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Following the failure of all diplomatic negotiations to come to a peaceful solution concerning Kosovo, NATO commenced the military operation codenamed "Allied Force" against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 24th of March 1999. The bombing lasted for 78 days. People in Serbia were not only confronted by the daily NATO air raids and their immediate consequences, they also experienced a renewed radical nationalisation encroaching on their everyday lives. The state of war opened opportunities for Milošević to suppress his political opponents and to strengthen his power. Within a few weeks the government used grey areas within the legal system to eradicate ranks of critics of the system. In this article, I am showing the consequences of the bombing for the so called "other Serbia". In doing so, I focus on the repressive strategies enforced by the Milošević administration to silence "dissident voices" as well as on the way the "other Serbia" coped with the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I wish to propose a new doctrine called epistemological pacifism. According to the doctrine, our objective knowledge concerning hard facts about a given war and its context is far too poor to justify entering that war. Our best and most informative accounts of any pre-war situation are value-laden; the same is true of counterfactual claims about any event during, or after, war. Here we have three new types of what has been discussed under the label of fact/value entanglement. Realizing this helps us understand why pacifists and their opponents never agree about so-called facts. Both parties bring to bear different values in their descriptions. Although this is legitimate for both sides, the values of the pacifist are more attractive than those of the bellicist. The recent war in Mall is a case in point, as I'll sketch at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflicts in Northern Kosovo since July 2011, involving the Serbian population, international missions, and the governments in Prishtina and Belgrade, have been threatening the stability of Kosovo and Serbia. However, this crisis can also be seen as a chance to find a lasting agreement between Kosovo and Serbia - a kind of historical compromise. It is argued that the dominant Western "narrative" of the Kosovo conflict, depicting it primarily as a human rights problem, has prevented work on a viable solution for many years. For Albanians and Serbs the conflict is about territories and, accordingly, a compromise should include territorial elements. The author argues that the many "red lines" of the international community, of Prishtina and of Belgrade are not only reducing chances for a solution, but are arbitrary and contrary to the interests of the two countries. The struggle in North Kosovo, where a 90 percent Serbian majority opposes the integration into the Kosovar state, should be used as a chance to find a territorial compromise. Negotiations under EU auspices could go beyond narrow "technical" issues with the goal of a permanent settlement. This could include mutual agreed changes of borders between Serbia and Kosovo (in North Kosovo and potentially in South Serbia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that the Report to the European Parliamentary Assembly provided by EPA-Rapporteur Dick Marty on "Inhuman Treatment of People and Illicit Trafficking in Human Organs in Kosovo" of January 2011 provoked a media scandal aiming at the reputation of a part of Kosovo's political elite and their international supporters. The scandal influences the way the Kosovo war is perceived in a broader Western public and possibly helps to initiate a discussion in the Albanian-speaking public sphere about the role of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the conflict in 1998/1999. After a systematic presentation of the Report (sources, methods, framing of the conflict and its actors), the article shows how the Report changed the hitherto black-and-white perception of the Kosovo conflict in Western media. Not only is a part of the KLA scandalized by their alleged war crimes but also their international protectors who failed to prosecute the perpetrators. The assessment adds to a growing skepticism on the success of Western "democracy export". Finally it is shown how the Report initiated a reluctant discussion about a taboo in the Albanian public sphere: KLA's warfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (ZIB) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)