Afghanistan, Kosovo, missile defense on agenda as Bush meets with NATO chief

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- A relaxed President Bush welcomed NATO's top diplomat to his ranch Sunday for talks to be dominated by the surging violence in Afghanistan.Bush and first lady Laura Bush greeted Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and his wife, Jeannine, in late afternoon sunshine after the guests arrived by helicopter.

"A little slice of heaven," Bush said of his 1,600-acre getaway from Washington.
The president, in blue jeans and cowboy boats, then climbed in his extended-cab pickup truck and drove drove the couples to the Bushes' house down the road -- men in the front seat, women in the back seat.The invitation for an overnight stay at the ranch is considered a coup, a way for the White House to underscore its commitment to NATO and its leader, de Hoop Scheffer.

Afghanistan's struggles, NATO's role in Kosovo and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe all were likely to be discussed Monday morning.First, though, the leaders and their spouses were to dine Sunday over pecan smoked beef tenderloin, green chili cheese grits souffle and roasted asparagus.Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were among the dignitaries joining them.

In Afghanistan, more than 1,600 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to U.S., NATO and Afghan figures. The mounting civilian death toll has fueled distrust of international forces and U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai."It's a very high priority for us, just on a humanitarian level," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Sunday about the civilian casualties. "It's a high priority for us on a hearts-and-minds level: We don't want to see any erosion of support from the civilian population."Fratto said the blame lies with Taliban militants who use civilians as shields. "This is a clear, express tactic of the enemy to put civilians in harm's way," he said.The role of the 26-nation alliance in the war in Afghanistan remains a sensitive matter.

The Bush administration is urging some European allies to provide more troops to fight Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan and to lift restrictions on how and where soldiers can fight.Politicians in the United States, Canada, Britain and other nations with troops in the south have been annoyed by the reluctance of some European allies to commit extra soldiers to the roughly 37,000-strong NATO force -- in particular to be deployed to the Taliban's heartland.A suicide bomber detonated himself in a crowded market on Sunday in the eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 14 people and wounding 31. That blast in Gardez came a day after a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan killed three German soldiers and seven civilians.The discussions also were to address the status of Kosovo, a poor region under U.N. administration since 1999.

The U.S backs a U.N. resolution to ratify the province's independence from Serbia, but that plan is opposed by Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power.Moscow has opposed successive enlargements of NATO into Eastern Europe. NATO's likely expansion into the Balkans does not please Russia, but the Kremlin has shown even more concern about the prospect that neighbors Ukraine and Georgia may be brought into the alliance.Russia is also critical of U.S. plans to install radar and interceptors in Eastern Europe as part of a missile defense program, another source of growing tension between the countries.

Gazeta "Zëri": Kryeministri Çeku mund te formoje nje parti të re

Nëse Çeku vendos të formojë parti të re, ai këtë do të duhej ta bënte shumë shpejt pas miratimit të vendimit për Kosovë të pavarur dhe sovrane
Prishtinë- Kryeministri kosovar Agim Çeku do të mund të formoje nje parti të re, shkruan sot e përditshmja "Zëri" e Prishtinës. Çeku për kryetar të Qeverisë së Kosovës u zgjodh si kandidat i Aleancës për Ardhmërinë e Kosovës (AAK), kryetar i së cilës është Ramush Haradinaj. Ai u bë kryeministër i Kosovës në bazë të marrëveshjes së koalicionit të Lidhjes Demokratike të Kosovës (LDK) dhe AAK-së.

Gazeta shkruan se kryeministri është anëtar i kryesisë së AAK-së, por shumë rrallë shihet në selinë e partisë. "Nëse Çeku vendos të formojë parti të re, ai këtë do të duhej ta bënte shumë shpejtë pas miratimit të vendimit për Kosovë të pavarur dhe sovrane, nëse dëshiron të marrë pjesë në zgjedhjet e ardhshme lokale dhe parlamentare, të cilat, nëse në Këshillin e Sigurimit të Kombeve të Bashkuara miratohet rezolutë e re për Kosovën, do të mbaheshin nga fundi i vitit", konstaton "Zëri". Partia e re doemos do të duhej të shënohet në regjistrin e partive të OSBE-së, përderisa kandidatët për këshilltarë komunalë, gjegjësisht deputetë në Kuvendin e Kosovës, doemos do të duhej të kalojnë nëpër një procedurë të caktuar.

Kjo, sipas gazetës, do të thoshte se Çeku do të duhej publikisht të prononcohet se është kryeministër nuk përfaqëson partinë që e propozoi për kryeministër, gjegjësisht se nuk është kandidat i koalicionit në pushtet LDK-AAK. "Zëri" bën të ditur se kjo do ta parashtronte çështjen për kryeministrin e ri për votimin e të cilit koalicioni në pushtet vështirë se do të siguronte 61 vota, sa nevojiten, ndërsa Kosova disa javë pas rezolutës së KS në KB do të mund të hynte në krizë qeveritare. "Njëherit, do të ishte befasi e madhe nëse koalicioni në pushtet LDK-AAK do të lejonte që në krye të Qeverisë të mbetet përfaqësues i një partie të re", konstaton Zëri.

Kryeministri Çeku mohon të ketë deklaruar se pavarësia e Kosovës do të arrihet gjatë muajit maj

Kosovës do të arrihet gjatë muajit maj. Ai ka thënë se vetëm ka shfaqur besimin që kjo do të ndodhë gjatë këtij muaji, bazuar në premtimet e miqve ndërkombëtar.

Lidhur me këtë, një debat i nxehtë dhe me akuza të ashpra ndaj kryeministrit, është dëgjuar sot në ambientet e KK të Prishtinës Gjendja është tensionuar kur disa të rinj kanë kërkuar sqarim nga ai për deklaratat e tij se pavarësia do të realizohet brenda muajit maj. Ndonëse fillimisht ka mohuar të ketë dhënë një premtim të tillë, pak me vonë Çeku ka kërkuar falje.

I guess Mr Ceku is still under narcatic substance ??????


E verteta 4_u

" I am no fan of Albin Kurti but in his lastest article "Substanca Narkotike"
he pretty much defined the UN mission in Kosovo as one big failure. He says the UN is just wasting time and money. The UN keeps promising away that kosovo will be free but so far all of there promisings have been LIES said Kurti. He said the kosovars need to wake up and snap out of the "Substanca Narkotike" ! ( narcatic substance)


Full article of "Substanca Narkotike" Below

Substanca Narkotike

Për vite me radhë thanë se Kosova do të bëhet e pavarur vitin e ardhshëm. Vitin e kaluar thanë se Kosova do të bëhet e pavarur deri në fund të vitit. Në fund të vitit të kaluar thanë se Kosova do të bëhet e pavarur në fillim të këtij viti në të cilin ndodhemi tash. Thanë se duhej pritur vetëm edhe pak, vetëm edhe disa javë derisa Serbia të mbante zgjedhjet e saj. Thanë se duhet të jemi të durueshëm: Ahtisaari medoemos do ta sjell pavarësinë në paketën e tij. Më pas thanë se nuk duhet të paragjykojmë përmbajtjen e paketës, le të presim e të shohim se çfarë ka brenda thoshin.

Meqë paketa megjithatë komentohej, thanë se ajo përmban substancën e shtetit. Meqë simulimi i së panjohurës nuk u eci, nisi të simulohej e paqena. Në fakt, kjo substancë kinse e shtetit është substancë narkotike, është substanca më e re narkotike. Çdo herë kur premtimit të tyre i skadon afati, ata vijnë me një premtim tjetër dhe afat tjetër. Para se rrena e tyre të zbulohet, e zëvendësojnë atë me një tjetër rrenë. Tamam kur qytetarët e përgjumur të Kosovës nisin të zgjohen, janë aty politikanët e vendit ata që vijnë me një dozë të re të një substance të re narkotike, që përkujdesen për hibernimin e vazhdueshëm të qytetarëve. Vetëm populli i fjetur i mundëson e toleron këta politikanë të cilët luksin e tyre e kanë në llogari të djersës së popullit, të cilët pozitat e tyre i kanë në llogari të pazareve fatale me tokën dhe të ardhmen e popullit.

Këta politikanë u sugjerojnë qytetarëve që të shpresojnë, që të besojnë dhe që të shikojnë. Që të shpresojnë iluzionin, që të besojnë rrenat, që të shikojnë televizorin e të mos protestojnë. Demokracia e thotë të kundërtën: mos shpreso por vepro; mos beso por vepro; mos shiko por vepro. T’i luftosh negociatorët kosovar do të thotë të mbrosh veten. Ata pranojnë çkado për Kosovën për të pasur gjithçka për veten e tyre. Komuna e copëtuar e Gjilanit do ta ketë gjashtëfish më të lartë dendësinë e popullësisë sesa komuna e trefishuar territorialisht e Artanës me shumicë serbe. Fatura e shpenzimeve dhe dëmeve të këtyre politikanëve na mbetet neve. Ata s’çajnë kokën për qytetarët. Ata brengosen vetëm dhe vetëm për veten dhe rrethin e tyre.

Fëmijëve të tyre nuk u mungojnë librat, veshmbathja, ushqimi, kujdesi shëndetësor dhe pushimet verore në det. Të afërmëve të tyre nuk u mungojnë bursat, vendi i punës dhe pagat e majme. Ata janë pak njerëz që kanë shumë pasuri, mu për shkak se aq shumë njerëz kanë fare pak ose aspak të mira materiale. Prandaj, ata kanë nevojë për durimin dhe heshtjen tonë, për pritjen dhe mashtrimin tonë. Prandaj, atyre nuk u bëhet vonë dhe me komoditet flasin për çlirimin, lirinë e demokracinë që na i solli bashkësia ndërkombëtare, për vullnetin e popullit që së shpejti do ta vë në vend bashkësia ndërkombëtare! Çlirimi, liria dhe demokracia që vijnë nga jashtë asnjëherë nuk janë të vërteta. Vullnetin e popullit nuk e realizon bashkësia ndërkombëtare dhe askush tjetër përveç vetë popullit. Që të realizohet vullneti i popullit, populli duhet të shndërrohet në këtë vullnet të tij. Populli nuk është diku anash ose jashtë.

Populli jemi ti dhe unë, secili prej nesh, të gjithë ne. Kur ky vullnet i popullit nuk përfaqësohet dhe nuk mbrohet në institucionet e sistemit, atëherë ai duhet të artikulohet jashtë tyre, kundër tyre, për ndryshimin e tyre. Të kënaqurit janë pakicë. Të pakënaqurit janë shumicë. Të kënaqurit janë në sistem. Të pakënaqurit nuk janë të përfaqësuar. Ata duhet të dëgjohen. Andaj, ata duhet të bëhen të zëshëm. Nëpër rrugët e qyteteve dhe fshatrave të Kosovës, nëpër rrugët e lirisë. Sepse aty nis liria. Sepse ashtu nis liria. Për vite me radhë thanë se Kosova do të bëhet e pavarur vitin e ardhshëm.

Vitin e kaluar thanë se Kosova do të bëhet e pavarur deri në fund të vitit. Në fund të vitit të kaluar thanë se Kosova do të bëhet e pavarur në fillim të këtij viti në të cilin ndodhemi tash. Thanë se duhej pritur vetëm edhe pak, vetëm edhe disa javë derisa Serbia të mbante zgjedhjet e saj. Thanë se duhet të jemi të durueshëm: Ahtisaari medoemos do ta sjell pavarësinë në paketën e tij. Më pas thanë se nuk duhet të paragjykojmë përmbajtjen e paketës, le të presim e të shohim se çfarë ka brenda thoshin. Meqë paketa megjithatë komentohej, thanë se ajo përmban substancën e shtetit. Meqë simulimi i së panjohurës nuk u eci, nisi të simulohej e paqena. Në fakt, kjo substancë kinse e shtetit është substancë narkotike, është substanca më e re narkotike. Çdo herë kur premtimit të tyre i skadon afati, ata vijnë me një premtim tjetër dhe afat tjetër. Para se rrena e tyre të zbulohet, e zëvendësojnë atë me një tjetër rrenë.

Tamam kur qytetarët e përgjumur të Kosovës nisin të zgjohen, janë aty politikanët e vendit ata që vijnë me një dozë të re të një substance të re narkotike, që përkujdesen për hibernimin e vazhdueshëm të qytetarëve. Vetëm populli i fjetur i mundëson e toleron këta politikanë të cilët luksin e tyre e kanë në llogari të djersës së popullit, të cilët pozitat e tyre i kanë në llogari të pazareve fatale me tokën dhe të ardhmen e popullit. Këta politikanë u sugjerojnë qytetarëve që të shpresojnë, që të besojnë dhe që të shikojnë. Që të shpresojnë iluzionin, që të besojnë rrenat, që të shikojnë televizorin e të mos protestojnë. Demokracia e thotë të kundërtën: mos shpreso por vepro; mos beso por vepro; mos shiko por vepro.

T’i luftosh negociatorët kosovar do të thotë të mbrosh veten. Ata pranojnë çkado për Kosovën për të pasur gjithçka për veten e tyre. Komuna e copëtuar e Gjilanit do ta ketë gjashtëfish më të lartë dendësinë e popullësisë sesa komuna e trefishuar territorialisht e Artanës me shumicë serbe. Fatura e shpenzimeve dhe dëmeve të këtyre politikanëve na mbetet neve. Ata s’çajnë kokën për qytetarët. Ata brengosen vetëm dhe vetëm për veten dhe rrethin e tyre. Fëmijëve të tyre nuk u mungojnë librat, veshmbathja, ushqimi, kujdesi shëndetësor dhe pushimet verore në det. Të afërmëve të tyre nuk u mungojnë bursat, vendi i punës dhe pagat e majme. Ata janë pak njerëz që kanë shumë pasuri, mu për shkak se aq shumë njerëz kanë fare pak ose aspak të mira materiale. Prandaj, ata kanë nevojë për durimin dhe heshtjen tonë, për pritjen dhe mashtrimin tonë.

Prandaj, atyre nuk u bëhet vonë dhe me komoditet flasin për çlirimin, lirinë e demokracinë që na i solli bashkësia ndërkombëtare, për vullnetin e popullit që së shpejti do ta vë në vend bashkësia ndërkombëtare! Çlirimi, liria dhe demokracia që vijnë nga jashtë asnjëherë nuk janë të vërteta. Vullnetin e popullit nuk e realizon bashkësia ndërkombëtare dhe askush tjetër përveç vetë popullit. Që të realizohet vullneti i popullit, populli duhet të shndërrohet në këtë vullnet të tij. Populli nuk është diku anash ose jashtë. Populli jemi ti dhe unë, secili prej nesh, të gjithë ne. Kur ky vullnet i popullit nuk përfaqësohet dhe nuk mbrohet në institucionet e sistemit, atëherë ai duhet të artikulohet jashtë tyre, kundër tyre, për ndryshimin e tyre.

Të kënaqurit janë pakicë. Të pakënaqurit janë shumicë. Të kënaqurit janë në sistem. Të pakënaqurit nuk janë të përfaqësuar. Ata duhet të dëgjohen.

Andaj, ata duhet të bëhen të zëshëm. Nëpër rrugët e qyteteve dhe fshatrave të Kosovës, nëpër rrugët e lirisë.

Sepse aty nis liria.

Sepse ashtu nis liria.

Nga Albin Kurti

( Translation in english coming soon)

Much Ado About the Fort Dix Pizza Plot

Hyping Another Terrorist Threat

Much Ado About the Fort Dix Pizza Plot

By NICOLE COLSON

To listen to government officials and the mainstream media, the six New Jersey men arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on the Fort Dix military base were well organized and nearly "ready to strike."

But like all of the government's claimed victories in "fighting terrorism," there are disturbing holes in the story that should raise questions about scapegoating and scaremongering.
The U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey announced May 8 that five men--Jordanian-born U.S. citizen Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer; Turkish-born legal U.S. resident Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia who were reportedly in the U.S. illegally--had been charged with "plotting to kill as many soldiers as possible in an armed assault at the Fort Dix Army base."

A sixth defendant, Agron Abdullahu, a legal resident also from the former Yugoslavia, is charged with illegally holding weapons for the others.
The FBI says it learned of the supposed plot when the men went to a Circuit City store and asked a clerk to transfer a jihad training video of themselves onto a DVD. They were arrested after allegedly attempting to purchase weapons from an undercover FBI agent.
According to the government, the men had conducted surveillance on Fort Dix, obtained computerized ballistic simulations and stolen a map of Fort Dix from a pizza shop located near the base in order to help plan their attack.

But the extent of their supposed military-style "training" appears to be trips to a firing range in the Poconos and playing paintball in the woods. According to the Washington Post, the indictment against the men "indicates that the group had no rigorous military training and did not appear close to being able to pull off an attack."

Nor do court papers indicate that the suspects themselves were convinced of their own supposed plan. At one point, for example, they express doubt at the thought of obtaining automatic weapons--noting that they are, after all, illegal.

The media's reports on the arrests immediately deemed the six as "Muslim fanatics" and "Jersey jihadists." But some of the men were known to be not particularly religious. In fact, according to the New York Times, investigators have quietly admitted that "there is little indication that they were devout--or even practicing--Muslims."

Perhaps most troubling, however, is the FBI's use of two paid "informants" in the case. One of the informants, according to the Times, "railed against the United States, helped scout out military installations for attack, offered to introduce his comrades to an arms dealer and gave them a list of weapons he could procure, including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades."

That begs the question: how far would the supposed "plot" have gone had the FBI not been there to push it forward?
In fact, in November, Tatar himself contacted police in Philadelphia, telling a sergeant he had been approached by a man who "pressured him to acquire maps of Fort Dix." He even told the sergeant he was worried that that "the incident was terrorist-related."

The Feds claim that Tatar was simply trying to throw off suspicion and determine if the first informer was a plant. But the fact that one of the defendants in a supposed terrorist cell actually called police to report possible terrorist activity raises serious questions about the truth of the government's claims.
* * *


Over-hyped declarations about terrorism prosecutions are nothing new for Bush administration. It has announced one high-profile terrorism case after another, but few have ever been substantiated, and many more have been riddled with racism, entrapment and abuses.
Last fall, for example, several men of Middle Eastern descent were arrested in separate incidents in Ohio and Michigan on terrorism charges. They had aroused suspicion by buying too many cell phones--and, in one case, taking pictures of a bridge. Charges were later quietly dropped, but not until after the government smeared the men in the media as potential terrorists.

A similar pattern has played out in the case of seven men of Haitian descent arrested in Florida last year on charges that they were plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower.
Though the charges are still pending, the case against the men rests on little more than the fact that they allegedly gave an FBI informant lists of shoe sizes in order to purchase military boots for them. Even the FBI was forced to admit that the plan was more "aspirational than operational."

As a recent editorial in the Palm Beach Post commented, "[A]nyone heard lately about the so-called 'Miami 7'? The Justice Department with much ballyhoo last year claimed the five U.S. citizens, one legal permanent resident and one Haitian national had conspired with al-Qaeda 'to levy war against the United States'...But Justice may face an uphill climb to show how the men were anything other than poor, unsophisticated street vendors and easy dupes when the government's agent came casting suggestion."

Then there is so-called "dirty-bomber" Jose Padilla, who spent more than three years in solitary confinement in a military brig as an officially designated enemy combatant for allegedly plotting to take part in an al-Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive bomb inside the U.S.
When the Bush administration suddenly announced in November 2005 that federal criminal charges had been filed against Padilla, the indictment made no mention of the dirty bomb plot or most of the other original charges.

Today, Padilla's lawyers say he has been so psychologically damaged by the physical and psychological abuse he suffered at the hands of the government that he can no longer participate in his own defense.
Likewise, former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian remains in prison today despite the fact that a jury acquitted him of the most serious terrorism charges against him and deadlocked on several lesser counts.

To end his imprisonment and be reunited with his family, Al-Arian agreed to plead guilty to a single count of supporting the nonviolent activities of a Palestinian charity. Yet his release date has come and gone, and he remains behind bars--because federal prosecutors now claim he is a "material witness" to other trumped-up terrorism prosecutions, and want to force him to testify.
Despite government assertions, the truth is that Al-Arian has been prosecuted for his political beliefs and defense of Palestinian rights--not for any "terrorism."


* * *


A closer look at the government's own records show that the "war on terror" has yielded few convictions.
Late last year, a study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University found that in the first eight months of 2006, the Justice Department prosecuted 46 international terrorism cases--but declined to bring charges in 209 cases that the FBI or other agencies had referred, frequently because of a lack of real evidence.
"It is clear that the prosecutors are deciding that a lot of the investigations being recommended do not cut the mustard and do not meet their standards," David Burnham, the co-director of TRAC, told the New York Times.


In all, the study found that in nearly 6,500 cases treated as "terrorism" investigations by the Justice Department since September 11, only about one in five defendants have been convicted.
And the average sentence for those convicted in "international terrorism" cases was just 20 to 28 days, and many received no jail time at all, the study found. The reason: Many of these cases involve lesser charges like immigration violations or fraud.
In other words, the prosecutions that the government labels as being about "terrorism" are almost never actually about terrorism.


In fact, a February audit released by the Justice Department's inspector general found that the department usually "could not provide support for the numbers reported or could not identify the terrorism link used to classify statistics as terrorism-related."
Convictions for immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking were counted as "terrorism convictions" by the Justice Department. Such cases included: charges brought against a marriage-broker for being paid to arrange six fraudulent marriages between Tunisians and U.S. citizens; the prosecution of a Mexican citizen who falsely identified himself as another person in a passport application; and the case of a suspect charged with dealing firearms without a license.

As one anonymous former prosecutor recently told Truthout.org's William Fisher, "U.S. attorneys are well aware of their bosses' priorities. Since 9/11, all of them have been under pressure to bring terrorism prosecutions.
"In many cases, that has led them and their superiors, as well as prominent politicians, to call high-profile press conferences where they announce terrorism charges against people, but when they show up in court, there are no actual terrorism charges."

"Observer" shkruan per mundesine e vetos ruse dhe friken nga lufta ne Kosove

Në një artikull të sotëm të Observer-it shkruan se serbët dhe shqiptarët e dinë se Rusia është ajo që i mban çelësat e së ardhshmes së tyre. Në Kosovë sot shtrohet vetëm një pyetje- ”çfarë do të bëjnë rusët?, shkruan gazeta, duke rikujtuar se lufta në Kosovës është ndalur më 1999, por, sikur që konfirmojnë edhe diplomatët, konflikti në të vërtet nuk është ndërprerë asnjëherë.
Gazeta shkruan po ashtu se ajo që e bën pikëpamjen ruse kaq të rëndësishme është se plani i Ahtisarit tashmë është vendosur në tryezën e Këshillit të Sigurimit dhe se pika nga e cila nuk ka mbrapakthim është kaluar tashmë, ndërkohë Rusia ka shpallur kërcënimin se mund ta përdorë të drejtën e vetos.Rusia ka vënë në qarkullim kundërpropozimin e saj, përmes të cilit ajo e le “sovranitetin e përgjithshëm” në duar të Serbisë , duke rrezikuar kështu përsëritjen e dhunës. Gazeta sjell pritjet e shqiptarëve që pavarësia të ndodh brenda disa javësh, por edhe pritjet serbe për rikthimin e Serbisë në Kosovë. “Gjatë viteve të fundit, në e kemi ndërtuar Kosovën“, citohet të ketë thënë kryeministri Çeku i cili për gazetën deklaroi se skenari më i keq tash është paqartësia e perspektivës.

War fears in Kosovo as Moscow veto looms

War fears in Kosovo as Moscow veto looms

Serbs and Albanians know Russia holds the key to their future as the rift between them widens

Sunday May 20, 2007The Observer

In Kosovo now there is only one question. What will the Russians do? It is asked in smoky cafes, on the countless building sites, and in government offices. It is asked by the majority Albanians, hoping for independence for this divided former Serbian province, who fear the Russians will torpedo the dream for which they fought the Kosovo war of 1998-99.

And it is asked by the minority Serbs, who ruled Kosovo for so long and regard it as their cultural and spiritual heartland, trapped in their ever-shrinking enclaves in the south and in their last stronghold in the north around the city of Mitrovica. Their fear is that their Slav ally, which opposes the independence plan drawn up by UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari, might at the last moment abandon them through the pragmatism of international diplomacy.


It is an issue troubling the functionaries of the international community who oversee Kosovo and who are anxious to see an endgame in sight eight years after the war in Kosovo was ended by Nato's bombing of Serbia and Belgrade.


What makes Russian thinking so important is that the Ahtisaari plan has now been tabled by the United States before the Security Council. A point of no return has been reached. And, crucially, a Russia that is resurgent in its sense of its international importance and hostile to both the US and the European Union over issues as diverse as criticism of its democracy and a planned missile shield for eastern Europe, has not only rejected the resolution calling for UN endorsement of the Ahtisaari plan, but has warned it might exercise its veto if there is a vote.
Instead, Russia is now circulating its own counter-proposal for Kosovo that would keep it within the 'general sovereignty' claimed by Belgrade and put off the question of Kosovo's final status, risking, some say, renewed violence.

A crisis eight years in the making is unfolding with a giddy inevitability. For while the fighting in Kosovo stopped in 1999, the conflict itself, as diplomats here acknowledge, has never really ended. All that has been held in check has been forced to the surface again.

For Kosovo's Albanians, fired up by the repeated promises of their political leaders, there is the prospect that independence may be only weeks away. It is a prospect that has forced Serbs to confront the fact that it may now likely require some act of partition on their part, a gesture that risks retaliation and expulsion of the most vulnerable Serb pockets. Suddenly all is to play for.

'During these past years we have made Kosovo. It is done,' insists Kosovo's Prime Minister, Agim Ceku, former chief of staff of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army. 'We have built functioning institutions. We have built our vision for the future. The worst case scenario now is a lack of clarity, an ambiguity.'

'If you ask me what I think the risks of partition are at the moment,' says Naim Rashiti of the International Crisis Group, which issued a report last week warning of the risk of violence if the Ahtisaari plan was abandoned, 'I would say 50-50. And I am worried that, if there is partition, it has the potential to be very dirty, precisely because no one has any plan B.'

In an entity whose economy has survived for almost a decade on international handouts, remittances from family members working abroad, and a grey and black economy - the latter based in large part on smuggling - independence has become a kind of spell that for its Kosovo Albanian believers promises to transform a landscape of chronic underemployment and pitiful wages.

It is a fact that is underlined during a visit to the memorial to the Kosovo Liberation Army leader Adem Jashari - his bullet and rocket-wrecked compound in the village of Prekaz, where he perished with most of his family in the incident in the winter of 1998 that triggered the descent to all-out war.

The preserved ruins are being visited by Nurlje Sadiku from the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica. 'I have never worked,' says Nurlje. 'But we hope everything will be better when independence comes. Then jobs will be easier. The World Bank will help out with donations and everything will be good.'

It is an expectation that has been stoked in the years since the war by Kosovo's Albanian politicians, many of them former fighters. 'There is no alternative to independence,' says Hashim Taqi, the president of the biggest Albanian opposition party, the PDK.
'Any attempt to delay the process is high risk. The people are ready and want a decision. They are counting the days. We were ready yesterday. Today is too late. Tomorrow,' he adds, 'is dangerous.'

Crossing the bridge into the Serb stronghold of northern Mitrovica that borders Serbia is like entering another country. The cars that do have licence plates have Serbian ones. The mobile phones are on the Serbian network. The signs are written in Cyrillic. Even the beer is different - Kneva, not the ubiquitous Peya brand drunk to the south. It reflects a society in equally dire economic straits, but one sustained not by Kosovo's provisional institutions but by Belgrade. And by a different dream.

For if Kosovo's Albanian population is fixed on independence, the Serbs here, and in the scattered enclaves in central and southern Kosovo, are equally determined that they wish to remain a part of Serbia.

'The Serbs in the north around Mitrovica are not afraid,' says Petra Miletic, a journalist turned politician. 'But the Serbs in the enclaves are afraid. I am afraid for them and, yes, I do know of Serbs in the south who are selling up and leaving, as Albanians in their enclaves in the north are also selling up.' But even if population exchanges are continuing, he has no illusions about the conditions for partition, if only in Kosovo's north: 'For us to survive independently would require the support of Belgrade.'

It is one of Kosovo's two as yet unanswered questions: whether the Albanian population denied independence by a Russian veto would declare independence on its own, and whether, faced with any kind of independence for the Albanian majority, the Serb minority would secede.
What it is driven by - as Miletic and many others on both sides concede - is the utter failure of any reconciliation since the year's end.

Such failure was perceptible at the prom night for the graduating high-school class of 2007 in Pristina - a city that once had a Serb population of 40,000. As they turned out in their posh frocks and dinner jackets, it was clear that, whereas their Albanian parents could once speak Serbian, the new generation speaks it not at all. Albanians and Serbs can no longer communicate.

In his deputy director's office in the hospital in Mitrovica, the reality is laid out by Milan Ivanovic of the hardline Serbian National Council. 'I don't know if partition is possible,' he says, although on his wall hangs a large map showing his movement's claim to 38 per cent of Kosovo's land for the Serbs.

'What is true is that in the north we have a better possibility than in the Serb enclaves in the south and centre. We have our own system and no contact with the Albanian institutions. And we have freedom of movement over the border into Serbia.

'We believe that we are between two extremities: between Ahtisaari's plan and between that of [former President of Yugoslavia Slobodan] Milosevic's plan for Kosovo. There must be room for further negotiation.' What he means is room for further stalling.
It is what the Russians are calling for, but time is running out. For as much as Serbs are calling for more time, Albanians are desperate for results. And those who lost most in the war are most anxious for a final resolution.

In the village of Krushe e Vogel, in the Kosovo Liberation Army heartland to the south and the scene of one of the worst massacres of the war, in which more than 100 residents remain 'missing', the alternative is brutally outlined by Xhylferije Shehu, 48.
In her tomato frame among the fields, Shehu, who lost her husband among nine family members, says: 'We have waited eight years for independence. I'm not optimistic that there won't be trouble. If there is no independence, then we will have to fight again.'