Serbia and Kosovo

The attack Thursday on the American Embassy in Belgrade was really a serious thing. None of the Americans assigned to the embassy were killed, according to this report in Der Spiegel Online (Randalierer stürmen Belgrader US-Botschaft - Gebäude angezündet, ein Toter 21.02.08). But the rioters set the embassy building on fire, killing one of the demonstrators, and burned the American flag and replaced it with a Serbian flag.

Attacking a country's embassy physically is a serious step. The embassy grounds are actually part of the territory of the represented country, so an attack like that is literally an attack on American territory. I guess given the jingoism of the Cheney-Bush administration, I should say at this point that the incident is not a reason to start bombing and killing people.

If this report by Aleksandar Vasovic of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is accurate (U.S. Embassy Attacked in Protest Over Kosovo Independence PBS Newshour 02/21/08), the attack on the embassy was almost certainly organized by the government. (It was an action by Serbian intelligence that resulted in the death of an Austrian Archduke a century or so ago that started off a pretty big war.)

Spiegel says that demonstrators threw stones at the Turkish, Croatian and Bosnian embassies, at least one McDonald's restaurant was attacked, and there were a number of small fires (including cars) set on fire in the protests. Maverick McCain might want us to believe that such levels of violence are a peaceful day in Baghdad - and, relatively speaking, they would be - but this is a sign that the Serbian government is more than a little unhappy about Kosovo's declaration of independence. Serbian President Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica declared (from Spiegel) "Kosovo ist serbisch und wird es für immer bleiben" (Kosovo is Serbian and will always remain so).

Tags: kosovo, serbia