Kosovo: Mission Accomplished?

 

Kosovo: Mission Accomplished?

Condi shakes hands with yet another unsavory ally

Posted on Friday, September 15, 2006. By Ken Silverstein and Sebastian Sosman.

Sources

Any visitor to the Balkans knows that to sit down for coffee or throat-rasping rakia with a person from any ethnicity in the region is to risk a not so quick, uninterruptible, vitriolic five-hundred-year history lesson so skewed that it doesn’t deserve the name of history . . . real history just about ceased to exist within Albanian and Serbian discourse. It has largely been replaced by monologues of myth and prejudice. It is now a weapon of survival.

So wrote Matthew McAllester in Beyond the Mountains of the Damned, a recounting of the late-1990s bloodshed in Kosovo. While Balkan history has lately lost its vogue in Washington, this is a good time for some brushing up. And since the conventional wisdom is so relentlessly romantic about the valiant Kosovars struggling against Serb oppression, I'll present here a side of the story that is rarely heard.

Seven years ago, an American-led NATO campaign drove Serbia out of Kosovo, which has since enjoyed semi-autonomy. Now the United Nations wants to broker an agreement over Kosovo's status. Independence for the majority-Albanian province seems to be the preferred position of most European governments and of the Bush Administration, though U.S. officials insist that no decision has been made.

The administration's tilt was evident last June, when Agim Ceku, who carries the title of Kosovar prime minister and who seeks to gain full independence from Serbia, made a quiet visit to Washingtonâ€â€so quiet that it was almost entirely unreported at the time. Ceku met with Condoleezza Rice, joining the growing list of thugs and crooks welcomed to town by the secretary of state.

Who is Ceku? As a brigadier general in the Croatian Army, he commanded Croat forces in the 1993 Medak offensive, in which the “Croatian Army perpetrated abuses against Serbian civilians and conducted a ‘scorched earth’ policy,” according to Human Rights Watch. In August 1995, Ceku was the organizational force behind “Operation Storm.” In the course of that campaign, which the New York Times described as “the largest single ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the war,” more than 100,000 Serbs were driven from the Krajina region of Croatia

Ceku, who is a Kosovar Albanian, took command of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in 1999. He is widely credited with transforming it into a guerrilla group, and for drawing NATO into direct conflict with Serbia. After the war, the KLA morphed into the Kosovo Protection Force, still commanded by Ceku. This is a sort of first-responder outfit but any future army for an independent Kosovo would clearly be drawn from the ranks of the KPC.  A leaked UN report, written in 2000 but not released (probably because it was too embarrassing) found that members of the Corps were involved in murder, torture, illegal detention, and extortion of local businesses.

The late writer Michael Kelly said at the time that former KLA leaders had formed a “criminal mobocracy” and “joined forces with former Serb paramilitary gangsters to establish themselves in drug peddling and prostitution.” Meanwhile, Kelly wrote, an “ongoing campaign to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of all but Kosovar Albanians” had forced more than 100,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians to flee the province; about 400 Serbs have been murdered, and many of those who remain live under constant, heavy guard.

Periodic violence has erupted in the succeeding years. Two years ago, anti-Serb riots across Kosovoâ€â€which occurred despite the presence of NATO and UN forces on the groundâ€â€left 19 Serbs dead and hundreds injured and displaced.

In recent years, Ceku has made public statements to the international community about guaranteeing the rights of Kosovar minorities, but many suspect that he remains a hard-nosed, thuggish Balkan commander whose constituent base remains dangerously nationalistic. Two months after meeting with Rice, Ceku paid a jailhouse visit to Selim Krasniqi , a KLA general who had just been convicted by an international tribunal of war crimes committed in 1998. “Kosovo,” Ceku remarked afterwards, “needs more men like Krasniqi.”

Ceku's visit and the Bush Administration's general pro-Kosovo tilt reinforces what Balkanists have maintained since the early 1990s, namely that the United States is not an evenhanded player. Instead, it has sought to shine a bright light on Serb atrocitiesâ€â€of which there have been many and which should be condemnedâ€â€while applying different standards to Bosnian, Croat, and Kosovar Albanian thuggery. The White House subscribes to the same theories of history that can be heard in those Balkan cafesâ€â€theories that remain largely ungrounded in reality.

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This is Kosovo: Mission Accomplished? by Ken Silverstein and Sebastian Sosman, published Friday, September 15, 2006. It is part of Washington Babylon, which is part of Harpers.org.

Written By
Silverstein, Ken
Sosman, Sebastian

Permanent URL
http://harpers.org/sb-kosovo-mis-1158344060.html

My letter published in ODYSSEY

For many of you, this is repeated information. But to the readers of ODYSSEY, a very influential Greek magazine, it is new. Just wanted you to know that my letter had been published and that is what is important. Stella

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

ODYSSEY

 

Letters

 

September/October 2006, Page 9

 

John Sitilides and Sarah K. Norman are correct when they state that "U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has been the leading architect of Kosovo policy in the Bush Administration." [The Kosovo Connection, May/June 2006].   What should have been added, however, is Mr. Burns' anti-Serb animosity that was evident when he was spokesman for the Clinton administration.

 

A critical question is whether "a democratic referendum" for independence will be open only to the residents of Kosovo which are over ninety percent Kosovo Albanian, or will it be opened to all of Serbia since Kosovo is still a province of Serbia.  If the case is the latter, then Kosovo Albanians make up only nineteen percent of the country.  It is interesting to note that Albanians became the majority in Kosovo primarily after Communist dictator Josip Broz Tito, in his hatred for the Orthodox Christian Serbs, encouraged the illegal crossing of Muslim Albanians into Christian Kosovo. 

 

The roots of this crisis in Kosovo can be traced back to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the formation of Bosnia.  The tragedy is that all of the suffering, bloodshed, and deaths in the Balkans might never have happened if it had not been for the meddling of our Department of State.  In what is known as The 1992 Lisbon Agreement, the three Bosnian leaders representing the Croats, Muslims and Serbs, endorsed a proposal that the republic be a confederation divided into three ethnic regions, similar to the "Benelux in the Balkans" proposal by Dr. Achilles Skordas.  It was then that our American Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Mr. Warren Zimmermann, advised Mr. Izetbegovic, who representing the Muslim party of Bosnia, that "if he didn't like it, why sign it?"  Although the Lisbon Agreement was the best opportunity to achieve peace, it failed primarily due to the misguided, ill-advised advice given to the Bosnian president by our state department official that encouraged Mr. Izetbegovic not to sign the agreement which he had originally accepted in Lisbon, a decision which made the war inevitable. 

 

While the Clinton administration was supporting the Bosnian government of Alija Izetbegovic, the  embassy in Vienna issued a passport to Osama bin Laden which enabled him to visit Bosnia and Kosovo on four different occasions. As a result many Kosovo Liberation Army fighters were trained in bin Laden's terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. 

 

Former UNPROFOR Commander, Canadian Maj. Gen (Ret.) Lewis MacKenzie said it best: "The Kosovo-Albanians have played us like a Stradivarius. We have subsidized and indirectly supported their violent campaign for an ethnically pure and independent Kosovo.We have never blamed them for being the perpetrators of the violence in the early '90s and we continue to portray them as the designated victim today in spite of evidence to the contrary. When they achieve independence with the help of our tax dollars combined with those of bin Laden and al-Qaeda, just consider the message of encouragement this sends to other terrorist-supported independence movements around the world."

 

After 9/11, President Bush said that we would do whatever it takes to defend our country, yet we denied the Serbs the right to defend themselves against the same enemy we are fighting today.  One thing is evident.  If Kosovo Albanians achieve independence, Serbian culture, language and religion will be eradicated. Furthermore the consequences of an independent Kosovo may well result in another mini-Afghanistan, which is certainly not in the best interest of the United States nor of Europe.

 

Stella L. Jatras, Camp Hill, PA

The U.S. Contribution to the Afghan-Kosovo Drug Traffic.

A Meta-Group Managing Drugs, Violence, and the State

The U.S. Contribution to the Afghan-Kosovo Drug Traffic. / Part XI

Peter Dale Scott - Reportedly Far West was founded in 1998; and Surikov and Saidov were already directors when they attended the Beaulieu meeting in July 1999. I believe that this meeting discussed the Russian presence in Kosovo, and the imminent increase in the flow of Afghan drugs through Kosovo.

That this flow is huge has been attested to by many observers. Russian sources estimate that from 1991 to 2003 the same group shipped to Western Europe up to 300 tons of heroin and sold it to wholesale buyers of Kosovo Albanian nationality. In the same period they sold up to 60 tons of heroin to Azeri and Roma (gypsy) wholesalers in the Volga and the Urals Federal Districts of Russia. The group’s total receipts for heroin in 1991-2003 are estimated to be $5 billion. (1)

The chief narco-baron of the group is said to be Vladimir Filin, the head of Far West. Like Surikov, Filin has been known to share his knowledge of drug-trafficking with the public. (2) And grounds have been alleged to suspect that his contacts with the CIA through drug-trafficking date back to Afghanistan in the 1980s.

The informed Indian observer B. Raman charged in 2002 that

the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the USA, which encouraged these heroin barons during the Afghan war of the 1980s in order to spread heroin-addiction amongst the Soviet troops, is now using them in its search for bin Laden and other surviving leaders of the Al Qaeda, by taking advantage of their local knowledge and contacts. (3)

The narco-barons selected by the CIA, according to Raman, were “Haji Ayub Afridi, the Pakistani narcotics baron, who was a prized operative of the CIA in the 1980s,†Haji Abdul Qadeer, Haji Mohammed Zaman and Hazrat Ali. (4)

Philip Smucker, a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, has confirmed that in 2001 the drug trafficker Haji Mohammed Zaman (once “at the top of the heroin trade in Jalalabadâ€) was recruited in Dijon, France for the anti-Taliban cause, by “British and American officials.†(5) And the Asian Times corroborates Raman’s claim that Zaman’s long-time Pakistani drug-trafficking partner, Haji Ayub Afridi, was also released from a Pakistani jail at this time. (6)

If Raman is correct, the CIA not only blessed but directed the 1980s flow of drugs from Afridi, Zaman, and Abdul Qadeer into the hands of Soviet officers like Vladimir Filin and Aleksei Likhvintsev. It would appear that corruption was being used as a political tool to weaken and subvert the Soviet Union.

Although the United States may have used known traffickers like Zaman and Qadir to regain access to Afghanistan, its stated ultimate goal, and the one assumed by the mainstream media, was to reimpose its own kind of order. Whether the country is Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Colombia, or Kosovo, America’s national interest is said to be to install and then protect pipelines. And pipelines require peace and security.

The prime geostrategic interest of the drug traffic in Afghanistan and elsewhere was precisely to prevent peace and security from happening. (7) It is true that the international illicit drug industry, like the international oil industry, is polymorphous and flexible, relying on diversified sources and markets for its products in order to maintain its global dominance. But for the global drug traffic to prosper, there must always be key growing areas where there is ongoing violence, and state order does not prevail.

The Bush Administration’s policies cannot be characterized as reflecting the national goals of peace and security, as outlined above. On the contrary, its shocking underfunding of Afghanistan’s recovery, like its complex and destabilizing interventions in Georgia, suggest that it too, as much as the drug traffic, hopes to utilize instability – as a pretext for maintaining U.S. bases.

America now faces in Afghanistan, what Russia faces in Chechnya, a conflict which is favorable to drug trafficking but increasingly deleterious to orderly reconstruction. (8) Meanwhile elements profiting from the flow of Afghan drugs continue to grow stronger and more dangerous.

Footnotes
1: www.compromat.ru/main/zuganov/surikov2.htm.

2: Alexander Nagorny "Narcobarons from the CIA and MI-6" Pravda-info 2004.09.13

3: B. Raman, “Assassination of Haji Abdul Qadeer in Kabul,†South Asia Analysis Group, Paper No. 489,

4: Raman, “Assassination of Haji Abdul Qadeer in Kabul.â€

5: Philip Smucker, Al Qaeda’s Great Escape: The Military and the Media on Terror’s Trail (Washington: Brassey’s, 2004), 9. This decision by British and American officials (the latter almost certainly CIA) may have contributed to bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora in December 2001. Cf. CNN, 12/29/01.

6: "US turns to drug baron to rally support," Asia Times Online, 12/4/01; Peter Dale Scott, “Pre-1990 Drug Networks Being Restored Under New Coalition?â€

7: Thus Shamil Basaev, who controls the Abkazian drug traffic, and his lieutenant Khattab, are famous among Russians and Chechens alike as “the incorrigibles†who want only “endless war†(Murphy, Wolves of Islam, 136, 165).

8:The Iraq War is also beneficial to the drug traffic. See the following story from the Balochistan Post, quoting the London Independent: “"BAGHDAD: The city, which had never seen heroin, a deadly addictive drug, until March 2003, is now flooded with narcotics including heroin. According to a report published by London’s The Independent newspaper, the citizens of Baghdad complained that the drugs like heroin and cocaine were being peddled on the streets of the Iraqi metropolis. Some reports suggest that the drug and arms trafficking is patronized by the CIA to finance its covert operations worldwide."


Part I: History and the Political Requirements of the Global Drug Traffic
Part II: The Meta-Group, West, and East
Part III: The Meta-Group, BCCI, and Adnan Khashoggi
Part IV: Dunlop’s Account of the Beaulieu Meeting’s Purpose: The “Russian 9/11†in 1999
Part V: Dunlop’s Redactions of His Source Yasenev
Part VI: The Khashoggi Villa Meeting, Kosovo, and the “Pristina Dashâ€
Part VII: The Role of Anton Surikov: The Dunlop and Yasenev Versions
Part VIII: Saidov, Surikov, Muslim Insurrectionism, and Drug Trafficking
Part IX: Allegations of Drug-Trafficking and Far West Ltd.
Part X: Far West Ltd, Halliburton, Diligence LLC, New Bridge, and Neil Bush

Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and English Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is a poet, writer, and researcher.

The U.S. Contribution to the Afghan-Kosovo Drug Traffic. / Part XI
http://oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/stories/2639366/

Bosnia: Former Muslim President Was Paid By Al Qaeda

 

http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/002917.html

: Reports of Muslim-Extreme Right Antisemitic Alliance| Sudan: While Islamists Behead Journalist, National Tensions Rise ?

September 08, 2006

Bosnia: Former Muslim President Was Paid By Al Qaeda

When Alija Izetbegovic (pictured) died and was buried on the 22nd October 2003, only hours beforethe funeral the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague had confirmed that he had been under investigation.

Izetbegovic had governed Bosnia-Hercegovina as President from 1990 onwards, and had seen the start of the civil war begin under his rule in 1992. He signed the Clinton-brokered Dayton Agreement in 1995 which effectively ended the conflict. He continued as vice president until 2000. Though he had a knack of persuading Western leaders that he was a benign character, the reality seems far removed from the image of a benevolent Muslim "grandfather".

Today, AKIreports that a Sarajevo-based weekly newspaper, Slobodna Bosna(Free Bosnia) has stated that Izetbegovic received money from the Saudi businessman Yassin al-Khadi (Yassin al Qadi). On October 12, 2001, Yassin al-Kadi was listed by the US government as a specially designated global terrorist for his support of al-Qaeda.

Al-Kadi's assets in Bosnia-Hercegovina were frozen in October 2001, at the request of the nation's Banking Agency. He had shares in the Vakufska Bank but these too were frozen, on the advice of the US.

In 1996, the report from Slobodna Bosnaalleges, Izetbegovic received $195,000. The information on this transaction came from a British bank while al-Kadi's charity Mufavak was being investigated. In 2002 this charity was banned, but began operating again in Bosnia under the name "Blessed Relief". Mufavak had gathered $15 to 20 million from various sources, and at least $3 million had gone to Al Qaeda.

But the claims of Al Qaeda and Islamist involvement on the part of Izetbegovic go much deeper. In 1992, he invited in the Mujahideen from Saudi Arabia, who went on a spree of murder and decapitation. The government is now trying to revoke the citizenships of 1,500 of these, as was reported by AKI this week.

In 1970, Izetbegovic wrote "The Islamic Declaration: A Program for the Islamization of Muslims and the Muslim Peoples", which was disseminated clandestinely amongst Muslims, but was not officially published until 1990 when the communist system which had been led by Tito collapsed.

This document has been used by his opponents to validate their claims that he was at heart an Islamist. The invitation of the Mujahideen (shown below, marching through Zenica) to add jihadism to the volatile ethnic situation escalated the strong feelings in the region. According to Pogledi: "The mujahedin were "incorporated and subordinated" within the structure of the 7th Muslim Brigade when it was formed on November 19, 1992 . On August 13, 1993, the mujahedeen were organized in the "El Mujahed" unit. The Bosnian Muslim military command put this unit in the 3rd Corps area of operations and subordinated it to the command of that Corps."

But the claims of Al Qaeda involvement go directly to Izetbegovic's door. Terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann wrote a book, Al Qaeda in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network, in which he details the involvement of Saudi Mujahideen in Bosnia and the rise of Al Qaeda.

Robert Spencer in JihadWatchquotes from this book:

Using the Bosnian war as their cover, Afghan-trained Islamic militants loyal to Osama bin Laden convened in the Balkans in 1992 to establish a European domestic terrorist infrastructure in order to plot their violent strikes against the United States. As the West and the United Nations looked on with disapproval, the fanatic foreign 'mujahideen', or holy warriors, wreaked havoc across southern Europe, taking particular aim at UN peacekeepers and even openly fighting with Bosnian Muslims at times. Middle Eastern religious and charitable organizations, largely based in and funded from the Arabian Gulf, were responsible for bankrolling this effort, and providing travel documentation for would-be mujahideen recruits.... many of the cell members - responsible for some of the most notorious terrorist attacks of the past decade - spent their formative years waging jihad in the unlikely Muslim land of Bosnia."

Slobodan Milosevic is widely regarded as a Serbian monster, but while he was on trial in the Hague, a British journalist Eve-Ann Prentice was giving evidence. She told the court in February that she had been scheduled to meet Alija Izetbegovic in November 1994. She said that while she and a journalist from Der Spiegel waited in a foyer for their interviews with the Bosnian leader, they saw Osama bin Laden being escorted into Izetbegovic's office. Judge Robinson cut short her testimony and declared it "irrelevant".

A damning critique of Izetbegovic and his Al Qaeda connections, written from a Serbian perspective, can be found in Serbianna, and more can be found in an articlefrom the Toronto-based Centre for Peace in the Balkans. A highly critical biography of Izetbegovic, by Vojin Joksimovich, can be found HERE.

 

Washington Waking Up to Dangers of Kosovo Independence

 

www.savekosovo.org

 

 

Washington, September 8, 2006

Washington Waking Up to Dangers of Kosovo Independence: U.S. Congressmen Join a Growing Chorus of Experts Warning Against Kosovo Independence; Serbian President Boris Tadic Conveys Kosovo Independence Dangers to U.S. Leaders; Christian Serbs in Kosovo Denounce Muslim Albanian Violence Against Non-Albanians; Kosovo-based Wahhabism in FYROM

 

Editorial comment from the American Council for Kosovo:  This week saw further indications that official Washington is becoming increasingly aware of the disastrous consequences a forcible and illegal detachment of Kosovo from democratic Serbia would have on the Balkan region.  Worthy of note:

1.  In the September 3, 2006 edition of The Washington Times, House International Relations Committee members Representatives Dan Burton (R-IN) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) wrote “If the U.N. Security Council decides in favor of Kosovo's independence, it will have a far-reaching negative effect throughout the region. It will also affect the dialogue between Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq and may strengthen the hand of separatist movements around the world. Such a decision has serious global security concerns, and the United States should carefully consider how a U.N. decision in favor of Kosovar independence will affect countries like Russia, India and Indonesia, all struggling with minority ethnic populations that use terrorism to weaken democratically elected governments.  The U.N. must not force a decision on Serbia that is unacceptable to its people and democratically elected representatives. A final decision must be a workable compromise and mutually acceptable to Serbia, ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo and the minority Serbian population. If this is not the case, the status quo will continue, or worse, the region will regress to the ethnic cleansing of Serbian Christians in Kosovo.â€

2.  During his September 7, 2006 speech at the Heritage Foundation, Serbian President Boris Tadic echoed the Congressmen’s concerns and likened the claim that Serbia has lost its right to Kosovo on account of Slobodan Milosevic to a suggestion that Iraq no longer has a right to its territorial integrity because of Saddam Hussein.  "Future status of Kosovo is very important for the stability of Kosovo.  But, at the some time, that can be a precedent, if Kosovo is going to become an independent country, a precedent very dangerous, not only for the Balkans, but for other regions in the world," President Tadic said.

3.  Meanwhile – the violence of Muslim Albanians against Christian Serbs continues.  In a recent meeting of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija, under the spiritual guidance of Bishop Artemije of Rashka and Prizren, delegates warned: "These attacks are more and more frequent and are becoming more specific as regards the way in which they are carried out, since in committing them, children and young people are taken advantage of and abused, which, regarding the way of organization and operation, reminds of the attacks Muslim terrorists are making around the world. Any [solution to the Kosovo issue] that envisages any division of modification of borders, which would violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state of Serbia and be in contradiction with the international law, as well as any other imposed solution, will be unacceptable for and decisively rejected by the Serb nation and the [Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija].

 

Besides the destabilizing precedent Kosovo independence would present, the American Council for Kosovo repeatedly has warned that an independent Kosovo would further the agenda of radical Islamic forces who would use it as a base of operations in neighboring areas. The following, an excerpt from a Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis (Sept. 7, 2006), illustrates how Kosovo-based Albanian Wahhabist activists already are increasing their influence in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), with aim of creating "a religiously 'clean' Muslim base to which they can convert to Wahhabism and, eventually, jihad against Israeli, US and other Western interests."

 

Kosovo-based Albanian Wahhabists Step Up Activities in Macedonia:

Reliable local sources in the Albanian community have reported a very recent ramp-up in activity from well known Wahhabi leaders from Ferizaj and Gnjilane in Kosovo, and Lipkovo and Cair in FYROM, in the area of the mosque. These leaders have taken over an apartment on a street opposite it, and also near the DUI local headquarters, where they “disappear†for several hours each day inside with their students and plot the next stages in their plan for “capturing†this strategic neighborhood. According to the local sources, they drive cars with Kosovo license plates. The Wahhabi leaders are creating a bookstore in the area of the mosque where they will present fundamentalist literature and CDs, and provide “spiritual guidance†for young Muslims. In fact, a major tactic of these leaders is to preach inside the private homes of Muslims and try to convert them to the Wahhabi faith.

The strategic nature of the Taftalidze neighborhood is, first of all, because it is so far largely non-Albanian, and it represents a missing link between Albanian-inhabited areas to the south and southwest, and to the north of the Vardar. The primary goal of the radicals is to create a religiously “clean†Muslim base to which they can convert to Wahhabism and, eventually, jihad against Israeli, US and other Western interests. While the group is currently decentralized and trying to remain out of the spotlight, internal tensions in the FYROM Islamic community ensure that violent incidents will continue and the influence of the extremists will continue to grow.

 

1.      Stability for the Balkans

 

By Representatives Dan Burton and Joe Wilson

 

The Washington Times– September 3, 2006

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20060902-101856-7764r.htm

 

As the United Nations tackles crises around the world from North Korea to the Middle East, it cannot ignore the Balkan region -- specifically the challenges facing Serbia. Seven years have passed since the U.N. took control of the Serbian province of Kosovo, and it will soon be time to make a permanent decision concerning its indeterminate status.
    

If the U.N. Security Council decides in favor of Kosovo's independence, it will have a far-reaching negative effect throughout the region. It will also affect the dialogue between Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq and may strengthen the hand of separatist movements around the world. Such a decision has serious global security concerns, and the United States should carefully consider how a U.N. decision in favor of Kosovar independence will affect countries like Russia, India and Indonesia, all struggling with minority ethnic populations that use terrorism to weaken democratically elected governments.
    

Serbian President Boris Tadic is pro-Western and wants to formally integrate Serbia into NATO and the European Union. He is willing to meet stringent legal, economic and political requirements to become a permanent member. However, the Kosovo issue makes it difficult for him to continue down a solid, reformist path. Mr. Tadic wants to move Serbia away from its past global isolation to international cooperation. Serbia is committed to working with the Hague Tribunal and seeks to open its growing economy to foreign investment.
    

The U.N. must not force a decision on Serbia that is unacceptable to its people and democratically elected representatives. A final decision must be a workable compromise and mutually acceptable to Serbia, ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo and the minority Serbian population. If this is not the case, the status quo will continue, or worse, the region will regress to the ethnic cleansing of Serbian Christians in Kosovo. We may also see the rise of Serbian nationalists, whose only platform will be to use Kosovo as a rallying cry at the ballot box.
    

When Mr. Tadic next visits the U.S., he should be welcomed as a friend by President Bush and congressional leaders, and Serbia should be treated as an ally that needs Western support during a difficult transition. Serbia is trying to turn Slobodan Milosevic and the wars he caused into a distant memory by moving forward and embracing democratic reforms, a commitment to human rights, and economic reforms to help its people reach their full potential.
    

We must respect Serbia's territorial integrity as well as the cultural and historical links Kosovo has with Serbia. More importantly, we must recognize the ramifications of Kosovar independence. Anywhere in the world an ethnic or religious majority is turned into a minority, they can face violence and intimidation by a new majority seeking independence. By forcing Serbia to accept Kosovar independence, the U.N. may establish a precedent that can endanger important allies around the world. Radical independence movements that exploit religious minorities and employ terrorism to achieve political goals will be emboldened. These anti-Democratic, fundamentalist religious forces must be curtailed, not rewarded.
    

As President Tadic noted in a July 19 speech to the North Atlantic Council, "I am here to ask you to work with me and my country to be able to look ahead with certainty to a future in which your security and ours become synonymous. I believe we need each other and I believe that Serbia has a major contribution to make to this end."
    

The United Nations can bring the affected parties together to construct a mutually acceptable agreement or force a decision upon Serbia that will not only affect that nation, but Serbia's integration into Europe, the Balkans, and our allies around the world. It is a process the U.S. will be watching.
    

Dan Burton of Indiana and Joe Wilson of South Carolina are Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee.

 

 

2.      Serbian leader warns against Kosovo independence

 

By David Gollust

 

Voice of America– September 7, 2006

 

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6TF8AH?OpenDocument

 

Serbian President warned Thursday in Washington that independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo would create a dangerous precedent for the Balkans and elsewhere. The Belgrade official is holding talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior U.S. officials focusing on the issue of Kosovo's future status.

Although U.S.-Serbian relations have been strained by that country's failure to apprehend Balkans war crimes figures, Mr. Tadic is getting top-level access on his Washington visit, including meetings with Secretary Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The visit comes as U.N.-mediated talks in Vienna on the final status of Kosovo are entering a critical phase. The Serbian president is stressing his opposition to independence for the majority ethnic-Albanian province of Serbia, which has been under U.N. administration since 1999.

In a talk with reporters after meeting Secretary Rice, Mr. Tadic said his government, which has advocated autonomy, but not independence for Kosovo, has no intention of running the political life of the Kosovo Albanian community.

But he said Serbia wants to uphold the rights of the Kosovo's Serb minority and defend Serbian national interests. And he said making the province independent would have negative implications for the region and beyond.

"Future status of Kosovo is very important for the stability of Kosovo. But, at the some time, that can be a precedent, if Kosovo is going to become an independent country, a precedent very dangerous, not only for the Balkans, but for other regions in the world," he said.

Mr. Tadic, a pro-Western Serbian politician elected in 2004, said the issue of indicted Balkans war crimes suspects still at large is not related to Kosovo.

The fact that former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic and his military chief, Ratko Mladic, have not been apprehended has strained Serbia's relations with the United States and the European Union, and led the U.S. Congress to cut aid to Belgrade.

Mr. Tadic and Secretary Rice did sign a status-of-forces agreement defining the legal status of any U.S. military personnel, who may operate on Serbian soil.

The United States has similar accords with more than 100 other countries. The Serbian president said he hoped the agreement would be a springboard to more military cooperation, and open the way to private U.S. investment in his country.

 

3. Demand presented for fighting Albanian terrorism in Kosovo

Press Department of the Diocese of Ras-Prizren – September 5, 2006

http://www.eparhija-prizren.com/vest_eng.php?id=96

STRPCE, Sept 4 (Tanjug) - The Kosovo-Metohija Serb National Council (SNV) concluded at a session held in Brezovica on Sunday 'that the security situation in the province is extremely difficult, that (ethnic) Albanian fundamentalists continue to commit murders and terrorist attacks against Serbs, Serb property and Serb sacred objects across the province."

 

"These attacks are more and more frequent and are becoming more specific as regards the way in which they are carried out, since in committing them, children and young people are taken advantage of and abused, which, regarding the way of organization and operation, reminds of the attacks Muslim terrorists are making around the world," said the conclusions of the meeting.

 

The recent bomb attack (carried out by a sixteen-year old ethnic Albanian) on a catering establishment in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, when a number of Serbs were hurt, is only one of the 170 attacks over the past six months.

 

"Because of such a situation in the province, the Council demands from representatives of the international community, particularly of the United States as the most important leader in the fight against terrorism, to become aware of the reality in the province and decisively oppose to the terrorist operations in Kosovo-Metohija, just like they do every where else in the world where terrorism presents itself."

 

In the conclusions that were adopted at the meeting, which was attended by a great number of delegates from across the province, it was pointed out that SNV "closely follows the Vienna negotiations and backs all the activities of the Serbian negotiating team, which are realized in keeping with the Plan for the resolution of the future status of Kosovo-Metohija."

 

"Any other solution that envisages any division of modification of borders, which would violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state of Serbia and be in contradiction with the international law, as well as any other imposed solution, will be unacceptable for and decisively rejected by the Serb nation and the SNV of Kosovo-Metohija," the delegates underscored.

 

 

 

The American Council for Kosovo is an activity of Venable LLP and Global Strategic Communications Group, which are registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as agents for the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija. Additional information with respect to this matter is on file with the Foreign Agents Registration Unit of the Department of Justice in Washington DC.

 

 

Keep Kosovo in Serbia - Ltr by Michael Pravica

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060906-095954-9648r_page2.htm

The Washington Times

Letters

7 September 2006

Keep Kosovo in Serbia

Thank you for publishing "Stability for the Balkans" by Reps. Dan Burton and Joe Wilson (Commentary, Sunday). I sincerely appreciated the congressmen's well-reasoned arguments opposing the illegal granting of independence to Kosovo against the wishes of the Serbian government.

In considering Kosovo, let's bear in mind that the Serbs and Albanians have coexisted in the Serbian province for more than 1,300 years. Former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito's denial of the right of return of 200,000 Serbians who were cleansed by Albanian fascists during World War II, his encouragement of illegal migration into the province after the war and the granting of local autonomy to the province in 1974 were all in the interest of weakening and reducing Serbia.

These actions fomented an Albanian drive to ethnically "purify" Kosovo of Serbs and their 1,300-year-old cultural presence in the Serbian province for the past 60 years. Granting independence to Kosovo would be an acquiescence to the principle that terrorists can successfully alter the borders of sovereign nations and that national borders mean nothing -- a dangerous precedent for our own nation, which also is battling illegal immigration.

Today's Kosovo is a terrorist haven and black hole of Europe where thriving sex-slave and drug-running trades give plenty of financial support to terrorist training camps for Osama bin Laden's followers within the province. We even have lost our own soldiers in Kosovo because of these fanatics, but our mainstream media has yet to report this.

Our nation's struggle against this sort of barbaric Islamofascist terrorism is completely in contrast to some of our politicians' misguided support for Kosovo's independence. It is high time for President Bush to write a new page in Balkan history by recognizing that Serbia is one of the few truly democratic nations in the Balkans and that it is trying to put the past behind it as it looks toward a more Western-leaning future.

Serbs make up one of the largest ethnic groups in the Balkans, and thus Serbia would be an anchor of stability amidst a Pandora's box of ethnic rivalries there. Serbia also was one of America's staunchest allies in World War I and World War II. Let's stop making Serbia former President Bill Clinton's personal punching bag and endeavor to rewrite the tremendous wrongs that were done in the Balkans. For the sake of global stability and respect for national sovereignty and respect for international laws, Kosovo must stay within Serbia.

MICHAEL PRAVICA
Henderson, Nev.

Stability for the Balkans

Stability for the Balkans

By Dan Burton/ Joe Wilson
September 3, 2006

As the United Nations tackles crises around the world from North Korea to the Middle East, it cannot ignore the Balkan region -- specifically the challenges facing Serbia. Seven years have passed since the U.N. took control of the Serbian province of Kosovo, and it will soon be time to make a permanent decision concerning its indeterminate status.
    If the U.N. Security Council decides in favor of Kosovo's independence, it will have a far-reaching negative effect throughout the region. It will also affect the dialogue between Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq and may strengthen the hand of separatist movements around the world. Such a decision has serious global security concerns, and the United States should carefully consider how a U.N. decision in favor of Kosovar independence will affect countries like Russia, India and Indonesia, all struggling with minority ethnic populations that use terrorism to weaken democratically elected governments.
    Serbian President Boris Tadic is pro-Western and wants to formally integrate Serbia into NATO and the European Union. He is willing to meet stringent legal, economic and political requirements to become a permanent member. However, the Kosovo issue makes it difficult for him to continue down a solid, reformist path. Mr. Tadic wants to move Serbia away from its past global isolation to international cooperation. Serbia is committed to working with the Hague Tribunal and seeks to open its growing economy to foreign investment.
    The U.N. must not force a decision on Serbia that is unacceptable to its people and democratically elected representatives. A final decision must be a workable compromise and mutually acceptable to Serbia, ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo and the minority Serbian population. If this is not the case, the status quo will continue, or worse, the region will regress to the ethnic cleansing of Serbian Christians in Kosovo. We may also see the rise of Serbian nationalists, whose only platform will be to use Kosovo as a rallying cry at the ballot box.
    When Mr. Tadic next visits the U.S., he should be welcomed as a friend by President Bush and congressional leaders, and Serbia should be treated as an ally that needs Western support during a difficult transition. Serbia is trying to turn Slobodan Milosevic and the wars he caused into a distant memory by moving forward and embracing democratic reforms, a commitment to human rights, and economic reforms to help its people reach their full potential.
    We must respect Serbia's territorial integrity as well as the cultural and historical links Kosovo has with Serbia. More importantly, we must recognize the ramifications of Kosovar independence. Anywhere in the world an ethnic or religious majority is turned into a minority, they can face violence and intimidation by a new majority seeking independence. By forcing Serbia to accept Kosovar independence, the U.N. may establish a precedent that can endanger important allies around the world. Radical independence movements that exploit religious minorities and employ terrorism to achieve political goals will be emboldened. These anti-Democratic, fundamentalist religious forces must be curtailed, not rewarded.
    As President Tadic noted in a July 19 speech to the North Atlantic Council, "I am here to ask you to work with me and my country to be able to look ahead with certainty to a future in which your security and ours become synonymous. I believe we need each other and I believe that Serbia has a major contribution to make to this end."
    The United Nations can bring the affected parties together to construct a mutually acceptable agreement or force a decision upon Serbia that will not only affect that nation, but Serbia's integration into Europe, the Balkans, and our allies around the world. It is a process the U.S. will be watching.
    
    Dan Burton of Indiana and Joe Wilson of South Carolina are Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee.Stability for the Balkans
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060902-101856-7764r.htm

De-militarize to stabilize

De-militarize to stabilize

6 September 2006

William Montgomery


One of my State Department colleagues was fond of saying that “you are where you sit.” What he meant by that is that regardless of one’s professionalism, the political environment in which you find yourself has a major impact on your attitudes. An American diplomat sitting in Tel Aviv, for example, probably has a far different approach  towards the recent fighting in Lebanon than his/her counterpart in Beirut.




KLA was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps in 1999 with the help of NATO. General Wesley Clark, Agim Ceku and Hasim Thaci (photo BBC)

This is not simply “localitis,” where one comes to have sympathy with the people with whom you are living and working. It also reflects working with different constituencies. Both of the diplomats in this Middle East example are trying their best to move their particular host countries ahead democratically and in closer sync to the United States. Both also see the counter-productive actions of the “other side” as making it harder for moderates in their host countries to gain voter support.

This same effect was very much present during my four years as Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro. The approach of virtually every American diplomat in Belgrade was radically different than our counterparts at the U.S. Mission in Pristina. We actually “saw” a far different, far bleaker Kosovo than they did. They were anxious to show that UNMIK was succeeding in its tasks and that the region was making significant progress, at least in part because that was exactly what the Administration wanted to hear.

At the same time, the experiences of the war and relations with Serbia during the Milosević regime continued to color the view of the Kosovo Albanians and the International Community in Priština long after the October 2000 upheaval in Serbia. As a result, at least  from our perspective, persecution of minorities was understated, improvements in the security situation overstated, and the Serbs in Kosovo and Serbia proper were given the lion’s share of blame for the deadlocks which were occurring.

There seemed to be little real concern for the tens of thousands of Kosovo Serb refugees, the return of their property, or the re-establishment of their jobs. In Bosnia, the protection of minorities and the establishment of freedom of movement and the right of return was perhaps the biggest priority. In contrast, it seemed from our perspective in Belgrade that it had no priority whatsoever in Kosovo. Any evidence of “concern” seemed to be all words and little, if any, action.

The classic example of this clash of approaches was with regard to the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC). We in Embassy Belgrade consistently advocated its abolition and were fiercely (and successfully) opposed by the Mission in Priština and the key figures in the Administration.

We are now approaching the time when the decision on the future status of Kosovo will be announced. There is no question but that it will be a form of conditional independence. What everybody needs to watch carefully, however, is how two other issues are resolved, because they may well be the deciding factors in whether the Serbs of Kosovo follow in the footsteps of the Sarajevo Serbs in 1996 and abandon their homes in the face of upcoming transfer of authority in their areas to the Federation.

The first is the well-discussed question of de-centralization. If the International Community truly wants to prevent de-stabilizing Serbia and to prevent the exodus of Kosovo Serbs, it will insist on a large scale decentralization based on logical municipal and village lines of demarcation  and just as importantly, the transfer of significant authority to local government. As I have long said, all they need are the same powers of any U.S. village or city.

The second  key decision, however, is that the KPC should be totally disbanded and not transformed into any other unit whatsoever. The current Prime Minister of Kosovo and former Commander of the KLA,  has publicly stated time and again his intention to turn the KPC into a regular army.

In fact, with its command structure, uniforms, and basic intent, it already is a military unit. It is composed almost entirely of former members of the KLA. It is absolutely impossible to imagine that the unit will somehow become benign and truly multi-ethnic, no matter how many token Serbs are bribed to join. It will be a destabilizing factor in Kosovo and definitely not a stabilizing one. It’s very existence will be a major impetus for Serbs to leave.

What possible military purpose could it serve in Kosovo that a strong and effective police force could not handle? It is not, by the way, simply a potential threat to the minorities of Kosovo. It is just a big a threat to several of the Kosovo Albanian political parties.

Ironically, whenever I argued this case over the years, I was always told privately the same real reason why it was allowed to exist was that the International Community was from the immediate end of the fighting in 1999 tremendously concerned over the potential for additional violence from the KLA and wanted to have a place to put them where they could be watched and perhaps rendered “civilized.”

Whenever I would point out the specific instances of KPC members being implicated in continued acts of violence, I was told that the bad apples were being weeded out. While I accept that there may be idealists out there who somehow think the KPC can suddenly become multi-ethnic in spirit and practice, the reality is that ethnic divisions remain extremely strong in Kosovo and everybody on the ground knows that is the case.

It therefore should seem obvious that a military formed from the ranks of the KLA is a major destabilizing force. Moreover, Kosovo is an economic basket case that needs all the funding and resources it can get simply to survive. Every euro spent on the KPC is a euro which could be used elsewhere.

A similar situation is taking place in Bosnia. One of the lost opportunities of the Dayton Agreement was that it did not totally de-militarize Bosnia. Instead, it tried to limit the armies of the entities and the weapons they held. The United States even was the primary sponsor of a “Train and Equip” Program designed to bring the forces of the Federation up to the standards and equipment of the Republika Srpska.

Far better to have required all sides to totally disarm. Just imagine that NATO forces have been on the ground for almost eleven years in Bosnia, guaranteeing the peace. There was no chance with them present of any side undertaking any military action. Yet billions of dollars was spent on military forces that could have been used for social and educational purposes. What a waste of resources.

Both Bosnia and Kosovo are works very much in progress. Bosnia needs international assistance and a will of its own to change the Constitution and other mechanisms provided at Dayton which simply are unworkable. Kosovo presents the International Community with the dilemma that there is absolutely no good solution for it. The time for that passed ten years ago, at least. 

A major EU/US/NATO effort to bring about real de-militarization in both these places would be a significant positive step forward to regional stabilization, more effective use of resources, and a sign that the International Community is determined to resolve the question of stability (or lack thereof) in the Balkans.

NATO may have to provide some form of security guarantees to seal the deal, but that is exactly the sort of role that the new NATO should be playing.  Both Kosovo and Bosnia, not to mention the region as a whole, will be better off with strong, effective police forces and no military whatsoever
 http://www.b92.net/eng/insight/opinions.php?nav_id=36543

De-militarize to stabilize

De-militarize to stabilize

6 September 2006

William Montgomery


One of my State Department colleagues was fond of saying that “you are where you sit.” What he meant by that is that regardless of one’s professionalism, the political environment in which you find yourself has a major impact on your attitudes. An American diplomat sitting in Tel Aviv, for example, probably has a far different approach  towards the recent fighting in Lebanon than his/her counterpart in Beirut.




KLA was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps in 1999 with the help of NATO. General Wesley Clark, Agim Ceku and Hasim Thaci (photo BBC)

This is not simply “localitis,” where one comes to have sympathy with the people with whom you are living and working. It also reflects working with different constituencies. Both of the diplomats in this Middle East example are trying their best to move their particular host countries ahead democratically and in closer sync to the United States. Both also see the counter-productive actions of the “other side” as making it harder for moderates in their host countries to gain voter support.

This same effect was very much present during my four years as Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro. The approach of virtually every American diplomat in Belgrade was radically different than our counterparts at the U.S. Mission in Pristina. We actually “saw” a far different, far bleaker Kosovo than they did. They were anxious to show that UNMIK was succeeding in its tasks and that the region was making significant progress, at least in part because that was exactly what the Administration wanted to hear.

At the same time, the experiences of the war and relations with Serbia during the Milosević regime continued to color the view of the Kosovo Albanians and the International Community in Priština long after the October 2000 upheaval in Serbia. As a result, at least  from our perspective, persecution of minorities was understated, improvements in the security situation overstated, and the Serbs in Kosovo and Serbia proper were given the lion’s share of blame for the deadlocks which were occurring.

There seemed to be little real concern for the tens of thousands of Kosovo Serb refugees, the return of their property, or the re-establishment of their jobs. In Bosnia, the protection of minorities and the establishment of freedom of movement and the right of return was perhaps the biggest priority. In contrast, it seemed from our perspective in Belgrade that it had no priority whatsoever in Kosovo. Any evidence of “concern” seemed to be all words and little, if any, action.

The classic example of this clash of approaches was with regard to the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC). We in Embassy Belgrade consistently advocated its abolition and were fiercely (and successfully) opposed by the Mission in Priština and the key figures in the Administration.

We are now approaching the time when the decision on the future status of Kosovo will be announced. There is no question but that it will be a form of conditional independence. What everybody needs to watch carefully, however, is how two other issues are resolved, because they may well be the deciding factors in whether the Serbs of Kosovo follow in the footsteps of the Sarajevo Serbs in 1996 and abandon their homes in the face of upcoming transfer of authority in their areas to the Federation.

The first is the well-discussed question of de-centralization. If the International Community truly wants to prevent de-stabilizing Serbia and to prevent the exodus of Kosovo Serbs, it will insist on a large scale decentralization based on logical municipal and village lines of demarcation  and just as importantly, the transfer of significant authority to local government. As I have long said, all they need are the same powers of any U.S. village or city.

The second  key decision, however, is that the KPC should be totally disbanded and not transformed into any other unit whatsoever. The current Prime Minister of Kosovo and former Commander of the KLA,  has publicly stated time and again his intention to turn the KPC into a regular army.

In fact, with its command structure, uniforms, and basic intent, it already is a military unit. It is composed almost entirely of former members of the KLA. It is absolutely impossible to imagine that the unit will somehow become benign and truly multi-ethnic, no matter how many token Serbs are bribed to join. It will be a destabilizing factor in Kosovo and definitely not a stabilizing one. It’s very existence will be a major impetus for Serbs to leave.

What possible military purpose could it serve in Kosovo that a strong and effective police force could not handle? It is not, by the way, simply a potential threat to the minorities of Kosovo. It is just a big a threat to several of the Kosovo Albanian political parties.

Ironically, whenever I argued this case over the years, I was always told privately the same real reason why it was allowed to exist was that the International Community was from the immediate end of the fighting in 1999 tremendously concerned over the potential for additional violence from the KLA and wanted to have a place to put them where they could be watched and perhaps rendered “civilized.”

Whenever I would point out the specific instances of KPC members being implicated in continued acts of violence, I was told that the bad apples were being weeded out. While I accept that there may be idealists out there who somehow think the KPC can suddenly become multi-ethnic in spirit and practice, the reality is that ethnic divisions remain extremely strong in Kosovo and everybody on the ground knows that is the case.

It therefore should seem obvious that a military formed from the ranks of the KLA is a major destabilizing force. Moreover, Kosovo is an economic basket case that needs all the funding and resources it can get simply to survive. Every euro spent on the KPC is a euro which could be used elsewhere.

A similar situation is taking place in Bosnia. One of the lost opportunities of the Dayton Agreement was that it did not totally de-militarize Bosnia. Instead, it tried to limit the armies of the entities and the weapons they held. The United States even was the primary sponsor of a “Train and Equip” Program designed to bring the forces of the Federation up to the standards and equipment of the Republika Srpska.

Far better to have required all sides to totally disarm. Just imagine that NATO forces have been on the ground for almost eleven years in Bosnia, guaranteeing the peace. There was no chance with them present of any side undertaking any military action. Yet billions of dollars was spent on military forces that could have been used for social and educational purposes. What a waste of resources.

Both Bosnia and Kosovo are works very much in progress. Bosnia needs international assistance and a will of its own to change the Constitution and other mechanisms provided at Dayton which simply are unworkable. Kosovo presents the International Community with the dilemma that there is absolutely no good solution for it. The time for that passed ten years ago, at least. 

A major EU/US/NATO effort to bring about real de-militarization in both these places would be a significant positive step forward to regional stabilization, more effective use of resources, and a sign that the International Community is determined to resolve the question of stability (or lack thereof) in the Balkans.

NATO may have to provide some form of security guarantees to seal the deal, but that is exactly the sort of role that the new NATO should be playing.  Both Kosovo and Bosnia, not to mention the region as a whole, will be better off with strong, effective police forces and no military whatsoever
 http://www.b92.net/eng/insight/opinions.php?nav_id=36543

Stability for the Balkans - The Washington Times

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20060902-101856-7764r.htm

 

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

 

COMMENTARY

Stability for the Balkans

By Dan Burton/ Joe Wilson
September 3, 2006

As the United Nations tackles crises around the world from North Korea to the Middle East, it cannot ignore the Balkan region -- specifically the challenges facing Serbia. Seven years have passed since the U.N. took control of the Serbian province of Kosovo, and it will soon be time to make a permanent decision concerning its indeterminate status.
    If the U.N. Security Council decides in favor of Kosovo's independence, it will have a far-reaching negative effect throughout the region. It will also affect the dialogue between Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq and may strengthen the hand of separatist movements around the world. Such a decision has serious global security concerns, and the United States should carefully consider how a U.N. decision in favor of Kosovar independence will affect countries like Russia, India and Indonesia, all struggling with minority ethnic populations that use terrorism to weaken democratically elected governments.
    Serbian President Boris Tadic is pro-Western and wants to formally integrate Serbia into NATO and the European Union. He is willing to meet stringent legal, economic and political requirements to become a permanent member. However, the Kosovo issue makes it difficult for him to continue down a solid, reformist path. Mr. Tadic wants to move Serbia away from its past global isolation to international cooperation. Serbia is committed to working with the Hague Tribunal and seeks to open its growing economy to foreign investment.
    The U.N. must not force a decision on Serbia that is unacceptable to its people and democratically elected representatives. A final decision must be a workable compromise and mutually acceptable to Serbia, ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo and the minority Serbian population. If this is not the case, the status quo will continue, or worse, the region will regress to the ethnic cleansing of Serbian Christians in Kosovo. We may also see the rise of Serbian nationalists, whose only platform will be to use Kosovo as a rallying cry at the ballot box.
    When Mr. Tadic next visits the U.S., he should be welcomed as a friend by President Bush and congressional leaders, and Serbia should be treated as an ally that needs Western support during a difficult transition. Serbia is trying to turn Slobodan Milosevic and the wars he caused into a distant memory by moving forward and embracing democratic reforms, a commitment to human rights, and economic reforms to help its people reach their full potential.
    We must respect Serbia's territorial integrity as well as the cultural and historical links Kosovo has with Serbia. More importantly, we must recognize the ramifications of Kosovar independence. Anywhere in the world an ethnic or religious majority is turned into a minority, they can face violence and intimidation by a new majority seeking independence. By forcing Serbia to accept Kosovar independence, the U.N. may establish a precedent that can endanger important allies around the world. Radical independence movements that exploit religious minorities and employ terrorism to achieve political goals will be emboldened. These anti-Democratic, fundamentalist religious forces must be curtailed, not rewarded.
    As President Tadic noted in a July 19 speech to the North Atlantic Council, "I am here to ask you to work with me and my country to be able to look ahead with certainty to a future in which your security and ours become synonymous. I believe we need each other and I believe that Serbia has a major contribution to make to this end."
    The United Nations can bring the affected parties together to construct a mutually acceptable agreement or force a decision upon Serbia that will not only affect that nation, but Serbia's integration into Europe, the Balkans, and our allies around the world. It is a process the U.S. will be watching.
    
    Dan Burton of Indiana and Joe Wilson of South Carolina are Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee.