At least it's good they are planning to show up....
July 20, 2006
World Briefing Europe
Serbia to Attend High-level Talks on Kosovo
By REUTERS
Serbia will take part in talks in Vienna on Monday with ethnic Albanian leaders on the future of Kosovo after all, said the Serbian president, Boris Tadic. The talks will be the highest-level meeting between the sides since NATO drove Serbian forces from the province in 1999 and the first to address Kosovo’s final status, with independence or autonomy as options. Kosovo said on Monday that it would demand independence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/world/europe/20briefs-008.html

From a DER SPIEGEL interview with Vuk Draskovic

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How would Belgrade react if Kosovo should indeed become independent?
Draskovic: If an internationally recognized Albanian state should be formed on Serbian territory, we wouldn't recognize it.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What consequences would an independent Kosovo have for the region?
Draskovic: This criminal solution would turn the entire region into a dangerous flash point and cause political earthquakes in the neighboring countries. No authority in the world could then explain to the Serbs in Bosnia why they don't have a right to an autonomous state, while the Albanians do.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,426607,00.html

The NYT is back at it again...nothing on Kostunica's visit to US this week to talk about Kosovo, but plenty about the new trials....

July 14, 2006
7 Serbs Go on Trial Before War Crime Tribunal
By MARLISE SIMONS
PARIS, July 14 — They lined up in the courtroom dock this morning, seven men, once officers in the Bosnian Serb forces, now having to account for their presence at Srebrenica, a place of cold-blooded killing in July 1995. Taking their seats behind a phalanx of defense lawyers, they were flanked by an array of United Nations guards. On the dais, a panel of four international judges faced a courtroom that had never been this packed. For the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, it is the largest group trial in its history.
Five of the accused are facing charges of genocide, the highest crime. The trial will probe their role during Europe’s worst massacre since World War II. Srebrenica was a United Nations safe haven in Bosnia, but nearly 8,000 unarmed men and boys were systematically executed there. So far, almost 60 mass graves have been found in the area.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/world/europe/14cnd-hague.html

Bosnia Serbs honor own Srebrenica victims
SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina, July 12 (UPI) -- Thousands of Bosnian Serbs on Wednesday observed the 14th anniversary of the deaths of 3,262 Bosnian Serbs in the eastern town of Srebrenica....Serbia's government-controlled RTS radio-television said Bosnian Muslim units under command of Naser Oric killed Bosnian Serbs in villages around Srebrenica from May to December in 1992.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060712-105555-3970r

July 11, 2006
War Crimes Trial Begins for 6 Milosevic Aides
By MARLISE SIMONS
PARIS, July 10 — Four months after the death of Slobodan Milosevic, the trial of six of his top aides opened Monday, beginning a process that may finally render a verdict on the sweep of Serbia’s actions during the 1999 war in Kosovo...
Much of the evidence the prosecution will present is believed to be similar to that already used in the Milosevic trial. But to obtain a verdict, prosecutors must demonstrate to the panel of three judges — from Britain, Pakistan and Bulgaria — that Belgrade had a “criminal plan” to permanently expel a large portion of the Kosovo Albanians and, as prosecutors put it, “to change the ethnic balance of Kosovo.”
The world has seen many images of Kosovo refugees flooding into Albania and Macedonia, of caravans of bedraggled, frightened people on tractors, trailers, buses and trucks.
But lawyers familiar with the tribunal proceedings said prosecutors must prove there was a Serbian plan to expel them. Prosecutors may resort to insiders or documents, but admit that they have few. They may try to make their case by “inference,” one of the lawyers said in an interview on Monday, by using the facts on the ground. The lawyer insisted on not being identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
In his opening statement on Monday, the lead prosecutor, Thomas Hannis, said “there was a clear plan directed from the top” to drive out ethnic Albanians. The people were not combatants; many were women, children and older people, and their identity cards and vehicle licenses were destroyed to make sure they could not return, he said. To hide their actions, prosecutors said, Serbian forces buried their civilian victims in secret mass graves, often many miles outside Kosovo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/world/europe/11serbia.html

They can't get Slobo, so they move to the next link on the food chain--
By Nicola LeskeSun Jul 9, 12:42 PM ET
Four months after the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, his closest ally, Milan Milutinovic, and five others also accused of war crimes in Kosovo in 1999 will stand trial at the U.N. tribunal on Monday.
Milutinovic, 63, and his co-accused are charged with the persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the forcible deportation of about 800,000 civilians and the murder of hundreds of civilians by Serb forces.
Milutinovic succeeded Milosevic, who died at the U.N. jail on March 11, as president of Serbia in 1997.
He and former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, former army chief and defense minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and army commander Vladimir Lazarevic returned from provisional release to The Hague last week.
The four are indicted with army commander Nebojsa Pavkovic and security chief Sreten Lukic, also released on bail, as well as former chief of public security Vlastimir Dordevic, who is still at large.
Prosecutors allege Milutinovic had at least formal control ????? over the Serb forces who killed hundreds of ethnic Albanians and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060709/wl_nm/warcrimes_milutinovic_dc_1

Hope that old VK isn't being prophetic....

SERBIA: Kostunica Urges Accelerated EU Integration, Compromise on Kosovo to Prevent Radicalisation
2006-07-05 19:40:41
Speaking on national TV RTS, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned that democratic forces would not be able to prevent radicalisation if there are further delays in negotiations with the EU and if Kosovo becomes independent. He also said the idea of preparing an action plan for co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal should have been raised with the EU before talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement were halted.
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=61481&LangID=1

I guess it's all in how you spin it....]
Thousands Welcome Commander of Srebrenica
By AIDA CERKEZ-ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer2:43 PM PDT, July 1, 2006
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Cheering crowds on Saturday welcomed home the Muslim commander set free by the U.N. war crimes tribunal after his conviction for failing to prevent murder and torture of Serb captives....
This is our birthday," said Safet Omerovic, who served under Oric. "All these years we have been listening to accusations that the Muslims in Srebrenica are almost as guilty for the war there as the Serbs. Now it's official: we defended ourselves, they committed genocide."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-bosnia-srebrenica,1,7764828.story

Now, this type of talk is just petty....

BY DEJAN ANASTASIJEVIC
Posted Saturday, Jul 1, 2006There couldn't be a clearer admission of their inability to bring accused war criminals to justice: the Serbian government has issued a plea for foreign spies to join the hunt for the former Bosnian Serb military leader General Ratko Mladic, who was indicted by the UN war-crimes tribunal in 1994 and is presumably hiding on Serbian soil.

http://www.time.com/time/europe/eu/article/0,13716,1209904,00.html?promoid=rss_world

Oh, well, I guess it's okay if THEY do it....

July 1, 2006
World Briefing | Europe
The Hague: Muslim Freed After Conviction
By MARLISE SIMONS
The International War Crimes Tribunal sentenced Naser Oric, the wartime commander of the Muslim force at Srebrenica, to two years imprisonment for failing to prevent the cruel treatment and killing of Serbian prisoners during Bosnia's 1992-95 civil war. He was immediately released because he had already spent three years in detention. Prosecutors had asked for an 18-year sentence, for the looting and burning of Serb villages by the poorly trained volunteer force under his command. But the judges said the "abysmal conditions" of the town — surrounded by Serbian troops and overwhelmed with refugees, many of them starving — had led to a such breakdown of law and order that Mr. Oric, just 25 when he was appointed commander, could not be held accountable for crimes by his irregular defense force. He left the area two months before the infamous Serbian execution of some 8,000 unarmed men and boys in 1995.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/01/world/europe/01briefs-003.html

Serbia warns of break with west over Kosovo
By Daniel Dombey in London and Neil Macdonald in Pristina

Published: June 28 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 28 2006 03:00

Serbia yesterday warned it could break with the west unless the international community took a more conciliatory approach over the issues of Kosovo and the apprehension of an indicted war criminal.

http://www.at.ns.co.yu/CivilizedBeheading/

No, this guy isn't angry at ALL....just comparing the plight of the Serbs to the treatment of Native Americans and the destruction of Kosovo Orthodox churches to deforestation....

Of course, this kind of rhetoric doesn't help the situation....

Serbia PM: Kosovo will be Serbian for ever
PRISTINA, Serbia, June 28 (UPI) -- Serbia's prime minister said Wednesday the predominantly Albanian Kosovo province has been, and will remain part of Serbia forever.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060628-112159-4517r

I haven't said much about the World Cup because, as most of you know, there is nothing to say...

MUNICH, Germany -- Serbia-Montenegro existed only at the World Cup.
With the team's humiliating exit from the tournament -- three defeats in three matches -- the final vestige of old unified Yugoslavia came to an end.
Playing its last match as a national team on Wednesday, Serbia-Montenegro ended with another loss, this time after squandering a two-goal lead in a 3-2 defeat to Ivory Coast.
"We should feel happy that we were at the World Cup at all," coach Ilija Petkovic said. "I'm only sorry that our last appearance didn't go the way we planned."
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=102519

Thu Jun 22, 11:28 AM ET
Two US F-16 fighter jets landed for the first time at a military airbase in Serbia, seven years after similar planes took part in a NATO-led bombing campaign on the country.
Serbia's defence ministry said the two jets had touched down at the Batajnica military airport on a "visit that is a part of the process of increasing military cooperation between Serbia and the United States."
The ministry described the visit as a "historic event" as it was the first time that American fighter planes had landed at a Serbian military base.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060622/pl_afp/serbiausmilitary_060622152855

Serbs no closer to arresting war fugitive despite aid cut
By Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune June 18, 2006
BELGRADE, Serbia -- The general still has his admirers.
In the musty headquarters of the Center for the Investigation of War Crimes Against Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina, his portrait is prominently displayed on the wall behind Ljubisa Ristic's desk.
``My personal opinion is that he is a true soldier and a hero of the Serbian people," Ristic said.
It is not clear how many other Serbs feel that way about General Ratko Mladic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb army and chief executor of its ethnic cleansing campaign.
``I'd say 75 percent of the Serbs see him as a war hero," said Aleksandar Tijanic, who heads the state-run television network in Serbia. ``But if you ask them if he should he go to The Hague to save the Serbs from more suffering, 75 percent would say yes."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/06/18/serbs_no_closer_to_arresting_war_fugitive_despite_aid_cut/

THE HAGUE Among the unfinished business left by the death of Slobodan Milosevic is the central question of whether he was guilty, as charged, of genocide in Bosnia.
But while his death brought a sudden end to his trial at the UN war crimes tribunal here, the genocide issue is very much alive. It may well be decided by another UN court based in The Hague: the International Court of Justice.
That court, also known as the World Court, recently finished nine weeks of hearings on a case filed 13 years ago, in the middle of the Bosnian war.
With Muslim villages under attack and civilians driven into detention camps, Bosnia's lawyers turned to the court, accusing Yugoslavia of violations "on all counts" of the UN Convention on Genocide. The case was held back by the slow-paced institution and by repeated legal moves from Belgrade to block it. In the meantime, Yugoslavia became Serbia and Montenegro in 2003, and in May simply Serbia...
Should the court rule in Bosnia's favor, the Serbian state will suffer the stigma of having committed genocide, an outcome that would implicate the entire Milosevic government.
For Serb citizens and their fledgling economy, that could mean also being saddled with hefty war reparations. Bosnia has asked the court to award damages for the loss of life and property.
During the war, 100,000 people died, the majority of them Muslims, and entire Muslim towns and villages were destroyed, including their mosques and monuments. No figure was set.
Serbia has argued that there were excesses of war but no genocidal campaign, that Belgrade did not control events in Bosnia and that a verdict favoring Bosnia will make reconciliation even more difficult. Bosnia says the opposite, and argues it needs "recognition of Serb guilt" even more than reparations.

Boy, this doesn't sound good at all....

June 13, 2006
For Albanians in Kosovo, Hope for Independence From Serbia
By NICHOLAS WOOD
BELGRADE, Serbia, June 8 — Seven years after Kosovo was placed under United Nations control, it appears increasingly likely that the province will be allowed to break away from Serbia formally and become an independent nation.
Members of the United Nations Security Council appear to be leaning toward permitting Kosovo to go its own way. The Council is expected to vote on Kosovo's fate by the end of the year, unless the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, who have been negotiating unsuccessfully for months, reach a resolution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/world/europe/13kosovo.html

Lord, what won't they blame them for!!!!!

Serbia told to drop "negative" influence on Kosovo
Thu Jun 8, 8:05 AM ET
Serbia must drop its "negative" influence on Serbs in Kosovo and tell them to re-engage with the ethnic Albanian majority, the major powers said on Thursday, as a decision nears on the province's fate.
The West holds Belgrade responsible for a Serb boycott of political life in the United Nations-run province, which it says is complicating efforts to decide Kosovo's future this year in U.N.-led talks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060608/wl_nm/serbia_kosovo_dc_1

Well, I guess it's better to just accept the situation than allow the hardliners to use it to their advantage....

Left alone, Serbia declares its independence too
by Filip RodicMon Jun 5, 10:39 AM ET
Serbia sealed the final act of Yugoslavia's turbulent history when it proclaimed independence after Montenegro, its last ally, abandoned its formal 88-year association with Belgrade.
After an extraordinary session of parliament, officials lowered the flag of the defunct federation of Serbia and Montenegro from the building in Belgrade and raised the Serbian standard in its place.
Lawmakers proclaimed independence before transferring solely onto Belgrade the international status of the federation, including its seat on bodies such as the United Nations.
Serbian President Boris Tadic wrote to Svetozar Marovic, a Montenegrin who had headed the federation, saying he considered the break-up to be a "personal loss."
But he insisted that he was "ready to lead my country along democratic and European path that would bring better life to its citizens."
Serbia effectively became a sovereign state after all 126 deputies present in the 250-seat assembly backed an order to the government and state bodies to complete all formalities about the succession and resolve all disputed issues with Montenegro within next 45 days.
It follows Montenegro's own formal independence declaration Saturday after the tiny Balkan state voted on May 21 to secede from the union that had bound together the last remnants of the former Yugoslavia.
Neither Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica nor Tadic was present as deputies gathered in gloomy mood.
"Montenegro's separation is a sad reality for me," said Milos Aligrudic of Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia.
He added: "I urge you that we continue considering all the people who live in Montenegro as our brothers and not to have hard feelings towards them."
The move by Montenegro, sandwiched between the mountains and the Adriatic Sea with a population of just 650,000, ended the painful, 15-year dissolution of former communist Yugoslavia, after Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia went their separate ways in the early 1990s.
Yugoslavia has existed in three separate forms during the 20th century.
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created in 1918, was renamed as Yugoslavia in 1929 and existed in that form until it was invaded in 1941.
A communist Yugoslavia emerged after the end of World War II in 1945, but it, too, crumbled amid conflict in the early 1990s.
Federal Yugoslavia then came into being, although it was effectively just Serbia and Montenegro, and that union was renamed as a federation in 2003 when the name Yugoslavia was discarded.
Under the constitution of Serbia-Montenegro, Serbia inherits its membership in the United Nations and all other international and financial organizations.
The former union's ambassadors would now represent solely Serbia, Beta news agency reported, quoting foreign ministry officials.
Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party -- the biggest group in parliament -- said he was "really sorry that Montenegro, with enormous help from the European Union, gained so-called independence and many members of our people were left out of our borders."
It was under EU pressure that Serbia and Montenegro formed their union with the proviso that each republic could leave the federation if that was the wish of their majority.
Brussels also helped Podgorica's push for a referendum -- stipulating, for instance, the minimum 55-percent threshold for the vote to be validated -- and persuaded all sides to accept the result.
"It is not the time for sorrow," said Dusan Petrovic, of Serbia's opposition Democratic Party. "The citizens of Montenegro decided to live separately from Serbia ... I congratulate them.
After Monday's ceremonies, the flags of Serbia-Montenegro will be sent to a museum, officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060605/ts_afp/serbiamontenegropolitics_060605143411