When television showed the burning American Embassy in Belgrade and crawling APCs (carrying Serbian policemen who had no desire to disperse Serbs with Molotov’s cocktails), I wondered how soon will the Americans recall international law and the Vienna Convention, which safeguards the immunity of diplomats and embassies? They were very quick.

But an appeal by Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns to the Serbs to respect international law sounded somewhat ridiculous. What is he talking about? He and his colleagues violated it themselves last Monday by recognizing Kosovo’s independence.

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It is strange to hear words of indignation when the situation developed exactly the way he wanted it to. Okay, let’s agree that Kosovo is a unique case. The burning of the embassy is a unique reply to Kosovo’s unique independence. There is no need to draw any parallels or get worried. This exception will not spread to other parts of the world - other embassies cannot be burned, and this case is truly unique.

Let’s repeat this idea once again. Having taken part in the annexation of part of a sovereign state, the United States is angry that someone wanted to occupy or even burn down part of its own territory - the embassy. The Department of State has justifiably appealed to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. But what about the UN Charter, which guarantees territorial integrity of sovereign states? Having recognized Kosovo’s independence, Washington has openly violated Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. So, why is it angry at a Serbian student who did a similar thing to the U.S. Embassy? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

It was unpleasant and humiliating for the Americans to watch on TV how Serbs were setting fire to their stars and stripes, and raising a red, blue and white tricolor instead. But few of them saw how Orthodox churches were burning in Kosovo, cupolas with crosses detonated, and clergymen exposed to derision. CNN does not often remind its audience of Albanian atrocities.

It was interesting to watch journalists changing the tune in their coverage of events in Belgrade. First, they mentioned a thousands-strong crowd that somehow turned into a few nationalists, although it was the same crowd. The Americans hate to admit that they were wrong - nobody does, for that matter. But few have taken so many undemocratic and illegal actions in world policy as they have. In the U.S., those guilty of such actions may face life imprisonment, if not a lethal injection, electrocution or gas chamber (how can democracy be preached by a country where 35 states allow capital punishment by such revolting methods?). Erosion of international law started with Serbia - the bombing of Belgrade in 1999. Iraq followed.

In terms of criminal law, these global actions qualify as robbery and murder. In Arkansas and Texas, these crimes are punishable by death penalty. These are home states of the last two presidents that started wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq in violation of international law. But at home, U.S. presidents do not behave like this - they are decent gentlemen playing the sax and riding a bike. But once they go outside, everyone had better scatter.

The last two presidents liked to talk about the U.S. mission before the start of a war: “The United States is called upon to guarantee…”. Depending on the situation, they would continue with such phrases as “Kosovo’s freedom,” “peace and prosperity,” or “democracy all over the world.” None of them has specified who imbued the United States with this mission and what rights they had for that.

But these are details that ordinary Americans should not go into until someone in their family is killed in action. For the time being, Americans are not dying in Kosovo like they do in Iraq; and for this reason they don’t ask who has urged America to help the Kosovars and whether the Kosovars had the right to do so.

Receiving reports from Belgrade, U.S. diplomat Burns appealed for help to the Serbian authorities but they could do nothing. They failed to protect the territorial integrity of both their country and the U.S. Embassy.

But the Serbian government is not guilty of unrest in Belgrade. It has lost legitimacy, having failed to preserve its territory. In this situation, it is disgraceful to scatter indignant compatriots, but they had to for fear of being brought to The Hague. This is not a good prospect for President Boris Tadic, who talked about European prospects for Serbia, or for Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, a graduate of Cambridge and Harvard. They are not ready for any responsibility.

Responsibility for the humiliated stars and stripes rests with American diplomats and officials - Burns, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Holbrooke, Zalmay Khalilzad, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Madeleine Albright - all those who have created this unique case and have not yet realized how unique it really is.

By Dmitry Gornostayev

Let’s repeat this idea once again. Having taken part in the annexation of part of a sovereign state, the United States is angry that someone wanted to occupy or even burn down part of its own territory - the embassy. The Department of State has justifiably appealed to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. But what about the UN Charter, which guarantees territorial integrity of sovereign states? Having recognized Kosovo’s independence, Washington has openly violated Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. So, why is it angry at a Serbian student who did a similar thing to the U.S. Embassy? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Jeezus fing christ, do they all go to the same school of fucked up logic and enraged propaganda?

So glad to know the Russian journalists are just as stupid as their American counterparts.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo - U.N. police are firing tear gas at 5,000 Serb demonstrators trying to cross a key bridge in the ethnically divided city of Kosovoska Mitrovica.

Police fired the canisters Friday afternoon in an attempt to keep the protesters off the bridge separating the Serb and ethnic Albanian sides of the city — a flashpoint of tensions in Kosovo’s restive north.

The demonstrators waved Serbian flags and chanted “Kosovo is ours!” on their fifth day of protests since Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders declared independence from Serbia on Sunday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s prime minister appealed for calm on Friday as the European Union sharply condemned overnight rioting in Belgrade during which the U.S. embassy was stormed and other Western missions were damaged.

Serbian police said that one person died and more than 150 people were injured in the violence, which erupted after a state-sponsored rally to protest Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on Sunday. Nearly 200 people were arrested and 90 shops ransacked, police said in a statement.

The unrest was the first major outburst of anti-Western sentiment in Serbia since former strongman Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in 2000 and replaced by a reformist government.

It exposed a deep rift within the country’s shaky coalition government, raising fears that nationalist anger over Kosovo was strengthening the hard-liners who want to move Serbia away from the European Union and closer to its traditional ally Russia.

The United States and EU heavyweights Britain, France and Germany have formally recognized Kosovo.

The morning after angry mobs stormed the city, Belgrade streets were cleared of debris during the morning rush-hour traffic.

On Thursday night, rioters broke into the U.S. mission and set fire to offices and to police guardhouses on the sidewalk in front of the building. The nearby Croatian embassy was also attacked, and a residential building next door was damaged by flames.

Firefighters extinguished the blazes and found a charred body inside the U.S. mission’s consular section. An autopsy on the body was being conducted Friday in Belgrade’s military hospital, officials said.

Riot police clashed with looters on Thursday in the capital’s downtown following the demonstration against Kosovo’s independence in which nearly 200,000 people took part.

The European Union warned Serbia on Friday that the attacks risked harming efforts to bring the Balkan nation closer to the EU. The German government also warned the rioting could effect negatively Serbia’s cooperation with the EU.

“These acts of violence lead nowhere and they cannot help anybody,” said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. He told reporters that negotiations on an agreement designed to prepare Serbia for eventual EU membership would have to wait until things “calm down.”

The White House also strongly criticized the Serbian government, saying the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade “was attacked by thugs” and Serb police did not do enough to stop it. In a conference call with reporters from Air Force One, presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the United States had expressed its “concern and displeasure” to the Serbian government.

Pro-Western politicians in Serbia accused hard-line nationalists in the government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of inciting the violence in order to demonstrate Serbia’s anger at Kosovo’s independence.

In Kosovo, the Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci said the violence in the streets of Belgrade was reminiscent of the Milosevic era and his brutal crackdown against the province’s ethnic Albanian rebels, which triggered NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999.

Some Belgrade analysts said the nationalists were seeking to fuel anti-Western anger in order to sideline pro-European Union reformists led by the President Boris Tadic.

Tadic’s and Kostunica’s parties are united in a coalition government that has ruled Serbia since mid-2007.

But the two differ sharply on how to handle Kosovo’s independence, with Tadic saying Belgrade must press on with efforts to join the EU regardless of Kosovo, and Kostunica seeking to drop the bid because most EU countries plan to recognize the province’s independence.

In a statement Friday, Kostunica appealed for the end of violence.

“This directly damages our … national interests. All those who support the fake state of Kosovo are rejoicing at the sight of violence in Belgrade,” he said, but made no mention of the damaged embassies.

Police said that in addition to the U.S. and Croatian embassies, the missions of Turkey, Bosnia, Belgium and Canada were also targeted.

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac of Tadic’s EU-oriented Democratic Party said rioters were energized by the backing of some nationalist politicians for smaller attacks earlier in the week against Western embassies and commercial interests.

The pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party leader, Cedomir Jovanovic, warned the rioting was a prelude for a crackdown against government critics and pro-Western liberals.

“An atmosphere of lynch has been created,” added political analyst Ljubodrag Stojadinovic.

Belgrade’s medical emergency center said some 150 people — one third of them policemen — had been treated mostly for light injuries sustained during the night. There were more than 100 arrests, police said.

On Friday, a McDonald’s restaurant in the city center was still smoldering from the fire that torched much of the interior. Shops put up plastic sheeting and glass panels to cover their smashed front windows. Several sports goods stores and other shops had been cleaned out by looters leaving display windows completely bare.

Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade’s control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since.

Those SOB’s are trying to start another war. Name the source of the quote and you have the party responsible for the US embassy attack today!

It’s so hard, though, to determine who wants what, WHY they would start a war, and how they intend to reach their goal.

An America involved in ANOTHER armed operation is a stupid America, ultimately, though, WHY do they want Kosovo destabilized?

Destabilization plays more to Russia, despite public protestations to the contrary, and the PNAC is as stupid and deluded as Rummy, couldn’t win a game of Shoots N Ladders against a three year old, much less chess against Putin.

Things though, seem kinda strange between England and Russia.

H/T Israel Matzav

Several hundred protesters threw stones and flares at riot police protecting the US Embassy in Belgrade today after Kosovo declaration of independence, witnesses said.

I’m add the following again. Those SOB’s are trying to start another war. Name the source of the quote and you have the party responsible for the US embassy attack today!

‘Kosovo’s freedom is worth clash with Russia’

By Harry de Quetteville in Pristina
Last Updated: 12:13pm GMT 20/02/2008

Confrontation with Russia is a price worth paying for Kosovo’s independence, a senior Western official said yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/20/wkosovo120.xml

I want the name of this senior Western offical IDOT!

‘Kosovo’s freedom is worth clash with Russia’

Do you think it’s not, what about the bigger picture?

I was reading, earlier, about the death of the Russian spy, in London, last year.

That was an incredibly bold move, by Putin, as has been implied, to me a significant push. That, and Russia’s actions in regard to the mafia, Iran, China and the consolidation of oil reserves. And the rhetoric is shifting, too.

How would you have read it?

‘Kosovo’s freedom is worth clash with Russia’

By Harry de Quetteville in Pristina
Last Updated: 12:13pm GMT 20/02/2008

Confrontation with Russia is a price worth paying for Kosovo’s independence, a senior Western official said yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/20/wkosovo120.xml

Let those idiots fight it out, it’s not like the West doesn’t have the resources, the brains to do it…

You know, all those dictators, including the would have been Cheney, playing nuclear poker games with each other, over OIL.

Got brains?

Albania has won and will now have a more open avenue for its Islamic terrorism, smack trade and white slavery than ever.

Except this creates unintended destabilization, and can be used against those who would promote it.

They never think of that, it’s a form of criminal denial, or just outright stupidity.

The offenders just end up treading water, struggling not to drown.

Even Communist Russia only had, what, an 85 year life span?

Iraq and Afghanistan are disasters, if the US needd to make inroads, there, against Russia, and China, say, even in terms of oil, many other avenues could have been taken, other than the bomb.

Cheney and Rumsfeld strike me as a little dense, in that manner.

Who you gonna let call your wars, some stupid oil guys?

REAL SMART.

Pat Buchanan, he has a piece on Kosovo over at WorldNet Daily. Please, no grief on me checkin’ out that site

Pat Buchanan can actually offer some real insight into the motivations of others, a really good perspective on foreign events.

I find myself agreeing with him, at times, even though we are ideologically, politically, different as night and day.

Do you think the independence of the US could have succeeded without the intervention of France?

Hell, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that France, Russia and England were able to ally themselves so quickly after the Napoleonic Wars with a Concert of Europe by uniting in staving off the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence culminating with the Battle of Navarino.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Navarino

Then again, I see no Talleyrand at our disposal.

I digress. I am also anxiously looking forward to correspondence from a citizen of Croatia who will be weighing in on Kosovo here and be able to field questions from his unique viewpoint.

Btw, what is your take on the Melian Dialogue?

I don’t know if I can envision a Republic of Ireland without the IRA

Not putting words in your mouth, and I’d like to hear your POV, but do you think civilized people blow up civilians?

It’s my touchstone, the minute they introduce themselves by MURDERING innocents, they’re ko0ks, no matter who they think they are…

I think all aggressive actions are a result of denial and an deeply flawed aberrant psychology, people not psychologically or intellectually talented enough to problem solve, without violence.

MLK, Jr did it, led a movement for independence, modern day, as did Gandhi, all without violence, both brilliant.

But I’m open to your opinion, please, if you have the time, I would like to hear your POV, as you’re Irish, what is your feeling about the IRA?

During our Revolutionary War, we deliberately targeted officers which was supposedly prohibited by the European articles warfare at that time

A simple, general, precedent for murder or torture that might have been incidental to a win doesn’t justify a status quo: “well, they did it too,”. Pretty shitty reasoning, IMO, for simple brutality.

Lincoln had deserters shot, I admire Lincoln, I would not have a deserter shot, you know, and Lincoln won that war.

Again, this is the 21st century, we’re supposed to be better, smarter, not romanticizing some idea of war, and manliness, those posers who murder are lonely women, reading romance novels, except for them, it’s the idea of themselves as the brave warrior, like big fat stupid cowardly Dick Cheney thinking himself the Che of America, Che Cheney, ah, if Dick only had a son.

I think of Ayers, and Obama, and the need to make oneself important through the use of the bomb, as opposed to the word, and it’s all about frustration, but also self glorification. And they cannot see how others see them, they think they are feared, they are tolerated, used, manipulated, scorned, ridiculed, and then dumped.

And you just don’t murder others because you’re a narcissistic infant, you don’t have that right, others have a right to stop you, protect themselves, because you’re just not that important, that special, you’re not smart, you know?

Well, that’s what I would tell a terrorist.

Thanks for letting me vent, taters, I get so frustrated reading about those idiots who murder civilians, simply to “send a message.”

You haven’t explained why your Kosovar family member supported the late Ibrahim Rugova.

What was good for Kosovo wasn’t in the thoughts of the bombers.

Large Potential Albanian Oil and Gas Discovery Underscores Kosovo’s Importance -
Stephen Lendman

February 19, 2008

On January 10, Swiss-based Manas Petroleum Corporation broke the news. Gustavson Associates LLC’s Resource Evaluation identified large prospects of oil and gas reserves in Albania, close to Kosovo. They’re in areas called blocks A, B, C, D and E, encompassing about 780,000 acres along the northwest to southeast “trending (geological) fold belt of northwestern Albania.”

Assigned estimates of the find (so far unproved) are up to 2.987 billion barrels of oil and 3.014 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. However, because of their depth, oil deposits may be capped with a layer of gas. If so, Gustavson calculates the potential to be 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and up to 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Further, if only gas is present, the discovery may be as much as 28 trillion cubic feet. In any case, if estimates prove out, it’s a sizable find.

In its statement, Gustavson reported: “The probability of success for a wildcat well in a structurally complex area such as this is relatively high (because) it is in a structurally favorable area (and) proven hydrocarbon source and analogous production exists only 20 to 30 kilometers away.”

Currently, the Balkans region has small proved oil reserves of about 345 million barrels, of which an estimated 198 million barrels are in Albania. Proved natural gas reserves are much larger at around 2.7 trillion cubic feet.

In December 2007, Albania’s Council of Ministers allowed DWM Petroleum, AG, a Manas subsidiary, to assist in the exploration, development and production of Albania’s oil and gas reserves in conjunction with the government’s Agency of Natural Resources.

This development further underscores Kosovo’s importance and the cost that’s meant for Serbia. Since the 1999 US-led NATO war, it’s been all downhill for the nation, the region and its people:

–Kosovo is part of Serbia; at least it was; since 1999 it’s been a Washington-NATO occupied colony stripped of its sovereignty in violation of international law;

– it’s been run by three successive US-installed puppet Prime Ministers with known ties to organized crime and drugs trafficking;

– it’s the home of one of America’s largest military bases in the world, Camp Bondsteel; the province/country is more a US military base than a legitimate political entity;

– its part of Washington’s regional strategic objective to control and transport Central Asia’s vast oil and gas reserves to selected markets, primarily in the West;

– on February 17 during a special parliamentary session, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence; the action violates international law; Kosovo is as much part of Serbia as Illinois is one of America’s 50 states; to no surprise, Washington and dominant western countries support it; opposed are Serbia, Russia, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus;

– might makes right; the issue is a fait accompli; the February 17 declaration ignores EU division pitting one-third of its 27 members in opposition; and

– unilateral western-supported independence mocks the 1999 UN Security Council Resolution 1244; it only permits Kosovo’s self-government as a Serbian province; the resolution recognizes the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;” only a new UN resolution in compliance with international law can change that legally; nonetheless, it happened anyway on another historic day of infamy when Washington again trashed international law and the rules and norms of civil society.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.