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Another Failed State?

Kosovo's declaration of independence isn't likely to solve its many problems—or defuse tensions in the troubled Balkans

Newsweek Web Exclusive
Feb 17, 2008 | Updated: 3:09  p.m. ET Feb 17, 2008

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  • Posted By: proudserbian @ 08/12/2008 2:00:40 PM

    ofcourse its not going o salve any problems acnt u people see look what happened to georgia she lost 45% of her teritory and how many people were killed. it is only going to make new problems and not to mention tht Kosovo is a holy place of serbia. that is the place where the battle of Kosovo in 1389 happened and we serbs were the ones u saved your european heads. if we dint stoped the Ottomans they would have reach venice and who knows what else. also Kosovo is a stronghold of serbian churchys . and i dont know how u can suport people like albanians who now populate kosovo. people like them are on the level with huns or vandals purely barbaric. and now look at kosovo it has an economy that is the lowest in europe is that tyhe goalo? to make pour countrys think about it.....

  • Posted By: akrasniqi @ 07/10/2008 3:31:07 PM

    I find this article a bit offensive for the lack of facts. The only time there were clashes between the ethnic Albanians and the Serb minority in Kosovo was in March 2004 which was mostly a result of confusion and bad media reporting. You are talking about possible future massacres?!

    It is clear that the article is written without actually being in Kosovo and taking a closer look at how the people are living and how sick everyone is from violence.

    All what everyone here wants is a better life and this goal is what brings together all the ethnic groups living in Kosovo.

    Kosovo was never intended to be a new Albanian country, it's a multiethnic country open to everyone that wants to live here. It happens that currently the Albanians are the majority but it doesn't mean that it's always going to be that way.
    The reason for Kosovo parting from Serbia is not that the ethnic Albanians had anything against the Serb population, it's because there were official discriminations from the Serb government.

    Yes, there have been mutual killings during the 98-99 conflicts but now we are still living together. I'm an ethnic Albanian living in Kosovo and still work with many Serbs here and neither our identity nor our past has ever interfered in our relations.

    The tension here stops when you stop fueling it.

  • Posted By: insanityrules @ 02/18/2008 2:24:19 AM

    This declaration makes no sense as it is not recognized by the international community. Independence of Kosovo would offer the opportunity of an internationally recognized terrorist group (the KLA-ironically trained and supported by the US & Britain) closely linked to al Qaeda to rise to power. Yeah, let's all support the enormous drug trade going through the crossroads between the middle east & europe!! If this happens, the world has officially gone insane.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 02/18/2008 4:23:48 AM

      Russia and China may hold Veto seats at the UN, but the UN is a shell. The US ignores it. Britain ignores it. The international system as it was is gone. It will take a new generation of leaders time to sort out what lands where for whom. I supported bombing the crap out of the genocidal ass Milosevic. He and his Russian buddies lost. I think we even tagged a Chinese embassy too. You know, the US Army and Marines might be busy, but we can still flatten most of the earth with bombers, carriers and missiles. We outspend the next 15 nations in line on defense. I'd be willing to bet that the US Military spends more on breakfast this morning than Russia has in it's banks.
      Oil? Going away baby. Just like the Stanley Steamer, oil is going away. Bad bet Ivan.

      • Posted By: niki_fin @ 03/23/2008 9:04:07 PM

        US is the greaterst...and will always be.

  • Posted By: Mik Da Shrink @ 02/17/2008 5:44:35 PM

    Hey aurelani, why dont you learn how to spell before you post something. What good has Albania ever done for the world. Without Serbia, you wouldnt have the cyrillic alphabet, or the myriad of inventions that Nikola Tesla invented that made electricity possible. Tell me auerl what is kosovo going to do by itself? What raw materials does kosovo have? Is it advanced technolgically? Does it have oil? The answer to that is that they have nothing over there. I guess they'll continue to rob people, just like albanians do, because they cant learn anything else

    • Posted By: niki_fin @ 03/23/2008 8:23:14 PM

      Mik Da Shrink,you cam keep you´re dirty cyrillic alphabet..we dont need it at all.But I think you know very well
      how much gold was stolen from Kosova(Trepça),to bild new belgrade.Stop telling lies,like you always did.That kind of politic ,it is old fashion.Just tell the reality... :)Gëzuar pavarsia Kosovë

    • Posted By: niki_fin @ 03/23/2008 8:13:21 PM

      Mik Da Shrink,I´m sure you know that Kosova has enough gold to rebild all Serbia,like it use to rebeld before..example new belgrad it was rebelded from Kosovo gold.

    • Posted By: Proud To Be Shqiptar @ 02/18/2008 7:23:24 PM

      mik da shrink are an idit or what , we dont come here to learn how to spell things ok we come here to leave commets, and dont judge someone when u dont know nothing about them, you dumbass. kosovo will be one of the best countries in eastern europe, because albanians work hard. and serbia never did nothing for kosovo, before the war in 1998 the citizens of kosovo paid taxes and those taxes all went to the state of serbia, because serbia did not like kosovo, to be a strong state.

    • Posted By: tonydeego @ 02/18/2008 5:28:58 AM

      Hey you moron Albanians never used Cyrilic alphabet. Why Serbians are so idiots.

  • Posted By: nikki_08 @ 02/19/2008 11:40:45 AM

    I don't understand how you can say that genocide occurred when you have over a 90% Albanian population and less than 10% Serb population. Using the term genocide when it obviously wasn't is an insult to the people around the world who have experienced true genocide (Jews, various African Nations, etc.). Additionally, someone mentioned that Serbia was with Hitler and whoever mentioned that should read a history book, Serbia stood up AGAINST Hitler and his fascists.

    • Posted By: mgjoni @ 02/19/2008 12:01:11 PM

      Genocide occurred but it did not occur at the holocaust levels because NATO intervened to stop it. Look what happened in Bosnia due to the stalled intervention. War started in 1992, ended in 1995, 250,000 bosnians were killed by serbs and 4.4 million bosnians were driven from there homes. The Albanians were saved by the Western powers becuase of the genocidal maniacs ruling the serbian armed forces during this period. Serbia did ally themselves against Hitler and the Croats/Ustasas were allied with germany but the Serbian ultra-nationlists are compared to hitler based on there actions in two different time periods, both of which the majority of Europe would like to forget. It would be wise for many serbs to learn from the germans and japanese, forget your recent history, deal with the consequences, move on and rebuild towards european unity. "only unity can save the serbs" or CCCC as the slogan goes does not apply when it is your unity in oppressing all non-serbs in the Balkans that has brought you to your current state. Only unity can save the serbs will work well for serbia once that unity funnels towards european unity. Otherwise, you guys will continue to deteriorate further.

      • Posted By: I.O. @ 02/19/2008 1:23:27 PM

        What are you calling Genocide? As I understand it Genicide is deliberate action with the purpose of physical elimination of certain ethnic or religious group of people. And now please tell us when serbs have had such goal? Would you call the Civil War in the United States the Genocide? Civil War is a civil war. You have mentioned 250,000 bosnians killed. Are any serbs among these 250,000 killed people? If not then the question is how many serbs were killed in Bosnian civil war and how many serbs were driven from thier homes? Now how many serbs were killed in Kosovo by albanians? And how many serbs were driven from their homes in Kosovo over last 50 years?

        • Posted By: sabri @ 03/16/2008 11:04:42 PM

          Expulsion of the Albanians - V. Cubrilovic, 1937


          DR. V. CUBRILOVIC





          THE EXPULSION
          OF THE
          ALBANIANS





          Memorandum presented
          on March 7, 1937
          in Belgrade





          THE EXPULSION OF THE ALBANIANS



          The problem of the Albanians in our national and state life did not arise yesterday. It played a major role on our life in the Middle Ages, but its importance became decisive by the end of the 17th century, at the time when the masses of the Serbian people were displaced northwards from their former ancestral territories of Raska and were supplanted by the Albanian Highlanders. Gradually the latter came down their mountains to a fertile plains of Metohija and Kosovo. Penetrating to the north, they spread in the direction of Southern and Western Morava and, cross-sections of the Vardar. In this war, by the 19th century the Albanian triangle was formed, a wedge which abased on its Debar-Rogozna axis in its ethnic rear, penetrated as far into our territories as Nis and separated our ancient territories of Raska from Macedonia and the Vardar Valley.

          This Albanian wedge inhabited by the anarchist Albanian element hampered any strong cultural, educational and economic connection between our northern and southern territories in the 19th century. This was the main reason why Serbia was unstable, until 1878 when it managed to establish and maintain continuos links with Macedonia, through Vranje and the Black Mountain of Skopje, to exercise the cultural and political influence on the Vardar Valley that was anticipated because of the favorable geographical and road links and the Historical traditions on those regions. Although the Bulgarians began their state life after the Serbs, at first they had greater success. This explains why there are permanent settlements of southern Slavs from Vidin in the north to Ohrid in the South. Serbia began to cut out pieces off this Albanian wedge as early as the first uprising, by expelling the northernmost Albanian inhabitants from Jagodina.

          Thanks to the broad state concepts of Jovan Ristic, Serbia cut another piece off this wedge after the annexation of Toplica and Kosanica. At that time, the regions between Jastrebac and Southern Morava were radicaly cleared of the Albanians.

          From 1918 onwards it was the task of our present state to destroy the remainder of the Albanian triangle. It did not do this. There are several reasons for this, but we shall mention only the most important of them:

        • Posted By: mgjoni @ 02/19/2008 1:38:36 PM

          The term that they came up with in describing the actions of the serbs in the balkans was ethnic cleansing which equates to some form of genocide.

          • Posted By: I.O. @ 02/19/2008 2:07:44 PM

            I could not agree with that assumption. One thing is to kill people just because you do not like them. And another one is to expell them from their homes in a course of the war because they provide the material support to the enemy. Do you know that now in the US providing the material support to the enemy is the crime called treason. And it could be punished by death penalty.

            • Posted By: mgjoni @ 02/19/2008 2:26:44 PM

              We have to agree to disagree on this point.

    • Posted By: Galica @ 02/20/2008 1:42:42 AM

      Milosevic was a copycat, I think you are the one who should check the history books. Ethnic cleansing, camp killing, masacres these are the same techniques that Milosovic used. where have you been? Mars?

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/22/2008 2:59:29 AM

    In the beginning of the 15th century under Stephan Lazarovich Serbia experiences a short period of renaissance when the unity of Serbian territory was restored. As a result of the Turkish invasion Serbia became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The Muslims squeezed out the Christians from all major administrative positions. This is when the Muslim Alban population appeared in Kosovo from which the Serbs had to flee to the mountains to preserve their identity and Christianity. Christian Serbs were not allowed to carry arms or to occupy civil positions. Serbs became the underdogs of the Ottoman Empire. During the Turkish occupation the Serbs led liberation movements which were repeatedly defeated. In the 17th c. Austria became an ally in the Serbian liberation movement which was successful at times on some territories, but Austria was defeated in the Austrian-Turkish war of 1735-1737. The Serbian liberation movement came to an end. As a result, the Serbs had to leave the Southern territories, their lands, on which they lived for about 1500 years and move to the North. 37,000 families moved out from the territory of Kosovo and Southern and Central Serbia. In the end of the 17th century Albanians started moving into the territory that was abandoned by the Serbs. By the middle of the 17th century about half of the Albanians were converted to Islam. Muslim Albanians successfully integrated into Muslim Turkish culture, started serving in the Turkish army and took key administrative positions. In the end of the 18th century the Albanians started colonizing the nearby abandoned Serbian territories. In 1780 most of Kosovo's territory fell under the rule of Mohamed-Pasha, who created his own state with the center at Skadar Lake. Mohamed-Pasha recognized the Ottoman Empire only nominally. In 1831 Mahmud-Pasha's army was defeated and the central power of the Ottoman Empire was restored. Because of the the Ottoman Empire's conquering Albania more Albanians moved to Kosovo, and by the middle of the 19th century over 50% of the Kosovo population were Albanians. In the beginning of the 19th Serbia became independent from the Ottoman Empire. Kosovo became part of the Serbian Kingdom in 1918.

    • Posted By: tonydeego @ 03/04/2008 12:38:34 PM

      The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans and Celts in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (necessitated by the onslaught of people from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river.

      Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers.[14] The Byzantine records note that after they marched through grass wouldn't regrow under their footprints. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements.[15] This southern movement is commonly seen as an invasive expansion.[16]
      In the western Balkans, the Slavs assimilated groups such as Greeks, Illyrians and Latin-speaking populace. Some also assimilated the Cumans, a Turkic tribe who would settle in Kumanovo (a town to which they would give their name). Today, Kumanovo as a town and municipality is an integral part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and its Slavic-speaking population identify as Macedonians at a national level whilst maintaining the Slavicised term Kumanovci to reflect their regional identity.

      Illyria (former Albania) suffered the devastation of raids by Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths. Not long after these barbarian invaders swept through the Balkans, the Slavs appeared. Between the 6th and 8th centuries they settled in Illyrian territories and proceeded to assimilate Illyrian tribes in much of what is now Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.







    • Posted By: tonydeego @ 03/04/2008 12:38:33 PM

      The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans and Celts in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (necessitated by the onslaught of people from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river.

      Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers.[14] The Byzantine records note that after they marched through grass wouldn't regrow under their footprints. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements.[15] This southern movement is commonly seen as an invasive expansion.[16]
      In the western Balkans, the Slavs assimilated groups such as Greeks, Illyrians and Latin-speaking populace. Some also assimilated the Cumans, a Turkic tribe who would settle in Kumanovo (a town to which they would give their name). Today, Kumanovo as a town and municipality is an integral part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and its Slavic-speaking population identify as Macedonians at a national level whilst maintaining the Slavicised term Kumanovci to reflect their regional identity.

      Illyria (former Albania) suffered the devastation of raids by Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths. Not long after these barbarian invaders swept through the Balkans, the Slavs appeared. Between the 6th and 8th centuries they settled in Illyrian territories and proceeded to assimilate Illyrian tribes in much of what is now Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.







    • Posted By: tonydeego @ 03/04/2008 12:38:23 PM

      The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans and Celts in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (necessitated by the onslaught of people from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river.

      Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers.[14] The Byzantine records note that after they marched through grass wouldn't regrow under their footprints. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements.[15] This southern movement is commonly seen as an invasive expansion.[16]
      In the western Balkans, the Slavs assimilated groups such as Greeks, Illyrians and Latin-speaking populace. Some also assimilated the Cumans, a Turkic tribe who would settle in Kumanovo (a town to which they would give their name). Today, Kumanovo as a town and municipality is an integral part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and its Slavic-speaking population identify as Macedonians at a national level whilst maintaining the Slavicised term Kumanovci to reflect their regional identity.

      Illyria (former Albania) suffered the devastation of raids by Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths. Not long after these barbarian invaders swept through the Balkans, the Slavs appeared. Between the 6th and 8th centuries they settled in Illyrian territories and proceeded to assimilate Illyrian tribes in much of what is now Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.







    • Posted By: tonydeego @ 03/04/2008 12:38:04 PM

      The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans and Celts in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (necessitated by the onslaught of people from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river.

      Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers.[14] The Byzantine records note that after they marched through grass wouldn't regrow under their footprints. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements.[15] This southern movement is commonly seen as an invasive expansion.[16]
      In the western Balkans, the Slavs assimilated groups such as Greeks, Illyrians and Latin-speaking populace. Some also assimilated the Cumans, a Turkic tribe who would settle in Kumanovo (a town to which they would give their name). Today, Kumanovo as a town and municipality is an integral part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and its Slavic-speaking population identify as Macedonians at a national level whilst maintaining the Slavicised term Kumanovci to reflect their regional identity.

      Illyria (former Albania) suffered the devastation of raids by Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths. Not long after these barbarian invaders swept through the Balkans, the Slavs appeared. Between the 6th and 8th centuries they settled in Illyrian territories and proceeded to assimilate Illyrian tribes in much of what is now Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.







  • Posted By: deride @ 02/29/2008 4:46:51 PM

    How about free Kurdistan too..

  • Posted By: british historian @ 02/27/2008 9:38:47 AM

    History, for the Serbs, started in the early 7th century, when they settled in the Balkans. Their power base was outside Kosovo, which they fully conquered in the early 13th, so the claim that Kosovo was the "cradle" of the Serbs is untrue.
    What is true is that they ruled Kosovo for about 250 years, until the final Ottoman takeover in the mid-15th century. Churches and monasteries remain from that period, but there is no more continuity between the medieval Serbian state and today's Serbia than there is between the Byzantine Empire and Greece.
    Kosovo remained Ottoman territory until it was conquered by Serbian forces in 1912. Serbs would say "liberated"; but even their own estimates put the Orthodox Serb population at less than 25%. The majority population was Albanian, and did not welcome Serb rule, so "conquered" seems the right word.
    But legally, Kosovo was not incorporated into the Serbian kingdom in 1912; it remained occupied territory until some time after 1918. Then, finally, it was incorporated, not into a Serbian state, but into a Yugoslav one. And with one big interruption (the second world war) it remained part of some sort of Yugoslav state until June 2006.
    Until the destruction of the old federal Yugoslavia by Milosevic, Kosovo had a dual status. It was called a part of Serbia; but it was also called a unit of the federation. In all practical ways, the latter sense prevailed: Kosovo had its own parliament and government, and was directly represented at the federal level, alongside Serbia. It was, in fact, one of the eight units of the federal system.
    Almost all the other units have now become independent states. Historically, the independence of Kosovo just completes that process. Therefore, Kosovo has become an ex-Yugoslav state, as any historian could tell you.

    • Posted By: Luty @ 02/29/2008 4:16:15 AM

      Oops, sorry to see you dropped out. Had to do some research myself. Please, check out these links:
      The US Foreign Area Officers Association: http://www.faoa.org/journal/yugo0700.html
      The Mideast Outpost http://mideastoutpost.com/archives/2007_03.html (scroll down for Ruth King's article) or their editorial at http://mideastoutpost.com/ Rael Jean Isaac
      Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1203343699593
      Here's what Philadelphian Bulletin writes: http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18289122&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6
      That's some history of the native troops operational in the area during the One Big Interruption http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Skanderbeg_(1st_Albanian) and http://panf.info/upload/showthread.php?t=893
      An interesting testimony about activities of Skanderbeg div. found on the website of Albanian Students in Hamburg http://www.kulturserver-hamburg.de/home/illyria/i.php3?p=2004_01_09_fisher_jews_in_albania&s=e
      So much for tolerance in the new country: http://www.kelebekler.com/reska/index.html and http://www.kelebekler.com/kosovo-gb.htm

    • Posted By: Luty @ 02/28/2008 2:43:30 AM

      Thank you, old chap!
      Pray, could you also please recommend a couple of reliable studies (if such are avilable online) on the history of Shqiptarë immigration from the prehistoric Illyricum (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/ClassicalBalkans1849.jpg) to other regions (to Greece [Epirus], UK, FYRO Macedonia, Italy (Calabria, Apulia, Sardinia], Turkey, Switzerland, Serbia [Kosmet, Presevo], Germany, US, Montenegro, Canada (mostly Toronto), Ukraine and Russia [where they were invited in 1775 during the rule of Catherine the Great to settle in the newly conquered costal lands along with other ethnical groups that fled the Ottoman oppressions, collectively known under the name of 'arnauts']) after 1500, the WWII and after 1991?

  • Posted By: srb-aus @ 02/28/2008 2:14:39 AM

    Give Texas back to Mexico :P

  • Posted By: texas @ 02/27/2008 8:14:16 PM

    USA SHOULD NUKE YOU ALL

  • Posted By: vangeli @ 02/23/2008 11:24:08 PM

    TO TEXAS...HEY TEXAS GUY...YOU MUST BE THE HEAD OF CIA OR FBI...
    YOU SOUND SO PRECISE...
    WE WAITED SO LONG FOR A REALLY WORD OF WISDOM AND FINALY YOU JUST ARRIVED....!!!! I BET YOU 1 MILLION DOLLARS THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE ALBANIA OR SERBIA IS...THANKS

    • Posted By: texas @ 02/27/2008 8:11:19 PM

      I do know where serbia and kosovo are. Lived in Croatia for 3 years.

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/27/2008 3:44:16 PM

    It is a wrong assumption that the Serbian Kingdom stopped to exist under the Ottoman Empire. Russia was under the Tatar-Mongols from 1238 until 1480 when Russia defeated the Mongols and completely liberated itself from the Mongols' yoke. Russia never stopped to exist. The Balkans and Greece were under the Turks for about 500. They still managed to keep their identity and preserve Orthodoxy(even though some converted into Islam), even though their complexion became darker and the most got brown eyes. This is still what reminds the Balkans of the Turkish oppression. Many Russians (including me) until now have the Mongols' high-boned cheeks. My ideal is to forget about conquests and genocide of the previous 21 centuries and enter into the 3d millennium with a renewed thinking of cooperation regardless of our ethnicity, religion, historic experiences, based on mutul respect of every nation's cultural heritage.

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/27/2008 12:06:01 AM

    About Russia to educate you, Alba.destiny, from my first hand experience:
    I have been amazed and for ever impressed with the progress in all spheres of live in Russia, with the content and the feeling of security that all people have. The opposition leaders like Boris Nemtsov (the former governor of Nighny Novgorod) are not wanted because they used their power to pamper and enrich themselves. His, for example, favorite way of resting was to relax with "girls" in the Russian bathhouse (!!!). Do Russians want this kind of immorality? What about Russian oligarchs who deserved to be put behind the bars like Hodorkovsky, a former Soviet engineer who enriched himself by stealing and selling Russian oil, not reporting his gains and killing hundreds (with the hands of his aids) of his competitors (my old university friend was on the team investigating Hodorkovsky's crimes) . All those who are unhappy now and who say that opposition was suppressed are those who wanted to enrich themselves at the expense of Russian people and failed because they were caught doing it and were stopped.
    Fortunately, I have a lot of relatives in Russia (St.Petesrburg, Siberia, the Urals) and all of them are happy and think that Vladimir Puitin has done an incredible job of raising Russia from the ashes,providing Russians with what they need - stability and security.

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/27/2008 12:04:17 AM

    Here are the examples which the USA should follow: In St.Petersburg (as in all Russian cities) there are district mental asylums where mentally get free medical treatment. My relative, after two severe head injuries caused by car accidents, received medical and psychiatric treatment in two free mental clinics. Unfortunately he developed a severe form of paranoid psychosis. I personally visited him and can witness and excellent free medical treatment including three meals a day that all the patients receive there free in mental asylums in St.Petesrburg!!! My brother also got a free medical treatment in the Hospital of the First Aid (after an accident) in St.Petersburg where he stayed for the whole month getting all the nursing and medical doctor's care FREE. Everybody in the USA would have gone bancrupt in the first place, becasue one overnight medical treatment here costs thousands of dollars, second this long treatment in the hospitals in the USA is unthinkable. The hospitals in Russia differ in comforts and interior decorations.Some of them are very modest inside,but the care is very good. There is a choice of superb private hospitals as well there the price of medicaltreatment is very high and usually a regular Russian can notafford it.
    My parents who are 77 and 81 have a social worker who comes and cleans and cooks FREE of charge twice a week, because my parents qualify for this help for their age and health conditions. My nephew studies in a regular St.Petersburg school in the 4th grade where there is a swimming pool and he uses it everyday FREE of charge. Secondary education program are so impressive that it will take a book to describe what wonderful education Russian children receive: free textbooks, physical education, sports classes, art and music, humanities, allkinds ofclubsfor children to develop their creativity. Public schools as a rule provide subsidized hot school meals, there is a cook and a canteen in the most Russian public schools where children can get their nutritious meals. In the USA we have not ever even seen anything like this at our schools. In schooldistricts there are children's clubs which provide free afterschool education: sports, art education with trips to art museums, children's choirs, etc.
    In Russia I witnessed a wide public campaign in which they speak about the harm of computer games and video games.
    There are free Psychiatric Centers where one can get a treatment for computer/video addicts.Computer/video addiction is considered a serious psychiatric condition.

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/27/2008 12:03:48 AM

    The food markets and stores everywhere I have been ,in St.Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Sochi and other cities on the Black Sea coast, are abundant with the choice of food and products. Russian manufacturers produce shoes,clothing which surpasses that of the west in the beauty of style. There is a lot done to encourage the development of machine industries and agriculture. The recent Agricultural Laws provide state subsidies for loans to develop private farms. Agricultural development is the main program in Russia now. Russian abundant natural resources are under state control now because the 90s privatization showed that the few immensely enriched themselves at the expense of the country, its natural resources development. The most money in the 90s went to private bank accounts like Hodorkovsky's, the ex oil magnate. This year Russia has passed the corruption law that holds corrupted official highly responsible for corruption sentecing them tomany years in prison. I fully support the Russian domestic policy regarding natural resources, that are all state owned now, because natural resources should be used to benefit the country and not the few whi manage them.

    Russia does not need the "free media" like that of the 90s when female news anchors (of the 90s) delivered news on TV topless. I found Russian media content is much richer and objective than here in the USA. I found that Russia is building an Orthodox Christian Democracy where democracy is based on the spiritual values represented in Bible and not on individual values of so called "democrats". Putin is an Orthodox Christian (his spiritual father is a widely respected Russian Orthodox Priest in Moscow) and as such directly represents the interests of his people! As a Inclusive Christian democracy (because Russian Orthodox Church is all inclusive) Russia will flourish. Its Russian Orthodox Christian leaders like Vladimir Putin know that they are responsible only to God for the happiness and wellbeing of all the peoples who populate Russia (about 100 nations, nationalities, ethnic groups).
    Knowing that with boundless resources' and 143 000 000 people populating Russia, Russia is capable to raise the level of life of every Russian citizen to keep everyone happy, well fed and cared for.
    Russia, its leaders, are willing to share its resources with reasonable partners and help the world to achieve political stability. Russia is an honest and resourceful partner that respects integrity and honesty in relations.

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/27/2008 12:01:23 AM

    as far as Russia concerned withing the last 8 years(having gone though the pain of the economic crisis of the 90s), Russia has become one of the most powerful nations in the world. I wish the same economic success to Serbia and autonomous Kosovo, and I am positive it is possible with cooperation and successful development of the resources, both natural and human. Ethnic, separatist conflicts only take the attention and energy away from really important matters, the most constructive is to live in peace and cooperate with the neighbor. .

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/26/2008 11:49:13 PM

    The UN has not recognized Kosovo and without its recognition such international organizations as the World Bank and International Currency Fund will not work in Kosovo. Both the World Bank and International Currency Fund are part of the UN's organization. Consequently the EU will have to finance Kosovo's "independence" and with over 60% unemployment in Kosovo where will the Kosovo Albanians go to look for jobs? In Europe the Albanian organized crime is notoriously well know, as well as the fact that about 90% of all European drug trafficking passes through Kosovo. Corruption in Kosovo is rampant! Europe is aware of all its problems in addition to the back-breaking financial burden the EU can put on one's shoulders.
    Kosovo can be successful as part of Serbia without ethnic conflicts. Kosovo can have a strong economic development according to a clever program the corner stone of which will be cooperation, development of natural resources, local industries and agriculture.
    Looking for a helper from the EU or the USA will only bring the disaster because Westerners will be interested in enriching themselves in the first place without benefiting Kosovo in the first place. Remember what happened with Cuba? What caused it outrage and brought to the political and etc crisis? The main reason was that Cuba became the backyard (playground) for Americans who were not interested in benefiting Cuba,but enriched themselves.
    As an autonomy of a strong independent state Serbia Kosovo will achieve success. Hashim Thaci is like any separatist is interested in enriching himself and his associates. That's all Kosovo's "independence" about

  • Posted By: alba.destiny @ 02/26/2008 10:11:31 PM

    To historian2008. Can you please stop copy-paste from Serbian websites, go to western country libraries and get, real history books. If Serbs, don???t accept Kosova independence they will have to unite with Russia, does any one think it will be in their interest, or they want to unite with Russia? I don???t think so. After WW2 so many countries chose to go with Soviet Union, it took them over half the centuries to brake away from them. Tito was president of Yugoslavia from 1945-1981; he did good move in 1948 and got out of Soviet Union. Yugoslavia did very well after braking from Soviet Union, especially Serbs, which they promised Tito to behaved good, they even gave up their cetnik leaders, if two provinces Kosova and Vojvodin get under Serbian republic in federation of Yugoslavia. Since creation of so called big Serbia with two provinces, Serbs never stopped working and preparing, for what they did in 80s and 90s in former Yugoslavia in order to create so called graeter Serbian ( they got it , what they asked for Serbia???s pashaluk, hahahah).
    Russia is not accepting Kosova independence, because even people with different last name in Russia will stand up, and ask for independence. Get real, people in Russia are starving, they like Putin same as much as I do, I just hate Putin as for who is he, Russians hate him for what is he doing to them, but since they elected him then they deserve him.

  • Posted By: vangeli @ 02/26/2008 10:11:36 AM

    TO HISTORIAN 2008...ACCORDING TO YOU THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE SHOULD HAVE STAYED WHERE IT WAS FOR MORE THATN 500 YEARS???....I DO NOT THINK SO...PEOPLE AND NATIONS GOT THEIR COUNTRIES BACK...
    OR THE SAME WITH THE ROMAN EMPIRE...OR THE GREAT ALEXANDER??? THE HISTORY CAN REPEAT IT'S OWN...YOU NEVER KNOW...

  • Posted By: historian2008 @ 02/26/2008 6:27:49 AM

    Byzantium used to cover the lands occupied by Turkey now and the rest of the world around the Mediterranean Sea. Istanbul used to be the most magnificent city in the world, Constantinople, populated with over 1 000 000 people. This historic fact does not give any right to Greece to claim back any of its historic lands that belong to Turkey or Istanbul now! As well as Germany Will never claim Eastern part of Poland that and Kaliningrad , the Russian territory in the west, that use to be Prussia and part of German Empire.
    When Albanians have the right to be proud of their heritage they have no legal rights to claim the territories that have belonged to Serbia for over 1000 years and belong to Serbian according to its Constitution! Like the Turkish Kurds, who have waged a guerrilla war for over 20 years will never get their independence from Turkey however much they declare it (already for 20 years!) Constitutionally they are part of Turkey and will always be. Turkey will never allow separatism!!! Serbia will not allow separatism according to its Constitution and by International law. Russia blocked U.N. recognition of Kosovo's "independence" in the UN Security Council, putting Kosovo's declaration of "independence" into an illegal status. Albanians' Kosovo separatism is doomed as well as the Turkish Kurds' separatism is doomed. Any separatism anywhere in any corner of the world is doomed. Russia WILL make sure that it will never happen again.

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