18.2.2009 by ctstmaser.

Former Albanian defence minister charged

18/02/2009

Albania’s general prosecutor has charged 14 people with dereliction of duty in connection with last year’s explosions at a weapons depot.

By Jonilda Koci for Southeast European Times in Tirana — 18/02/09

Former Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu will stand trial for dereliction of duty in connection with the lethal blasts at a munitions depot near Gerdec last year. In all, 26 people died in the incident, and hundreds were injured.

Mediu is one of 14 people charged by the general prosecutor. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison.

Also indicted were former Army Chief of Staff Luan Sehu and nine other military officers and ministry officials. The 11 military defendants remain free for the time being, with no trial date set.

Both the owner and manager of the wrecked facility were charged earlier and are currently in custody awaiting trial, as is the director of Meico, the national arms export agency, which had responsibility for demolishing munitions at Gerdec.

The dereliction-of-duty charges centre mostly on the decision to allow the facility to operate near populated areas. The blasts on March 15th 2008 occurred only 20km from Tirana and a few kilometres from the capital’s international airport.

……………..

Setimes

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18.2.2009 by ctstmaser.

Kosovo March/February 17th: Progrom with Prize

Posted by AriRusila on 17/02/09

It is nearly five years since the outburst of ethnic Albanian violence in Kosovo on March 17, 2004, when 19 people killed and 954 wounded and when 35 Orthodox holy sites were ruined in two days. This pogrom got its prize a year ago on February 17^th when Kosovo Albanians unilaterally – but orchestrated by western powers - declared independence of this province.  The events showed way to all separatist movements on the globe that violence is accepted method to attain political goal.  They also uncovered the EU’s nonexistent skills with crisis management and designing anything else than already dead road maps for conflict resolution.

Those two dates are well remembered in all ethnic groups in Serbia and its separatist province, although from different perspectives. Also international community, especially EU should remember them as they have lost their perspective in West Balkans long time ago.

March 17^th 2004  

Almost 4,000 Serbs were expelled from their homes, six town and nine villages were ethnically cleansed, 935 houses belonging to Serbs and 10 public institutions (schools, health centres, post offices…) were ruined or torched in addition to 35 Orthodox churches (total 150 since bombings 1999) . March 17^th violence was sequel to the ethnic Albanian terror and war in Kosovo as a result more than 200.000 refugees or better say internally displaced persons (IDPs) from province.

March 17^th showed the total failure of international community in Kosovo. Fabricated, biased or optimistic reports were singing the praises of conflict management and progress, intelligence – lacking touch with local community - didn’t know anything about planned terror. The response of peacekeepers and police was also delayed. The commanders were unreachable, drunk or had hangover due the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations after buckets of Irish whiskey and Guinness.

March 17^th finalized IDP problem

After 72 days illegal bombing campaign 1999 international community started wide housing program for refugees and IDPs and with Albanians it was a success while Kosovo accommodated nearly half million more Albanians than before bombing (don’t ask from where those extras came).  Serbs instead were afraid to move back – like it was situation also with refugees from Croatia – so today Serbia is suffering one of the biggest (326,853 refugees and IDPs) refugee/IDP problems in the whole Europe (More in my article “Refugees and IDPs in Western Balkans” )

According to statistics from the UNHCR there are about 206,000 IDPs from Kosovo living in Serbia. This fact has mostly ignored in western mainstream media. Their attitude is understandable since this media from the very beginning had fixed their one-sided picture about good and bad guys so Serbs somehow deserved their fate. The outcome is that Serb Refugees and IDPs from Kosovo are one of the forgotten and forsaken victim groups in the former Yugoslavia.

After pogrom 2004 new housing program was planned but it is questionable if more people from non-Albanian ethnic groups moved in or out because lack of security. March 17^th guaranteed that Serbs are not considering to come back to their earlier homes and those who still live in enclave ghettos are planning to move anytime.

Dream of “European” standards and forgetting them

After reverse ethnic cleansing during Summer 1999 UN started to administer its protectorate. Autumn 2002 UN started to plan and later launched a “standards before status” –policy, 8 milestones to achieve before starting status talks. The first independent review about these “European” standards came public October 2005 in Karl Eide’s report to UN .  Latest then it was clear that Kosovo will not reach European standards in foreseeable future. However growing frustration among Kosovo Albanians made international community to fear that March 17^th pogrom could repeat again so status talks started regardless of standards.

On the behalf

………………………..

In an interesting interview of John Bolton in Interfax  , former US Undersecretary of State and Ambassador to the United Nations made e.g. following remarks:

• US recognition of severed Kosovo province was a serious mistake, leading to an escalation of tensions, instead of calming down the situation in the Balkans.
• “support to the independence of Kosovo is an atavism that might have made sense 15 years ago, but makes no sense today.”
• “consensus boils down to the fact that nobody knows where Kosovo is”

Normally I have doubts with thoughts of U.S. neocons but this time Mr. Bolton hit the nail on the head - I can only agree.

Conclusions

It’s easy to blame the today’s situation in Kosovo on U.S foreign policy.  After implementing its failed attempt to please Muslim countries, after increasing the profits of its military-industry-complex and after creating one of its biggest military complex in Europe U.S. is covering its track record and leaving the whole mess to its lapdogs in EU. As a result of EU’s short-sighted post-conflict management policy they must again throw away few billions of EU taxpayer money to keep flag in international protectorate and safe haven of drug cartels – in artificial unsustainable creature with no realistic visions nor exit strategy.

March 17^th 2004 in Kosovo is an example for international community general and for EU missions especial about fatal failure of crisis management when they are short of right situation analysis, when practice is contrary to their ideals and when interests of local stakeholders and internationals differ……………………………….

over Kosovo case in my +30 articles here!

http://arirusila.blogactiv.eu/

Credibility and Compliance

The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Risks Forfeiting Its Leverage in the Western Balkans

SWP Comments 2008/C 32, December 2008, 4 pages

by Dušan Reljić | Solveig Richter

EU foreign ministers reiterated their support for the enlargement process at a meeting of the External Relations Council on 8 December 2008. The promise to accept the Western Balkan countries for membership in the European Union, once they have met the criteria, has been for a long time the most effective instrument of the CFSP in this conflict-burdened region. The Western Balkans are of particular relevance to the European Union: The CFSP was created and developed in the context of the European Union’s attempt to transform the conflicts in this part of Europe. It is in this region where the European Union’s resolve to achieve the status of a sovereign and equal actor in international affairs is permanently being tested.

Complete text (PDF)

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18.2.2009 by ctstmaser.

US Intelligence: Balkans pose the Greatest Thread of Instability in Europe

Posted by AriRusila on 14/02/09
Tags: Ari Rusila, BalkanBlog, Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, US Intelligence

This post was first published in TH!NK ABOUT IT site 12th February 2009.

AFP/Washington reports Feb.13th 2009 that The Balkans pose the greatest threat of instability in Europe in 2009, according to an annual threat assessment presented Thursday by U.S. intelligence director Dennis Blair. The report said the principal challenge will come from the unresolved political status of the Serb minority in Kosovo, and the uneasy interethnic power-sharing arrangements in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The report concludes following:

“Events in the Balkans will again pose the greatest threat of instability in Europe in 2009, despite positive developments in the last year that included Kosovo’s peaceful declaration of independence from Serbia, the election of pro-E.U. leaders in Serbia, and offers of NATO membership to Croatia and Albania.”

“Belgrade openly supports parallel Kosov Serb institutions. It has used political and legal means to challenge and undermine Pristina’s sovereignty and to limit the mandate of the E.U.’s Rule of Law mission (EULEX) in Kosovo…This has reinforced the de-facto separation of Kosovo into an Albanian-majority south and a Serb-majority north and frustrated the Kosovo Albanians,” the report said….

 

http://arirusila.blogactiv.eu/2009/02/14/

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18.2.2009 by ctstmaser.

Kosovo as private property

Posted by AriRusila on 18/02/09
Tags: Ari Rusila, BalkanBlog, Balkans, Kosovo, separatism, Serbia
Kosovo Albanians celebrated yesterday their first year of sc. Independence.  Among normal praising statements and congratulations there was also various definitations of the status of this Serbia’s separatist province.  Newest for me was one of which  the former PM Ramush Haradinaj used.  He addressed many criticisms toward the Government - a quote (Koha Ditore, Zëri, Epoka e Re):

We are witnesses of the transformation of the state into the private property of the leadership that wants to monopolize everything good that we inherited, our entire history and future, and which has transformed Government into organized corruption.

Rude words but given the background also understandable.  Today’s PM Thaci and Haradinaj are representing two leading and competing tribes or clans of organized crime in Kosovo.  Both have been accused also e.g. about war crimes, Haradinaj even was in Haague but released when witnesses surprisingly were murdered or threaded to keep their mouth shut.

State as private property is quite good description  about how matters stand.  I have earlier described circumstances in Kosovo with  “Quadruple Helix Model” where government, underworld, Wahhabbi schools and international terrorism have win-win symbiosis.  First I was thinking that Kosovo is sliding to be a “failed state” now I am tending to the opinion that a “captured state” is better definition - maybe ex-PM is concluding the same.

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http://arirusila.blogactiv.eu

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