April 10, 1999
Before I begin, I would like to congratulate my friends and former teammates on the Model United Nations and Model Arab League team from Cal State San Bernardino. Once again, they won Outstanding Delegation at the National Model UN in New York, an international conference with over 140 schools in attendance. And, of course, they remain undefeated at the two Model Arab League conferences they attended. You all make me very proud. I’m just surprised you could do it without me…
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A Little Kosovo History
With all this Kosovo stuff going on, I remembered reading a book called ‘Balkan Ghosts’ by Robert Kaplan, in my opinion the best travel writer today. Written after the fall of communism but before Yugoslavia exploded, I remembered one chapter in particular, the chapter where he went to Kosovo. In this chapter he sketches, in 20 pages, his impressions of the region, plus its history (from the Serbian standpoint) and why the Serbs are so attached to this chunk of land. I wanted to relate to you in the last file what he said, but I was afraid to do just from memory, as my copy of the book is back in sunny CA. ‘Ah!’ I remembered, ‘Lisa bought it a couple months back!’ I called my friend and within a couple of days I had the book in my hot little hands. I re-read the chapter on Kosovo, titles ‘Old Serbia and Albania: Balkan “West Bank”’. Following sort piece is based mostly on this chapter, and while one shouldn’t just rely on one source, I think this will enlighten you, my beloved readers, as much as it enlightened myself.
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There flies a grey bird, a falcon,
From Jerusalem the holy,
And in his beak he bears a swallow.
That is no falcon, no grey bird,
But it is the Saint Elijiah.
He carries no swallow,
But a book from the mother of God.
He comes to the Tsar [Knez Lazar] at Kosovo,
He lays the book on the Tsar’s knees [and asks] …
Of what kind will you have your kingdom?
Do you want a heavenly kingdom?
Do you want an earthly kingdom? …
The Tsar chose a heavenly kingdom,
And not an earthly kingdom,
He built a church on Kosovo …
Then he gave his soldiers the Eucharist …
Then the Turks overwhelmed Lazar, …
And his army was destroyed with him,
Of seven and seventy thousand soldiers.
All was holy, all was honorable
And the goodness of God was fulfilled.
The name Kosovo comes from Kosovo Polye, ‘The Field of the Black Birds’. This field, which Kaplan describes as a ‘flat, uninspiring plain’, seems on my Former Yugoslavia road map (yes, I actually have one, from the AAA, no less) to be about 10km (5 ½ miles) south west of Pristina. It was here, in 1389, the Serbs just a couple decades removed from their historical heights, their ‘zenith’, where they ruled from the ‘Adriatic to the Aegean’, that the Serbian leader Knez Lazar met the invading Turkish army. And it was there where he was defeated and the black carrion birds picked the Serbian bones clean. This defeat ended Serbian independence, and brought upon Turkish rule that lasted until 1912.
But the legend of Kosovo Polye goes that the cause of their defeat to the Muslim Turks wasn’t that they were defeated militarily, but that Knez Lazar was given a choice, between a kingdom in heaven or one on earth, and as the poems goes, he chose heaven.
Until this battle took place, present-day Kosovo was the heart of Serbia, and to this day it is considered the cradle of Serbian civilization. Throughout Kosovo, there are, as Kaplan estimates, about 30 Serbian Orthodox monasteries, most of which date from this Serbian ‘Golden Age’ of the 11th and 12th centuries. It is in Kosovo that the Serbs became Christian. So for the Serbs, Kosovo not only conjures up images of their most ignominious defeat, but has deep religious meaning as well. To the Serbs, Kosovo is not Kosovo, but ‘Old Serbia’. And over the course of history, the Serbs became a minority there.
On a hill overlooking Kosovo Polye, Kaplan writes, there is a monument, ‘a block of grim, blood colored stone … on a platform …[which is] inscribed with a sword and the numbers 1389 – 1989’. And written on this stone are the words of Knez Lazar, spoken on the eve of that fateful battle:
Whoever is a Serb and of Serbian birth,
And who does not come to Kosovo Polye
to do battle against the Turks,
Let him have neither a male
nor a female offspring,
Let him have no crop, …
In 1987, Slobodan Milosevic came to Kosovo Polye on the June 28 anniversary of the battle, and said ‘They’ll never do this again. Never again will anyone defeat you.’ The crowd roared in approval. I remember reading someone, I think it was the Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulic, said at that moment she knew that Yugoslavia was over, and the soon there would be war. And there was, first with the breakaway republics, and now, in Kosovo.
Kaplan goes on to explain more about Kosovo, talks about the effects of communism, interviews various Serbs and Albanians, and so on, but I just thought that a brief history would help us all to better understand the Serbian mind-set. This in no way is meant to defend what the Serbians are doing today, for certainly there is no excuse for what they are doing. (As one of my professors used to say, I can understand where you’re coming from, but I’m still going to take you behind the shed and shoot you.) As Slavenka Draculic does write (this I know, because I have the book in front of me) in her book ‘Cafe Europa’, Milosevic is a dictator ‘ who is willing to pay any price to stay in power.’ The only ex-communist leader to stay in power in East Europe, he played the extreme nationalist card to stay in power, it was Milosevic who had the monument put up, and is willing to kill and destroy anything or anybody to keep that power. It just shows what power history, and how it is interpreted, still ahs in this modern age. And what if the Serbs are defeated, again, in Kosovo? How will the Serb historians, the creators of legends, treat that?
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From the Moscow Times, attributed to ‘combined reports’:
Last week, [American] administration officials also said they were considering a plan to make Kosovo an ‘international protectorate’, instead of setting up an autonomy as envisioned in the Rambouillet agreements.
Hey, I called this one (File #12)! Almost continuously since 1389, the Balkans have been occupied, first by the Turks, then the Austrians, then the Nazis, then the communists. Now, maybe by what, Europe? NATO? The OSCE? The UN? Is this the only way the region can be ruled? And don’t think all those years of occupation were peaceful, either. There were constant uprisings by the occupied. Oh well, at least they’re thinking of something.
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I asked a dear friend of mine, Anesa Hrustanovic, to write me and tell me what she thinks about this whole mess in Kosovo. Anesa is a Bosnian Muslim from Sarajevo who now lives with her sister Lejla in Philadelphia.
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… Now one big sigh … AHHH ... about Kosovo ... I wish I could help you BUT ( I know you will be surprised) I can not make up my mind either. Except that I am VERY upset, and torn apart, about this whole situation, and here is why. The problems in Kosovo started in the early 80's. Nobody liked the Kosovo Albanians because they were the most backward, and (simply put) very different from the rest of us in Yugoslavia (they are not Slavs, they belong to a different tribe). However, Tito gave them autonomy status so they could preserve their language and culture in Yugoslavia. Regardless of their poor economic conditions the Serbs always hated them because they were becoming a minority in their "holy land" ( Kosovo for the Serbs is like Jerusalem for Jews). And then in '89 Milosevic came to power, decided to be the next Tito or aka "King of future greater Serbia" and started making terrain for his terrible goal. First, he took away Kosovos autonomy?????? Who gave him the right? And everything else is history. Milosevic has the sick mind of the worst nationalist and worst of all he is completely dilusional.. He thinks that the whole world is wrong and he is right. So, he is mostly guilty for the breakup of Yugoslavia because he didn't want to be flexible and embrace the new democratic trend of the 90s. The Slovenians wanted to have more independence and suggested a confederation insted of federation for republics. Milosevic didn't want to hear about it. Therefor Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia decided to seceed. Our misfortune was that [in Bosnia]we had 33% of Serbs who wanted to stay in YU, but if we stayed in YU we would face the destiny of Kosovo, which is happeining now. Milosevic knew that one day the Kosovars might put up resistance so he started building up YU army there 10 years ago. The rest of us always doubted that the Kosovars would ever rebel with arms because we found them to be very passive and, I hate to say, without a voice. And the most important THEY CAN NOT BE INDEPENDENT, they never could. Kosovo was living off of Federal help from Yugoslavia. They can not even feed themselves let alone anything else. And then the KLA emerged. So, after being able to learn from the war (and its mistakes) in Bosnia, I was strongly against the KLA when it first started its tiny attacks on the Yugoslav army. I didn't like it because I knew that they would only upset the 'lion' and unleash his rage against unarmed civilians and leave them homeless as it happened in Bosnia. And the refugee crisis started. So we had almost a whole year of sporadic fighting in Kosovo between the tiny KLA army and the well armed Serbs. I believe that then Milosevic made a plan to get rid of the KLA and as many Kosovars as possible slowly but surely, systematicly and effectively. So last year, refugees were pouring out of Kosovo. IF he wanted, Milosevic could crush the KLA in matter of days, but nope … he had his plan. NATO strikes for Milosevic were just a full hand of aces or the best strike of luck you could possibly imagine. Now he launched a massive offensive to expell ALL Kosovars from Kosovo. That would happen anyway during the course of years because this guy is insane and nobody can seriously grasp HOW MUCH Kosovo means to him and the Serbs. SO we come to the present day when I am simply DESPERATE about the whole thing. Why? First of all I am happy that finally NATO delivered what it promised it would deliver (finally) BUT wrong country and wrong war!!!!! This should have been done in Bosnia where we had ground troops but no heavy artillery!!!!! Kosovo has NO army. The KLA is a JOKE. The Roambulie (I have no idea how to spell this) agreement demanded autonomy for Kosovars and my opinion is that autonomy is all they can handle. If they were ever to get independence they would have to merge with Albania which would cause enormous problems for Macedonia. Albanians make 20% of Macedonian population (at least) and they have always had separatistic tensions and would probably demand merging with Albania too ( taking with them a chunk of Macedonian soil, of course). Not to mention, 10th time until now, that the Serbs will not give up Kosovo. Therefore, independence is not a plausible solution. I mean it can happen, but what will be the price? I am glad that somebody, in this case NATO, stood up to Milosevic ( I think that Milosevic expected NATO to back down) but so far air strikes are not effective enough. NATO says it is so because of bad weather. OK, but.....I hear you talk about bombing not being effective in Iraq etc. BUT try to understand HOW IMPORTANT it is for NATO, US and Europe to WIN this war (although Milosevic is winning de facto). NATO must intensify it strikes and completely crush YU army. I am strongly against Kosovo independence and ground troops in Kosovo. However, because of radical change in the situation, it has to be said to Milosevic that if necissary, ground troops will be introduced. Why? Because Milosevic thinks that bombing will do him no harm. If you were thinking that Bosnia would be another Vietnam, think again. Kosovo would be a war beyond Vietnam. Simply, it must not happen. I just believe that it would be good to send NATO army, soldiers to neighboring countries to stabilize the situation and give the impression that things are under control. In the meantime, bomb the hell out of Milosevic. And believe me bombing Yugoslavia and bombing Iraq are two different things. And why am I so worried about all this and against independence of Kosovo? I have to go back to the Bosnia problem....Bosnia is not in war anymore. Dayton agreement screw us over (I hate it with passion) divided the land and recognized Republica Srpska as a state for the Serbs within Bosnia (HUGE MISTAKE). Now we have an unstable peace, the Dayton agreement is NOT functioning or it is being barely implemented. The economy is almost non existent. The Politics and political situation is in turmoil. Refugees are being deported from all over the world (mainly Germany) to Bosnia because their protection status is over. The majorityof them are Bosnian Muslim. The majority of them, which is 99% to 100%, can not go home to Republica Srpska nor can they go back to areas under Croat control. So they all come back to central Bosnia or part under Bosnian government which is VERY TINY. Not small but TINY. In the meantime the international community wants to make out of Bosnia and Sarajevo a multicultural city and state so they DEMAND that Serbs and Croats must be able to return to their homes under control of the Bosnian Government. And the Bosnian government, because we depend solely on international money, says ok just let us survive. So you have all those people, but predominantly Bosnian Muslim and predominantly refugees from other parts of Bosnia (from which they were cleansed) living in central Bosnia, barely surviving. And on top of everything we get some 50,000!!!!! Kosovo refugees and that is not even in the news!!!!. When they get to Serbian teritory in Bosnia (or Croatian) Serbs and Croats tell them "Go further, go to central Bosnia to the Bosnian government, they will help you". So they all come to central Bosnia where we don't know what to do with our refugees who are still living in cramped improvized housing. Getting my point? And than politicaly, the Serbs from Republica Srpska want (and have always wanted) to merge with Serbia (geographicly plausable because they captured all of eastern Bosnia that is bordering with Serbia and there is not a SINGLE Bosnian Muslim left). They say that publicly every day (do you understand now why it was a mistake to acknowledge existence of RS?) And if Kosovo gains some type of independence we can say goodby to the part of Bosnia governed by the Serbs. And we are NOT ready for another war to keep that land. Even SFOR (stabilization forces) are not welcomed there any more - except russians - and since the crisis started they have no influence there. This crisis destabilizied the situation in Bosnia beyond belief. I talk to my mom all the time and she is pretty desperate. She says that the situation is like some time before the war, just uglier because there is poverty and misery around every corner becasue of all the refugees and terrible weather (mud, dirt, grey skys, cold, rain). Just trying to give you a picture ... So, my dear ... what more can I tell you except that I need a drink when I think about it. It completely SCREWED UP my plans. The Bosnian airport is closed and God knows when it will be reopened. The whole region is sealed of from the outside world. Now I can forget about the passport which means I might not be able to go home this summer and stay for a third year without seeing my parents. Let me tell you, this REALLY screwed us all ... but what can I do ... just keep the faith ... and pray for the best … and I decided not to wach TV for another few days because after dealing with the Bosnian war for 4 years I just don't wanna do that any more.....maybe next week …
Anesa Hrustanovic
Philadelphia
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And now, on to the letters. I knew that talking about Clinton, war, and disease would bring them flowing in, and I was not disappointed. My thanks to the many e-mails I got wishing me good health. I was reminded of the many friends I have, and they made these scars across my belly seem very small.
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Yeah.....you send out a mass email saying you have some weird disease and OF COURSE you'll get responses........I don't know how much I like you pulling on my heart strings like that Mr Baker. But in any case..... I would like to make two requests:
1) Take care of yourself. And if that means postponing your travel plans so that you can postpone further deductions from your intestines. SO be it.2) Can you tell us poor sods in the West (I don't DARE admit exactly which country I'm in, but let's just say I grew up close to Canada:)) a favor? I'd really be interested to hear more about Russians' reactions to NATO actions. Does everyone feel the way the protestors you last wrote about felt? What kind of Russian (as in class or political alliance...) WOULD support it? I imagine there must be at least some small faction. And does anybody know exactly WHY the Serbs are "cleansing" the Albanians? Is it JUST a religious thing? Is it a land thing? Is it a combination of these or other things? Or is it just stupid blind hatred that's existed so long no one remembers? (Excuse my ignorance if this is obvious to you or any of your readers, but I just don't get it. And besides, I'd be interested to hear what you think.)
I wish you a speedy recovery.
H
Reply-
Well, H, I hope that the previous history lesson and Anesa’s letter will give you some idea of what this war thing is all about. As far as the Russians, no, of course not all Russians feel the same way. I haven’t talked to many Russians about this, a few students, a taxi driver, but they all agreed that Milosevic is an evil man. The taxi driver called him a ‘durak’, a fool.
But I think the majority of Russians, while recognizing that Milosevic is a politician like any other, are really upset about the bombings. First off, the Russian media, especially TV, play down what is happening to the Albanians, though that is changing (from what I can tell). Secondly, the Russians have been a historical ally of the Serbs for hundreds of years. They are both Slavs, and they are both Orthodox. Russians are wary of Muslim seperatists, like the Chehchens, and this is another war between righteous Christians and radical Muslims (although the majority of Muslims in Kosovar and Bosnia are the most secular in the world.) Thirdly, its just Russia feels that they are being left out of world politics, are being shunted aside and pushed around by the US. Russians are a very proud people, especially about they’re country and its role in the world, and when they percieve that the West isn’t giving them the respect they deserve, they are deeply insulted. And to try to prove to the world that Russia is indeed still a world player, it is taking an increasingly confrontational stance with the west, in the Middle East, and now, in Kosovo. Well, anyway, I can go on forever, as all my cherished readers know, so I’ll end there. I hope this answered some of your questions.
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Greetings, Johnnie! Count me among the well-wishers who hope you experience a miraculous recovery and continue your journey Eastward. BTW, did you know you can access the Economist online for free (I recently registered have access to current and archived issues)? Idon't know if you in fact have easy access to the Internet, but maybe it could save you a trip (in any case, maybe your other readers can benefit from the news).
I'd like to offer a big "Amen" to your Clinton commentary. I too voted for Nader in the last election. Actually, my wife and I "block voted." She voted for Clinton ("the lesser evil") while I voted our conscience (good old Ralph). A perfect way to cover your backside without selling your soul.
The biggest unanswered Clinton question that I have dates back to 1992. The question: WHO THE HELL VOTED FOR CLINTON IN THE 1992 PRIMARIES? Maybe you can conduct a readership survey. I have never met someone who voted in the primary election and chose Clinton (or at least I never met anyone who admitted to it). Voting for him in thegeneral election is one thing--you don't have a choice, really. But who the Hell liked this guy enough to vote him in as the Democratic candidate in the first place? Bill is a party of one and has proven to be our nation's ultimate heartbreaker in matters both personal andpolitical. Enough said.
Final note--my favorite theory on the bombings. A smart-assed co-workerhere in Tucson, AZ suggested that our massive bombing missions of lateare purely related to (dare I say it?) the Y2K bug. In other words, all those bombs will be junk in less than eight months, so better to getrid of them now than to try to market them as cold war souvenirs.
Take care and thanks for the enlightened commentary.
~ Will Stagl
Tucson, AZ.
P.S. http://www.fair.org/activism/cnn-dissent.html(it's an article from Fairness and Acurracy in Reporting about dissent on the war effort)
Reply- I know I didn’t vote for Clinton in the primary. I voted for Paul Simon, even though he had already dropped out of the race. I just couldn’t pass up a New Dealer with bow tie. But your survey idea is a good one. If any of you people out there would like to tell us who you voted for in the ’92 primaries, let me know. I’ll put them in files.
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Sorry to hear abt yr hospital stay in Russia, I hear it sucks.I agree with many of yr ideas. Clinton is America's sweetpie fer sure but he is a fake. That's nuthin new tho for us American "boobs" Implants or not.Please keep me posted on yr politics, altho I prefer poetry.
padi harman
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Where did you read that poll? I personally haven't heard a single pundit or commentator allude to anything even remotely neighboring on an affirmation of Clinton's foriegn policy prowess. Let's face it, the man's got female trouble. It reminds me of a guy I know who was in hot water with his mate for some sort of untempered remark (of course, in Clinton's case, he's in the dog house for thinking with his dog dick). During the awkward moments directly following the melee, he noticed that his neighbor's dog was barking incessantly. Considering the late hour, and ignoring the fact that the dog had been barkingfor half an hour, in fact had been barking as long as he'd been arguingwith his wife, he phoned the police and reported the rouge hound and its unruly owner. As it turned out, all the rest of the man's neighbors, including the owner of the disgruntled hound, were at the very least moderately inconvenienced by the incessant howling of the man and his wife. So, when the authorities arrived at the home of the indifferent dog, and knowing that they were likely summoned by the asshole who caused the problem, the entire neighborhood turned against him, exept for those who owed him money or had something he wanted, etc. etc. Well, I suppose the point is that dogs come in all shapes and sizes, some even look like countries. And, one should never consider agressive action when one's dick's caught in one's zipper--or as a former classmate used to say--with one's tit in the ringer.
Dave,
who's still not sure what a human's use in the world is.
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Dreadfully sorry to hear of you coming down with Crone's disease. Ihopeand pray it does not interfer with you having a productive andenjoyablelife. Your stay in a Russian hospital makes it sound as though theyhaveimproved immeasurably since I lived in Moscow -- in 1971 an American woman was hospitalized after a bad car accident, and contracted scurvy!
As for you screed [about Clinton, ed.]:
The same reaction and emotions under Carter *did* turn me into a Republican!
Cheers!
Bill Green
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whew! good thing about that appendix eh. they also say that the last 5 or 6 feet of the intestine is just vestigial anyway back from the days when humans still used their intestines to grab onto tree branches and swingout of harms way etc etc...
Jim Kerwin
SF
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Hi Johnnie.
Just a quick note to tell you I enjoyed BF #12. I like your writing style, humor and the news from Russia. Sorry to hear you have Crone's Disease. My sister-in-law has it. I hope your doctors help you find a way to manage it. Amy (sisinlaw) manages it with diet, and has had to have surgery once for it.
Take care of yourself.
Sincerely,
Michael Hathaway
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1748/
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Until next time…
Budget Files
