"Protesters Attack U.S. Embassy in Belgrade" (NY Times, February 21, 2008).Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
"When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it...". (1 Corinthians 4:12)
Make sure to catch the irony.
21 February 2008
"[Orthodoxy] is a Religion of Peace"; or, What Martyrs Do
"Protesters Attack U.S. Embassy in Belgrade" (NY Times, February 21, 2008).Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
"When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it...". (1 Corinthians 4:12)
Make sure to catch the irony.
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2 comments:
Speaking of irony I kind of like what written by Andy Wilcoxson
"On February 21st Serbian protesters set fire to the American embassy in Belgrade. The attack was provoked by the Bush Administration’s decision to give diplomatic recognition to the Albanian separatist regime in Serbia’s Kosovo province.
“Our embassy was attacked by thugs,” White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We have made known to the Serbian government our concern and displeasure that their police force did not prevent this incident.”
Nicholas Burns, the State Department's envoy to Serbia, complained that the attack was “unacceptable” and that “their protection of the embassy was sorely lacking”.
The American Government’s reaction is perplexing. If anything Serbia’s police should be commended for their “prudent behavior”. After all, the police might have hurt someone or caused an escalation in the rioting if they had tried to stop the crowd from burning down the embassy.
One may recall that in March of 2004 KFOR troops stood-by while the Albanians rioted in Kosovo. The Albanians were unopposed as they destroyed 29 Serbian churches and 800 homes belonging to Serbs and other non-Albanian civilians.
Colonel Dieter Hintelmann, the commander of the German KFOR contingent in Prizren, explained KFOR’s inaction saying: “Protection of buildings is not the task of the Bundeswehr in Kosovo” and German defense minister Peter Struck praised the “prudent behavior" of the KFOR soldiers saying “They reacted rationally, preventing an escalation and thus protecting human lives.”
According to an article in Der Spiegel, when a group of Albanian rioters attacked the Serbian monastery of Holy Archangels during the March 2004 riots, the approach road could have been easily blocked with a few armored vehicles, especially since master sergeant Udo Wambach and 19 soldiers of the Bundeswehr were stationed inside the 14th century monastery.
The Albanian demonstrators sent a delegation under a white flag to the KFOR soldiers and ensured them that nothing bad would happen to them that “we only want to burn down the monastery.” The KFOR troops evacuated the monks and the monastery was then burned down.
Master sergeant Wambach received a commendation for his “outstanding act” from KFOR. According to the commendation, the sergeant avoided “by his prudent behavior and courageous action, an escalation of violence, preventing bloodshed and protecting the human lives entrusted to him”.
Rather than complaining about their embassy being burned down, the U.S. Government should be commending Serbia’s police for their “prudent behavior”. After all, the embassy was just a building – it’s not like it was an irreplaceable 14th century UNESCO world heritage site.
One may also recall that on October 5th 2000 the United States supported anti-government riots in Belgrade that resulted in the parliament being set on fire, Radio-Television Serbia being taken-over by force, and the headquarters of the Socialist Party of Serbia being ransacked.
As I recall those riots were praised by the U.S. Government as a “triumph of democracy”. The U.S. Government certainly didn’t call the people who set the parliament on fire “thugs”. If I remember correctly, the American administration praised them for their courage.
The American Government ought to be happy that Serbia is democratic enough that people can register their political protest by burning down foreign embassies without having to fear police repression. If October 5th has taught us anything it is that the U.S. Government considers the destruction of property to be an acceptable and even courageous form of political protest."
Like I said before our government is schizophrenic and just a tad delusional...
So, it's terrible that KFOR has allowed rioting and the destruction of buildings to go one under their watchful eye, so that means it was just as acceptable for the Serbian police to act in the same way. Sounds an awful lot like 'the woman did it, too'.
I should think that a people claiming to be martyrs and claiming to hold on to the Orthodox 'holy land' of Kosovo act more like Christians and less like Kissinger. I hear nothing of repentence on behalf of those Serbs that did committ atrocities and that are responsible for the world's perception that the Serbs are the aggressors. I hear mainly that Albanians and Bosnians and Croats did it 'more', 'first' or 'worse' and that Serbs are simply singled out. That all may be, but Our Lord was executed unjustly, too, and he didn't claim it was all due to Roman and Jewish propaganda - he was a sheep silent before the shearers. I don't remember "It's not fair" being one of his final words.
All the things the Serbs are saying are perfectly acceptable for states to say, and they all very well may be true, but what is unacceptable is for the Church as Church and clergy as clergy to take sides simply because they are ours, to allow for no repentence on the behalf of Serbs for the sins they and theirs committed, and for a continual remembrance of wrongs for all those against Serb desires with a constant forgetfulness of their own sins (we all have them). This where we fall into the trap of supporting SERBIA because they are/were Orthodox rather than ORTHODOXY in Serbia.
At the end of the day, you can't be a martyr and complain about it. Besides, there seems to be a default self-identification that Serb = martyr and Serb = defender of Orthodoxy and Christendom. This is perfectly acceptable and holy, as long as one is acting like a martyr and a defender of Orthodoxy and Christendom. The problem comes when because they were these things at one time they expect to be treated as such in the future, and regardless of the actions they take. It's sort of like the Calvinists' 'once saved, always saved' heresy.
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