Comments on: Wednesday Night #1354 — with Misha Crnobrnja

By: Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Diana Thébaud Nicholson — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:50:19 +0000

Just as Misha suggested might happen
Today, the Stratfor Geopolitical Diary reports:
The Russians appear to have made their move on the Kosovo issue. They have supported the idea of the mainly Serbian region of northern Kosovo breaking away from Kosovo and rejoining Serbia proper if the region wishes.

By: Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Diana Thébaud Nicholson — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:03:46 +0000

The History and Effects of the Kosovo Polje Mythology
Abstract : The mythology surrounding the 1389 Battle of Kosovo Polje, in present-day Serbia, is the foundation for the Serbian cultural identity and is a prism through which Serbs view and interpret the past, present, future. The mythology, created out of necessity to cope with Ottoman conquest and the hardships of peasant life, began with early eulogies to the Serbian knights who were defeated on the Kosovo plain. It evolved through oral folklore tradition, epic poetry, and literature while being preserved and cultivated by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Epic themes of Serbian religious sacrifice, heroism, martyrdom, and struggle combined with victimhood, betrayal, and revenge provides the foundation of the mythology. Heroic and villainous characters evolved to dramatize the story from the deified Serbian Prince Lazar and warrior-hero Milos to the traitorous Vuk Brankovic and the occupying Ottoman Turk. The effects of the epic mythology range from simple first-order effects such as individual beliefs to second and third order effects such as cultural mobilization and war.

By: Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Diana Thébaud Nicholson — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:42:32 +0000

(The Telegraph) Russia overshadows Kosovo independence bid
By Harry de Quetteville in Pristina
16/02/2008
Kosovo is poised to declare its independence from Serbia tomorrow, despite threats that Russia may encourage separatist movements elsewhere in response. As a first step, Russia’s foreign ministry announced it would review its relations with two breakaway regions of neighbouring Western-backed Georgia.
“The recognition of the independence of Kosovo will be taken into account as far as the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia is concerned,” it said.
It underlined that Kosovo’s independence “presupposes a revision of commonly accepted norms and principles of international law” that govern separatist movements from Moldova to Indonesia.