Kosovo: News, Politics & Issues

[Onur]

Looks like the eu are taking a tougher stance on people trying to rush to the eu.

Probably this will go worse as long as economic crisis continues. Yesterday, Swiss political party portrayed Italian workers in their country as vermin;

Swiss far-right party claims Italian rat posters

A far-right party that is part of Switzerland's ruling coalition said Friday it was behind an advertising campaign that portrays Roma people and Italians literally as vermin. The Swiss People's Party said it was behind posters showing three rats representing a Roma thief, an Italian worker and Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti nibbling at a piece of Swiss cheese.



About 60 posters went up in the southern canton of Tessin, which borders Italy, criticising the presence of 40,000 Italian workers and "foreign criminals", according to an accompanying website. Underneath the rats is the word 'Balairatt', which means 'rats dance'.

The posters appeared on Monday, but for days nobody claimed responsibility, prompting speculation the campaign could be the work of a smaller political party or even a businessman seeking to promote Swiss cheese.

"It's a campaign about the things the people in the canton are suffering from," said Pierre Rusconi, the local leader of the party. He added that the party had remained silent during the controversy because "nobody would be interested in the adverts if the (party) had given its name".

01 October 2010

http://www.english.rfi.fr/europe/201...an-rat-posters

[George S.]

eu is one big bunch of racists.They can dictate to countries to behave eg macedonia,when their own house is in total dissaray.I think the eu does not think rationally.If you send the roma to kosovo they are going to be wiped out by the kla.

[fyrOM]

Just a bit of contrast to Frances actions…

Mustafa : Roma refugees from Kosovo will have to stay in Macedonia

http://www.makfax.com.mk/_home/home#117712

October 3, 2010 , 11:46
Skopje

evictions of Roma from France , a move that was criticized by the European Parliament, the Minister without Portfolio in the Government, Necdet Mustafa said in an interview with Radio Free Europe , says that Roma refugees from Kosovo, who for 10 years living in Macedonia , will have to remain in the country

"We as a government express great willingness for those who want to integrate and qualify for asylum , to have free access and can be integrated into our Macedonian society. I personally give strong incentives and support for all those Roma who really believe they can not return to Kosovo. They stay in Macedonia for 12 years , their children are educated in Macedonian language, know the language, de facto and de jure they will have to stay in our country. " Mustafa said .

He expresses regret that France , the cradle of human rights treats Roma as he says, like recycling , which is thrown in the trash.

The French government , the president of France, made a strong deportation , handful people that disappointed me terribly . I am very confident that the recommendations of the EC and many other countries by the government of France , will change its attitude towards Roma community Because it is against the right of European citizens anywhere to inhabit. modern European states, especially the Western Balkans have to offer the people of this community a resocialization , and not return to places where they lived, in the strong economic crises " says Mustafa.

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

Eh, that's just awesome. Now that we are at it, why don't we bring more shiptari from kosovo.

So how many Roma are we talking about?

[fyrOM]

Kosovo Recognition

Kiribati has recognized

http://www.idividi.com.mk/vesti/balkan/635448/index.html

Pristina, October 25, 2010 (Reuters) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo said today that the state of Kiribati has recognized the independence of Kosovo. It is 71 state that recognized Kosovo.

In a statement the Ministry said that Kiribati recognized Kosovo on October 21. It stresses preparedness Caribbean and Kosovo to advance political, trade and economic relations.

[Frank]

Without support of the majors even though the hypocrites of Western Europe support Kosovo but don't Macedonian Independence.

Kosovo will remain a protectorate for ever just as long as it never gets arms we are fine

[CA_RO]

Radical Islam on rise in Balkans

Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100919/ap_on_re_eu/eu_balkans_radical_islam

SKOPJE, Macedonia – An online music video praising Osama bin Laden has driven home a troubling new reality: A radical brand of Islam embraced by al-Qaida and the Taliban is gaining a foothold in the Balkans.

"Oh Osama, annihilate the American army. Oh Osama, raise the Muslims' honor," a group of Macedonian men sing in Albanian, in video posted on YouTube last year and picked up by Macedonian media this August. "In September 2001 you conquered a power. We all pray for you."

Although most of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority are Muslims, they have generally been secular. But experts are now seeing an increasing radicalization in pockets of the country's Islamic community, particularly after armed groups from the ethnic Albanian minority, which forms a quarter of the population of 2.1 million, fought a brief war against Macedonian government forces in 2001.

It's a trend seen across the Balkans and has raised concerns that the region, which includes new European Union member Bulgaria, could become a breeding ground for terrorists with easy access to Western Europe. Many fear that radicalized European Muslims with EU passports could slip across borders and blend into society.

At the center of the issue is the Wahhabi sect, an austere brand of Islam most prevalent in Saudi Arabia and practiced by bin Laden and the Taliban.

"Wahhabism in Macedonia, the Balkans and in Europe has become more aggressive in the last 10 years," said Jakub Selimovski, head of religious education in Macedonia's Islamic community. He said Wahhabis were establishing a permanent presence in Macedonia where none existed before, and that "they are in Bosnia, here, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia and lately they have appeared in Bulgaria."

It is the first time a high-ranking official in the former Yugoslav republic's Islamic community has agreed to speak openly about the presence and threat of radical Islam.

In Bulgaria, nearly one-sixth of the population of 7.6 million are Muslims who adhere to conventional Sunni beliefs. Ethnic peace has been maintained in the last 20 years. As elsewhere in the Balkans, however, Wahhabi incursions have led to a struggle for control of religion and Islamic community-owned property.

Large amounts of money, allegedly from Muslim organizations abroad, have been spent in Bulgaria since the mid-1990s for more than 150 new mosques and so called "teaching centers" to spread Wahhabism.

According to Bulgaria's former chief mufti, Nedim Gendzhev, some Muslim organizations were aiming to create a "fundamentalist triangle" formed by Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgaria's Western Rhodope mountains. Local newspaper reports say radical Islam is being preached in different cities and villages in southern and northeastern Bulgaria.

In 2003, Bulgarian authorities shut down a number of Islamic centers on the grounds they allegedly belonged to Islamic groups financed mainly by Saudi Arabians that possibly also had links to "radical organizations" such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Official statements said that the centers were shut down "to prevent terrorists getting a foothold in Bulgaria."

However, centers where radical brands of Islam are preached continue to to crop up in the country, said political analyst Dimitar Avramov.

"Along with the three official Muslim schools, there are at least seven other which are not registered and not controlled by the state," he said, adding that in the last 20 years some 3,000 young Muslims have graduated from these schools.

In neighboring Serbia last year, 12 Muslims — allegedly Wahhabis — from the tense southern Sandzak region were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison for planning terrorist attacks, including on the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade. The presence of radical Muslims in Sandzak, the poorest region of Serbia, is linked to the advent of mujahedeen foreign fighters who joined Bosnian Muslims in their battle against the Serbs in Bosnia's 1992-95 independence war.

In Bosnia, the issue of Wahhabi influence is one of the most politically charged debates, with Bosnian Serbs maintaining there is a huge presence of Wahhabis in the country and Muslim Bosniaks downplaying the issue and at times claiming it does not exist.

Juan Carlos Antunez, a Spanish military specialist in religious extremism with years of experience in Bosnia, estimates there are about 3,000 people in Bosnia who have embraced this interpretation of Islam and only a small fraction of them are a potential security threat.

In a study prepared for the Sarajevo-based Center for Advanced Studies in May, Antunez argued that Bosnia's official Islamic Community has been successful in curbing Wahhabi influence. Although it did not aggressively ostracize the Wahhabis, it strictly controls the appointments of imams in mosques and lecturers in Islamic educational institutions in the country.

Ahmet Alibasic, a lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Sarajevo, said most Wahhabis in Bosnia refrain from criticizing the Islamic Community and were even calling for unity among Muslims.

"Their influence reached its peak in 2000, but it has since started falling and it continues to fall," Alibasic said, adding that measures taken by Bosnian authorities after 9/11 had a significant effect as the movement began to lose power after the closure and banning of several Islamic, mostly Saudi-backed, charities which funded the movement.

In Albania, the issue is also charged. Ilir Kulla, former head of the government's department on religious issues, insisted the Wahhabis had not caused any problems in Albania.

Kulla said hundreds of young Albanian men had been educated in universities in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, and were now mosque leaders, but that there had been no attempt by Wahhabis to challenge the leadership of the country's Muslim Community, which he insisted was still moderate.

But in Macedonia, the increasing clout of radical Islam is causing a rift in the country's Muslim community, with a power struggle developing within the country's official Islamic Religious Community between the moderate mainstream and the emerging Wahhabi wing.

"A destructive, radical and extremist current has appeared with an intention of taking over the lead of the Islamic religious community," Selimovski said.

Authorities in Macedonia are reluctant to confirm any threat of radical Islam in the country. But a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, did acknowledge that "radical groups and their followers are being closely observed."

Last year, three ethnic Albanian brothers originally from Macedonia were implicated — along with a Jordanian, a Turk and a Kosovo Albanian living in the U.S. — in an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Army's Fort Dix military base in New Jersey. No attack was ever staged on the base, which is used largely to train U.S. reservists bound for Iraq.

"Macedonia is part of the international coalition in the fight against terrorism and it cannot be excluded from the responsibility to observe and respond to any possible activity or emerging of terrorists," Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski told the AP.

Moderate Muslims say the Wahhabi sect now controls five mosques in Skopje even though the Islamic Religious Community has suspended the man they claim is the sect's leader, Ramadan Ramadani, as imam of the Isa Beg mosque in Skopje, and prohibited him from organizing prayers.

But Ramadani, who has launched a petition seeking supporters to overturn the current Community leadership, rejects any accusation of radicalism, saying his opponents are scaremongering.

"They need my name to have somebody to frighten people," Ramadani said. "I do not know any individuals or structures here that could be defined as Wahhabi. It is the attempt of political labeling and stigmatizing people who want reforms."

Ramadani insisted that Macedonia's Islamic community had nothing to do with the online song supporting bin Laden, and denied Macedonian media reports that it had been played in mosques there.

"Bin Laden is nothing for the Muslims in Macedonia," Ramadani said. "He is not our hero."


Question of Interest:

I have a question that I would like to be answered so I can get an understanding of wonderful culture's and religions that exist in the Balkans.

Why do you think this issue does not effect Romania in the same way it might exist in the other Balkan countries that were listed in the article?

I welcome all answers and opinions.

Regards,

Ancuta

[Risto the Great]

It is a good question Ancuta.
I think it probably relates to the fact that less than 1 percent of Romania is muslim.
There really can be no comparison due to the insignificant Muslim percentage in Romania.

Perhaps a better question is why are the Muslims in Romania such an insignificant percentage?

[CA_RO]

Rephrase Question

It is a good question Ancuta.
I think it probably relates to the fact that less than 1 percent of Romania is muslim.
There really can be no comparison due to the insignificant Muslim percentage in Romania.

Perhaps a better question is why are the Muslims in Romania such an insignificant percentage?

Yes that is what I was trying to ask. Thank you for the correction


Rephrased Question:

Why are the Muslims in Romania such an insignificant percentage?

[Frank]

Maybe Communism had a big part to play with the halt of immigration

Everyone remembers Romania's previous past in that regard

[Risto the Great]

I don't get out much ... I had never heard of Kiribati.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Ne go znais Kire ebati? lol

[Onur]

Yeah, it`s probably because of communism. There was no christianity during communist regime either. You know, every communist philosophers sees religions as a useless drug, nothing else.

[Makedonetz]

It sounds like a disease

[CA_RO]

Response

Yeah, it`s probably because of communism. There was no christianity during communist regime either. You know, every communist philosophers sees religions as a useless drug, nothing else.

Yes I agree with you.

I also understand that the former Yugoslavia were under Communism the same as Bulgaria and yet they have a sizable population of Muslim inhabitants in the respective countries as I have listed.

Romania has some Islamic churches and they are beautiful and look amazing inside.

I really want to go the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) in Instanbul Turkey. It looks huge and at the same time stunning.