"I recommend the chicken fajitas, Sir!"

Well it's been two weeks in Kosovo: countless white UN Land Cruisers, construction everywhere, expat bars and money in Pristina, horses and carts elsewhere. My favourite moments have been sharing a café lunch with a US Army major, lieutenant and sergeant all in full camouflage ("I recommend the chicken fajitas, Sir!"), shooting some pool in a starkly-lit hall with Albanian techno turned up loud to hide the roar of electricity generators outside, and listening to the Kosovar-Albanian I was staying with describe how the US's foreign policies are based on their need to fly to Mars (they need a lot of oil for that).

I've heard Kosovar-Albanians detail the persecution they suffered under Serbian rule, in the same sentence as dismissing the persecution they dish out to Serbs now. Empathy seems to have been eclipsed by a self-righteous push for independence, and now that Kosovar-Albanians themselves are the majority not minority, it's their turn to see minorities as an inconvenience. All this is fed by the arrogance of knowing they're supported by hundreds of NGOs, 30+ militaries, the UN, and most of all their "saviour" the USA.

[lunch on the train from Budapest to Belgrade]
[the pharmaceutical factory outside Belgrade we bombed in 1999, with a Serb Orthodox monastery uncomfortably in the middle of it]
[the Yugoslav Ministry of Defence, crumpled from a NATO missile]
[riding a tram with my friend Maja in Belgrade]
['No Negotiations, Self-Determination!' in Pristina, Kosovo]
[the UN and OSCE blending-in effortlessly]
[Kosovar-Albanian souvenirs - war heros and Bill Klinton [sic]]

[Kosovo-Serb souvenirs - war heros and France]
[destroyed houses in the Roma district of Mitrovica]
[shopping for televisions in US Camp Bondsteel's department store (between their Burger King franchise and the Thai massage parlour-- seriously)]