One of the smartest articles on Kosovo and Serbia you're likely to find. Take the time to click through and read the entire thing - Ian.

While traveling for the State Department, I’ve had to get used to the unpopularity of America. However, liberals would be unwise to assume that it is all due to dislike for the Iraq War or our current president. While these policies have undoubtedly undermined America’s image abroad, at least some of it strikes me as pure resentment at USA’s status as the world’s sole superpower.

Prior to the 2000 elections, I recall one student in Spain who commented that the United States was a “barbarian nation” because we still have the death penalty. I’m not a huge fan of the death penalty—the finality of it tends to prevent correcting mistakes. Nevertheless, it seemed a bit much to be hectored about democratic values by someone who was about the same age as Spain’s democracy even if my response to the student at the time was a tad more tactful.

Unlike in Spain, the United States and its military remain incredibly popular in Kosovo. One sees almost as many American as Albanian flags in this UN-administered territory. Indeed, there are far more American than UN flags. The source of this love for the US is no mystery. Following the lead of the United States, NATO used military force to drive Serbia, then under the “leadership” of Slobodan Milosevic, out of Kosovo.

Kosovar Albanians remain incredibly grateful to the US. President Clinton has a status in Kosovo that Moses would have envied. Even relatively small supporters of the Albanian cause are well-remembered. Elliot Engel, often described as one of the more mediocre members of the Democratic House Caucus, has a street named after him in Peja. I couldn’t help cracking a smile when I saw a store named Hillary located next to the Route 66 diner on Bill Clinton Blvd. in Pristina.

The status of Kosovo is contentious because Serbs view Kosovo as the historic and religious heartland of their people though Albanians now compose over ninety percent of its population. The Serbian Patriarchate, the center of the Serbian Orthodox Church is located in Peja—called Peč by Serbs.

Located just outside Pristina is the site of the famous 1389 battle which Serbs view as the end of their historic kingdom at the hands of the Turks and the source of their martyrdom as a nation. In his opus on Kosovo, Noel Malcolm describes how the battle was inconclusive and that Serbs and Albanians fought on both sides. Of course, the battle took place long before nationalism and the nation-state came into their own in the nineteenth century.

However, the myth has more power than history. The site of the battle is more recently known as the site where Slobodan Milosevic used Serbian nationalism to vault himself into power and to keep himself there. He used a clash between Kosovar Serbs and the police in 1987 to topple his own mentor and become Serbia’s leader. A rally of over one million Serbs later cemented Milosevic’s nationalist credentials.

Politics tends to be viewed as zero-sum game in Kosovo. Tito had made Kosovo into an “autonomous province” of Serbia. Essentially, Kosovo had most of the powers of the republics of Yugoslavia without the name in what has always struck me as an attempt to square the circle of Serbian nationalism and Albanian aspirations. During Yugoslavia, Albanians were considered a “nationality” rather a “nation” like the Slovenes, Croats, or Serbs because their ethnic homeland was outside the country.

Milosevic revoked Kosovo’s autonomy in 1989 and integrated it wholly into Serbia. All Albanians were fired from state jobs, which meant most employment, and made totally subordinate to the Serbs. Under the leadership of Ibrahim Rugova, Albanians organized a peaceful, nonviolent movement dedicated to Kosovo’s independence. They organized a parallel state complete with an elected government and educational institutions.

After many years of fruitlessly waiting for the West to come to their aid, more militant Albanians organized an armed rebellion against Serb rule. The suppression of this movement combined with a crazed Milosevic’s determination to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of its Albanian population led to the 1999 NATO intervention.

Every adult Albanian over the age of ten remembers the period of Serbian domination and virtually every one has a horror story from that period, especially toward the end when Serbian paramilitaries burned many Albanian villages and attempted to put all of Pristina’s population on trains to deport them and many were pulled off and shot.

Members of the American military are regarded as heroes and the American people with great affection by virtually every single Albanian I have met. Visiting Kosovo, one gets a real sense of a people which truly values its freedom due to having received it so recently after many years of oppression.

Dervla Murphy, a Irish world traveller and writer who visited Albania, Kosovo, and Serbia (by bicycle!), and a vehement critic of capitalism and militarism, especially the American variety, protested against the bombing and the NATO intervention, as she describes at length in Through the Embers of Chaos. However, she doesn't attempt to explain what she would've done to stop Milosevic and his goons.

Fearing Albanian retaliation, many Kosovar Serbs fled Kosovo though Serbian enclaves remain. Anti-Serb riots broke out in 2004 after false rumors were spread that Serbs had attacked two Albanian boys. The Kosovar government and international community are helping to rebuild churches which were attacked. Tensions have declined substantially since 2004 even if antipathy between Serbs and Albanians remains strong.

Needless to say, Americans are not as popular among the Serbs as the Albanians. I was denied entry to the Serbian Patriarchate in Peja. The young Italian soldiers guarding it seemed embarrassed to have to deny us entry on the grounds that it was “prayer time.” The real problem was the passports held by myself and my Kosovar Albanian driver. Two other diplomatic corps vehicles entered moments before I was denied entry.

I did manage to visit Grancanica, the monastery founded as a memorial to the 1389 battle. Unlike in Peja, there is only one Swedish soldier standing guard and anyone can enter without asking. Despite the grouchy nuns (not at all typical in my experience of visiting many Serbian monasteries) and the barbed wire, one cannot help but admire the stunning architecture, beautiful frescos, and peaceful setting which are characteristic of Serbian monasteries.

Serbia did not object to Montenegro’s independence in 2006 after slightly more than 55% voted to dissolve the union between Serbia and Montenegro. However, Serbia vehemently opposes the NATO occupation of Kosovo, viewing it as integral part of Serbia and its occupation by NATO as a violation of the UN Charter. Strongly supported by the Orthodox Church, Serbia has attempted to thwart its independence at every step. However, one would be pressed to find ten Kosovar Albanians who support rejoining Serbia.

Neither group is likely to soon forget injustices visited upon the other. However, I did hear one heartening story which shows how honorable some people remain even during terrible times. A Kosovar Albanian explained how a Kosovar Serb offered to refund him 40,000 DM which he had recently paid as the downpayment on home even as Albanians were fleeing or being forced to leave Kosovo in 1999.

Awfully decent of the Serb as he easily could have kept the money and the home with no Albanians or authorities around to protest. When the situation was reversed and the Serbs in turn fled, the Albanian could have similarly kept the home and the money. However, he arranged to travel to a Serb enclave so he could give the Serb the remainder of the money. An incredible story that perhaps shows how peace can cycle just as well as violence.