17.3.2010 by HoisseBig.

Belgrade | 17 March 2010 | Bojana Barlovac

A Serbian Orthodox Church burns during the 2004 riots in Kosovo

Six years after ethnic Albanians attacked Serb enclaves in Kosovo in what became the worst single attack against Kosovo Serbs since the 1999 war, reconstruction of damaged property is ongoing but Serbian officials believe that conditions for the return of the Serb population have not yet been established.
In an interview with Tanjug news agency, Serbian Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic said that Serbia wants a prosperous, multiethnic society to be established in Kosovo, but that one of the prerequisites for that is the return of about 220,000 refugees and internally displaced citizens.

“You can’t just declare that you support the return of Serbs, multi-ethnicity, and legal protection without doing something to make it happen on the ground,” the minister explained.

After UNMIK police found the bodies of two Albanian boys in the Ibar River in the village of Cabra in northern Kosovo, massive protests by Albanians who accused Serbs of the deaths broke out in southern Kosovska Mitrovica on March 17, 2004.

The protests then spread all over Kosovo, eventually resulting in the deaths of eleven Albanians and eight Serbs. Approximately 4,000 Serbs are believed to have been driven from their homes as a result of the riots.

More than 800 objects, including 35 churches and monasteries, were heavily damaged or completely destroyed. According to UNMIK, about 60,000 Albanians took part in the riots. More than 100 members of KFOR and UN police were injured, while 72 vehicles of the international forces were set on fire.

Oliver Ivanovic, State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, said that those who had created the pogrom scored a goal as most of the people did not return and negotiations on the status of Kosovo were opened.

“[Kosovo] Serbs do not feel safe, especially if they return individually, and there is no way to persuade them to return collectively,” broadcaster RTS quoted Ivanovic as saying.

Bogdanovic said that he was afraid that something similar could happen after the planned KFOR mission scale-down.

As for NATO’s announcements that it would scale down its presence in Kosovo with the removal of 2,500 soldiers, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in December that it was a “gradual transition of KFOR units toward a conflict-deterring force”, which came as a “natural result of increased and sustainable normalisation of the security situation on the ground in Kosovo”.

At the site of the historic Battle of Kosovo, Gazimestan, KFOR will hand over on Thursday the security of the Gazimestan monument to the Kosovo police after the decision was adopted by the NATO Council. A monument to the Battle of Kosovo was built in Gazimestan in 1953 and was mined and demolished by Albanian extremists in 1999.

“The transfer of security tasks from KFOR to Kosovo police is an important cornerstone in the process of transferring the main responsibility for protection of cultural and religious sites in Kosovo to the Kosovo police,” official KFOR statement says.

While the Kosovo government marked the five year anniversary of the March riots last year, no official reaction has been seen from the government today.

Serbian Patriarch Irinej held a memorial service to victims of the March violence at the Cathedral Church in Belgrade on Wednesday.

“We can never give up Kosovo and we pray to the Lord to remember all the innocent victims from that terrible date,” the head of the church said during the liturgy and memorial to victims of the March violence. He added that relics were destroyed, but there will be time to renew them.

The Serbian communities in Kosovo also marked the sixth anniversary of the March pogrom with a minute of silence and the laying wreaths and flowers at the memorial sites.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/26677/

Investigation: Kosovo’s Wild West: Haradinaj and Mafia war with the Musaj Clan 

The Albanian Brooklyn connection 

Geschrieben in Geschichte - History | Keine Kommentare »

17.3.2010 by HoisseBig.

 Steve King

USA - es knallt bald: Republikaner King ruft Amis zu Revolution auf

verfasst von Cascabel, 17.03.2010, 04:54

Hallo, Forum

Der republikanische Abgeordnete Steve King aus Iowa drängte eine kleinere als erwartet ausgefallene Menge von Tea Party Demonstranten am Dienstag dazu, sich bereit zu machen für eine Revolution gegen die US-Bundesregierung, darauf hinweisend, dass die Parallelen zwischen der US-Regierung und den ehemals osteuropäischen kommunistischen Regierungen offensichtlich seien. Kurz nach seiner gehaltenen Rede mit der Huffington Post sprechend, erklärte King, dass eine friedvolle Revolution, ähnlich derjenigen auf den Straßen von Prag im Jahr 1989, welche die kommunistische Partei der ehemaligen Tschechoslowakei zu Fall brachte, “für ihn vollkommen in Ordnung” ginge. „Füllt diese Stadt, stopft diesen Ort so voll, dass sie weder hinein noch hinaus können, damit sie vor dem Willen der amerikanischen Bevölkerung kapitulieren müssen“, so die Aussage Kings.

„Die Situation in unserem Land ist also vergleichbar mit Prag unter kommunistischer Regierung?“ fragte die Huffington Post. „Oh ja, alles ist bereits sehr, sehr nahe dran“, antwortete King. „Es ist nichts anderes als die Nationalisierung unserer Freiheit und die Bundesregierung verfolgt den Plan, die Freiheit der amerikanischen Bevölkerung an sich zu reißen. Es bestehen also eine ganze Menge Ähnlichkeiten.“ Vorher rief King die Menge dazu auf, die Bundeshauptstadt zum Stillstand zu bringen. Warnungen aussprechend, dass eine Umsetzung der Gesundheitsreform Abtreibungen und die Kosten für 6,1 Millionen illegale Immigranten finanzieren würde, rief er dazu auf, dass besorgte Bürger “damit fortfahren sollten, sich gegen diese Zustände zu erheben”.

Link

Rep. King Calls For Velvet Revolution Against The Government

First Posted: 03-16-10 12:41 PM   |   Updated: 03-16-10 01:12 PM

………………….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/rep-king-calls-for-velvet_n_500995.html

Geschrieben in Welt News Spezial | Keine Kommentare »

17.3.2010 by Lupo.

Summer 2000: Former CIA Informer Moves to Milan to Live with Key Al-Qaeda Operative

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. [Source: ABC]Italian resident Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who previously informed for the CIA on extremists in Albania (see August 27, 1995 and Shortly After and May 1997-2000), moves from Rome to Milan to live with a close associate of al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri (see Before Spring 2000 and Summer 2000). Al-Zawahiri’s associate, Mahmoud Es Sayed, and Nasr arrive in Milan at the same time, and it appears their movements are coordinated. Nasr actually lives in Es Sayed’s apartment and the pair make use of two radical mosques in Milan, the Via Quaranta mosque, which is their headquarters, and the Islamic Cultural Institute (ICI), which is associated with a cell of radical Islamists that works with al-Qaeda and appears to have foreknowledge of 9/11 (see August 12, 2000 and March 2001). The ICI has a reputation as the most radical Islamic center in Italy, was a key supply point for Muslims fighting in Bosnia (see Late 1993-December 14, 1995), and was connected to the first World Trade Center bombing (see Late 1993-1994). Nasr serves as deputy imam at the ICI and preaches anti-US sermons. Italian law enforcement authorities monitor him with bugs in his apartment and through a tap on his phone, finding out that after 9/11 he recruits Muslims to go and fight in Afghanistan. He does not seem to be directly involved in serious illegal activity, but the information the Italians gain helps them monitor other radicals. His relationship with the CIA during his time in Italy is unclear, but in one monitored call after 9/11 he appears to be dissuading another radical from attacking Jews and in another he tells an associate not to carry out a car bombing. [Chicago Tribune, 7/2/2005; Vidino, 2006, pp. 242] The CIA will kidnap Nasr in 2003 (see Noon February 17, 2003).

Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Mahmoud Es Sayed, Islamic Cultural Institute, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline

Noon February 17, 2003: CIA Kidnaps Own Informer in Broad Daylight in Italy, Damaging Italian Al-Qaeda Investigation
A surveillance photograph of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. [Source: Central Intelligence Agency]

A surveillance photograph of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr.A surveillance photograph of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. [Source: Central Intelligence Agency]The CIA kidnaps an Islamic extremist who previously informed for it in Milan, Italy. The man, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (a.k.a. Abu Omar), who was a member of the Egyptian terror group Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya and was close to al-Qaeda, provided information to the CIA in Albania (see August 27, 1995 and Shortly After) and operated in Italy (see Summer 2000). [Chicago Tribune, 7/2/2005] While the kidnap is happening, one of the CIA officers involved in the operation, Robert Seldon Lady, is having a meeting on the other side of Milan with Bruno Megale, head of Milan’s antiterrorism police service, DIGOS. The meeting’s purpose is to allow Lady to keep an eye on Megale in case something goes wrong. [GQ, 3/2007 pdf file] The US will say that Nasr is a dangerous terrorist and that he once plotted to assassinate the Egyptian foreign minister. However, Italian officials, who were monitoring him, will deny this and say his abduction damages an intelligence operation against al-Qaeda. A senior prosecutor will say, “When Nasr disappeared in February [2003], our investigation came to a standstill.” Italian authorities are mystified by the kidnap, as they are sharing the results of their surveillance with the CIA. Nor can they understand why Egypt wants Nasr back. When Nasr reaches Cairo, he is taken to the Egyptian interior minister and told that if he agrees to inform again, he will be set free. However, he refuses and spends most of the next 14 months in prison, facing “terrible tortures.” The Chicago Tribune will ask, “Why would the US government go to elaborate lengths to seize a 39-year-old Egyptian who, according to former Albanian intelligence officials, was once the CIA’s most productive source of information within the tightly knit group of Islamic fundamentalists living in exile in Albania?” One possible answer is that he is kidnapped in an attempt to turn him back into the informer he once was. The kidnapping generates a substantial amount of publicity, leading to an investigation of the CIA’s practice of extraordinary rendition, and an Italian official will comment, “Instead of having an investigation against terrorists, we are investigating this CIA kidnapping.” [Chicago Tribune, 7/2/2005] Arrest warrants will later be issued for some US intelligence officers involved in the kidnapping (see June 23, 2005 and After).

Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Robert Seldon Lady, Bruno Megale, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline

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