http://www.reuters.com/article/us-serbia-kosovo-president-idUSKBN15022Y
QuoteSerbia wants to annex part of Kosovo using 'Crimea model': president
Serbia plans to seize a slice of northern Kosovo just as Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014, Kosovo's president told Reuters on Monday, as the two Balkan neighbors trade accusations of wanting to ignite a new regional war.
Kosovo special police units on Saturday prevented a train painted in Serbia's national colors and bearing the words "Kosovo is Serbia" from crossing the border.
Serbia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, its former province, and did not seek Pristina's permission for the passage of the train, which it paid for and organized. On Sunday Serbia's president, Tomislav Nikolic, said Kosovo's action had shown it wanted war with Belgrade.
Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci said the train was aimed at "provoking" Kosovars in order to create a pretext for Serbia to intervene militarily and annex northern areas of Kosovo, home to some 50,000 ethnic Serbs who refuse to accept the province's independence and want to be governed again by Belgrade.
"Serbia's intention is to use this train, which was donated by Russia, first to help carve away the northern part of Kosovo and then ... attach it to Serbia. It is the Crimea model," Thaci said in an interview.
He was referring to Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, home to Russia's Black Sea fleet and populated mainly by ethnic Russians who after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 continued to feel loyalty to Moscow rather than to the newly independent government in Kiev.
Crimea's ethnic Russians welcomed Moscow's annexation - carried out initially by soldiers wearing unmarked uniforms to disguise their identity - though the move also triggered Western economic sanctions against Russia.
"CHAIN REACTION"
Serbia lost control of Kosovo when NATO air strikes forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops in 1999 after they had killed 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians. NATO still has around 5,000 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep the fragile peace.
As well as Serbia, its ally Russia and some other countries also refuse to recognize Kosovo's 2008 independence.
After talks with Serbia's military top brass and state security chiefs in Belgrade on Sunday, Serbia's Nikolic threatened to send troops back into Kosovo.
"If they are killing Serbs, we will send the army, all of us will go, I will go as well, it would not be my first time," said Nikolic, who is a former member of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party and in the 1990s fought alongside Serb paramilitaries in Croatia.
Responding to Nikolic's remarks, Thaci said any attempt by Serbia to annex northern Kosovo would set off "a chain reaction across the whole Western Balkans".
Belgrade and Pristina both aspire to join the European Union and normalizing relations is a condition of their progress, but Serbia continues to block Kosovo's membership of international organizations such as the United Nations.
Bilateral relations came under renewed strain this month when former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj was arrested in France on a warrant from Serbia, which accuses him of war crimes.
Good luck with that Euros because Trump ain't gonna give a shit.
Heh, just the other day I was thinking the Serbs were strangely absent from the current nationalist cuntishness resurgency.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 17, 2017, 09:55:15 AM
Good luck with that Euros because Trump ain't gonna give a shit.
If this somehow leads to a disqualification of Montenegro then I might care. WC 2018 here we come!
Quote from: Liep on January 17, 2017, 10:00:35 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 17, 2017, 09:55:15 AM
Good luck with that Euros because Trump ain't gonna give a shit.
If this somehow leads to a disqualification of Montenegro then I might care. WC 2018 here we come!
Is Danemark really that bad in the current qualification campaign? :huh:
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on January 17, 2017, 10:04:56 AM
Quote from: Liep on January 17, 2017, 10:00:35 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 17, 2017, 09:55:15 AM
Good luck with that Euros because Trump ain't gonna give a shit.
If this somehow leads to a disqualification of Montenegro then I might care. WC 2018 here we come!
Is Danemark really that bad in the current qualification campaign? :huh:
11.10.2016 20:45 Danmark – Montenegro 0 – 1
Quote from: Liep on January 17, 2017, 10:05:51 AM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on January 17, 2017, 10:04:56 AM
Quote from: Liep on January 17, 2017, 10:00:35 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 17, 2017, 09:55:15 AM
Good luck with that Euros because Trump ain't gonna give a shit.
If this somehow leads to a disqualification of Montenegro then I might care. WC 2018 here we come!
Is Danemark really that bad in the current qualification campaign? :huh:
11.10.2016 20:45 Danmark – Montenegro 0 – 1
Not over yet because there are other games?
Besides, Montenegro and Serbia are fully separated now. :P
I don't expect an escalation before the weekend when Trump is inaugurated and all those pesky Obama appointees in various capacities had to hand in their keys.
Does membership in the UN require unanimous approval of existing members?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 17, 2017, 02:09:33 PM
Does membership in the UN require unanimous approval of existing members?
Security Council approval, then 2/3 of the General Assembly.
Quote from: Syt on January 17, 2017, 12:25:29 PM
I don't expect an escalation before the weekend when Trump is inaugurated and all those pesky Obama appointees in various capacities had to hand in their keys.
Hopefully it'll be after the weekend, since Trump is taking Sat-Sun off.
Quote from: Syt on January 17, 2017, 12:25:29 PM
I don't expect an escalation before the weekend when Trump is inaugurated and all those pesky Obama appointees in various capacities had to hand in their keys.
No...they will wait for the spring, when the mountain passes are open.
*contemplates field glasses* Yes. They will wait until spring.
I am so glad we decided to recognize their independence.
Quote from: Valmy on January 17, 2017, 08:32:49 PM
I am so glad we decided to recognize their independence.
Who, Kosovo? It's just a mail code to send the check from the Kosovo Aid concert, which is the most we will do when Serbia goes in an buttfucks them into rape-rape camps under the fatherly, pan-Slavic gaze of Moscow. But it's OK, operators are standing by to accept your donation, any donation, so little ethnic war refugee Bupchik can eat, and not only will you get this great little tote bag, but you'll know that little Bupchick won't go to bed hungry despite the forced anal fissure.
Maybe they can get the ethnic cleansing right this time.
STFU, slavboy.
All fucking Serbs must fucking hang.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 17, 2017, 08:56:35 PM
STFU, slavboy.
All fucking Serbs must fucking hang.
Sorry not a dirty gypsy. German, Irish, and Scottish here.
:blurgh:
I wonder if Camp Bondsteel still has that Burger King.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 17, 2017, 08:50:27 PM
Quote from: Valmy on January 17, 2017, 08:32:49 PM
I am so glad we decided to recognize their independence.
Who, Kosovo? It's just a mail code to send the check from the Kosovo Aid concert, which is the most we will do when Serbia goes in an buttfucks them into rape-rape camps under the fatherly, pan-Slavic gaze of Moscow. But it's OK, operators are standing by to accept your donation, any donation, so little ethnic war refugee Bupchik can eat, and not only will you get this great little tote bag, but you'll know that little Bupchick won't go to bed hungry despite the forced anal fissure.
:lol: That's like, an entire industry in the UK
URGENT YEMEN APPEAL *queue picture Arabic-looking sad kid*
Quote from: Valmy on January 17, 2017, 08:32:49 PM
I am so glad we decided to recognize their independence.
:bleeding: We got conned.
If Serbia recognises Kosovo then maybe they can discuss land swaps like sensible people. I'm sure I recall there are some Albanian parts of Serbia proper.
But no. That would be too sensible.
Quote from: derspiess on January 18, 2017, 10:38:20 AM
Quote from: Valmy on January 17, 2017, 08:32:49 PM
I am so glad we decided to recognize their independence.
:bleeding: We got conned.
the world would be better if there were only 4-5 countries...
Quote from: viper37 on January 18, 2017, 01:36:04 PM
the world would be better if there were only 4-5 countries...
No we should split the world up into 7 billion countries!
See I can post stupid strawmen as well.
But beyond the stupidity of splitting up the Balkans into dozens of microstates I think picking sides in an ethnic question like this is just a bad idea.
Quote from: Valmy on January 18, 2017, 01:42:29 PM
But beyond the stupidity of splitting up the Balkans into dozens of microstates I think picking sides in an ethnic question like this is just a bad idea.
And if we are going to pick sides in an ethnic question, why did we go for the albanians?
Quote from: alfred russel on January 18, 2017, 02:21:48 PM
And if we are going to pick sides in an ethnic question, why did we go for the albanians?
They appeared to be the victims. They were Muslim-ish (the Islamic world will love us if we step up and help their own). And they were fighting against the Serbs.
wouldn't it be easier for the serbs to just shoot themselves in their feet?
Quote from: Valmy on January 18, 2017, 01:42:29 PM
But beyond the stupidity of splitting up the Balkans into dozens of microstates I think picking sides in an ethnic question like this is just a bad idea.
Like Israel and Palestine? Like Yemen? Rwanda? World War II? Ukraine War?
Most fights are about ethnic questions. A few about natural resources.
Either you support Trump's world view, that nothing else matters beyond your borders, or you protect the right of a nation to determine its own fate, especially when they face genocidal maniacs.
Quote from: viper37 on January 19, 2017, 04:09:50 PM
Either you support Trump's world view, that nothing else matters beyond your borders, or you protect the right of a nation to determine its own fate, especially when they face genocidal maniacs.
So those are the only two options? Isolationism and some kind of ideology based on collective rights? Not buying it.
And yeah picking a side in those conflicts listed would not only make us party to atrocities but would get us mixed up in interminable and endless struggles. I think stopping the massacre in Rwanda (which, in any case, we did not do anyway) does not require one to pick up the Tutsi flag. There are other reasons to oppose genocide than that.
Quote from: Valmy on January 19, 2017, 09:22:12 PM
Quote from: viper37 on January 19, 2017, 04:09:50 PM
Either you support Trump's world view, that nothing else matters beyond your borders, or you protect the right of a nation to determine its own fate, especially when they face genocidal maniacs.
So those are the only two options? Isolationism and some kind of ideology based on collective rights? Not buying it.
The real issue with Der Furor's foreign policy isn't just about a blinkered reactionary isolationism (we've always had that bouncing around in varying degrees of intensity), but a complete rejection of the traditional international relations model. To these people, state actors aren't the primary threats to the United States, it's religious/ethnic threats: Islam, immigrants, and some sort of faceless international "cabal" (read: :Joos). That's why this incoming administration is such bad news.
Isn't his son-in-law part of the :Joos ?
Quote from: Solmyr on January 20, 2017, 01:06:23 AM
Isn't his son-in-law part of the :Joos ?
They love the Jews, as long as they live in
Armageddon Land The Holy Land.
Quote from: Valmy on January 19, 2017, 09:22:12 PM
So those are the only two options? Isolationism and some kind of ideology based on collective rights? Not buying it.
A great President, according to those who voted him in office anyway, once said "You're with us or against us". ;)
Quote
And yeah picking a side in those conflicts listed would not only make us party to atrocities but would get us mixed up in interminable and endless struggles. I think stopping the massacre in Rwanda (which, in any case, we did not do anyway) does not require one to pick up the Tutsi flag. There are other reasons to oppose genocide than that.
The situation in Rwanda was different, namely because there weren't clear geographical lines between Huttus and Tutsis.
In many cases however, there are clear territorial demarcations between both groups. Is it perfect with 100% of the population on each side of the line? No. Should seperation be encouraged? No. But once two groups have proven they can't live together and one wants out and not live under the domination of the other, it should be allowed to leave, democratically. And if one side is committing atrocities against the other and the only solutions are to keep a peacekeeping force for a century or allow the split, then the split should be the viable option.
Quote from: viper37 on January 21, 2017, 12:48:16 AM
Quote from: Valmy on January 19, 2017, 09:22:12 PM
So those are the only two options? Isolationism and some kind of ideology based on collective rights? Not buying it.
A great President, according to those who voted him in office anyway, once said "You're with us or against us". ;)
Which president said that about Kossovo? :huh:
Quote from: viper37 on January 21, 2017, 12:48:16 AM
Quote from: Valmy on January 19, 2017, 09:22:12 PM
So those are the only two options? Isolationism and some kind of ideology based on collective rights? Not buying it.
A great President, according to those who voted him in office anyway, once said "You're with us or against us". ;)
The folks who made Trump the nominee didn't like Bush at all.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 22, 2017, 07:20:43 PM
The folks who made Trump the nominee didn't like Bush at all.
AFAIK, Republicans vote for the Republican nominee. They are the same people who voted for Bush in his time. They are the same people who defended all his actions. Now that it turned bad, they say they never liked him.