1 millions people (albanian and others, including serbs) to leave their homes. Losers pay to fill the victor's coffers, reparations included. It has always been like that. But not Serbia, which has not paid a dime yet.

Maybe it is time for Albanians to go on the offensive to get what is theirs from this sore loser.

PLEASE ADD TO THE LIST ALL THE CRIMES COMMITTED BY SERBS AND DO NOT LIST ME THE 200,000 SERBS WHICH LEFT KOSOVO.

IT IS VERY FUNNY THAT ALL THE SERBS FORGET TO LIST THEIR OWN CRIMES.

LIST THE CRIMES AND THAN WE CAN TALK