Sorry--forgot to post an election results update--not good news, as one can see....
Serbia: Election Deals Blow to Main Centrist Parties
Poor showing by two main democratic parties likely to slow formation of new government.
By Dragana Nikolic Solomon in Belgrade (Balkan Insight, 22 Jan 07)Centrist parties did worse than they expected in Serbia’s first general election and most diplomats and observers predicted difficulties ahead in forming a new government.
But although the hard-line nationalist Serbian Radical Party, SRS, won most votes with 28.5 per cent of ballots on January 21, it will again be denied the chance to form a government as it lacks potential coalition partners.
This means that the so-called democratic bloc will form the new administration. However, analysts say this would not be easy, firstly because of rivalries within the democratic bloc and secondly because no party among them has emerged as the clear leader.
This makes squabbles more likely over ministerial posts, delaying the new government’s formation.
“The new government will [only] be formed on the last day that the law allows,” predicted Dejan Anastasijevic, a political journalist.
A new parliament must be announced within 30 days of the election result being announced or fresh elections may be called. The official results will probably be declared on January 25.
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=brn&s=f&o=328895&apc_state=henh

THANK GOD!!!! Maybe now there will be a more equitable voice in charge.

Tue Jan 30, 10:20 AM ET
Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, will not extend her mandate that ends in September but hand over to somebody else to complete the work of the court by 2010.
"After eight years I will not stay any longer," Del Ponte, a Swiss lawyer who turns 60 next month, told foreign journalists on Tuesday. "I think it is the right time to leave."...Del Ponte said she had not seen any real remorse from those she had tried and few signs of reconciliation on the ground.
"It takes time, generations before we arrive at a real reconciliation," she said. Just can't give it up, can you????
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070130/ts_nm/warcrimes_delponte_dc_1

Not bad enough that they are constantly taking hits for Mladic, now these guys are weighing in--and isn't it interesting that they mention that Serbs were also victims, but give that no credence? Of course, this is a website that allows advertisments for "preventing and curing homosexuality...."
Nazi-Hunter: Serbia Fails to Bring Justice 19:08 Jan 25, '07 / 6 Shevat 5767
(IsraelNN.com) Efraim Zuroff, head of the Israel office of the Simon Weisenthal Center, criticized Serbia for its failure to bring justice to three men accused of war crimes during the Nazi occupation of Serbia in WWII. Jews, Gypsies, and Serbs are amongst the victims of the alleged criminals. Serbia, despite promises to the contrary, has not attempted to extradite the men to stand trial.The men, currently living in Hungary, Austria, and Argentina, are all in their 90s. The mission of the Simon Weisenthal Center is to bring Nazis and other perpetrators of crimes against humanity during World War II to justice.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120280

Boy, they will let anyone vote....
Milosevic gets vote call - again
January 20 2007 at 04:56PM
Belgrade - Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was invited to vote in legislative elections on Sunday, despite having died more than 10 months ago, the daily newspaper Press reported on Saturday."From a legal point of view, Milosevic is still alive as his death has not been officially registered" in the Belgrade district where he lived, the paper said.The former Serbian president died in March of natural causes in a cell of the UN war crimes court in The Hague, where he was being tried for crimes committed during the wars that tore up Yugoslavia in the 1990s.Milosevic was facing charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity over his role in the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as genocide for his involvement in Bosnia's 1992-1995 conflict.He had also been asked to vote in Serbia's constitutional referendum in October, with electoral officials claiming that "so far, no one has officially informed us of his death," the daily said.Under Serbian law, either the family or the Serbian embassy in the Netherlands must file a document to confirm his death to the district authorities in Belgrade."As long as this document is not submitted, Milosevic will still be getting vote invitations," the daily quoted a local official as saying.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_A%20Step%20Beyond&set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=iol1169302143721R131

I guess I have no faith that, even if the democratic parties were to win, and even if Mladic were found tomorrow, and even if a resolution on Kosovo could be reached that satisfied all parties, that things would change for Serbia. The West seems intent on making it a permanent whipping boy in the region, always taking the blame for anything that goes wrong.

And then, there's these guys....

HRW: Serbia won’t face past seriously
15 January 2007 17:43 Source: B92
NEW YORK -- Human Rights Watch 2006 report criticizes Serbian government for its unwillingness to confront the past seriously.The report also states there were delays in undertaking legal and other reforms contributed to a still unsatisfactory human rights situation in 2006, adding that the authorities’ failure to locate Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladić undermined relations with the European Union and United States, and destabilized the governing coalition, in turn setting back its reform agenda.The report expresses concern over state interference in the administration of justice, economic and social conditions for the Roma, and hostile criticism from the media and some political parties for the human rights organizations in Serbia. The report, however, notes that several important trials were ongoing in the War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court during 2006, although the overall number of cases dealt with by the chamber since its establishment in 2003 remains small. Negotiations over Kosovo’s final status overshadowed its pressing human rights problems during 2006, HRW report states, adding that minorities live in marginal and sometimes dangerous circumstances, while the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes has all but come to a halt, and the justice system continues to fail victims.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=01&dd=15&nav_category=102&nav_id=39080

Tomorrow should be a very interesting day....especially if the NYT takes time out of its busy schedule to actually write something about Serbia....

January 20, 2007
Election Could Decide Serbia’s Role in Europe
By NICHOLAS WOOD
BELGRADE, Serbia, Jan. 19 — While six years of democracy in Serbia have given its people ample opportunities to vote — in four presidential elections, two parliamentary elections and a nationwide referendum — many complain that the country has seen little change.
Serbia remains isolated from the European Union while most of its former Eastern bloc neighbors — Hungary to the north and most recently Romania and Bulgaria to the east — have become members.
Western governments are hoping, though, that parliamentary elections to be held Sunday will make a difference by uniting Serbia’s notoriously divided democratic bloc and by preventing the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party from consolidating its position as the largest group in Parliament.
The election’s timing is particularly crucial. The parties that form the next government will be faced with the possible loss of Kosovo, the province that has been controlled by the United Nations since 1999 and whose Albanian majority is seeking independence.
Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland who is overseeing talks on the future of Kosovo, is expected to unveil his proposals for a settlement soon after the election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/world/europe/20serb.html

Somehow, I have a problem with considering a mental hospital a "time capsule"....

Yugoslavia lives on in Kosovo time capsuleFri Jan 12, 2007 7:07 PM GMT
By Matt Robinson
STIMLJE, Serbia (Reuters) - More than a decade after Yugoslavia shattered into separate countries along ethnic lines its multiculturalism survives.
In a mental institute.
The dialects and languages of the old federal state can all be heard behind the iron gates of Stimlje mental health institute in Kosovo. Some patients rant about the icons of the old days, whose legacies blight the landscape.
"The patients came here when Yugoslavia was still alive," says the director, Kujtim Xhelili. "So we have Serbs from Kosovo, from Serbia, from Vojvodina, Croats from Croatia. We have Albanians, Macedonians, Roma, Muslims from Bosnia."
The 50-year-old facility in central Kosovo bears all the hallmarks of an underfunded, Socialist-era mental hospital. But the political reference points for patients who arrived before the break-up of Yugoslavia now exist only in their minds.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-01-12T190541Z_01_L12571668_RTRUKOC_0_UK-KOSOVO-ASYLUM.xml

Serbia criticises UN envoy for Kosovo

Belgrade has criticised the UN special envoy for Kosovo over reports he is going to propose what is being described as "supervised independence" for the province. Martti Ahtisaari is due to release a report on the future of the territory after elections there on January 21.

"No one in Belgrade has seen Ahtisaari in the past six months," said Serbia's Prime Minister, "and he's now talking about completed negotiations, on the basis of which he will make his proposal." Vojislav Kostunica added: "It's not clear how and with whom he's negotiated, and how he arrived at his proposal." Ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs by 17 to one in Kosovo, which has been under UN control since 1999. Press reports indicate that Ahtisaari will make his proposals to the six-nation contact group for Kosovo on January 26.
http://www.euronews.net/create_html.php?article=399576&lng=1

A still-unsettled issue for the new year....
Serbia's PM Wants UN To Prevent Possible Kosovo Secession
BELGRADE (AP)--Serbia's prime minister sought support Wednesday from the United Nation's new secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, against granting independence to Kosovo, the separatist province whose future is being discussed in international talks...
Belgrade has proposed a broad autonomy for Kosovo, but the province's majority population demands complete secession.
"It is simply unacceptable and impossible that Serbia's borders be redrawn against its will," Kostunica said in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press.
He also said that if Kosovo - which accounts for 15% of Serbia's territory - becomes independent, it would effectively "create another Albanian state" in the Balkans, in addition to neighboring Albania. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-03-071328ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070103%5cACQDJON200701031328DOWJONESDJONLINE000613.htm&

Just an interesting factoid for you to digest....
Serbia opens military academy to women
BELGRADE, Serbia, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- About 20 women have enrolled in Serbia's military academy, the first time females joined the academy, army Col. Joze Sivacek said.
Women will study under the same curriculum and training program as men but will be accommodated in separate facilities, local Belgrade media reported.
Sivacek said women can enroll as cadets in military-police affairs, logistics and as pilots in the air force.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20070103-114357-3821r