29.9.2007 by Lupo.

The Perils of Kosovo’s Independence

by Srdja Trifkovic
……………………………
“We met recently with the U.N. mediator Marti Ahtisaari here in Rome,” Mantica goes on, “and he insisted that Kosovo’s independence would not set a precedent” for other countries with compact minority populations that wish to secede:

We asked him about Abkhasia, Ossetia, Transdnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, northern Cyprus—and we found Mr. Ahtisaari very compliant with the American perspective. Neither he nor the current Italian government are taking any account of the position of Serbia. We have responded to Ahtisaari by pointing out that the current ethnic balance between Kosovo’s Serbs and Albanians is the result of the Albanians’ ethnic invasion, with only ten percent of the population being Serbian…….. with no new ideas on the table. I asked him personally, if the northern part of Kosovo should be allowed to remain with Serbia, or if the Serbian Republic in Bosnia, the Republika Srpska, should be able to join the Republic of Serbia. Is it not the case that Kosovo’s independence would open a host of new problems? I have also noted that the current borders of Serbia are not natural and historical but…….a state far greater in geographic extent than the historical Croatia.

Senator Mantica insists that Italy should not recognize any unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo that would seek to bypass the Security Council, “not only for legal and political reasons, but also because of the long historic ties between Italy and Serbia that hark back to World War I and before.” The pressure from the United States is strong, he says, but in Washington they cannot walk and chew gum at the same time: “Their absolute priority right now is Iraq and Afghanistan, and Kosovo is low on their list of priorities.”

When all is said and done, Manica continues, is it possible to imagine Kosovo as a functional sovereign state? He thinks not, and would therefore suggest a creative alternative: Kosovo as a province of Europe: “If we assume that all of the Balkan countries will eventually enter the European Union, it should be possible to envisage Kosovo entering Europe in a different way, like a province administered by the Union itself.” He nevertheless warns that is not in the capacity and authority of the EU to make such a decision:

Personally I hold that we are still stuck with the destructive legacy of Madeleine Albright. The policies pursued by the United States in her tenure [as Secretary of State] have helped Al Qaeda in Europe. But the same spirit is still present in Mr. Ahtisaari’s insistence that the Serbs of the Krajina are not a problem, while the Albanians of Kosovo are a problem—although in both cases the number of refugees was more or less the same.

……………………………

Chronicle

Geschrieben in Geschichte - History, Balkan (Englisch), Balkan | Keine Kommentare »

29.9.2007 by admin.

URL dieses Artikels: http://www.netzeitung.de/ausland/760170.html

Karsai bietet Taliban Regierungsposten an

29. Sep 13:54, ergänzt 14:00

Hamid Karsai Foto: dpa

Der afghanische Präsident Hamid Karsai will zu Friedensgesprächen mit Taliban treffen.

Der afghanische Präsident Hamid Karsai hat sich am Samstag zu persönlichen Friedensgesprächen mit Taliban-Führer Mullah Omar bereit erklärt. Außerdem stellte er den radikalislamischen Extremisten Posten in der Regierung in Aussicht, um ihren Aufstand zu beenden. Auch mit Milizführer Gulbuddin Hekmatjar wolle er sprechen, sagte Karsai: «Wenn ich ihre Adresse habe, brauchen sie nicht zu mir kommen, ich werde persönlich dorthin gehen und mich bei ihnen melden», meinte Karsai.Der Präsident hat die Taliban in den vergangenen Wochen wiederholt zu Verhandlungen aufgefordert. «Warum zerstören Sie das Land», fragte er am Samstag an die Adresse Omars und Hekmatjars.

Bei einem der blutigsten Anschläge seit dem Sturz der Taliban hatte ein Selbstmordattentäter zuvor 30 Menschen mit in den Tod gerissen, 30 weitere wurden verletzt. Zu der Bluttat in der Hauptstadt Kabul bekannten sich die Taliban. (AP)

Warum ist dann überhaupt die NATO dort einmarschiert und hat Drogen Bar Lords geschaffen, als sie mit den übelsten Schlächtern wie General Dostum zusammen arbeitete?

Geschrieben in Welt News Spezial | Keine Kommentare »

29.9.2007 by CrniLabudovi.

Folgen, wenn es zu keiner Einigung kommt: Extrem Kriminelle und Faschisten, werden Anschläge im Raum Kosovo verüben!

Folgen einer Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo: Die Kosovor Verbrecher Banden, welche sich jetzt Politiker nennen, werden umgehend und sofort Anschläge in den Nachbar Gebieten von Mazedonien, Montenegro forcieren um ihr Hitler Groß Albanien zu vollenden. Die Ethnischen Säuberungen auch in den Nachbar Ländern werden seit langem vorbereitet.

Die AACL und die Vorstellung von Hitlers Groß Albanien.

Fünf Modelle

Fünf Modelle für den künftigen Status Kosovos stehen zur Debatte:

• Überwachte Unabhängkeit: Kosovo soll unter internationaler Aufsicht (EU und Nato-Truppen) schrittweise die Selbständigkeit erlangen. Das Modell wird von EU und USA favorisiert, scheiterte aber bereits im Sommer im UNO-Sicherheitsrat am Veto Russlands.

• Umfassende Autonomie (Serbien behält Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik, Zoll und Polizei): Die Wunschvorstellung Belgrads wird von Kosovo-Albanern nach jahrelanger serbischer Repression, die 1999 im Kosovo-Krieg gipfelte, kategorisch abgelehnt.

• Volle Unabhängigkeit: Lehnt wiederum die Belgrader Regierung kategorisch ab: Würde internationales Recht und die Souveränität Serbiens verletzen.

• Teilung: Gesichtswahrende Variante für Belgrad, um wenigstens den serbisch dominierten Nordteil Kosovos zu retten. Doch die Kosovo-Führung und auch EU und USA sind dagegen.

• Hongkong-Modell: Kosovo bekommt eigene Verwaltung nach dem Prinzip: ein Staat, zwei Systeme. Auch dies wird von der Kosovo-Führung abgelehnt, gilt aber als möglicher Ausweg für die Staatengemeinschaft.

Rolle der Schutzmächte

Zur Verhärtung der einander ausschliessenden Positionen der Konfliktparteien tragen deren jeweilige Schutzmächte wesentlich bei. Für die Kosovo-Führung ist die Unabhängigkeit bereits beschlossene Sache und daher «nicht verhandelbar», weil die Amerikaner dahinter stehen. Serbiens Regierung wiederum wird die Strategie des Verschleppens und Zeitschindens beibehalten, solange Russland dies unterstützt.

Pläne der Extremisten

In den kommenden Wochen wird auch viel Kriegsrhetorik zu hören sein. Sowohl auf serbischer als auch kosovarischer Seite rüsten Extremisten für den Tag nach Ende der New Yorker Gespräche. Serbiens Präsident Boris Tadic warnte vor der UNO-Vollversammlung vor einer neuen Kriegsgefahr auf dem Balkan: Im benachbarten Norden Mazedoniens bereiteten sich albanische Terroristen, angeführt von entflohenen Gefangenen in Kosovo, auf Anschläge in südserbischen Gemeinden vor. Dort, an der östlichen Verwaltungsgrenze zu Kosovo, formiert sich seit Frühsommer auch die «Lazar-Garde», benannt nach dem legendären Serbenfürsten, der 1389 die heute mythenbeladene Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld (Kosovo polje) gegen die Türken verloren hat. Die Führer dieser Garde haben laut einem Bericht der Albaner-Zeitung «Koha ditore» der UNO-Verwaltung in Pristina mit einem bewaffneten Angriff gedroht, sollte Kosovo sich einseitig für unabhängig erklären.

Sollte die Proklamation ausbleiben, drohen der UNO-Verwaltung, der EU-Vertretung und der von der Nato gestellten Friedenstruppe Kfor zur Zielscheibe albanischer Extremisten zu werden.

Tagblatt

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29.9.2007 by CrniLabudovi.

Battle for the soul of Sicily

Image: Wikipedia

A new crackdown on the Sicilian Mafia may prove the strongest in decades, but renewed efforts are backed by a government on a weaker footing than Mussolini’s of the 1920s.

By Eric J Lyman in Rome for ISN Security Watch (20/09/07)

The battle over the future of the Sicilian Mafia is being waged now across the southern Italian island, where business leaders are trying to figure out whether they can afford not to pay the pizzo - extortion money - to the Cosa Nostra’s enforcers.

Earlier this year, Sicilian construction magnate Andrea Vecchio wrote a letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano asking for help in avoiding his share of the pizzo that by some estimates adds at least €10 billion (US$14 billion) a year to Mafia coffers.

“We can’t go on living like this,” the desperate letter said. “We just want to live in a normal country.”

Vecchio’s missive sparked a series of initiatives that may prove to be among the most serious anti-Mafia crackdown since before World War II, including increased police funding, random raids, the freezing of bank accounts and the possibility that the government could station veteran troops just back from Iraq and Afghanistan in Sicily to keep the peace.

But the biggest step is the attack on the pizzo.

Napolitano vowed that the government would track down and arrest Mafia enforcers collecting the illicit payments. Confindustria, Italy’s leading employers’ lobby group, in August declared war on the pizzo, which is thought to be one of the main drains on the under-developed economy of Italy’s south.

The group said it would expel any members who paid the levy, which is thought to range from around €50 per month for street vendors to as much as €10,000 per month for large businesses. Major construction sites are reportedly forced to pay at least €15,000 to the Mafia to ensure security.

Both Vecchio, who wrote the original complaint and Ivan Lo Bello, president of Confindustria’s Sicilian chapter, were put under around-the-clock police protection. Both men have reported receiving multiple death threats, and Vecchio has said that two of his work sites had been sabotaged.

Meanwhile, the jury is still out on whether the move will be effective, especially as the first round of payments since the announcement is not yet due . Also, even if they are made they do not leave a paper trail that would point the finger at Confindustria members that broke ranks. But Lo Bello says the importance of the move cannot be underestimated.

“This is the battle for the soul of Sicily,” he said in a television interview. “It is a battle we cannot lose.”

A new crackdown

The existence of the Mafia as a crime group in Sicily dates back at least to the middle of the 19th century - and there is some speculation it might be much older, when it took the form of a guerilla movement that fought against foreign invaders of the strategically placed island.

Whatever its origins, it has always existed as a substitute for government, providing - according to the legendary crime boss Calogero Vizzini in the 1950s and echoed by many since then - a kind of justice, order and local autonomy when the official state was unable to provide. The pizzo is the substitute government’s form of taxation………..

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18140

Geschrieben in Balkan (Englisch) | Keine Kommentare »

29.9.2007 by CrniLabudovi.

Intel Brief: Bulgaria-Macedonia intel scandal

Accusations against Bulgaria are highly likely to reveal more about current internal Macedonian political climate than interstate relations.

Intel Brief by Diane Chido for ISN Security Watch (28/09/07)
The Macedonian intelligence agency denies claims made by the country’s largest daily newspaper, Dnevnik, that one of its counter-intelligence analysts has stolen the agency’s database on undercover operatives, fled the country and sold the information to Bulgarian secret services.

Despite refuting the accuracy of the story, published on 31 August, the Macedonian government has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the publication of the article. And regardless of the investigation’s findings, the case is likely to underscore the instability and corruption in Skopje.

The Dnevnik report claims that the alleged theft of counter-intelligence information has compromised the entire Macedonian intelligence network and is likely to take two decades to rebuild. The story quotes unnamed sources within the Macedonian Interior Ministry, underscores longstanding tensions between Bulgaria and Macedonia and highlights potential instability within the Macedonian government.

The daily also speculated that the alleged data thief is a relative of former Macedonian interior minister Dosta Dimovska, who is now the head of the Macedonian cultural center in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.

Dimovska resigned from her position as interior minister in 2001 in protest against an “unconstitutional” phone-tapping scandal allegedly initiated by the current president, Branko Crvenkovski, when he was prime minister.

Dimovska has claimed publicly to have no relatives in the intelligence services.

In response to the Dnevnik report, Macedonian Radio noted that Macedonian officials had emphasized the likely “potential negative implications for shaping the public view on the Macedonian security system,” and stressed that publishing unverified information “devalues the security structures’ work.”

Adding to the difficulties within the intelligence agency is the 29 August resignation of its director, Kire Naumov. Appointed by and reporting directly to the president, Naumov has only served in this post since June 2006.

Skopje’s daily Vecer reports that Naumov, a 35-year-old economics professor, was selected in order to “stop the chaos” undermining the effectiveness of the agency amid a climate of increasing tensions among the primary Albanian political factions within the government.

One manifestation of these tensions involves reports that the Albanian vice-director of the intelligence agency, Muhamed Ismaili, was illegally arming favored Albanian separatists through his associations with militant leaders. The leader of a rival Albanian party, Rafiz Aliti, threatened violence against the Ismaili faction - a move that culminated in several days of attacks against political figures and the death of Aliti’s son.

On 5 September, Vreme reported that Crvenkovski would likely replace Naumov with Tose Kosinovski, an officer from the military intelligence services. This announcement has caused some concern as the military has its own intelligence service. However, Crvenkovski has said Kosinovski was the right choice as he had not been a party member and as such would not give the impression that the new agency director was anyone’s “tool.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports that inter-Albanian tensions are likely to continue to affect the structure and sustainability of Macedonia’s security services.

President Crvenkovski has recently come under fire from the opposition in parliament for failing to shore up security in the country. This has been fueled by reports that Xhezair Shaqiri - a former lawmaker who headed an ethnic-Albanian guerilla group that led the bloody 2001 uprising - informed local media on 31 August that he and his supporters had driven back police after they tried to enter the border village of Tanusevci.

On 23 August, Shaqiri said that Tanusevci was preparing a referendum on seceding from Macedonia and uniting with neighboring Kosovo, arguing, according to a report in the daily Fakti, that “the government is showing absolutely no interest in this part of the country.”

Crvenkovski became president in 2002 and resigned his post as prime minister. From early 2004, however, his administration has been under a cloud of suspicion that he was involved in the death of his predecessor, Boris Trajkovski, who died in a plane crash on the way to an economic conference in Croatia. Rescuers did not reach the plane for 24 hours, but Crvenkovski’s public declaration of Trajkovski’s death within hours of the crash led to grave speculations. Trajkovski was known as a moderate reformer and a peace broker.

Vreme, citing the Pristina-based Lajm newspaper, reported that Macedonian authorities offered money for land to residents of the Kosovo village of Debalde, approximately one hundred yards from Tanusevci.

According to Balkan Update, the contested land covers 150 square miles and is the primary reason that the border between Macedonia and Kosovo there has not yet been demarcated.

On 30 August, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Agim Ceku visited Debalde, telling residents that “no one could deprive them of their property.” The statement is vaguely reminiscent of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic’s ominous 1989 war cries of “No one will be allowed to beat you” and “No one will ever humiliate the Serbian people again.”

While serving as prime minister in July 1996, Crvenkovski ordered the removal of Albanian flags in front of government buildings, which led to protests that left one person dead………………………….

ISN.CH

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