Political "Interests" Saved Kosovo's Thugs

Other Balkans Articles In this exclusive interview with one of Canada’s most experienced police detectives, Stu Kellock, readers get the inside story of how UN investigators in Kosovo sought to crack down on criminals and terrorists – but were systematically stopped, because of the perceived need to safeguard the interests of the Western political elite and their local protégés.

 http://www.balkanalysis.com/?p=625

UN Closes Book On Milosevic Cover-up

The Hague Tribunal's final verdict on Slobodan Milosevic's death has concluded that he was not poisoned and there was no foul play involved.

E Verteta 4_U

  Imagine my shock.

Full Story here -  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/310506closesbook.htm

                                

Russia bullies BP - U.S. motorist, take note

How the aggressive behavior of the world's second largest exporter could drive prices higher for everyone.

This would be the latest in a string of incidents generally interpreted as Russia strong-arming its partners into deals more favorable to the government. These moves, analysts say, could hurt worldwide production and drive up energy costs for consumers everywhere.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/01/news/international/russia_bp/index.htm?cnn=yes

Kosovo draft resolution submitted

NEW YORK, MOSCOW, BELGRADE -- The new U.S.-European proposed Kosovo resolution was presented to the UN Security Council yesterday.

According to information garnered by the Beta news agency, the proposal of May 11 has been slightly altered and the new one does not “approve” UN Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan, but does “support” it.

Ahtisaari proposes an international-supervised independence for the province.

U.S. and Russian UN ambassadors have scheduled a meeting with Kosovo experts today.

American ambassador to the UN, Zalmai Khalilzad, said that “there were changes, but the essential part of the resolution still calls for Kosovo entering a new phase in its road towards independence,” according to the UN’s website.

He added that “Kosovo's independence is unavoidable,” and that the U.S. is open to any constructive proposal from Russia.

Khalilzad also hopes that the resolution will be voted on next week, while Russian officials stated that if the U.S. insists on a vote, Russia might use its veto in the Security Council to thwart it.

E Verteta 4_U

 No one can wait for there INDEPENDENCE to come , they must go and take it themselves.
 If Kosova continues to wait for it than they are never going to get it.  If the albanians really want their freedom than now is the time to stand up and go get it by any means necessary ! 

Modifikimet në projektrezolutën e KS për Kosovën, Prishtina i vlerëson të pranueshme

Anëtarë të EU vlerësojnë se modifikimet e bëra nuk e prekin substancën e pakos së Ahtisaarit dhe për këtë arsye janë të pranueshme. Por, cilat dhe çfarë janë modifikimet e propozuara në Projektrezolutën e re të KS për Kosovën, për të siguruar mbështetjen ruse, apo në rastin tjetër për të evituar veton ruse lidhur me miratimin e kësaj rezolute ?

http://www.rtklive.com/?newsId=7686&PHPSESSID=bdb29677e766fbca7767583abfb50149

US debt could trigger dollar collapse, UN warns

The United States dollar is facing imminent collapse in the face of an unsustainable debt, the United Nations warned today.

FULL Story here =   http://pressesc.com/01180629622_dollar_falls

TB patient ID'd as Atlanta lawyer

By GREG BLUESTEIN and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers
Thu May 31, 7:56 PM ET

ATLANTA - A globe-trotting Atlanta lawyer with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT



The inspector has been removed from border duty.

The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely "discretionary," officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation.

The patient was identified as Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer who returned last week from his wedding and honeymoon trip through Italy, the Greek isles and other spots in Europe. His new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a
CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria.

Cooksey would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. Nor did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain how the case came to their attention. However, Cooksey said that neither he nor his CDC laboratory was the source of his son-in-law's TB.

Speaker is now under quarantine at a hospital in Denver. He is the first infected person to be quarantined by the U.S. government since 1963.

The disclosure that the patient is a lawyer — and specifically a personal injury lawyer — outraged many people on the Internet and elsewhere. Some travelers who flew on the same planes with Speaker angrily accused him of selfishly putting hundreds of people's lives in danger.

"It's still very scary," 21-year-old Laney Wiggins, one of more than two dozen University of South Carolina-Aiken students who are getting skin tests for TB. "That is an outrageous number of people that he was very reckless with their health. It's not fair. It's selfish."

Speaker said in a newspaper interview that he knew he had TB when he flew from Atlanta to Europe in mid-May for his wedding and honeymoon, but that he did not find out until he was already in Rome that it was an extensively drug-resistant strain considered especially dangerous.

Despite warnings from federal health officials not to board another long flight, he flew home for treatment, fearing he wouldn't survive if he didn't reach the U.S., he said. He said he tried to sneak home by way of Canada instead of flying directly into the U.S.

He was quarantined May 25, a day after he was allowed to pass through the border crossing at Champlain, N.Y., along the Canadian border.

The inspector ran Speaker's passport through a computer, and a warning — including instructions to hold the traveler, don a protective mask in dealing with him, and telephone health authorities — popped up, officials said. About a minute later, Speaker was instead cleared to continue on his journey, according to officials familiar with the records.

The
Homeland Security Department is investigating.

"The border agent who questioned that person is at present performing administrative duties," said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, adding those duties do not include checking people at the land border crossing.

Colleen Kelley, president of the union that represents customs and border agents, declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said "public health issues were not receiving adequate attention and training" within the agency.

On Thursday, a tan and healthy-looking Speaker was flown from Atlanta to Denver, accompanied by his wife and federal marshals, to Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center, where doctors planned to isolate him and treat him with oral and intravenous antibiotics.

Dr. Charles Daley, chief of the hospital's infectious-disease division, said he is optimistic Speaker can be cured because he is believed to be in the early stages of the disease.

Dr. Gwen Huitt of National Jewish described Speaker as "a young, healthy individual" who is "doing extremely well."

"By conventional methods that we traditionally use in the public health arena ... he would be considered low infectivity at this point in time," she said. "He is not coughing, he is healthy, he does not have a fever."

Doctors hope also to determine where he contracted the disease, which has been found around the world and exists in pockets in Russia and Asia.

He will be kept in a special unit with a ventilation system to prevent the escape of germs. "He may not leave that room much for several weeks," hospital spokesman William Allstetter said.

Speaker's father-in-law has worked at the CDC for 32 years and is in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, where he works with TB and other organisms. He has co-authored papers on diabetes, TB and other infectious diseases.

"As part of my job, I am regularly tested for TB. I do not have TB, nor have I ever had TB," he said in a statement. "My son-in-law's TB did not originate from myself or the CDC's labs, which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity."

In a brief telephone interview with the AP, Cooksey said that he gave Speaker "fatherly advice" when he learned the young man had contracted the disease.

"I'm hoping and praying that he's getting the proper treatment, that my daughter is holding up mentally and physically," Cooksey said. "Had I known that my daughter was in any risk, I would not allow her to travel."

According to a biography posted on a Web site connected with Speaker's law firm, the young lawyer attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in finance, then attended University of Georgia's law school. He is in private practice with his father, Ted Speaker, an unsuccessful candidate for a judgeship in 2004.

Speaker's father told WSB-TV: "The way he's been shown and spoken about on TV, it's like a terrorist traveling around the world escaping authorities. It's blown out of proportion immensely."

Andrew Speaker recently moved from an upscale condominium complex in anticipation of his wedding, former neighbors said. He also wrote in an application to become a board member of his condo association that he was going to Vietnam for five weeks as part of the Rotary Club to act as an ambassador.

His wife, Sarah, is a third-year law student at Atlanta's Emory University.

"He's a great guy. Gregarious," said Pam Hood, a former neighbor. "He's a wonderful guy. Just a very, very pleasant man."

Health officials in North America and Europe are now trying to track down about 80 passengers who sat near him on his two trans-Atlantic flights, and they want passenger lists from four shorter flights he took while in Europe.

However, other passengers are not considered at high risk of infection because tests indicated the amount of TB bacteria in Speaker was low, said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC's division of global migration and quarantine.

Health law experts said Speaker could be sued if others contract TB.

"There are a number of cases that say a person who negligently transmits an infectious disease could be held liable," said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University. "So long as he knew it was infectious, and knew about the appropriate behavior but failed to comply, he could be held liable."

Speaker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wasn't coughing and that doctors initially did not order him not to fly and only suggested he put off his long-planned wedding. "We headed off to Greece thinking everything's fine," he told the newspaper.

 E Verteta 4_U
  
 Terrific  now TB is just another  concern of the many things we worry about when flying.

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.

 

Ban Ki-moon: UN will soon decide on Kosovo

NEW YORK, HELSINKI -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the UN Security Council will decide on Kosovo’s status as soon as possible.

Ki-moon reiterated support for UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan, Priština television RTV 21 reported.

The UN Secretary-General stressed that the Security Council members were holding consultations in regards to Kosovo.

“I have talked with many presidents and prime ministers, asking them to back the issue,” he said.

According to him, delays in finalizing Kosovo’s status settlement process would not change the current situation, since the positions of two contending sides were unlikely to change.

“Ahtisaari’s plan contains all necessary elements to build Kosovo’s future,” Ban Ki-moon concluded.

Këshilli i Sigurimit shumë shpejtë do ta nxjerrë vendimin për Kosovën, thotë Ban Ki Moon

 Sekretari i përgjithshëm i OKB-së, Ban Ki Moon ka deklaruar sot se Këshilli i Sigurimit sa më parë që të jetë e mundur do ta nxjerrë vendimin mbi Kosovën dhe sërish ka mbështetur propozimin e të dërguarit të tij për Kosovën, Martti Ahtisaari.
Sekretari i përgjithshëm i OKB-së, Ban Ki Moon ka thënë se anëtarët e Këshillit të Sigurimit janë duke u konsultuar rreth çështjes së Kosovës dhe se ai personalisht “ka biseduar me shumë burrështetas dhe kryeministra dhe se nga ata ka kërkuar mbështetjen për këtë çështje”.

Ban Ki Moon ka shtuar se çfarëdo vonese në këtë drejtim nuk do t’i kontribuojë përmirësimit të situatës, pikërisht për faktin e pozicioneve diametralisht të kundërta mes shqiptarëve dhe serbëve.

“Propozimi i të dërguarit tim, Martti Ahtisaari, përmbanë të gjitha elementet e duhura për ndërtimin e ardhmërisë së Kosovës”, ka thënë Ban Ki Moon

Propozimi i Martti Ahtisaarit nënkupton pavarësinë e mbikëqyrur për Kosovën, mirëpo Beogradi e ka kundërshtuar këtë zgjidhje, duke propozuar autonomi të mbikëqyrur dhe bisedime të reja për Kosovën. Sekretari i përgjithshëm i OKB-së, Ban Ki Moon i ka deklaruar për RTV 21 se pret që “Bashkimi Evropian do të bisedojë me Serbinë lidhur me këtë çështje”.

 
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 they keep telling soon the settlement will be done with, but everytime its just another LIE  to the people of Kosova ! 

Fort Dix tipster goes public

Speaking on CNN's "American Morning," Brian Morgenstern -- a 23-year-old Camden County resident, according to his MySpace page -- described how two men brought him a videotape to transfer to DVD in late January 2006.

He said he went home that night and told his family what he had seen: Ten men at a firing range with handguns, rifles and what he thought were fully automatic rifles. Authorities later said they were chanting in Arabic, "Allah Akbar," or "God is Great."

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 Can you say, "Obvious set-up?" Of COURSE you can!

Ryker: Statusi i Kosovës do të zgjidhet për disa javë

I pyetur per disa përshtatje të mundshme të planit të Ahtisarit, kryeadministratori i Kosoves konsideron se substanca e statusit është në duart e Këshillit të Sigurimit

Pragë/Prishtinë - Kryeadministratori Joakim Ryker shfaqi mendimin se UNMIK-u nuk duhet të merret me datat për zgjidhjen e statusit të Kosovës. “Administrata e Kombeve të Bashkuara është duke e ndihmuar procesin e statusit, por vendimin për statusin e merr Këshilli i Sigurimit në Nju Jork” tha Ryker ne nje interviste për Radion Evropa e Lirë, duke shtuar se bëhet fjalë për disa javë dhe jo me muaj.
I pyetur per disa përshtatje të mundshme të planit të Ahtisarit, Ryker konsideron se substanca e statusit është në duart e Këshillit të Sigurimit, duke vleresuar si të rëndësishme deklaratën e marsit të Sekretarit të Përgjithshëm të Kombeve të Bashkuara që ka mbështetur tërësisht planin e Ahtisarit. Shefi i UNMIK-ut tha se shpreson që KS do të adoptojë rezolutën në bazë të planit të Ahtisarit dhe nuk beson se do të dështojë procesi.
Duke folur për sfidat që gjenden përpara për ta bërë Kosovën një shtet funksional, Ryker tha se tani ekzistojnë "bazat për funksionimin e demokracisë, për funksionimin e sundimit të ligjit dhe të ekonomisë së tregut", ndonëse sipas tij, "përmirësimet e mëtejshme janë të nevojshme". Ne vijim Ryker tha se qe nga rezoluta e Këshillit të Sigurimit e deri tek dorëzimi konkret i pushtetit nga UNMIK, në institucionet e përkohshme dhe komuniteti ndërkombëtar, duhet të sigurohet miratimi i ligjeve që janë paraparë me pakon e Ahtisarit. "Me këto ligje, Kosova jo vetëm që do të bëhet një entitet funksional, por njëkohësisht do të mundësohet edhe zbatimi i vetë pakos. Kjo është baza e statusit", nënvizoi Ryker.
Duke folur per kundërshtimet ndaj pakos së Ahtisarit nga përfaqësuesit e komunitetit serb, Ryker vlereson se ka shenja se të paktën një pjesë e madhe e këtij komuniteti është duke e pare nga afër pakon e kryenegociatorit. "Ata e dijnë se propozimi gjithëpërfshirës u jep atyre jo vetëm një të ardhme të sigurtë, por gjithashtu një të ardhme në të cilën serbët dhe pakicat tjera në Kosovë, do të kenë perspektiva politike dhe ekonomike", tha Ryker. Kryeadministratori tha se shpreson që udhëheqësit serbë në veri të Kosovë do ta rishikojnë me kujdes edhe një herë planin e Ahtisarit dhe përmbajtjen e tij. Kosova

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 Ryker Po rrenë shume !!!!!!!!!!!

Ministrat e BE-se biseduan me homologet nga Azia edhe per Kosoven

BE ka shfaqur shpresen qe Kina dhe Indonezia te shfaqin bashkepunim me te mire, duke e mbeshtetur rezoluten e KS per pavaresine e mbikqyrur te Kosoves


Hamburg- Ministrat e Jashtem te Bashkimit Evropian jane takuar ne Hamburg me homologet e tyre nga Azia. Bashkimi Evropian ka shfaqur shpresen qe Kina dhe Indonezia te shfaqin bashkepunim me te mire, duke e mbeshtetur rezoluten e Keshillit te Sigurimit per pavaresine e mbikqyrur te Kosoves.
Por, sipas BBC-se, shefi i politikes se jashtme dhe te sigurise se BE-se, Havier Solana, nuk ka arritur te binde ministrin e jashtem kinez qe te mbeshtese planin per pavaresine e mbikqyrur te Kosoves. Shefi i diplomacise kineze Jang Eçi ka deklaruar qe Pekini deshiron nje zgjidhje per statusin e ardhshem te Kosoves e cila do te ishte e pranueshme edhe per serbet edhe per shqiptaret e Kosoves. (Kosova)

“Kosovo solution will be postponed”

LONDON -- Tim Judah says it is only a matter of time before Western diplomats admit Kosovo’s status solution should be postponed.

“According to usually well informed sources, Russia did tentatively float the idea of cooperation over Kosovo with the U.S. in exchange for its backing down over its planned missile shield, to which it objects,” Judah, a leading Balkan commentator, writes in BIRN’s online edition.

“This is believed to have happened in talks with Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, in Moscow ten days ago. The idea made no headway. Since then the possibility of a compromise being struck over Kosovo has narrowed significantly.”

Judah adds that while some still hope a deal might be struck at the G8 summit in June, similar hopes rose before Condoleezza Rice's trip to Moscow and then again before the ill-fated EU-Russian summit in Samara a week ago.

“Russia now appears to have put itself in a position whereby anything that opened the door to Kosovo's independence would be a humiliation; therefore its interests seem to dictate that it has no choice but to continue to block this,” Judah concludes.

Russian official: EU and U.S. may agree to Kosovo delay

BRUSSELS -- Russia says the West may agree to put off a decision on the final status of Kosovo, EUobserver reports.

"We should find a text that would allow all the parties [including Serbia and Kosovo] to continue to work on the acceptable terms of a solution," the head of the Europe desk at the Russian foreign ministry, Sergei Ryabkov, told press in Brussels on Tuesday.

The comment comes despite earlier promises to Kosovo Albanians they would have independence by June.

"If this is accepted, we would be more than happy to continue working on the language [of a UN resolution]. There are some signs that this is the case," he added, following UN talks in New York last week and a telephone call between Bush and Putin on Monday.

At the time, senior U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns said Washington expected the deal to be adopted in late May or early June. Kosovo Albanian prime minister Agim Ceku also predicted that the region would gain independence in a matter of "weeks."

But a Russian official told EUobserver Moscow would only agree to a UN resolution that calls for further talks under international supervision between Belgrade and Priština on Kosovo's status.

It would also agree to a new resolution that calls for the full implementation of resolution 1244 on the rights of the ethnic Serb minority, with a new EU police mission and the old NATO force to stay and keep the peace until 1244 has been fulfilled.

"There is no political force in Russia, on the left or right, that would accept Kosovo independence, at least not right now," the head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachev, said on Tuesday.

"This is not an urgent decision that we need to have at any price by a certain date."

Meanwhile, another element of uncertainty was added this week by reports in leading Croatian daily Jutarnji List on Monday that the U.S. and Russia were close to a deal that would involve Russian peacekeeping troops in Kosovo and U.S. side-promises not to expand NATO to Ukraine and Georgia.

The report cited Russian officials "close to" president Putin.

But EU, UN and Russian officials poured cold water on the information on Tuesday. "I would take it with a big pinch of salt," an EU official said. "It looks like provocation or wishful thinking," a Russian diplomat said.


 

International presence generates sex trade

In the second half of 1999, 40,000 KFOR troops were deployed and hundreds of UNMIK personnel arrived along with staff from more than 250 international NGOs. Within months of KFOR’s arrival, brothels were reported around the military bases occupied by international peace-keepers. Kosovo soon became a major destination country for women trafficked into forced prostitution. A small-scale local market for prostitution was transformed into a large-scale industry based on trafficking predominantly run by organized criminal networks.

Some sectors of the economy grew rapidly, through increased prices paid by international personnel for rented property and services, resulting in an increase in disposable income in certain sections of the population.

By late 1999 the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) had reported on significant organized prostitution in four locations close to major concentrations of KFOR troops. Most of the clients were reported to be members of the international military presence, while some KFOR soldiers were allegedly also involved in the trafficking process itself. Eighteen premises were identified, including in the Gnjilane/Gjilan area, where clients included US military personnel; in Prizren, where users reportedly included German KFOR soldiers and other internationals; in Pejë/Peæ, where residents reported Italian KFOR soldiers as clients; and in Mitrovicë/a, where French KFOR reportedly patronized make-shift brothels.(33)

Since then, there has been an unprecedented escalation in trafficking in Kosovo. From the 18 establishments identified in late 1999, by January 2001, some 75 such premises were listed in the first "off-limits list" issued to UNMIK staff. This listed bars, clubs and restaurants where trafficked women were thought to work, and which had been declared "off-limits" to UNMIK and KFOR personnel (see Chapter 6). By 1 January 2004, there were 200 bars, restaurants and cafes on the "off-limits list".(34)

KFOR and UNMIK were publicly identified in early 2000 as a factor in the increase in trafficking for prostitution by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).(35) In May 2000, Pasquale Lupoli, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Kosovo, alleged that KFOR troops and UN staff in Kosovo had fed a "mushrooming of night clubs" in which young girls were being forced into prostitution by criminal gangs. "The large international presence in Kosovo itself makes this trafficking possible."(36)

Nevertheless, in February 2001 the IOM had cautioned, "[t]he fact that you have 45,000 foreigners in Kosovo could be one element in the equation, but it is definitely not the whole equation."(37) The trafficking industry was also assisted by Kosovo’s proximity to source countries and well-established trafficking routes via Albania to the European Union (EU), as well as cooperation between Serbian, Albanian, Kosovo Albanian and Macedonian organized criminal networks. A lack of sufficient and experienced police officers and a weak criminal justice system also enabled the development of trafficking.

Although the development of trafficking can be attributed to the presence of the international community, the sex industry has subsequently developed to serve a wider client-base. Over the past three years it has increasingly served the local community, which both the IOM and the CPWC estimate now make up around 80 per cent of the clientele.

Given low levels of prostitution and trafficking of women prior to July 1999, all the available evidence suggests that without the presence of the international community and an influx of ready-made western consumers, Kosovo would have remained a relative backwater in the Balkan trafficking industry.

 http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR700102004

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 Not only does Kosova let the international community play around with their future but their women to !                                     How SICK