An anniversary to remember:
On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. World War I began as declarations of war by other European nations quickly followed.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0728.html#article
Thursday, July 28, 2005
When all else fails, call in the family....
Karadzic’s wife calls for surrender 22:17 Beta
PALE -- Thursday – Radovan Karadzic’s wife Ljiljana has called on her husband to surrender himself to The Hague Tribunal “for their family’s sake.”
Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic, who has been helping hide her husband for the last ten years, gave an exclusive interview to the Associated Press from her home in Pale.
“Our family is under constant pressure from all sides. Our lives and existence are in constant danger.” she said.
We are living in a state of worry, pain and suffering. This is why I had to choose between loyalty towards you and the family. It is very hard for me to ask you, but I am asking you with all my heart and soul to turn yourself in.” Ljiljana told the AP.
“This will be a sacrifice for us and our family. In hopes that you are alive and can decide on your own, I beg you to make a decision and do it for our sake. In all my helplessness, all I can say to you is: I beg you.” she said.
Karadzic’s brother Luka said that he does not agree with Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic’s call for Radovan to surrender and believes that it is a result of pressure being put on the family to do so.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?order=priority
The Germans report on Karazdic's wife's plea: "Es ist schmerzhaft und schwierig, dich dazu aufzufordern, aber ich bitte dich dennoch von ganzem Herzen, dich dem Tribunal zu stellen", sagte Karadzics Frau, die ganz in Schwarz gekleidet war. Ihr Mann solle dieses "Opfer" für seine Familie bringen. Ohne Einzelheiten zu nennen, sagte Ljiljana Karadzic, die Familie sei in Gefahr, sie lebe in einer "Atmosphäre ständiger Beunruhigung". http://de.news.yahoo.com/050728/286/4mpq4.html
Karadzic’s wife calls for surrender 22:17 Beta
PALE -- Thursday – Radovan Karadzic’s wife Ljiljana has called on her husband to surrender himself to The Hague Tribunal “for their family’s sake.”
Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic, who has been helping hide her husband for the last ten years, gave an exclusive interview to the Associated Press from her home in Pale.
“Our family is under constant pressure from all sides. Our lives and existence are in constant danger.” she said.
We are living in a state of worry, pain and suffering. This is why I had to choose between loyalty towards you and the family. It is very hard for me to ask you, but I am asking you with all my heart and soul to turn yourself in.” Ljiljana told the AP.
“This will be a sacrifice for us and our family. In hopes that you are alive and can decide on your own, I beg you to make a decision and do it for our sake. In all my helplessness, all I can say to you is: I beg you.” she said.
Karadzic’s brother Luka said that he does not agree with Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic’s call for Radovan to surrender and believes that it is a result of pressure being put on the family to do so.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?order=priority
The Germans report on Karazdic's wife's plea: "Es ist schmerzhaft und schwierig, dich dazu aufzufordern, aber ich bitte dich dennoch von ganzem Herzen, dich dem Tribunal zu stellen", sagte Karadzics Frau, die ganz in Schwarz gekleidet war. Ihr Mann solle dieses "Opfer" für seine Familie bringen. Ohne Einzelheiten zu nennen, sagte Ljiljana Karadzic, die Familie sei in Gefahr, sie lebe in einer "Atmosphäre ständiger Beunruhigung". http://de.news.yahoo.com/050728/286/4mpq4.html
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
In case you weren't aware....
In 1997, Osama bin Laden visited Albania to help establish the Kosovo Liberation Army. He provided between $500 million to $700 million and – according to an upcoming book by Paul L. Williams, "The Al Qaeda Connection" – 500 seasoned Arab Afghan troops to train KLA recruits at the al-Qaida headquarters in Albania and at another camp in Macedonia.
Understand the KLA was, from its creation by bin Laden, a jihadist terrorist group.
Here's how Williams tells the story from here:
At this point in the twisted history of Kosovo, the CIA and the Clinton administration began to view the KLA as an army of 'freedom fighters' and offered aid in the form of military training and field advice. The United States, unbeknown to the American people, was now in league with a group that contained enemies who were intent upon its destruction. They were generally not the innocent people who had been targeted and attacked by the Serbs.
A year later, with help from both al-Qaida and the United States, the KLA had an army of 30,000 with sophisticated weaponry, including anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars, recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft machine guns. Naturally, they began to use them – conducting hit-and-run attacks on Serbian special-forces police units.
Slobodan Milosevic, the president of Serbia, responded by burning homes and killing dozens of ethnic Albanians. Soon, there was a little war raging – "culminating," Williams writes, "in the infamous 'Racak Massacre' of Jan. 15, 1999, when the bodies of 45 Albanians were discovered in a gully within the village of Racak."
Milosevic insisted the bodies had been placed there by the KLA to implicate the Serbs and justify Western intervention. In fact, European papers found his claim was supported by the unnatural position of the bodies, the absence of cartridge shells and the inability of Racak villagers to identify the bodies.
But, this time, Clinton wasn't going to sit on the sidelines and watch a genocide take place as he had done in Rwanda. On the basis of this "evidence" and amid international outcries of ethnic cleansing, the United States and its European allies became militarily involved – not as "peacemakers," mind you, but as partisans in an ethnic and religious conflict initiated by al-Qaida.
At a cost exceeding $4 billion, NATO forces soon reduced Kosovo to rubble, flying 37,465 missions, destroying 400 Serbian artillery positions, 270 armored personnel carriers, 150 tanks, 100 planes, killing 10,000 Serbian soldiers and causing 1.4 million Kosovars to flee for their lives. Williams calls it "the greatest mass migration since World War II."
For the full article, go to
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45446
This is an interesting little story:
Serbia’a Image in the World
EXIT festival gathers young people from all over the world The image of Serbia in the European countries and the US is chiefly related to war, poverty and instability, and there is a stereotyping of Serbs as aggressive and war-mongering nation, show the results of a poll conducted by “Exit Team” and “TraNSfer” Club od Psychology Students during the EXIT 05 Music Festival. The poll was conducted on a sample of 900 Serbian and foreign citizens that visited “EXIT”. Among the foreign nationals, the majority came from the former Yugoslavia republics. The image of Serbia in Croatia is very negative and is related to the consequences of war and the “Chetnik” movement, which is an opinion of 70% of the polled Croatians. The opinions of the B&H citizens are divided, with 25% holding Serbia in positive regard. In Macedonia and Slovenia, the perception of Serbia is very positive, and the polled Macedonians and Slovenians believe that the Serbs, in general, are very friendly people. Positive view of Serbia is held by the other Eastern countries (Greece, Bulgaria and Romania) and their citizens cite the similar behaviour and worldview as the most positive feature. The “Exit” release for the media says that the visitors from Western Europe and the US often think that the war has never stopped in the region, although there are those who think that Serbia’s image in the world follows a positive trend and is improving. Almost one half of “EXIT” visitors are from the city of Novi Sad, and one in ten is a foreign national. One half of the foreigners are citizens of the states of former Yugoslavia. Over 80 percent of the visitors are young people between 20 and 30 years of age; 13 percent are younger than 20, shows the poll.
http://see.oneworld.net/article/view/115964/1/
Serbia’a Image in the World
EXIT festival gathers young people from all over the world The image of Serbia in the European countries and the US is chiefly related to war, poverty and instability, and there is a stereotyping of Serbs as aggressive and war-mongering nation, show the results of a poll conducted by “Exit Team” and “TraNSfer” Club od Psychology Students during the EXIT 05 Music Festival. The poll was conducted on a sample of 900 Serbian and foreign citizens that visited “EXIT”. Among the foreign nationals, the majority came from the former Yugoslavia republics. The image of Serbia in Croatia is very negative and is related to the consequences of war and the “Chetnik” movement, which is an opinion of 70% of the polled Croatians. The opinions of the B&H citizens are divided, with 25% holding Serbia in positive regard. In Macedonia and Slovenia, the perception of Serbia is very positive, and the polled Macedonians and Slovenians believe that the Serbs, in general, are very friendly people. Positive view of Serbia is held by the other Eastern countries (Greece, Bulgaria and Romania) and their citizens cite the similar behaviour and worldview as the most positive feature. The “Exit” release for the media says that the visitors from Western Europe and the US often think that the war has never stopped in the region, although there are those who think that Serbia’s image in the world follows a positive trend and is improving. Almost one half of “EXIT” visitors are from the city of Novi Sad, and one in ten is a foreign national. One half of the foreigners are citizens of the states of former Yugoslavia. Over 80 percent of the visitors are young people between 20 and 30 years of age; 13 percent are younger than 20, shows the poll.
http://see.oneworld.net/article/view/115964/1/
Is they is or is they ain't negotiating with Mladic? First, we have this story:
“Negotiations under way” with Mladic 11:42 July 22 B92
BELGRADE -- Friday – Negotiations are between conducted for the surrender of Hague Tribunal fugitive Ratko Mladic, the director of the Humanitarian Law Centre said today. Natasa Kandic, speaking on TV B92, said that the negotiations were either being conducted directly or by someone authorised by the Cabinet to negotiate with Mladic’s associates. The open question, she said, was whether the decision would for Mladic to completely disappear or to receive money in return for his surrender. She claims that Mladic’s people “are counting on the five million dollar reward which the US Government has pledged for information on Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, and one condition sought is the place where Mladic’s prison sentence will be served”. Kandic says that she does not believe anyone from the present government who says they don’t know where the former Bosnian Serb military commander is. “I think that the situation is such that the authorities could repeat from morning to night that they have no information on the whereabouts of Mladic and Karadzic, but the question is who will believe it. It’s so obvious, that know they’re claiming they don’t know, he was here somewhere nearby, it’s easy to see where he was,” she said. During Boris Tadic’s period as defence minister he knew where Mladic was, Kandic believes: “I think that Tadic was in some situations where he could not talk about what he knew. I believe that even he knew where Mladic was and under whose protection. I don’t believe that the late prime minister Zoran Djindjic didn’t know. Everyone had at least some information about where Mladic was located,” she added. Meanwhile, the press representative of the Hague Tribunal Prosecution says that Mladic is in Serbia and that because of this is it is unacceptable that he has not been arrested. Florence Hartman told Belgrade daily Danas that Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte had told the UN Security Council that the political will in Serbia for voluntary surrenders was limited. “It’s now the case that there are no more voluntary surrenders,” she added.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?dd=22&mm=7&yyyy=2005
Then, we get this story:
“We know nothing” 13:29 July 25 Beta
BELGRADE -- Monday – Serbian Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic said that the government is not negotiating with Hague fugitive Ratko Mladic and that it has no information regarding his whereabouts. Ljajic, who is also president of the National Hague cooperation council, said that the government has never worked more intensively on trying to locate Mladic. “Among the locations we will be checking in looking for Mladic will be several security structures of the international community.” Ljajic said. “It is not true that Prime Minister Kostunica is the only one responsible for the fact that Mladic is still at large, the entire Democratic Opposition of Serbia knew where he was at one point. It is possible that there are individuals who are still helping to protect Mladic, but there is no organized structure within the military that is helping him hide.” Ljajic told daily Blic.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?dd=25&mm=7&yyyy=2005
Wonder who started THAT little rumor?
“Negotiations under way” with Mladic 11:42 July 22 B92
BELGRADE -- Friday – Negotiations are between conducted for the surrender of Hague Tribunal fugitive Ratko Mladic, the director of the Humanitarian Law Centre said today. Natasa Kandic, speaking on TV B92, said that the negotiations were either being conducted directly or by someone authorised by the Cabinet to negotiate with Mladic’s associates. The open question, she said, was whether the decision would for Mladic to completely disappear or to receive money in return for his surrender. She claims that Mladic’s people “are counting on the five million dollar reward which the US Government has pledged for information on Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, and one condition sought is the place where Mladic’s prison sentence will be served”. Kandic says that she does not believe anyone from the present government who says they don’t know where the former Bosnian Serb military commander is. “I think that the situation is such that the authorities could repeat from morning to night that they have no information on the whereabouts of Mladic and Karadzic, but the question is who will believe it. It’s so obvious, that know they’re claiming they don’t know, he was here somewhere nearby, it’s easy to see where he was,” she said. During Boris Tadic’s period as defence minister he knew where Mladic was, Kandic believes: “I think that Tadic was in some situations where he could not talk about what he knew. I believe that even he knew where Mladic was and under whose protection. I don’t believe that the late prime minister Zoran Djindjic didn’t know. Everyone had at least some information about where Mladic was located,” she added. Meanwhile, the press representative of the Hague Tribunal Prosecution says that Mladic is in Serbia and that because of this is it is unacceptable that he has not been arrested. Florence Hartman told Belgrade daily Danas that Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte had told the UN Security Council that the political will in Serbia for voluntary surrenders was limited. “It’s now the case that there are no more voluntary surrenders,” she added.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?dd=22&mm=7&yyyy=2005
Then, we get this story:
“We know nothing” 13:29 July 25 Beta
BELGRADE -- Monday – Serbian Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic said that the government is not negotiating with Hague fugitive Ratko Mladic and that it has no information regarding his whereabouts. Ljajic, who is also president of the National Hague cooperation council, said that the government has never worked more intensively on trying to locate Mladic. “Among the locations we will be checking in looking for Mladic will be several security structures of the international community.” Ljajic said. “It is not true that Prime Minister Kostunica is the only one responsible for the fact that Mladic is still at large, the entire Democratic Opposition of Serbia knew where he was at one point. It is possible that there are individuals who are still helping to protect Mladic, but there is no organized structure within the military that is helping him hide.” Ljajic told daily Blic.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?dd=25&mm=7&yyyy=2005
Wonder who started THAT little rumor?
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
???? Now we are going to start THIS?
List of Serbs wanted in Croatia published 16:59 July 19 B92 PODGORICA, BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Podgorica daily Dan has published a list of Serbia-Montenegro citizens sought by Croatia on suspicion of being responsible for war crimes. There are 1,993 names on the list, which Dan quotes Belgrade’s ambassador to Zagreb as saying fall into three categories – people under investigation, people charged and convicted people. Meanwhile the political advisor to the Croatian ambassador to Belgrade, Romana Vlahutin, has denied the authenticity of the list saying that in f act there are less than a thousand people involved. http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=32478&order=priority&style=headlines
List of Serbs wanted in Croatia published 16:59 July 19 B92 PODGORICA, BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Podgorica daily Dan has published a list of Serbia-Montenegro citizens sought by Croatia on suspicion of being responsible for war crimes. There are 1,993 names on the list, which Dan quotes Belgrade’s ambassador to Zagreb as saying fall into three categories – people under investigation, people charged and convicted people. Meanwhile the political advisor to the Croatian ambassador to Belgrade, Romana Vlahutin, has denied the authenticity of the list saying that in f act there are less than a thousand people involved. http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=32478&order=priority&style=headlines
Well, well--here's something you don't see every day:
Tue Jul 19, 2:12 PM ET
A former Bosnian Croat special forces soldier pleaded guilty Tuesday to war crimes at the Yugoslav tribunal as part of a deal with prosecutors.
"I'm guilty, and I honestly regret it," Miroslav Bralo told the court as eight separate counts were read aloud by the judge. Prosecutors agreed to reduce the number of counts in his indictment from an initial 21, but added additional charges of persecution and unlawful confinement of prisoners.
Bralo, 37, confessed to rape, torture, murder and using prisoners as human shields to protect Bosnian Croat soldiers from sniper fire...The arrangement enables the court to skip the usually lengthy trial stage and go directly to sentencing. Bralo could face a maximum life sentence under the court's guidelines but is unlikely to do so because he confessed guilt and expressed remorse.
How lucky for him....
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050719/ap_on_re_eu/bosnia_war_crimes_2
Then again,
After a yearlong trial, a special court in Belgrade on Monday found Milorad Lukovic, one of Milosevic's senior paramilitary commanders, and Rade Markovic, a former head of Serbia's secret service, guilty of planning and carrying out the August 2000 assassination, along with five others...Human rights activists and former opponents of Milosevic's autocratic rule said that the trial had exposed to the Serbian public, in unparalleled detail, the ruthlessness with which the former Yugoslav strongman had sought to remain in power.
Somehow, I wonder if they didn't already know that....
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/19/news/serbs.php
Wait! What's it really all about, though? MONEY.
2005-07-19 16:29:09
Authorities in Kosovo put a winery, a road construction company and more than a dozen other enterprises up for sale , hoping to boost productivity and create jobs in this economically depressed province, Forbes reported.
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=56062&LangID=1
Tue Jul 19, 2:12 PM ET
A former Bosnian Croat special forces soldier pleaded guilty Tuesday to war crimes at the Yugoslav tribunal as part of a deal with prosecutors.
"I'm guilty, and I honestly regret it," Miroslav Bralo told the court as eight separate counts were read aloud by the judge. Prosecutors agreed to reduce the number of counts in his indictment from an initial 21, but added additional charges of persecution and unlawful confinement of prisoners.
Bralo, 37, confessed to rape, torture, murder and using prisoners as human shields to protect Bosnian Croat soldiers from sniper fire...The arrangement enables the court to skip the usually lengthy trial stage and go directly to sentencing. Bralo could face a maximum life sentence under the court's guidelines but is unlikely to do so because he confessed guilt and expressed remorse.
How lucky for him....
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050719/ap_on_re_eu/bosnia_war_crimes_2
Then again,
After a yearlong trial, a special court in Belgrade on Monday found Milorad Lukovic, one of Milosevic's senior paramilitary commanders, and Rade Markovic, a former head of Serbia's secret service, guilty of planning and carrying out the August 2000 assassination, along with five others...Human rights activists and former opponents of Milosevic's autocratic rule said that the trial had exposed to the Serbian public, in unparalleled detail, the ruthlessness with which the former Yugoslav strongman had sought to remain in power.
Somehow, I wonder if they didn't already know that....
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/19/news/serbs.php
Wait! What's it really all about, though? MONEY.
2005-07-19 16:29:09
Authorities in Kosovo put a winery, a road construction company and more than a dozen other enterprises up for sale , hoping to boost productivity and create jobs in this economically depressed province, Forbes reported.
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=56062&LangID=1
Monday, July 18, 2005
Great, just what we needed, more NATO:
B92
News by priority, July 18, 2005 - page 1
Scheffer and Draskovic today signed an agreement for NATO forces to lay communication lines across the territory of Serbia-Montenegro. “This agreement makes it possible for NATO forces, including KFOR, to respond wherever needed in the region if human rights and peace are endangered. If there is new violence in Kosovo, this agreement makes it easier for NATO forces to react,” said the foreign minister. Scheffer described the agreement as being of the greatest significant for NATO which, as already announced will stay in Kosovo, because the province will be a long-term responsibility of NATO. A further agreement is to be signed in the near future between NATO and Serbia-Montenegro on the exchange of confidential and security information.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?version=print&
B92
News by priority, July 18, 2005 - page 1
Scheffer and Draskovic today signed an agreement for NATO forces to lay communication lines across the territory of Serbia-Montenegro. “This agreement makes it possible for NATO forces, including KFOR, to respond wherever needed in the region if human rights and peace are endangered. If there is new violence in Kosovo, this agreement makes it easier for NATO forces to react,” said the foreign minister. Scheffer described the agreement as being of the greatest significant for NATO which, as already announced will stay in Kosovo, because the province will be a long-term responsibility of NATO. A further agreement is to be signed in the near future between NATO and Serbia-Montenegro on the exchange of confidential and security information.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?version=print&
Saturday, July 16, 2005
And it isn't even a Serb who says it, this time--I bet somebody out there is VERY unhappy....
No genocide in Srebrenica? 19:15 July 15 Beta, Blic
BELGRADE -- Friday – Former commander of the international peace forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lewis MacKenzie, said that “not even close” to 8,000 Muslims were killed in Srebrenica. According to daily Blic, the Canadian general claims that the armed forces of Naser Oric killed several thousands of Serbian civilians. MacKenzie said that Oric “is responsible for the deaths of as many Serb civilians in the Srebrenica region as the Bosnian Serbs are responsible for killing Muslims in Srebrenica.” MacKenzie said that the actual events in Srebrenica in July 1995 are far from what the media has been claiming to have happened. “I was there, I know what was happening and I wanted to show that it’s not all black and white, that the ‘bad people’ did not show up all of a sudden and kill the ‘good people.’ The situation was a lot more complex than that.” MacKenzie said. He added that he has no problem with accusing Ratko Mladic for war crimes against Muslim civilians but believes that those who committed crimes against Serbian civilians must be prosecuted as well.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php
July 15 - War makes the winners right and the losers wrong. That's especially true in a civil war, where the winners will get to write the history books, and the losers will have to send their kids to schools that teach from them. But what happens when such a war ends without a victory, as happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 years ago? There each of the three sides, Muslim, Croat and Serb, have created their own versions of history and their own monuments to competing heroes. That makes for a pretty ugly bronze landscape under the postwar pigeon-droppings. In Bosnia today, one side's indicted war criminal is likely to be another side's war hero.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8586621/site/newsweek/
No genocide in Srebrenica? 19:15 July 15 Beta, Blic
BELGRADE -- Friday – Former commander of the international peace forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lewis MacKenzie, said that “not even close” to 8,000 Muslims were killed in Srebrenica. According to daily Blic, the Canadian general claims that the armed forces of Naser Oric killed several thousands of Serbian civilians. MacKenzie said that Oric “is responsible for the deaths of as many Serb civilians in the Srebrenica region as the Bosnian Serbs are responsible for killing Muslims in Srebrenica.” MacKenzie said that the actual events in Srebrenica in July 1995 are far from what the media has been claiming to have happened. “I was there, I know what was happening and I wanted to show that it’s not all black and white, that the ‘bad people’ did not show up all of a sudden and kill the ‘good people.’ The situation was a lot more complex than that.” MacKenzie said. He added that he has no problem with accusing Ratko Mladic for war crimes against Muslim civilians but believes that those who committed crimes against Serbian civilians must be prosecuted as well.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php
July 15 - War makes the winners right and the losers wrong. That's especially true in a civil war, where the winners will get to write the history books, and the losers will have to send their kids to schools that teach from them. But what happens when such a war ends without a victory, as happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 years ago? There each of the three sides, Muslim, Croat and Serb, have created their own versions of history and their own monuments to competing heroes. That makes for a pretty ugly bronze landscape under the postwar pigeon-droppings. In Bosnia today, one side's indicted war criminal is likely to be another side's war hero.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8586621/site/newsweek/
Thursday, July 14, 2005
More reflections on Srebrenica from the Christian Science Monitor:
Now 10 years later, many witnesses and survivors are eager to remind the world that Srebrenica was not, as it is sometimes presented, an isolated horror conducted by a clutch of crazy hillbillies - nor simply the worst slaughter in Europe in 50 years.
Rather, they see it as an extension of a racial superiority campaign, and sparked by sophisticated Serb hate propaganda in Belgrade that acted like a blowtorch on a bale of hay in the Balkans.
*************************
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the UN Security Council in 1993. Former president Slobodan Milosevic's trial is ongoing, but 10 key suspects remain at large.
The ICTY has successfully handled dozens of cases. The maximum sentence that can be imposed is life imprisonment.
Tribunal Indictments to date: 162
Judgments rendered: 55
Sentenced: 37
Acquitted: 2
Not Guilty: 3
Appealing: 13
Recused: 2
Source: ICTY
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/csm/20050714/wl_csm/ojusticex_1
Because, in the end, it's all about one bankrupt nation extracting money from another bankrupt nation while nations with money watch:
Bosnia-Herzegovina does not have enough money to lead a case against Serbia-Montenegro in front of the International Court of Law in The Hague.
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=56031&LangID=1
Now 10 years later, many witnesses and survivors are eager to remind the world that Srebrenica was not, as it is sometimes presented, an isolated horror conducted by a clutch of crazy hillbillies - nor simply the worst slaughter in Europe in 50 years.
Rather, they see it as an extension of a racial superiority campaign, and sparked by sophisticated Serb hate propaganda in Belgrade that acted like a blowtorch on a bale of hay in the Balkans.
*************************
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the UN Security Council in 1993. Former president Slobodan Milosevic's trial is ongoing, but 10 key suspects remain at large.
The ICTY has successfully handled dozens of cases. The maximum sentence that can be imposed is life imprisonment.
Tribunal Indictments to date: 162
Judgments rendered: 55
Sentenced: 37
Acquitted: 2
Not Guilty: 3
Appealing: 13
Recused: 2
Source: ICTY
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/csm/20050714/wl_csm/ojusticex_1
Because, in the end, it's all about one bankrupt nation extracting money from another bankrupt nation while nations with money watch:
Bosnia-Herzegovina does not have enough money to lead a case against Serbia-Montenegro in front of the International Court of Law in The Hague.
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=56031&LangID=1
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Serbs only recently began to recognize this orchestrated massacre, one that triggered the US-led end to the 1992-95 Bosnia war. It's taken a long time for Serbs to break through their nationalist fervor built up by deposed strongman Slobodan Milosevic. While many Serbs were also victims in the war, the slaughter at the Bosnian town of Srebrenica was in a league by itself as a war crime.
from the July 12, 2005 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0712/p08s03-comv.html
Not much else in the papers today...what did I tell you?
After yesterday’s ten-year commemoration for the Muslim victims of Srebrenica, tribute will be paid today to Serbian civilians who lost their lives in Bratunac. The ceremony took place at a military cemetery and a church service was given for Serbs who lost their lives in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the regions of Srebrenica, Bratunac and Milic. The service was attended by political leaders from the Republic of Srpska, Serbian officials from the Bosnia-Herzegovina government, a delegation from Serbia, and several thousands onlookers. There were no international officials present even though invitations were sent out to all embassies in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Serbian victims commemorated 12:58 July 12 B92, Beta
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php
from the July 12, 2005 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0712/p08s03-comv.html
Not much else in the papers today...what did I tell you?
After yesterday’s ten-year commemoration for the Muslim victims of Srebrenica, tribute will be paid today to Serbian civilians who lost their lives in Bratunac. The ceremony took place at a military cemetery and a church service was given for Serbs who lost their lives in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the regions of Srebrenica, Bratunac and Milic. The service was attended by political leaders from the Republic of Srpska, Serbian officials from the Bosnia-Herzegovina government, a delegation from Serbia, and several thousands onlookers. There were no international officials present even though invitations were sent out to all embassies in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Serbian victims commemorated 12:58 July 12 B92, Beta
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php
Monday, July 11, 2005
The irony of the date is not lost on me--and could perhaps have been intentional? Could the lawyers not have known what he was going to say? What better way to fan the flames?
A defence witness at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic denied on Monday that Bosnian Serb forces slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica 10 years ago.
Bozidar Delic, a retired Yugoslav army general..."That's your observation. I do not accept that," Delic told the court. "I accept that two to three thousand Serbs were killed in the Srebrenica area and several thousand Muslims, but most of them were killed in fighting."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11306288.htm
Glad to see that the Brits can remain objective and non-inflammatory in their language:
"What's all the fuss about?" shrugged the young Srebrenica Serb yesterday as the town swelled with Bosnian mourners...
"This is all just a publicity stunt," snorted Mando, 28. "Sure, people were killed, but why make all this noise? There were 3,600 Serbs killed here. Some say 8,000 Muslims were killed, that it was genocide. But the figures are exaggerated. No one knows the truth. That's a game for kids. All this fuss just gives me a sore head."
Like many of the Serbs of Srebrenica, Mando still cannot face the truth about his small home town a decade after the Serbs murdered up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim males within a week in what many see as the gravest political massacre in Europe in the second half of the 20th century...
In what western diplomats in the Serbian capital described as a disgrace, the Serbian parliament was unable to agree on a statement condemning the crime.
Last week the government of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica finally released a statement deploring war crimes and equating the Srebrenica massacre with the killings of Serbs in the region during the Bosnian war.
The aim was not to excuse or justify Srebrenica, but to relativise and belittle a crime which judges in The Hague have classified as genocide, the sole such event in the Yugoslav wars of the 90s to warrant that category.
"Ach, genocide," snorts Mando. "Who knows?"
At the weekend in Belgrade thousands of Serbs gathered in a conference hall to watch a film called The Truth with a Wagner soundtrack and to claim that the Serbs were the real victims. A Belgrade newspaper recently published a 16-page supplement entitled The Book of the Dead, listing 3,287 Serbs from the Srebrenica region who died during the Bosnian war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,2763,1525853,00.html?gusrc=rss
Various articles about the commemoration:
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre as many as 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica — Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. And although the anniversary finds most of Serbia, in whose name it was committed, still avoiding a true accounting of was perpetrated at Srebrenica and by whom, there are encouraging signs that the façade of denial may have suffered irreparable cracks.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1081303,00.html?promoid=rss_top
"When condemning crimes, it is of decisive importance not to distinguish between innocent victims according to their nationality or faith. The Serbian government strongly condemns all war crimes committed during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia."
In this recent statement, Belgrade did not single out the Srebrenica massacre as the worst war crime committed on European soil since the end of World War II as many had hoped. Instead, it called it a "serious crime" along with atrocities against ethnic Serbs during the war.
It's a sign that the Balkan country is still struggling to come to terms with its past despite recent signs that the war's worst criminals might finally be brought to justice.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1644313,00.html
Interesting, isn't it, that on a day meant to commemorate the victims of Srebrenica, all the press seemed able to do was talk about the perpetrators...
The NYT published a pitifully short article--the event wasn't even worthy of a major headline. The possibility of getting North Korea to the bargaining table and yet more information about the Israeli wall were apparently more important stories than the 10-year anniversary. Funny, isn't it? Srebrenica is big news whenever the West wants to put it to the Serbs, but invisible when it comes time for someone else to pay the piper....here's the link
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/12/international/europe/12bosnia.html?
That's enough for today--let's see who cares about Srebrenica, or Bosnia, or Serbia, for that matter, tomorrow. No fancy anniversaries to celebrate.
A defence witness at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic denied on Monday that Bosnian Serb forces slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica 10 years ago.
Bozidar Delic, a retired Yugoslav army general..."That's your observation. I do not accept that," Delic told the court. "I accept that two to three thousand Serbs were killed in the Srebrenica area and several thousand Muslims, but most of them were killed in fighting."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11306288.htm
Glad to see that the Brits can remain objective and non-inflammatory in their language:
"What's all the fuss about?" shrugged the young Srebrenica Serb yesterday as the town swelled with Bosnian mourners...
"This is all just a publicity stunt," snorted Mando, 28. "Sure, people were killed, but why make all this noise? There were 3,600 Serbs killed here. Some say 8,000 Muslims were killed, that it was genocide. But the figures are exaggerated. No one knows the truth. That's a game for kids. All this fuss just gives me a sore head."
Like many of the Serbs of Srebrenica, Mando still cannot face the truth about his small home town a decade after the Serbs murdered up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim males within a week in what many see as the gravest political massacre in Europe in the second half of the 20th century...
In what western diplomats in the Serbian capital described as a disgrace, the Serbian parliament was unable to agree on a statement condemning the crime.
Last week the government of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica finally released a statement deploring war crimes and equating the Srebrenica massacre with the killings of Serbs in the region during the Bosnian war.
The aim was not to excuse or justify Srebrenica, but to relativise and belittle a crime which judges in The Hague have classified as genocide, the sole such event in the Yugoslav wars of the 90s to warrant that category.
"Ach, genocide," snorts Mando. "Who knows?"
At the weekend in Belgrade thousands of Serbs gathered in a conference hall to watch a film called The Truth with a Wagner soundtrack and to claim that the Serbs were the real victims. A Belgrade newspaper recently published a 16-page supplement entitled The Book of the Dead, listing 3,287 Serbs from the Srebrenica region who died during the Bosnian war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,2763,1525853,00.html?gusrc=rss
Various articles about the commemoration:
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre as many as 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica — Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. And although the anniversary finds most of Serbia, in whose name it was committed, still avoiding a true accounting of was perpetrated at Srebrenica and by whom, there are encouraging signs that the façade of denial may have suffered irreparable cracks.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1081303,00.html?promoid=rss_top
"When condemning crimes, it is of decisive importance not to distinguish between innocent victims according to their nationality or faith. The Serbian government strongly condemns all war crimes committed during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia."
In this recent statement, Belgrade did not single out the Srebrenica massacre as the worst war crime committed on European soil since the end of World War II as many had hoped. Instead, it called it a "serious crime" along with atrocities against ethnic Serbs during the war.
It's a sign that the Balkan country is still struggling to come to terms with its past despite recent signs that the war's worst criminals might finally be brought to justice.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1644313,00.html
Interesting, isn't it, that on a day meant to commemorate the victims of Srebrenica, all the press seemed able to do was talk about the perpetrators...
The NYT published a pitifully short article--the event wasn't even worthy of a major headline. The possibility of getting North Korea to the bargaining table and yet more information about the Israeli wall were apparently more important stories than the 10-year anniversary. Funny, isn't it? Srebrenica is big news whenever the West wants to put it to the Serbs, but invisible when it comes time for someone else to pay the piper....here's the link
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/12/international/europe/12bosnia.html?
That's enough for today--let's see who cares about Srebrenica, or Bosnia, or Serbia, for that matter, tomorrow. No fancy anniversaries to celebrate.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Here's a link to an article (in Serbian) that claims the Srebrenica video is a hoax. It's published on the ICDSM Irish branch's site. The ICDSM as an organization is devoted to covering Milosevic's trial and defending him (and has made some good points about Western aggression and propoganda during the 1999 bombing). They tend to cast Milosevic as a hero, standing tall against Western imperialism, which is a bit much for me, but the article is interesting in itself. Lots of video analysis and discussion of filmaking techniques....
http://www.icdsmireland.org/resources/background/2005/srebrenica-video.htm
Also, here's a link to a Washington Post story which explains how the video came to light:
Human rights sleuth Natasa Kandic, a wisp of a woman with a boyish haircut, spent hours in the cafes of Sid, a town in northern Serbia, listening to whispered tales of Balkan war killings. Then one day, she heard about the videotape.
It showed the summary executions in 1995 of six Muslim men and boys from the Bosnian city of Srebrenica. It had been passed around as a war souvenir among members of a shadowy Serb military unit called the Scorpions. Its commander had ordered copies destroyed, but one, she was told, still existed, held by a dissident member of the unit.
Since that day in 2003, she searched until she found the video. She gave it to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic is on trial, and to television stations in Serbia, where it triggered a sudden self-examination in a society that viewed itself as the prime victim of the Balkan war atrocities of the 1990s.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401501.html
http://www.icdsmireland.org/resources/background/2005/srebrenica-video.htm
Also, here's a link to a Washington Post story which explains how the video came to light:
Human rights sleuth Natasa Kandic, a wisp of a woman with a boyish haircut, spent hours in the cafes of Sid, a town in northern Serbia, listening to whispered tales of Balkan war killings. Then one day, she heard about the videotape.
It showed the summary executions in 1995 of six Muslim men and boys from the Bosnian city of Srebrenica. It had been passed around as a war souvenir among members of a shadowy Serb military unit called the Scorpions. Its commander had ordered copies destroyed, but one, she was told, still existed, held by a dissident member of the unit.
Since that day in 2003, she searched until she found the video. She gave it to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic is on trial, and to television stations in Serbia, where it triggered a sudden self-examination in a society that viewed itself as the prime victim of the Balkan war atrocities of the 1990s.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401501.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/srebrenica-10-years-on-a-wound-still-bleeds/2005/07/10/1120934123817.html?oneclick=true#
Today the world marks the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre - the event commonly viewed as the single largest act of genocide in Europe since the Holocaust.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/07/10/pf-1125508.html
A tear rolls down Sabaheta Fejzic's cheek as she twists open the blue tin of hand cream and gazes at the fingertip tracks left by her son. The 17-year-old and his father haven't been seen since they were taken away to the factory where Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War was being perpetrated.
Today the world marks the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre - the event commonly viewed as the single largest act of genocide in Europe since the Holocaust.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/07/10/pf-1125508.html
A tear rolls down Sabaheta Fejzic's cheek as she twists open the blue tin of hand cream and gazes at the fingertip tracks left by her son. The 17-year-old and his father haven't been seen since they were taken away to the factory where Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War was being perpetrated.
Tomorrow's the day--10-year anniversary of Srebrenica--see what the NYT has to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/international/europe/10bosnia.html?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/international/europe/10bosnia.html?
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AFP) - Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was presented with a 'Golden Medal of Liberty' during a ceremony in the Kosovo capital Pristina.
President Ibrahim Rugova presented the medal in honour of Albright's efforts to end a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in the breakaway Serbian province in 1998-1999.
The war ended after a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces under then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw. Kosovo is now a UN protectorate but its ethnic Albanian majority still demands independence.
"She will always be respected and loved," Rugova told reporters Tuesday, after the decoration ceremony.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/050705/19/uzeh.html
What the F**K?
President Ibrahim Rugova presented the medal in honour of Albright's efforts to end a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in the breakaway Serbian province in 1998-1999.
The war ended after a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces under then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw. Kosovo is now a UN protectorate but its ethnic Albanian majority still demands independence.
"She will always be respected and loved," Rugova told reporters Tuesday, after the decoration ceremony.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/050705/19/uzeh.html
What the F**K?
Bosnian Serb police have discovered explosives at the site of a memorial to the up to 8,000 victims of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica. The explosives were uncovered early Tuesday as preparations were underway for commemoration services to mark the 10th anniversary of the killings.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-07-05voa109.cfm
Why I do this to myself I will never know.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-07-05voa109.cfm
Why I do this to myself I will never know.
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