And Kosovo's Main Export is...

[Sarmatian]

So, to conclude, in the last c. 2,000 years nothing good has come out of the Balkans.

I came. And other less important people like Nikola Tesla, Ivo Andric and Mother Teresa...

[Fragony]

Thought mother Teresa wasn't into that

[Sarmatian]

Thought mother Teresa wasn't into that

You have a lot to learn about organized religion, my friend.

[Skullheadhq]

Kosovo je Srbija

[Louis VI the Fat]

Oh, that extraordinary reality we live in! So much better literature than the greatest of novels!

~~o~~o~~<<oOo>>~~o~~o~~

Earlier this month, China seized upon the visit of US defense Secretary Gates for a show of force to the Americans. They unveiled to the world their fully operational stealth fighter, the first non-US stealth plane. It was a bit of a shock.

China has conducted the first test-flight of its J-20 stealth fighter, Chinese President Hu Jintao has confirmed to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

The confirmation came after images of the 15-minute flight in Chengdu appeared on several Chinese websites.

Mr Hu said that the flight had not been timed to coincide with Mr Gates' visit, the US defence secretary said.

~~o~~o~~<<oOo>>~~o~~o~~

Remember that Chinese embassy in Belgrade the Americans accidentaly bombed in 1999? :

China stealth fighter 'copied parts from downed US jet'

The technology behind China's J-20 stealth fighter may have come from a US plane shot down during the Kosovo war, Balkan military sources say. Adm Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff at the time, claims Chinese agents took parts of a downed F-117 stealth jet in 1999. The F-117 had been shot down by a Serbian anti-aircraft missile during a Nato bombing raid.

China's J-20 stealth fighter had its first test flight earlier this month.

Rumours have persisted throughout the past decade that the bombing of the Chinese embassy was not accidental at all. What with the close cooperation between Serbia and China at this time:

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents criss-crossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," Adm Domazet-Loso told the Associated Press news agency.

"We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies... and to reverse-engineer them," he said.
A senior Serbian military official confirmed that some of the pieces were removed by souvenir collectors, and that some ended up "in the hands of foreign military attaches".
Alexander Neill, head of the Asia Security Programme at the Royal United Services Institute, said the proposition was highly possible, as Serbia and China had a very close relationship during this time and routinely shared intelligence.

"At that time the Chinese had a close relationship with Serbian military intelligence and in that regard - just as an intelligence-sharing relationship - a windfall such as a F-117 would be gold dust, and any modernising military worth its salt would examine anything of that nature extremely closely," he told the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12266973

[gaelic cowboy]

Remember that Chinese embassy in Belgrade the Americans accidentaly bombed in 1999? :
Rumours have persisted throughout the past decade that the bombing of the Chinese embassy was not accidental at all. What with the close cooperation between Serbia and China at this time:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12266973

Hmm rumours huh somehow I suspect those rumours were mostly by people in China and Serbia, the reality is that people sometimes just cannnot imagine that anything the USA does could be a up ever. Russia, China or whoever is the new fella in a generals hat with sunglasses tend to see the world far more in terms of realpolitik they cannot imagine the other side does not to the same extent.

Sometimes it really is a mistake.

I doubt China needed any bits from a crash site though there well capable of stealing it from the USA.

Plus China has had what 20 yrs to try to design a stealth fighter since it was unveiled.

[Greyblades]

You know, with the amount of millitary shows showcasing and explaining the new weapons of the US navy and army I saw on the TV when I visited new york 2 years ago, I dont see why China would need to recover a downed craft to build more, seeing as they could probably get the same info by buying a Sky sattelite dish.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Russia, China whoever see the world more coldly as always about realpolitik so they cannot imagine the other side doesn't too

So very true that.

If pushed, I'd say it was an honest mistake. The rumours persist perhaps because the US bombs are nowhere near as clean or precise as the military propaganda claims they are. If one were to believe that, then the attack is not an accident. But as for me: smart bombs my . Improvisation, amateurism, clumsyness, these are some of the main ingredients of US bombing campaigns.

Which is a double edged sword: neither the clean and smart wars of US propaganda, nor the conspirational America of immense power and intricate power schemes are based on reality.

[gaelic cowboy]

I watched Kissinger on Charlie Rose lately on Bloomberg and even though he is a lying sack of he said one thing that applies here.

I trying to remember so I can paraphrase it

Sometimes the US can do four or five things due to various domestic and foreign policy concerns or pressures, which are not part of any grand plan, but which when viewed from China are seen as part of a conspiracy to keep them down.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11417

[Furunculus]

those nasty serbs sold the finest of 70's american stealth technology, to the chinese of all people!

i think the yanks will cope.

[Brenus]

Remember the time: I was in Croatia at the time, near Vukovar so it was possible to have the Serbian TV. The Serbian TV interviewed the peasants who got the seat and were looking for the pilot in the night. When ask what they would have done the answer was “we would have given him a glass of rakia (local alcohol mostly home made) as it was probably a shock to him to be shot down”.

[Centurion1]

my family came out of croatia...... rory

[Sarmatian]

So very true that.

If pushed, I'd say it was an honest mistake.

Honest mistake may happen once. Since the embassy was hit with three missiles, that hardly applies.

The only thing going for the story ''it was a mistake'' is the fact that I don't know what was there to gain by bombing the embassy except infuriating China, and that wasn't a smart thing to do, even in 1999.

[Louis VI the Fat]

The Chinese embassy was thought to be a Serbian governmental building, was therefore classified a target. That is one single mistake, regardles of how many individual missiles were shot at it.

[Fisherking]

That whole campaign was an exorcise in stupidity. It would have been a comedy of errors had not people been dieing.

The US didn’t target the Chinese Embassy. They were just ill informed and couldn’t read maps.

They couldn’t be bothered to find out the facts on the ground and figured Serbia made a good whipping boy.

Part of Clinton’s hunt for a legacy. It revealed the incompetence of the intelligence community but it was never fixed so far as I am aware. We still haven’t found Weapons of Mass Destruction or Osama have we?

[Sarmatian]

Nato has known for a long time about criminal activity of KLA and Kosovo leaders, according to 2004 Nato intelligence report leaked to Guardian.

Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaçi, has been identified as one of the "biggest fish" in organised crime in his country, according to western military intelligence reports leaked to the Guardian.
The Nato documents, which are marked "Secret", indicate that the US and other western powers backing Kosovo's government have had extensive knowledge of its criminal connections for several years.

Council of Europe adopted Marty's report with an overwhelming majority, with only members from Albania and Turkey being against.

Interesting article on Kosovo and Albania by the Economist

[Louis VI the Fat]

...and terrorists. They export terrorists. Well, one. Serbia was bombed by American troops, but it is the Kosovaran who commits an act of terrorism against American troops.

FRANKFURT, Germany — A man armed with a handgun attacked a bus carrying U.S. airmen outside Frankfurt airport Wednesday, killing two Americans and wounding two others before being taken into custody, authorities said.

Boris Rhein, the top security official in the German state of Hesse where the shooting took place, identified the shooter as a 21-year-old from Kosovo.
In Washington, President Barack Obama promised to "spare no effort" in investigating the slayings.

The attack came as the bus sat outside the airport's Terminal 2, according to Frankfurt police spokesman Manfred Fuellhardt. The bus driver and a passenger were killed, one person suffered serious wounds and another light injuries, he said.
The attacker and U.S. military personnel apparently had an altercation in front of the bus just before the man started shooting, Fuellhardt said. The attacker also briefly entered the bus, and was apprehended by police when he tried to escape.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...l/7453239.html

[Sarmatian]

Poor people, high on nationalism, high corruption, no chance for a job = fertile breeding ground for radicals.