More they get more they want

it looks like the plans for greater Albania are now spreading into Macedonia as well …. What is next …Greece?? It very strange that Albanians are running by thousands every day from Albania into surrounding countries in search of better life… but as soon as they settle there they over populate (average couple has 7 children) and start separatist movements to join the hell they escaped from … i don’t get it.
Also that arshole Lord, Robertson is now asking Serbs to offer presevo Albanian some sort of new autonomy…. is he nuts? do we now have to give every single minority that has few thousands people in small region .. and give them all autonomy?? That is so stupid thing to say. I presume the England will lead the way by giving the autonomy to all places where there is immigrant minority .. to Chinese and Pakistanis and Indians? Hypocrites ,,,it took them 150 years to give decent self government to N. Ireland and Scotland.
I meant isn’t the local level of self government in democratic state enough for presevo …why should they get more ..when with SM gone they WILL get same level of rights as every other city/region/person in the nation?

here is an interesting article.

In the space of a week ethnic Albanian terrorists have launched an attack on a Macedonian police station, 2,000 Kosovar Albanians have been fighting with KFOR troops in Mitrovica and there has been a serious upsurge in the conflict between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia.

All of these incidents have a common root: radical Albanian nationalism – and the failure of the United Nations’ Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to come up with a workable strategy to contain the problem. Hitherto UNMIK and its multi-national peace-keeping force KFOR have opted for a low-key response to ethnic Albanian violence, particularly in the months following the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces in June 1999. Rather than deal with the conflict at a political level, the UN prefers to present the situation as primarily a policing and security issue.

In fact, UNMIK’s freedom of action is strictly limited by the international determination to block any moves towards independence for Kosovo. UN Resolution 1244, under which UNMIK’s activities are authorised, makes it plain that Kosovo remains an integral part of Federal Yugoslavia. Since this is unacceptable to the Kosovo Albanians, co-operation between UNMIK and Belgrade is increasing tension.

For the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the fall of their arch-enemy Slobodan Milosevic has been a political disaster. The leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) have admitted that they deliberately provoked the Yugoslav regime in order to win the media war and “internationalise” their struggle against Belgrade. While Milosevic bears much of the responsibility for the decade of Serbian oppression against the Kosovar Albanians, the KLA raised the stakes and encouraged armed conflict.

The notion that the KLA disarmed in September 1999 after signing an agreement with the UN is a blatant fiction. The political strategists behind the guerrillas were never going to be satisfied with a return to Kosovo’s political autonomy within Yugoslavia. Their objectives include the destabilisation of neighbouring Macedonia and the detaching of the Presevo region of southern Serbia from Federal Yugoslavia. In both cases, unless the KLA (or the groups which it has spawned) are checked, there will be a repeat in Presevo and western Macedonia of the “ethnic cleansing” which has taken place in Kosovo since June 1999.

The low level attacks against the Macedonian police which began last year are supposedly the work of the so-called Liberation Army, four of whom have been arrested. Ethnic Albanians make up an estimated 25-35% of Macedonia’s population of two million and are settled predominantly in the west of the country.

The Macedonian Albanians currently have a tense, but generally productive relationship with the government in Skopje. Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski’s coalition government includes an ethnic Albanian party among its partners. Many observers suggest that the Macedonian Albanian leadership is willing to wait for a generation before pressing their demands for independence. This is because the Albanians’ higher birthrate will provide them with an increasing demographic advantage as this century progresses.

However, there is also evidence that the KLA – which included a number of Macedonian Albanians in its ranks – has stockpiled its weapons across the border in Macedonia, rather than surrender them to KFOR. The 22 January attack on the police station at Tearce involved grenades, possibly from a KLA cache. As in Kosovo, the escalation of violence is more likely to come as a result of a radical guerrilla campaign, rather than from the established political leadership.

Likewise, renewed fighting in the Presevo Valley in southern Serbia can be attributed to KLA guerrillas taking advantage of the UN buffer zone to launch attacks on the region’s Serbian authorities. A proposal this week by NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson that Belgrade should offer the Presevo Albanians “a greater degree of participation … in their own administration” fails to address the critical issue: the KLA strategy of destabilisation. A peaceful political settlement of the Presevo crisis is precisely what the guerrillas are determined to avoid, because it would block their objective of creating a pan-Albanian federation in the Balkans. The real risk is not a “Greater Albania”, but the emergence of an ultra-nationalist “Greater Kosovo” which threatens to destabilise the entire region.

At present, KLA terrorism in Macedonia is still a relatively minor issue – just as it was in Kosovo from 1995 to 1998. The KLA started its activities by attacking Serbian police patrols. However, the ultimate aim is to provoke the authorities into making a military response which will serve to unite the ethnic Albanian minority in western Macedonia. This is precisely the plan in southern Serbia.

As KFOR attempts to combat the rise in KLA activity, particularly along the border between Kosovo and Presevo, the risks of the KLA launching a guerrilla war against the UN will increase. The general disillusionment with UNMIK and KFOR, as well as the poor economic situation in Kosovo is likely to lead to a rise in radicalism, especially amongst young Albanians. This week’s riots in Mitrovica demonstrate how the tension can easily escalate.

It can only be a matter of time before the Balkan powder-keg explodes once more – with more than 50,000 international troops and police liable to be caught in the crossfire. This UN mission has all the makings of a major disaster.