I agree with some points on this article, and I agree that is too one sided. The wars in the Balkans have been going on for eions. No one is squeaky clean as no none is an angel. Serbs, Croats, Albanians etc. have committed attrocities on each other. But in these lately wars Serbia has been the main perpetrator. They always had been expanding in other’s lands since they came and settled to the Byzantine lands by being allowed from the Byzantine Emperors to escape the Avars. Thats why Serbia’s “old” history is heavily influenzed by the Byzantine empire. Thats why they’re Orthodox. But they moved in lands that were inhabited by Albanians. No Serbian can explain that those lands were inhabitated by some other people. They claim that it was theirs to begin with. Its like the area was devoid with people. Yes Tsar Lazar’s Serbian Kingdom was extented further in Byzantine’s expense to Kosovo, Albanian, Bulgarian And Greek lands, but they invaded it and settled for a short time. Do the Serbian people want the return of the Zenith of the Serbian Empire conquests? If so then the Greeks can claim the whole Alexander the Great’s Empire, Albanians the whole Illyria, Britain, Spain and France to claim their World colonies, Scandianvians to claim Ukraine (as Kievan Rus were Viking tribes) etc. etc. Do not twist history to help the nationalistic ideas.
As for Kosovo attrocities, there have been killings on both sides. But I don’t think Serbian people were shown what Serbs have done to Albanians In Kosovo. They were denied the right to use their language, to go to schools, practice their religion freely, their autonomy granted to them in 1974 was stripped. I have Kosovar friends that told me that their Albanian friends and them were expelled from school simply for being Albanain and to quote on what the Serbian police told them: “This school is for Serbians only, not for Siptar dogs”. They had to be home schooled. Also they were aways regarded as 2nd class citizens since they were not slavs. Coluld Serbs live like that if it was bestowed to them? I went to Albania, Greece and Macedonia in 99 and saw the refugees living in tents and telling what happened to them by the Serb military. People need their rights to exist in order to coexist with their neighbors. Now not all Serbs are evil and radicals as they are portrayed in the media. I am Albanian I have Serbian friends and we always got along great. In high school I went to homecoming with a Bosnian Serb girl. They are very nationalistic people like most in the world. Granted that Serbia has moved forward into more moderate leadership and removed Milosevic from power, the Kosovars could not take the chance of having Serbian misrule again. The rule of the Radical Party is just as close as another vote. But previous governments have mismanaged and oppressed the Albanians to a point that there isn’t an easy coexistence between the Serbs And Albanians. Thus Kosovar Albanians cannot trust to being ruled as they were before. Can the Serbians revoke their right to remove the autonomy as they did before. What guarantee the Albanians have that the “new 95% autonomy” will not be revoked. Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice shame on me.
