Word: kosovo
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Berlin all over again, but it isn?t Bosnia either. Russian reinforcements began arriving in Kosovo Tuesday after a weekend standoff with NATO ?- which led to the Russians' being denied overflight rights by Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine ?- were settled. Although Moscow?s demands for more freewheeling deployment rights were denied for fear of creating a partition along the lines of postwar Germany, the Russians aren?t going to Kosovo as evenhanded mediators. "Unlike in Bosnia, where they were part of a neutral peacekeeping force under coordinated command, they?re making no bones about the fact that their mission in Kosovo...
...short term, Russia?s partisan preference might actually suit NATO by persuading Serbs to stay and helping preserve Kosovo?s multi-ethnic character. But the Kosovo conflict has dramatically altered the atmosphere of NATO-Russian relations. "What Boris Yeltsin calls ?the march on Pristina? is being hailed in Russia as a great military victory and as a sign that Russia ?- however pathetically ?- can stand up to NATO," says Meier. And just last week Moscow set alarm bells ringing in NATO countries with a massive military exercise ?- including provocative bomber flights into Western airspace ?- designed to simulate repelling an attack from...
...when it comes to politics, the Snake is still a rank amateur. Kosovo is in ruins, his rebel army is edgy about its demilitarization, and political rivals on all sides are waiting for him to slip up. He'll also face political challenges at home--most notably from the elected President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, and from newspaper publisher Veton Surroi. Still, the U.S. has anointed him, at least temporarily, as its man. On a visit to Pristina last week, State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin took Thaci for a highly public cup of coffee at a well-known downtown cafe...
...student union of Pristina University in the late '80s, associating with a radical Marxist-Leninist group that previously had ties to Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha. After graduating with a degree in history in 1991, Thaci grew impatient with political conspiracy as a way to kick Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo. In June 1993 he and his compatriots turned to military action. Along with his two most trusted associates, Kadri Veseli and Fatmir Limaj, he launched one of the first armed attacks against Serbian forces. By the time Kosovo's rebellion gained traction in 1997, Thaci had survived Serbian reprisals...
...Thaci's greatest hurdle may be his own character. The isolated region of Kosovo where he was born, Drenica, is known for its hardheaded individualists. Those same rural traditions--"a Drenica person opens his heart to no man," says a longtime friend--have given Thaci a secretive, lone-wolf personality ill suited to democratic politics. At dinner that reserve undercut his every attempt to sound Western and humanistic. When asked what his plans were for the Serbian civilian minority that remains in Kosovo, he assured us its inclusion was important to rebuilding the province. "We're not interested in building...