Ethnic Conflict II How Does Research Paper

Through policies of systematic discrimination and persecution of national minorities, Serb nationalists indirectly strengthened the radical wing of Albanian nationalist movements. The wing was represented by KSA (Kosovo Liberation Army). Most of the KSA leadership, Hedges writes, has formerly been imprisoned for separatist activities, and many were imprisoned by the Tito's communist government. The KSA's ideological base, Hedges writes, comes from a bizarre mixture of fascist and communist factions. Later in the 1990s, KSA began to receive financial and logistical support from Islamist radical groups in the Gulf States as well.

Hedges argues that KSA initially did not have the support of the majority. The radical group began to garner support after the policies pursued by Ibrahim Rugova have allegedly failed. The continuing mistreatment of Kosovo Albanians by the Serbian state and the inability of the international community to resolve the issue (for example, the European Union's recognition of Yugoslavia in 1995 although Yugoslavia had not resolved the Kosovo problem) led many ordinary Albanians to throw in their lot with KSA. "We all feel a deep, deep sense of betrayal," a KLA member told Hedges, expressing a widely shared sentiment among Albanians at the time. "We mounted a peaceful, civilized protest to fight the totalitarian rule of Milosevic.We did not go down the road of nationalist hatred, always respecting Serbian churches and monasteries. The result is that we were ignored." The inability of international players to come to an aid of ethnic Albanians, the Dayton peace negotiations in particular, "taught us a painful truth, {that} those that want freedom must fight for it. This is our sad duty." Coupled with the failure of the international community and the colonial behavior by Serbs, Hedges argues, was the rising unemployment (70%) and a booming birth rate that gave birth to a mass of disgruntled youth who could no longer support the pacifist sentiments of the government of Rugova. Because of these developments, KSA emerged as a group that represented the voices of most ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the late 90's.

Works Cited

Hedges, Chris. "Kosovo's Next Masters?" Foreign Affairs 78.3 (1999): 24-42.

Mertus, Julie. "Slobodan Milosevic: Myth….....