Visoki Decani Monastery, now being shelled
Is jihad beginning again in Kosovo? From Damjan de Krnjevic-Miskovic, managing editor of the National Interest, a draft of a piece that will be posted in final form tomorrow on another site. (Thanks to Jim.)
A pogrom started in Europe yesterday. A UN official is quoted as saying that "Kristallnacht is under way in Kosovo." Serbs are being murdered and their 800 year old churches are aflame. More than two-thirds of the Christian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is on fire and could be lost forever. By these deeds the Albanians have shown that all their speeches about democracy and multiethnicity, and the naïve repetition of them by the international community, are false. These words too are burning, as is the hope in the hearts of right-thinking policymakers across the world that Kosovo's barbarians can be civilized at little cost to the West.Just as in the 1930s, a rumor became a fact and prearranged plans were put into action. Members of the victimized community, in this case, Serbian children, were accused of chasing four Albanian children into a river and causing the death of three of them. Hours later, what passes for authority in Kosovo, the UN Mission, issued a statement that the accusation against the Serbs was false, that the surviving Albanian child had told the UN that there had been no Serbs--yet the violence escalated. And today it continues unabated.
Beginning in the ethnically-divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica, in the northern third of the entity, when a horde of armed Albanians crossed into the Serbian half of the city, breaching a Polish peacekeepers' line, the ensuing violence killed half a dozen people of both ethnic groups.
Busloads of Albanians were transported to areas where Serbs are concentrated--in some cases, clashing with international peacekeepers. In some areas, entire Serbian villages have been burned to the ground. The UN, ever courageous, evacuated its missions from at least three cities in Kosovo. In two of them, Serbian Orthodox churches are in flames. And it has only gotten worse during the night.
Monasteries and churches dating back to the 12th century are burning; some are already destroyed. Their cultural significance--not only for Christians but for all humanity--is irreplaceable. Photographs and memories are all the remain of these objects of civilization. And the UN fled.
The wave of violence has been too well-planned and coordinated to be a spontaneous reaction to rumors. "It was planned in advance", said Derek Chappell, the UN's Kosovo mission spokesman. All that was needed was a pretext. It is clear that some in the Kosovo Albanian leadership believe that by cleansing all remaining Serbs from the entity (having already achieved the cleansing of two-thirds of Kosovo's Serbs after "liberation" in 1999) and destroying all Serbian cultural sites, they can present the international community with a fait accompli. But ethnic purity cannot be allowed to be the foundation for democracy and independence.
Upon hearing the news of the pogrom and the burning of churches in Kosovo, a small crowd of Belgraders surrounded the city's mosque in retaliation. Windows were broken, and a fire was started. (They did the same in Serbia's second largest city, Nis.) In contrast to the scene in Kosovo, the Serbian government dispatched several hundred police to try and control the crowd; joining them was a Serbian Orthodox bishop who tried to talk the crowd down. They did not succeed entirely. The Serbian crowd is as despicable, but it is far smaller (numbering in the hundreds, not the tens of thousands), and they had to fight government authorities and disregard the pleadings of a bishop to commit their deeds. And 78 of them have been arrested. In Kosovo, where are the Albanian politicians standing in front of the Serbian holy sites? Who was guarding the Serbian churches and villages? Why are they in flames? There are 18,000 foreign troops in Kosovo. Why are they not doing more?
The Kosovo Albanian leadership, while insisting they are capable of governing an independent state, claim that they are unable to control their constituents and stop the pogrom. So while the leader of the most influential political party in Kosovo, Hasim Thaci, travels abroad preaching the virtues of multiethnicity and a civic-based identity, all five Serbian holy sites in his own home town of Prizren have burned. Meanwhile, his political party and other Kosovo Albanian parties issue statements blaming all this on the Serbs. In the 1930s, they did this as well.
Post-June1999, Kosovo's Serbs were willing to reject the lessons of history and try to work with--even trust their Albanian neighbors--and believe Kosovo's Albanian politicians who promised that religious freedom and multiethnicity would be made permanent--that the values of the West would take root in Kosovo.
At the same time, Kosovo's Serbs have for years been warning of the real nature of Albanian nationalism, and the UN and the West have thought these to be exaggerations. But as the Diocese of Kosovo's statement from yesterday makes clear, "What has happened today and is happening this evening in Kosovo and Metohija represents a horrible defeat for the entire UN mission which has been deceiving the world for the past five years with their alleged successes when in fact they were enabling militarization."
Murder upon murder, kidnapping upon kidnapping, arson upon arson, and now finally this pogrom--have led the Serbs to the awful realization that they are at the mercy of barbarians. This is ethnic aggression of the worst sort, "in the heart of Europe," as Madeleine Albright famously called Kosovo before she bombed Serbia. Today we see the true face of the multiethnicity of which they all spoke so highly. And all this is happening under UN and NATO administration. Imagine how bad it could get if they get their independence.
Senator Sam Brownback, after having met Artemije, the Bishop of Kosovo, several weeks ago in Washington, wrote a letter to President George W. Bush in which he concluded "We should not consider advancing the cause of independence of a people whose first act when liberated was to ethnically cleanse a quarter of a million of their fellow citizens and destroy over a hundred of their holy sites." What might he say now? What will we all say? Will we do nothing, just like in the 1930s?
See also this (thanks to FreedomNowNews): Albanian extremists set fire to Orthodox monastery in Kosovo.
Also this just in from the Orthodox Bishop Christodoulos:
Albanians shelling near Visoki Decani Orthodox Monastery, monks in prayer in church, U.S. reinforcements expected to arrive soon
Gracanica, March 17, 2004The Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija wishes to inform the public that several mortar shells have fallen not far from Visoki Decani Monastery which were fired by Albanians at the monastery. Italian forces are presently protecting the Monastery. U.S. special forces are expected to arrive soon to reinforce defenses.
In the meanwhile the Monastery of Holy Archangels near Prizren has been evacuated because German forces were not ready to protect the monastery. The monks from Holy Archangels are safe in a German military base; however, according to some reports, the monastery has already been set on fire, as have numerous other churches in Prizren. We have also received information that the 14th century Church of the Holy Mother of God of Ljevis is in flames.
UPDATE: Damjan de Krnjevic-Miskovic calls these tragic incidents "ethnic aggression of the worst sort." And it is true, of course, that ethnic factors and many other elements have coalesced to cause this strife; as I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers, adding jihad to the already volatile mix in the Balkans only makes things worse. It is thus doubly tragic that "Belgrade’s 17th-century Barjakli mosque became the target of an hours-long attack by hooligans incited by Albanian assaults on Serbs and Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo." It is a tragedy in itself, as is all wanton destruction, but it also makes it more difficult to get jihad out of the Balkan picture. For insofar as those involved see this conflict as a jihad, no negotiations or lasting peace are possible.
Killing a mass murderer like Yassin is one thing; attacking a mosque is another. Those who oppose jihad, and who don't want to see it flame forth in the Balkans, must not lash out in the same way as do the mujahedin, but adhere to standards of justice, seeking out and punishing only those responsible. In this way we will show even the jihadis a better way of life, and not lose our civilization in the process of defending it.
Whereever Muslims are able, they do this.
I remember reading about the Serbian genocide against the Muslims, now when you read these news stories they have replaced the word genocide with "repression". Also Ive read that the court is now worried they will not be able to convict Milosevic of genocide.
Hmmm. Did Clinton and the UN pull the wool over our eyes about this conflict?
While the Serbs did do alot of bad things, there is no doubt about that, can we say we would not do some of the same things faced with Jihad in our own cities??
Also, Spain better take a good hard look at this, as it could be their future.
no surprise here - the standard MO for muslims.
jihan
The US should stay out and sit on the side lines on this and let Europe handle this themselves.
This will eventually spill into Europe at a quike pace and Europe will be in a quagmire.
European scocialist polotitions sold out there countryies long ago so let them go down.
And still the media continues to refer to them as "ethnic Albanians" and avoids all mention of the words "Muslim" and "Islam". We need to write the newspapers, radio and the TV stations and demand they start identifying these thugs by the proper terms: "Albanian Muslims", and "Islamic terrorists". At least have the guts to call a spade a spade. This has been the MO for every country that has admitted Muslims. When they get to be about 20-30% of the population they start demonstrating, demanding the state turn into an Islamic one and Sharia law be instituted, or at least the areas where there is a muslim majority. When they reach 50% of the population they begin rioting and killing. They don't stop until they eradicate the host country or are driven out.
"Ethnic Albanians," the same wording used during the Clinton administration, you're right. I'm soooo disillusioned to find out that the media told half-truths then as well.
It appears that we stripped the eastern gate of its historic protectors when we went for Milosevec, and now, as events have shown, the western gate fell on the train, in Spain.
Nonsense!!!!
I'm an albanian orthodox and don't like very
mutch the Islam. But you are messing up
things! There's no Jihad in Kosove, but
the Serbs will to be one.
I think this site was impartial and right but
now I'm dissapointed. I'm thinking
if all thinks that appreciated befere
here have to be reevaluated!
Yes this site helped me before to
find evidences against Islam in my
discussions with some albanian muslims
but after reading how quickly you put
an entire nation under the seal of "jihadist"
makes me think you are not so "clean" in
your judgements!
Regards!
Dear rik:
1. Please specify exactly where I "put an entire nation under the seal of 'jihadist'."
2. Please explain why Orthodox churches are being torched, if this conflict doesn't have a jihadist dimension. Surely a purely ethnic conflict wouldn't zero in exclusively on religious targets, would it?
Remember: to note that there are jihadis in Kosovo is not at all to suggest that jihad is the only element of the conflict there. Again, I would ask you to point out where I have said otherwise.
Cordially
RS
Rikhammed? Rikdul? Ricassam?
That's typical of the modus operandi of the jihadists. Spread lies, repeat often enough, and the moslem population will believe it to be a fact. Then, bring in "reinforcements" from other areas, proceed destroying churches, anything christian. And they will claim it is "spontaneous".
If, some of the christians retaliate, then the jihadists leaders are going to say that there is an organized christian movement. Now the jihadists are going to form their own militia, (the christians are organized, remember?)and bring in even more reinforcements. This time they will openly bring in their militia to fight the 'organized' christians; the government will help these jihadists, or turn a blind eye at the least.
That is how life is in a moslem country for the christians.
What else is new?
Hello:
I was competely ignorant of the facts when the US sided against the Serb in the '90s.
It now seems that this conflict can be understood as another in the expansionist ambitions of Islamofascists.
I am a Serb supporter now.
I use to yell at Blair, Clinton and Albright on TV years ago when they went against the Serbs. The Kosovo Albanians are immigrants. They came when Albania was a STALINIST state and went to the then Yugoslavia for a better life and slowly took over. Can anyone deny their ambitions in Macedonia? Also I lived in Europe for 4 years and there were thousands of Asylum seekers from ¨kosovo¨ but were really Albanians - the socialists in power in Europe and America really screwed this up......
Shawn and others
It is really nice to see, that many are beginning to realise, that we in the West backed the wrong side in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars. At the time, nigh over a decade ago, I wrote to the Daily Telegraph, London, that by taking sides with the Islamists, we were effectively resuscitating the Jihad in Europe and worldwide. And so it has proved.
Though I'm glad to see that this realisation is beginning to dawn, I have to take issue on where the blame if any, lies. France and other continental Europeans were quite content with turning a blind eye to the whole business. It was the US under the tutellage of Saudi Arabia, that bombed the Serbs out of their ancestral lands.
Now Kosovo, the spiritual home of the Serbs, has become a proto-muslim state, with Serbs being ethnically cleansed. But despite all this, the Serbs are not waging jihad on the West. How could they; they are a part of it.
Chalk another one up to the Clintons! Thanks a lot, Bill, you and Hillary did a number on us. Of course they were fooled by those darn Saudis. I for one am appalled and outraged at this revelation. It sure is more damning than no WMDs. Bill, you were used and we, the tax payers, footed the bill.
Posting by Incredulous that "The Kosovo Albanians are immigrants" - it really rings a bell.
Where I came from, in the past 20 years, the government has been moving the moslems to the christian majority areas. And in those areas where the moslems are about equal in number as the Christians - they want all the power, even though they're newcomers in that part of the country.
So, as is their modus operandi, start a rumor, or take advantage of some minor tiff between young people, blow it up and ........ they burn everything christian, and sometimes they kill.
I am very very concerned about the situation in this great US of A, say, 50 years or 100 years from now. With so many muslims immigrating to the US these last 10 years, what happened in areas in the world where the moslems reached majority, I'm afraid will happen here also.
The sad thing is that from my personal experience, a lot of Americans don't realize this, or don't want to know about this, that the jihadists' aim is to make the whole world Islam.
People in the west are either, naieve or stupid, in that they think that because they show tolerance to the moslems, it will be reciprocated. Little did they know, that they're being taken advantage of.
I'm so glad to see websites like this. There should be many more websites or hopefully newspapers, magazines with articles educating the people in the west about the REAL Islam.
from Outraged non moslem
US forces are moving in because the Germans "were not prepared to protect the monastery." Christ! How incompetent can the Europeans get? These people are our "allies"? The war is lost already.
We need to stop complaining about what Americans know and don't know about Islam, and start finding ways to MAKE them know. That is our only chance.
They are certainly finding out about Islam. Check out this article - "Textbooks for Jihad." If the bombers don't get us, this definitely will.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12645
Who said that you can't see into the future.
I would like to clarify my earlier statement of "While the Serbs did do alot of bad things, there is no doubt about that, can we say we would not do some of the same things faced with Jihad in our own cities??"
I spoke with someone who said that some Serb leaders put Muslims in concentration camps and starved them to death, I wasnt aware of this and of course, I do not condone starving people to death. And I would hope if actually faced with jihad in my own city, I would not condone it then either.
Just wanted to clarify.
It depends on "whose ox is being gored." We will do the same to protect our cities and our way of life. Count on it.
I agree.. its easy to say I don't condone this or that. But when Muslims are forcing you from your neighborhoods and homes. Killing your family and friends. If you get the upper hand, I bet most would take advantage of the situation.
War is an ugly business. None of us are exempt from it. The United States has been lucky that we have not had the war brought to us. We have for a long time now taken the fight to the enemy. We have not played the victim card. We just kick ass when it is needed. Will there be a day that we will be fighting in our streets. Perhaps, who knows. But to say we would not resort to that type of behavior. Well I have learned to never say never.
epg-- We would not starve people to death in concentration camps!
Thats not just protecting cities and our way of life, it's cruelty.
epg:
I agree with you that we should move on. But the fact is that the US took the side of the Islamists not because it was against Russia, but to please Saudi Arabia. The whole damn bombing of the Serbs started immediately after Madeleine Albright's visit to Saudi Arabia.
So here we are. The Serbian people were massacred by German, Italian, Croatian and Islamic fascists through WWII but still fought on for the Allied cause. And we payed them back by siding with Islamic fascists. This despite the fact that Britain made its misgivings clear to the US on the subject. British papers were clear on the debt owed to Serbia. David Owen continually wrote that the Serbs had a strong historic case for Bosnia and later in Kosovo. But to no avail. The US, in each case, was more mindful of Saudi interest then listening to Britain.
I'm conscious how important the US is in this war against Islamo-fascism, but also aware of the continuous and repeated support the US has given to the Islamic cause in almost every conflict in the recent past, just to please the Saudis.
I doubt that we would willingly starve people in concentration camps, but the "veneer of civilization" is very thin, especially in war. Although we hope that we would not commit atrocities, it is human nature, especially when fighting an proven bloodthirsty adversary that has no compuction to deal fairly or humanely, and whose stated goal is to subdue, humiliate, or eliminate the adversary, just because "they are."
True, epq. There is an old saying that goes something like "the longer war goes on, the more the enemies act like each other". Lets end it ASAP.
Islam is a virus...
or better yet it is like the BORG from Star Trek: The Next Generation...
RESISTENCE IS FUTILE...ASSIMILATION IS INEVITABLE!!!!!
Kind of a random reference but you get the point...
Andrew B.