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1. <I>Asked if there was any evidence to support suggestions that Islamic extremists might be orchestrating the violence in Kosovo, the PMOS said not as far as he was aware.</I><P>
   Well, the PMOS may not have been aware, but there is considerable evidence that Islamic extremists have been assisting the Bosnian muslim forces since about 1993, and helped in Kosovo after the end of the Bosnian war. The fact that the US, UK etc. generally if ill-advisedly backed muslim forces against orthodox christian Serbs beats into a cocked hat the thought of a conspiracy against Islam, but this is generally forgotten.

   Comment by David Boothroyd — 19 Mar 2004 on 12:14 pm | Link

2. Must we make the war in Kosovo into an issue of religion? Remember it was these same "Orthodox Christian Serbs" who butchered Albanian men,women and children.
   Also, the KLA was not a Muslim force. It was an Albanian force assembled to protect the Albanian people from Serbian paramilitary troops. Most citizens of Kosovo and of Albania are Muslim. This is a remnant of the Ottoman Empire. In fact, most of them are not religious at all–a remnant of socialism.
   The reason for this war was not religious.Let’s not misinform to public.

   Comment by Courtney — 19 Mar 2004 on 2:33 pm | Link

3. The war in Kosovo was not primarily religious (though Bosnia was slightly different what with Izetbegovic’s muslim-only party and politico-religious tract). But that is the point: the US and UK happened to back the side which was nearly all muslim in this case because they supported it for different reasons, which demonstrates that there is no general attempt to dominate the muslim world by the US and UK.

   Comment by David Boothroyd — 19 Mar 2004 on 2:47 pm | Link

4. David, that is ill-informed nonsense on many levels.

   Yes, there were some Jihadists in Bosnia helping fight Serbian fascism and the Bosnian Government reluctantly accepted their help (there are *many* public statements from them about how uneasy they felot about this) because nobody else would help and the UK and US had imposed an illegal arms embargo.

   Izetbegovic was one of the most principled, morally-sound politicians Europe has seen in a long time and as his final speeches show he urged all Bosnians (of whatever faith) to live together but to also respect their own traditions. This is a matter of fact and a matter of record. Even his Islamic Declaration, which dates from his more radical days when he was persecuted by the communist authorities for religious activity, was quite clear that in Europe there was no sense in seeking to impose anIslamic state or polity of any kind.

   The US and UK didn’t "back" the Bosniak people or indeed the Bosnian Government. The British wanted containment and hoped Serbian ethnic cleansing would do its job quickly and quietly. When it didn’t (and Bosniaks survived), the UK was stuffed and resorted to a mixed upo limited "humanitarian intervention" whilst preventing the legally recognised Bosnian state from defending itself against external attack from Serbia and Croatia. The US did back the Bosnian government from 1993 when it became clear EU policy was leading to disaster, but they did so in order to achieve a division of the country at Dayton that even its architects now disown as a failed solution.

   Kosova’s problems today (and I don’t really know who is to blame on the ground) are directly related to the failed solution that ended the conflict there. The division of Mitrovica and the fudged issue of autonomy are unsustainable and may lead to further conflict unless a real, lasting solution is found.

   As to the question of whether the US/UK are against the Muslim world, I don’t see how this is even related to Bosnia. After all, the US helped create the Taliban, funded Bin Laden in Afghanistan and even paid his company to build the Tora Bora complex that they found so hard to destroy in the recent attack. Does that mean they are pro-Muslim? I think not. Don’t forget that the whole twisted ideology of Jihadism was partly a product of the US-supported war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. I think they call it blowback….

   Comment by Lee Bryant — 19 Mar 2004 on 4:41 pm | Link

5. To call the policy of the Bosnian Serbs or of the Serbian Republic ‘fascist’ is entirely wrong. As for the composition of the forces of the Bosnian muslims, how multi-ethnic were they? Izetbegovic banned non-muslims from the SDA. SDA spokesmen condemn mixed marriages, and its spiritual leader Mustafa Ceric called them "another form of genocide". With parties based on ethnicities, the muslims could dominate Bosnia quite easily and cut the Serbs out of any power. In 1993 Haris Silajdzic defended the fact that the war cabinet was dominated by Bosnian muslims by saying "It is a fact that muslims make up 99% of the Bosnian defense forces so it is natural that they form the government." The West simply did not recognise that the pre-drawn boundaries inside Yugoslavia never recognised the reality on the ground which was that a very large number of Serbs lived outside Serbia.

   Comment by David Boothroyd — 19 Mar 2004 on 9:37 pm | Link

6. Ahem. You say "the West simply did not recognise that the pre-drawn boundaries inside Yugoslavia never recognised the reality on the ground which was that a very large number of Serbs lived outside Serbia."

   This presumes ethnicity as the basis for statehood or other polity. I fundamentally disagree, especially in the Balkans where this idea is dangerous (incidentally just one of the reasons for saying "Greater Serbian" ethnic cleansing in 1992-95 was fascist in character, as many reputable Serbian commentators would agree).

   I know for a fact that pro-Bosnian forces were really quite multi-ethnic – to say otherwise is an insult to people like the Serb Civic Council in Sarajevo. Inevitably the logic and practice of ethnic cleansing made them less so as time went on, which was not helped by the UK, Europe and the USA forcing through a fudged partition.

   Silajdzic, though a great guy, is not a good statistician.

   Comment by Lee Bryant — 20 Mar 2004 on 10:21 pm | Link

7. The war in Kosovo had nothing to do with the religion, and the Albanians are the most tolerant people in the world I would say, concerning the religion. We have three religions: Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox. If we hate one of those religions it means that we hate each other – our brothers. Linking Islam extremism and Kosovo is a pure propaganda done by Serbs in order to demonize Albanians.
   Ask people who’ve been to Kosovo about the religious tolerance, they will tell you. And to those who spread this kind of roumors – get serious.
   Enough fiction – give me some facts.

   Comment by Blerim — 16 Jun 2004 on 3:38 pm | Link

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   Comment by Elias — 27 Jul 2004 on 8:21 pm | Link

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