Post by uz on Oct 10, 2011 21:33:55 GMT -5
"Eurocleansing" for Kosovo.
Kosovo is facing a new political scandal. The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Pristine has launched an inquiry into cases of abuse of office at the Kosovo Interior Ministry while purchasing weapons and munitions for local police forces. International police officers have detained several officials and the Pristine-based Koha Ditore newspaper reports that the name of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is mentioned in the case.
According to a report published by the EU mission, the arrests were made as part of an extensive investigation into cases of corruption and fraud in which Kosovo police and companies that supply weapons and munitions became implicated. But as usual, the details that could shed more light on what is happening in Kosovo remain off the record.
According to Koha Ditore reporters, investigating teams are looking into financial machinations during weapons tenders when weapons were bought at double prices and into reports that the Kosovo police force, working under the watchful eye of the EU, bought weapons from an “organized criminal group”. The Express newspaper says that the EU-launched investigation may affect both the Kosovo Interior Minister headed by Bajram Rexhepi and the “Kosovo state as such, suspected of corruption”. EU investigators have been tipped on the fact that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci agreed weapons purchases bypassing international forces, including the UN mission. However, under the Law on State Purchases, he was supposed to consult the international forces before taking any decisions.
According to the EU mission, Kosovo began to purchase weapons and munitions right after it declared independence in 2008. Hashim Thaci signed those agreements in March 2009. But it’s only now that an inquiry has been launched. It looks like it was started in the wake of the deterioration of relations between the EU and Pristine following Kosovo special forces’ assault on Kosovo Serbs at the end of July. Pristine’s unilateral operations, approved by the US and NATO, drove many of the EU leadership into confusion. Sabine Freizer, Director of the International Crisis Group’s Europe programs, says that for the first time since 2008, the international community is faced with the choice of taking sides in a situation when NATO supports the government of Kosovo and the EU is critical of it. The whole picture becomes crystal clear if we recall that Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi is Pristine’s Euroskeptic number one, who once appealed to God to save Kosovo from the EU mission. For saving the stymied talks between Belgrade and Pristine, the European Union may resolve to “clear” the Kosovo space of a whole number of odious personalities. A Voice of Russia correspondent met with Alexander Karasev of the Slavic Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
"The European Union will be pursuing a tough line on Kosovo over the next few weeks. Sooner or later, all Balkan countries will find themselves in the EU. It’s inevitable. As problems on this account pop up, it’d be a good idea to see how the EU will react. Will it come out against Hashim Thaci? Despite earlier inquiries started by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the EU Mission into reports that Hashim Thaci was implicated in “black market transplants”, his positions look solid enough. However, in case of a new aggravation in the north of Kosovo, the EU curators in Kosovo will sacrifice him too."
Hashim Thaci will not be “dismembered” of course. As global practice shows, the best way of getting rid of unwanted people is to catch them in financial machinations. This will save the need to dig into anti-Serb crimes, so unbeneficial to the West, and will guarantee the rule of law, at least on the outside. All this will work provided Thaci, his circle and their American supporters want to play in accordance with this scenario.
english.ruvr.ru/2011/10/10/58472893.html
Kosovo is facing a new political scandal. The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Pristine has launched an inquiry into cases of abuse of office at the Kosovo Interior Ministry while purchasing weapons and munitions for local police forces. International police officers have detained several officials and the Pristine-based Koha Ditore newspaper reports that the name of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is mentioned in the case.
According to a report published by the EU mission, the arrests were made as part of an extensive investigation into cases of corruption and fraud in which Kosovo police and companies that supply weapons and munitions became implicated. But as usual, the details that could shed more light on what is happening in Kosovo remain off the record.
According to Koha Ditore reporters, investigating teams are looking into financial machinations during weapons tenders when weapons were bought at double prices and into reports that the Kosovo police force, working under the watchful eye of the EU, bought weapons from an “organized criminal group”. The Express newspaper says that the EU-launched investigation may affect both the Kosovo Interior Minister headed by Bajram Rexhepi and the “Kosovo state as such, suspected of corruption”. EU investigators have been tipped on the fact that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci agreed weapons purchases bypassing international forces, including the UN mission. However, under the Law on State Purchases, he was supposed to consult the international forces before taking any decisions.
According to the EU mission, Kosovo began to purchase weapons and munitions right after it declared independence in 2008. Hashim Thaci signed those agreements in March 2009. But it’s only now that an inquiry has been launched. It looks like it was started in the wake of the deterioration of relations between the EU and Pristine following Kosovo special forces’ assault on Kosovo Serbs at the end of July. Pristine’s unilateral operations, approved by the US and NATO, drove many of the EU leadership into confusion. Sabine Freizer, Director of the International Crisis Group’s Europe programs, says that for the first time since 2008, the international community is faced with the choice of taking sides in a situation when NATO supports the government of Kosovo and the EU is critical of it. The whole picture becomes crystal clear if we recall that Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi is Pristine’s Euroskeptic number one, who once appealed to God to save Kosovo from the EU mission. For saving the stymied talks between Belgrade and Pristine, the European Union may resolve to “clear” the Kosovo space of a whole number of odious personalities. A Voice of Russia correspondent met with Alexander Karasev of the Slavic Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
"The European Union will be pursuing a tough line on Kosovo over the next few weeks. Sooner or later, all Balkan countries will find themselves in the EU. It’s inevitable. As problems on this account pop up, it’d be a good idea to see how the EU will react. Will it come out against Hashim Thaci? Despite earlier inquiries started by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the EU Mission into reports that Hashim Thaci was implicated in “black market transplants”, his positions look solid enough. However, in case of a new aggravation in the north of Kosovo, the EU curators in Kosovo will sacrifice him too."
Hashim Thaci will not be “dismembered” of course. As global practice shows, the best way of getting rid of unwanted people is to catch them in financial machinations. This will save the need to dig into anti-Serb crimes, so unbeneficial to the West, and will guarantee the rule of law, at least on the outside. All this will work provided Thaci, his circle and their American supporters want to play in accordance with this scenario.
english.ruvr.ru/2011/10/10/58472893.html