15 years ago today marked the beginning of “Operation Noble Anvil,” the US and NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia that left around 500 civilians dead and imposed the secession of Kosovo from the rest of Serbia.
The decision to attack Yugoslavia without UN authorization, and the decision to separate Kosovo along a line that forced several Serbian towns out of Serbia and into the role of ethnic minority in a new Kosovo have been sources of considerable tension in the region.
NATO continues to have troops in Kosovo primarily to tamp down the secessionist sentiment among the northern Serbs, and to keep them from trading with and traveling to neighboring Serbia.
The territorial dispute continues to be a thorn in the side of Serbian relations with NATO and the EU, and Kosovo’s recognition internationally has been a struggle, primarily because of how it was created.
The forced secession in Kosovo and the lingering tensions are particularly timely with the secession and accession of Crimea from Ukraine into Russia. While NATO insisted their own deadly imposition of secession in Kosovo was perfectly legal, NATO officials angrily condemned the secession vote in Crimea, and have vowed to never recognize the results.
There is a huge difference regarding the Kosovo and Crimea. The Crimea
is returned back to Russia where it belongs historically. The Kosovo is Serbian historically. After NATO bombings it was installed an US base
Bondstill in Kosovo. Everything else is a fabrication to justify destruction of
Serbia. Albanians have their own country called Albania. There is more to the story ……
What Woodrow Wilson took away from Albania Bill Clinton gave back. The Balkans was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for 500 years. The Yugoslavs took it after the Turks were defeated. Korsova was always Albania.
Well, indeed, there is more to the story. Kosova is Albanian historically! Repeating ad nauseum lies does not make them true. This is what most historians would argue. Even Tito knew that, and expressed it several times. In reality, over centuries, both nationalities have lived there side by side, fought each other, did trade things and went into business with each other…., married into each other families, etc. The whole thing got complicated when Tito, against his earlier promise, did not allow Kosova to be Albanian, like it was, and later, did not allow to be its own republic, even though there were more Albanians than several other Yugoslav republics. Racism in a pure and simple form. It is time to reconcile and accept to live together. You cannot say Albanians have to go to Albania, even though they lived in Kosova for more than a dozen centuries. It would be the same as saying Serbs have to go to Russia, where they came from. Learning to live together, and in pace, is the real challenge here. Kosova belongs to the people who have chosen to live there (Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Gypsies etc…). They are all humans and deserve a better life. Politics and nationalism have made their life miserable so far. Time for a change in direction!!! The more we all understand that, the better their lives are going to get. Ok Rad? Ok Jason? Enough with hate and warmongering, especially in a site calling itself "antiwar". Serbs and Albanians never profited from this. They are one and the same, humans….., capable to communicate, and exchange goods, even friendship.
It is very hard to be for Crimean secession and against Kosovo secession. Both are manifestations of the inherent right of every people to self-determination. If Crimea was entitled to seceed, so was Kosovo. If Kosovo wan't entitled to seceed, neither was Crimea. "Historic" arguments are irrelevant. Human beings have rights, not states. States are merely political superstructures through which people exercise their rights. To set the historical record staright, modern Serbia has ruled Kosovo only since 1912. Previously, an earlier Serbian state ruled it from 1180 to 1455, 275 years, then it was Turkish until 1912, 457 years. The "historical" argument thus favours Turkey, not Serbia! By way of comparison, my own country, Ireland was ruled by England from 1169 to 1922, 753 years. Do we Irish not have the right to our own independent state?
Your arguments are of a jesuit kind. You set the frame for the debate, and within it, you are always right. Let us take your argument of "people" being the key to decision making. People do not exist in a vacuum, they do exist historically as well. For example, imperial ruling over people, like Britain over Irish, or Turks over Balkans in some cases did not change the demographic makeup and change the self-identity of people, and in some it did. Whether Irish by blood or not, people who feel British today do not care for Irish cause any more. People in Balkans, even entire Anatolia that became Turkish subjects, either kept their identity, or became identified with the imperial rulers. In Kosovo, despite many Albanians converting to Islam, many did not, and Serbs were majority at the time of Turkish conquest until very modern history when massive illegal immigration from Albania was tolerated during Tito rule. Kosovo is thus very controversial, while Crimea is not — as the majority Russian and Slavic population was there even before Mongol-Tatar invasion. Thus, the identity of majority goes deep into the past.
The creation of Kosovo was part of the US and NATO's plans for weakening Russian influence in the Balkans (divide and rule). The Soviet Union had just collapsed. It was also to satisfy Saudi aspirations for spreading Islam in the Balkans, It was also part of the planning for the destruction of Yugoslavia.
And also to give NATO something to do. Maintaining NATO ensures American political and strategic hegemony over Europe and provides a gateway to the middle east. Under no condition must Europe be allowed to break away from Washington's control and form their own defensive alliance.
You omitted one important fact that Serbia/Kosovo was occupied by
Turkey and few more foreign states in mean time. We never abandoned Kosovo but we were expelled by force and particularly at present time.
We left our history behind which is obvious by our churches and monuments, cemeteries, topography etc. Do we have the right to exist in
our historical homeland? Do Krajina Serbs have right to have their autonomy as everyone else since Genocide in WWII 19941-1945 and
expulsions after 1945? Eternal REFUGEE is my name.
"Operation noble anvil"…
Who comes up with this S***? What exactly is "noble" about dropping bombs on a country that has never attacked or threatened you and killing its innocent victims?
Serbia you were with the US in the first WW and the second. How in the world did you get bombed? I visited your country once and I loved it. I am a Serbian and I send my best to you.
After UNMIK moved into Kosovo and put the KLA in power, you could get your throat cut in Pristina if you spoke Serbian. No one in Crimea is getting their throat cut for speaking Ukrainian. That's the difference.
After UNMIK moved into Kosovo and put the KLA in power, you could get your throat cut in Pristina if you spoke Serbian. No one in Crimea is getting their throat cut for speaking Ukrainian. That's the difference.