Serbian army commander urges NATO to increase protections to minority Serbs in Kosovo News
Serbian army commander urges NATO to increase protections to minority Serbs in Kosovo

Serbian army commander, General Milan Mojsilovic, is urging NATO peacekeepers to increase efforts to protect minority Serbs who are in Kosovo. The call for protection follows the failure of peacekeeping negotiations between the EU, Serbia and Kosovo. Last week, the EU hosted emergency talks on Friday with the aim of defusing tensions around the borders of Serbia and Kosovo following a Kosovo police seizure of a Serb-majority municipality.

The EU hosted two separate discussions with Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels after the two refused to meet face-to-face. The seizure of the local municipality buildings in Northern Kosovo was conducted to install ethnic Albanian mayors who had been elected in a local election that Serbs boycotted. This has cumulated in clashes, and NATO has sent reinforcements. NATO has been installed in Kosovo since 1999 in a peace-support operation known as the Kosovo Force (KFOR). In a statement on June 18th, it acknowledged the severity of the tensions in Northern Kosovo and reiterated its obligations to maintain peace and de-escalation. While the emergency talks failed, it was agreed that an emergency election was needed, and NATO stated that it would continue to act “impartially.”

General Mojsilovic called for increased protections following the failure of discussions and said that the “international community is not fulfilling its obligations” to protect the minority Serbs in Kosovo. He urged KFOR to increase the Serbs’ protections and undertake more urgent measures. Xhelal Svecla, Kosovo’s interior minister, accused Serbia of using groups and organisations to destabilise the country after a car with Belgrade registration was found containing weapons. He asserted that the Kosovo police would “continue their commitments to the prevention” of such acts which are ‘aimed at threatening the security’ of the country.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Justice Department brings anit-trust action against AT&T

On November 20, 1974, the Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. United States v. AT&T was ultimately settled out of court with an agreement that the corporation would break up its monopoly on phone service throughout the country.

Nuremberg war crimes trials began

On November 20, 1945, the war crimes trials of Nazi World War II leaders began in the German city of Nuremberg. Review the Nuremberg Tribunal's Charter and the verdicts and sentences handed down on major war figures.

Winston Churchill born

On November 20, 1874, Sir Winston Churchill was born in Woodstock, England. He would go on to lead the United Kingdom as Prime Minister through World War II. Toward the end of the war, Churchill worked with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to craft the treaties and accords that have defined the world since WWII. A 2002 poll by the BBC declared Churchill the Greatest Briton of all time.

New Jersey ratifies Bill of Rights

New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, a set of 10 fundamental amendments to the US Constitution, on November 20, 1789, becoming the first state to do so. The state also ratified an amendment on federal representation which ultimately failed. Additionally, New Jersey rejected an amendment on congressional salaries, which would eventually become the 27th Amendment more than 200 years later. Read the articles ratified by New Jersey.