Having covered Mladic's monstrous crimes in real time, I had dared to hope Serbia would not do this. I had hoped that today's young Serbs' dreams of joining Europe, being in the democracy and human rights club, might add an element of common sense, morality and restraint. But must we now conclude this IS who Serbia wants to be? A nation aligned with, and honouring, a convicted war criminal, a mass murderer, guilty of the most heinous crime under the sun: genocide. How could the system, including the church, allow this?
https://t.co/N9pNk5EAZs
For fifteen years Belgrade sold Western capitals a story: Kosovo as Europe's Islamist incubator, Serbia the indispensable partner holding the dossier.
In Kosovo Dispatch, @DrizanShala reads the court files. Serbia's own service was operating inside the mosques: paying for counts of imams, prayer houses and returnee families, recruiting among believers, and keeping a sponsored man inside ISIS for seven years.
The charging papers in Prishtina state the product in black letter: a narrative harmful to Kosovo's statehood.
Belgrade instructed the world to ask what Kosovo's mosques harbor. These files entitle Kosovo to ask what Belgrade's service was doing inside them.
https://t.co/WORoHkiATv
Ten years ago this month, Kosovo were not recognised by football.
On Tuesday, the Balkan nation with just 1.6million inhabitants will qualify for the men’s World Cup if they defeat Turkey in the play-off final.
Kosovo were only granted membership status by FIFA, global football’s governing body, and its European equivalent UEFA in May 2016. The decade since has had challenges, setbacks and resistance, but it may yet have a fairytale ending.
Football’s youngest nation may find themselves on sport’s biggest stage and the symbolism goes far beyond the pitch.
@Millar_Colin
FREE TO READ 🔗 https://t.co/4zbSw0MLU1
Kosovo to the World Cup? Once utterly unthinkable but it really could happen tonight. Delighted to be back in Pristina, preview here with two cherished faces from the country's football journey: https://t.co/sq3dawZ6BX
@RichRedVoices What was really frustrating was the fact that the players should know what to expect (their cup final) and be ready for it rather than crumbling yet again.
Just have to hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the end.. playing Villa, Chelsea & L'pool means it's still in our hands
@WayneSBarton Two weeks after arriving in Manchester as a 13-year-old refugee, I watched the ’99 CL final in a pub with my dad.
90 mins of agony → Ole’s goal → beautiful chaos. It felt like my life in fast-forward: from war to wonder. That night, Man Utd had me hooked forever.
Shame on journalists who keep amplifying this revisionist nonsense.
“War-torn country” yeah, torn apart by his country’s campaign of ethnic cleansing. I was in Kosovo living that nightmare. NATO didn’t bomb for fun. But go on, Novak, tell us more about your $10 hardship.
Novak Djokovic: “I came from a war torn country. My dad put a ten dollar bill when I was 12 and said this is all we got. He said if you want to play this expensive sport you have to step it up. I had to mature much earlier than I was supposed to.”
https://t.co/vSXGzz9Pqf
Shocking decision by VAR at Stamford Bridge. That is never in a million years a foul. What is Muniz supposed to do there when attempting that turn? #CHELFUL