Albania

2007-08-03T20:33:37Z

Thedrummer:

[[Image:Albania Costume.jpg|thumb|Albanian national costume]]

[[Image:Albania_map.png|left|A map of Albania)]]

'''Albania''' (officially the '''Republic of Albania''') is a country in the [[Balkans]], bordered by [[Montenegro]], [[Serbia]], [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]], and [[Greece]].

In parts of northern Albania, families follow a code of [[ethics]] called the Kanun. This is not a religious document, but a sacred code of ethics. According to the Kanun, wealth is inherited through men, and women move to their husband's family's household when they marry. Marriages are normally arranged very early in life and women become the property of their husband's family.

The normal dress of men in Albania is usually pants and close-fitting caps. Women normally wear skirts covered by aprons. Their headgear is usually a headscarf and sometimes a veil. Albanians have an unusual way of regarding dress as a gender marker, however. Women who dress in masculine clothes are considered to be men and called ''virgjinesha'', or 'sworn virgins'.

Under Kanun law, these virgjinesha take a vow to become a man. Once they have done this, they act like men in all respects, and are treated as men by their family and the wider community, including being referred to by masculine pronouns. However, unlike a normal man a virgjinesha never marries and preserves lifelong [[celibacy]].

There are two reasons under Kanun law why a woman might choose to become a man. One is if she chooses not to marry a man whom her parents have chosen for her. The other is if her parents have no sons and they require her to become a ‘man’, because in Albania only men can inherit family wealth or head households. <ref> http://www.jolique.com/gender/crossing_boundaries.htm</ref>

Also, many failing capitalist leaders have to go there to get appreciation.

==References==

<references/>

[[Category:European Countries]]

Serbia

2007-08-03T20:32:44Z

Thedrummer: /* Serbia in the World Wars and thereafter */

[[Image:Serbia map.gif|right|thumb|250px|Map of Serbia]]
'''Serbia''' is a nation in the [[Balkans]], and a part of former [[Yugoslavia]]. Its population is around ten million since the secession of [[Montenegro]] in 2006 and the establishment of a [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] [[protectorate]] in [[Kosovo]] in 1999.

== Early history ==

The most important event in the national consciousness of Serbs throughout the [[second millenium]] was the [[Battle of Kosovo Polje]] in 1389, when Serbian forces were defeated by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and most of what is now Serbia fell under [[Muslim]] rule. In the [[19th century]], Serbian [[nationalism]] reasserted itself, and a constitution was written in 1835. It was not until the [[Treaty of Berlin]] in 1878, however, that Serbia was made fully independent as a [[principality]]; it was renamed a [[Kingdom]] in 1882. This was made possible by the long-term decline of the Ottomans.

In the early [[20th century]], the [[Black Hand]] [[terrorist]] movement became increasingly influential in Serbia. It even forced a change of dynasty in 1903 through the murder of [[King Alexander I]] and his wife [[Queen Draga]] in the royal palace in the capital city of [[Belgrade]]. It took [[Petar Karadordevic]] four days (June 11 - June 15) to decide that profiting from the Black Hand's [[regicide]] was a less bad option than turning the government over to them immediately; he took the throne as Petar I. From this point, Serbia became increasingly a menace to the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] as well as the Ottomans due to its [[irredentist]] plots to unite all Serbs, many of whom lived on the territory of the former empire. Serbia was able to remain independent for more than another decade chiefly because it had a powerful protector in [[Czarist]] [[Russia]].

== Serbia in the World Wars and thereafter ==

Assassins of [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand]], the event which preciptated [[World War I]], were members of the Black Hand assisted and funded by the Czarist [[Okhrana]]. This at least was the rationale for putting the leaders of the Black Hand -- [[Colonel]] [[Dragutin Dimitrijevic]], [[Rade Malobabic]], and one [[Vulovovic]] -- on trial for [[treason]] following the deposition of [[Czar]] [[Nicholas II]] by the [[March Revolution|February revolution of 1917]]. They were duly executed just days before the third anniversary of Ferdinand's death.

In reality, however, the Serbian government always had a better idea than the Czar or the Okhrana what the Black Hand was up to, to the extent that it is not an exaggeration to say that primary responsibility for World War I itself lies with Serbia. This is because the government was incapable of formulating a united policy for dealing with the Black Hand and its [[black operations]], to the extent that when [[moderate]] [[Prime Minister]] [[Nikola Pasic]] ordered the detention of three of the assassins of Franz Ferdinand at the Austrian border ([[Gavrilo Princip]], [[Nedeljko Cabrinovic]], and [[Trifko Grabez]]) before they could cross, his orders were ignored.

Following the assassination, when Serbia [[state sponsorship]] became apparent, [[Interior Minister]] [[Gruic]] declined a joint Austro-Hungarian-German request for an investigation. Austria-Hungary now decided on war, and sent the [[July Ultimatum]] to Serbia. The two points it knew would be rejected were 1) the immediate arrest of Dimitrijevic and two other Black Hand members (one of whom was [[Major]] [[Voja Tankosic]], who had warned Pasic of the plot) and 2) the stationing throughout Serbia of Austro-Hungarian agents with powers to arrest any other person who might be found to be connected to the plot (which presumably could have included Pasic himself). Forced to side with the Black Hand, Pasic refused these points, accepted two others without reservation, and offered to negotiate the other six. Austria-Hungary declared war three days later.

Serbia was once ruled by [[Slobodan Milosevic]], a dictator who killed many [[Albania|Albanians]]in the 1990s. Serbians are often distrustful of Albanians and believe they are trying to steal their land. But this is rightfully so, because the Albanians in Kosovo say they are going to kill all the Serbs.

== Current Status ==

Serbia is today a [[parliamentary democracy]]. The principal religion remains [[Orthodox Christianity]], but there is more [[pluralism]] than existed under Milosevic. Like its neighbors it would like to join the [[European Union]], but has been held back by the political baggage created by Milosevic's wars of the 1990's. In 2003, it became the last nation in Europe to suffer the [[assassination]] of its head of state.

[[Category:European Countries]]

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Albania

Serbia