| FrontPageMag.com | By Robert Spencer | By Hugh Fitzgerald | Books | Jihad Watch | Islam 101 | Qur'an Blog | Raymond Ibrahim | Robert Spencer |  |
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
"What is going on in Kosovo today is the future of Europe tomorrow." From CNSNews.com, with thanks to Sparta:
(CNSNews.com) - International intervention to halt the persecution of Christians in Kosovo is a "complete failure," according to a former diplomat and other political analysts who briefed Capitol Hill staff late last week, pointing to the destruction of 150 churches and the simultaneous construction of 200 mosques.Cybercast News Service obtained video of the burning and desecrating of the churches by ethnic Albanians, most of them Muslim. See Video
The new mosques are funded by "Wahhabist nations," the diplomats said, raising the specter of radical Islam incubating on the doorstep of Europe in a province rife with illegal arms and narcotics trafficking.
The religious persecution is also part of a political strategy of violence, which if rewarded in the granting of independence to Kosovo, could trigger similar violent secessionist movements throughout neighboring states and countries, they warned.
Unfolding events in Kosovo have already sent shock waves to as far away as China, which has now expressed concern to the U.S. over possible copycat attempts at secession in its predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Province.
Kosovo, an international protectorate administered by the United Nations, is part of Serbia and Montenegro, but the legal authority of the region is the U.N. Interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
The province is considered one of the jewels of Christian heritage, having served as the "Vatican" of Serbian Christian Orthodoxy from the 12th century onward.
Serbs, who are predominantly Orthodox Christians, constitute a minority, as do Turks, Roma (gypsies) and Muslim Slavs. Eighty-eight percent of Kosovo's population is made up of Muslim Albanians.
The attacks and ongoing persecution are seen by some as the purposeful targeting of the very symbols of Christian European civilization.
Between 1999 and 2004 approximately 150 churches, monasteries, seminaries, and bishop residences were attacked by ethnic Albanian mobs. Many of the churches contained priceless Byzantine frescoes and other religious artifacts dating as far back as the 13th century. Many of the sites were reduced to rubble.
In a Capitol Hill press conference Aug. 11, former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady called for a heightened international presence in Kosovo and the continuation of that presence for another 12 years....
Referring to the destruction of 34 churches in March of last year Melady said, "Thanks to a few amateur films that were made when the protests broke out, we can see how things unfolded. At all the scenes someone would climb to the top and tear down the cross, then stomp on it. Then they would set fire to the church."
During the Aug. 12 congressional staff briefing, Melady's research assistant, Ivan Djurovski, showed footage of the destruction of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Podujevo.
The 17-minute video obtained by Cybercast News Service shows crowds of men ranging in age from about 15 to 50, calmly and methodically fanning out around the church after marching through town. After setting the church on fire, one of the vandals enters the bell tower to ring the church bell, which draws cheers from the crowd. Men scale the roof of the church to tear down three crosses, resulting in more cheers. Cybercast News Service edited the 17 minute video down to approximately two-and-a-half minutes....
Defense analyst Frederick Peterson said the media around the globe are ignoring the issue of Saudi Arabian and other sources flooding the economically depressed region with money to pay for new mosques as the churches are being destroyed.
"With money comes influence," Peterson told Cybercast News Service. "They are building a substantial ideological and brick and mortar infrastructure there." Peterson is a defense and counter-terrorism analyst with the Institute for Security Studies at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He also serves as military policy advisor to Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy.
Peterson and Djurovski both said many of the new mosques funded by Saudi and Iranian funds are currently empty, but reflect plans to indoctrinate residents with the radical Wahhabist form of Islam. The new mosques carry plaques acknowledging funding from Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, said Grieboski.
"This is a very grave threat," said Peterson. "With final status changing from Serbian Orthodox hegemony into at very best a gray line, the dividing line between the Christian and Islamic world moves closer to the European Union, and we're at great risk of tolerating what should not be tolerated in order to buy some peace in our time."
In the war against an expanding radical Islam, Peterson said, "We have three choices: convert, submit or die. But there's a fourth choice and that's to fight.
"What is going on in Kosovo today is the future of Europe tomorrow," he added.
Posted by Robert at August 15, 2005 4:25 PM
Print this entry
| Email this entry
| Digg this
| del.icio.us
Building new mosques throughout the land? Establishing the Salafi/Wahhabit doctrine?
Gee that sounds like America not Kosovo. Oh, it's both.
Posted by: pedestrian infidel![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 15, 2005 5:02 PM
viewing the video was very distressing indeed. the presence of un armoured vehicles seems to have been of no avail whatsoever. the un could only stand and watch at srebrenica as well. how serb churches can be viewed as the "very symbols of european christian civilisation" is beyond me, given serb behaviour in recent years. having viewed the cemeteries in sarajevo, i hardly think that what is taking place in kosovo comes as any surprise
Posted by: freddiefreeloader at August 15, 2005 5:20 PM
Pres. Clinton and M. Albright are the ones we have to thank for this situation.
Posted by: DP111 at August 15, 2005 5:35 PM
Demonising the Serbs, are we, FFL? I'd be surprised if you're not a Muslim apologist and therefore on the wrong website... Neither the US nor the EU should ever have taken sides during the Balkan conflict. It doesn't surprise me that a lot of people (mainly lefties) who are against the war in Iraq supported Clinton's stance on former Yugoslavia.
Posted by: disillusionised_german at August 15, 2005 6:23 PM
disill_G
If memory serves me right, France was totally against taking sides.In fact it was pro-Serbian. I just wonder, if France is afterall right in the way we should dispel the Jihad.
at August 15, 2005 6:28 PM
DP111: The French were on the right side there but not because they're anti-jihadist. I will never understand the French...
Posted by: disillusionised_german at August 15, 2005 7:48 PM
disillusionised_german:
The French are the ones who are taking a hard attitude against the public face of islam. Hijabs - NO. Deportations of muslim clerics takes place at the drop of a hat - French citizens or not.
How the French get away with this, beats me. Here in the UK, our goverenment finds it hard to deport Bakri, a non-citizen, who has been waging war on the UK, while on Benefits.
The hard-nosed attitude of the French maybe the reason that France are not in Jihadi sights. The jihadis reason, that if the French can do what they are doing, even when there is no attack on France, then what will they do if bombs go off in the Paris metro. They may deport the whole ummah. Like you they reason, "we just don't understand the French". The islamic project in Europe would then come to a full stop.
Posted by: DP111 at August 15, 2005 8:16 PM
DP111: I've got very close emotional ties with the UK (because of football mainly) and I've been worrying about the (lack of) action against islamists for quite a while. A lot of it is down to the biased reporting of Auntie Beeb, of course, but people are starting to finally wake up. There's still a strong backbone is most (real) Brits as far as I'm concerned.
I can't remember if it was Fox News or the BBC who reported that Italy are just about to deport more than 100 islamists. Let's hope there's more good news like that.
I've emailed the above article to my local CDU MP who happens to be an expert on islam within the party (or so they say). If the CDU / CSU manage to win the coming elections we will probably see a different stance towards a EU membership or Turkey. I'm also quite pleased about Sarkozy's attitude in that regard, by the way.
Posted by: disillusionised_german at August 15, 2005 8:30 PM
actually, disillusioned, far from being a muslim apologist, i am a christian fundamentalist with no desire to demonise anyone. but i should point out that evil perpetrated against muslims is just as evil as that perpatrated by muslims. it may have escaped your notice, but muslims have suffered horrendous loss of life recently, with over 20,000 having been killed in afghanistan in th uk/us invasion there, and over 100,000 have been killed in iraq. and then there is fallujah, where hospital staff have been attacked, doctors shot and children murdered in front of their families by us marines. and then of course theres lindy england and her ilk, all just obeying orders of course. the immoral actions of the uk/us governments have also led to a dreadful backlash for my fellow christians, not only in iraq, but in many muslim lands.
Posted by: freddiefreeloader at August 15, 2005 8:58 PM
actually dp111, the paris metro has been bombed - in 1995 and also in 1985 i think. the umma was deported on neither occasion
Posted by: freddiefreeloader at August 15, 2005 9:11 PM
"What is going on in Kosovo today is the future of Europe tomorrow..."
-- from a posting above
A slight emendation:
"What is going on in Kosovo and in Gaza today is the future of Europe tomorrow...."
Posted by: Hugh at August 15, 2005 9:32 PM
"0,000 having been killed in afghanistan in th uk/us invasion there, and over 100,000 have been killed in iraq. and then there is fallujah, where hospital staff have been attacked, doctors shot and children murdered in front of their families by us marines.."
Come on mate, get real! "Christian fundamentalist" are you?
Why would CF post Muzzle-Propaganda here?
Posted by: Terminator at August 15, 2005 9:41 PM
It might also be added that the figure of 100,000 Iraqi dead is nowhere near justified on a statistical basis. Given the confidence interval associated with the, er, "study", all that can be said is that the true value is 95% likely to be greater than zero. The really noticeable fact about the publication of this study in the Lancet (for shame) might be seen in statements by the editorial board themselves around publication. I also add that this 20,000 dead in Afghanistan figure appears to have been pulled not - as one might think - from thin air, but rather out of your posterior.
Dr. Imam Geoff
Posted by: Geoff at August 15, 2005 11:24 PM
freddiethefreeloader,
You didn't actually say on jihadwatch website that you think the Taliban should have been left in charge of Afghanastan. I mean it looks like that is what you are saying. That you are pro-Taliban. No you could not be saying that.
at August 15, 2005 11:28 PM
Welcome to the World War, Freddie.
BTW, has your church taken a stand on the destruction of Christian churches abroad? If so, what have they said, and what are they attempting to do about it, if anything?
Thanks.
at August 16, 2005 12:20 AM
One thing that struck me as so odd during the Serbian war upon the Albanians was the utter cowardice of the jihadis. I mean arafat was blowing up cafes and buses in Tel Aviv, bin laden was attacking the WTC in NY, but these yellow bastards had no interest at all in saving their fellow muslims who were being massacred in the Balkins. Had to beg the Infidels to do that. Not sure what lessons to draw from that.
Posted by: Infidel33 at August 16, 2005 1:00 AM
Quote:Unfolding events in Kosovo have already sent shock waves to as far away as China, which has now expressed concern to the U.S. over possible copycat attempts at secession in its predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Province.
In all fairness, China deserves a lil' dose of Jihad. It has been tacitly supporting Jihad against India by supplying them wit Arms and Ammunitions...
Posted by: Vikrant_Camberleykar at August 16, 2005 6:10 AM
oh so there was a massacre of muslims in the balkans was there? infidel, i was castigated earlier for making that very point how come you get away with it? btw sparrow i havent posted anything on jihadwatch, all my comments have been on dhimmiwatch. in 1986 was in islamabad teaching english to afghan refugees, at least 50% of whom were mujahideen, who from time to time would disappear from class to go on sorties to afghanistan. they were all quite clear on what their objectives were - the setting up of an islamist state in afghanistan. in this they were supported by many muslim countries, and their weaponry came from the usa. the taliban state would not have come about without us support.
well dr imam, i may not be that good at counting vast numbers of dead bodies, but noone else i know including yourself seems to be coming forward with any figures - if they know the figures (and surely someone must have an idea somewhere) they are keeping very quiet about it
at August 16, 2005 7:09 AM
The silence from the MSM on this is truly shameful. And this is in Europe, not Iraq, or Thailand, or any of those other 'far off places'.
Next up, Macedonia, of course.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/07/d7499fd0-10ec-4aaa-8fd1-fdfbdd2dbd0b.html
at August 16, 2005 8:18 AM
For Christian fundamentalists (like freddie the freeloader)....please reconsider the "turn the other cheek" doctrine.
The idea behind this theory is that if you repay violent with kindness, you build up moral capital, eventually shaming your enemy into loving you.
This strategy only works when the enemy is open to REASON. Otherwise, they steal your stuff and laugh when you give them an apple as you leave their house.
Don't forget Augustine's Just War Theory. Wasn't he also a Christian "Fundamentalist"?
Save yourselves (and us) by embracing the larger picture, please.
Posted by: VoiceOfSkippy at August 16, 2005 8:49 AM
"well dr imam, i may not be that good at counting vast numbers of dead bodies"
Good. You don't know. Then maybe you could refrain from regurgitating hopelessly unpredictive stats.
Dr Imam Geoff
"Ask the Dr Imam!"
at August 16, 2005 10:02 AM
VOS;
re above post. right on. tolerance, "turning the other cheek", diplomacy, etc, is only workable if, in diplomacy for example, both parties come to the table in good faith. in any of these concepts, if the other party views your willingness to engage in dialogues of solutions as a sign of weakness, you are effectively screwed. 12 years of UN chestthumping got nowhere with Saddam, he played us, laughing all the way to the bank, of course he had to stand in line at the tellers window and wait with Annan JR, Chirac, Putin and the rest, but the point stands, without good-faith efforts on both parts, nothing moves, other than backwards.
Hell, thats the whole crux of the problem with islamic immigrants, they come to a country which lets them in, believing they will assimilate, and once they get in, maybe start sucking the government teat, they show their true intentions,
maintaining a separate and societally isolated subgroup that not only promotes behaviors that add nothing to the host culture, but, in many instances, weakens it's cohesiveness by insisting on exemptions from, and special allowances to circumvent and fragment, the codified standards of equality that support and reward the ephemeral quality of a citizens intentional cooperation, through free will, in the creation and maintenance of a democratic society.
to paraphrase your remark, " they steal your stuff and laugh while you hold the door for them"
the West is a remarkable accumulation of 1000s of years of faltering advancement, sometimes backsliding a bit, but then picking itself up and dusting itself off and resuming its progress. it is the closest thing to heaven on earth that we've got right now, the flood of people trying to climb on board and participate is ample proof. let the requirements for entry reflect that. if he comes in good faith, i don't care if a man can carry all his possessions in a paper bag, who he is is more relavent to me than what he has. the West was built by the poor, and the poor escaped poverty in the process. despite it's defects, the West has been the "promised land" for centuries, no entity in history has improved the lot of humanity as much.
Posted by: t-ham at August 16, 2005 10:10 AM
"Defense analyst Frederick Peterson said the media around the globe are ignoring the issue of Saudi Arabian and other sources flooding the economically depressed region with money to pay for new mosques as the churches are being destroyed."
What a coincidence... ...churches being destroyed while mosques are being built by foreign interests.
No, there's no war against the west going on around here.
and Freddiethefreeloader: those hospitals in Fallujah were likely being used by the Baathists and/or jihaddists holed up in side as an armory, just as surely as they used mosques as bomb manufacturing plants and torture chambers for Iraqis who don't follow the faith in accordance with either Al-Zarqawi's or Al-Sadr's dictates.
Muslims were killed in Kosovo, but not in the numbers claimed and Lew MacKenzie the Canadian general who was on the ground there said that the killings were confined to adult male combatants -- the women and children were spared. I'm no fan of Milosovic, but I don't like seeing the Islamists being absolved of their ignominious role in the bloodshed in the Balkans.
Posted by: waterdragon52 at August 16, 2005 10:20 AM
freddie,
I don't think anyone here is going to deny that war crimes were committed, or that even the century of muslim predations upon the Greek Orthodox beforehand would excuse those crimes. My point is, when the worlwide jihad was murdering innocent people in Lebanon, Israel, East Timur, you name it, and even trying to blow up the WTC in the U.S., those same pusillanimous bastards, like bin laden, gave the Serbs the free pass to commit those crimes against their fellow muslims. One might argue that it was part of their strategy to advance the jihad in Europe by providing REAL muslim victims for the Eurabians to anguish over. But I think it was more a matter of pure cowardice.
Posted by: Infidel33 at August 16, 2005 10:32 AM
Something related here …
Osama bin Laden is NOT a human being!
Sounded scary, isn’t it?
More at http://divinetalk.blogspot.com/
at August 16, 2005 10:49 AM
imam i quoted the only figures i have seen. the fact is huge numbers of people have been killed. what is not in dispute is the perverted, degraded behaviour of us military personnel in abu ghraib. according to bbc today the us admin. is now trying to stop publication of more photos of this in order to prevent more terror. thus they admit that their actions in iraq have been a contributory cause of terror. bush and blair were warned about this before they went in.
water dragon - how could guns placed behing the hills surrounding sarajevo possibly pick out adult male fighters during the bombardment of that city?
skippy - no christian can or should reconsider any doctrine of christ
at August 16, 2005 11:37 AM
freeloader:
give the Abu Graib indignities a rest. They were few in total and consisted mostly pretty minor indignities compared to what Al-Sadr's boys were doing in his mosque to the two hundred or so bodies found inside because they belonged to Iraqis who didn't conform to Al-Sadr's brand of Islam or what Al-Zaqawi's minions have done, not to mention the 200 or so executions a week conducted when Saddam & Co were proprietors.
I suspect that MacKenzie was referring specifically to the rounding up of "villagers" and not the bombardments. Do the stats you like to cite break down gender, age and cause of death? I suspect the General knew exactly of what he spoke. The Palestinians have been very effective at spinning numbers, including counting as victims of Israel, Palestinians they themselves have slain, whether accidentally when their bomb factories blow up, or intentionally, if they deem the party to be a "collaborator". I expect the Kosovo Muslims are just as adept at playing the hapless victim.
Posted by: waterdragon52 at August 16, 2005 12:10 PM
"Kosovo, an international protectorate administered by the United Nations, is part of Serbia and Montenegro, but the legal authority of the region is the U.N. Interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)."
Another failed U.N. Interim Mission...........disolve this worthless rat nest!
Posted by: rumoret at August 16, 2005 1:03 PM
Foolishly we, through NATO, defeated the Serbs, the traditional buffer in Europe between them and Islam...
Posted by: epg at August 16, 2005 4:35 PM
I am sitting here listening to the World Service of Radio (Moscow) Russia. I had a shortwave set when I was a confirmed Cold Warrior--I like to brag that the Soviet Union eventually wrapped it up after finding my name among the graduate Infantrymen from Fort Benning in 1984. I didn't re-enlist in 1990, but it didn't have anything to do with the coming War in Iraq. I was just fed up with the calibre of the Army Reserve at the time. I was the face of Reagan's battle against the "Evil Empire."
I may as well come clean; I voted for Pat Buchanan, twice. I was against the first Gulf War, and I was vehemently against the second Gulf War. I have to admit that I would dearly love to have a Combat Infantryman's Badge, and, to papraphrase Patton, would give my left nut to earn a Medal of Honor. I just wouldn't want it to be in this Clusterfuck. I digress, however; the radio has just informed me of the problems that Christians have in Kosovo. It seems that the Ethnic Albanians (read, Muslims) have taken advantage of our bombing campaign and subsequent demonization of Ethnis Serbs (read, blue eyed Christians)and continue to make life miserable for the oldest people of this Baltic region. Leave it to the U.S.to back the wrong party! One thousand year old monasteries continue to be put to the torch by Uncle Sam's Jihadists in Kosovo.
This leads me to my original point (talk about going a long way around the barn): the U.S. Media can no longer be trusted to provide Patriots with the news. Kosovo. Macedonia, Serbia, and Afghanistan have faded from corporate memory. I used to listen to Radio Moscow to understand better the thoughts of my enemy. Now I have to listen to Radio Moscow to find out about the depredations and betrayals of the Country that I once pledged fealty to. I have very little hope left that we will survive as a nation that I once swore allegiance to.
at August 17, 2005 8:59 PM
Persecution of Kosovo Christians Said to Reveal Larger Threat:
I have three small children.
Served USN 1989-1993.
The very bastards who demonize the current Iraq situation have sealed their lips as to their complicity of our current situation.
As for the decade of greed and decite, the 1990's put that to shame. Are we going to wake up, and realize "they are in the wires"?
I am frightened of what the future holds for my kids. That SOB (Clinton) lamented all the church burnings of his youth. Where the hell is he now?
Posted by: Corpsman at August 21, 2005 4:01 AM
(Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.)