Orthodox Balkanization ...

Considering how mixed together people are in the Balkans, if you were to split them up by religion, you\'d have to go down to the house by house level. The only choices are absurdly tiny enclaves, massive deportations, or everyone simply dealing with being a minority in some places.

Why is it that in the Balkans, there is Balkanization? Why did Croats kill Serbs? Why do Muslims kill Croats and Serbs? Why did the Serbian leader relatiate against Croats and Muslims? The whole thing is a mess. Europe had its religious wars. In America, we have general acceptance of diverse views. People don\'t \"kill or die for\" religion in America. With some exception: the 1840s riots in Philadelphia, PA, between Catholics and Protestants: nativist anti-Catholic riots. And some KKK activity. Just wondering if it\'s more peaceful in Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, wherever .... Kosovo seems to be the biggest mess, since Bill Clinton did his dirty work there .... Take care. God bless all these people, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike; and protect them from Muslim (and other sectarian) hatred .... God bless America. IN PENNSYLVANIA SRH

Ah, it keeps us on our toes.. that\'s how we keep the Faith... Otherwise having a good time all the time, comfort and luxury have prooved how they can turn us into mindless consumers, forgetting every bit of responsibility towards our identity really quickly. (I am writing the above to be humourous, but am afraid it contains a little bit fo truth too)

The thing that tears me apart with Serbia and Croatia, is that Serbs, Croats and Bosnians are Southern Slavs and do not get along whatsoever while Russians and Ukrainians (Eastern Slavs) seem to get along fairly well. I believe that the jurisdictional boundary of pre-Schism days between Rome and Constantinople was split between Croats and Serbs. Serbs with Constantinople, Croats with Rome. Add the Great Schism itself and rivalries get worse. Add various rulers playing the two against each other (Ottomans, Hungarians) and things get worse still. Add the Nazi supported puppet state of Croatia and things get MUCH worse. I believe that the puppet state had three \"objectives\" of how to \"deal\" with the Serbs: 1) convert 1/3 to Catholicism 2) ship 1/3 to some random foreign land 3) kill 1/3. So, we have people being face with \"convert or die\" problems when the faith which they are supposed to \"convert\" to was the faith of the people that they have had nothing but rivalries with for a good number of centuries. Then there is Kosovo. Kosovo (area) I believe has been a part of Serbia for many years. Unfortunately, most Kosovoers are Muslim which not only adds to religious rivalry, but also can turn the fanatic meter up a notch or two. I think that the pure fact that since Kosovo is a very Muslim area, is the reason why Bill Clinton and NATO supported them. What better way to improve relations with Muslim nations than to show that you help out one of their own? That and the fact that Western nations failed to realize that it was Serbian Communists committing atrocities yet still felt it was completely necessary to level Orthodox churches on Pascha while leaving the Muslims alone because of Ramadan. Kosovo is part of Serbia. It has been and it may as well remain so in my opinion. However, if Kosovo has to go to Albania or be its own happy camp, than by the same rational, we\'ll have to return: California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to Mexico; Miami and much of Southeast Florida to Cuba; Inner Mongolia to Mongolia (not that I wouldn\'t mind it, but merely bringing it up to make a point); and Quebec to the French and so on and so forth. On another Christian site I used to frequent, there were a couple of Orthodox Serbs. One was actually in Serbia (go figure!) whenever the subject of Kosovo and Bosnia would come up, the argument would go like so: the Orthodox would side with the Serbian side of things, the Roman Catholics would side with Croatia and the Protestants would either side with Bosnia or Croatia. Yet most of the time, the two Serbs would manage to bring up so much information, that some of the Protestants would join \"our side\" of the debate just so they could continue their protest of Rome!

But you are forgetting something. The Muslims of Kosovo originally were Christians who converted to the Muslim faith when they were taken over by the Turks. They did it to avoid persecution. That is why the Orthodox Serbs dislike them so much, they abandoned their faith for convenience\'s sake

I knew that Kosovo is now Muslim, just didn\'t know why. Although I thought that the Ottomans may have imposed it upon the people just because. hm... Maybe a little bit of both. I wonder if the Islam part may have something to do with why Kosovoers consider themselves Albanian. Unless they really are ethnically Albanian.

I\'m an Orthodox Serb, my parents came from the old county. Serbs and Bosanci (Bos-an-tsi) don\'t dislike Muslims there. In fact we’ve always sort of got a long for the most part. I know many more good stories involving the Muslims there than I know bad. To say we feel betrayed by them is not an accurate statement and has little to do with the recent war there. When the Iron Curtain fell, Slavic nations scrambled for new positions in Europe. Croatia had it\'s old Hapsburg ties and is close with the Vatican (who really really really wishes Serbia were under it’s jurisdiction). The Muslims turned their fanaticism on and were heavily supplied and supported by Mujahadeen and even Al Qaeda. (Thank Bill Clinton for the new Jihad hot bed in Bosna now…) Serbia was scrambling and reeling to protect her sovereignty from these new jackals who would literally devour her and pillage her land. Serbia simply wanted our \"region\" known as Bosna and the outlying border region known as the Krajina to remain a part of her. Bosna is the de-facto mid-west of Serbia and was indeed mostly Serbian farmland. The entire conflict could have been prevented, in my opinion, if the powers that be simply negotiated the issues right then and there! Had they been willing to negotiate and work out our border issues fairly and in the spirit of peace none of this would have happened. When Croatia seceded absolutely NO ONE recognized their sovereignty for quite some time. Germany finally recognized Croatia (they are old war buddies) and unfortunately George Bush (senior) followed they’re plan. There was no attempt at a fair and balanced plan. NO CONCESSIONS were made at all. For Croatia (and later the Muslim fanatics in Bosna) it was all or nothing and that simply doesn’t go. If Bosna was given over to Fundamentalist Muslim regime and Croatia was allowed full and unconditional sovereignty of all her existing borders than why weren’t the Serbs allowed to preserve their historic borders and keep her people within her sovereignty as well? Fine, if Croatia wants to go, go. But that said the Krajina region should have been their ONE concession in the spirit of cooperation and fairness with Serbia. Muslims in Bosna decide they‘d like to try and carve their own little nest out of Serbia as well which is ridiculous in my opinion and seems far fetched still to this day. But for arguments sake the Serbs in that region (Which, once again, has pretty much been Serbian farmland for centuries) should have been “allowed” to remain in their own nation and not some new fangled concoction of a nation. Bosnia Herzegovina isn’t even the proper name of that region! If the powers that be (America, Nato, UN etc..) cant even correctly pronounce or for that matter take the time to spell the regions name properly… well lets just say it doesn’t bode well for Serbia. The name of the region is Bosna I (and) Herzegovina. In an attempt to disassociate the region from it’s history and inhabitants it was renamed Bosnia which is pretty much a glorified typo in my opinion. For examples sake, say your name is Fred Thompsan. I do know proclaim you to be Ned Mohohnson and you will receive new papers and identification under this name as well as your neighbors property, land and possessions of course.… Seems a tad absurd, doesn’t it? Serbia has been under the \"siege\" of Rome, Islam, Hapsburg and Nazi Germany and the like. The shocking events of the 90’s fit into a long time pattern of attacks, discrimination and all out assaults on Serbia who remains a beautiful Orthodox nation and the Guardians of the Gate.

If you think America has serious border problems in Texas then you \"aint seen nothing yet\". The southernmost Serbian border with Albania has been thoroughly violated and disregarded for years and years. Albania is statistically one the worlds most \"criminal\" nations. It is also a poor nation with major drug and slavery organizations being run there. Countless Albanians have simply walked into southern Serbia and set up camp. (Please note: Calling Kosovo Albanian is not unlike calling Texas a part Mexico, not withstanding the fact that Kosovo means more to Serbia than the Alamo does to Texas as it is the sight of a massive Serbian martyrdom at the hands of the Ottoman Turks) Basically Serbia\'s southern border was over run and many illegal and seedy (Note: Not all are seedy, there are in fact those who are just poor and came into Serbia illegally hoping for a better life). The majority of these Albanians set up shop (illegally, mind you), planted their flags, began teaching the Albanian language, oh and did I mention they have the highest birth rate in all of Europe?! Yes, they pro create at an astonishing rate. (Is this planned pregnancy or repopulation? To have so many children in such a small nation with so little money and such heinous crimes, like SLAVE TRADING, seems wholly and utterly irresponsible or is, in fact, something so horrible and diabolical that the world is actually afraid to take a good look and deal with the problems as they are.) Over the course of 20 years a tough Albanian enclave in southern Serbia developed. Clearly, they’ve felt left out and would like to carve out a little chunk of our Serbian homeland for themselves. Here\'s JUST ONE video of their murderous persecution of Orthodoxy in southern Serbia. Just one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkgHkxIfgBc No, you wont see this video on CNN.