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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Balkan nationalism has been reawoken by the attack of the drone

This ill-tempered football war between Serbia and Albania will end like every other Balkan conflict with no clear winner and arguments over who started it Serbia v Albania violence: Uefa opens inquiryAll in all, it was just another brick in the wall of good old Balkan nationalism. But this time, it came with the twist: the dark, medieval ideology was launched on a hi-tech gadget. It is certainly not the worst way that drones can be used as people in Pakistan and Afghanistan, living in fear of blue skies and US drone-bombers, might confirm but the drone that flew across Belgrades Partizan Stadium during a football match between Serbia and Albania on Tuesday was still intended to do harm. The game, a Euro 2016 qualifying match, was the first time Albanias national side had visited Belgrade since 1967. Tensions were running high because of the Serbian-Albanian conflict over Kosovo, which has a majority Albanian population and declared independence from Serbia in 2008.First reports said that the drone came from the roof of a nearby church. It was carrying the flag of Greater Albania, the dream of Albanian nationalists. Greater Albania is supposed to comprise todays Albania and Kosovo, but also to include parts of four more independent Balkan states: Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Its pretty much the same concept as the notorious Greater Serbia project all Serbs/Albanians in one ethnic state the reason the Balkans was burning two decades ago. So, if anyone thinks that the Balkans is tired of nationalist madness, destruction and the confirmation of so-called Balkan stereotypes ... well, were not. It seems that the Balkans never fail to prove the theory that the one willing to bet on the worst in men will always win. Continue reading...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com