Serbia regresses as Belgrade burns

Smoke billowed from the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade today after protesters broke into the building, destroying offices and setting fire to the interior. Outside, furious Serbian protestors burned the American flag that few over the embassy door, briefly replacing it with their own:

The violent demonstration came at the end of a state-sponsored rally held under the banner "Kosovo is Serbia." Apparently the angry, anti-American outburst had no relation to the 200,000 person rally, but Serbia's state officials definitely should have seen an attack on the U.S. Embassy coming.

The embassy was already the site of a major demonstration that took place just hours after Kosovo announced its independence on Sunday. And its location made it a very easy target in today’s gathering -- it sits just blocks from both the Parliament building where the protest began and the Serbian Orthodox temple where the protest concluded.

Yet despite its obvious vulnerability, the Serbian officials who called the rally apparently did not plan any police protection for the building. When the fires broke out, not one police officer could be found on the scene. And it took more than an hour and a half before 200 riot police finally made an appearance.

By leaving the embassy unguarded today, Serbian officials reverted to a favorite technique of the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic -- call in the crowds and let the mob mentality do the rest. In doing so, they did manage to grab international attention, but only to demonstrate just how little Serbian democracy has progressed.