Nemanja Avramović claims there would be no crucial change in American politics towards Serbia. Still, he is optimistic (SRP):

Barack Obama […] is the new president of the United States. I know this probably does not mean anything for Serbia (directly), because U.S. policy towards Serbia and Kosovo will not change. Although if the new president of the United States really fulfills his election promises, the situation would be at least a little better all over the world, and therefore indirectly in Serbia as well.

Sivi Soko (”Gray Falcon”) thinks (SRP) Obama's “Change” came out to be like Serbian president Boris Tadić's “Better Life” campaign - a story for election use only:

The daily newspaper [Glas Javnosti] published [an essay (SRP)] by [Srđa Trifković] about how the result of elections in America would impact Serbia. […]

[…] However, we learn that the “transition” team has appointed some former employees of [Bill Clinton]'s State Department. One of them now works for the [Albright Group] (company [owned by Madeleine Albright]). […]

“The only way for some big change to happen in American relations with the Balkan area would be if Serbia acted strongly with aggressive diplomacy efforts. With this government in Belgrade, this is, of course, completely impossible.”

In another post, Sivi Soko adds:

Have you ever thought that the euphoria with which some Americans perceive Barack Hussein Obama may be similar to the euphoria with which some Serbs experienced [Slobodan Milošević]? Both politicians promised changes.

[…]

The choice of [Rahm Emanuel] for head of the office could be a good thing, because he was one of the prominent members of the Serbian committee in Congress. But the real test will be Obama's choice for head of diplomacy. If he chooses [Richard Holbrooke], [the future relations with Serbia] would be [very bad].

Rivera jokes (or not) (SRP):

[…] I am fed up with our domestic problems and issues […]. Thus - let's go straight to Havana! [Fidel Castro] has lived to see to another American president. It is the first time he said something nice about one of them - “Obama was an intelligent fellow.”

Think for a moment how the meeting between Fidel and [Raul Castro] and the American president Barack Obama would look like on the coast [of Cuba]. They would drink coca-cola and rum with a lot of ice. They would be saying cheers to one another. Barack would say:

“Fuck it, forget what happened. Let's move on!”

To this - cheers!

The marketing campaign for .ME

It's rather plain to see in the official site that the source of this .ME extension isn't really advertised all that much, when in fact it actually turns out to be Montenegro's country extension. Yes, this country with a population of only 589,000 has one of the newest domains on the web. People may be surprised to hear that it's a “new” country extension as Montenegro has officially been an independent country since 2006 and an autonomous region in various capacities for the decade preceding. Some time back, I wrote about how the history of name assignments came about on, Hudin:

Take for instance former Czechoslovakia. When the internet came around, it got the .cs extension, which was then given up as they split in to the Czech Republic - .cz and Slovakia - .sk… So, .cs actually got re-purposed in to the ill-fated union of Serbia and Montenegro. They of course have since split and have become .rs and .me respectively… This is all something of a mess, except in the case of Montenegro. They've gotten quite a windfall with the .me domain. If they want to (and most likely they will) they can open up registration to anyone…

It's much the same as what happened to Tonga who received .to and Tuvalu which received the even more coveted .tv extension. Naturally, selling off the national domain to international customers raises a good deal of alarm from the citizens. A person by the name of ‘Ego_and_HIS_OWN' wrote on MADEinMontenegro (MNE):

…it is completely and unreasonable to award a company all rights and exclusivity over the sale of domains. This is certainly something that is against the interests of Montenegro, where it is necessary that her brand will be available to everyone, within the population. Thus probably due to interest groups of individuals who are very highly paid on this work and whose close friends are members of this council. The domain is practically taken from Montenegrin society and sold for small money and is doing irreparable damage to Montenegro and its future.

These concerns are well-justified as to date, Montenegrin registrants for the .ME extension don't even breach 1% of the total 100,000 names registered, although provisions were officially made for filing by Montenegrin companies and brand holders to buy their names before .ME was released internationally. Naturally, the United States and United Kingdom are the top two countries for registrants as ‘me' is an English word and is not a commonly used word in Montenegrin. One can see the breakdown of the top 10 registrants, here.
While the history of this domain is readily apparent, there comes the question of how does one go about registering a name? New domain names are not like the ones we all know, making registering website.me a bit more of a process than registering website.com. One writer on MADEinMONTENEGRO (MNE) named, ‘anon1′ was among many to list the possibilities that should be registered:

We should now grab and register on their behalf addresses of all types: milodjukanovic.me; svetimarovic.me, ficovujanovic.me, bolnica.me, zdravstvo.me, berza.me, … and after that sell others for a lot of money.

But it's not that easy. The initial release of the names (or landrush) wasn't a simple system wherein one could just visit a registrar and buy the name. The Montenegrins set up the system to fully monetize these domains by using an auction system. I was curious and made an attempt to buy a name myself over this last summer as I wrote on my site, Hudin:

I searched around for a name that seemed to be available, which was taste.me, filled out the forms, submitted the credit card info and thought that I was the proud owner of this name. Oh how I was wrong… It turns out that this was all for the better as paying that initial $100 for the name was not actually buying it. It was reserving a place in line to be able to bid in a domain auction further on. All of this is not readily apparent and with good reason. I doubt most folks would be $100 for the right to then bid on something as small and silly as a domain name… Oddly enough, I continued to receive updates about the auction for taste.me. This was interesting to follow because unlike a normal auction where there is a set time frame, the way this auction worked was that once someone submitted a bid, if there was a new bid submitted within 24 hours, the auction would continue… In the case of taste.me, the auction went on for about two weeks and ended up at a final price of $6,505.

Other names were auctioned at $30,000 and up. If this system wasn't hard enough, a number of names were purposely held back from general consumption. These will be auctioned off on September 25th. Needless to say the whole method has been less than transparent, but for those who wish to try and register a name now, they're costing about $20, but it appears that they log popular name choices to put them to auction. So, if you decide to take a chance and buy mykittyneeds.me, you may find it costing you a good deal more than $20 to buy it in an auction at a later date. In short, good luck.

Serbian bloggers follow closely the situation in the Caucasus region. Many of them compared and analyzed the Kosovo issue and the newest opportunities in South Ossetia. Some of them were careful to express their own thoughts and mainly cited thoughts of politicians. Here is a post by Aleksandar T, a Serbian blogger who quoted in his blog some pieces of the last statements by Russia's government officials, who linked military operations in Georgia to certain historical events:

What is this, some propaganda, Western?…

“Russian operation in South Ossetia was very different in regard to American and [NATO operation against Serbia in 1999],
said [Sergey Lavrov], Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister, in an article published in American [Wall Street Journal]. According to his words, when the initiators of bombing campaign finished to attack the military targets, it turns into the attacks on bridges, television towers, passenger trains, civilian objects”, including a direct hit into China's Embassy building in Belgrade.

As far as Russia is concerned, “it has applied force in keeping with the International Law, its own right to defense and the obligations which result from agreements related to conflict in South Ossetia,” said Lavrov. “Russia could not allow that its peacekeepers quietly watch how, right before their eyes, it commits acts of genocide like Bosnian city - [Srebrenica] in 1995,” said Lavrov.

[Rogozin]: [Saakashvili] is not [Gavrilo Princip]

“Russian envoy to NATO Dmitri Rogozin compared the situation in Georgia with the positions of powerful countries before the beginning of the First World War, emphasizing that it is unavoidable that the relationships between Russia and Western countries would become colder.

“The current atmosphere reminds me of the situation in Europe from 1914, when the powerful countries clashed because of one terrorist. I hope that Mikheil Saakashvili will not go down in history as a new Gavrilo Princip,” said Rogozin.

Here are some comments from Aleksandar T's blog.

Doctor Wu says:

It is very clear. In the quarrel with the Western countries Russia is using a concept and a clear picture which are known to them. A mention of Srebrenica is a slap to Dutchmans and Gavrilo Princip is mentioned in the context of how Englishmen think and talk about him: the fool that pulled them into an expensive and unnecessary war. Reading English reactions, this reminder is effective.
Serbia could learn very much from this access.

blackbox92:

I think that Russia proved it is not different from the West when its interest is in question. […] Just in this way Russia indirectly supports the position of the West about Kosovo.

Aleksandar T, the author of the post, also got involved in the discussion with commentators. In one of his replies he used editorial article of the Times. Unfortunately, he did not write the date of publishing of this article.

The Western countries change their foreign political priorities, it's written in the lead article of the Times. They exchange their recent struggle against terrorism for stamping out nationalism of new powerful countries such as Russia and China and their approaching to democratic ideals.

Entire editorial article is, essentially, an analysis of the foreign policy of the West, that is, the story about one more “new world system.” Among other things, the overflow of the world wealth and power from the West into the East is especially underlined and such political and economic shifts as the reflection of the competition of ideas worry much more than “conflict” nations which we could watch at the stadium “Nest” in Beijing over two last weeks, this international analysis explains.

According to the editorial writer's opinion, China, Russia and Arabic countries became rich countries because of inexpensive production of oil and its high market price. They triumph because of social inefficacy, economic instability and exaggerated foreign politics self-confidence by the West.

Such position of the world's major powers threatens the struggle for global democracy and might result in the creation of a world community which mainly defines mutual threats.

Regardless of whether the new president of for now the only world major power will be Barack Obama or John McCain, the West will have, in any case, to face the new world system, it was concluded at the end of article.

When Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on February 17, 2008 governments around the world were divided about the legitimacy of such an act. As of today, 45 out of 192 sovereign United Nations member states have formally recognised the Republic of Kosovo. Notably, a majority of European Union member states have formally recognised it (20 out of 27). However, a few others such as Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece or Cyprus did not recognize Kosovo's independence fearing the reactions of the separatists from their countries. They thought that Kosovo would set a precedent. Then Russia's president Vladimir Putin apparently did not think so.

According to the Chinese daily Xinhua on February 23, 2008:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the recognition of Kosovo's unilateral independence by several major world powers set “a terrible precedent”.

On February 18, the Reuters website published an article on the occasion of Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence. The article, titled “Russia's Chechen rebels hail Kosovo independence”, said:

Russia has strongly opposed Kosovo independence, arguing that to recognise a separatist region as a new state without the consent of the country affected sets a dangerous precedent for scores of other territorial conflicts around the world.

Bloggers also reacted and analyzed possible consequences of the recognition of Kosovo's independence. Below is a representative selection of posts from that time.

Stanley Crossick wrote on his blog on February 22, 2008:

Recognition of Kosovo’s independence is an unfortunate solution, but there is currently no better a solution.

[…] Kosovo has separated from Serbia without its consent; and the UN has failed to endorse its independence because of strong protests by Serbia and Russia, backed by China. However, the question should have been brought before the UN Security Council, as the legitimacy, if not the legality, of the independence would have increased with a resolution supported by a large majority, despite the veto(s). The EU foreign ministers have clearly stated that Kosovo is a special case that should not become a precedent but that may fall on deaf ears in Spain, Cyprus.

Irina Filatova, a professor of the Economics in Moscow and a senior research fellow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, commented on The Guardian's blog Comment is Free on February 23, 2008:

Many think that Russia would use this situation to recognise the break-away [Georgian republics] of [Abkhazia] and [South Ossetia], and perhaps even [Transdnistria], a break-away part of [Moldova].

[…]The Americans say that Kosovo is not a precedent, that it is a once-off exception. It is difficult to believe this. If a nation wants to secede and to create it own statehood, there is little what any government can do, except keep it by force. […] The independence of Kosovo is useful to the US in order to show the world that America is not anti-Muslim, merely anti-rogue states, some of which happen to be Muslim […] But they would not support the [Basques] or the [Walloons], or the [Kurds], let alone the Transdnestrians.

Nor would they support the Abkhasians and the South Ossetians, of course. On the other hand, if Russia decided to recognise these break-away republics, and if Georgia decided to oppose this (which it would) then the Americans would, of course, support [Georgia], and Russia might, indeed, face a conflict with the west.

Kosovo's independence is not going to explode Europe, but it has already exploded many of the assumptions on which our modern system of international relations is based.[…]

Shaun Walker wrote in the British Prospect Magazine in April 2008:

[…] When I visited Abkhazia last month, I heard all the same arguments for independence as on previous visits. But this time there was an added grievance—Kosovo.
Abkhazians have always felt that the west has treated them unfairly, and now, since the recognition of Kosovo's independence by several western countries, they feel doubly wronged. Why did Kosovars deserve their freedom more than the Abkhaz?[…]

Now it seems that assumptions by many bloggers have become a reality. To everyone's astonishment, on the same day the Beijing Olympics started, Russian military troups and South Ossetian separatists took control of the South Ossetia region from Georgia's authority.

Jelena Milić, like many other bloggers, was shocked to hear the news. She wrote [Serbian] about it on her blog in the Serbian news portal B92:

Šta je ovo? Zar nisu nekad ratovi prestajali kad su igre počinjale?

What is this? Weren't wars supposed to stop when the Olympic Games began?

Ivan Marović, also blogging at B92, wrote a post [Serbian] titled “the War in Georgia” in which he says:

Postavlja se pitanje zašto baš sad, nakon petnaestak godina primirja?

S jedne strane, separatisti i Abhaziji i Južnoj Osetiji su osetili da nakon priznanja jednostrano proglađene nezavisnosti Kosova od strane vodećih država Zapada, oni mogu učiniti nešto slično i očekivati podršku Rusije. […] Rukovodstvo Južne Osetije je, poučeno događajima na Balkanu, skapiralo da sve može, ako imaš moćnu državu iza sebe, a u njihovom slučaju to je Rusija.

S druge strane, gruzijski predsednik Miša Šakašvili kapira da je situacija sad ili nikad. On takođe misli da ima moćnu državu iza sebe, Ameriku, ali da će, što vreme duže bude odmicalo, sve teže biti izvesti vojnu akciju protiv separatista. Već sad se oseća smanjenje uticaja Amerike i povećanje uticaja Rusije na Kavkazu. […]

Međutim, već posle nekoliko sati postalo je očigledno da je Rusija reagovala brzo i odlučno, dok se Amerika još uvek drži retoričkih reakcija. Izgleda da će SAD da pomogne Gruziji onoliko koliko je Rusija pomogla Srbiji 1999, odnosno da je gruzijska vojna akcija u Južnoj Osetiji propala, nema ništa od brzog zauzimanja Južne Osetije. Sad je samo pitanje šta će se desiti, da li će rezultat biti prekid vatre uz pojačano pristustvo ruskih trupa ili otvoreni rat koji može poprilično da potraje.

The question is: why now, 15 years after the armistice?
On one hand, Abkhazian and South Ossetian separatists felt that since Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence was recognized by the leading Western countries, they could do something like that and expect the support of Russia […] With Kosovo on mind, South Ossetian leaders have figured out that if they get the support of a powerful country, in this case Russia, they will attain their goal.
On the other hand, Georgia's president Mikhael Saakashvili considers that this moment is decisive for his country. He also thinks that he has the support of a powerful country such as the United States, but as time goes by it will be more and more difficult for him to justify the military actions against separatists. […]
However, already after a few hours it became obvious that Russia had reacted promptly and seriously, while the United States is still trying the diplomatic way. It seems that the U.S. will support Georgia in the same way Russia supported Serbia in 1999. It means that Georgia's military operation has failed in South Ossetia. The fast takeover South Ossetia has failed. Now the only question is whether a ceasefire will be worked out so that Russian troops will remain in South Ossetia or the war will be go on.

Reuters blogger Giles Elgood wrote a post titled “Was South Ossetia’s fate sealed in Kosovo?” in which he wondered:

Is Kosovo to blame for the fighting in South Ossetia?
When the Serbian province seceded from Belgrade in February, South Ossetia was quick to reassert its own claim to international recognition.
As a spokeswoman for separatist leader Eduard Kokoity told Reuters at the time: “The Kosovo precedent has driven us to more actively seek our rights.”
Those remarks will not have gone unheard in Tblisi and could well have added some urgency to Georgia’s desire to impose its rule over breakaway South Ossetia.
With widespread Western backing, Kosovo was able to achieve a fairly clean break with its former ruler, despite Russian objections.
Now Moscow is backing the separatists and it’s far from clear how things will play out this time.

Austin Bey doesn't agree, claiming that it is not possible to compare both issues - Kosovo and South Ossetia:

[…]After Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, separatism resulting from international action to protect an ethnic minority has an imprimatur.
That is one interpretation of Russia’s argument that Kosovo should never have been allowed to unilaterally separate from Serbia, which it did earlier this year.
Russia’s invasion of Georgia’s separatist South Ossetia region is certainly renewed warfare in the near abroad. It is also a violent reminder of how unsettled Eastern Europe remains in the post-Cold War era.
For Moscow’s foreign policy purposes, the troubles in Georgia fit “the Kosovo frame” – a minority group beset by an “ethnic nationalist authority” attempting to regain control.[…]

[…]I’m pointing this out not because I believe Georgia is Slobodan Milosevic’s Serbia. It most certainly is not. Georgia a democratic state “working its way West” politically and economically. These are major qualitative differences between contemporary Georgia and Serbia in 1999.
However, Russian diplomats warned for the last eight years claimed “the Kosovo precedent” would affect around 200 regions or territories in nations around the world. That’s a nice round figure and it may in fact be low.
Moscow’s insisted that Kosovo would establish a “separatist precedent” for spinning statelets from sovereign nations. Interestingly enough, both Romania and Greece oppose a “unilateral” Kosovo independence. Spain, with its Basque separatists, wasn’t enthusiastic.[…]

The news portal about the Balkans BalkanInsight published an article last June titled “Ex - US Envoy: Croatia expelled Serbs” that stated:

Up to 800 ethnic Serb civilians were killed and some 250 000 fled Croatia when in 1995 Croat forces crushed the rebel Serb breakaway state that occupied up to a quarter of the country’s territory since it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Drago Kovačević, one of the bloggers at the Serbian news portal B92, who at the time was the mayor of Knin, the main town in the Krajina region, reposted an extensive text he wrote in 1996 on the occasion of the anniversary of Operation Storm. He detailed the political circumstances in Krajina at the time and also described the beginning of the offensive:

[…] [Krajina] was assaulted at the crack of dawn on August 4, 1995. Knin was showered with very many rockets. In the hospital there were tens of people dying. The lights have gone out. Radio Knin has become silent. There was smoke and fire around. Columns of civilians have already started to leave Knin early in the morning towards the only remaining direction, towards [Lika]. The bombing lasted almost non-stop. There was no pause. In particular around the nearby TV station, the Police station and the northern barracks were fired systematically […]

According to the aforementioned article from BalkanInsight, Peter Galbraith, former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, accused Zagreb last June of plotting and sanctioning the exodus of Croatian Serbs in 1995 to create an “ethnically clean” country. Speaking at The Hague war crimes trial of three Croatian generals (Ante Gotovina, Ivan Čermak and Mladen Markac), he said that the leadership headed by late President Franjo Tuđman used ‘Operation Storm’ to ‘cleanse’ Croatia of Serbs. His testimony came as a surprise, since when he testified at the trial of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević in 2003 Galbraith had said Croatia was not responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Serbs.

Jasmina Tešanović, Women in Black activist, reposted in her B92 blog a Women in Black's statement (SRP), issued under the title “Anniversary of one more mass war crime”:

Thirteen years have passed since the Storm, the military-police action that caused the mass expulsion of the Serbian population from [Republika Srpska Krajina] region. During this action and immediately after it, members of the Croatian military and para-military formations killed many hundreds of civilians, mainly older people. The Storm is one of the biggest war crimes on the space of former Yugoslavia.

The protagonists of this operation, that were apparently directed to carry out ethnic cleansing, did not live to face justice. Today in The Hague there are trials that arise from command responsibility for some of them who are still alive such as Ante Gotovina. We are hoping that these trials will not end like some others and will not additionally discredit the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as a deliverer of justice, we are warning that the International Community was also responsible for war crimes committed during the Storm, whose representatives were passively watching the killing of people, the burning of houses and the looting of property of the residents.

Holding all innocent victims in esteem, we have to mention Slobodan Milošević's regime and his satellites from Republika Srpska Krajina as well as Serbia's intellectual elite who were spreading propaganda for years about Serbs not being able to live with others nationalities and then, shortly before the Storm, they hypocritically renounced the project named Republika Srpska Krajina and left their people to be victims of ethnic cleansing. And then their false patriotism was shown. We, Women in Black, were meeting columns of refugees on the borders and were giving basic assistance (food, clothes and medicines) to them. Later we were visiting them in the refugee camps. The big usurper patriots were not to be seen anywhere. They showed up only when refugee men were to be arrested and transfered into the [Arkan]'s military camp in Erdut or some other similar places.

Let the Storm be one more warning for us about how terrible the consequences of false patriotism based on financial and political interests can be in spreading hatred that leads regular people into tragedy, while at the same time making the criminal and intellectual elite wealthy.

Belgrade, August 4, 2008

Women in black, Belgrade
Serbia's network of Women in black

In his post titled “Which war crimes get prosecuted?”, Paul D'Amato analyzed the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. He wrote:

While it is true that the conflict in the region developed out of the ambitions of Slobodan Milosevic for a greater Serbia, uniting the Serbs of Serbia with those living in Bosnia and Croatia, Croatia’s nationalists under Franjo Tudjman were no less ruthless in their efforts to create a “greater Croatia,” based on the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Krajina and Serbs and Muslims from parts of Bosnia.

Paul D'Amato continued:

[…] From the start, there was the complicity of the Western powers in creating the conditions that made war and ethnic cleansing inevitable. As Phil Gasper wrote:

“In the end, Germany’s recognition of Croatia’s independence–without any guarantees of the Serb minority’s national rights in Croatia–made the outbreak of war and the disintegration of Yugoslavia inevitable. The same holds true for Bosnia. Germany and the U.S. recognized Bosnian independence even though the majority of Bosnian Serbs and Croats–about 51 percent of the republic–had rejected it. By doing so, they put their seal of approval on Bosnia’s descent into war.” […]

He added:

[…] There is the direct complicity of the United States in the greatest single act of ethnic cleansing that took place during the war–Operation Storm in August 1995. […]

Jonathan of the web site Belgrade Foreign Visitors Club looked back on Peter Galbraith's testimony at the trial of Ante Gotovina:

[…] Galbraith then addressed one of his previous testimonies, where he said the expulsion of some 250,000 Croatian Serbs did not qualify for ethnic cleansing, “although there had been crimes, committed either on the orders or with the tacit approval of the Croatian leadership, in the presence and with the participation of the military”. […] Galbraith […] said that he and other American officials had information months before Operation Storm that there would be a military attack on the Serb Krajina. […] But the U.S. never green-lighted the operation, he contended. However, since the U.S. administration knew the assault might be launched, “it expressly warned the Croatian authorities and president Tuđman of their obligation to protect the Serb civilians and prisoners of war. The atrocities like those committed in the [Medak Pocket] in 1993 were not to be repeated.”

In the first days after the arrival of the Croatian Army in Knin, Galbraith recounted, the reports of the U.S. embassy personnel indicated there were widespread killings of Serb civilians and destruction of their houses, “thus confirming that the situation in the field was exactly what the U.S. administration wanted to prevent.”

In Galbraith’s opinion, this happened “on the orders or with the tacit approval of the Croatian leadership, in the presence and with the participation of the military”. […]

Obraz Fatherland Movement immediately issued a statement (SRP):

Belgrade, July 22, 2008

High Treason

The arrest of Radovan Karadzic is an act of high treason against the Serbian nationality and all that is sacred and true for our people. Celebration in the streets of the Muslim Sarajevo last night is the biggest proof in whose interest this treason has been committed. Every Serb knows who Radovan Karadzic is and what he symbolizes. If the enemies of the Serbian people, who have joined with their servants from Serbia, think that they have destroyed this myth, they are mistaken. Now it is absolutely clear that the struggle for survival of the Serbian nationality cannot be carried out from the comfortable armchairs of representatives, but rather exclusively with the help of heroism and eagerness to become martyrs. Obraz is ready! Every Serb is Radovan!

Obraz Fartherland Movement
Information service

Although there were police units nearby, on July 24 the protesters broke several store windows in Belgrade's downtown and brutally attacked journalists and cameramen of the “treacherous media,” such as B92. Demonstrators also shouted insults in front of president Boris Tadic's office.

On that occasion the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia sent an open letter (SRP) to Ivica Dacic, Minister of Internal Affairs:

Mr Dacic,

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) most strongly condemns physical attacks on journalists, cameramen and photojournalists during the pro- Radovan Karadzic rally. Yesterday B92's cameraman and [FONET's] photoreporter were injured, however organizers have announced that street riots would continue. We are very worried about the escalation of violence and are asking you as Minister of Internal Affairs to provide public order and peace. We expect those who attacked journalists to be identified and punished. Hooligans target journalists again because they don't want to be caught on camera during their violence. Among demonstrators there were masked persons, which tells us about their bad intentions. Because of that, we are expecting a strong reaction from the authorities and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in order to prevent tragic consequences. We are shocked with the behavior of high-ranking officials of the Serbian Radical Party, especially some of their representatives, as well as members of the nationalist movement Obraz, who are issuing public calls to violence. Political discontent cannot justify violence. This is why organizers of the demonstrations who express their discontent illegally should be held responsible. […]

Expressing his own disappointment caused by the numerous attacks and unsolved murders of journalists in Serbia, as well as the newest “reaction” by the police, blogger Goran Miletic wrote this among other things:

[…] Let's see the truth. It is simple - there is no will. It is not important for [Bosko Brankovic], [Dejan Anastasijevic] or someone else whether this will is political or of some other kind. It is important that because of the absence of will there are no results of investigations. It is impossible that (among 300-500 thugs) the police cannot identify a boy who attacked Bosko Brankovic, or who planted explosives at the window of Dejan Anastasijevic's house, or who […] killed [Slavko Curuvija] and other journalists during the 90s.[…]

Police chief Milorad Veljovic visited injured B92 cameraman Boško Branković, who sustained serious leg injuries. According to B92, Veljovic said that his men had orders to protect journalists during yesterday's demonstrations. He also said that an inquiry would be conducted to find out why journalists failed to receive the necessary protection. He added:

This unseemly act has given the police a further important task, and that is to hunt down the perpetrators of this incident.

The police chief also conveyed to Branković the Interior Minister Ivica Dačić's wishes for a speedy recovery, adding that an intensive hunt was under way for the perpetrators, that they would be identified in the coming days, and that their names would be made public. He underlined that one of the police's priorities in the future would be protection of journalists.

According to this statement, Goran Miletic considers that nothing has changed in the functioning of the government in Serbia after the arrest of Radovan Karadzic. He mocked Veljovic's words:

Therefore, my dear citizens, the attack on journalists was not a crime, was not a serious attack (reading the web sites of organizers, I would say that they made an attempt at journalists' lives). No, even not a serious incident it was. For police chief, it was only an unpleasant incident.

Finally, in a postscript to his post, Miletic concluded ironically:

Since Serbian nationalists strongly desire to set B92's building on fire, I have just imagined the policemen with riot gear who arrest several demonstrators, while the majority of them do what they decided. Probably, the police chief, [Democratic Party] and some media would say that it was only an unpleasant incident.

Here are some of the many comments to this post:

Spiridon writes:

First of all, the blockhead in orange shorts who kicked the journalist should be arrested. This stupid boy was caught on camera. What else do the police need? His DNA sample?

JJ Beba writes:

[…] In the past 15 years, there have been murders of journalists, attacks on them and destruction of their equipment. So far, no one has been sentenced. If only just one attacker had been punished, things would have been a little different…

Miladics comments:

The police has (not) done its work again, like in February [author's note: there were protests against Kosovo independence in Belgrade then]. Why? This is a question to the relevant minister. Although I don't like extreme solutions, starting yesterday, I now think they should ban all nationalist organizations, including the Serbian Radical Party. […]

This document of instructions defines technical requirements for authorized monitoring of some specific telecommunications and provides a list of duties for telecommunication operators, which are obligated to act according to the Constitution Law of Republic of Serbia as well as elements of it.

According to element 55 (Law of Telecommunications), subpart 3, these Instructions were issued by RATEL in cooperation with public telecommunication operators and the governmental body responsible for immediate conduct of electronic monitoring.

This means implementation of massive tracking and archiving in all forms of electronic communications for the purposes of the national agency for the security.

Internet Service Providers (ISP) are obligated to enable governmental bodies to access updated databases with personal data on users, contracts, maximum speed of data transfer, identification addresses as well as access to database about email users. ISPs are also obligated to provide hardware and software for passive monitoring in real time, collecting and analysing Internet activities, statistics, interception of email, attachments, web mail, IP video traffic, phone traffic, interception of IM traffic, peer-to-peer networks, service of email and forwarding the email content towards the center of governmental bodies for supervision. Technical requirements (hardware and software) should enable reconstruction of traffic interception up to the level of application and filtering within these criteria: username, user phone number, email address, IP address, MAC address, IM identification.

All those technical requirements are active and they will be used if there is request or need of the governmental bodies or police to monitor in cases of serious security violation or crime act. This Instruction does not define the privacy of the data as violation of the citizens' privacy (in telecommunication terms it is forbidden). The privacy is protected by the Law of Telecommunication, as well as by the Serbian Constitution.

Similar cyber laws and technical instructions already exist in other countries. Formally, at least, it's good to have such regulation on one side where privacy is protected – formally, but, on the other hand, I am wondering if the Republican Agency for Telecommunications in Serbia, national security and ISP will (or will not) violate and abuse privacy of citizens in the internet community in practice.

***

Here are some of the reactions in the Serbian blogosphere, as well as possible solutions for protecting your privacy on the Web.

Tamburix, in a blog post titled “Big brother is watching, monitoring and recording you” (SRP), contemplates the invasion of privacy and compares it to Big Brother:

The latest technical requirements of the Republican Agency for Telecommunications and installation of the equipment for internet networks in Serbia, brings elements of Big Brother where the state has permission to get and use all the information regarding our online presence.

Milan posts a link to the document, saying (SRP) that there is also some positive aspects in this document:

I don't know what to think about this. It can be a good thing… great thing, to finally put a law in action on Serbian Internet. On the other hand, the possibilities of misuse are there. If someone misuses it, then it's really bad. Censorship, espionage, call it whatever you want.

Rehash blog writes (SRP):

[…] I read a lot of negative comments on this document, with which I fully agree. I can't say that I didn't expect this to come at some point. Regulations in the USA, in some countries of the EU and the UK are restricting their citizens with similar practices. Will our protests solve this problem? I'm almost sure they won't. For quite some time, our citizens have been apathetic, and they'll tolerate whatever repression methods our pseudo-democratic government is using (in the first year of my studies, professors told me that democracy doesn't exist). […] Fine, lots of bloggers, geeks, or users of the Internet will write and protest for some time. After this, silence will come again. And what to do then?

Vesic Tehnology blog comments (SRP) on the new instructions:

Balkan Spy*, the RATEL/BIA way
It is almost impossible how some “agencies” (read: BIA and similar) through their puppet organizations (read: RATEL) try to put in use the most terrifying “technical” documents, which have only one purpose: to get complete control over your e-life.

Constitution? Law? Justice?

We'll get there probably when we make independent agencies from “independent” agencies, and when justice system and police start doing their job, and when politicians […] start thinking of “irrelevant” things, like the well-being of those who have put them where they are now.

You still think that the most important news is the Karadzic's arrest? Think again. He's one person, and we're getting here the whole Balkan spy over all of us.

*Author's note: there is a movie named “Balkan Spy”.

Jazzva, a computer science student, critically comments on this (SRP):

Maybe the instruction defines “random user” in order not to get in the situation where only data on some users is being kept. And the Constitution defines the access to that data, so someone can get them only by the warrant issued by the Court, or in the case of violated security of Republic of Serbia.

Personalmag blog writes (SRP) about Serbia as a country of Big Brother:

What was probably expected in the totalitarian regimes is happening to us today, paradoxically in the time of “democratic” and pro-European government. RATEL, a government body for regulations of telecommunications, […] by issuing some technical document, innocently named “Technical requirements for subsystems, devices, hardware and installation of Internet networks” […] is bringing a totalitarian monitoring of all electronic communications by “responsible government body.

Two interesting comments on this post:

It is totally out of mind, and so expected. I knew something like this would happen, and that it would be put into use, as you said, on the small door. I'll start to crypt my thoughts, not just e-mails. This needs a reaction! It is intolerable and violation of basic human rights.

Another comment:

This is a catastrophe. The commenter who said it's the same as in Western countries - it is, but only when there is a court-issued warrant [to monitor]. Over there, the providers would be the first to react if they had to forward traffic and mails on their own expenses. And how do they think to get VoIP traffic, which is crypted, like Skype? Do they [responsible government body] expect from provider to decrypt it and provide it to them on a silver plate? We also need to protest to international organizations that protect freedom of speech and freedom of the Internet.

Sasa Bodiroza, a student of Computer Science at the University of Belgrade, writes on his blog:

Serbia’s Republic Agency for Telecommunications (RATEL), has passed a new law regulation (text in Serbian) on Internet traffic interception and redirection. Basically, it allows Serbian government to read each and every bit of our communication, including HTTP, VoIP, e-mail and IM protocol. It’s not that I have something to hide; it’s just that it’s a serious violation of my privacy. And I don’t really like that.

Update: I think I overreacted a bit in my comment. This legal act is not supposed to talk about violation of privacy. Violation of privacy is forbidden by the Serbian Telecommunication Law, and the Serbian Constitution. The whole purpose of this legal act, as I see it, is to amend article 55. of Telecommunication Law.

And he further on suggests how to protect your privacy:

Since we can’t change the law immediately, the least we can do is to protect our privacy. We can use encryption methods to encrypt our communication. Here are few advices.

Aleksandar Urosevic finishes his blog post (SRP) in a humorous manner, using irony:

From Urke's cookbook: tomorrow, you too, my dear readers, will know which toilet paper I prefer, and which finger I use to pluck my nose. Why should the government be the only privileged to this crucial information about me, I know that “the people should know”!

***

A question to Global Voices readers: What are the regulations in your country and do you feel like being watched/monitored?

On July 22, Rasim Ljaljic, president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, and Vladimir Vukcevic, a war crimes prosecutor, held a press conference about the arrest of Radovan Karadzic a day earlier.

They said that Radovan Karadzic lived in Belgrade under false name of Dragan David Dabic. He was disguised as an alternative medicine doctor and even worked in one private clinic in Belgrade. He also was a contributor to the Healthy Life magazine and took part in forums and lectures, gathering up to several hundred people. At the time of the arrest, Radovan Karadzic (aka Dragan Dabic) had long hair and a white beard.

Dragan Dabic had an official web site. [Editor's Note: The site later turned out to be a fake. Please see comments below, or follow these links - here and here - to read more about the hoax.] Here is what is says there (SRP):

Dr. Dragan “David” Dabic was born some 60 years ago in a small Serbian village of Kovaci, near Kraljevo. As a young boy, he liked to explore nearby forests and mountains, spending a lot of time on Kopaonik mountain, where he used to pick the omnipresent natural and potent medicinal herbs that grew there.

As a young man he moved to Belgrade, and then on to Moscow, where he graduated with a Psychiatry degree from the Moscow State University (Lomonosov). After Russia, Dr. Dabic travelled around India and Japan, after which he settled in China, where he specialized in alternative medicine, with a special emphasis on Chinese herbs. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Dabic returned to Mother Serbia for good.

Since then, Dr. Dabic has emerged as one of the most prominent experts in the field of alternative medicine, bio-energy and macrobiotic diet in the whole of the Balkans, and is a frequent guest on many forums, seminars and symposiums (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pancevo, Sombor, Smederevo…) dedicated to these topics.

For panel invitations or private consultations, Dr. Dragan Dabic can be reached at the following contact:

healingwounds@dragandabic.com

According to B92, the editor of Dabic/Karadzic at Healthy Life, Goran Kojic, was stunned to discover that he had published articles written by a man accused of grave war crimes:

He would come and communicate with me personally, and it's really interesting that I never saw in that man… that it was the last thing on my mind, that this was Radovan Karadžić. We never discussed politics or anything of the sort either.

Bloggers have different opinions on one of the most wanted fugitives in the world - Radovan Karadzic aka Dr Dragan David Dabic.

Niko, in the his post titled “Dr. Dragan Dabic,” writes quite ironically (SRP):

The man who was sitting next to my mother at the Hotel Intercontinental.

The man who introduced himself to participants […] as a doctor speaker next month - August - in the same place.

The man common folks trusted and applauded, healthy and sick ones were giving credit to him.

The man who is a such hero and patriot that he changed his own name, who isolated his own country and who made his own people suffer, who did not want to go to the Tribunal in the Hague and tried to defend himself and in this way tried to save his own pride and the pride of his country.

The man many young people (who don't know recent history of their country) pledged allegiance to and wore t-shirts with his name written on them. His name? Dr. Dabic? All of them were idiots. They wore t-shirts with the wrong name of the wrong man. Idiots.

Their hero is a man who, unlike them, might not to introduce himself by his own name. The incarnation of patriotism for them is the man who has changed his identity in order to be unknown.

Idiots, your hero has always been Dr. Dabic. Change your t-shirts.

Burek, a blogger from Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina, believes (BOS) that the victims of the Srebrenica massacre will get some satisfaction, following the arrest of Radovan Karadzic:

[…] We've heard that Dr. Dragan Dabic alias Radovan Karadzic, an alternative medicine doctor, has lived quietly in Belgrade for the past few years. It was very difficult to identify him because he had long gray hair and a beard, said the police from Serbia. Although it is difficult to believe in that, let's ask a question why, after so many years, the killer from Durmitor was arrested only in July? It is difficult to answer exactly, but it is not necessary to waste time on that. At the moment, the most important thing is that he has been arrested. It is also important that he looks healthy and will be able to participate in the trial. […]

Finally, the victims of the most terrible massacre in Europe since World War II could get some satisfaction. […]

Danilovic is apparently disappointed because of the arrest of Radovan Karadzic. He writes (SRP):

Belgrade is not my capital more. This government is not my government. This polished man (president Tadic) is not my president. Traitors to my country are not my brothers. Traitors are not my compatriots. I am proud because I am a Serb and an Orthodox Christian. I am proud because Radovan Karadzic's horoscope sign is a Gemini, just like mine. I am proud because he has made a fool of the traitors for the past few years. I am proud because he has saved a million Serbs from being murdered. I am proud because he did not allow 1941 to happen once again. I am proud because he is Serbian […]

The process of establishing a democratic system in Serbia is a very long one and it implies a lot of international obligations. One of them was the arrest of Radovan Karadzic. In that context, Dejan Jovic concludes (SRP) in his post on B92's blog platform:

[…] The arrest of Karadzic is great news. The friends of democracy in Serbia were waiting for it very long. Now Serbia will have an opportunity to establish authority of the democratic and pro-European forces. For the first time since 1989, Serbia has got a chance to become a respectable European country. At the same time, this arrest presents a very hard challenge for nationalist forces. Democratic Serbia should not miss this chance.

Just a few days after the 13th anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica, in which over 7,000 people, most of them Muslim civilians, were killed, Radovan Karadzic, former president of Republika Srpska, is arrested.

On the night of July 21-22, many major world media outlets and almost all the media from Serbia immediately issued reports of the arrest.

Many bloggers from the Serbian blogosphere were surprised by the news. Below are the first reactions from some of them.

On his blog, Co of SLIKE I DOGADJAJI wrote (SRP):

While I was prepering a report about my visit to Portland, I ran into the news that Radovan Karadzic has been arrested. I simply could not believe that it was true, but the news is published on all web sites.

[…]

Hugh Griffiths, a B92 blogger, wrote this in English:

Many of us never thought we would see this day come, that the unholy trinity of the secret police, the criminals and the priests who protected you would ensure an enduring freedom until your dying day. But luckily for us, even pessimists are wrong, at least some of the time. […]

Blogger Dynhysbys of A K U L T U R A expressed his satisfaction (SRP) with the news of Radovan Karadzic's arrest:

[…] I am glad because this government is ready and has an intention to face the problems that are still pulling Serbia into the hell of the 90's. […]

Misha of the Doctor blog criticized the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but wrote that even though he didn't believe in its justice, he loved Serbia more than Radovan Karadzic:

[…] No matter how bad the reputation of the Tribunal in the Hague is because of the acquittals of the cutthroats such as [Ramus Haradinaji] and [Naser Oric], and no matter how innocent Radovan Karadzic was (God will help him to prove it?), Serbia is always on the first place for me. […]

Sixteen years have passed since the massacre in Bratunac and thirteen years since the massacre in Srebrenica. In these cities, more than 10,000 people, mainly civilians, were killed. Many of the victims are still not identified. Some people, accused directly or indirectly of participating in war crimes, are still not arrested. Some of them have been acquitted.

Every year, bloggers and journalists remind their readers of the tragic events that took place in Bratunac in 1992 and in Srebrenica in 1995. The truth is painful, but nobody should be silent about war crimes.

Here is a roundup of several opinions and experiences related to the massacres in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 90's.

Queeria posts a text titled “What is the weather in Srebrenica” - about the early morning of July 11, 2008, in the small town of Srebrenica. The text was previously published on the website www.pescanick.net, which covers politics and human rights in the former Yugoslavia, with a special focus on Serbia.

If you ask me, it was very sunny and sad on July 11. […]

[…] This year, 308 body remains of the newly-identified Srebrenica victims were exhumed. As many graves were dug. In front of them, under the strong sun, members of the victims’ families, mainly mothers, sisters and children, were standing and waiting for the COFFINS with the remains of THEIR DEAREST ONES. […]

Bojan Toncic, in his text that was also published on www.pescanik.net, reminded readers of the massacre in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995:

[…] In July 1995, […] (Muslim) men, who allegedly were able to be soldiers (and among them were 15-year-old boys) were separated from the women and older people. Pictures of their suffering went around the world. Key creators and executors of the crime, Radovan Karadzic, former president of Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladic, genaral of the army of Republika Srpska, are still not arrested. […]

[…] The massacre in Srebrenica is the worst individual horrible thing in former Yugoslavia during the civil war and the worst crime in Europe after the Second World War. […]

[…] Ratko Mladic's units killed between 7,500 and 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica. There exists exact data about the number of victims, their names and surnames, and about the verdicts.

Bojan Toncic afterwards quotes Semir Ibrahimovic's moving words, which he said after the showing of a film about the killing of six young Muslim men in Trnovo during the Srebrenica offensive by a paramilitary unit “Skorpioni”:

In the video, I saw how they fired three shots in my father's head. He went with the other men on July 10 when Srebrenica fell. Our parting was sad. We felt that we might never see each other again. He went toward Tuzla in the “march of death”. Fire was coming from all directions. We didn't know whether we’d survive it. He was running over the bridge, waving to us. He had a skin jacket and blue shirt. […]

The extremely graphic video is available at YouTube, here; it has been viewed 175,627 times.

Foreign Policy Association's War Crimes blog provides a description of the video in a post dedicated to the 13th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre:

[…] During the trial of Slobodan Medic, the Scorpions unit commander, video tape of various incidents surfaced. These videos are part of much larger video diary of the Bosnian war. In one incident, 6 men are shown being taken from the back of a military vehicle and led to a field. The men are then forced to march single file to meet machine gun fire – one man at a time - by the Scorpions. In the video, the soldiers are making comments to the camera - “Did you get that? Did you film me shooting that mother fucker?” Only 4 of the captured men were initially murdered and the remaining two were forced to drag the bodies to another area. According to testimony, the soldiers were mocking the scene to make it appear the prisoners were killed in combat. The two remaining men are then killed in an outbuilding. During the video, a soldier is shown emptying his entire magazine into the head of one of the prisoners, protesting “I have a few more shells left!” […]

Drazen Erdemovic, an ethnic Croat and member of the Serbian military forces, confirmed that he participated in the execution of Bosnia's Muslims from Srebrenica. Slavenka Drakulic, a Croatian novelist and essayist, wrote this in her book titled “One day in the life of Drazen Erdemovic”:

[…] Prisoners could not see what would be done to them. They had kerchieves over the eyes. Drazen was glad because of that. He thought that was an act of mercy. But soon buses full of people without kerchieves started to arrive. Even their hands were not tied. It seemed they were rounded up very quickly. Why was there such a hurry? Drazen didn't understand that. These prisoners (without kerchieves) could see their fate. They saw corpses and soldiers with rifles waiting for them. They came out from buses and obediently went to the line of riflemen. Maybe they were not feeling anything. And then Drazen saw something that shocked him. As he was aiming at the head of a man, he saw a treasonable smudge on the rear of the man's trousers. A wet smudge was expanding more and more. He heard a command and fired a shot. When the man fell he saw that he was still alive. He was still urinating. At that moment it was unpleasant for Drazen, as if it was happening to him. “It could happen to me,” he thought, but drove away this unpleasant thought very quickly. […]

Blogger Dijaspora has a totally different opinion:

In over 90 percent of the cases, the actual victims in Srebrenica were soldiers of [Naser Oric]'s unit. Before the fall of the city, they burned over 140 villages in the region around the Drina River and killed 3,228 Serbian civilians. As of now, 2,000 Muslim soldiers from Srebrenica and surroundings have been exhumed. There is no objective and human reason for Muslim victims from Srebrenica to be treated differently from the Serbian victims from around Drina and Sarajevo, especially because Muslim victims mainly were soldiers and Serbian victims mainly were civilians.

Bojan Toncic also mentions war crimes against Bosnia's Serbs:

Shortly before the 13th anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica, the Tribunal in the Hague issued one more verdict […]

[…] Naser Oric is not guilty. The Tribunal acquitted him, revoking the initial 2-year sentence. Anyway, it is word about a war criminal whose units devastated a lot of Serbian villages and, according to independent assessments, killed more than 2,000 civils in 1992. […]

The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia elected a new government a few days ago. The basic goals now are for the new Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic to strive for European integration, defend Kosovo, strengthen the economy and social responsibility, step up the struggle against corruption and crime, and fulfill Serbia’s international commitments.

Bloggers paid attention to this event. However, one of them was also thinking about a very important issue for the government, something the new Prime Minister has so far failed to address.

Miroslav Jankovic, a B92's blogger, wrote this in his post titled “Face to face with digitalization”:

As time goes by, the significance of Internet as a source of information is growing. Just in Serbia the number of users has increased from 6% of the total population in 2003 to 16% in 2008. Because of that, governments are more and more interested in the information available on the web. Unfortunately, as an unavoidable consequence of this growth, there appears to be a desire of the governments to filter Internet content as well.

Some other countries around the world have already adopted laws that regulate freedom of expression on the Internet. In Serbia, this idea sounds like science fiction. Although the first impression of this statement is negative, maybe after all our position is not very bad at the moment. Maybe this can be an opportunity for us to put in order the behavior on the Internet which will not endanger the freedom of expression and media freedom, and human rights in general. Surely, not like in Saudi Arabia, or China, or Turkey, where there is, for example, censorship of YouTube and Wordpress.

When legislators engage in this issue, they sometime intend to do a good thing. But, until they don't understand completely the whole complexity of Internet, their efforts can be unintentionally turned into a limitation of freedom of expression (at best), leading to excessive filtering and blocking of the web.

For example, blocking of some of the content that seems undesirable to them could lead to blocking of an entire web site or even an entire domain. However, “filtering” is the most frequent result in combination with excessive blocking, when more information gets blocked than planned initially. It has little effect, too, as such measures can be easily overcome by the average educated users of Internet. It is true that freedom of expression on the Internet cannot be unlimited: there is, obviously, some “illegal” content out there. I'll just mention child pornography or hate speech that appears most often on neo-Nazi organizations’ sites. Because of all that, it's quite a challenge to identify the difference between content that is illegal everywhere and always (such as child pornography) and content that is undesirable from the viewpoint of authorities and may be banned for political reasons.

There is one more dimension of the future of the Internet that attracts attention. Today, the Internet is considered as a kind of a supplement to the mainstream media. This situation will change soon. Digitalization of the media will decrease the influence of the national electronic media. The term “local media” will not be precise and correct anymore because of the immediacy that the Internet offers. Actual frequency distribution will be seriously shaken by alternative forms of distribution of information, such as the Internet. Also, it seems that blogs now have the power to transform the traditional ideas about ways of forming the public opinion. It forces on a question about a potential monopoly of Internet because of its lucrative feature. […]

In the comments section, dracena looked back at the following sentence from Miroslav Jankovic's post: “Digitalization of the media will decrease the influence of the national electronic media.”

She replied:

It is not clear to me what you mean by digitalization and about which media you are talking, but I have two absolutely different anticipations. More and more, there is a complementary relationship between the electronic media and the Internet. Developed countries are already using interactive TV, which, in other words, is a combination of TV and the Internet. And this medium right here - B92 - as you can see, it is going in the same direction. It is true that it will be very difficult for traditional TV stations to survive, but their competitors are modern TV stations, not the Internet. However, if you think about big national TV and radio stations, then you are probably right, because production and broadcast with modern technology is becoming cheaper and is available to many creative people.

Miroslav Jankovic believes that modern technologies, such as Internet, seriously endanger the traditional media. He explains what he meant when he used the term “digitalization”:

I’m thinking about a shift from the analog to digital media. That is something that all European countries should be finished with by 2015 and members of the EU by 2012, according to recommendation of the European Commission.

He adds:

I think that the new media, Internet, web presentations, multimedia, virtual reality will be pushing the traditional media (TV, radio, press) backstage more and more. So there will be a decreased influence of big national TV and radio stations, as you've guessed very well, and there will be increased influence of local (traditional) media. I think that will be a consequence of the transfer from the analog to digital system.

I don't read newspapers anymore. I exclusively use Internet as a source of information. Many of my acquaintances do the same…

Dracena, however, believes in compatibility of the mainstream media and Internet:

[…] If the print media are dynamic and inventive, they will not have damage from the Internet. They can also have an additional electronic form. […]

She also identified some issues that concern the Internet in Serbia:

[…] I think that the biggest obstacle to popularization of Internet in our country is the desire of many that everything published online should be lucrative, even those texts that have public importance, such as laws. Because of that many of them are not available online. Government should publish all laws and they should be free. Also, spelling and grammar of the Serbian language should be available online, because there are 33% of functionally illiterate people in Serbia. Generally speaking, the government should consider which content its institutions should be publishing on the Internet.

[…]

If we want to increase the use of Internet in Serbia, then “our Internet” will have to be useful to ordinary citizens. “Our Internet” is still empty now. Apart from companies whose sites are full of advertising, there is almost no other content, at least without subscription. When will we start to make the base of Serbian language? All European languages have already got software for translation. We are moving at a snail's pace because we have no electronic base of knowledge of the language. Internet is excellent, fast and useful, but it has to be “fed” smartly and healthily. […]

Miroslav Jankovic replies:

[…] Establishing the electronic form of the media instead of the print form will, above all, be important to the local media. Today local press is available in local areas. If they would be published on the Internet, they would be available all over the world. It is true, for now their topics have local character, but the Internet might be inspiration for them to engage in topics that are important beyond local areas. In this way, a strong competition will be created. That will be a challenge for the big media.

Jankovic is skeptical about law regulation. He says:

Law regulation requires too much effort and understanding of the complexity and I ask myself who will do this job if many of the mayors in Serbia have not got computers in their offices. […]

The main committee of Socialist Party of Serbia decided to form a government with a coalition gathered around the Democratic Party. This means Serbia will continue on its way towards European Union integration. On this issue, all other political options had similar goals. The only difference was policy on southern Serbian province Kosovo, which recently declared independence illegally.

Many bloggers reacted to this B92 news as Slobodan Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia is about to come to power again after a silent revolution that occurred in 2000.

Waters comments (SRP):

Who could dream 8 years ago, that in this short time political stage would tremendously change in Serbia? [Vojislav] Koštunica Democratic Party of Serbia has close ties with Serbian Radical Party. On the other hand, Democratic Party is collaborating with Socialistic Party of Serbia. […]

Mica is one of many disappointed citizens:

Politicians and policies in Serbia never change. They are the same! With this kind of government, fight against criminal and corruption is not possible. Cooperation with The Hague Tribunal is impossible, too. […]

Katakomba is skeptic about EU changing its policy towards new government in Serbia:

New ruling majority will face first great challenge sometime in September, because question of “repressed minorities” in Serbia will be the subject of European Commission. Permitting entry of observer’s mission is next requirement that we would have to fulfill on our road to EU. After that, “justified requests for territorial autonomy” will follow [the other province in Serbia, Vojvodina would request autonomiy]. Scenario in which our country would be torn apart will repeat. Sorry for my pessimism, but I do not think they will leave us alone despite this government is according to delicate taste of “international community”.

Novosađanin expressed his concern that Serbian capital city may get all the glory and attention of new government:

I did not think Boris Tadić from Belgrade, president of Belgrade Democratic Party, which is dominated by people from Belgrade, would be brave enough to appoint Prime Minister who is not from Belgrade. Should everything be in Belgrade or from Belgrade? I would wish [Serbian] Radical [Party] in power (in Belgrade city). That would be chance for development of other parts of Serbia.

This way, in 4 years, Belgrade will be populated by 5 million of people and all the Serbs will not be in same country but they will go across same Gazela [bridge]. So, Belgrade people, it may be useful to hear voice coming from a side line spectator.

Тodorović Radivoj joins the conversation with legitimate economic concerns:

(…) [Next] prime minister should be aware that we would have to sell something big [in a process of privatization] until September, to keep state budget in balance. If we do not sell anything, credit lines can be used because we have to catch up with Hungary, which is 80 billion USD in depth. Our depth is just 27 billion USD.

The other B92 report made even larger spree of comments. In the text Ivica Daćić, president of SPS, stated that Democratic Party would have Prime Minister Position in a new government.

Ilija sums up [SRP]:

During their negotiations fuel prices have risen twice!!!

DaliborBG made a joke but he turns serious an the end of his comment:

As we are going to be under [Ivica] Dačić baton [he might be new Minister of Interior Affairs], marked by [Žarko] Obradović pen [possible Minister of Education, also from SPS], I expect to see [Dragan Marković] Palma become Minister of Culture so we can all dance “kolo” [Serbian folk dance] while listening to the sounds of Beethoven!

[This statement refers to Marković’s answer to a question made by a Serbian FOX TV journalist. When she asked what kind of music he listened, Marković replied that the only musicians who did not play for him were Bethoveen and Chopin. “That was because I had been small then,” Marković added. This video became one of the most popular Serbian clip posted on YouTube.]

Democratic Party works against us all and this will be expensive for them. This should be topic of new movie, but in Hollywood!

Sava II is not so happy with current situation:

Decision makers in Socialist party [Of Serbia] betrayed their voters again. This political party keeps continuity with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which was founded in 1919. Under the name of Socialist Labor Party […]. Socialist Labor Party had similar moves before and this was not anything new. […]

Aleksandar says:

I am sure they will form the government by the end of July, so [politicians] could go to deserved vacation in August.

Everybody surely cannot be satisfied with the fact Serbia is about to get a new government. We shall see if these predictions of quoted bloggers turn out to be true.

Jasmina Tesanovic, a Serbian political activist and writer, re-posted the text of the statement on her B92 blog. Below is the translation from Serbian:

[Serbian Medical Association]: Homosexuality is not an illness.

Homosexuality is not an illness, according to the Serbian Medical Association's response to a request from Labris to check the official conclusion of the [World Health Organization, (WHO)].

On May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia - and as part of the “Are you a Homophobe?” initiative - Labris has turned again to SMA, the Serbian Medical Chamber and the future health minister. Labris expects the new minister to immediately declare that homosexuality is not an illness. Labris also expects the adoption of an ethics code about sexual orientation by the Serbian Medical Chamber, to help prevent discrimination against persons in need of medical care.

We remember that Labris - the organization for lesbian human rights - has been persistently trying this year to get numerous institutions, including the ministry of health, to issue a statement of agreement with WHO. One of the relevant domestic institutions - SMA - has expressed agreement with WHO. In this way, Labris wants to support other associations to join us in action of stamping out prejudices. May 17 is the day of promotion of lesbian and gay rights, because on this day in 1990 WHO officially took homosexuality off the list of mental illnesses.

Dragana Vuckovic

Labris - organization for lesbian human rights
Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
E-mail: lobi@labris.org.yu
Tel: + 381 11 334 1855, + 381 11 334 7401
E-mail: labris@labris.org.yu
Tel/fax: + 381 11 3225 065
Mob: +381 63 8 513 170
Web: www.labris.org.yu

Dawngreeter comments:

I am glad because of their step, but I am sure that they will be attacked from different sides. I think that it is very courageous to publish this statement, especially when it is unknown who will hold a stick in his hands [following the May 11 election, the new government is yet to be formed].

Drago Kovacevic replies to Dawngreeter's comment:

The attacks won't be too powerful. Everyone is afraid of doctors, because everyone has to deal with them one day.