Please Educate Me About The Balkans (Russian, years, western, ally)

[domergurl]

I don't know, it's looking more and more like Serbia is going to try and get Kosovo "back in line". Since the US, France and England have already recognized them as an independent country ... ugh!!! Diplomacy means nothing in that region. It's going to be ugly.

[CroatWebWanderer]

You can never be sure with the Balkans, that's for sure.

However, knowing that the US army built that huge Bondsteel military camp in Kosovo, I don't think anyone will dare to attack Kosovo (to get it back to Serbia).

Camp Bondsteel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by Loujr

The asassination was just the spark that exploded into WWI. Never underestimate your enemy and don't be naive enough to think the Russians are militarily weak or our friends ... they aren't, friend. Lou

Gee, I dont think i insinuated that Russia was our friend.I just dont think that an attempt by any country to step in on this would be a good thing. it would probably spread the conflict out of the area generally considered "the Balkans"

[Chinolala]

Bonus: a few things from previous posters I think are not correct.



“Orthodox Church is a Catholic church”
No, in fact they are very different, among other things Catholics have the Pope in Vatican as the prior, Orthodox don’t.

You're wrong on this one. I'm Serbian Orthodox. Here's an excerpt from my Serbian Orthodox prayer book: "A characteristic feature of the Orthodox Church is that it is Ecumenical or Catholic. Ecumenical means "worldwide" and Catholic means "universal". Both terms have virtually the same meaning and both are valid."

In any case, the religions are actually very similar in doctrine. Up until 1054, they were one church. We're much more different than Protestant religions but very similar to Roman Catholics.

[domergurl]

You cross yourselves differently. Not sure what the background of that is.

[Thyra]

I realize religion is an important part of a discussion on the Balkans, but lets not take it too far.. Thanks

[Chinolala]

Sorry. I was just correcting a misconception. You are right. Religion is a vital part of the strife in the Balkans. It's hard to discuss the topic without mentioning it.

[CroatWebWanderer]

Originally Posted by lisak64

Bonus: a few things from previous posters I think are not correct.
You're wrong on this one. I'm Serbian Orthodox. Here's an excerpt from my Serbian Orthodox prayer book: "A characteristic feature of the Orthodox Church is that it is Ecumenical or Catholic. Ecumenical means "worldwide" and Catholic means "universal". Both terms have virtually the same meaning and both are valid."

In any case, the religions are actually very similar in doctrine. Up until 1054, they were one church. We're much more different than Protestant religions but very similar to Roman Catholics.

You are right – for example my church (Roman Catholic) accepts the sacraments from orthodox churches but not the protestant ones.
My remark about Orthodox = Catholic was not doctrinal but organizational – Catholic Church is global, universal, and is clearly separated from orthodox churches (who are mostly national, Serbian, Russian, Greek, etc).

Originally Posted by Trudeyrose

I realize religion is an important part of a discussion on the Balkans, but lets not take it too far.. Thanks

Mea culpa :}

But it is not easy to discuss the Balkans without letting religions in

[Thyra]

It is Imposssible to leave religion out of this discussion!
However it would be better not to get into "Doctorine" differences between them here, as important as they are. A good place to do that would be over in the Religion Forum.
Thanks for your cooperation

[domergurl]

It's not looking good ....

Serbia reclaims stretch of rail line in Kosovo - International Herald Tribune