Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (5306)	4/24/1999 1:48:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 17770

Weeping Albanians, cheering Serbs contrast in Macedonia 12:52 p.m. Apr 24, 1999 Eastern By Jude Webber KUCEVISTE, Macedonia, April 24 (Reuters) - After 10 hours trudging down the Macedonian mountains, an exhausted ethnic Albanian woman forced out of Kosovo wept on Saturday as she tried to feed dry bread to her four-month-old baby. A few miles away, Macedonian Serbs protested at NATO's bombardment of their fellows Orthodox Slab Serbs in Yugoslavia. The contrasting images hammered home the tensions tugging at Yugoslavia's tiny southern neighbour as officials struggle to quell widely held fears that the past month's massive influx of refugees -- the government says the 2.2 million population has swelled 10 percent -- could end up redrawing the map of their own country. NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia has brought ethnic tensions into sharp focus since most in Macedonia are inclined towards their fellow Orthodox Slav Serbs and against their Albanian neighbours to the west in a conflict that has no fast fix in sight. In Kuceviste, one of Macedonia's most fervently Serb villages, the horror stories recounted by thousands of Albanian refugees were far from the minds of protesters incensed at the alliance's attacks. Some 2,000 packed the school yard in Kuceviste, some 20 km (12 miles) north of the capital Skopje, to proclaim solidarity with their Serb brothers to the north and their hatred of NATO ''fascism.'' Non-Serbs kept a low profile. One man, standing on the roof of an adjacent building, set fire to a U.S. flag. A banner in the crowd showed the Statue of Liberty with rockets launching from her crown and torch, bearing the words ''peace, freedom, democracy.'' ''I am here because I feel for the people dying because of NATO bombs,'' said Aleksandar, an 18-year-old student. ''I don't think it's right what the United States is doing.'' Ironically, many wore sportswear emblazoned with U.S. brands, as well as traditional green Serb hats. Ethnic Albanians are already looked down upon and are mistrusted now more than ever amid fears Macedonia could become the stage for a second Kosovo in a fight to create a ''Greater Albania.'' So it was not surprising there was no mention of Albanian casualties at Serb hands. Instead, Kuceviste's Serbs had NATO in their sights. ''I am against NATO bombing in Yugoslavia and NATO's presence in Macedonia,'' said Goran Vasilevski, 40, from Skopje, who was visiting relatives in Kuceviste. ''If I had any power, I would expel all troops from Macedonia. I would kill hundreds of them and if I had 100 atomic bombs, I would drop them on NATO.'' Macedonia is currently home to 12,500 NATO peace troops originally destined for Kosovo but has repeatedly insisted it will not be the launch-pad for any ground attack in Yugoslavia. At the protest the mood was festive -- the sun was out and the beer sellers were doing good business as the crowd danced and chanted and sang. Children daubed with the red, white and blue stripes of the Serbian flag on their cheeks and the nationalist symbol that means ''Only unity will save the Serbs'' milled with their parents and grandparents. Away from the Serb nationalist rhetoric, a little further east, in rural Albanian villages easily identifiable by their minarets, Albanian Kosovars wearing their traditional white caps were only too happy to take in their ethnic kin after an arduous trek through mountains to slip illegally over the border, dodging Macedonian police many also see as hostile. Some said the police, who they believe would have herded them off to camps already housing 66,000 of the 173,000 refugees Macedonia says it has taken in, had not allowed them to walk on the roads. While the Serbs in Kuceviste had a collection for ''our brave friends'' who were arrested after stoning a NATO convoy earlier this week and wounding two French soldiers, some Kosovo Albanian refugees in the main Stankovic camp had daubed their tent with the Swoosh logo of sportswear group Nike and borrowed its catchphrase. ''NATO. Just do it,'' the graffitti said. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.

To: The Philosopher who wrote (5306)	4/24/1999 1:50:00 PM
From: Abner Hosmer	Respond to of 17770

But it's funny how you only whine about it when a rebuttal is presented to the original post advocating gun control. If the Kosovars were armed half as well as the average Swede, there wouldn't be 800,000 of them ducking pot-shots from their own government, while they wander around helplessly in the woods, freezing their asses off.

To: The Philosopher who wrote (5306)	4/24/1999 2:15:00 PM
From: robnhood	Respond to of 17770

I was just outside fiddling with my car thinking about all of this stuff, which I can't seem to shake from my mind.... We have been attacking and villifying people since we stole this land off of the Indians--- probably it started well before that--- Why I get upset I suppose is that I thought we stopped this a few hundred years ago... Obviously not at all -- The reason that we in the west live so well as compared to almost everyone on the rest of the planet I suppose is a result of this very aggresive stance.... So aggresive that the truth has to be shaded from our eyes..... Villification makes it go down easier but it is just out and out aggresive stealing--- While I'm rambling I'll mention another thought-- I find the move to attack Yugoslavia while villifying Milosevic quite ingenious--- #1-- clean out Kosovo of muslim Albanians and let Milosevic get the blame #2-- Give a left leaning liberal politician a very hard time (Milosevic) who was not ridding Kosovo nearly fast enough... Not bad EH!--- Two scalps with one tomohawk-- To me this sounds much more plausible then the NATO is screwing up theory--