Why Putin Discriminates Kosovo Serbs?

On January 19th, 2016 on the bilateral meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the official representatives of the European Jewish Congress the latter applied to Putin to take necessary steps for the sake to improve the generally bad position of the Jewish community on the Old Continent. Surprisingly, the President, not so much as a joke, invited both all the present-day European Jews and those Jews who left the USSR simply to immigrate to Russia.

At the first glance, one can say – very gentle and even democratic move by the President. However, lets a little bit to analyze the case.

According to the Jewish representatives, there are at least two reasons for the „unbearable“ position of the European Jews: 1) Anti-Semitism, and 2) the influx of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East to Europe. Therefore, at least for the Jews, these two reasons are quite enough to emigrate from Europe, and for the President, the same reasons are also quite enough to invite all the European Jews to immigrate to Russia. Here, we will not discuss the question of why the European Jews do not want to emigrate to their own national state – Israel (and the USA as well), but the question is why the President is inviting one nation to be settled in Russia without any ethnic, racial, linguistic, cultural or national connection with his country?

Nevertheless, a more serious question arose in this matter: do only the EuroJews has such right (as „chosen people“?) as a privilege to emigrate to („promised land“?) Russia from the Euroterror or such President’s invitation is democratically equally open for all people, ethnic groups, confessional minorities, etc. who are experiencing the same or even (much) harsher „unbearable“ living conditions and terror in their home countries and social environments? For instance, Kosovo Serbs.

If we compare living conditions of the EuroJews with Kosovo Serbs today the conclusion can be only that those two cases have simply nothing in common with each other at least for the next four reasons and facts:

1. The European anti-Semitism today is not direct, brutal, or open but rather hidden and of a soft nature. It exists but it is nothing to be a real reason for the Jews as a group or as individuals to emigrate somewhere. At least in comparison with many other ethnic groups or minorities across the same continent, but above all, we would say, with Kosovo Serbs. The Euro-Jews are not at least forced to wear yellow strips on their clothes but some Kosovo Serbs do that voluntarily as a matter of protest.
2. The Jews in present-day Europe are not living in any kind of ghettos as it was before (the first ghetto for the Jews was created in Venice in 1535 followed by Dubrovnik) differently from the Serbs in Kosovo southern from Kosovska Mitrovica or the Roman Catholics in Belfast. The Serbs in central and southern Kosovo, totally different from the EuroJews, are living in a real ghetto situation and even in the home imprisonment with everyday fear to be killed by the local Muslim Albanians if they leave the home or village without escort by the international „peacekeeping“ forces. Many Kosovo Serbs are transported even by the armors to the shops, health centers, etc.
3. The Jewish shrines (synagogues) in Europe are not attacked, destroyed, burnt, or desecrated as is exactly the case with the Serbian shrines (Christian Orthodox) in Kosovo. The Muslim Albanians are systematically cleaning Kosovo from all Christian elements during the last 16 years (from June 1999) when the NATO’s occupation of Kosovo started. The destruction of Kosovo Christianity is at the same time followed by the brutal Islamization of the land: for instance (like in Bosnia-Herzegovina after 1995) there are three times more erected mosques in Kosovo after June 1999 in comparison with 400 years of the Ottoman occupation.
4. The Jews in Europe are not exposed today to any kind of pogroms, differently to Kosovo Serbs who are in fact experiencing not only the ethnic cleansing by the Muslim Albanians but even a genocide. The most brutal pogrom against the Serbs was done in Kosovo on March 17-19th, 2004 with three days and three nights of the „Kristallnacht“ as a part of the policy of Islamic terror in the Balkans [see, Sh. Shay, Islamic Terror, and the Balkans, Transaction Publishers, 2006; Ch. Deliso, The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West, Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2007]. As a consequence, there are today only about 100.000 Serbs in Kosovo of whom the overwhelming majority (about 90.000) are living in the northern part of the region which is not under the administration by a (quasi)government in Prishtina composed by the ex-Kosovo Liberation Army’s criminals.

Here we came to the crux of a matter. In 2011 Kosovo Serbs launched a campaign to apply for Russian citizenship and even to emigrate to Russia. However, Putin’s administration was at that time „deaf“ to such an idea. Are the living conditions of Kosovo Serbs were (and are) not enough „unbearable“ in comparison to those of the Euro-Jews? Obviously no. Contrary, the Serbs in Kosovo can only dream to be in the Jewish position in Europe. Finally, Russia and Russians have much more in common with the Serbs than with the Jews. Why the President discriminates Kosovo Serbs in comparison with the EuroJews is not known but as a good example of Russian-Serbian solidarity and brotherhood he can take from the Empress Catherine the Great who even established a separate territory for the Serbs in Russia – Nuova Serbia (more or less covering the present-day territory of Novorossija).

Prof. Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović
www.global-politics.eu/sotirovic
sotirovic@global-politics.eu

Personal disclaimer: The author writes for this publication in a private capacity which is unrepresentative of anyone or any organization except for his own personal views. Nothing written by the author should ever be conflated with the editorial views or official positions of any other media outlet or institution.

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