e enjte, maj 31, 2007

Pay Cuts a Possibility for National Guard Troops in Kosovo

WASHINGTON — As ethnic tensions continue and all sides await a critical U.N. decision on sovereignty, the Pentagon is considering reducing the pay of an estimated 1,900 U.S. troops stationed in Kosovo as part of a NATO peacekeeping force.
Far from the battles in Afghanistan and Iraq, these troops — comprised of more than 1,500 Army National Guard and the rest reservists or active duty soldiers now in the middle of a one-year deployment — could stand to lose upwards of $2,000 in pay each month, plus tax-exempt status and a free plane ticket home for R&R, say National Guard advocates and families of those currently deployed.
“This is kind of like the forgotten front — there are still bullets flying,” said Sgt. Maj. Frank Yoakum (Ret.), legislative director for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. “They are trying to be peacekeepers in the middle of a civil war and that’s a tough job. They need to be compensated.”
Pentagon officials confirmed that the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion and Imminent Danger Pay status of the soldiers is undergoing a review as part of an annual ritual, but would not comment further.

James Carafano, a military expert for the Heritage Foundation, said the review is meant to apply a level of fairness to the situation. For all of the political uncertainty in Kosovo, U.S. troops have been serving in a relatively calm peacekeeping mission there, much like U.S. servicemen and women in South Korea, where Carafano once served.
“Just because people have always gotten those (combat/imminent danger pay) benefits in Kosovo, doesn’t mean they should continue to get them forever,” he said, pointing out that Pentagon reviews of pay grades are routine and necessary.
“We have major operations going on,” Carafano said. “It’s really an equity issue.”
Yoakum said that in conversations with the Pentagon, he was told any decision to downgrade would not affect those U.S. troops currently deployed in the Multinational Task Force-East, part of the NATO-led international peacekeeping mission known as the Kosovo Force (KFOR). Yoakum said he was also told that a final decision not yet been made. But he's not convinced.
“I don’t believe any of it,” Yoakum told FOXNews.com, relaying the story of a spouse of a Virginia Guardsman currently serving in KFOR who received an e-mail from her husband warning that the pay cut and decrease in benefits could occur as early as April 1. The tenor of the e-mail was that the pay cut is more imminent than the Pentagon is letting on, he said.
“You don’t send an e-mail back to the states and tell them what is happening and put numbers and dates on it unless you are pretty darn sure it’s happening,” Yoakum said. “You don’t want to stir problems up at home.”
The Pentagon review comes at a critical juncture, say observers. The U.S. military, particularly the Army National Guard, is stretched thin with expensive missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. In contrast, Kosovo is generally calm despite NATO soldiers continuing to engage in dicey patrols where they often encounter unexploded land mines, ethnic Albanian extremists and the presence of Islamic radicals who have moved into the region in recent years.
But the mostly peaceful situation could disintegrate, warn foreign policy analysts. The Kosovars are currently awaiting a U.N. decision on whether Kosovo will become formally independent from Serbia. If the world body, which has administered Kosovo since the 1999 war against Serbia, denies Kosovo independence, it could set off a powder keg of tensions.
“It’s also true that security has improved considerably, but there’s no reason to guarantee that situation will continue,” said Carina O’Reilly, a London-based editor for Jane’s Information Group, a private international security and intelligence firm.
On March 3, several thousand ethnic Albanians protested in the Kosovo capital of Pristina, warning against any U.N. plan that falls short of independence. A month earlier, two protesters were killed in a clash with U.N. police.
O'Reilly said if the United Nations delays its decision, the restless Albanian independence movement would be emboldened. If the U.N. decides to deny independence, the region could return to the violent days following the NATO-led aerial bombing in March-June 1999, when Albanian Kosovars began conducting ethnic cleansing of Serbians in the province.
U.S. troops have been stationed in Kosovo since the NATO campaign originally moved in to assist Albanians against attacks led by late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. NATO announced last week that it intends to send 600 more soldiers to Kosovo. Meanwhile, National Guard units in Minnesota and Iowa were recently alerted they will deployed to Kosovo within the year to replace the soldiers there now.
Even if the U.N. grants independence to Kosovo — 80 percent of which consists of ethnic Albanians, the majority of whom are Muslim, O'Reilly warned that some low-level ethnic cleansing could occur against the small population of mainly Eastern Orthodox Serbians living there still.
“In short, conditions are relatively calm,” she said. “But I wouldn’t take any bets on the situation remaining as it is. It is only calm because all sides are waiting to see what comes next.”
Dangling Families
Families of the deployed National Guard troops have been writing their congressmen and senators, as well as brass at the Pentagon and the White House to urge them to stop any plans to reduce pay. They say it would affect families, many of whom are already struggling with child and health care costs back home.
"For the families who were struggling before the deployment, it could make the biggest difference in the world," said one soldier’s wife, who did not want to be identified. She is one of the 500 families from the Virginia Guard, many of whom live in rural areas of a region that has recently been affected by a local squeeze on the job market.
"You have families out there who are living paycheck to paycheck," the full-time employee and mother of two said, adding that any downgrade in pay is going to affect mostly the lower-ranking members of the contingent.
"It’s not about the pay, the reason (the soldiers) are out there, but of pride and serving one’s country," she said. On the other hand, "Yes, the National Guard is a volunteer force, but it’s a job, and just like any other, our soldiers should be compensated. I wish the people making these decisions would come here and see where we live, see what it’s like."
According to Yoakum, depending on their ranks, the U.S. troops could lose an average of $50 a month in hazardous duty pay, $225 in imminent danger pay and $400 to $600 in savings through tax-exempt status. In addition to losing the plane ticket home, they could also lose their tax-free savings accounts, which are like IRAs for soldiers.
Soldiers from Virginia and Massachusetts make up two-thirds of the Kosovo Guard contingent. Soldiers from 24 other states round out the group, according to the official KFOR Web site. Those deployed have varied backgrounds in the military and many served in the first Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq and homeland security duty post-Sept. 11, 2001.
Some members of Congress have tried to help the troops over the pay issue. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., wrote a letter on March 2 to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
“It is my belief that soldiers in Kosovo are performing dangerous missions on a daily basis. These missions include patrolling, disarming unexploded ordnance, anti-smuggling operations and other hazardous tasks,” he wrote.
“Due to these factors, I respectfully request that you carefully consider the ramifications of any proposals that would adjust the combat zone designation for KFOR,” Warner added.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, both of Minnesota, also drafted a letter to Gates, and Reps. Rick Boucher, R-Va., and Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., have pledged their help, Yoakum said.
“I would assume there is an opportunity to turn this thing around,” he said.
The timing of the Pentagon review, corresponding with an expensive troop surge in Iraq, has not been lost on military families and National Guard advocates.
Jack Harrison, spokesman for the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., would not comment on the timing, but said the reviews are routine and the Guard must abide by any decision that the Pentagon makes on the matter.
“I can tell you this happened back in the '90s after the Persian Gulf War,” when Guardsmen were tasked to patrol the no-fly zone over Iraq, said Harrison. “(Combat pay) was constantly a matter of review and recertification.”
He added that 50,000 National Guard are now deployed in parts of the world outside of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“This is clearly a DoD issue,” he said of the Defense Department review. “As any service, we have to salute smartly and drive on.”

Russia rebuffs West over Kosovo

As the crunch time for resolving Kosovo's long-term status approaches, the war of words between Russia and the Western powers on the future of Serbia's independence-seeking province shows no sign of abating.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday "our positions are diametrically opposed and I don't see any chances of the positions moving any closer together".
Russia has been opposing a draft resolution presented to the UN Security Council by the US and its EU allies, which would endorse a plan drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari for internationally-supervised independence for Kosovo.
Attempts to bridge the gap on the draft resolution failed to make headway during talks that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held in Moscow in mid-May.
Russia's publicly stated position is that a solution needs the approval of both parties.
Diplomatic manoeuvres
Mr Lavrov reiterated that point during a recent visit to Belgrade, after he met Serbia's President Boris Tadic.

Russia's foreign minister wants more negotiations on Kosovo"Ultimate legitimacy can be reached through decisions that will be acceptable to both sides," Mr Lavrov said, "in this case, both for Kosovar Albanians and Belgrade".
Since Serbia has rejected the Ahtisaari recommendations out of hand, that would imply that Russia might use its veto, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, to scupper the proposed supervised independence for Kosovo.
The United States and - more reluctantly - the EU have endorsed the Ahtisaari plan as the best one possible, in the absence of an agreement between Belgrade and Kosovo's overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian community. No such deal emerged from a year-long series of talks Mr Ahtisaari chaired in Vienna until March.
Meanwhile, Western governments are hoping that Moscow's disapproval does not necessarily mean it will veto a UN resolution.
Russia's most senior officials - including Mr Lavrov - have tended to avoid using the term "veto", while hinting at its possible use.
That has been viewed as an attempt on the Kremlin's part to keep its options open.
However, in recent months - particularly since the emergence of the Ahtisaari proposals - Russia has adopted a firmer position in arguing for a settlement reached by consensus.
It has made fewer attempts to establish an analogy between Kosovo and the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. Last year President Vladimir Putin sought to highlight such a link, implying that if Kosovo gained independence, then so should these territories.
Russian withdrawal
Russia's opposition to the West over Kosovo does not appear to be motivated by a history of friendship with Serbia on grounds of a shared Slavic cultural background and Orthodox Christian heritage.
After all, Russia pulled its peacekeepers out of Kosovo in 2003, despite the fact that the Serb minority there were complaining, as they still are, of being the victims of harassment and discrimination at the hands of the ethnic Albanian majority.
Russia's early departure from Kosovo, justified on grounds of cost-cutting, was viewed by many Kosovar Serbs as leaving them in the lurch.
The withdrawal from Kosovo four years ago was also in stark contrast with the unannounced arrival of Russian peacekeepers there back in 1999.
The Russian dash to Pristina airport nearly produced a confrontation with the main body of the peacekeeping contingent under Nato's command which the Russian troops eventually joined, as originally agreed.
Russia's conduct both in 1999 and today appears to be motivated by a determination to show the West, and the US in particular, that it should be taken seriously - as one of the key players on the international stage.
The circumstances now are very different, though.
Kremlin confidence
Thanks to its oil wealth in an era of high energy prices, Russia believes it has regained its former status as a great power, which it lost during the economic collapse in the immediate post-communist era.

Mr Ahtisaari failed to get a deal between Serbs and ethnic AlbaniansWhen it comes to the dipomatic battle of wills over Kosovo, that factor probably accounts for much more than Russia's sympathy for the Serbs - although support for fellow-Orthodox Serbs has a populist appeal to some sections of Russian society.
The Kremlin might still decide to abstain in a vote - an option made easier by the fact that the text of the UN resolution, like the main section of Mr Ahtisaari's blueprint, does not include an explicit reference to "independence".
Western diplomats also note that, until very recently, Russia played what they describe as a generally "constructive" role as a member - along with the US, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - of the six-nation Contact Group that has been spearheading the UN's drive to settle Kosovo's status.
However, before the Kremlin reconsiders its stance it may be looking for some concessions, both on Kosovo and other issues.
In the case of Kosovo, these could include a moratorium on the territory's membership of the UN and other international bodies once it becomes independent.
Elsewhere, Moscow may be angling for an undertaking from Nato not to continue its enlargement into former Soviet republics by inviting Georgia, and possibly Ukraine, to join the alliance.
Meanwhile, Washington has also signalled its readiness to bypass Russia, if necessary, by stating that it will recognise Kosovo's independence, even if there is no UN Security Council resolution in place to endorse it.
Russia may want to avoid a confrontation of that kind, and it has repeatedly tried to put off the moment of decision by calling for more talks.
But the US and key Western countries believe the time for further delays has passed.
They are concerned about a build-up of frustration among Kosovo's Albanian majority - and unlike Russia, they have peacekeepers on the ground who may become the targets of possible violence.
The last chance for a deal may now be just a few days away - at the G8 summit of leading industrial nations in Germany on 6-8 June.
If Russia stands by Serbia, Kosovo's assembly will almost certainly vote for a unilateral declaration of independence.
That would be a scenario for diplomatic upheaval and chaotic developments on the ground, which would present further challenges not only to the West but Russia as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6707803.stm

Në Këshillin e Sigurimi të OKB-së fillon diskutimi i rezolutës për Kosovën

New York, 31 maj. - Sot do të diskutohet për rezolutën e re mbi Kosovën në KS të Kombeve të Bashkuara në New York. Këtë edhe e tha dje ambasadori i SHBA-ve në organizatën botërore, Zlmay Khalilzad. "Sponsorët duan që nesër të kemi një diskutim mbi rezolutën për Kosovën.

Flas në emër të Shteteve të Bashkuara dhe ne duam që rezoluta për Kosovën të diskutohet nesër", ka thënë dje Khalilzad.
Ambasadori amerikan tha se ka një plan të mirë duke nënvizuar se plani Ahtisaarit përbënë një kornizë të mirë për të ecur përpara, që ishte edhe si një paralajmërim i përfundimit të fazës konsultative lidhur me tekstin përfundimtar të rezolutës.Khalilzad dhe njëherë ritheksoi se situata e tanishme nuk është e qëndrueshme dhe evropianët duan të marrin përgjegjësinë mbi Kosovën nga Kombet e Bashkuara."Sepse Kosova është e rëndësishme për të ardhmen e Evropës, sepse ajo potencialisht mund të rrezikojë stabilitetin dhe sigurinë e Evropës", tha ambasadori amerikan.SHBA-ja së bashku me Francën, Britaninë e Madhe, Italinë, Belgjikën dhe anëtarët e tjerë perëndimorë në KS, e kanë qarkulluar që nga mesi i majit një projekt-rezolutë. Gjatë kësaj kohë kanë vazhduar diskutimet dhe synimi amerikan ka qenë që rezoluta të jetë sa më e qartë dhe që thelbi i parimeve të saj të jetë i tillë që të mundësojë ecjen e procesit përpara duke ofruar atë përfundim që parasheh edhe plani i Ahtisaarit, e ajo është pavarësia e Kosovës. /s.gashi/

Draft Kosovo resolution in UN today

BELGRADE, NEW YORK, POTSDAM -- Washington will today circulate its draft Kosovo resolution to the UN Security Council ambassadors.

BBC reports that the United States mission with the UN has confirmed a new draft resolution on Kosovo’s future status will be submitted Thursday. The resolution text will in all likelihood not be significantly different compared to the previous draft based on UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan for the province’s supervised independence. “This does not mean voting will follow straight away, what we wish to do is acquaint the ambassadors with the somewhat modified draft, which now includes some of the objections made by other sides,”

Tanjug was told earlier by an anonymous diplomatic source at the UN. Kosovo negotiating team member Veton Surroi said Wednesday the previous consultations phase was over, as well as that there was a document that will be considered by the UN Security Council today. Washington-based analyst Obrad Kesić said he was unaware that a new resolution would be presented to the council, adding the Albanian politicians were likely talking about the U.S.-EU resolution, with the text “perhaps changed in several sentences to be more acceptable to Russia”. “I think this is about changing the phrasing of several sentences [in the draft resolution], since the State Department lawyers have spent some weeks now trying to come up with a resolution that would cancel 1244 and open up possibilities for Kosovo’s independence.

In other words, a resolution that would give the Russians an honorable way out,” Kesić said. However, he said chances of Russia backing down from its position on the province’s status were slim, adding that there was also little room for compromise between Washington and Moscow. “What needs to be seen now is, which side finds this to be an important issue? Do U.S. interests tied to Kosovo matter so much that cooperation with Russia will be jeopardized? Moscow has spent much of its credibility.

This has now become a serious issue for the Russians, perhaps not so much so in the beginning, but any Russian decision to back down now would be interpreted as a sign of weakness by the U.S. and Europe,” Kesić explained. According to him, the easiest answer the United States could come up with to Russian threats of veto would be continued negotiations.

E Verteta 4_U

something is odd here cause on the SC site they have nothing on Kosova today.

Child trafficking victims

BELGRADE -- Child victims of human trafficking in Serbia are sexually exploited, forced into marriages or begging.

According to the domestic and foreign services providing assistance to the victims of trafficking, 100 children have been identified from 2001 to 2006, most aged between 16 and 17.

Until recently, Serbia was a transit point, with victims coming mostly from Romania and Moldavia, however, the number of Serbian nationals in the grim statistic has grown since 2004.

State secretary with the ministry of labor Ljiljana Lučić told a news conference organized by Save the Children that contrary to popular belief, the victims are not only the Roma children.

The organization presented a study aimed at pointing to risks of human trafficking and protection factors.

The study shows that risk groups include children from marginalized ethnic communities, those living in extreme poverty, children in care of the social protection institutions, illegal immigrants, internally displaced from Kosovo and homeless children.

The recommendations urge the state to protect the children through health and social systems, and an improved network of identification and assistance, as well as research and monitoring of human trafficking.