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.

Kosovo provincial parliament declared unilateral independence from Serbia, yesterday. In his reaction Vojislav Kostunica, prime minister of Serbia, criticized America for inspiring these acts against a sovereign country. He said:

“The United States have also humiliated the European Union, and forced it to trample on the principles it is built upon,” Koštunica added, and warned that Europe, “which has lowered its head”, will be responsible “for all the serious consequences that Kosovo's independence carries with it.”

Kosovo and Metohija is province in southern Serbia. Metohija means monastery land. This reefers to great number of historical monuments mostly represented in about 2000 Christian orthodox monasteries.

Ivan Jankovic sums up all the news that stroke southern Europe yesterday:

The declaration was celebrated loudly with firecrackers and music on the streets of Pristina and other cities in the province. On the other side [in Serbia], it was not so happy. Except few bomb explosions in front of UNMIK building in [northern] Kosovska Mitrovica [where Serbs are majority], riots happened in Belgrade, Novi Sad and other cities. Hooligans […] were mad, so they crashed everything that came in their way. They stoned Slovenian and American embassies, McDonald restaurants etc. […] This caused great material damage.

Petarj cited local news and president of Socalist Party of Serbia, Ivica Dacic:

[…] [Less than 100] of citizens and police have been wounded in street clashes that broke out after unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence. Protesters attacked police in front of American and Slovenian embassies. […] [Dacic said:] “We should protect all foreign embassies in Belgrade, but those countries should think about their attitudes. They took 15% of territory from us. What should we do? Should We Applaud them? Breaking story was that crowd destroyed a kiosk. Kiosks are destroyed every day, but Kosovo is taken from us only once […].

Popkitchen titledher blog post “confused”. She adds:

[…] There is no one reason why I would wish to have smaller […] country than it is. The fact, that international law is neglected indicates how unimportant we are […].

Zivot says:

[…]Of course I am against independence. This is similar to one simple situation. Think one person coming to my house and taking away one of the rooms from me. So if that person stays there so long and finally proclaims the room his or her own. My comparison is ridiculous, because this [Kosovo] problem is greater in its proportions. […]

He then cites words of medieval Serb nobleman Stefan Nemanja ):

[…]Where our word is heard […], know my child, that is still our land, no matter who governs it. Emperors change, countries vanish, but people and their language stay, so conquered people and land will come back to the people and country they originate to”

Cika Miloje reacts to B92 blog post titled Independent Kosovo by writing:

[…] Kosovo was under Turkish governance since Battle of Kosovo (in 13th century), all up to 20th century. This time, we shall wait less, until Muslims get into some kind of big conflict with America. Taiwan is produced by America so it can defend its “independence” from China. Relations of China and Taiwan are getting closer and it may take few decades until they merge on economical grounds. East Germany got stolen from Germany. Marionette regime was placed in power there. It lasted 50 years, and now the country is united. I know the latest news sound like Armageddon to us, but history is long term process, and everything changes. […]

Mariopan reacts to the same post by foreseeing implications of this unilateral decision:

[…] This is not end of anything […], this is beginning. As soon as tomorrow or day after tomorrow, every ethnic group in the world will start terrorizing someone and proclaiming independence of some territory. I am so glad this circus will kick off around the globe so [they will understand implications of their actions when its late]. The [international community] tried hard to find a model to make this happen. So they made it and deserve to suffer all the consequences. […]

In his personal blog Avram says:

[…] It’s all the same to me. I am not so patriotic [to say out laud, all the time] “Kosovo is Serbia but I see double standards applied by the West, in first row, USA and EU. They broke UN declaration which guarantees territorial integrity to all internationally recognized countries. To be frank I would love to see Kosovo independence triggers independence declarations of all autonomous regions around the world, like that one in Spain. Abut republic of Srpska [entity of Bosnia Herzegovina], I am not sure what the situation is there. This is not autonomous province like Kosovo, but it would be nice if they could proclaim independence too. If Kosovo can do it, why can’t the others?

This is only small chunk of reactions which are written throughout Serbian blogosphere as we speak.

The first post (SRP), published by the blog's co-founder Milos Stefanovic (nicknamed Kiskovic), is a report from a recent Moscow conference on renewable energy, whose aim was to educate young scientists in order to make this planet greener. Below is the post's translation:

[…] Renewables are our planet’s future. It is very important for UNESCO to take a lead in educating young inventors. The European Network for Education in the Field of Renewable Energy (EURONETERS) met Sept. 3-7, 2007, in Moscow […]. Professors from FYROM, Lithuania, Greece, Serbia, Belarus and Russia held meetings at the All-Russian Institute for Electrification of Agriculture. The initial gathering of a task group for solar energy was followed by the executive committee of the network for education in this field. Professors coming from state universities across Europe are volunteers looking enthusiastically towards the future and working hard to establish joint educational program which involves publishing new booklets, creating online lab experiments and investing in lab equipment. The intention is to motivate students to handle innovative projects and opportunities in both research and application of renewables.

The main alternative sources of energy are wind and water power, solar energy, biofuel and geothermal energy. Between 1990 and 2003, renewable energy’s share in Germany’s electric power generation fuel mix grew from less than 3 percent to almost 9 percent. Over the same period, net electricity consumption in Germany grew by approximately 5 percent, while carbon dioxide emissions from electric power production declined by roughly 13 percent. The Renewable Obligation legislation places a commitment on licensed electricity suppliers in the United Kingdom to source an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources. The World Summit on Sustainable Development has placed the promotion of sustainable and renewable energies high on the international agenda.

Moscow UNESCO chair in renewable energy and rural electrification is lead by professor Dmitry Strebkov, who presided at the meeting of the EURONETERS Group for Solar Energy, which consisted of numerous papers and educational methods presentations. Scientists, gathered at a round table, exchanged their experiences. Conversation continued at labs where students showcased their works. Professor Igor Tyukhov introduced participants to the exciting methods to teach effects of the moving sun on solar cells. Polite hosts gave tour of a laboratory that produces solar panels. These panels are part of the extremely effective solar concentrators used to elevate the power of the electricity produced. The facility is capable of producing 1 megawatt of power by using these devices.

Meeting of the EURONETERS executive committee was presided by head of the network, professor Spyros Kyritsis. Academicians agreed to continue implementing agenda with minor changes. They applauded the completion of several new didactic tool, a book written by professor Kiril Popovski and colleagues on geothermal energy, a book of Strebkov and Tverjanovich on solar concentrators, Arbusov and Evdokimov on fundamentals of photovoltaics and Axaopoulos and colleagues on solar thermal conversion. Professor Vytautas Adomavicius highlighted hydrogen energy as highly promising for automotive industry of the future. Professor Viktor Bashtovoy said that biomass is a promising energy source for heating and electricity production when adequate technologies are present.

Professor Petros Axaopoulos demonstrated his educational software on solar energy, which helps to enhance students' education in renewables.

Professor Milorad Bojic talked about a possibility for students to implement online experiments. Experiments that can be shared between institutions via the internet (then there is no need for students to travel to other institutions in order to perform such experiments).

These educational materials are applied in many universities in Italy, Sweden and at the U.N. University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica. As students are satisfied with the educational procedures, executive committee recommended intensifying activities.

Danica Radovanovic is a well-known blogger from Belgrade, who cares very much about her intellectual property and is eager to solve the problem she described at a Creative Commons listserv on May 30:

[…]

some guy mirrored and stole entire blog of mine, the guy copied entire blog, my intellectual property under CC license (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License) plus he added AdSense to earn money on my account - I never ever had commercial usage or benefit from my blog.

[…]

To cut story short, you saw the link of my latest post, I won't post anymore as everything comes up from mine blog to this stealer's blog who earns on my intellectual work (placed in China I assume). You will find all info in this post and from comments of IT and software engineers. Also science blogger Bora Zivkovic from Science Blogs gave alert at his web site and we are looking for legal help asap.

At her blog, Danica has posted a step-by-step instruction to help others dealing with the same issue:

Let this be loud shame for those thieves. It is detected where the stealer comes from, as well as I reported abuse email on their host, and to the Google removals.

Yan responds:

[…] What he did is setting up a proxy for people in mainland China to access wikipedia, technorati, and wordpress. You know the GFW block these websites. […] So blame him for the ads, and blame GFW at the same time.

Bernarda gives another example, introducing mysterious “302 redirects”:

Here is another serious blogger who has problems. Jim Zwick’s very informative site on Mark Twain and other stuff has basically been shut down.

“ […] The removal of the materials from the site is the result of the site being banned from both Google and the Microsoft Live search engine, which I believe is the result of their inability to deal with a well-documented problem with page hijacking using 302 redirects. A 302 redirect is supposed to be used to tell a web browser that a page has been temporarily moved to a new location. The browser is supposed to automatically go to that URL instead of generating a “page not found” error. Google and other search engines (except Yahoo) interpret these links to mean that the page linked to really belongs at the linking site, and it lists it under that domain instead of the domain where the page is housed. […]”

Mark McCrohon writes:

I have developed a plagiarism detection tool called DOC Cop that helps bloggers determine if their site has been posted elsewhere on the web. DOC Cop is on the web here - DOC Cop does not take copyright or ownership of material submitted for investigation and processing is free of charge (donations appreciated).

Then Danicar considers two ways of fighting cybercrime:

[…] 1. to submit a formal notification of claimed infringement as described in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (512(c)(3)(A)(i-vi)) to the Host (big company where this criminal holds all domains), so they would: ”Upon receipt of a valid DMCA Notification, we will commence with the removal of such content in an expeditious manner.”

vague…

and the other way, which includes real Digital Guru’s

2. to process my request of infringement here (”the file a notice of infringement with us - read: Google, you must provide a written communication”):

and this way has a much much heavier and broader notice.[…]

Raincoaster writes:

This particular case has been discussed in the forum quite extensively and the general consensus is that it’s a workaround to make sure that the contents of our blogs are made available to people in China and other countries where Wordpress is banned, rather than a targeted attempt at piracy or theft of intellectual property.

You’re right, though, Adsense is very bad form. VERY bad, and it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

At this point you get to make a choice: if you see this as a creative way to get your blog past the censorship hurdles that China puts up, then you would leave things. It’s posting my blog too, and I’m just going to leave it because it’s important to me that my blog be read all over the world, even in countries where the governments try to block it.

If you still want to pursue this, the only real choice is the way that Dreamhost, the company you’re dealing with, has requested, which is your choice #1 in that list you’ve just posted.

It’s entirely up to you.

[…]

What I mean is, you need to HIRE a lawyer. The EFF is a great resource, but they’re not a legal aid group; they’re lobbyists and activists.

Remember, too, that it’s US Copyright that you’re operating under, because you published it on a Wordpress.com blog and that’s the terms of service. But the blog you’re fighting may or may not be hosted in a country that recognizes that law. China certainly doesn’t.

Michele writes:

I feel your pain!

I’ve been having similar issues with a well known industry news site stealing my articles and reposting them verbatim as their own

I didn’t want to name and shame at first, but I eventually did, as their response was so pathetic.

In her post titled “Goodbye, Wikipedia.jaylee.cn!”, Danica closes the case:

You may feel sorry that the whole wikipedia mirror is gone, as the guy who did the same with my blog was also circumventing Chinese content restrictions, as earlier said that citizens of China are not allowed to read Wikipedia. His web site was shut down by his ISP due to supposed threats from government.

At this time, the case rests, but the amount of stress, time and effort Danica has invested to solve the issue are enormous. This is a small contribution to the examination of the ethical questions of blogging. The conversation will go on.

Just a few days ago, major news outlets reported that the main course of discussion at the Serbian Assembly session was to determine which political party is supported by the 2007 Eurovision winner, Marija Serifovic. Milutin Mrkonjic, who presided at the meeting, invited the singer to visit the parliament. When she came in, Mrkonjic said, “Fellow deputies, please turn around and greet Marija Serifovic. We will be having a short break. Let all of us go to the lobby to have a juice with our Marija.”

At B92 blog, Maja writes (SRP):

She was persistent to succeed in the world she created; she managed to show me again how it feels good to be a Serb!

Dusan is somewhat less emotional:

I can’t believe how much euphoria was provoked by the victory of Serbian [representative] at Eurovision contest. All of a sudden, everybody is proud to be Serbian!?! And all of that about one not so important thing for the country and its citizens. I consider this win a simple political fix-up, in the moment when Serbia turns its back to the EU, as the great fuss was produced by nominating [Tomislav Nikolic] as the chairman of the parliament??? So, the western courtiers had to show us how much they love us, at the time when they plan to take away Kosovo, and to blackmail us on our road to the EU. It is like: we took Kosovo from you, but we still like you. […]

Kredibilitet writes:

[…] People with such capital as the first place at the Eurovision Song Contest (with all the drawbacks of the voting system) have a credibility to say what they think and invest the credibility in what they believe. Marija believes this is the beginning of a new Serbia, and that gesture when she raised three fingers, and her parliament visit, are all good for Serbia. She placed her face in front of us, and we started spitting at her. Luckily, our comments disturb her as a horse is disturbed by a fly on his butt. […]

At another B92 discussion corner, Jeca writes(SRP):

I am glad Marija from Serbia won. That means, we will be organizing the next contest, which enables us to promote our country. […] Those who decide to visit Belgrade, no matter how many of them, will obtain, I hope so, a more positive picture of Serbia, about Belgrade, because they have a lot of prejudices about us, when taken into account all the [terrible] events of the nineties. […]

Vlad man states:

It is not all about politics, nor is everything related to Serbs negative. […] The Eurovision win is really positive, and everybody should salute the […] girl from Kragujevac, who achieved the top recognition of her profession, by using her own voice. She set a good example for everyone. […]

Gorana Secibovic:

[…] I consider this a great chance for positive PR of our country. In Norwegian media, Serbia is mentioned only in relation to [Ratko] Mladic [suspected war criminal], [Tomislav] Nikolic [ultra-radical politician who was leading the assembly for a few days], Kosovo [a painful issue as the Albanian minority wants to separate], and the mass graves around the region [consequences of civil wars that occurred during the last decade of turmoil]. Just a few days ago, a Norwegian lady asked me if the army preserves peace on Serbian streets, if military vehicles are patrolling around, and etc. […]

Neven Andjelic says:

Eurovision is the last shelter of romantic people who are against globalization. […] First, the economy collapsed, and then ideology of the East. It happened around 1989, together with privatization process, mass unemployment, when young generation lost driving force, and the older got totally disappointed. The hardships resulted in widespread emigration to the West, where engineers from [some Russian city] became plumbers in Birmingham, teachers from Belgrade went to improve their skills as painters in Amsterdam, journalists from Sarajevo went to wash cars in Paris, etc. […] But now, the poor European states from the east win, and they feel well. […] [Because of the voting system, which enables similar small countries to give more points to each other] at once, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Ukraine, Latvia turned out to be the superpowers of European singing. […] They can make some changes in the voting system, but the final say is with the people. The true democracy and the east always win. The poor, the lowest caste of untouchables prevails, like in Indian province, during the last election. […] Eurovision Song Contest is the victory of democracy. When French, Italians, and Luxemburg people won, the West was ok with it. When the East became dominating factor, at least in singing, people started talking about fixes, scam, and labeling the competition as stupid one. […] They wanted to make numerous Diasporas from the east societies, now the expatriates vote for their home countries. The east is on the roof of Europe. It deserved the recognition. Remember that you read it here. I am posting this a minute before the voting, as a proof, my expectations turned out to be true.

Trotter says:

Thank you Marija for promoting my Serbia this way! Thank you very much!

Srdan Kusovac responds to this post:

[…] There has always been politics in the Eurovision contest, or even more politics than music, because that is why the manifestation was initially established, because of the politics. The contest is, in this new time, I guess, the only opportunity when the “new Europe” manages to show it is “equal” or “important”. […]

At his blog, Dragan Vargic states:

[…] I think Marija Serifovic is a very good thing for the [country and its people]. Her talent, hard work, and the will to participate produced great effect. This is a pretty important event for all those defeatists [so called retrograde persons spreading negative energy] which I know and have to listen to all these years.

JustMe comments:

I have read remarks made by forum dwellers coming from former Yugoslav republics. I don’t know should I laugh or cry… I thought I wasn’t reading comments about Marija Serifovic Eurovision victory, but the latest X Files – a conspiracy theory edition about how Serbia stopped the win of the Croatian representative in Finland!

According to the “theories,” Serbia:
1. ‘Got' traded the trophy for Kosovo (?!)…
2. Led an anti-Croatian campaign in Finland, this stopping the victory of Dada Topic (?!)…
3. Won because only Serbs voted in the whole of Europe (?!). I suppose, the rest didn’t have the money for mobile phone…
4. Received 12 points from Croatia, because, again, only Serbs voted (neither Croatians had money for mobile phone bills)…
5. Won because the country selected a person of unidentified gender, so they received votes of the gay population…
6. Won because the singer pleads Europe by naming her song “The Prayer” […] (?!)…

The “theory” list is long enough, but because of their stupidity, there is no reason to list them all. […]

Acca posts the Molitva song in English:

Prayer (Destiny) - English

I'm wide awake
An empty bed drives my dreams away
Life melts like ice
Disappears in the twinkling of an eye

I'm losing my mind,
Pushing reality out of sight
Our lips are touching softly
You're the one I believe blindly

I walk around like crazy
Falling in love frightens me
Days are like wounds
Countless and hard to get through

Prayer…
It burns my sore lips like a fire
Prayer…
Thy name is something I admire
Heaven knows just as well as I do
So many times I have cried over you
Heaven knows just as well as I do
I pray and live only for you

I can't lie to God
as I kneel down and pray
You're the love of my life
That's the only thing I can say

The English version of “The Prayer” can be downloaded here.

At B92 blog, Milos Vasic writes (SRP):

The fact - a hand grenade exploded on the home window of a [journalist] Dejan Anastasijevic - speaks for itself about the motive of the perpetrator. Serbian Radical Party officials explained that “Dejan Anastasijevic is the favorite witness of Carla Del Ponte” (Jorgovanka Tabakovic, a few days ago); he is “a collaborator of some secret services, and a future witness against [Vojislav] Seselj” (Aleksandar Vucic, in 2004).

What happened is a manifestation of our slow and [unprofessional] judicial system, because they violated the procedure by not notifying the prosecutor and the appointed judge about the case, and the police then stated they had informed them, but the prosecutor and the judges denied that. […]

Let's push that aside. Something else is more interesting: how the media treated the crime. […] the case was carefully neglected by the extreme-right chauvinistic media, except for the Press, whose columnist, my former friend [Bogdan Tirnanic], couldn't resist the temptation to blame [president] Boris Tadic: “Why did Boris visit the offices of Vreme magazine, as somebody could ask why government reps didn’t come?” […]

When mafia consigliore attorney Goran Petronijevic detonated himself live on Fokus Radio […] with theory that [Cedmir Jovanovic] and [Liberal Democratic Party] did the bombing, and when I responded to this [idiotism], orchestrated campaign was triggered both on Fokus Radio and in the printed thing called Pravda.

[…]There is a theory according to which journalists should live on higher floors; that it isn’t hygienic to deal with investigative journalism; it is worse than taking a witness stand in the Hague tribunal against those who ordered political assassinations and worse crimes;

[…] Then former chief of TV Politika, Goran Kozic, joined the [spree of comments]. […] Kozic, who scrambled under some rock after “October 5,” got into the open recently and managed to become editor of Fokus Radio. He stated, “They should use [journalism excellence] award money given by [Bogoljub] Karic, and some by Polt, to buy flats on higher floors […]” (Pravda, April 23, 2007, p. 2).

At his B92 blog, Goran Miletic states (SRP):

[…] My grandmother said: “He sure knows who triggered those grenades.” […] [We] don’t need assumptions, but look forward to hearing the news that the perpetrator was jailed, briefed, and that the efficient judicial process started, the one to determine how it happened, and of course, why that person did it. […]

My friend commented that bombs were thrown by “some lonely, crazy person” and that there was no ordering party. In any case, if police don’t arrest lonely riders or executors with instructing parties, everything is possible and uncertain. If you are a citizen, you don’t know what can strike you, but if you are a person who commits a crime, options are pretty clear. You either get a visit from a government minister, or receive a bullet, during the arrest. Where did the equality before the law disappear?

Shaina of Bosnia Vault writes:

I'm sure most of my readers are aware of the cowardly attack outside of Serbian journalist Dejan Anastasijevic's apartment. According to Dragoljub Žarković, the editor of Vreme; the attack may have been fueled by Anastasijevic's criticism of the recent Scorpions verdict. President Tadic has reacted to the attack by saying: “The state must react with full capacity to such deeds. I will reiterate the fact that offences of this kind represent an attempt to throw Serbia back into the wartime 1990s.” Vreme, the independent paper that Anastasijevic contributes to, also includes a collection of articles on Anastasijevic's attack in Serbian. Belgrade 2.0 features an article in support of Anastasijevic, as well as a link to a recent article he wrote on the Ahtisaari Plan. […]

“I like to comment on some neglected texts in online editions of Serbian and Croatian papers,” says Ristic, the oldest blogger in the Balkans. “That way I can stimulate others to leave additional comments and point to important issues.”

An affair shaking the domestic community these days is the exams trade that took place at the Law School of Kragujevac University. Police arrested a number of professors who were allegedly involved in selling university diplomas. Ristic says (SRP):

It is interesting how they established that one exam costs 500 euro […]. Did they use some economic principles? There might be one explanation if the creators of this price thought one exam needed two months of studying. They took into account the average monthly salary of 250 euro, and, two months of work for this salary equals two months of studying for the exam. That’s a totally clear economic calculation, the one which wasn’t figured out even by the economics experts from Economics Department which is located just a few meters from the Law School.

He focuses on an article about the state of Serbia's judicial system by showing all the hassle one rape victim had to go trough in order to achieve justice. He states(SRP):

The author of the text asks who is punished more, the sentenced professor or his student victim. It is enough to compare four months of imprisonment and five years of waiting for justice.

Two months have passed since the general election in Serbia. The major political parties haven’t formed the government yet. Ristic responds to an article dealing with the political trade happening these days (SRP):

It is certain that elections threaten the government, but authorities aren’t naive either. They intimidate us by ELECTIONS.

He comments on the statement of Verica Barac, president of the Anti-Corruption Council of Serbia, noting that Serbia is, except for the Vatican, the only country that doesn’t have control of the budget asset spending (SRP):

There are two roads to the state budget. That’s clear to everyone. On the other hand, from the budget to spending there are thousand ways. When comparing it to the Vatican, the difference is, they spend money others made for them, our government spends money of its own people.

He comments on an article about Srebrenica massacre (SRP):

In the despair of tragedy, victims are equal on all sides. The ones who survived are also equal at pain, they feel towards the closest ones. Politicians are the same when labeling different people by saying: ours and enemies. They caused victims on all sides, so they are eligible to count the dead. They simply challenge one another, who has the most victims. Terrifying!

Ristic attempts to prove that people of different nations are generally similar. He writes under the name of Harry Black at Croatian blog portal called Lupiga to prove that nobody can mistake him for a Serb according to his entries. (His friends call him Rile; to his readers at Vecernje Novosti, he is known as Milorad Miloradovic.) He responds to one blogger with an epigram about differences between the peoples of the Balkan peninsula (CRO):

While Serbs are pressured,
Croats are stressed,
while one uses the press, the other uses compress,
both railway train and plane passes them!

[…]

Morons are same, all the time:
They have only one desire:
To be ethnically clean,
Everything else is dim.

[…]

About politicians and their masks (CRO):

Celebration:
Success is celebrated with many nice wishes, masks are making many false friends.

***

Real place
when one makes mask,
He puts it on the face,
but often,
he places it at his butt.

***

Masks and faces

Mask is clenching us,
it offers us safety,
it is loved by everybody,
nobody criticizes it.

Everyone places a mask
on his head
Does he know
To put on the real one?

Here goes the joke
And a small remark:
who knows what the faces are,
And what are our masks!

Harry Black

Some thoughts on writing (CRO):

[…] Thoughts, transfused into words, can be deadly, because the head hurt from thinking, but the head can go away because of spoken words! […] It is true! Oblivion is easily erased by writing!

***

Toshiba posts Ristic’s “The Prayer triptych” and a song titled “My homeland” (SRP) on SerbianCafe.com:

THE PRAYER

We pray, God, for a sunbeam,
let us all work by your leave,
give us in our life to dream
and with You in dreams to live!

In our hearts You are for ever,
in every dream and in each deed,
Your goodness we'll forget never,
You're with us everywhere indeed.

You give us Faith, Love and Hope,
Your grace is so mild and fine,
we all live under Your cope;
give us all peace and sunshine!

If you far-away, somewhere in the world, find the heart which will beat with yours together, let’s hear these verses, because you maybe would write the similar ones.

MY HOMELAND (from the poem having the same name)

You ask me, where my homeland is?
Everywhere in the world, under each star,
Where I am free and not afraid of breeze!
My homeland is, where my friends are!

Serbia is proclaimed not guilty for the crimes that happened during the Bosnian war - and this is echoed in the country’s news and talk show programs this week. Lately, one could feel a clear “denying guilt” tendencies displayed by everyone who took part in the conflict. That is exactly what has been happening during the last decade, since the end of Bosnian civil war. But debating who is guilty doesn’t solve the issue. It widens the gap between people. People who identify themselves as Muslims, Serbs, and Croats have all evidently committed terrible crimes during the nineties.

After the International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict, Serbia's Liberal Democratic Party offered a declaration to be voted by Serbian parliament, which contains an official apology for the Srebrenica massacre (recognized as an act of genocide by the ICJ). The party is supported by numerous non-governmental organizations that seem to promote Serbian guilt. They triggered strengthening of an opposing wave of nationalist movement represented by the Serbian Radical Party, allegedly formed by the domestic secret service during the last decade. Both SRS and Kostunica’s DSS agree to condemn all the atrocities which occurred during the civil war, but would not accept the blame for the Srebrenica massacre. President Boris Tadic will probably try to find a balanced solution.

All political structures would like to take some kind of formal action, but any real determination to solve the problem in its essensc doesn’t exist. What we need is a conversation between the common people who took part in the dispute.

In his blog post called Nation and Simplification, Goran Miletic from Serbia doesn’t seem to agree with the ICJ verdict. Among other things, he writes (SRP):

[…] Once upon a time, there was a big eight-floor-high building [each floor representing a republic], where eight brothers lived with their own families. During the time, and because of certain changes, some of the families decided to live on their own by forming separate flats. The dominant older brother with his huge family didn’t like the idea [so he sent the young leaders to other flats, so they would proclaim their own space]. […] As the time went by, things got tougher, so [Slovenia], who lived at the ground floor [joined the EU building]. [And the people from the Serbian floor started supporting and executing the killings of other floor members…] […]

Spiridon argues that Serbia doesn’t need worse punishment than today’s state:

Serbia has so many problems. There is nobody to blame for the current stage. Current and old political scenes are “black without any white”. Srebrenica crime deserves public and, if you will, official apology. The fact that you feel bad that the nation went trough this without a punishment was nicely commented by Virtualni Vasilije:

“The whole situation fits to my opinion that the major number of these NGOs would like things to seem much worse than they really are. If the situation is better, there is no need for financial support for most of the Non-governmental organizations which exist at the moment. There is no glimpse of will for justice and real fight for humanitarian rights…”

Think abut the babies in a Tirsova [hospital] if today’s reps of political garbage don’t think about them. In case we are forced to pay war damage to Bosnia, the burden wouldn’t be felt by your, [Boris] Tadic’s or [Vojislav] Kostunica’s back. […]

Snezana7plus is bitter because of blog author's words:

Mister Miletic,

As you try to simplify the issues here, I would like to get an explanation of some attitudes.

For example, in that big building […] where the Serbs who respected all other nations lived, the ones who protested against [Slobodan] Milosevic, who suffered because they didn’t want to take part in the war, who went out to be the victims themselves, who even today have many difficulties with the crazy [“politicians”].

You know, I don’t feel right when Americans put me at the same floor and bombed me, it comes even harder when Europe does it, but it is the toughest when someone from that big building does it.

[you say]:
“I really believe that you guys who are reading this aren’t killers, but didn’t some of you stand quiet when you should have spoken up?”

If you believe - you believe, there is no need for you to REALLY believe.

Wise people say, when somebody says “but,” everything before that word can be erased.

Dj responds with a spree of questions:

Am I guilty if my brother rapes my cousin?

Am I guilty if my sister hits a small child with a car at a pedestrian crossing, and if she had stolen the car from my aunt?

Can I be guilty, if my mother goes mad and kills my father?

Am I guilty just a bit if my grandmother refuses to give a medicine to my grandfather, and so he dies?

Where does my guilt stand in the case if my spouse’s mother uses an illegal gun I didn’t know about to shoot a man who tried to rob her?

Am I normal if I don’t feel guilty in any of these cases?

Jelica Grgenovic calls in with the first preliminary results during the election night (SRP):

[…] Here you are, Cesid has announced [the first results at] 21:55. Still, votes in major cities have to be counted, which could improve the results of [self-proclaimed] democratic parties. But at the end, it will not have a major impact on the overall result. [60 percent of the votes have been counted], the result would be as follows: SRS (28,5%), DS (22,9%), DSS (17%), G17+ (6,5%), SPS (6,1%) and the coalition gathered around LDP (5,0%) […].

Dule Nedeljkovic sparks up a dilemma. Will the current PM and the president agree about the Prime Minister position? He states (SRP):

[…] I foresee new elections. There is no chance to have [Vojislav] Kostunica and [Boris] Tadic agree about PM position. That is at least what I think. […]

Aleksandra Mitrovic replies:

I can’t really understand how they are not ashamed to organize elections over and over again, to spend enormous amounts of money, especially when we have the same people with identical stories. They all rotate political functions, outcome doesn’t change. It would be interesting to check how expensive every election campaign has been. I would sum up the money. One could realize it would be better to spend that money on pensions, improvement of social care and other necessary things… it is sad to hear about all the wasted money. The majority of my friends from Serbia hope I will change my mind and get beck to my home country …but… I would not like to be ruled by these creatures. I can’t see any reason for celebration… […]

Manitu adds:

[…] of course – the same crew will stay on the scene! It was the same since [1992], with small variations – when somebody dies – or when somebody steps in by purchasing votes. Same faces, same capacity, well-known ranges, modest references. That is problem. The voters and citizens are just for decor's sake. Politics is a bureau for unemployed, an asset for quasi-privatization, and different lucrative acts. […]

Jelena Krajsic hopes the aliens would arrive soon (SRP):

For a long time and especially since the preliminary poll results, I am waiting for the aliens from planet Volcanoes. It would make us, people from the earth, finally united. I hope our visitors would want to share their technological achievements with us. I expect Phoenix to fly before Serbia becomes member of the EU. My other expectation is to have Enterprise boldly, take the crew where no man has gone before just after that. Stephen Hawking stated in December for BBC radio that we would have to populate planets within other solar systems, “traveling there using Star Trek-style propulsion, or face extinction.” This all is required not because bad moves of some governments but because we will be torn apart by meteor/asteroid/comet/some whatever rock or be swallowed by black hole. Still, moves made by some governments could trigger some dangerous events for all humans such are nuclear wars, viruses or global warming. That is why we have to think about the words of the British cosmologists. I think about his statement not because all of these reasons but because of the election results in my problematic country. […] If nothing else, I suggest we all join and become candidates for the next elections.

Branislav Kovacevic Cole was a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party for the Serbian parliament. He is a bit disappointed with the election results, as there are small chances something will change (SRP):

Fears of the democratic Serbia of having a “status quo” are more or less a reality, our expectations are confirmed… National block, whatever this means, has a strong position, I would say century-strong, within the majority of Serbian population. On the other hand, reformists, and the ones who want to modernize Serbia, are marginalized and considered obsolete.

There are numerous reasons that would explain the stage of the current spirit [of the nation]. Europe and the world will say that the situation in Serbia is improving, that the election got through with not so many irregularities, that the media were more or less just towards all the parties, especially when compared with what we had during the [Slobodan] Milosevic era. [Vojislav] Kostunica lost some support of voters, but he retained power, [Boris] Tadic received more votes compared to the last election, but he didn’t get the power… I assume, the following days or months will be marked by bargaining [negotiations] of [Vojislav Kostunica and Boris Tadic] followed by enormous pressure by the international community to make them agree [about the new government] and escape the new election situation. [Vojislav] Kostunica will back off where he has to, he will give everything for the PM chair, he might [even] sacrifice [justice minister] […] and some other [high-profile ministers] but he will keep [Velimir Ilic and Dragan Jocic]. [Boris] Tadic would have to agree to get [his man] as minister of defense, while [Mladjan] Dinkic of G-17+ and [Bozidar Djelic of DS will bargain about the ministry of finance and the Central Bank. [Liberal Democratic Party] will be the radical opposition. The first challenge this government will have to face would be adopting the new budget, which would make [a hard start], considering additional Kosovo [and Metohia] and human resources issues. […]

James Lyon looks at the Serbian politics from a distance. His point of view enables him to see how things really stand:

[…] The Serbian election result is anything but clear. There is a significant chance that a government may not be formed within the 90-day statutory limit, thereby triggering new elections. If a government is formed it may be a minority government with a Premier from the DS (possibly Djelic) in coalition with G17+ and LDP, with support from DSS. It appears that Kostunica will participate in a majority government with DS only if he is named Premier, and then only without the participation of the LDP. It is quite probable that the minority parties will go into coalition with whoever forms a government. At present the parties are just beginning to assess their initial positions and post-election results and rumours are running rampant. One important point of interest: for the first time ever the DS did poorly in their traditional stronghold of Belgrade, with more people voting for the Radicals than for the DS. Does anyone in the DS realise how serious this is?

[…] There is strong international pressure on the parties to form a government, which is resulting in an awkward Catch 22. The International Community (IC) wants Serbia to form a government so that the IC can move forward with Kosovo status, while the Serbian parties want the IC to move forward with Kosovo status so that they can form a government.

[…] The term “democratic” block is a misnomer and creates an inaccurate representation of political life, as all the parties are “democratic” to one degree or another. There are in fact two blocks in Serbian politics. The first is comprised of pro-western parties that favour liberal democracy. The second is anti-western parties that favour a paternalistic authoritarian Russian-style of “democracy”. The first block is comprised of DS, G17+ and LDP. The second block is made up of DSS, SRS and SPS.

[…] Many people ask what the difference is between the DSS and the SRS. As nearly as I can tell, the only significant ideological difference is that while the SRS still claims Croatia and Bosnia for a Greater Serbia, the DSS wants only Bosnia and has dropped Croatia from the list. In all other respects they appear to be ideologically and philosophically identical. It seems that there are only two reasons that they are not joined together as one party. First is Seselj’s personality. Second is snobbishness: the SRS is comprised primarily of the lumpenproletariat and refugees, while the DSS is primarily pseudo-intellectuals and middle class. Although both think alike, they wouldn’t be caught dead at the same parties or slavas. In other words, the main difference between the SRS and the DSS is one of social class distinction. […]

In his blog, Chris Farmer architects a new ruling system for Serbia:

[…] we also have to make up a whole bunch of new ministries to employ all the different ministerial candidates from all three parties of all three PMs. The usual ministries can be assigned on the basis of a Lucky Draw and the rest can choose from a list of new ministries: Ministry of Fiction, Ministry of Unusual Occurrences, Ministry of Obstruction, Ministry of Branding, Ministry of Potato Pie and Sarma, and a few other HUGELY important ministries that we have been missing all these years. I for one would like to nominate myself for Minister of Parking – about which I have a few things to say.

Once all this is done – and I am shooting for Wednesday afternoon at 15.30 – life can get back to normal here in Serbia and in the White City.

When Carla [Del Ponte] comes to call, asking about [Ratko] Mladic, the Three Prime Ministers will give her three prime answers. When foreign dignitaries fly in for a visit, they will get THREE ceremonial lunches and go home drunker than they have ever been before. And when the International Donors show up, they will be treated to a chorus of, “Yes, we have no bananas!” from all three. No one who visits Serbia from abroad will go away disappointed as someone will always tell him what he wants to hear.

As an alternative, and as a way to keep us free of further bothering with elections for the foreseeable future, we could propose a government with 20 Prime Ministers. But that might be stretching the point a little…

This big country is shaking. A number of events have caused the current condition. None of them has anything to do with my arrival to Berkley four months ago when I first grounded the superpower. I kept refusing to visit America for years because of ideological [differences] […] as well as because of fear of flying which was a more dominant reason. Now, as I have conquered this phobia and some hundred of days on the American job, my impressions about this country, people and the rest of the dominated world are complete. I turned pessimistic. The way elites are ruling this country could hardly be found in any other part of the “free world.” They are inaccessible for the people on behalf of whom they govern. They use god as much as they can when talking, and old family as it once was is important almost as almighty. They have chosen a Muslim to the American congress, but we have to wait a bit for the open atheist to be elected there. In the meantime, evangelistic leaders and reborn Christians are increasing the number of their followers by using flammable speeches against all other options including homosexual people […].

Somehow everything looks hypocritical in America. Patriotism seems to get the same echo although it appears to be a universal feature of ideological love towards the homeland. When you use these ingredients, you get some kind of ideology stew with result of having George W. Bush in the White House. Final outcome could be felt all around the world.

Average American needed six years of life under that kind of rule to realize that government isn’t the best one for him or for the rest of humanity. How happy liberal Americans were when they barely (this “barely” has to be highlighted) won both houses of congress. After six years, there is a chance to control Bush and others if the Democrats don’t fail the expectations which could happen easily. They are already more cautious when giving statements for the media, but then we take a look from a wider perspective, what is the major difference. Let me paraphrase Yasser Arafat’s statement in which he compared two main Israeli politicians - in essence, the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is similar to the difference between Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. He forgot to mention that both of these soft drinks are unhealthy.

Once as I formed my attitude towards America, I looked at the other side. How many people feel ashamed about their national choice both in the year 2000 as well as four years later [like Serbs]. Let's neglect vote count in Florida as almost 60 million of Americans turned out to be very foolish […]. The other America which counts [votes] is almost equally foolish; they just don’t possess power to vote them out. They make pretty funny t-shirts [these days], they sell calendars which count down the rest of the small Bush’s days in office […]

It all appears pretty vivid and funny, but the essence of it all is that power is held by the elites attempting to satisfy their own interests. The Democrats are a bit better than the Republicans, but still, the world remains in great danger [from them all].

Why all these words [from me]. Well, except that they got harmful global policies, that their home policies often neglect those in greatest need, that they have terrible health care system, this country is really great. A few nights ago, an earthquake struck the area where I live. After five minutes of panic which I experienced in front of my house, I returned inside to check if there was any report about what happened accessible online. I found precise location of epicenter, exact time when the earth started shaking, altitude and the strength. I was shocked because this is America as well. This is the country of able people, cutting-edge technology, this is the land of opportunity. They can do anything if there is a desire, almost anything. That’s why I am so scared.

Neven’s statement about the USA’s elite sparks a discussion.

Taska Dana says:

I know one country which is not ruled by elite… Serbia…))) […]

[…]

America is the greatest fair in the world… everything is so big there, including fairs… and there are plenty of all kind of traders… you should go to China or India… It's even crazier there…

Nikola Vitas:

It appearas to me that you spotted a few hard issues for America: her attitude towards religion, the influence of corporations, the lack of freedom to choice which turns down the whole democracy story. If you have some spare time it would be interesting to dedicate a whole blog to the impact that the pharmaceutical industry has [on the society of this nation].

[…] While I write this I can hear the sounds of [Leonard Cohen's song] that goes like this:

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A…

Znikolic:

Neven, four months is pretty short time. You may realize four years from now that this poll was decided by religious leaders as they stood by not giving their support to the Republicans. You can already see the price of this behavior with the moderate statements from the winning team (the Democrats), and you will be able to see this in the following months and years.

America is founded by the people who left their own country because of their religious beliefs. Religion is therefore inscripted deeply within the American society.

The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

American congress resolution from the year of 2000: “Whereas the national motto of the United States is ‘In God we trust'; … Whereas nearly every criminal law on the books can be traced to some religious principle or inspiration … Whereas the national motto recognizes the historical fact that our Nation was believed to have been founded ‘under God'…”

A local law in the state of Texas from the year of 2003: “Sec. 1.004. DISPLAY OF NATIONAL MOTTO. A public elementary or secondary school or an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003 may display the United States national motto, ‘In God We Trust,' in each classroom, auditorium, and cafeteria.”

As all the statistics data tell us that Americans are dedicated to religion much more than citizens of any other developed nation. On the other hand, Americans are very tolerant when it comes to religious liberties and convictions than any other developed nation.

The same way America used to present political ideas of freedom and democracy, products like Coca Cola and jeans, America will offer her conservative but pragmatic and tolerant religiosity to the world.

Belgrade, Nov. 2005 - by seriocomico

Dule Nedeljkovic writes about an ordinary morning in Serbia's capital (SRP):

Winter has finally arrived to Belgrade. At least, it looks like it. My dog was squalling when I came to the front door of my flat. I was carrying a big commode while questioning my decision about buying it. Last night I [started snoozing] with [Impression of the Week show] on TV. So I forgot about my dog’s needs. He took it well as I broke his basic rights. To make it up for him, I was taking him three floors down by hands while whispering some sweet things into his ear. Unnecessary. He pooped in front of the building entrance steps next to our flats' council president. Luckily enough, I had a tissue, so I took his droppings just hundred of meters to the nearest garbage bin. In the meantime, he started chasing a cat. He was missing in the action. I was searching for him all around for about an hour. I got sad because he disappeared…

“One of the many pretty but dilapidated buildings in Belgrade” - by access.denied

Lionsgate speaks up about his nostalgia for his home city and the people as a reply to the post about love (SRP):

[…] [Dating] foreign men and women? Hmmm… I tried it [before] […] in one country overseas. I concluded I didn’t belong there. Yes, people are more open-minded abroad […], and they are (more or less) friendly, [which is good].

But I would always feel like I missed something in Belgrade. I may have passed by the person who has been there my whole life from Vuk to Gardos, but I couldn’t see her. I haven’t bumped into her in the boulevard crowd or checked her out at the Danube wharf while she was biking…

Nevertheless, this is a personal feeling, to feel you live 10,000 km from Belgrade, to think about that person far away, in your hometown, and she moves around 7-8 km which I've described…

I am going to have a cup of coffee in Venice… [at the Belgrade cafe]

Belgrade - by Radio Maria

In an emotional and funny essay about one of Belgrade's many clubs and bars, Tanja Jakobi proposes a 25-percent decrease in cigarette smoke and improving the conditions of public bathrooms. All that for the Tramvaj (Tram) club. Petar concludes (SRP):

Tramvaj is great club for blues [music]! Live gigs, really good ones. Yes, it is smoky inside! Yes, it is crowded! Yes, guys play awesome blues! The atmosphere is relaxed, that’s true, too! A cool place. Although, if cigarette smoke disappears, I guess I would miss it a bit… It all gives some kind of an added feel to it, damn it. Fuck the blues gig without a smoky [aura]. […]

St. Sava Church, Belgrade - by ian_peric

On her Desperate Serbwife blog, Brooke posts an open letter to the Belgrade City Manager:

Dear City Manager:

I don't know who you have planning your street constuction in the City but I think you need to have a little talk with him or her.

I have seen countless streets and sidewalks in Vračar, Dorćol and Stari Grad that are in perfectly fine shape - without potholes, cracks, buckles, ništa - being dug up and reconstructed - and usually ending up in worse shape than they were before the reconstuction. Meanwhile, there are streets with serious problems (potholes, sections missing) that never receive any repairs - and they are usually just parallel to the street being re-done. I don't pay income tax in Serbia, but I pay VAT through my everyday purchases and I have certainly given enough in parking tickets and towing fees to have earned the right to be angry about how money is being spent on road construction in Belgrade.

I'm all for improving the roads in this town because they certainly need it. The construction at autokomanda is a welcome use of taxpayer funds and the plan for a new bridge to replace the aging Pančevo bridge is a good one. But I'm not in favor of tearing up of perfectly good side streets. It's a complete waste of everyone's time and money.

I am really starting to believe what some of my cynical friends say about how the government just does things so that citizens think they are taking action. Citizens are not stupid (even the ones who barely speak Serbian). We know a waste of resources when we see it.

If I were you, I would review your plans for re-construction of the city's sidestreets. Go visit some of the streets yourself and you'll see that they are in fine condition and whomever is in charge of roads for the city is fooling you into believing that he is really accomplishing something.

And, then, after you realize how much money is being wasted, redirect it to higher transportation priorities. I have a few ideas. Instead of spending money on digging up perfectly good sidewalks and resurfacing streets that don't need it, put the money towards more parking garages. God knows that the entire city is in desperate need of more parking. Better yet, send all the men, money and equipment being wasted on sidestreets over to autokomanda to help them finish the job faster. While you're at it, perhaps you should have a little chat with the head of the roads department about the amount of alcohol being drunk by the construction guys - I think there is a reason that the newly resurfaced roads are worse that the previous ones…

I don't fault you for trying to improve the living conditions in Belgrade, but somehow the priorities for projects has been messed up and I encourage you to step in and fix it!

Brooke - resident of Belgrade

Anonymous comments:

[…] we need more people like you in this city and everywhere else. cheers!

Ivan:

You should know that most private road construction companies doing the work are owned by the mayor's relatives, friends and campain contributors (Bogdanovićevi kumovi, as we keenly refer to them). In fact, one could trace probably about 80% of city's investments to the same dozen or so companies, all close to the democratic party. […]

Bg Anon:

[…] The topic you alluded to about the men reconstructing the streets was one touched upon by B92 last week. Their team 'spied' upon a group of workers at seperate locations in Belgrade. The men arrived and no work was carried out for hours and they had all manner of excuses when confronted about it. B92 then went to the city manager to present him with their report. He was not a happy bunny and lashed out at the TV station.

The city manager Stanojevic actually, (unless he is in foul mood as he was with this report) his door is pretty much open. If you were to request a meeting - perhaps after sending him this / a letter he might give you a reply in person. Of course he might never do the same for an ordinary Serbian citizen but an American… better chance. […]

Milica:

Dear Brooke, that's great. Serbia needs a bit of American energy and optimism. A useful word to know is HOHSHTAPLER (German in origin, but very much used in Serbia) — meaning a “wheeler-dealer,” a person trying to take advantage of other people (or of his position). Good luck, and thank you from all of us who care about BG.

Belgrade, Nov. 2005 - by seriocomico

Riot Porn reports on a disturbance which occurred during a basketball game:

Riot police try to stop fans rioting before a basketball ULEB Cup game between Red Star Belgrade and PAOK Thessaloniki, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006. The fighting broke out after fans of Red Star's local rival, Partizan, showed up to support the visiting Greek team, police said. Four fans and two police officers were injured. […]

Lucija writes about her day in Belgrade:

“Alone in a crowd” defines my day yesterday. The day started off with a hellish bus ride into work. After waiting a strangely long time for my 83 bus to arrive, I boarded with a large crowd of people. With each stop we picked up more and more people, leaving me hanging on to an overhead bar just a little too high to be supportive, practically sitting in he lap of a silent old man. Each time the doors opened I heard people saying “samo malo” (meaning just a little space) and kept thinking to self, I don’t even have “samo malo,” what are they thinking. Then a guy sitting behind the old man stood unsteadily stood up from his seat and somehow managed to knock off the cover of the over head light so this plastic beam hit me in the head. I burst into laughter, but was met only with a crowd of straight faces.

After my three hours or so of work I headed to the pool for a swim. The pool is Olympic sized, but people swim the short way, which is still probably the length of a normal pool. Despite its huge size, the pool was packed and completely absent of lane ropes to guide the mayhem of swimmers. It was crazy—bare limbs splashing every which way. I walked in and had no idea where I would fit, so with some hesitation I just hopped in and started swimming. Each lap was an obstacle course of other swimmers. It was exciting but so chaotic. People must get kicked in the face daily. I felt lucky walk away, goggles in tact.

In a post titled “Seselj: A Hero Without a Sandwich,” Queeria describes his “sympathy” for this political leader (SRP):

[…] Hero and victim, son and father of the nation, a strongman, [both] Gandhi and Mandela…they call Seselj this way. Thousands of people came to support [the idea] at the rally [in front of the American Embassy in Belgrade last week]. They gathered once again in support of the Serbian victim. Of course, during recent wars and regimes, there were thousands of Serbian victims. […]

I get confused when seeing [poor working-class people] demonstrating in support of Seselj policies. Those very same policies brought them to the edge of social disaster. […]

[He] won the position of a hero when he volunteered to go to the Hague Tribunal. It was a great farewell for the [brave man] going somewhere to [show them all], have a cup of coffee and come back. He didn’t make it, and that is why he tries to find different ways to return, which is allowed. […] What seems to be the issue here? How many people die of famine […] and the lack of medications annually? How many of refugees are there? How many people don’t want to enter this country because of Seselj and his counterparts? […]

I keep thinking about the fact pointed out by Goran Svilanovic during Utisak Nedelje show: that this Seselj case is used as part of a political campaign of the Radicals for the upcoming elections. That’s why I stay immune to pictures coming towards me: the notion of a great national man whose strength is fading; his children; his wife; his friends. And I am not ashamed!

I feel shame only when I come across the pain and suffering which is not wanted or is committed in front of me! […]

Only as a result of his own actions did Seselj take the risk for his own life - and that’s his personal decision. […]

Ana WithAFamily contributes with her opinion on the matter:

If the doctors treating a patient have the EU license, then they should implement ethical codes based on four principles:

1. Respect for personal autonomy when a patient makes a decision. This means that everyone competent enough to decide (more than 16/18 years old, sane, aware of surroundings and not under influence of alcohol or narcotics) has the right to choose even what doesn’t appear logical for the doctor. Applied to Seselj, he has got the right to refuse any kind of food.

2. Justice – it relates to the universal rules against discrimination, misuse and exploitation of a patient. From the medical point of view, this is not applicable to Seselj case.

3. Beneficence – it is a duty of the medical staff to help those in need. This principle often collides with the other three. Principles are noted according to importance and there is no doubt Seselj’s decision about hunger strike should be respected (except if his competence fails).

4 Non-malfeasance – […] Doctors are prohibited from actively taking part in procedures that might harm the patient's health. […]

I wish the public would know these rules of conduct in medical profession. If you have any way to spread this further than blogs, please do that. I am sure that people deserve to know this.

Let me sum it up. The decision is strictly his own. If one man holds to his own principles and is ready to give his life for his ideas, I hail that. […]

Milic i Milic thinks Seselj is the one who misuses his own human rights for a political struggle (SRP):

[…] They often say that his family members' right to visit [Vojislav] is taken away. This is not true. They introduced temporary measures of better supervision during the visits for 30 days. The next noted example of violating Seselj’s human rights is not letting him […] freely appoint the lawyer. When Seselj started with hunger strike on Oct. 30, he got back the right of personal defense, the one that was taken from him because of court obstruction. The court insisted that Seselj’s legal defenders meet minimal criteria, [it means they need to] have some kind of certificate that enables them to take the role of a legal adviser (can you bring a plumber to defend you in front of any local court in Serbia?).

[…] Former law faculty dean, Oliver Antic, used one metaphor yesterday at a Radical P'sarty press conference: “Would you take part in sharpening the stick they want to use for your own execution? He doesn’t want to take part in his personal lynching, he doesn’t want to live two or three years more without the [basic] human rights, he wants to be a hero.”

[…] Tribunal board instructed the Dutch authorities on how to handle the new situation by calling to the rules of international law and medical ethics. Among other things, the instruction states: “The Trial Chamber…orders the authorities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands… to provide medical services…which may, in the case of medical necessity, include intervention such as drip-feeding - with the aim of protecting the health and welfare of the accused and avoiding loss of life, to the extent that such services are not contrary to compelling internationally accepted standards of medical ethics or binding rules of international law… to ensure that the medical professionals providing care to the accused seek professional advice, both in terms of specialized medical expertise and ethics, domestically and internationally, and not limited to the medical expertise invoked by the accused when considering whether or not to medically intervene or to continue medical services….”[…] “…according to jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, ‘force-feeding' does not constitute torture, inhuman or degrading treatment if there is a medical necessity to do so, if procedural guarantees for the decision to force-feed are complied with and if the manner in which the detainee is force-fed is not inhumane or degrading”. […]

In her post called “Fatherly Insight,” Lucy Moore describes people who came to protest against “the political court” and for freedom of Vojislav Seselj in front of the American Embassy last week:

“Lucy, be careful. Those people can be dangerous.” That was my father's reaction when I mentioned passing the Serbian Radical Party's demonstration held in honor of Vojslav Seselj on my way into town Saturday. When I thought about the characters I saw as I wandered through the edge of the crowd gathered outside the US Embassy - a frail old woman, head covered in a scarf, cane in hand; a tacky, scantily clad twenty-something female dressed more for a nightclub than a political demonstration; and a young orthodox priest, swallowed by his flowing, black garb - I scoffed at this warning. Collectively these characters embodied the strange bedfellows represented by the Radical Party, but as individuals they each seemed more comical than threatening.

When it comes to Seselj and his role in Serbian politics, however, I'm not sure if a light chuckle is the most appropriate response. The man's story is pretty incredible (this will be nothing new for local readers, but worth repeating for those of you who have failed to keep up with Serbia's political scene). Now known internationally for his crimes against humanity, he was once the youngest PhD recipient in Yugoslavia. As a professor in Sarajevo, he developed a reputation for his nationalism and was even dubbed the “Duke of Četniks” on the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo, while traveling through, ironically enough, the United States. Perhaps taking this title a bit too seriously, he formed a nationalist political party and a paramilitary force in the early 1990s. Ten years and a handful of war crimes later, he's turned himself over to the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but has recently brought his trial to a halt as he is now on hunger strike in the name of spousal visits and self-selected legal representation (a less legitimate request than it seems given his record of harassing witness while representing himself in court). Now French doctors are being specially brought in to treat this man who, despite likely kidney failure, has refused to be seen by Dutch medical staff. Serbian news sources provide the public with daily updates on his health status, and reports of his hunger strike have made it into international news (New York Times, BBC). All this has conveniently aligned with the start of campaigns for Serbia's upcoming parliamentary elections, and who is the top listed member for the party holding the most seats in the current parliament? None other than the Duke of Četniks himself.

All in all, I cannot figure out how best to interpret this hubbub around Seselj. The whole thing makes for an absolutely ridiculous story, but when I remember that the “story” is non-fiction and the these “characters” at the demonstration are real Serbs with real perceptions and real voting power, should I be more scared than entertained?

According to an article run earlier in the week on B92.net, the former Slovenian Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro warned that [Seselj], with his antics in the Hague, should not be underestimated as a threat to democracy in Serbia. In contrast, however, I've generally heard Belgrade citizens just shrug off the whole thing. One described it all as the nationalists' last stand, based more on hot air and theatrics than any real political strength. Another just lamented the continuation of the tension she remembered between Belgrade citizens and the crowds in attendance at Milosevic's rallies in the 1990s.

And maybe that is all Seselj and the nationalist trend really amounts to - a carry over from the 1990s that will ebb as more time is put between current Serbia and the Milošević years. But I still found the face of a war criminal plastered all over the capital city a bit unsettling, not to mention the sheer number of people that turned out for his rally.

My father's words of warning were meant in regards to my physical wellbeing, but are perhaps better applied elsewhere. I doubt the degree to which Seselj and his party are any real threat to my personal safety or that of any foreigner in Serbia - though he is know for threatening internationals before the Serbian parliament (”If we cannot grab all their [NATO] planes, we can grab those within our reach, like various Helsinki committees, and Quisling groups.” - Human Rights Watch Report). Instead it seems that those most at risk in the whole situation are the supporters of the Serbian Radical Party themselves, those being manipulated by a hand now shriveling away in Holland. But I've been told again and again that Serbia is unpredictable, so I suppose only time will tell.

First, let's take a look at Eric Gordy's East Ethnia blog and a report of this odd happening, Kragujevac-related:

So the story appears to be: the folk-pop figure personality [Severina Vuckovic] makes a guest appearance on a television station in Kragujevac, in the course of which she receives as a gift one of the legendary “Yugo” cars from the Zastava factory. This leads her commercial sponsor, the Croatian representative of Mercedes Benz (or Daimler Chrysler, I presume?) to announce a lawsuit against her. No doubt the competitive pressure is difficult for MBZ to bear. Leaving aside whatever differences in quality, comfort or reliabilty that may exist between the product from Stuttgart and the product from Kragujevac, there does not seem to be much question which company's directors have a better sense of what makes for good publicity.

Update: TV 9 in Kragujevac says it ain't so, that Severina did not ask for a car, the station did not contact the factory, and the factory did not provide one. They do, however, invite people to support a campaign to raise funds to buy a car for the use of the safe house for women and the center for children who are victims of violence in Kragujevac.

Branislav Kovacevic speaks out about the central Serbian conurbation of Kragujevac. He portrays life and explores the spirits of its streets (SRP):

Kragujevac has always been center of attention because of many things… When you speak out loud the name of that urban area one can remember it was the first capital town in modern Serbia with the first theatre and factory in the Balkans; you may also recall that the country’s first “Sretenjski” constitution was adopted there. Kragujevac is known for the tragedy that occurred in 1941 [when Germans killed over 7,000 people]; it has the first and only automobile industry in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; it is also a university city with more than 10,000 students; and it was an important opposition haven during the political struggle against [Slobodan] Milosevic's regime. […] Workers of Zastava car factory in that city are paying the biggest price of transition, which is the reason why at one point Kragujevac was named “Hunger Valley.”

There are details you can’t spot with bare eye. People don’t speak so much about them either. […] Since its time as capital city to the time when it was called “Hunger Valley” and through all the wars and happy but tough times the district has succeeded in maintaining a unique soul!

At least for me, the place to be was the Balkan Bistro. […] A modest space with common menu offering of the usual food and drinks, the place was the main gathering point for actors, journalists, priests, high school students, painters, crooks, gamblers and future academics. Since the day starts with a cup of coffee, indispensable ratluk and a small glass of soda till late in the evening […] the time was built up by funny remarks, different political and sports forecasts and verbal conflicts […].

Everything is known in the “Balkan”!

From the info on when some [movie] premiere would happen to who would become the next American president, to who killed Kennedy, to who would be the first person to land on Mars… All the [Wikipedia] knowledge is on the table, somewhere around [Rubin] cognac, spricer [Banat rizzling white wine mixed with soda water) and a brown bottle of Jagodinsko beer.

When someone says, let's ha