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How NATO Staged Albanian Flight during 1999 Bombing Interview with Cedomir Prlincevic, President of the Jewish Community
of Pristina, driven out by KLA terrorists in 1999 Interviewer: Jared Israel If you would like to send Part III by email, and want a 'clean' text, it is posted at http://tinyurl.com/2r6sv Part I is at http://tinyurl.com/ypzf3
======================================= [-- Text is continued from Part II at http://tinyurl.com/2g8qa -- ] ======================================================== Serbs and Albanians Worked Together During the Bombing, Until... ======================================================== Israel: In Pristina, during the bombardment, was there any effort to have unity between the Albanians, the Serbs and other minorities? Prlincevic: We, as loyal citizens of Yugoslavia, whether Serbs or Albanians, tried to cooperate and live together, to help each other. Israel: But what about the majority of the people in Pristina? Did the majority try to help each other? Prlincevic: Yes. It was the town of intellectuals. We all had flats next to each other. The children went to the same schools. We lived in the same apartment buildings. Israel: So the secessionists weren't strong there? Prlincevic: Not at first, but then later even in Pristina the Albanians were sucked into the secessionist camp. This could happen because of certain cultural traits, deeply rooted in their history. During the bombing, suddenly they started leaving. And when we asked them, "Why are you doing this?" they replied, "We have to!" Israel: Who are you talking about? Prlincevic: Professors, managers at stores, retired people, even retired Yugoslav Army officers who were ethnic Albanian. ======================================================== "Sorry, I have to go..." ======================================================== Prlincevic: I'll give you an example. My Albanian neighbor was a Professor. He seemed very much integrated into Yugoslav life. Our children played together; we were friends, you see. And then, without warning he packed up and started to leave his flat, to leave Kosovo. So I said: "Why are you leaving, neighbor?" He said: "Sorry. I have to." And I said, "Why? We're safe here. Nobody's bothering you. The housing complex hasn't been bombed. We're all working together." And he said, "I was ordered to leave." He gave me the keys so I could watch his flat. Ironically, after NATO took over he returned and then I was forced out by the KLA gangsters. I gave him my key, so he could watch my flat. Israel: But who ordered him to leave? Prlincevic: The leader of his clan. Israel: Why? Prlincevic: To prove obedience to the KLA. This was the KLA's national plan. All loyal Albanians were to leave during the bombing and go to Albania or Macedonia to show the world how terrible the Serbs were; this exodus was staged; it was a performance, Hollywood in Kosovo. What is Hollywood without actors? A large number of Albanians had to perform, had to actually leave Kosovo. This was not so different from what they had been doing for ten years, you see, pretending they had been locked out of the schools when actually it was an organized boycott, and so on. Moreover, once they were in the refugee camps, the Albanians would be under the direct leadership of the KLA, which could intensively indoctrinate them, Which it did. Israel: But why would his clan leader agree to this crazy plan? Prlincevic: You think it was crazy? This gets us to the heart of the matter. Between the attacks from the KLA on Albanians who cooperated with the Yugoslav government and the continuous bombing by NATO, especially of Albanians who disobeyed the KLA, the KLA had gotten their message across to the clan leaders. So now the clan leaders ordered their people to pack up and leave. Israel: You know, during the bombing, NATO said the Albanians were fleeing atrocities. We Western opponents of NATO said they were fleeing the NATO bombing. But you're saying we were both wrong, that the Albanians weren't fleeing the Serbs or the bombing. Prlincevic: Let's just say the bombing isn't a sufficient explanation. If they were just fleeing bombs, why did they have to go to Albania and Macedonia? Why not to inner Serbia? And what about people like my friend, who just packed up, seemingly for no reason, and left? The rest of us, Serbs, Jews, Roma, we were in Pristina too. Why didn't we leave? Did we value our lives less than they valued theirs? No, it wasn't the bombs. They were afraid to disobey their clan leaders. But the bombing did play an important role. The KLA served as spotters; they could direct NATO attacks against hostile Albanians, and this confirmed for the clan leaders that the KLA had serious power. It was psychological warfare, intended to reinforce the psychological crisis among Albanians, a crisis rooted in fear. The KLA and NATO were telling Albanians: NATO supports the KLA. After NATO takes over, the KLA will be in charge and if you don't leave now you will be in big trouble later. There will be no safe refuge. That's what I meant when I said you need to know something about Albanian culture in order to understand why Albanians left. You have to know about blood feud. ======================================================== Blood feud and the Canon of Leke ======================================================== Prlincevic: One book has a great hold over Kosovo Albanians. It's called the 'Canon of Leke Dukagjiniis'. It's a 15th century text that spells out codes of behavior. It goes into great detail on how to carry out blood feuds, when and whom it is proper to kill. It lays out the proper methods to use when killing, rules and regulations and so on. And this Canon is alive among Albanians today, especially since the fall of communism. This is an intensely tradition-oriented culture. Blood feud is a constant threat for Albanians. Thousands of people in Albania and Kosovo cannot leave their houses because they are being hunted; even a child in the cradle might be marked for death as part of a feud. It is for this reason that Kosovo Albanian houses are often built surrounded by high walls and with gun slits instead of windows. By methodically killing those who refused to support them, the KLA was striking a deep fear among Albanians: the refusal of one Clan member to obey could lead to revenge against his entire clan. And now the KLA had NATO bombers to enforce blood feud. What took me by surprise was how much this affected Albanians, even intellectuals. It's amazing. Here is a Professor in Pristina, very sophisticated, but when the order comes from his Clan leader, who is perhaps a farmer 100 miles away, the Professor immediately packs up and leaves for Albania without even considering saying no. Israel: We didn't understand the KLA. We thought their terror tactics were counter-productive. Prlincevic: Well, they knew their own people, their fears, their traditions. They knew that if they could prove they were deadly, the clan leaders would fall in line. Now they live in a society dominated by gangsters. None of this would have happened were it not for years of effort by the United States. * * * Part I is at http://tinyurl.com/ypzf3
[Further reading follows the fundraising appeal ] ======================================================== Emperor's Clothes Needs Your Help ======================================================== [Make a donation] If you think Emperor's Clothes does important work please help us to do that work with a donation. Your donations are our only source of funds. Our best is yet to come... Here's how to make a donation. * By credit card at our secure server * Using Paypal (Visa & Mastercard) https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=emperors1000@aol.com&no_shipping=1 * Mail a check to Emperor's Clothes, * Or by credit card over the phone. 1 (617) 916-1705 Thank You! ************************** Further reading: ************************** 1) On the involvement of the OSCE Verification Monitors in organizing the KLA and in spying on Yugoslavia, see: * ''The Cat is Out of the Bag'' at 2) "The roots of Kosovo fascism'' by George Thompson can be read at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/thompson/rootsof.htm 3) On the criminalization of politics, economics and daily life in Kosovo since the June 1999 NATO takeover see the following: * "Crime and Terror in the New Kosovo" at * "How will you plead at the trial, Mr. Annan?" at * "Gracko survivors blame NATO" at [4] United States planners were fully aware of the destabilizing potential of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo as far back as 1982. Here is a quote from "YUGOSLAVIA, a country of study," a 1982 book which is part of the U.S. Army's "Area handbook series." In the forward, Dr. William Evans-Smith, Director of Foreign Area Studies for American University in Washington, DC, writes: * "The study focuses on historical antecedents and on the cultural, political and socioeconomic characteristics that contribute to cohesion and cleavage within the society. " Here's a quote from the book: * "Yugoslavia's largest national minority was its Albanian community, in 1981 numbering some 1.6 million, nearly 7 percent of the population. Most Albanians were concentrated in Kosovo where they constituted roughly 80 percent of the population; another quarter million resided in neighboring Macedonia and Montenegro. All told, an estimated one-third to one-half of all Albanians lived in Yugoslavia - making them one of the largest potentially irredentist communities in the world... "Some demonstrators [in the 1981 Albanian riots] suggested that the proposed Kosovo republic ought to include Albanians in Macedonia and Montenegro too. Some extremists even voiced secessionist sentiments calling for a 'Greater Albania.'" The book was published by Headquarters, Department of the Army (DA Pam 550-99), Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. It is available at libraries. |