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Entry: Who Is Matt Welch? Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/who_is_matt_welch#22323 Post contents: I admire most of your work Mr. Raimondo, and I try to read your contributions without fail. I do have a peripheral disagreement with you, regarding Kosovo. I agree that NATO (i.e., American) military involvement --bombing Serbia in 1999-- was wrong, however the Albanians from Kosovo do have a legitimate right to secede (and even join Albania). Despite the often repeated Serbian claim that Kosovo is the heart of Serbia, the majority of the population of Kosovo has for centuries been Albanian. During the fall of the Ottoman empire in the 19th and 20th centuries, the renewed (after 4 centuries) Serbian state engaged in massive ethnic cleansing of various people, mostly Albanians. Following Serbian (re)occupation, Kosovo was under martial law for decades, as Serbs and Montenegrins were colonized there in an ultimately failed attempt to redress the ethnic balance. The Albanians there never willingly accepted being incorporated into the Serbian, later Yugoslav state. When you castigate the American empire --justly-- please don't fall into the trap of defending a resurgent Serbian empire. Yes, I know, this tiny Balkan empire took a well-deserved beating over the last 18 years. Sent at: 2008 05 16