Mine? Ha, I wish. Graduation sometimes seems like Shangri-La, or an academic Valhalla - two mythical places, the latter only reached if slain in the throes of study.
Kate and I trekked over to UQ to congratulate Milton, Grace and Dan on their graduation ceremony day. Unfortunately Milton had already returned his gown and left, but Dan and Grace were still waiting to go into their ceremony at 6pm.
These three have been my closest university friends over the last three-and-a-half years. I’ll miss you Milton and Grace, but I promise we’ll see you in Singapore sometime! Dan will be half a world away, in Beaudesert, so I’ll probably see him less.
This is the only photo I took. It is of the back of Dan Tang’s head. Although you wouldn’t necessarily have known that. He’s a hairy fellow. There were other photos, and hopefully Dan or Grace will post them soon. Whose camera was that, anyway?
I hope you enjoyed your time with your dad, Grace.
And Milton - big, big congratulations on your Masters!
5 comments ↓
To respond to a blog six years ago, I generally don’t read your blogs when they have a ‘read more’ link.
I can’t put my finger on why, though.
Hello!
I started reading about the war in Kosovo, and since you seem keen on teh subject, I have five questions you may answer or point me to useful sources:
1. How come Milosovic gained so much power?
2. Why Roguva did not participated in the talks on March 5 (after the atrocities)?
3. What is the role of the KLA in this mess?
4. Where the Jihadists come in?
5. What is essentially the difference between the NATO air campaign and Israel’s? (Because it can be said NATO did it on behalf of the Albanians, not?)
Bren - I know this would be asking you to ‘put your finger on it’, but does it have anything to do with what’s come before the ‘read more’ link? Like, do you feel you’ve got all you need to get out of that post, or you feel what you’ve already read doesn’t promise much more? I need to try and structure so people can get the general idea and move on without feeling like they have to read more, or be captivated to WANT to read more!
Blonde - if you’ve been reading about Kosovo, you’ve probably already seen some good sources of information. I don’t have the time to go and do any extra study/investigation to answer your questions, so will just have to try off the top of my head.
First, read through all my Balkans posts, which you may have already done, to see if these questions are answered there.
okay:
1. How come Milosovic gained so much power?
He played up nationalist sentiments. That’s simplistic, you need political backing more than just a racist/xenophobic public to agree with you, but essentially that’s it. I’m not sure if I included it in one of those Balkans posts, but while researching one paper I learned about how he came to power. I’ll assume you’ve read that in your own readings, and I think that would answer the question. You would have to clarify the question. Also, when are you asking about? When he originally gained power in the late 80s?
2. Why Roguva did not participated in the talks on March 5 (after the atrocities)?
Which talks exactly? And after which atrocities? There were a lot! Which year?
3. What is the role of the KLA in this mess?
Officially the KLA/UCK doesn’t exist anymore. The KPC, or Kosovo Protection Corps, is kind of the ‘police’ of Kosovo, but they are essentially the KLA re-branded. I wrote a paper on the KLA that I’ll try and make a link to (I can’t get to it right now and just hoping the external hard drive that it’s on isn’t corrupted, since it’s got 15gB of music on it as well). Once you can read it you might find some of the references at the end useful. It gives some good history (I think) of the KLA. How they formed, how they started pissing off Serbia, how they were involved in the talks that led to NATO airstrikes on Serbia and how they are involved now in Kosovo’s political structure.
4. Where the Jihadists come in?
Not sure. What have you read about jihadists? When doing my paper on Kosovo I didn’t really come across much information about jihadists and the KLA, so can’t really answer the question.
5. What is essentially the difference between the NATO air campaign and Israel’s? (Because it can be said NATO did it on behalf of the Albanians, not?)
I guess for an accurate international law perspective, Mr Bren Carlill would be the best person to ask this question. And since international law is probably all that really matters in rationally discussing these situations, what I’m about to say can probably be disregarded.
Remember, when you say “on behalf of the Albanians”, you mean on behalf of Albanian Kosovars. Kosovo is officially (and has for a long time been) an autonomous province of Serbia. Within Kosovo there are people who identify themselves of Serbian ethnic origin, Albanian ethnic origin, and other less populous groups. Just to make the distinction that in regards to international law, neither Albanian Kosovars, or Kosovo itself, is an independent nation from Serbia.
Okay, where was I? So yes the NATO air campaign was, effectively, to protect the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo that was being forced out of their homes and/or killed by the Serbian military police and army. But it was also a way to try and get rid of Milosevic, who the West weren’t too fond of anyway since he was blamed for starting the Yugoslave wars in the early to mid-90s.
What’s the difference between that and Israel’s air campaign? Let’s assume things are equal, and that NATO’s air campaign was in fact planned, conducted, and carried out by an ethnic Albanian Kosovo air force of some sort. From a purely personal point of view, that would have been far more legitimate than what Israel is doing. I forget the exact number, but up to 800,000 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo (out of something like 1.2million) were forced from their homes and made refugees. And many people were killed. I would argue many more people killed than Hezbollah has killed Israelis, for example. So, was that response justified to protect, and repatriate, 800,000 people? I say, yes. That said, if it was in fact an ethnic Albanian air force of some kind, I’m sure they would have inflicted much more indiscriminate damage than NATO did out of pure anger/revenge if nothing else.
Now, we’ve assumed things being equal for the Albanians. Compare Israel’s air campaign. Is it to protect 800,000 displaced and threatened Israelis? Some may argue yes, Israeli’s are under threat from potshot missiles coming over from Lebanon. But realistically, no. Has it displaced and made homeless thousands and thousands of innocent Lebanese civilians? Yes. I haven’t tried to find the exact number, but it’s an obviously very large one.
I know there will be disagreement, but you get that. Also, because Kosovo is part of Serbia, it was an internal issue. That’s why it took so long for NATO to do anything - and also the reason NATO did it, not the UN or anyone else. If Kosovo was a country in its own right, what Serbia did would have been considered an invasion, an act of war, and probably dealt with immediately by the UN because Kosovo had no real means of protection itself.
Israel considered what Hezbollah did an act of war by Lebanon. As well explained by Bren, because they’re a part of the government and so what their militant wing does is with consent of their political leaders… etc etc.
Have I even answered this question yet? Dang this is long.
Hey Dave,
Sorry I didn’t get back to you ’bout this.
Just because I can’t be bothered. Internet users are really lazy, and you’ve got to make them REALLY want to click the ‘read more’ link. (e.g. hot, naked chicks!)
I’d read your post if it was there in front of me. If it’s not, I read the next blog on my list.
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