The US doesn't know its ear from its elbow. See this from 2004, by old friend Ian Williams (Trnopolje rib-fest death camp story 1992):
Sacirbej's extradition warrant was executed under a treaty signed with the U.S. in 1902 by “The Kingdom of Servia” [sic], which the State Department considers to still be valid with Bosnia and Herzegovina through four changes of name and political system. <http://> Bosnia 1878-1909 was under Turkish suzerainty, and1909-1918 annexwed to Austria-Hungary. It was never part of the kingdom of Serbia. Subject: U.S. Desperate for Viable Kosovo Extradition Treaty to Turn to: “Wasn’t there, like, a Serbian Kingdom or Something?” - by Julia Gorin Date: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 8:57 AM ... I added: Ooooooooops! Looks like someone forgot to make provisions for how we would extradite all those U.S.-sponsored independent Kosovars who would be striking against the U.S. ... <http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2386> http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2386 <http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2386> U.S. Desperate for Viable Kosovo Extradition Treaty to Turn to: “Wasn’t there, like, a Serbian Kingdom or Something?” by Julia Gorin July 17th 2010 In a follow-up to <http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2373> this recent post, EU judges helping out with Kosovo “law and order” have again refused an extradition request by the U.S. for Bajram Asllani, involved with the North Carolina Eight, headed by Daniel Boyd and involving a Bosnian and another Albanian. As I commented at the time, U.S. Tries to Restore Serbian Sovereignty over U.S.-supported “Independent” Kosovo: Prosecutors were relying on a 2001 agreement between the U.S. and Serbia, but Kosovo has since declared its independence and isn’t bound by that agreement, the judge ruled. I added: Ooooooooops! Looks like someone forgot to make provisions for how we would extradite all those U.S.-sponsored independent Kosovars who would be striking against the U.S. Or did we not expect them to do that, given that anti-Serb terrorists aren’t real terrorists? BUT NOW GET THIS! Since turning to the 2001 agreement between the U.S. and Serbia didn’t work, the U.S. is shooting for 1901!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Check it out: <http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTHoZXdiB0mr3b44dVOirx6h-uHgD9H07MG02> Judges won’t extradite Kosovo terror suspect to US By NEBI QENA (AP) – July 16, 2010 PRISTINA, Kosovo — A panel of international judges on Friday decided not to extradite a Kosovo terror suspect to the United States on legal grounds and then set him free, a European Union official said. Nicholas Hawton said the U.S. request to extradite 29-year-old ethnic Albanian Bajram Asllani did not demonstrate “well-grounded suspicions” that he plotted terrorist attacks. The panel also ruled Friday there was no valid extradition treaty between the two countries. The extradition request was made on the basis of a 1901 treaty between the US and the former Kingdom of Serbia. … The judges ruled that “providing material support to terrorists” is not listed in the treaty as a criminal offense, so there were no grounds for Asllani’s extradition, said Hawton, spokesman for the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo. Imagine that! The 1901 treaty didn’t say anything about “providing material support to terrorists.” But thanks for reaching. (And we have to reach pretty far and low to get around our own handiwork in Kosovo.) I swear, it’s almost like the EU mission there — more intimately acquainted with the challenges of babysitting America’s darling demon child — is having a bit of fun at U.S. expense. Just to make a point. Hey, since 1901 is suddenly relevant again, maybe our “leaders” should take a <http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=1291> closer look at that year in the same region. From Andy Wilcoxson’s book manuscript about the Milosevic trial: On September 9, 1901, a British diplomatic cable sent to the Marquess of Lansdowne said: “Old Serbia [Kosovo] is still a restive region because of the Albanians’ lawlessness, vengeance and racial hatred.” So maybe by 2101, our ruling elite will finally admit that we backed the wrong horse? Nah! Meanwhile, one really has to ask: If we supported and support a 2001 agreement with Serbia — under which our understanding seems to be that Kosovo was part of Serbia — then what changed between 2001 and 2008, when we insisted on Kosovo independence and emphasized that it’s “impossible” that Kosovo ever be part of Serbia again? Between 2001 and 2008, what on earth changed or led to a change in Kosovo’s status in our eyes? There is no good answer here. Other than Albanian violence being stepped up. So it seems that not only does UN Res. 1244 affirm Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo, but the U.S. has done so itself. Anyway, here is the rest of the no-extradition news item: …In Raleigh, U.S. attorney George Holding said the decision would now be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Kosovo. “I’m disappointed,” Holding said. “However, this is just one step in the process.” Asllani can appeal a possible decision by the Supreme Court to extradite him to the U.S., where he faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted. Kosovo is mostly Muslim, but its estimated 2 million ethnic Albanians are strongly pro-American due to the U.S.’s leading role in NATO’s 1999 bombing of Serb forces that paved the way for Kosovo to secede. Asllani was initially arrested by Kosovo police in 2007 on suspicion of terror but then released for lack of evidence. He was convicted in absentia by a Serbian court in Sept. 2009 for planning terrorist-related offenses and was sentenced to eight years. Last month, he was arrested again in Kosovo in connection with the North Carolina case. International agreements concluded when Kosovo was not an independent country are endorsed by Kosovo’s Constitutional Court. But Kosovo’s constitution forbids the extradition of its citizens to other countries without a prior bilateral agreement. In an almost poetically parallel news item from December, it seems Albanians want to be Serbian citizens again for a minute: <http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/analysis/24161/> Serbia Snubs Albanians Seeking Visa-Free Travel Bujanovac | 04 December 2009 | By Jeton Ismaili EU decision to lift visa restrictions on Serbian citizens is prompting Kosovo Albanians to claim they live in South Serbia, so they can access the benefits – but very few succeed. Leon Osmani, aged 30, was born in South Serbia but has been living with his family in the Kosovo capital of Pristina for the last 25 years. Ever since he heard the news that Brussels proposed to lift the requirement for Serbian citizens to obtain visas for the Schengen zone, he has been trying to change address. He filed a request with the police in Serbia to change his official residence to his grandfather’s home in the mainly Albanian town of Bujanovac in Southern Serbia. “They accepted my documentation as valid but my request was denied, oddly enough,” Osmani complains. The official explanation was that the data submitted in his request was incorrect. Osmani is not the only Albanian in Kosovo trying to claim residence in Serbia as a result of the EU decision. The reason is that the EU decision on November 30 to lift the Schengen visa regime on certain countries in the Western Balkans is highly selective. It applies to Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro but not to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo or Albania. [For <http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=1606> good reason, some might say.] … The new visa regime does not even apply to residents of Kosovo who have Serbian biometric passports. That is why an increasing number of people from Kosovo have been trying to exchange addresses in Kosovo for official residence in Presevo and Bujanovac, two Albanian-majority municipalities in Southern Serbia. Police in Presevo and Bujanovac say the largest number of applications has come from people born in Southern Serbia who later moved to Kosovo. But the list of applicants also includes people who never lived in Southern Serbia. Most requests get nowhere. The police, working under the Serbian Interior Ministry, usually turn them down, saying they do not believe these applicants have any intention of permanently residing or working in Serbia. Eshref Duraku is one of the disappointed applicants. Coming from Gnjilan, in southeast Kosovo, he had no prior connection to Southern Serbia but says a man from Bujanovac agreed to register him at his own address as a subtenant. “My only goal was to get a Serbian passport to use the right to travel without a visa regime,” he admits. “I wanted to visit relatives in Austria and find a job there.” He did not succeed. Police in the nearest big town in Southern Serbia, Vranje, denied his request for permanent resident status in Bujanovac. … Stojanca Arsic, a leading Serbian deputy in the Bujanovac local assembly, defends Belgrade’s stance, however. “The competent authorities are only acting in accordance with the law,” he said. “An actual intention to change residence must be proven.” Asked by Balkan Insight to clarify the basis on which the police refuse to register new residence applications for the municipalities of Southern Serbia, police in Vranje…[wrote,] “Having in mind that a lot of requests for a change of residence have been submitted lately - not with the intention of permanent residence - in order to prevent registering fictitious addresses… the competent authorities are entitled to decide whether a person has filed a request in order to get a job, get married or something similar, and if the conditions have not been met, the request will be denied,” the written response added. Zorica Kasalica, a senior official in the ministry of interior…maintained that an applicant’s ethnic background was of no relevance to the procedure. Only the documentary evidence that was submitted was taken into consideration.
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