Well, here's one little problem averted, at least for now....
The highest U.N. court cleared the Serbian state on Monday of direct responsibility for genocide in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war, but said it had violated its responsibility to prevent genocide.
Bosnia had asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on whether Serbia committed genocide through the killing, rape and ethnic cleansing that ravaged Bosnia during the war, in one of the court's biggest cases in its 60-year history.
It was the first time a state had been tried for genocide, outlawed in a U.N. convention in 1948 after the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews. A judgment in Bosnia's favor could have allowed it to seek billions of dollars of compensation from Serbia.
ICJ President Judge Rosalyn Higgins said the court concluded that the Srebrenica massacre did constitute genocide, but that other mass killings of Bosnian Muslims did not.
But she said the court ruled that the Serbian state could not be held directly responsible for genocide, so paying reparations to Bosnia would be inappropriate even though Serbia had failed to prevent genocide and punish the perpetrators.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/bosnia_serbia_srebrenica_dc_5
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
It promises to be a banner week, depending upon how this decision goes....
World Court to deliver genocide ruling
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 25, 11:54 AM ET
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
Can a state commit genocide? Should an entire nation — not just its presidents, generals, and soldiers — be held responsible for humanity's worst crime?
In one of the most momentous cases in its 60 years, the U.N.'s highest court will deliver its judgment Monday on Bosnia's demand to make Serbia accountable for the slaughter, terrorizing, rape and displacement of Bosnian Muslims in the early 1990s.
If it rules for Bosnia, the International Court of Justice could open the way for compensation amounting to billions of dollars from Serbia, the successor state of Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia, although specific claims would be addressed only later.
It also would be a permanent stain on Serbia in the eyes of history, regardless of any effort by Belgrade to distance itself from the brutality of those years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_eu/world_court_genocide_ruling_1
So, what does this mean, exactly? The official stamp on a general POV that already pervades the media, politics and public opinion (in those places where anybody either knows or cares about Serbia)? What exactly will such a decision accomplish? There is no money for reparations, so it resembles, IMO, France's "war guilt" claim and reparations against Germany after WWI. And we all know how THAT turned out.....
World Court to deliver genocide ruling
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 25, 11:54 AM ET
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
Can a state commit genocide? Should an entire nation — not just its presidents, generals, and soldiers — be held responsible for humanity's worst crime?
In one of the most momentous cases in its 60 years, the U.N.'s highest court will deliver its judgment Monday on Bosnia's demand to make Serbia accountable for the slaughter, terrorizing, rape and displacement of Bosnian Muslims in the early 1990s.
If it rules for Bosnia, the International Court of Justice could open the way for compensation amounting to billions of dollars from Serbia, the successor state of Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia, although specific claims would be addressed only later.
It also would be a permanent stain on Serbia in the eyes of history, regardless of any effort by Belgrade to distance itself from the brutality of those years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_eu/world_court_genocide_ruling_1
So, what does this mean, exactly? The official stamp on a general POV that already pervades the media, politics and public opinion (in those places where anybody either knows or cares about Serbia)? What exactly will such a decision accomplish? There is no money for reparations, so it resembles, IMO, France's "war guilt" claim and reparations against Germany after WWI. And we all know how THAT turned out.....
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Serbia blasts U.N. Kosovo statehood plan
By JOVANA GEC, Associated Press WriterSat Feb 17, 7:35 AM ET
Serbia is convinced that a U.N. plan granting supervised statehood for the contested Kosovo province stands no chance of approval at the U.N. Security Council where Serb ally Russia holds a veto, a government minister said Saturday.
Zoran Loncar also blasted the key architect of the plan, chief U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, as "biased and working in the interest of the (Kosovo) ethnic Albanians" who have sought to split the troubled region from Serbia.
"Not only Russia and China, but a great number of other countries are against taking away 15 percent of territory from a sovereign state and a member state of the United Nations," Loncar said. "It is unthinkable that the Security Council would violate basic principles of the U.N. Charter."
Loncar's comments come only days ahead of Serb-Albanian talks in Vienna, Austria, about Ahtisaari's Kosovo plan. The U.N. envoy has invited the two sides to put forward their complaints about the draft before it is submitted to the U.N. Security Council for a final vote.
The plan envisages internationally supervised self-rule for Kosovo and the trappings of statehood — such as a flag, anthem, army and constitution — while giving the minority Serbs more control over their day-to-day affairs.
The ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have hailed the plan, but also have warned that they want full independence.
Ahtisaari this week has acknowledged that chances of an agreement at the Vienna talks were slim, with the two sides firmly in their positions.
Russia has said it was against any solution that falls short of a compromise. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted as warning that Kosovo independence would have "the most negative consequences," and that Moscow could block the plan.
Although formally part of Serbia, Kosovo became an international protectorate in 1999, after a NATO bombing forced Belgrade to halt a crackdown against the ethnic Albanian separatists and relinquish control.
By JOVANA GEC, Associated Press WriterSat Feb 17, 7:35 AM ET
Serbia is convinced that a U.N. plan granting supervised statehood for the contested Kosovo province stands no chance of approval at the U.N. Security Council where Serb ally Russia holds a veto, a government minister said Saturday.
Zoran Loncar also blasted the key architect of the plan, chief U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, as "biased and working in the interest of the (Kosovo) ethnic Albanians" who have sought to split the troubled region from Serbia.
"Not only Russia and China, but a great number of other countries are against taking away 15 percent of territory from a sovereign state and a member state of the United Nations," Loncar said. "It is unthinkable that the Security Council would violate basic principles of the U.N. Charter."
Loncar's comments come only days ahead of Serb-Albanian talks in Vienna, Austria, about Ahtisaari's Kosovo plan. The U.N. envoy has invited the two sides to put forward their complaints about the draft before it is submitted to the U.N. Security Council for a final vote.
The plan envisages internationally supervised self-rule for Kosovo and the trappings of statehood — such as a flag, anthem, army and constitution — while giving the minority Serbs more control over their day-to-day affairs.
The ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have hailed the plan, but also have warned that they want full independence.
Ahtisaari this week has acknowledged that chances of an agreement at the Vienna talks were slim, with the two sides firmly in their positions.
Russia has said it was against any solution that falls short of a compromise. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted as warning that Kosovo independence would have "the most negative consequences," and that Moscow could block the plan.
Although formally part of Serbia, Kosovo became an international protectorate in 1999, after a NATO bombing forced Belgrade to halt a crackdown against the ethnic Albanian separatists and relinquish control.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
US Slams Serbia Diplomatic Threat On Kosovo Independence
BELGRADE (AP)--The U.S. Thursday criticized the Serbian ruling party's threats to cut diplomatic ties with countries that recognize any future independent Kosovo.
"We are very disappointed by this approach," the U.S. embassy in Belgrade said in a statement. "The United States would like to continue its dialogue with the Serbian people and their responsible leadership on the issues of interest to both our countries."
As its condition for joining Serbia's next government, the conservative Popular Coalition has demanded that the future Cabinet must reject Kosovo's independence and cut all ties with countries that recognize it as a separate country.
The hardline demand by outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's party came on the eve of Friday's formal presentation of a U.N. plan for Kosovo that is likely to grant the southern Serbian province some sort of internationally supervised independence.
"We hope that Serbia's leaders will form a democratic government soon and fulfill the wishes of the majority of the Serbian people to follow a constructive path toward Europe and toward Euro-Atlantic partnership," the U.S. embassy statement said.
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070201%5cACQDJON200702010910DOWJONESDJONLINE000659.htm&
BELGRADE (AP)--The U.S. Thursday criticized the Serbian ruling party's threats to cut diplomatic ties with countries that recognize any future independent Kosovo.
"We are very disappointed by this approach," the U.S. embassy in Belgrade said in a statement. "The United States would like to continue its dialogue with the Serbian people and their responsible leadership on the issues of interest to both our countries."
As its condition for joining Serbia's next government, the conservative Popular Coalition has demanded that the future Cabinet must reject Kosovo's independence and cut all ties with countries that recognize it as a separate country.
The hardline demand by outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's party came on the eve of Friday's formal presentation of a U.N. plan for Kosovo that is likely to grant the southern Serbian province some sort of internationally supervised independence.
"We hope that Serbia's leaders will form a democratic government soon and fulfill the wishes of the majority of the Serbian people to follow a constructive path toward Europe and toward Euro-Atlantic partnership," the U.S. embassy statement said.
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070201%5cACQDJON200702010910DOWJONESDJONLINE000659.htm&
This is just ridiculous....
Come to Serbia - home to few people and Kazakh music
2 hours, 35 minutes ago
A commercial promoting Serbia as a tourist destination appears to be jinxed after CNN used the soundtrack for a Kazakh tourism ad as backing music by mistake.
The "Serbia - Moments to Remember" commercial was widely pilloried at home as being boring and misleading for showing Serbia as a land of rolling hills, churches and nature reserves full of wildlife, but apparently devoid of people.
Serb viewers also spotted that one mediaeval church featured prominently in the ad was not in fact Serbian but Romanian, on the wrong side of the Danube river on Serbia's eastern border.
The campaign is the first major effort to change the world's view of Serbia since the end of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
Officials said they will edit the commercial to highlight the fun side of Serbia, including the vibrant cafe culture and nightlife of the capital Belgrade.
They said CNN had agreed to extend the life of the ad to make up for their mistake with the Kazakh folk music.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_serbia_tourism_1
Come to Serbia - home to few people and Kazakh music
2 hours, 35 minutes ago
A commercial promoting Serbia as a tourist destination appears to be jinxed after CNN used the soundtrack for a Kazakh tourism ad as backing music by mistake.
The "Serbia - Moments to Remember" commercial was widely pilloried at home as being boring and misleading for showing Serbia as a land of rolling hills, churches and nature reserves full of wildlife, but apparently devoid of people.
Serb viewers also spotted that one mediaeval church featured prominently in the ad was not in fact Serbian but Romanian, on the wrong side of the Danube river on Serbia's eastern border.
The campaign is the first major effort to change the world's view of Serbia since the end of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
Officials said they will edit the commercial to highlight the fun side of Serbia, including the vibrant cafe culture and nightlife of the capital Belgrade.
They said CNN had agreed to extend the life of the ad to make up for their mistake with the Kazakh folk music.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_serbia_tourism_1
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