Kosovo Police To 'Guard' Serb Monument

The humiliations never seem to stop for what remains of the Serbs in Kosovo.  In the latest blow to the national solar plexus, NATO has handed over to Kosovo's mainly ethnic Albanian police force security at one of Serbia's most sacred sites: Kosovo Pole.   The handover came a day after another grim anniversary for Kosovo's Serbs: the sixth anniversary of the ethnic Albanian community's ransacking of churches and killing of a dozen or so Serbs.  As this travesty unfolded, Slovenia was scrabbling to stop a much ballyhooed confab of Balkan and EU leaders from imploding.  All the while, Serbia thanked the majority of the world's community that have not recognized Kosovo as an independent state.
 It was at Kosovo Pole some 700 years ago when Serb national identity started to stir. 


The 1989 film, The Battle of Kosovo, tells how the Serbian knight Milos Obilic, triggered what would be a bloody battle.



So, handing over security of such a hallowed site is huge. 


Now Kosovo police will be marching around the obelisk at Gazimestan.


According to the western press, the 7,000-strong Kosovo police force is a shining example of ethnic Albanians and Serbs holding hands and working together. 


Many of the Serbs, however, left the force in 2008 when Kosovo declared independence, refusing to take orders from Pristina. 




However in 2009, lacking any other prospects, 307 Kosovo Serb police officers ended their 16-month walkout and returned to the job. 


The police force of 7,000 is being trained and 'mentored' by the 3,000 (an eye-popping whooper of a number)  EU mission of law, EULEX.


The handover came a day after Kosovo's Serbs marked the six-year anniversary since rioting Albanians launched Kosovo-wide attacks on Serbs.


Dozens were killed and scores of Orthodox churches were burned, all to the collective sign of much of the Western world.

Back in 2004, the Serbian Orthodox Church filed a lawsuite against Britain, France, Germany and Italy for failing to protect its churches in Kosovo.

The suit was filed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.  

As far as the Informant knows, the complaint filed by the Serbian Orthodox church has never been heard.  



While EU bureaucrats were patting their backs over handover, the government in Slovenia was doing what it could to save a EU-Balkans summit scheduled for his tiny country this weekend. 


The problem?


Officials from Kosovo are set to attend.


Officials from Serbia won't go if the officials from Kosovo are treated like officials from an official state. 


Hashim Thaci, a former guerrilla leader allegedly linked to the underworld, says he will only attend as a representative of an independent state. 


Worried things could get ugly in Slovenia, EU President Herman van Rompuy says he may skip the whole thing.


Feeling jittery, Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor first flew to Belgrade to meet Serb President Boris Tadic and then on to Brussels to meet EU major domos. 


In fresh remarks, Tadic said he would only attend if Kosovo attends but only under the umbrella of the United Nations. 


The conference in Slovenia was meant to show to all how the Balkan states could put their differences aside and work together.  So much for that script.


To read the Western press, you'd think most of the world backed plucky Kosovo and its bid for independence.


A third of the world community -- exactly 63 countries -- have recognized Kosovo.  That of course includes the heavyweights, the United States, and most EU states.  But most of the world doesn't, implicitly backing Serbia's territorial claim to Kosovo.


In Manila, Serb Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic thanked members of the 118-nation Nonaligned Movement for refusing to recognize Kosovo. 


Jeremic noted 80 percent of its members states have not recognized the "separatists in Kosovo" and called their decision "truly gratifying."


Whether that 'support' will translate into hard power is unlikely.


Serbia is waiting for the International Court of Justice to rule on Kosovo's declaration. 


But it's only an "opinion."  Even if it finds in favor of Serbia, don't expect Washington or Brussels to change course.

Plans to swallow up Kosovo into the EU/Washington matrix will continue apace. 

On Friday, the EU's "Enlargement Commission" Stefan Fule visits Kosovo and Albania.  

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