When the Men with Guns Rule: Explaining Human Rights Failures in Kosovo Since 1999

The Kosovo war and the Washington Post: Bombings and alignments

“…UNMIK and NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) have failed to protect Kosovo’s non-Albanian minorities after June 1999 (Wolfgram, 2008b; see also Castan Pinos, 2019: 179; Johnstone, 2002: 253–256). Many thousands of Kosovo Serbs fled the pogroms that immediately followed the war (Hammond, 2019; see also Gowan, 2000: 51; Halimi et al, 2014: 112; Johnstone, 2002: 253; Wolfgram, 2008b: 465). Many more have left since.…”

“…Considering the consequences of the war and its repercussions (see Castan Pinos, 2019; Chandler, 2006; Gowan, 2000; Hammond, 2019; Johnstone, 2002; Orakhelashvili, 2017; Wolfgram, 2008b) and that Operation Allied Force was US-led, it is important to study the media coverage of the war in the United States. This article examines the discourse of the major newspaper of the US capital, where the center of power is located.…”

“…Pan-Albanian nationalism united the organization (Castan Pinos, 2019: 24). The collapse of the Albanian government in 1997 allowed the KLA to acquire more weapons (Wolfgram, 2008b: 469; see also Judah, 2008: 80). In the winter of 1997–1998, the KLA ‘announced the start of the battle for Kosovo’s unification with Albania’ and increased its attacks on police and civilians (Johnstone, 2002: 235).…”

“…Many more have left since. Serbia claims jurisdiction over Kosovo, but ‘constant low-level violence, intimidation and harassment continue to make normal life impossible for Kosovo’s Serbs and other minorities.’ Serious violence erupted in 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2011 (Hammond, 2019; see also Wolfgram, 2008b).…”

“… 6. As Wolfgram (2008b: 468) points out, ‘the roots of Albanian nationalism exist in a longer struggle with Serbs for control of Kosovo that stretches back well before the arrival of Slobodan Milošević in the mid-1980s.’ Moreover, ‘[i]t was the activities of ethnic-Albanian nationalists in driving Serbs out of Kosovo during the 1980s which allowed Milosevic to assume the mantle of protector of the Serbs’ (Hammond, 2007: 123; see also Ackerman and Naureckas, 2000: 98–99; Castan Pinos, 2019: 18–19). …”