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Albanian militant extremists sponsored by Islamic fundamentalists jeopardise Balkan and European security

Assoc. Prof. Vladislav Sotirovic, Ph.D.

Secession and destabilisation of European security system

Southeast Europe, and especially the Balkan Peninsula, have traditionally been the object of numerous geopolitical, geostrategic and publicist analyses, as well as the subject of debates among Balkan, European and global experts in international relations. At the present, along with the Serbian and Macedonian questions, the most controversial issue is the Albanian national question.

The basic problem concerns security in a broader geopolitical framework, which is understandable, but at least as far as Western analysts are concerned, other issues have priority such as human rights, democracy and other issues that might become dominant in a given phase of crisis solving.

The preservation of regional security and the creation of stable political-economic relations in the Balkan Peninsula are the priorities of the international community policy, since it estimates that currently the most important hotbeds on Europe are located in Kosovo, in Albania and in western Macedonia.

Judged according to investments, resources and geostrategic element, the province of Kosovo is worth more than 500 billion dollars. This fact favored the Albanian secessionist leadership in its efforts to assume the guidance of the Albanian people, which might play an important role in the global control of the south-eastern part of Europe. The premise Whoever has control of the Balkans and of Kosovo and Macedonia, controls the stability and the instability of Europe has been put to good use by the Albanian leaders by trying to destabilize this part of the European continent in order to benefit by creating Greater Albania, i.e. by generating a monopoly of power and might in the Balkans. Their efforts are designed to provide the solution to the Kosovo Question and Macedonian Question by involving international factors, to the point that internationalization of the problems is sought at any cost, including inciting and taking part in terrorist activities, devised to frighten the Serbian and Slavic Macedonian people and force them to emigrate and abandon the land to the secessionists.

The political objectives of the Albanian secessionists in Kosovo and western Macedonia encompassing both conventional and unconventional forms of activities by political parties, unions, media, supported by terrorism, guerrilla, contraband, drugs smuggling and violence of all sorts, are merely a mosaic revealing a rejection of the authority of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and a collective resistance to the Serbian and Slavic Macedonian people and political parties, regardless of their political programs, party activities and attitude towards the present government.

Islamic extremism and the European quest

Kosovo and Macedonia are the regions with enormous historical and civilizational importance for European culture, especially in view of resisting to the expansion of Islamism in Europe.

The last civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), concluded by the Dayton-Paris Agreement (1995), also represents an attempt to ensure the penetration of Islamism in the Balkans and to link a major number of states and regions to the Moslem population and Islam as the religion of the majority. Part of this process includes the long-term effort of the Albanian leadership to form the Greater Albania, encompassing present day Republic of Albania, Kosovo, as well as western Macedonia, eastern Montenegro and north-west Greece. Strikes staged by ethnic Albanian miners and university students in Kosovo back in 1988 and 1989, have escalated into outbreaks of violence with tragic consequences, forcing the Serbian government to take energetic measures to suppress anti-governmental and terrorist activities and re-establish normal life condition in this part of the Republic. This is why at the beginning of the 1990's, terrorist groups and their leaders adopted a new strategy, which was intensified in 1996 and 1997. It was characterized by attacks focused on government institutions, Serbs, Montenegrins and ethnic Albanians, which were judged to be helping the reinforcement of legal and legitimate authority of Serbia and Yugoslavia. Now, the same scenario is going on in western Macedonia. In just a few months at the end of 1997 and at the beginning of 1998, the activity of the terrorists in Kosovo (organized in spring 1998 as Kosovo Liberation Army or UCK) have caused the death of more than 70 citizens and members of Serbian Police and Yugoslav Army. Such an escalation of violence, as now in Macedonia, was the result of thorough preparations of secessionists in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and of the support of various Moslem countries, particularly Iran and its Islamic extremist militant institutions and organizations. According to US reports from 1998, world terrorist and national enemy No. 1, Bin Ladin, was several weeks in Albanian capital Tirana coordinating and financing UCK's activities in Kosovo. Finally, it is known that Saudi Arabia gave substantial financial aid to Muslim government in Sarajevo during the last two years of Bosnian civil war. There are many indications which suggest that present military activities of Albanian secessionists in western Macedonia are sponsored by some Islamic countries on the first place by Iran. However, as Iran is US national enemy No. 2 these terrorist activities of Albanian Islamic extremists in western Macedonia are not so welcomed by US administration as it was the case with Bosnian Islamic government because this government in Sarajevo was financially sponsored mainly by Islamic Saudi Arabia, which is friend No. 1 in the Arabic world of US administration.

THE BALKANS - EUROPEAN POWDER KEG

The area between the Adriatic, Danube and the Black Sea, known as the Balkans, is associated with a mosaic of peoples divided in religious, national, economic and financial sense. Because of its strategic validity this peninsula through history was the epicenter of political clashes and armed conflicts marked by constant interferences of foreign powers. Being the border-line between civilizations, between Indo-European and Asiatic worlds, marked by coexistence of different nationalities, the Balkans act as an geopolitical equalizer during the periods of the power games. The experts on geopolitics will usually present the Balkan geopolitical importance by the example that whoever controls parts of the Montenegrin-Adriatic corridor (the co called Turkish corridor) and the Morava River-Vardar River route controls the transportation of Caspian oil and central Asia's gas to the terminals of the Adriatic Sea.

National, ethnic and religious conflicts have been a feature of Balkan history and present time (and most probably of the future) primarily because the region has a conglomeration of antagonistic nations, religions and cultures, which have fashioned its cultural, economic and political environment. The political map of the Balkans has been changing constantly in conformity with the interests that big powers had in relation to this crossroads of Europe and Asia. Two factors have gradually come to play decisive roles in the history of the development of the Balkan peoples - religion and the interests of leading European powers (and after WWII as well of USA and China). The great powers have often used the religious factor to disunite the Balkan nations, especially where the nations were of the same origin but had different confessions (for instance, Bulgarians and Pomaks in Bulgaria or Serbs, Croats and Boshnjaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The last crisis (from 1991) evolving in the region of former Yugoslavia (having its climax today with the question upon Kosovo status), is due to various factors - religious as well as ethnic - at play within its different nations. The religious factor was most pronounced among the Croats; then quite indiscernible among the Serbs and hardly apparent among the Bosnian (Slavic) Muslims, at the beginning of the conflict. For instance, the Croatian nationalist leadership of Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ) used the religious factor as a key to the solution of its national question: opting for Catholicism was a sign of Croatization. Ethnic consciousness was quite discernable among Muslims and Croats, whereas the Serbs began to speaking in these terms only at the end of the 1980s.

It can be said that at the Balkans big powers interests is playing a decisive role while religion is serving as a means to achieve their goals. Later, however, once, for instance, Islamic countries became involved in the conflict (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan), elements of a civilization conflict became more and more apparent (like today in Macedonia, Kosovo and Bosnia but also at Cyprus) fitting to the theory of Clash of Civilizations (from 1993) by American scientist Samuel P. Huntington. Islam is just beginning to drive its way through the Balkans, not having any territorial link with Turkey. The borders of its inner-Balkan connections have, however, already been marked and successful preparations are already been made to consolidate and expand those territories (Kosovo, Sandzak, Montenegro, Bosnia...). In order to link them to Islamic Middle East, Islam is anxious to acquire the territories of northern Macedonia and southern Bulgaria. Southern Europe will then, likewise, be leaning against a compact wall of Islamic countries. The South Slavic states - Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia - will thus find themselves on the frontier of Islamic probes into Europe, which threatens to bring about more conflict problems. However, Europe's leading countries and America had not regarded yet this as a possibility, having only been concerned with their own interests.

Having in mind Balkan reality the European Union expressed its worrying about the effects of a potentially explosive situations at several Balkan micro regions on the peaceful coexistence between different religions and nations which can at any time provoke an explosion of Europe's powder keg - the Balkans. To avoid this risk, the EU must prevent feelings of being abandoned among all Balkan nations and religious groups. This is true especially today when Kosovo independence is knocking to the European doors. It depends only on EU decision will both of Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Kosovo Albanians or only one of them feel themselves abandoned by community of European democratic nations or welcomed to the EU club. The consequences of the wrong move can be fatal for the continent as whole. For instance, the Balkan powder keg can open the doors to the new Cold War era between East and West (or even more seriously, as S. P. Huntington mentioned, between the West and the Rest) as it is already heralded by the regional info-media - if the West lead by USA will further insist on building anti-nuclear shield in Eastern Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic) and recognize Kosovo self-proclaimed independence Serbia will allow Russia to build up a similar anti-nuclear shield on its own territory (rockets C-400-2) alongside the River of Drina that is neighboring Bosnia.

For the end, we have to remember in this context two facts: 1) the First World War started on the Balkans when Russia in July 1914 decided to protect the national interests of the Serbs against Pan Germanic policy of Drang nach Osten; and 2) the Cold War started also on the territory of Balkans when both armies of Titoist Yugoslavia (sponsored by Stalin) and Anglo-American one entered the city of Trieste on the same day - May 1^st, 1945. The Trieste crisis was finally solved in 1975 by bilateral agreements between Italy and Yugoslavia but the Cold War was prolonged for the next 15 years. To learn lessons from the Balkans one have to take into consideration the fact that any wrong step done by international community can have much deeper traumatic global consequences for a longer period of time. Probably for that reason (Historia est magistra vitae) Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi advised Albanian side on his official state visit to Tirana on December 3^rd, 2007 to wait with unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence. This advise has more weight after Putin's absolute victory on the parliamentary elections in Russia - traditional ally of Serbs.

January, 2008, Vilnius

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - A CRADLE OF SERBIAN NATION

The aim of this article is to present the main historical aspects of the long-time struggle between the Serbs and Albanians upon the national and political supremacy over the central Balkan province of Kosovo.

Kosovo (or Kosovo and Metohija in Serbian or Kosova in Albanian) was the political center of mediaeval Serbia and makes the very essence of Serbian spiritual and cultural identity and statehood since the Middle Ages up today. The biggest number and the most important of Serbian Orthodox mediaeval monasteries (for instance, Grachanica, Pecka Patrijarshija and Visoki Dechani) are built exactly in Kosovo and the headquarters of Serbian Orthodox Church-Patriarchate established in 1346 was located (till 1766) in the city of Pec in the western portion of Kosovo province called Metohija. The capital of Serbian Empire proclaimed in 1346 was also in Metohija in the city of Prizren which is known in Serbian history as the "Imperial city" or "Serbian Constantinople". The term Metohija means the land in possession of Serbian Orthodox Church and according to the archival documents the Serbian historians claim that c. 70% of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija was in legal possession of the Serbian Orthodox Church till 1946 when the new Communist authorities "nationalized" the land of the church under the policy of agrarian reform and delivered it to Albanian peasants.

However, contrary to Serbian case, for Albanians Kosovo is not central national land: moreover it is just peripheral for the very reason they started to settle Kosovo from Albania only after the First Great Serbian Migration from Kosovo in 1690 during the Austrian-Ottoman War (Vienna War) 1683-1699. That Albanians, contrary to Serbs, are not aboriginal people in Kosovo clearly is showing the first preserved Ottoman census ("defter") in Kosovo and Metohija done in 1485, i.e. only 30 years after this province became occupied by the Turks and included into administrative system of the Ottoman Empire (in 1455). By analysing the personal names and place names from this document already ex-Yugoslav linguists claimed that it is obvious that only 2% of them are of Albanian origin. However, after the First (when c. 100.000 Serbs emigrated from Kosovo to Southern Hungary) and the Second (during the new Austrian-Ottoman War in 1737-1739) Great Serbian Migrations from Kosovo ethnic composition of the province gradually was changed for the reason that Ottoman authorities invited neighbouring loyal Muslim Albanians from North and Central Albania (the speakers of the Geg dialect) to settle this depopulated province. Consequently, according to official Serbian statistics made immediately after the Balkan Wars 1912-1913 when Kosovo became reincluded into the state territory of Serbia it was 50% Serbs and 50% Albanians living in this province. There are three reasons for such population change: 1) constant Albanian immigration to Kosovo and Metohija from Albania during the Ottoman time, 2) permanent Albanian terror against the local Orthodox Serbs (for instance, 150.000 Serbs are expelled from Kosovo in the years 1878-1912), and 3) higher Albanian birth-rate than Serbian one. Differently to Serbian case, Kosovo (except during the WWII) was never part of Albanian state that was, by the way, established for the first time only in 1912. Thus, undoubtedly, Serbs have pure historical rights on Kosovo in comparison to Albanians (like Lithuanians on Vilnius and Trakai areas in comparison to the Poles).

It has to be said that Kosovo with Metohija is very fertile and clement plane (differently from mountainous Albania - that was the main reason for ethnic Albanian migrations from Albania to Kosovo) with mild climate, reach in water resources, with high mountain chains bordering with Albania. It has been God-blessed environment for a fruitful development of the highest achievements in all cultural fields in medieval Serbia. The cultural and demographic strength of the Serbs is best illustrated by the presence of 1.500 monuments of Serbian culture. Numerous outstanding noble Serbian families used to live in this province (known as "Old Serbia"), as families Brankovic, Hrebeljanovic, Music, Vojinovic, some of which were the inceptors of Serbian dynasties. In addition, a great number of Serbian noble castles existed all over Kosovo with rich aristocratic life going on inside their walls. They were also meeting places of Serbian nobility and centers where important political and other decisions have been taken and places attended by foreign envoys and outstanding guests from the noble foreign ruling families. In Svrchin castle, for example, the famous Serbian Emperor Dushan (1331-1355) was firstly crowned king in 1331, and Pauni, famous for its beauty, were favoured place of Serbian king Milutin (1282-1321) - a founder of monastery of Grachanica. In Pauni in 1342 Serbian Emperor Dushan had received Jovan VI Kantakuzin, one of the pretenders to the Byzantine throne at that time. Nerodimlja, with the strong fortress over the castle, was favourite residence of Serbian king Stefan Dechanski (1321-1331) who built up the famous monastery of Visoki Dechani in Metohija - a meeting place of western (Roman Catholic) and eastern (Byzantine Orthodox) architecture styles.

However, for the mediaeval Albanian history Kosovo is of no importance: no one Albanian feudal lord or dynasty originated in Kosovo, no Albanian religious shrines (churches) in Kosovo, and mostly important, no Albanian place-names in the province. Even today, 90% of place-names in Kosovo and Metohija are of Serbian origin - even in Albanian language the name for the province (Kosova) has Serbian-Slavic root/origin: Kos (blackbird).

The Serbian elite and minor nobility has built in these regions hundreds of smaller chapels and several dozens of monumental Christian monasteries. Some of them have been preserved to date, such as Patriarchy of Pec (since 1346 site of the Serbian Patriarch), Dechani, Grachanica, Bogorodica Ljevishka, Banjska, Sveti Arhandjeli near Prizren and others. Serbian churches and monasteries had been for centuries owners of great complexes of fertile land. As it is said, Metohija, the name originated from the Greek word metoh, means church land (administratively, Kosovo province is divided by Serbian authorities into Kosovo covering eastern part and Metohija covering western part). Highly developed economic life was an integral part of a high level of civilization attained in medieval Serbia. The city of Prizren, for example, was a famous economic and commercial center, with developed silk production, fine crafts, and numerous settlements where the merchants from Kotor (today in Montenegro) and Dubrovnik (historically independent republic) had their houses, and in the 14^th c. Prizren was the site of the consul from Dubrovnik for the whole Serbian state. And many other commercial centers such as Prishtina, Pec, Hocha, Vuchitrn, are testifying the strength of highly developed economic life in this province. Kosovo was also famous in Europe according to its very rich silver-mining centers as Trepcha, Novo Brdo and Janjevo, out of which in the 15^th c. Novo Brdo had become one of the most important mining centers of the Balkans and Europe. Mainly silver, but in certain extent and gold, were exported to the big European centers in great quantities especially during the first half of the 15^th c. However, the Ottoman authorities totally neglected mine exploitation in Kosovo (likewise elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire) and at such a way this very rich province did not contribute to the economic prosperity of the Ottoman citizens.

Turkish-Ottoman invasion from the mid-14^th c. (1354) means a fatal turning point in Balkan and Serbian history during the second half of the 14^th c. The military advance of the Turks towards the Central Europe via the Balkans was a rather slow process. Serbian ruler prince (known in Serbian epic songs as the "emperor") Lazar Hrebeljanovic (1370-1389) and Serbian nobility in the famous battle of Kosovo on June 28^th, 1389 did everything to stop the Turkish invasion towards the South Eastern Europe. It was not only a clash of two armies led by their rulers Serbian prince Lazar and Turkish sultan Murat I (1362-1389), who both are killed during the battle, but also a clash of two civilizations, one Christian-European one and Islamic-Asiatic one. During the Ottoman yoke in Serbian national conscience the Battle of Kosovo has acquired mythical dimension of a crucial historical event (even today chronology of Serbian national history is divided into two periods: before and after the Kosovo Battle), greatly affecting the national identity of the Serbs. The Serbian epic poetry is very rich and the cycle of poems devoted to Kosovo are a pearl of that treasure and moral and psychological support to Serbian people during the centuries of slavery under the Turks till the 19 century, and speaking of Kosovo and Metohija till 1912, when they were finally liberated from the Turks. On the opposite side, in Albanian national epic poetry there are no examples of devotion to the Kosovo land and history. However, even the "father" of Albanian national pride - the feudal lord Georgie Kastriot Skanderbeg (1405-1468, ruler of Central Albania from 1443 to 1468) was in fact of Serbian origin. Contrary to Albanian case, in Serbian national poetry we find such a great number of representatives of Serbian nobility, of Serbian castles and outstanding Serbian monasteries from Kosovo and Metohija.

The Turkish-Ottoman invasion of the South Eastern Europe including and the Serbian lands, have not only brought about the fall of Christian civilization, but is also responsible for the destruction of all social structures, the elimination of the Serbian elite and the destruction of the most outstanding cultural achievements. One part of Serbian nobility was killed, one part expelled to Asia, one part took Islam (mainly voluntarily), and one part managed to emigrate north, west and to across the Adriatic Sea to Italy. Average people (the peasants) deprived from its national leaders had no option but to stick to the traditional national values. It is thanks to the Serbian Orthodox Church which managed to revive its work in 1557 (renewal of the Patriarchy of Pec by the sultan's decree), that Serbian people kept alive the awareness of the mediaeval national state and high achievements of its civilization. Many mediaeval castles and towns were destroyed, many churches were raised to the ground, and even some of them turn into the mosques. For example, at the beginning of the 17^th c., the church of the Holy Angels (Sveti Arhandjeli), where Serbian emperor Stefan Dushan was buried, that was in fact the monumental mausoleum of Emperor Dushan, was totally destroyed, and the stone of which the church was built was used for building the Sinan-pasha mosque, still existing in Prizren today. Bogorodica Ljevishka, the monumental church of King Milutin, in 1756 was turned into the mosque and only after the WWI it was again restored into the Christian church. Contrary, there is no one example of conversion of the Muslim mosque into the Christian church in the 20^th c. when the Christians (Serbs) ruled the province.

Turkish invasion and the consequences of their conflict with Christian Europe, particularly since the siege of Vienna in 1683, had considerably changed the ethnic and demographic picture of that part of Serbia. The Orthodox Serbs were the absolute majority population until the end of the 17^th c., and before the First Great Migration of the Serbs in 1690, due to the defeat of the Christian Europe (the Habsburg army) in the conflict with the Turks and the participation of the Serbs in that conflict on the side of the Christian Europe. After 1690 the Turks have been settled in Kosovo towns and cities, but the turning point in history of Kosovo and Metohija was the fact that the Albanians have been coming from the mountains of Northern and Central today Albania to both (firstly) Metohija and (later) Kosovo. The colonisation of Kosovo and Metohija by Albania's Albanians has been continued after 1941 up today. At such a way, according to the official Yugoslav censuses, in 1945 in this province there were 70% of Albanians, in 1991 90% and finally today (after ethnic cleansing of all non-Albanians after June 1999 when the Kosovo War was over) there are 95% of Albanians in the Province (Serbian authorities claim that c. 200.000 Serbs are expelled from Kosovo after June 1999).

Surely, until the 18^th c. there are no Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija in bigger agglomerations. In addition to the newly settled Albanians who were mostly Muslims or originally the Christians converted to Islam soon after settling in Kosovo, it was also and the process of Islamization of the Serbs that brought about great changes in the cultural environment of the province. Many of Islamized Serbs gradually fused with predominantly Albanian Muslims and adopted their culture and language. Thus, a great number of today Kosovo "Albanians" are in fact of Serbian ethnic origin. The process of Islamization and a change of ethnic structure of Kosovo and Metohija further continued at the beginning of the second half of the 19^th c. when the Turks settled the Cherkeses in this province which at that time enjoyed a status of a separate Ottoman administrative unit (Kosovo vilayet) but with a bigger territory as Kosovo and Metohija are today (including and Northern Macedonia and parts of present-day South West Serbia). Consequently, due to of all these artificial demographic changes, but also and due to high birth-rate of Kosovo Albanians, the Orthodox Serbs decreased for almost 50% of the total population living in Kosovo and Metohija.

In the second half of the 19^th and at the beginning of the 20^th c. the Serbian middle class in Prizren, Pec, Prishtina and other cities was the main driving force of the urban and economic development of the province. The newspaper "Prizren" was published in both in Serbian and Turkish language. In 1871 the Orthodox Theological School was founded in Prizren by Sima Igumanov. During the eighties and nineties of the 19^th c. a great number of new schools, cultural institutions and banks were founded and many of them have been sponsored by the independent Kingdom of Serbia whose consulate was in Prishtina.

It was during the WWII, that the most drastic changes in the demographic picture of Kosovo took place. In Kosovo and Metohija, which became part of Mussolini's and Hitler's protected Greater Albania from 1941 to 1944 (composed by Albania, Kosovo and Metohija, Western Macedonia and Eastern Montenegro), the Albanian nationalists got free hand to terrorize the Serbs. Under such pressure estimated 100.000, or even according to some historians up to 200.000, Serbs left this province. In their empty houses about the same number of Albanians from Albania are settled. Such policy definitely changed the balance in the Albanian favour. Thus, the first official census in post-WWII Yugoslavia (in 1948) showed 199,961 Serbs (including and "Montenegrins") in Kosovo and Metohija and 498,242 Albanians. Moreover, the federal National Assembly in Belgrade issued a special law in 1946 according to which all expelled Serbs/Montenegrins from the province during the years of 1941-1944 are prohibited to return back to their homes under the official pretext that such move would provoke tensions between Serbs/Montenegrins and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija.

After 1945, as a result of unbelievable demographic explosion (up today the biggest in Europe) Albanian population in Kosovo doubled till 1971. The official Yugoslav census for that year shows 916,168 Albanians living in Kosovo, while Serb and Montenegrin (the "Montenegrins" as a separate nation from the Serbs are declared in 1945) population reached only to number 259,819. This demographic trend clearly demonstrates that the theory of Serb repression over Albanians after the WWII is absolutely not correct. The truth is that the Communist authorities gave favour to the Albanians at the expense of Serbs/Montenegrins allowing uncontrolled settlement of Albanian immigrants from Albania and tolerating different methods of ethnic discrimination over the Serbs/Montenegrins which made more and more Serbs and Montenegrins leave the province and seek better life in Central Serbia or Montenegro. The new wave of Serbian and Montenegrin exodus from Kosovo and Metohija started after mass Albanian demonstrations in 1968 in the province with a requirement to transform Kosovo into the new Yugoslav republic. By the 1990s more than 800 settlements in which Serbs lived with Albanians became ethnically pure Albanian villages. From 1974 (when a new Yugoslav (con)federal constitution was adopted) Kosovo Albanians got extremely huge political-national autonomy within Serbia that was practically an independent seventh republic within Yugoslav federation having its own president, government, parliament, Academy of Science, flag, school system and even constitution which was in many articles in direct opposition to the constitution of Serbia.

In an attempt to prevent the secession of Kosovo and Metohija after pro-Greater Albanian demonstrations in this province in the spring 1981 (when Albanians openly required unification with Albania), Serbian government in 1990 abolished Kosovo Albanian political autonomy which was leading to Kosovo's province separation from Serbia. When the rebels of Kosovo Liberation Army (established in 1995 and sponsored by the USA) began attacks on both Serbian police forces and Serbian civilians in February 1998 the Serbian government brought the army and stronger police troops to put the rebellion down. In the course of the Kosovo War in 1998 and 1999 which ended by the NATO intervention against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) more than 500.000 Kosovo Albanians (during the NATO bombing) fled the province to Macedonia and Albania. After the war, despite the international presence, Kosovo Liberation Army organized persecutions of Serbian, Montenegrin and all other non-Albanian population and more than 200.000 Serbs and Montenegrins left Kosovo and Metohija. Only 90.000 Serbs remained living in total isolation, dispersed in several KFOR protected Serb enclaves. After the self-proclamation of Kosovo state's independence on February 17^th 2008 Balkan ethnic Albanians are living in two national states with a great possibility to create in the recent future a united Greater Albania following the borders from 1941-1944.

Export of "Kosovo Revolution"

After June 2008 parliamentary elections in FYRM, followed by crime incidents, Europe is once again faced with the Macedonian problem. The heralds of continuation of armed conflict in Macedonia were obvious from the last year when on November 7^th Macedonian special police forces liquidated six armed Albanians from neighboring Kosovo on the Shara Mt. in northern Macedonia - the region known from 1991 as the most nationalistic and separatist Albanian area at the Balkans after Kosovo. As police found a large amount of hidden arms and ammunition on one location at Shara Mt. (brought from Kosovo) it became obvious that the interethnic clashes between Albanians and Macedonians from 2001 year can be easily repeated after February 17^th, 2008 when Kosovo Parliament self-proclaimed territorial and political independence of Kosovo from Serbia. Balkan political analytics are kin to speculate that what happened on Shara Mt. at the beginning of November is just continuation of "export of Kosovo revolution" from 1998. It basically means that Macedonia is scheduled by "Albanian revolutionaries" (i.e., political leadership of Kosovo Liberation Army) to be next Balkan country which will experience "Kosovo syndrome" after proclamation of Kosovo independence. According to one Belgrade University Faculty of Political Science edition on Kosovo problem, it is assumed that Montenegro is the third one.

However, the speculations upon the so-called "export of Kosovo revolution" to neighboring Macedonia are in direct connections with much serious regional problem of "Macedonian Question" which has always been at the hart of the Balkan politics and of interest of the Great Powers. Macedonia - the small, landlocked territory in the Southern Balkans has been contested during the last 150 years by all its four neighbors: Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece. Socialist Yugoslavia of Josip Broz Tito claimed to have solved the "Macedonian Question" by the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslav Federation. However, the collapse of the second Yugoslavia in 1991 reopened the issue of the future of the territory of Vardar Macedonia (Serbian-Yugoslav part of geographic-historic Macedonia). A successor "Republic of Macedonia" has been formed but it has not received universal international recognition either of its formal political independence or of its state-flag and state-name. Basically, today there are three main problems concerning the "Macedonian Question": 1) will Macedonian state territory be divided between Slavic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians (who are 30% of Macedonia's population)?; 2) will all members of international community recognize the name of "Republic of Macedonia" (according to Macedonian Constitution of 1991) or they will continue to call this country as it is today officially named by UN - "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"-FYROM)? and 3) will FYROM have territorial pretensions on other parts of geographic-historic Macedonia included into Greece ("Aegean Macedonia") and Bulgaria ("Pirin Macedonia") after the Second Balkan War in 1913?

Macedonian independence from 1991 created an extremely tense relationship with the Greek government, since Macedonia developed rival claims for ethnicity and statehood. This rivalry was epitomized in a dispute about the state's name, as Greece objected to the use of Macedonia, whose historical heritage it claimed. The two countries eventually recognized each other in 1995, and the Greek economic blockade against Macedonia was lifted.

The ethnic make up of Macedonia continued to change as Albanian refugees poured in from Kosovo and Albania increasing the size of the Albanian minority to 30%. Tensions were increased through the worsening economic situation, which escalated as a result of international sanctions and then war against its main trading partner, Yugoslavia. As the situation in Kosovo escalated and war erupted in 1998/1999, Macedonia became an important stronghold for the moderate Albanian opposition from Kosovo, but also for the rebel Albanian force, the Kosovo Liberation Army. Emboldened by the international recognition of Albanian rights in Kosovo from June 1999, the Albanian minority in Macedonia became more assertive. Following violent clashes between the Macedonian police force and Albanian rebels, NATO followed the plea of the Macedonian government and increased its presence there. A civil war was narrowly avoided in 2001 when parliament in Skopje agreed concessions granting linguistic and limited political autonomy to the Albanian minority. In return, the Kosovo Liberation Army rebels agreed to give up their arms to NATO troops.

Nevertheless, "Macedonian Question" after 2001 primarily depends on solving "Kosovo Question". In the other words, in the case of international recognition of Kosovo independence after February 17^th, 2008 the Albanians from western Macedonia (likely followed by their compatriots from eastern Macedonia) will follow Kosovo example of regional revolution for the sake of getting territorial-national independence with a final aim to be united with motherland Albania as it was stressed by Kosovo Albanian leader (later president of Kosovo) Ibrahim Rugova in 1997.

Bosnian Independence and Terrorism

There are many American journalists and political analysts who severely criticizing U.S. policy in the Balkans during the last 15 years because the Pentagon backed Muslim radical extremists in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia; the radicals who allowed the creation of the strong Osama bin Laden's "Al Queda"'s Islamic extremist network in the Balkans. Such U.S. foreign policy in the Balkans decreased the real chances for any comprehensive struggle to combat international terrorism.

The critique is put on the fact that from 1992 (the beginning of the Bosnian civil war) to 1999 (end of Kosovo crises) Osama bin Laden and Pentagon supported the same Islamic extremists in Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania and Western Macedonia (Bosnian government, Kosovo Liberation Army, Albanian government and Liberation National Army of Albanians in Macedonia). The result of such policy is that the Balkans became one of the strongest "Al Queda"'s stronghold in the World - in fact one of the most important centers where from Osama bin Laden is planning the terrorist actions against the West.

Undoubtedly, terrorist Islamic extremist organization "Al Queda" has been expanding its own network of operatives in the Muslim controlled Balkan territories in the last decade. This fact suggests to Western media to conclude that Pentagon policy in the Balkans finally failed because in Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania and Western Macedonia there is a big danger that Osama bin Laden and his like-minded Islamic fanatics already fomenting Iran's Khomeini-style Islamic revolution. They, moreover, have a strong financial support to organize small groups of Islamic radicals intent on provoking general instability or inciting terror actions not only in the region but in the U.S. and West Europe as well.

In the last decade the Osama bin Laden's "Al Queda"'s Islamic terrorist organization forging strong ties with indigenous Muslim activists, such as the Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic and radical military groups as Kosovo Liberation Army and its brench in West Macedonia.

According to American Gordon N. Bardos, assistant director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, the U.S. provided significant financial, military (in the form of arms, training, and intelligence) and political support to the Islamic army forces commanded by Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic. In 1992 the U.S. House of Representatives' Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare report stated that this Muslim Bosnian wartime leader was best known for his activities as an Islamic radical dissident (who signed the "Islamic Declaration" in 1970 according to it "there is no peace or co-existence between Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions") and was jailed twice in former Yugoslavia for his Islamic radicalism, links with other Islamic militant movements, such as those affiliated with the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. During the Bosnian civil war (1992-1995) Izetbegovic's government invited radical Muslim fighters ("mujahedins") from Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iran and Jordan to fight against Croats and Serbs. These radical Islamic fighters, among them there were and members of "Al Queda", were organized within the "7^th Muslim Brigade" (of Bosnian Army) that numbered some 7,000 soldiers. In the course of the ware this "mujahedin"'s Bosnian army fought in the central Bosnia and became accused by the International War Crime Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague of some of the most extreme war crimes committed by Izetbegovic's military forces. Today is well known that Osama bin Laden was the main organizers and financial sponsors of transportation of several thousands of the radical Islamic fighters from Arabic states to Bosnia (and later to Kosovo and West Macedonia). According the Yugoslav government's sources, majority of those "mujahedins" from Bosnia after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed (on November 21^st 1995) went to Kosovo and West Macedonia, but some 1,500 of them still are in the central Bosnia's military training camps. Yugoslav government stated recently that there are 3000 Islamic military fanatic soldiers in Kosovo's training camps and that only in American zone in Kosovo there are 50 "Al Queda" members.

The elite Islamic extremist military unite established in Bosnia was "El Mujahid" (founded in city of Zenica in August 1993). There is even a video tape on which Bosnian Muslim General Mahmuljin is stating that the soldiers of bin Laden's "Al Queda" gave 28 Serb soldiers' heads to Alija Izetbegovic and 28 Serb soldiers heads sent as a gift to Iran. The same video tape, on which is shown how "Al Queda" soldiers are killing Serb prisoners of war and how Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic is saluting the "mujahedin"'s soldiers, can be taken from any bigger video tape shop in central Bosnia.

Osama bin Laden was a prominent supporter of the Izetbegovic's regime, and, according to the Bosnian writer Senad Pecanin, Bosnian Muslim government had provided in 1993 passports of Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina to bin Laden and several of his associates. German journalists, Erich Follath and Gunther Latsch (in Der Spiegel, September 15^th, 2001) claimed that Bin Laden visited Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia) in 1993 and showed his Bosnian passport to the foreign reporters. Radio Free Europe (on September 22^nd, 1999) gave information that Bosnian government was issuing Bosnian passports to the members of "Al Queda" as late as 1997. American Central Intelligence Agency became informed that Turkish secret police arrested one Laden's associate in 1999 who had traveled with Bosnian passport on the charge for terrorist activities (according Agence France-Press he was one of the most important bin Laden's aide) and that Ahmet Ressemi, a member of "Al Queda" was arrested with Bosnian passport as well on December 14^th, 1999 on the U.S.-Canadian border in a car carrying nitroglycerin and other bomb-making materials (A. Ressemi became as well accused for preparation of the explosion on the Los Angeles International Airport in 1996. The information that bin Laden build strong network of his terrorist organization in central Bosnia was signal for the NATO troops in Bosnia to occupy one of the several terrorist camps in this country which was located in vicinity of the city of Fojnica. New York Times reported on June 26^th, 1997 that some of the Islamic radical terrorists arrested for the 1996 attack on the Khober Towers building in the capital of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) when 19 U.S. military personnel were killed, belonged to the "Al Queda" organization fighting in Bosnia on the side of Izetbegovic's military forces (the Green berets). Finally, New York Magazine on February 6^th, 2000 uncovered three plots by "Al Queda" branch of Bosnian Islamic extremists to attack in 1999 several civil targets in Western Europe.

Bin Laden continued to spread his organizational network in Bosnia what compelled UN (NATO) peace keeping troops in this region to force local Bosnian police forces to arrest 3 Laden's associates in July 2001 in Sarajevo. However, regardless that after the attacks on September 11^th, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon dozen of "Al Queda" and other Islamic militant terrorist have been arrested in Bosnia by NATO troops, the members of bin Laden's secret terrorist organization still consider Bosnia as a safe territory for their activities. This is confirmed by Bosnian minister of interior affairs, Muhamed Besic, who stated that around 70 members of "Al Queda" organization were attempting to come from Afghanistan to Bosnia after U.S. destroyed the main bin Laden's refuge in military air-strike campaign after the September 11^th, 2001.

However, there are three factors that limiting the threat posed by bin Laden and other Islamic extremists in Bosnia: 1) Bosnian Muslim population is secular, at least in comparison to Muslim populations in some Arab countries, and for that bin Laden's extremist Islam is of little attraction; 2) the existence of an active oriented civil society among the native Muslim inhabitants; and 3) the presence of the NATO troops in Bosnia.

TWENTY PRINCIPAL MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE KOSOVO ISSUE

1. Kosovo issue is a conflict between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs over the territory

Wrong: It is a part of the conflict between Balkan Albanians and the surrounding populations, in Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece (ex. clash between Albanians and Macedonians in Macedonia in 2001)

2. The issue is a fight of Albanians for their political rights

Wrong: the crux of the matter lies at the biological level. The real rationale is a demographic explosion which is going on within the Albanian population for a century or so (rate of growth in Albania four to five time faster than the average rate in other European countries) and the ensuing expansion for Lebensraum

3. The southern Serbian province is called Kosovo

Wrong. It is Kosovo and Metohia, abbreviated KosMet. Kosovo itself is an abbreviation of Kosovo Polje, what in Serbian language means Blackbird Field (in German Amselfeld). Metohia is a corrupted Greek name for Metohi, meaning dependency to monastery, referring to the land bestowed by Serbian kings and other rulers to the monasteries of Pecka Patrijarshija, Dechani, Grachanica etc. (13-14 cc.)

4. Ethnic Albanians at KosMet (Shqipetars in the following, as they call themselves) constitute a majority of 90%

Wrong. In the last census carried out at KosMet in 1961, Shqipetars constituted 67% of the overall population, with (predominantly) Serbs and others sharing the rest. As for the subsequent censuses (1971, 1981, 1991) Shqipetars refused to take part in them. All figures quoted for this period are estimates only

5. Shqipetars are autochthonous population at KosMet

Wrong. In the Middle Age KosMet was the central part of Serbian state, culture and civilization. Shqipetars were tiny minority (c. 2%, according to Ottoman census in 1455), nomadic herdsmen mostly. They came to KosMet from North and Central Albania mainly after the Great Serb Migration in 1690 from KosMet to Vojvodina (then in Habsburg Empire), after an abortive uprising against Ottoman rule in 1689. When KosMet was liberated from Ottoman rule in 1912, by Serbia, Serbs and Shqipetars shared equally the overall population there (50% versus 50%). All toponyms at Kosmet are Serb, except for a few of them (as opposite to the state in Albania)

6. KosMet is an undeveloped, poor region

Wrong. It is the most fertile land in Serbia (apart from Vojvodina). The average NP per family is the same as in the rest of Serbia. It is low only if counted per head, since the Shqipetars’ family has six times more children than Serbian family (and former Yugoslavia’s one, for that matter). (We are referring to a proper family here, not to the so-called fis, extended Shqipetar family, which may comprise hundreds members). In fact, accounting for the fact that proportionally more Shqipetars are working in Western Europe, their income are not accounted for when estimating family earnings and KosMet appears better off than the rest of Serbia. That KosMet is a prosperous region can be verified by direct inspection at the spot. KosMet is the biggest coal reservoir in Europe

7. The aim of Shqipetars is an independent Kosova

Wrong. It is a common goal of all Albanians to live in a single (united) state. The political programe of Greater Albania is designed in 1878 by Albanian First Prizren League. This aim has been practically already achieved. KosMet has been practically annexed by Albania as there is no border between KosMet and Albania. As for the West Macedonia, it is a matter of the near future. The next step is Cameria, as the Northern Epir (Greece) is called by Albanians and the East Montenegro

8. The expulsion of Serbs from KosMet after June 1999 is an act of retaliation

Wrong. The process of Shqipetar committed ethnic cleansing of KosMet goes on for the last century and refers to all non-Shqipetars (Roma, Turks, Croats, etc). It is a clear case of well planned ethnical cleansing, whose rationale is an extreme xenophobia. (Albania appears the most pure ethnical state in Europe, 98%, with Greeks, Slavs, Jews, Roma, etc. banished in one or other way) After the NATO occupation of KosMet in 1999 the ethnical “purity” has reached the figure 97%

9. Kosmet used to be economically supported by the rest of former Yugoslavia

Wrong. Since the Serbia’s contribution to the Federal fund for the undeveloped regions matched exactly the amount donated by the Fund to KosMet, it was Serbia which helped KosMet to construct the infrastructure, schools, the Prishtina University, hospitals, factories, mines, etc. Further, since the Shqipetar population consists mainly of children and teenagers, who used to get children allowance, it was another source of enormous income from the rest of Serbia, which had on average less than 1.5 children per family (as compared with 8 with Shqipetars)

10. There is no such an entity as Greater Albania

Wrong. Although there not publicized, the maps of that projected state do appear occasionally in the Western press, either explicitly, or as the region with predominant Albanian population. The point with the latter is that these regions exceed the (semi) official maps of the future United Albanian State, and even include regions without Albanian population at all!

11. Albanians are autochthon Balkan population descending from the Illiric tribes

Wrong. They appear in the mid-11th century in the Balkan history and their origin appears uncertain (most probably they came to the Balkans from Caucassus Albania via Sicily). As for the claims of Illiric heritage (which is more a political wishful thinking than a historical fact), distinguished English linguist Potter wrote "Some would associate it with extinct Illirian, but with so doing they proceed from little known to the unknown"

12. The rebellion in Southeast Serbia at Preshevo valley is due to the Belgrade repression on the Shqipetar population there

Wrong. This region was not included into the KosMet (autonomous) region after the WWII, for the simple reason that Shqipetars were a tiny minority at that time there. Now, many villages, which were purely Serb, are inhabited exclusively by Shqipetars. The influx from KosMet, plus the enormous natality, made this population majoritaire in two of three rebellious counties. Due to this fast change in the ethnic structure, and due to the large percentage of young people not eligible for voting, Shqipetars’ representatives there are not proportional to the overall share of the population in the region. In fact Preshevo issue is a paradigm of the Albanian syndrome, as conspicuous at KosMet, and at Macedonia. First comes land occupation, then fight for the “political rights” and finally secession. It is the system which Henry Kissinger called domino game (referring to the communist tactics in spreading over borders). What S. Miloshevic did at Kosmet in 1998 was much the same as J. B. Tito did in 1944-1945, after the rebellion at Drenica (February 1998), when the military rule had to be imposed in the Province

13. Shqipetars used to be friendly with their neighbours. They were protecting Orthodox monasteries there

Wrong. After the World War II more than 250.000 non-Shqipetars moved from KosMet due to the “demographic pressure”, not to mention violence. After NATO “humanitarian intervention” in 1999 between 250.000 and 300.000 non-Shqipetars fled away from massacres (including and Muslim Turks, Muslim Gorani, Muslim Roma population, etc.). At the same time, more than 200.000 Albanians moved to Kosmet after the WWII, and about 300.000 after the expulsion of non-Shqipetars in 1999. As for the shrines, they are protected in the same manner as the synagogues in Germany by the NSDAP party members. Only from 1999 to 2001 about 100 monasteries and churches have been leveled to the ground at KosMet („March Pogrom“, March 17-19th, 2004)

14. The „blood feud“ has been extinguished among Albanians

Wrong. It was much reduced during the communist regimes in the area (Albania, Montenegro, KosMet), but has been revived after the “democratic governments” have taken power in Albania. It is widely spread at KosMet, despite the opposite claims by the local politicians. In fact, the persecution and expulsion of non-Shqipetar population in 1999 was experienced by Shqipetars as a collective blood feud as it is, for instance, recognized by Shqipetar girl Rajmonda from KosMet in British Channel 4 documentary movie „Why Rajmonda Lied“ (June 1999)

15. The KFOR holds control at KosMet and helps the region reestablish the order and law

Wrong. It has no control whatsoever over the local population, in particular the irregulars of KLA, turned into mock police forces. The whole region, y compris northern Albania (and Montenegro for that matter) is the European centre for drug traffic and smuggling of arms, tobacco etc. There are no proper juridical system, no effective police, prisons, etc. What KFOR/EUFOR can do the most is to protect itself, but it is well aware that when Shqipetars conclude the UN/EU presence is a nuisance for them, international forces will be expelled easily. A single step from “protection force” to hostages would be sufficient, and everybody at the spot is aware of that

16. Americans are siding with Albanians in the current Balkan affairs

Wrong. They are directly involved, at all levels, from financing, organizing, training, arms supplies, diplomatic supports, etc. Training camps at Albania, Kosmet, and Macedonia are lead by American instructors, who are engaged even at the front line, as the recent case with Arachinovo near Skopje illustrates

17. The rationale for the American interference into the Albanian issue is a humanitarian concern for human rights in the area

Wrong. All events that lead to the violation of human rights and massacres were induced by Americans and (to a lesser extent) by Germans. Nothing of those would have happened had not NATO (sic) intervened in the region. USA is interested in the peace, not in justice. Since Albanians do not appear convenient interlocutors for political discourse, Americans insist to the rest to submit to the Albanian demands, who have made their political goals their political rights! As a “collateral gain” USA have got an important stronghold in the region (like the military base Bondsteel at KosMet), a secure (sic) passage for the oil pipeline from Caspian Sea, via Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, to the Adriatic cost, etc. Another “collateral gain” is, of course, a free traffic of heroin through the area, right to the USA schools, colleges, etc (among other destinations). 90% of European drug market is controlled by Albanian narco-dealers

18. It was S. Miloshevic who was to blame for the NATO intervention

Wrong. It was the Belgrade government responsibility to protect interest of the state of Yugoslavia, in face of a violent rebellion. The manners this state affairs have been conducted, including all eventual misdeeds committed over civilians is a matter of humanitarian concern and should be cleared up at the Hague Tribunal. But it does not justify bombing of Yugoslavia nor deprivation of a state to conduct its internal affairs. KosMet issue is much older than S. Miloshevic and much deeper than disputes over political rights and state borders. Macedonia 2001 affairs clearly demonstrate this

19. Former Yugoslavia disintegrated because of S. Miloshevic

Wrong. His political (sic) manners only provided an excuse to Slovenia and Croatia for leaving Yugoslavia. The real rationale for this understandable decision was to leave the state that was burdened with the time bomb called Kosmet, which the Federal Police hardly dismantled in 1981. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to the dispute between Montenegro and Serbia from 1999 to 2006

20. It is the duty of the international community to help the Albanian issue settled down

Wrong. The international community does not comprehend the nature of the problem, for good reason, since it is not a political one, but a clash between a Middle Age (tribal) mentality and a (quasi) modern European standard of civilization. The only reasonable way towards a permanent and rational solution would be an a agreement between Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece and Albania, on mutual responsibilities and a civilized settling down of this Balkan affair, without interference from the outside, certainly not from USA. If the USA want to compete for a role of an arbiter, they should first qualify by helping a permanent settling down of the Palestinian issue in Israel