Magnifisyncopathological

...or, Nationalism Is Fucking Scary and Stands in Direct Opposition to Individual Freedom.

Anyone watching the news about Serbia and Kosovo? Here's a sample of the crazy shit going on:

New York Times:
In a Divided Kosovo City, a Resounding Vow to Remain Part of Serbia

MITROVICA, Kosovo — A day after Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership declared independence from Serbia, 7,000 Serbs took to the streets of this divided city, waving Serbian flags, chanting “Kosovo is Serbia!” and burning an American flag covered with the words “The Fourth Reich.”

A small clutch of radicals stood at the bridge leading to the Albanian side of the city shouting, “Kick, shout, kill the Albanians!” Old men and women wept, some expressing disbelief that Kosovo was no longer theirs. A NATO military helicopter hovered overhead. Armed police officers formed a human shield to keep the protesters from trying to cross to the other side of the bridge, where crowds of Albanians looked on defiantly.

[...]

Even as Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders pledged to protect the rights of the Serbian minority, Serbs in Mitrovica said Monday that they would never join the “false state” and would remain part of Serbia. They said they had put their faith in Moscow, which vehemently rejects Kosovo’s independence.

“If the Albanians try to cross the bridge, we demand from the Serbian Army to use all available means to stop them,” Marko Jaksic, the Kosovo Serbs’ hard-line leader, told the protesters. “America is no longer the single world power. The Russians are coming. As long as there is Russia and Serbia, there will never be an independent Kosovo.”

So some of the locals are tyrannical nutjobs who want to literally possess the life and liberty of their neighbors.

The AP via the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:
Kosovo recognition irritates Russia and China

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The U.S. and the European Union's biggest powers quickly recognized Kosovo as an independent nation Monday, widening a split with Russia, China and some EU members strongly opposed to letting the territory break away from Serbia.

[...]

Despite clamoring of Serbs to retake Kosovo, Serbia's government has ruled out a military response.

But the dispute is likely to worsen already strained relations between the West and Russia, which is a traditional ally of Serbia and seeks to restore its influence in former Soviet bloc states. The Kremlin could become less likely to help in international efforts important to the U.S. and its allies, such as pressuring Iran to rein in its nuclear program.

Still, for Washington, the declaration of independence by Kosovo vindicated years of dogged effort to help a population achieve its dream of self-determination after years of ethnic conflict and repression by Serbia.

Speaking in Tanzania, President Bush said: "The Kosovars are now independent" -- and Washington formally recognized Kosovo as an independent country soon afterward. Germany, Britain and France also gave their backing, saying they planned to issue formal recognitions.

But Russia, Serbia's key ally, and emerging global power China remained adamantly opposed to Kosovo's independence, warning of the danger of inspiring separatist movements around the world, including in their own sprawling territories.

"America and the European Union are stealing Kosovo from us, everyone must realize that," said Tomislav Nikolic, the head of Serbia's ultra-nationalist Radical Party.

Here's to free association and the thumb in the eye it represents to governments worldwide.