The Balkans: Remembering the Bosnian War, 20 Years On

Global Voices Online
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

A red plastic chair for each person killed in Sarajevo in the war that began 20 years ago. A whole street lined up with red chairs, all empty but for some flowers on some of them. Those who could have sat in these chairs - 11,541 people - are long gone.

On April 6, thousands of people came to this stunning makeshift memorial stretching along Sarajevo's main street, in order to honor the memory of the victims of the Siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 5, 1992, to February 29, 1996 (some of the photos of the memorial are here, here, and here).


Red chairs are displayed along Sarajevo's main street as the city marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War. 11541 red chairs represent the 11,541 Sarajevans who were killed in the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo. Photo by SULEJMAN OMERBASIC, copyright © Demotix (04/06/12)

Online, numerous texts have appeared around the time of the sad anniversary; memories, photos and thoughts on the meaning of what went on in Bosnia in the 1990s abound (e.g., here, here, here, here, and here).

On April 5, Damir Šagolj, a Bosnian photojournalist and a survivor of the siege - who, in October 2011, posted a powerful photo report on his visit to the detention facility for war criminals in the Hague, aka "the Hague Hilton - wrote this about his wartime memories and work:

[...] I don’t have any of my pictures from the 92-95 anymore. I shot many – mostly of dead people, of destruction. Very few had any life in them. Then, just as killings stopped and a different war continued in November 1995 I abandoned my photos; I didn’t want to have them anymore.

Not a smart move, but it was what I wanted at the moment – to forget, to put behind. To move forward.

All I have now are the cracks in my memory to peek through and imagine lives before we became just numbers. Only the weed grows around ruins, just like nails and hair on the dead bodies – the reminder.

I had all my photos in one room, at my former army unit in Vrazova street. I would walk past that building every day and all I had to do is to use the key I kept for many years after and pick up my films. I didn’t. Then a rich man bought the building and my archive went where I wanted it to go – into trash.

No matter how hard I try to explain what I did, it doesn’t work. Then, just a moment after, it all makes perfect sense again.

Soon after, it all became very abstract – the faces faded into shapes, names into numbers, lives into bones… I don’t trust my memory any more, it is selective and dazed.

That’s why it was important in Sarajevo to have people from outside who were stronger and more sober. They meet these days in Sarajevo for the big anniversary re-union. Probably only very few really understand how important was what they were doing 92-95.

Without them, the history would be written by same those who killed the man.

Thank you.

A Facebook page - Sarajevo 2012: A Meeting of War Reporters & Sarajevo Friends - was set up for the journalists' reunion; it contains the schedule of events, photos and notes from some of those who were able to attend. Edward Serotta, journalist, photographer and the director of Centropa.org, wrote this:

[...] Last weekend was one long emotional charge--it was like holding on to an electrical current and as soon as I let go of it, I felt everything drain away. Being together with so many people I respect, and who gave their all to bring this story to the world twenty years ago, was, at least for me, ennobling. [...]

We all shared the same cause back then (those who came to Sarajevo for the reunion and those who didn't): to bear witness--photograph, record, document the events that proved the so-called civilized world was eating itself alive. We risked life and limb to do it, and lived very much on the edge--and we lived very intensely. [...]

All that intensity we put into our work and all that commitment to document the horrors and the bravery, the big stories and the small, are way behind us now. [...] But for one blustery April weekend in 2012, a few of us gathered together and remembered what we shared, what we covered, how we lived, and how we tried to help--in that limited way that each of us could.

Photojournalist Gary Knight posted this note:

Sitting in my studio in Boston reflecting on the last four days in Sarajevo - one of the most emotional experiences I think I have ever had. A bitter sweet embrace with a city and cherished friends with whom I shared so many defining experiences during the utter despair of the siege. As wonderful as it was to see you all I left wondering how peace could have gone so badly wrong. Bosnia deserved a better peace than the one Dayton gave it. I have travelled far and wide since the war in Bosnia ended but rarely to a place as utterly depressing. There is much we can still do there...........

Zdenka Pregelj (@CountessBezuhov), a Sarajevo native who has been photographing the city since 2005, posted Nic Robertson's CNN report from the journalists' reunion and wrote:

This is very emotional for me. At that time I worked for Television in Sarajevo and was meeting Nic and Chris day in day out. Thank you Nic for coming back after 20 years.

A Bosnian woman, Berina Hodzic, lays a flower on one of the red chairs that were installed along Sarajevo's main street to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War. Photo by SULEJMAN OMERBASIC, copyright © Demotix (04/06/12)

For the past few weeks, YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett and Sarajevo Seyahatname have been posting links to media and blog coverage of the 20th anniversary of the Bosnian War. The latter posted a link to this short item from Pictures of War, a Tumblr blog, about "some unsung heroes of the Sarajevo Siege" - James Mason's 1992 photo of Sarajevo's garbage collectors, accompanied by this note:

“Being a trashman in Sarajevo was probably as dangerous as being a frontline soldier. A lot of them died in the course of their work, either shot dead by snipers or killed by artillery. Without trash pickup the city would have descended into a middle-ages like morass of filth and disease.”

Another photo by James Mason has been used to illustrate an article about the anniversary [sr] that appeared in the Serbian online newspaper e-novine.com. The links to this and several other related articles (including the one [sr] on the memorial rally organized by Žene u crnom ("Women in Black") in Belgrade) were provided by Belgrade-based Pedja Popovic, in a comment to the BalkanInsight report stating that "[n]o one from the Serbian government will attend the April 6 commemoration of the start of the Bosnian Serb siege [of Sarajevo]. Popovic wrote:

Not all of media in Serbia ignored sad anniversary. [...]

James Mason's photo, taken in winter 1993, is of a girl holding a few loaves of bread, with a breadline in the background - and here is the photographer's description:

Distribution of bread
Sarajevo

This girl had just received her family's bread ration. I had hooked up with a kid about 11 and he was guiding me around the city, showing me where it was safe to walk. The girl was a friend of his from school and was glad to see him. It's amazing how fast the kids in Sarajevo adapted to the war.

Reader lalos posted this comment [sr] about the photo in the comments section at e-novine.com:

Rasplaka me ona slika sa devojčicom koja je puna sreće jer drži nekoliko vekni hleba u naručju.

Prokleti ratovi i oni koji su bombardovali Sarajevo.

This photo of the girl who is very happy because she's got a few loaves of bread in her hands has made me cry.

Damn wars and those who bombed Sarajevo.

The Balkans: Debating Angelina Jolie's Film and the Legacy of War

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Angelina Jolie’s In the Land of Blood and Honey, a film set in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, has received much publicity, both positive and negative, in the Balkans, adding fuel to the ongoing debate on the legacy of the bloodshed that took place in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

It appears that many of those participating in the discussion of the film haven't had a chance to actually watch it.

Belgrade-based blogger Viktor Markovic wrote this on his Belgraded blog:

For starters, I have to say that even though it was labeled as “a propaganda movie” I must say that the propaganda failed on the very first step as it was extremely difficult to even find the movie to see it in the first place. It’s like it’s being shown in just a couple of cinemas in the world – one could say that because of this poor marketing, the movie is a disgrace to proper propaganda movies. [...]

UK-based Marko Attila Hoare wrote this on his Greater Surbiton blog:

Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, is difficult to watch. Difficult to watch in the sense that, here in the UK, it hasn’t been released, and there doesn’t appear to be any information about when or where it will be – certainly not on the movie’s official website, nor in any of the reviews that have appeared in UK newspapers. I spent the first three days of this week in Washington DC, where I found that the film was no longer playing in that city either, and that Amazon.com would not sell me the download since my debit card had a UK address. I have now managed to see the film – unfortunately, only the English-language version – via a link posted by a friend on Facebook.

In the Land of Blood and Honey‘s unavailability for viewing is odd, considering the widespread publicity it has received, the controversy that has surrounded it and the fame and popularity of the director. [...]

For UK-based Alan Jaksic of Balkan Anarchist, who has blogged at length about In the Land of Blood and Honey, not watching the film in its entirety was a conscious choice:

[...] I haven't seen the film myself; I've only seen clips of it on YouTube. And I'm not really sure I want to watch it — not because I'm afraid that I'll be deeply offended by it, but because I'm not that keen to see such an emotionally-charged war movie wherever it's set on the planet! [...]

Markovic wrote this about Jolie's depiction of the war:

[...] There are some really disturbing scenes in the movie. This was one of the things that upset the public opinion in Serbia most, because the public opinion doesn’t accept that anyone on Serbian side was that cruel. Unfortunately, I believe real war was even more cruel and disturbing than any movie can describe. [...]

And here is Hoare's take on the same aspect of the film:

[...] Nor, however, are the horrors and violence portrayed here of the comic-book, caricatured variety. Inevitably, this film has come under fire from the Great Serb, genocide-denying lobby for supposedly being ‘anti-Serb’, and portraying ‘the Serbs’ as monsters. Well, it is ‘anti-Serb’ in the same way that films like Schindler’s List or The Pianist are ‘anti-German’. [...]

Australia-based Ina Vukic wrote this in her post about Jolie's film:

[...] In all its history, movie making has been about bringing to the world portrayals of factual as well as fictional events. Jolie has brought a factual story of horror told by fictional characters. There’s no propaganda in that. But even if it were propaganda then it’s high time for more of it because justice has not yet been served to all the innocent victims, and especially not to rape victims in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. [...]

Jaksic explains why Jolie's film is considered "offensive" by many in Serbia:

[...] Many of us Serbs feel that the film revamps that deeply negative, media image about our people, which Western viewers had become accustomed to during the '90s, that we are a nation of cruel, sadistic, war criminals, hell-bent on ethnic cleansing, and as such, we were as bad as the Nazis of World War Two! Now, I don't deny the seriousness and the gravity of all those allegations of war crimes etc. against a whole host of Serb leaders, both political and military, all of which has coloured people's negative views on us as a people. However, it must be borne in mind that all this negative press from that time left us Serbs, both back home and in the diaspora, feeling dehumanised and demonised, but most of all, misunderstood by the world. [...]

However, what really offends and frustrates a lot of us Serbs about Jolie's film, whether we've seen it in full or just clips of it, is how it mainly depicts the suffering of one side of the war, i.e. the Bosniak side. This doesn't mean that we object to the production of any film that may portray the Bosniaks as the main victims; after all, they did suffer greatly during that war from 1992 to 1995, and we shouldn't deny that at all. However, what bothers a lot of us Serbs is how very little is known about the suffering of our own people during that conflict and others in the '90s. [...] Of course, we Serbs are aware of war crimes committed by our own against others, and many of us do feel ashamed of all that. But we are also concerned about the fate of our own victims from those conflicts too, and it displeases us how even now very little is known about them. [...]

Markovic, in his turn, explains why it is wrong to treat In the Land of Blood and Honey as "an anti-Serbian movie":

[...] Yes, the movie has only the Serbian military as bad guys. But, and this seems to be hard to grasp for great majority of Serbs: this fact doesn’t make the movie anti-Serbian. This is because – are you ready for this – one Serbian military squadron does not represent even the entire Serbian army, let alone the entire Serb population. But it’s the trap majority of Serb population tends to fall into: we defend ourselves even if no one is really attacking us, and by doing so we end up defending the real bad guys – the war criminals. [...]

Jaksic also writes on the "tendency among all Balkan nations to feel offended by another nation's sense of victimhood":

[...] On many occasions while surfing the net, reading messages on various Ex-Yu forums, comments under YouTube videos and discussion pages of Wikipedia articles, I've seen how easily offended, for instance, my fellow Serbs can feel when they hear Croats accusing them of war crimes against them, and unsurprisingly, the same is the case the other way round! And it's not just the recent conflicts that cause heated disputes; even different interpretations of distant periods of history can rouse offense, such as the Serbian and Bosniak view of Ottoman rule in the Balkans! And as we can see with the reception of Jolie's In the land of blood and honey, even films by outsiders can offend local nations, and not just some YouTube comments!

Angelina Jolie received a Person of the Year award from the Bosnian newspaper Dnevni Avaz, prior to attending the premiere of 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Photo by EUROPA NEWSWIRE, copyright © Demotix (10/01/12).

Vukic hopes that "Jolie’s movie will trigger more investigations and prosecution of all rapists from the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina":

[...] So, I say: “good on you, Angelina! Now make a movie on the thousands upon thousands of rape victims in Croatia because Croatian women who were raped by the Serbs during the 1990’s war still await their justice. [...]

Markovic points out that the film isn't likely to serve as the closing argument in the painful post-war debate:

[...] the thing that puzzles me the most, and I know I am not the only one is – how is this movie supposed to contribute to reconciliation? Which is, according to Jolie’s statements, her goal with this. [...]

***

For an overview of some of the online Serbian reactions to Jolie's film, please see this GV text by Sasa Milosevic, who has also written about the film on his Huffington Post blog, here.

Central & Eastern Europe: Initial Reactions to WikiLeaks' Cablegate

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, November 30, 2010

While other regions feature a lot more prominently in the collection of U.S. embassy cables published by WikiLeaks thus far, a few countries of the CEE region do appear in the kickoff edition of Cablegate.

Below is a small selection of initial reactions from the region's bloggers.

Piran Café, a Slovenian blog, announced the Cablegate "winner" from the Balkans:

Croatia, apparently.

Of the 251,287 secret US Embassy cables which Wikileaks began making public yesterday, 2,053 relate to Croatia, according to the ‘Cables by Country‘ graphic on Wikileaks Cablegate website. [...]

The Balkan "runners-up" are:

Bosnia & Hercegovina is next at 1,419, followed by Serbia & Montenegro, with 1,244. Slovenia comes in a distant fourth with 947, with Macedonia (783) and Montenegro (503) bringing up the rear. [...]

Although no Slovenia-related documents have been published yet, the country - along with the Pacific island of Kiribati - is in the media spotlight of sorts already, due to the Guantanamo Bay prisoner release situation:

[...] Advance material supplied to The Guardian, Der Speigel, Le Monde, and The New York Times included in passing a mention of a strongarm deal the US offered to Slovenia. Most of the accounts went something like this:

The (New York Times) also cited documents showing the U.S. used hardline tactics to win approval from countries to accept freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay. It said Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if its president wanted to meet with President Barack Obama and said the Pacific island of Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to take in a group of detainees.

Milan Balažic, spokesperson for Slovenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied that any such deal making transpired, insisting that Slovenia cannot accept Guantanamo detainees on legal grounds and that PM Borut Pahor does still have a visit to the US scheduled for next year. The statement I read didn’t specifically say however, that Pahor would be meeting with Obama. [...]

Viktor Markovic of Belgraded.com provided a brief overview of the files that mention Kosovo, noting on Twitter that he "got 1k hits on this post in the first couple of hrs [...] seems everyone is searching for dirty secrets":

[...] The first interesting bit relates to comments on Kosovo government and their dissatisfaction with the EULEX-Serbia cooperation, but also the EU diplomat’s dissatisfaction with Serbian MFA Vuk Jeremic:

[Elysee Diplomatic Advisor Jean-David] Levitte noted that the EULEX mission is having diplomatic problems with the Kosovar government and public after signing two technical protocols with Serbia. They are hoping to ensure continued calm as Kosovo heads into municipal elections. [Assistant Secretary Philip H.] Gordon stated that the Kosovars will have to accept the protocols but that it should be clearly explained that these are technical agreements that have no impact on Kosovo’s independent status. Levitte also criticized Serbian FM Jeremic, saying that he is doing nothing to encourage Serb return or participation in Kosovo’s government. Levitte noted that Jeremic “makes big promises” every time he comes to France, but doesn’t follow through. Levitte no longer meets with him and does not consider him to be the “modern face of Belgrade” that he purports to be. [...]

Guistino, the Estonia-based author of Itching for Eestimaa, mockingly complains that the people behind WikiLeaks "haven't caught on yet that Estonia is the center of the universe":

I keep checking WikiLeaks for the horde of secret diplomatic cables out of the US Embassy in Tallinn. "Local demagogue known for shady real estate dealings!" "Wealthy chocolatier may have connections to organized crime!"

No such luck. [...]

This week, the group seeks to release 251,287 leaked US embassy cables, 610 of which are out of Estonia, though they aren't up yet. [...]

On a more serious note, Guistino criticizes WikiLeaks' U.S.-centric approach:

[...] While I am, like everybody, keen to learn more about US policy, I would also appreciate if WikiLeaks provided more information on other countries. Because of its access to those cables, global interest, plus perhaps the prevalance of English, the bulk of the material seems to be about the US. As an American, I have to say, not fair! An international media organization should provide more content than that. In other words, where are the confidential Russian cables, Julian? We in Estonia await more.

Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer who is part of the legal team representing Mikhail Khodorkovsky, wrote this about the Russian segment of Cablegate:

It's no wonder why the FSB vaguely threatened to assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. In just the first wave of confidential diplomatic cables released yesterday, we get the opportunity to [see] how officials of the U.S. government really felt about relations with their new partners in Russia, underscoring the profound cynicism of Obama's reset policy. And apparently, there is much more to come once Wikileaks taps its Russian archives.

Apart from a near total obsession with Russia only through the prism of Iran, the wires also reveal a specifically detailed awareness of Russia's democratic unraveling, which contrasts sharply with the president's positive statements on the relationship. Vladimir Putin is described as the "Alpha Dog" of a "vitrual mafia state," while Dmitry Medvedev "plays Robin to Putin's Batman." [...]

Reactions of the Russophone Twitter users are quite diverse.

@sergey_gaber is optimistic (RUS):

WikiLeaks, by the way. Here, folks, it seems as if the blessed time has come when no one is afraid of anyone. It is wonderful.

@kushnir72 is apprehensive (RUS):

This whole WikiLeaks story will result in the Internet getting banned :)

@GlazTV doesn't seem to have enough trust (RUS) in the Cablegate files - because Julian Assange, editor-in-chief and spokesperson for WikiLeaks, hasn't been silenced yet:

One thing I don't understand is how come the fellow who created WikiLeaks and who's giving the US some really hard time, is still alive and at large??? It's giving me some strange thoughts...

Finally, @yasviridov posted this item, which has so far been re-tweeted by at least 20 people:

Damn! My real 5th-grade geometry grades have surfaced on WikiLeaks. If Mom finds out, she'll kill me!

Central & Eastern Europe: Swine Flu (aka “California 0409”)

Global Voices Online
Friday, May 8, 2009

Below are some of the Central and Eastern Europe bloggers' reactions to news reports on swine flu and measures taken by some of the governments to keep the disease from spreading to their countries.

Blogging Balkanistan and other Eccentricities turns to history and posts an excerpt from an eyewitness account of the Thessaloniki plague epidemic of 1724, written by Pylyp Orlyk, a Cossack hetman, and highlighted in Mark Mazover's non-fiction book, Salonica, City of Ghosts. The blogger ends the post with this note:

[...] As for the current pandemic several Balkan countries have imposed a ban on pork imports from the US or Mexico, while reviewing their emergency response.

And here's one exchange from the comments section:

Daniel:

Guys, cancel your Mexico vacations, and insted of ordering pork – try eating a roasted goat. It’s awesome.

bloggingbalkanistan:

What does goat taste like?

Croatian Crescent writes this about the coverage of Croatia's one suspected swine flu case:

A 22 year old girl who returned from Chicago to Osijek, in the far East of Croatia, was suspected of having swine flu. In a special press conference, Health minister Darko Milinović told the girl was being kept in isolation and monitored. Večernji list put a picture of the girl online, with a bar over her eyes as if she is some kind of criminal.

A day later we know that the girl is not infected with swine flu. Actually, she doesn't even have "normal" flu. She recovered from swine flu in a day, but I wonder how much time she needs to recover from the stigma. [...]

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes this about the fear of swine flu - and xenophobia:

[...] However, the rise of Fascism today is connected to one other phenomenon. The Culture of Fear.

Did you notice that all of the sudden economic crisis is no longer top issue? Turn to any news channel and you’ll see a 24/7 live reporting on swine flu. The fact that so far it killed less people than your average flu does every year is not important. What is important is what it could do. The fact that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction was not important. What was important was that it could have had them. It is also very important that certain corporations make a lot of money in such cases. [...]

Ari Rusilla of BalkanPerspective/Blogactiv.eu writes about the possible effect of the swine flu media hype on the June 2009 European Parliament election:

[...] Swine flu has been in headlines nearly two weeks. The media hype is not in any scale to the real thread, it can be good entertainment like circus in ancient Rome and a tool to put the common people’s focus on trivialities. For example if European Parliament elections have attracted quite a few people so far there is now good change that the whole election will be passed unnoticed due the swine flu panic. [...]

Ukraine Today writes that the Ukrainian president should stay away from focusing on the domestic politics aspect of the swine flu emergency:

[...] The epidemic crisis was not helped by a President seeking to place all blame and responsibility on his political enemies whilst hand balling any responsibility, which is what Viktor Yuschenko had done. Maybe Yushchenko would be better off placing his energy in getting Ukrainian authorities to start cleaning up the Country as a visit to Ukraine is at times like visiting a garbage dump (literally). [...]

The Czech Daily Word writes about travel to the Czech Republic and "a sad paradox" that the swine flu emergency has created:

[...] During the times of unilateral USA-Czech visa regime many politicians, tourists and journalists (including myself) used to mention the fact that the system had been humiliating (”we have to, they don’t“).

And now every American who arrives in the Czech Republic is screened. “Luckily” we do not have regular Mexico-Prague flights, so passengers traveling from Mexico have to change flights in Madrid where some precautions have been in place as well… [...]

Both The Czech Daily Word and Czechmatediary write about the warning issued by the Czech health minister; here's a quote from a Czechmatediary's post:

[...] For now the Czechs have enough of the anti-viral medicine for about 2.2 million people which is sufficient for about 20% of the Czech population. The Minister of Health, Daniela Filipova, warned citizens not to buy out all of the protective masks as well as the Tamiflu medicine which, if overused, can cause a resistance of the virus to the other otherwise helpful antiviral agents. [...]

Lituanica writes about something of a swine flu-related pharmaceutical emergency in Lithuania:

As the Lietuvos Rytas daily writes stocks of anti-viral drugs costing more than 100 litas (EUR 29) have been swept out of Vilnius pharmacies, although the medication is only sold on prescription. Pharmaceutical companies believe this is due to the threat of swine influenza pandemic. [...]

Streetwise Professor writes about the Russian authorities' decision to send "all passengers arriving in Russia from the United States or Mexico" through "contact-free heat sensor" to test their temperatures:

[...] Whew. Glad there’s a “contact free” test. When I read the first paragraph, I had a vision of a Russian Nurse Ratched standing at the end of the jetway in Sheremetyevo with a thermometer, and NOT one of those nice little electronic oral ones, if you know what I mean.

Uhm, I mean a temperature may be a necessary condition for swine flu, but it’s hardly a sufficient condition. My 15 year old had a fever last week. Pretty sure it wasn’t the swine flu. Talk about a test tailor-made for false positives. In other words, a complete waste of resources with virtually no prospect of any benefit. Unless the whole idea is to discourage foreign tourists, and to deter Russians from traveling abroad. [...]

Streetwise Professor also writes about import restrictions on "uncooked pork from Mexico, California, Texas and Kansas" imposed by the Russian authorities:

[...] Russia has routinely used health justifications to ban imports of agricultural products that compete with domestic producers. This just seems another transparently opportunistic attempt to exploit health fears to engage in protectionism. [...]

In the comments section to this post, some of the readers compare Russia's response to the measures taken in other countries.

Leopolis writes that "Russia's WTO accession my be first casualty" of swine flu:

[...] Over the past year, Russia has failed to 'relist' 34 US pork processing, production and storage facilities - effectively rendering around half of all US pork production ineligible for export to Russia. On April 8, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) called on the Obama administration to decelerate Russia’s WTO accession until it began to “play by the rules and stop its blatant actions to restrict US pork.”

Until this week, Russia has not been able to identify any health or sanitary reasons for blocking US meat imports - the requirement for justifying the block as per its 2006 bilateral WTO obligations. The ineptly named swine flu now presents a reason for Russia to approve US meat facilities on a plant-by-plant basis - actions inconsistent with the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement requiring WTO signatories to recognize equally standards in other countries. [...]

Sean's Russia Blog reports on the alleged discovery of the first two swine flu cases in Russia - both in passengers who arrived from New York City - and writes about other geopolitical dimensions of the emergency:

[...] Interestingly, in Russia doctors call the virus, which has damned the good name of the pig the world over, “California 0409.” That should make pigs feel better, but what of the sensitivities of us Californians?

[...]

Mexico as epicenter has of course inspired our American xenophobes into a fury of anti-immigrant hate. Fox News has predictably led the anti-immigrant charge with accusations that illness is part of some kind of viral conspiracy against America. It is only a matter of time they follow the Israelis in adopting “Mexican flu.” [...]

Russia, Ukraine, the Balkans: Eurovision News

Global Voices Online
Thursday, March 12, 2009

The controversy caused by Georgia's Eurovision Song Contest entry seems to be over (or, depending on one's perspective, has reached its climax), now that Georgia has decided not to take part in this year's event in Moscow, following the European Broadcasting Union's demand that the lyrics of the 'We Don't Wanna Put In' song are either changed or a different song entered.

Russia's own entry is causing controversy now as well, however. Andy of Siberian Light explains:

In a move sure to delight conspiracy theorists and bloggers everywhere, Mam[o] by Anastasia Prikhodko was picked to represent Russia at this year’s Eurovision.

The controversy? Well, Prikhodko is Ukrainian, and Mamo is sung partly in Russian and partly in - gasp - Ukrainian. Oh yes, and Prikhodko only entered the Russian qualification contest after she’d been kicked out of the Ukrainian qualification contest. [...]

Here are Andy's thoughts on the geopolitical dimension of Russia's entry - and a forecast of sorts:

[...] Anyways, personally I think it’s a bit of a coup for Russia. They not only get to put one over arch enemies Georgia, who have entered a grumpy song about how they don’t like Putin - they get to claim that in Russia, music is all about peace and goodwill between neighbours. Oh, and that they like Ukrainians, really.

And, actually, I think the song’s ok - it’s not great, but Russia certainly won’t be disgraced in May. [...]

Vasyl of uaMuzik wrote this about Russia's entry - as well as the Ukrainian one:

[...] Now let's go down to ringside here at the WMSC (World Mudslinging Song Contest) to hear he announcer's opening words. "In the right corner representing the host country of Russia, last year's Eurovision winner, we have from Ukraine, Anastasia Prykhodko singing Mamo. Her opponent in the left corner, formerly of Via Gra, Russia's T&A project for the 21st century, we have Svitlana Loboda!"

In all honesty folks, this is really what this whole thing has come down to, for all it's worth. In fact some Russians are fuming that a Ukrainian, would be representing them at this year's ESC and sing not in solely Russian or English for that matter, but heaven forbid, the chorus of her song in Ukrainian using the vocative case, which doesn't exist in the Russian language... [...]

While there is talk of suspected vote-rigging in Anastasia Prykhodko's case, this isn't a uniquely Russian problem. Belgraded - in a review of "Balkan Eurosong losers of 2009" - writes this about the winning entries:

[...] Connections with the people counting the votes are always important for Balkanian qualification finals, and this year’s local competitions were no exception. To see who had the best connections and/or managed to offer most money to the jury, go to Balkan File. [...]

Balkan File, it should be noted, isn't too optimistic about "Eurovision Hopefuls" from "the former Yugoslavia, plus Albania":

[...] Will Eurovision return to the region next year after a short break in Russia? Probably not. [...]

Back to the actual "losers," here is what Belgraded writes about the Serbian ones:

[...] Best Serbian losers we’ve had in years – they have it all: opera, gay love between the Matrix priest and the high ranking army official, communist babes, and opera. Yes, I know I already said opera. Some people claim to hear ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘You’ll never walk alone’ tunes in there somewhere but I just can’t concentrate enough to spot them. [...]

And here's a video of the performers described above:



In the comments section to this post, Sajkaca wrote:

Let’s be honest, if there would be just some good songs with traditional performance, nobody would watch Eurovision Contest. It’s a magnet because you know it can get embarassing! [...]

Central & Eastern Europe: Trademark on ;-) and Other Internet News

Global Voices Online
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Below is a selection of recent posts by bloggers from around Central and Eastern Europe on social networking, participatory media, online activism and other related issues.

Eternal Remont writes about Russian businessman Oleg Teterin, who claims to have trademarked the ;-) emoticon:

[...] Seeing that the Russian patent agency will grant a trademark for just about anything these days, Eternal Remont is attempting to trademark "Oleg Teterin," (trademark pending) and will expect payment whenever anyone speaks, writes, prints, or otherwise uses this phrase in all media known to humanity, existing or future. [...]

Streetwise Professor has chosen a different approach:

[...] To Mr. Teterin, I say: ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

So sue me.

Russian Blog writes about the Russian Facebook look-alike, vkontakte.ru - which, among other things, appears to be a good language learning tool:

When learning a foreign language communication is crucial. [...] I tell my Russian students of Swedish to join Swedish online communities, and the same advice goes for you who are studying Russian - join a Russian online community! Not only will you find lots of interesting (or uninteresting) clubs as well as people, or be able write to strangers from one sixth of the Earth’s ground (that’s just how big a country this is), but for those of you who are only beginning to study Russian joining in itself will be a challenge. After all - one must join in Russian. [...] There’s a Russian version of Facebook, though it’s completely independent, and in no way connected to Facebook, except for one thing - it is an almost exact copy of the way Facebook used to look before (the old Facebook), translated into Russian. [...]

Siberian Light interviews Dmitry, the owner and manager of Expatriates.ru, a new social networking site with fast-growing membership:

[...] What inspired you to develop expatriates.ru?

During my studies abroad many people asked me a lot of questions about Russia. I decided to create a community where all people will find the answers to their questions about Russia and where they can talk and discuss issues related to Russia. [...]

Siberian Light also discusses some of the challenges that a blogger writing on sensitive geopolitical issues - in this case, Russia - often has to deal with:

[...] Over the past few months, I’ve written posts that have both criticised and praised Russia. I write them because I think that Russia is often right, although it’s also far too often wrong.

And, far too often, I take crap from people. Usually because of what they think I have said, in the context of their tiny little world views, rather than what I have actually said, in the context of an entire blog post, or a series of posts. [...]

Gray Falcon, a blogger focusing on the Balkans, seems to share Siberian Light's frustration:

It has been almost ten years since I started publishing commentary on-line, and it never ceases to amaze me that people seem to possess a remarkable capacity of completely missing the point of entire articles to zero in on one particular sentence or phrase and make a huge deal of it.

[...]

Look, I'm routinely attacked by Albanians because I'm a Serb (it doesn't matter what I say, really - unless I endorse the KLA somehow; then I'm a poster child for what needs to be done). I get grief from Greeks, because I dare say "Macedonia" instead of FYROM or what have you (look, Alexander was a barbarian, OK? Just because he embraced the culture of Hellas and spread it around the known world doesn't make him any more Greek than my Orthodox faith makes me one).

And now I'm marked for malice by Macedonians for daring to point out that hey, today's Macedonia exists within the boundaries of the territory liberated from the Ottoman Empire by the Kingdom of Serbia. [...]

Belgraded writes about the Facebook group celebrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre (the group is now closed; an earlier GV text on it by Sinisa Boljanovic is here):

[...] What struck me as interesting is that the vast majority of members were not even born when the Yugoslavia breakup wars started and were still in pre-school when it all ended. So where do they get their ‘knowledge’ and information about the past from? Who makes the biggest influence on how they see the past – their parents, media, their friends, the whole society?

[...]

There are no similar hate groups in English, presumably because the facebook admins can react swiftly if they can understand what some group is all about without waiting for numerous people to hit the ‘report’ button and translate ‘Ubij [insert nationality here]’ for them. I know also some would like to blame facebook and other social media for making hate speech so available, but remember – it’s not guns that kill people.

I guess that facebook is still not considered to be so influential or important by mainstream media, at least not in the Balkans. All this despite the fact that both Serbia and Croatia have around 170.ooo members on facebook each, a respectable number which is only going to grow in the future, with Bosnia lagging behind with about 50.000 members. Despite the fact that it’s mostly teenagers. Despite the fact that members post things under their full names with their photos attached – without having any fear or feeling no responsibility that the things they are posting could be dangerous and are wrong. [...]

In another post, Belgraded welcomes a new arrival on Serbia's online magazine scene:

White City magazine is "Belgrade’s first English-language domestic urban magazine. It is written entirely in English, entirely by local Serbian writers for a Serbian readership." Check it out - it looks good, the articles are very well written, hopefully it will survive in this tough competition.

Scraps of Moscow reviews some of the new arrivals in "Moldovasphere":

Moldovaphiles should check out this new website, Moldovarious, which has been set up by a couple of Austrians. Curiously, the guys behind another interesting project related to Moldova (well, related to the PMR) profiled here are also Austrian.

[...]

And, via barabanch, I learned of another newly launched project, this one initiated by Moldovans and called ThinkMoldova (also available in English) [...].

One of the people involved in the project is Barabanov's wife and fellow New Times journalist Natalia Morari. [...]

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the blog of the Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsány:

[...] Quite a few Hungarian politicians decided at one time or another to write a blog but after a few days, or at most after a few weeks, they gave up the ghost. Ferenc Gyurcsány is an exception. He began writing a blog about two and a half years ago, just before the 2006 elections. [...] Even in the midst of a grueling campaign the Hungarian prime minister wrote his blog practically every weekday. Moreover, he didn't stop after the election that he managed to win practically single-handedly. [...] I think one reason that he didn't stop is that the readers of the blog were so enthusiastic and so supportive that he felt it his duty not to disappoint the team that supported him with words and deeds. Eventually Gyurcsány and his readers organized personal meetings where people revealed their pseudonyms, where they met each other as well as the prime minister. The fact is that he is a good blog writer. His notes are interesting. Very often he reveals government plans that the readers of the blog are the first to know. By now the members of the media visit the blog every morning to see what's going on in Gyurcsány's head. [...]

Meglena Kuneva - a Bulgarian politician, the European consumer affairs commissioner, and a blogger - writes this about "the realities of cross-border e-commerce for consumers in Europe":

Some of you have complained through this blog that you cannot buy over the internet from certain stores located in other EU countries. I share your frustration. The Internet has the potential to bring the single European market to a whole new level, and to provide consumers with the chance to buy the very best that is on offer within the EU in terms of choice, price and quality.

But the fact is that although a third of EU citizens already shop on the internet, only 7% shop online from other Member States than their own. [...]

Cyrus Farivar writes this about Estonia's advanced voting practices:

The Estonian parliament [...] has just approved a bill to let Estonian citizens vote via their mobile phone. This makes the country the first country in the world to do so, and comes about 20 months after Estonia held its first nation-wide election where the electorate could cast their ballots online.

[...]

Update (Dec 17.): I spoke with Silver Meikar, an Estonian MP, who told me that this actually isn’t quite mobile phone voting. In fact, this is using Estonia’s digital ID card infrastructure to use your phone as an ID tool instead of your ID card and reader. You still need a computer and an Internet connection to vote online, but you now can just have your phone instead of your ID card. So, not as sexy. [...]

Window on Eurasia reports on what appears to be a move in the opposite direction for Russia:

In the name of fighting extremism, a group of United Russia Duma deputies has proposed new legislation that would allow the government to impose sanctions on those who distribute what Moscow believes are “extremist” materials via the Internet and to close down the sites they post them on.

[...]

And even though the nature of the world wide web is such that Russian government efforts in this area are unlikely to be fully effective, such moves against what many consider to be the last free media space in Russia represent a further act of intimidation by Vladimir Putin and his associates against the embattled members of civil society in that country. [...]

In Latvia, too, the state seems to be taking a proactive approach in its dealings with the online world. Free Speech Emergency in Latvia wrote this last week:

According to unconfirmed reports, the Latvian Security Police have detained Valdis Rošāns, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who has been writing his views extensively on the internet (in Latvian) using the nickname FENIKSS.

[...]

By harassing a young neo-Nazi crackpot, the Security Police may be trying to restore their image after their detention of economist Dmitrijs Smirnovs and questioning of musician Valters Frīdenbergs. This caused an international uproar.

I don't think too many people will rally around Valdis Rošāns, but his case should be put on the record. [...]

Earlier this month, Aleks Tapinsh of All About Latvia wrote on GV about Dmitrijs Smirnovs' case and the economic crisis dimension of the freedom of speech situation in Latvia. On his blog, he posted a picture of a t-shirt featuring a mock message to the Latvian security police:

Notice to the security police: I admit that yesterday I withdrew money from my bank. Please don’t arrest me. I did it to buy milk and bread, and not to destabilize Latvia’s financial system.

The Balkans: Macedonia and Montenegro Recognize Kosovo

Global Voices Online
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

On Oct. 9, Montenegro and Macedonia recognized Kosovo's independence.

Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros noted that "coincidentally, this raises the number of countries recognizing to exactly 50." He described the significance of the event in general terms:

[...] Macedonia and Montenegro are small countries, but they have outsized importance because (1) they’re neighbors of both Serbia and Kosovo, (2) they’re EU-members-to-be, and (3) they’re former Yugoslav Republics. So while this is no surprise, it’s still interesting. [...]

Viktor Markovic of Belgraded (a blog formerly known as Belgrade 2.0) presented a humorous "short version of what happened and what could happen":

[...] Now, both Montenegro and Macedonia decided to recognize Kosovo. Kosovo will probably return the favour by recognizing them back. While they’re at it, they could decide to recognize South Ossetia and Abhazia, provinces who decided to declare independence from Georgia (not the American one, but the one next to Russia) this year. That way Kosovo would support Russia in helping South Ossetia and Abhazia break away, but it would upset the United States and the rest of the world who oppose Russia, but support Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia in their independence efforts. Serbia should support Georgia because we know what it’s like to be deprived of territory, right, but that way we would upset Russia, our best friend when it comes to not recognizing Kosovo. Georgia, US already recognized Kosovo, but Georgia (the country) should definitely not recognize it, because they clearly do mind provinces breaking away from countries. But if they don’t recognize it, they could upset the US and the other countries who recognized it.

Russia first said that it’s not ok for a province to break away, but now says it’s ok. USA first said that it’s ok for a province to break away, but now says that’s a bad thing and a big no-no. [...]

One of the readers, Owen, posted this comment to Viktor's post:

I think you’ve over-simplified.

Viktor responded by proposing a way "to make things even more confusing and interesting" - which would be for Serbia to "un-recognize Montenegro and Macedonia":

[...] I don’t know if that’s even possible, to un-recognize a state, but that’s what we are trying to persuade other countries that recognized Kosovo to do, right? So we should set an example and un-recognize Macedonia and Montenegro. [...]

Vitaly of The 8th Circle mentioned some of the consequences of Serbia's neighbors' decision to recognize Kosovo - clashes in Montenegro and the expulsion of the two states' ambassadors from Belgrade - but ended his post on a rather positive note:

[...] My guess is that the protests are an immediate expression of rage, and should not become a problem in the long-run, but that may change depending on whether the animosity is permitted to crystalize and become imprinted in people’s memory. Or, will the parties choose to look to the future where borders, under the auspices of the EU, matter little?

Jonathan Davis of LimbicNutrition Weblog wrote that he is "for an independent Kosovo," wants "Serbia in the EU as soon as possible" - but is "sickened by lies, foul play, hypocrisy and bullying" of "the EU/US/Kosovo bloc." To him, the prospects of Macedonia and Montenegro did not seem too bright:

[...] Now, however, they will also have to live with the anger of their largest trading partner and the destabilising effect that their recognition will have on their internal political situations. [...]

Writing about "the massive vote in favour of allowing Serbia’s challenge to Kosovo’s legality at the International Court of Justice" that preceded the recognition of Kosovo by Macedonia and Montenegro, Jonathan suggested that "the pre-prepared plan to force Serbia’s two tiny neighbours [...] to recognise Kosovo within a day of the vote" was "designed for psychological and propaganda effect":

[...] (1) To ruin the party for the Serbs and (2) to reset the frame by getting the global media’s focus away from Serbia’s UN victory and focussed on Serbia supposedly by being “stunned” by Montenegro and Macedonia’s “betrayal”. [...]

He also wrote about "the follow-up insult-to-injury gambit":

[...] the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Martti Ahtisaari, a loathed figure in Serbia, widely considered to be blatantly pro-Albanian and the man who handed Kosovo its (illegal) independence. The prize was expected to be awarded to imprisoned Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, but the committee decided instead to continue its tradition of politically motivated awards, almost certainly in my opinion as part of the co-ordinated response to Serbia’s UN victory. [...]

The Balkans, Russia: Radovan Karadžić

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

According to reports, former Bosnian Serb leader and one of the world’s most wanted war criminals Radovan Karadžić has been arrested in Serbia on Monday night.

Below are some of the initial reactions from bloggers.

Eric Gordy of East Ethnia:

The arrest of Karadžić is of course a huge event, leaving just two major suspects (only one of whom is worth the trouble) still to be captured and tried.

[...]

The Tribunal had better not mess this one up because there are not many chances left. [...]

Pengovsky of Sleeping With Pengovsky:

[...] The arrest was confirmed by the office of the President of Serbia Boris Tadić, without giving details. I imagine this is a high-risk game for Serbian leadership as Karadžić and general Ratko Mladić (who remains at large) have quite a following in Serbia and Republic of Srbska in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Hopefuly Serbian President Boris Tadić will fare better than the late Zoran Djindjić.

Perhaprs, just perhaps, the wars of Yugoslavia will finally be brought to an end. [...]

[...]

[From the comments section, another note by Pengovsky]

After the first couple of hours looking for reactions, caution seems to prevail. Noone wants to get his/her hopes too high too soon.

Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros:

[...] On a personal note: for years my wife has said that Karadzic was living “down the street” from us back in the early 2000s. At that time, we were living in the street Golsfortieva (that’s Serbian for “Galsworthy”) in the neighborhood of Vracar in central Belgrade. She picked this up from talking with the neighbors, and for five years it’s been a running joke in our house. “Right down the street from us!” “Right, sure, yes, dear. Whatever, okay.”

Well, at least one source is claiming that the arrest was made in… the neighborhood of Vracar, in central Belgrade. Headline: Blogger’s Wife ‘Very Satisfied’ By Arrest.

Anyway. A day or two may pass without much news, as under Serbian law the accused has the right to challenge certain aspects of his arrest — most notably, whether or not he’s really the person in question.

Still: great news, if true.

Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic:

[...] The world is a better place today than it was yesterday. Those of us interested in international criminal justice sometimes grow weary at the unfairness and impunity that are often the end results of the worst misconduct in the world by some of the worst people in the world.

But not today. Radovan Karadzic now will begin the process that will see him face the charges listed in his indictment of instigating genocide and intentionally killing thousands of Muslims in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995.

Sarah Franco of Cafe Turco:

[...] I have just returned from Belgrade, and there was indeed hope in the air. Something was changing. It’s easy to say so now, of course, but those who know me personally know that was my feeling. But as I was leaving, Jelena and I were talking about the possibility that Mladic could soon be arrested, but none of us thought that Karadzic would ever be arrested. It is an irony that it took SPS to get to power for this to happen, but it makes sense. They are cynicals, not true believers, and they will over-run any obstacle to their goals. Now Mladic and Karadic were the obstacles… Too bad for them.

[...]

At this very moment I am on the phone with one of my friend from Belgrade. She is watching the news on TV and I am waiting for the latest developments. My friends are receiving SMS messages from all around, people are incredibly happy, and now I need to go to sleep because tomorrow there is plenty of work wayting for me, but how can one sleep with such excitement?

Shaina of Bosnia Vault:

[...] Rhetorical question: I wonder how long until the obligatory "free Radovan" website pops up?

No doubt it will contain the good doctor's poetry. [...]

Some Russian bloggers seem to be working on that already.

Moscow-based LJ user grenzlos (Arthur Medvedev) has posted two poems by Karadžić, translated into Russian.

And LJ user log2stas wrote this (RUS):

[...] No matter how much of a war criminal he was in the European Union's view, he was fighting for his country... The Serbian leadership [is cynical].

In general, it's an interesting history lesson. Lenin, who killed millions of Russians, is resting by the Kremlin wall and the country is holding military parades next to his mausoleum.

Peter the Great, who turned the peasants into drunkards, drew the country into debt, built a useless port city on human bones - he is a major state figure.

Stalin, who sent tens of millions of Russians to the concentration camps, is the idol of internet dwellers.

President Bush, a war criminal, organizer of torture cells, guilty of using the banned chemical weapons during the storming of Fallujah - he'll be quietly fishing during his retirement.

None of them spent time in jail, nor has been punished in any way for what they've done.

And Radovan Karadžić will appear in court and they'll try him... because he was defending his country.

On the other hand, Jesus has also been crucified. [...]

Southeast Europe, Russia: War, Peace, and Shared History

Global Voices Online
Sunday, April 6, 2008

In Vladikavkaz, the capital of Russia's North Ossetia, LJ user alan-tskhurbaev ran into a stencil graffiti, whose message (RUS) seemed somewhat unlikely for this North Caucasian region:

Kosovo is Serbia!

Referring to Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, whose leaders regard Kosovo independence as a precedent, Oleg Panfilov - LJ user oleg_panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations - posted this comment (RUS):

Wasn't there a second part - "South Ossetia is Georgia"?

LJ user alan_tskhurbaev replied (RUS):

Since the question is addressed to me and not to the author of the graffiti, I'll express my own opinion - South Ossetia is not Georgia even more than Kosovo is not Serbia. And here [in North Ossetia], you don't have to write it on the buildings - everyone knows it anyway.

***

Paris-based LJ user sebtinos stumbled upon a history textbook published by the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE): "A textbook that teaches peace," he described it. Below are some of his thoughts (RUS) on the project:

[...] Sixteen historians from various corners of the Balkans have developed the region's joint history textbook.

The essence is simple. Albanian history textbooks teach that if all other peoples disappear from the earth, Albanian nation will continue to flourish. In Greece, high school students are being taught that "the fall of Constantinople" took place in 1453, while their Turkish counterparts learn about the "liberation of Istanbul." Students from Skopje, Belgrade and Sofia get to know the history of the "liberation from the Turkish yoke," while in Ankara they study the "dramatic and unfair war that put an end to the Great Ottoman Empire."

Indeed, there are as many versions of the Balkan history as there are nations living in this region. Each group is searching through history to find explanations of the present and arguments in favor of the national idea. Kosovo believes it has historical arguments to support its independence. Belgrade is convinced of the opposite. Today, every nation has its own view of the past and isn't really concerned with finding ways to co-exist in the present.

[...]

And it has occurred to me ... that, perhaps, the former Soviet republics should stop [...] re-writing history separately and finally publish something jointly.

In response to a reader, LJ user sebtinos added:

I had a chance to attend schools in four different countries: USSR, Russia, Ukraine and France. The views differ completely. It's not fair that the humankind has one universal history, but nations or individuals [do not share a common view on it.]

LJ user sebtinos also crossposted his history textbook entry to the ru_politics LJ community, and below are two reader responses (RUS):

kabashek:

Joint history is not good for the powerful elites [of each nation]. Makes it harder to manipulate [the population]. And the example you're citing is funded by the EU, not by Albania and Turkey.

***

stepanov_karel:

I, of course, haven't read this textbook, but I suspect that it's written [in an extremely appeasing manner]. That is, all controversial topics are simply ignored.

All controversial topics have to be thoroughly discussed, however.