Plagiarist Biden: Keep your wristwatch in your pocket when you glad-hand with the descendants of the Delirians in KosovA.

I apologise, it seems hard to keep up when they talk of a split slovenia in WWII, then jump back to the crusades and christians against christians. I know biden doesn't care about the balkans, no american politicians ever have. it's always about their aspirations and how to further their own cause.

Rade my friend if only you could read
brtween the lines
both Aries and Cornelius try to make a point.
Aries my friend you are correct
stating that the begining of the end of Byzantium was the the fourth Crusade which sacked Constantinople and prepared the way for the turks and muslims
to hoard into the balkans and
Europe nearly capturing Vienna.
The remains are still in Bosnia Kossovo Albania.
as for the various knights very few honored their chivalry .
Biden [...]

Read the full comment my friend wants to secure
Bondsteel and to ponder on the
situation regarding Southstream
just to annoy the Russians.
he doees not give a dime about
Kossovo serbia macedonia albania.

I don't know what those last few comments had to do with the article, but i'm enjoying reading them. I love history, especially Crusader (medieval) history

Aries - many thanks; that explains the origin of the Knights of St John of Malta, which I had always wondered about. Even by the standards of mediaeval navigation, Malta was not "en route" to the Holy Land, but now I know. Un grand merci !

Dr Cornelius.
no problem mon ami 6 years no big deal in history.
It happened again
On January 1, 1523, a fleet of fifty vessels put out from the harbour at Rhodes for an unknown destination in the West (Malta). On board were the shattered remnants of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, accompanied by 4,000 Rhodeans, who preferred the Knights and destitution to security under the rule of the Sultan 1Soleiman. The little fleet was in a sad and piteous condition. Many of those on board were wounded;
all--Knights and [...]

Read the full comment Rhodians alike--were in a state of extreme poverty.
For six months they had resisted the strengh of the Ottoman Empire bunder Sultan Soleiman the Magnificent; Europe had looked
on in amazed admiration, but had not ventured to move to its rescue.

the rest is also silent.....

ET L'HISTOIRE SE REPETTE
MEME CAUSE MEME EFFET

Some people argue about "CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS"

Sorry everybody - bardzo przepraszam - mille regrets -
the Battle of Tannenburg/ Gruenwald took place in 1410, not 1416.

Clearly my memory cells are fading and I neeed to go down to the crypt for more sustenance - except that as a lifelong hunter of the Undead this cannot be, so I shall go to that unpleasant McDonalds in Cluj, Transylvania, for a carnivorous snack. (By the way, Cluj/Clausenburg/Koloszvar is about as far from the gastronomic capital of Europe as you can get, unless you to to Chisinau in Moldova where it's even [...]

Read the full comment worse.)

to Aries - yes, that is my understanding of the Fourth Crusade too. The then Pope (Innocent III) seems to have launched an initiative he could not subsequently control, the Venetians come out of the story as venal and mercenary at best (but they made lots of money out of it !) and the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders as a shameful story by any standards. (The only equivalent account that I know is that of the German Teutonic Knights in the fourteenth century, who claimed Papal authority for laying waste the territory of Lithuania and Latvia, also part [...]

Read the full comment of Poland, in the name of "christianising" the region, rather against the wishes of the Papacy at the time. Anyway, the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania united to defeat the Germans at the battle of Grunwald (or Tannenburg - same place) in 1416, as commemorated in the spendid 1960s Polish film "Krzyzacy" (Knights of the Cross). Sometimes the Communists made good films - this was one of them. The Crusaders - whether of the Fourth Crusade, or the Teutonic Knights a little later on, do not come out of the story well.

To Dr Cornelius
The real author of the IV Crusade was
pope Innocent III Reviving the plans of pope Urban II to unite the forces of Christendom against Islam. Chiefly french took the crusaders vow the crusades had no no effect upon the Holy Land after the III the crusaders of the
IV Expedition captured Constantinople instead of Jerusalem.
The Venetians persuaded them to proceed instead of the Moslems against Constantinople The possession of which would increase venetian trade and rule
in the east, Constantinople was a bigger loot for [...]

Read the full comment "the crusading
noble"
So it happened that these soldiers
of The Cross, pledged to war with Moslems attacked a Christian city, which for five centuries had formed the chief bulwark of Europe against the Arab and the Turks.
THe rest is silent!!!!!

to Aries - a minor detail (I agree with your main point), but Slovenia was actually split during the Nazi occupation between passive collaborators (the "Domobranci") and fiercely resistant guerillas who adopted Communism as their creed. The blood-bath after WW II when the Communists won was considerable, and Slovenia has since devoted much effort to a South African-style "Peace and Reconciliation Commission" to reconcile both sides; I have personally witnessed this in action and it is genuinely impressive.

I know of no equivalent in Croatia. It is also a commonly-held belief amongst Czechs, Slovaks, and Poles [...]

Read the full comment (their fellow slavs) that all ex-Yugoslavs have fearfully long memories, when sometimes a spot of amnesia might be better.

Your idea about the Fourth Crusade is an interesting one; you may well be right. I shall read up further on this subject.

nb
The root of all evil for the Balkans lies in the Fourth Crusade the Papal
Crusade as called.

Possibly the roots of hatred are to found in ancestral religious beliefs the western Slavs (mostly Catholics)
the Serbs and Bulgarians (Orthodox) the Muslims left over s of the Ottoman rule, no other Ideas could have ever yielded and routed such deep (Collective unconscious) hatred
One of the biggest geopolitical errors committed in this powder keg area was the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia
The other component may be more recent The pro Axis politics of Slovenia Croatia,Bulgaria and Albania during WWII

Does anyone ever stop and think. Why are there so many Albanians in Kosovo? Quite an easy answer arises, not because it is historically your land taken away by a barbarian nation (Serbia), but because Tito wanted Albania as part of Yugoslavia (no idea why, they're not even slavs, anyway) and he allowed Albanians to migrate into Serbia, not Bosnia, not Croatia, but Serbia. Tito was a Croat and therefore didn't think much of Serbia, that is why he gave Serb land to Albanians to persuade them that he's an alright guy and they should join Yugoslavia.

I tend to agree with Peggy: Luas and Milos Obolic - you are as bad as each other. Try to put aside the invective and the rude words, and take a cool objective look at the situation. Only by doing that will you ever achieve a constructive solution. (And avoid racist language - both of you !)

I agree with skenderkebab..haha funny..although i am partial cause i'm Serbian..I dont even consider Albanians worthy of arguing with..its an obvious fact that US took Kosovo from us on paper..but the circle of luck keeps circling..i know for a fact that albanian will never rule over me or dominate me as we have dominated them through history(TSar Dusan,King Petar,Kng Alexander..etc)in fact i never heard anything noble come out of that group of sunflower seeds wenders but i can always remind them of superiority of thei Serbian rulers:Nemanja Vidic,Stojkovic,Djokovic,Nikola Tesla,Mihajlo Pupin,Tsar Dusan,Ivo Andric,Kusturica..and the list goes on...superior culture,science military tradition..you can [...]

Read the full comment brag but facts CANNOT BE IGNORED.Now can i have boza and baklava thanks PEKAR.

I really laugh at some albanian comments..i am not Serbian but i cant help but put a comment here..the world knows that you guyz are the most inferior nation in Europe and that without US you are just a bunch of ice cream shop owners and pumpkin seed street dwellers..get a grip.

Wow Luan, you are so filled with hate. This is a forum for serious discussion and not to come out with vulgarities.
If you are a representative of the Albanian commuunity, then I am certain US is about to have egg on their face for backing you.

Instead of telling the Serbs to step into 19th century I would advise you to consider anger management and unburdening yourself of hate. It will only destroy you in the end.

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

Peggy is right. Politics is the art of manipulating power. Plus, in the US case, the Vice-President is always the one of the two without the charisma who knows how to use the "levers of power" and the money. (Look at Dick Cheney as a sterling example. Or, going back a bit, look at Lyndon Johnson who suddenly had to succeed charistmatic John Kennedy....)

"BIDEN Rocks...he LOVES Kosovo..and Kosovo loves HIM...."

Era, the only rock here are the ones in your head. Biden only love money and power not you. You are only pawns. Please stop with the ridiculous statements.

Politics is politics. Nothing personal. I don't know why you are taking it personally.

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

Can we please get serious ? Informed discussion is one thing, abuse quite another.

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

Rade serbia needs to "grow" up. The Kosovo deal is done. Stop Dreaming.

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

--"Biden is coming over to make a secret deal with the Serbs thats why he is going to Bosnia. In these hard economic times U.S is trying to pull more troops out of Kosovo for Afganistan and thats a fact. So Albanians sorry to disappoint. hahah change is coming "Obama""

The deal is made with the Servs: Do what we say or starve to death without EU and IMF money. Ever wondered why Albania and Croatia got in NATO? To stop you servs from trying anything funny. You are surrounded by NATO. US [...]

Read the full comment has only a few hundred troops in the region

Serbs, you guys need to start being open minded. Kosovo never was and will never be part of Serbia. Whatever you guys "think" was yours was not... accept the fact that Kosovo is a muliethnic state with the majority group being Albanians. I know this information through the history books that I was tought in Cambridge College...

Biden is coming over to make a secret deal with the Serbs thats why he is going to Bosnia. In these hard economic times U.S is trying to pull more troops out of Kosovo for Afganistan and thats a fact. So Albanians sorry to disappoint. hahah change is coming "Obama"

BIDEN Rocks...he LOVES Kosovo..and Kosovo loves HIM....

"You Albanians make me laugh. One day when the US can't afford to keep you any longer or just decides there is no more to exploit you will call his a traitor along with the rest of your "heroes". You are pathetic."

Shkije,
we're 7 million now, your average age is 44, ours is 30 so be careful who you insult. Oh, NATO is training /arming both the Kosova and the Albanian armies. By the time your evil cousins, the russians come to help you (if they even bother) you will already be at [...]

Read the full comment the Carpathian Mountains. Do you know that place? It's your Jerusalem.

>> "saraaa, albania is probably the most insignificant nation in europe, with an unmatched dependence on the west. It would be of no consequence for him to visit albania."

Albania is a NATO member, you Serbs are begging IMF for money to save you from bankruptcy and you are russian vassals. Biden is there to give you a message.

What do you call a bought US politician in Kosovo? A national hero.

You Albanians make me laugh. One day when the US can't afford to keep you any longer or just decides there is no more to exploit you will call his a traitor along with the rest of your "heroes". You are pathetic.

saraaa, albania is probably the most insignificant nation in europe, with an unmatched dependence on the west. It would be of no consequence for him to visit albania.

What about Albania dude???

Joe Biden is cool ..

It's Kosovo, and funny you call him a national hero, he's only a provincial hero, Kosovo is still a province

Biden is Kosova's National Hero.