BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Masked rioters torch
the U.S. Embassy. Mobs throw U.N. border kiosks into a river.
Demonstrators burn American and EU flags.
Serbs are furious at Kosovo’s declaration of
independence, and the nationalist-backed government is stoking
the flames of a visceral passion for a province where Serbs have
long been a minority - but that is seen as the sacred heartland
of the Serb nation.
By breaking free, Kosovo has touched several raw
nerves in the Serbian psyche.
This war-shattered nation feels it is being
unfairly punished for the sins of late strongman Slobodan
Milosevic. It is wounded by the loss of yet another big chunk of
its territory. Its youths are bitter and restless over the deep
poverty brought on by four lost wars.
And now it is faced with the trauma of saying
goodbye to what its people are taught to cherish as the cradle
of their culture.
The vehemence of the Serb response to the
Kosovar declaration may then seem less surprising - perhaps even
inevitable - when viewed in this context. And Serb leaders have
not hesitated to manipulate the psychological scars to rally the
masses for political gain.
