The Agonist - Balkans

Prosecution opens case against Karadzic, absent again

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:57:15 -0700

Reed Stevenson | The hague | Oct 27

Reuters - Radovan Karadzic led a campaign to make Bosnian Muslims "disappear from the face of the earth" and carve out a mono-ethnic state for Bosnian Serbs, war crimes prosecutors told a U.N. tribunal on Tuesday.

In opening statements, prosecutors painted a picture of the former Bosnian Serb leader as a supreme commander single-mindedly pursing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Their statements were delivered to empty chairs on the defendant's side of the court as Karadzic boycotted the trial for a second day.

"The Supreme Commander explained in October 1991 what was coming for Sarajevo: 'Sarajevo will be a black cauldron where Muslims will die. They will disappear, that people will disappear from the face of the earth'," Prosecutor Alan Tieger cited Karadzic as saying.

He was referring to the 43-month siege of Sarajevo that began in 1992 and killed an estimated 10,000.

The break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s saw Serbs, Croats and Muslims fighting for land. More than 100,000 people were killed.

"The supreme commander had directed his forces in a campaign to carve out a mono-ethnic state within his multi-ethnic country," Tieger said, calling him a "hands-on leader who maintained direct contact".

Touristic experience

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:23:39 -0700

So I spent a couple of days in Balkans and started to wonder what the hell S-P had been doing around the world. It wasn't at all like the travel stories of S-P.

It was interesting to hear that a French 42-year old EULEX policeman had offered to get rid of a former Spanish friend of my contact by using a contract killer.

My contact was raided a couple of days later by an amateur spy who called himself Marco and told that he is from Brussels. He got some local guy with him. Why did they raid my innocent contact when contact's 47-year-old mother has an 8 year mafia experience from Sweden? That's why she has too much money.

So, I have got my reasons why I do not like all those spies and so called security people. I knew that they are an annoyance to normal people, but additionally you can get murdered if some of them happens to be jealous.

At the moment I do not have yet an extra hole in my ass, but is there somewhere a spy course, which tells how to avoid all the problematic people?

Socialist Papandreou defeats Greek PM

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:50:59 -0700

Christine Theodorou & Anthee Carrasava | Athens | October 4

CNN - Socialist candidate George Papandreou is set to become Greece's next prime minister, with his party defeating that of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis in Sunday's elections, the nation's interior minister said, citing preliminary results.

Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece defeated Karamanlis' New Democracy party, Minister Spiros Flogaitis said.

Karamanlis congratulated Papandreou in a nationally televised concession speech.

"And like every Greek, I hope that he succeeds at the big challenge of facing up to the economic situation," Karamanlis said. "Because this challenge, I have said many times, is a national interest."

Sunday's elections were held two years before originally scheduled. Karamanlis called the elections in response to pressure from the Socialist Party, which threatened to block the election of a president in February if no general election was held. The Greek constitution requires the two major parties to agree on the election of a president, giving either party an effective veto.

Greek Socialists Win in a Landslide

New York Times, by Rachel Donadio & Anthee Carassava, October 4

Athens - The Greek Socialist party won national elections here Sunday, trouncing a center-right government crippled by corruption scandals and a growing economic crisis.

With 65 percent of Greece’s 10 million votes counted, the Socialist Pasok party was leading with 43.7 percent of the vote compared with 34.6 percent for the center-right New Democracy party, a margin expected to give the Socialists their largest margin of victory ever and a comfortable majority in Parliament.

“Today we set off together to build the Greece we want and need. We have no time to waste,” Socialist leader George Papandreou said in his victory speech. “We want it, we can do it, we will succeed.”

“Nothing will be easy,” he added. “But I will always be honest and upfront with the Greeks.”

In conceding defeat, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis said he had failed to convince Greeks to accept the two years of austerity measures he had called for to steer the country out of its economic crisis. “The voters did not approve of this policy. It was their choice, and I respect it,” he said.

Winners, Losers and the Future of the Balkan Visa Ghetto

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:20:31 -0700

16 July 2009 | By Gerald Knaus and Alex Stiglmayer

Balkan Insight - Europe’s decision to grant three Balkan countries visa-free travel, while leaving three others out in the cold, is regretable and – in Kosovo’s case – an unmitigated disaster.

** EU gives Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia visa-free travel from January 2010
** EU opens borders to some Balkan states - but not all
** EC green lights visa-free travel for Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro
** European Union leaves Bosnian Muslims in the cold, once again(image)

Balkan Pickup Lines

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:36:34 -0700

The train pulled out of Sirkeci Station at 10pm sharp, bound for Bucharest. Within an hour the slow rocking of the train put me to sleep. Sometime around 300am the train stopped, the conductor rapped on the door, shouting "immigration" and the passengers filed out in a stupor. Passport stamped I climbed aboard and went back to sleep. Thirty minutes later there was another sharp rap on the door: "customs!" The officers tore my cabin apart, like cops back home with a warrant. Finally, after fifteen minutes of pillage they left, satisfied there was no contraband in my meager belongings. I fell alseep, only to be awakened again thirty minutes later by a huge, semi-toothed Bulgarian border officer. "Passport?"

I handed it over. He glanced at it long enough to realize I was American, snorted and handed it back. "Okay," he said, "good night."

"That was easy enough," I thought and went right back to sleep. I don't know how much time passed, but once again, I was awakened by a hard thump, followed by two quick knocks on my door, like rapid gunshots.

"What now!" I exclaimed in frustration.

"Eet iz passport kontrol," came a woman's voice behind the door. I fumbled with the lock on my door as images of a snaggle-toothed, heavy Bulgarian matron danced through my head. I flipped on the light, and slid open the door.

More after the jump.

"Holy shit!" I said. She was 5'11" with tight blond spiral curls falling down off her shoulders. A perfect row of white teeth shined in the light. Her blue border guard uniform did nothing to hide the magnificent shape of her body as my eyes were drawn to the large gun on her shapely hips.

"Passport, pleaze," she said in a deep, but feminine voice.

"Damn, you're hot," I said before my internal filter had a chance to self-censor. She held out her hand in expectation of a passport, which I quickly produced.

"You must be very tired," she said with that self-deprecating Slavic humor I know all too well.

"No, darling," I said in my best Texas drawl, "you are a fiiiiine piece of work."

My brain was screaming, "shut the fuck up you sleep addled fool."

She flipped through the pages of my passport.

"You have been to many strange places," she said, "Uzbekistan? Iran?"

"Yup," I said, "you want to come with me some time?"

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" my brain howled in indignation. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I ignored it. "In for a penny, in for a pound," I told myself.

She reverted to her ascetic bureaucratic stare, but not before I caught the hint of a smile, just enough to know I'd hit the right chord.

"How long vill you stay in Bulgaria?" She asked.

I wanted to say, "had I known it would be this nice, a long time," but discretion--and the gun on her hip--got the better of me. I only managed to sputter out, "not long enough. Just passing through to Bucharest."

"Eets a pity," she clucked, "Bulgaria is beautiful country."

"Yes it is," I replied.

"Eenything else Meester Kelley?" she asked, handing back my passport.

"Your name? Phone number? Email?" I blurted out.

"WHAT THE FUCK! YOU DON'T ASK A WOMAN WITH A GUN FOR HER NUMBER YOU ABSOLUTE IDGIT," my brain shrieked in protest. My temples froze up like I'd just wolfed down an ice cream cone and there was a crashing and grinding of gears in my head.

She pulled out a notepad, jotted down her number and email, handed over the piece of paper saying, "Irina, my name is Irina. Come back to Bulgaria. You vill like," and then she walked down the hall and off the train. I was astonished. I've certainly never been accused of having any amount of charm. And I've always been horribly shy around women. I have no idea what came over me. Lack of sleep? Lunacy? Does it matter?

The Americans in the next-door compartment laughed uproariously.

"Duuuuuuuude," said Dominick, a young twenty-something on a gap year journey across Europe, "that was hilarious. And she was hot!"

"Yeah, she was, huh? Who knew a border guard could look so good?" I said.

"So, are you coming back?" he asked as the train pulled out of the station.

I grinned triumphantly, puffed up like a rooster in a barnyard. "Who knows?"

I soon fell into an uninterrupted sleep, dreaming of blue uniforms and blond curls.

No Longer In The East

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:35:19 -0700

It took a while for me to figure out why everything so was so calm and peaceful. (Mind you, this is very relative.) But as I was walking down the very European streets of Bucharest this afternoon (and very communist city planning it is) it came to me: I've been in the east for a very long time. A week or two shy of a year. It's just strange being in Europe. And like I said, being in Romania is very relative. It's still a pretty wild place. But, compared to my time in Bulgaria almost ten years back, it is crystal clear that accession to the European Union has drastically changed Bulgaria and Romania for the better. There is a lot of wealth here now. And the former Eastern bloc countries, while the people can still be very grim and unhappy, have a measure of stability. And it's definitely not the East. The smells are different. The lifestyle and the stares, the driving habits, the architecture, a thousand different little subtle things, plus the food are just flat out different. Seriously, I've only seen one Lada, and that was in the countryside of Bulgaria this morning! How can it be Eastern Europe and have no effing Ladas?!?

It's a strange adjustment for me to make. I've spent so much time the last 10 years in the East--I haven't been to 'Europe' except for a short stint in 'oh-so-civilized Denmark' in 2007--that I find it odd. I'll probably have a wicked case of culture shock when I get to Germany in a week or so. Oy!

"The Balkan Ekspres"

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:33:34 -0700

Took the train from Istanbul to Bucharest last night. It was a fun train ride. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Serb's war crimes jail term tripled

Tue, 05 May 2009 07:37:18 -0700

May 5

BBC - A UN war crimes appeals court has ruled that an ex-Yugoslav army officer jailed for crimes at Vukovar in 1991 should serve 17, not five years.

It found the original sentence against Veselin Sljivancanin for torture was inadequate and jailed him for aiding and abetting the murder of prisoners.

Sljivancanin was released in December 2007 after four years in custody.

He had returned to The Hague for the ruling which also upheld a sentence against his superior, Mile Mrksic.

Mrksic is serving 20 years for aiding and abetting the murder and torture of prisoners, as well as allowing inhumane conditions of detention.

Inhumane treatment and torturing prisoners is wrong? Who knew..

The sunny corner of the Adriatic that is casting dark clouds over Europe

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:32:06 -0700

Vanessa Mock | Brussels | Apr 28

The Independent - It is a sliver of coastline between two of the smallest states in Europe, boasting breathtaking views across the Bay of Piran and towns full of winding cobbled streets and Venetian Gothic architecture, but this picturesque corner of the Adriatic is casting a shadow over EU expansion plans.

Slovenia and Croatia are at loggerheads over their border and the diplomatic stand-off is threatening to derail Croatia's hopes of joining the EU.

The dispute dates to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, when both countries laid claim to the Bay of Piran, a seven-square-mile expanse of the Adriatic sea.

Croatia wants the border to be drawn down the middle of the bay but Slovenia – which is almost landlocked –says this would impede its ships from gaining direct access to the high seas.

Reporting Your Compatriot's Sins

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:55:07 -0700

IWPR - New generation of Serbian journalists grapples with ethics and challenges of tackling dark side of their country’s recent history. By Jasna Jankovic in Belgrade

Whether in times of war or not, a journalist should always serve the public interest, the truth and universal human values.

Although views on certain issues may differ, I do not see how the rape of a woman or the murder of an infant can be viewed as anything other than a crime. The same goes for covering up atrocities or, even worse, glorifying such acts as patriotic.

Those who love their nation must face themselves and their compatriots with the truth in order to overcome it and become better and stronge

Bosnia and Serbia restore railway line after 17 years

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:51:12 -0700

Sarajevo | Apr 2

DPA - Serbia and Bosnia are to reopen the Belgrade- Sarajevo railway line in 2009, 17 years after it was closed by war in former Yugoslavia.

The line is due to go back into operation in September, when the autumn schedule comes into effect, the railway announced in Sarajevo. The war erupted in Bosnia in April 1992.

Macedonia's Identity Crisis

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:51:40 -0700

Walter Mayr | Mar 20

Spiegel Online -

Greece has blocked the NATO and EU ambitions of Macedonia for the past 18 years over a bizarre name dispute. The ongoing controversy threatens the very cohesion of the diminutive Balkan republic, which holds presidential elections this Sunday.

The village of Achlada, population 400, lies in the shadow of a 2,500-meter (8,200-foot) peak on Greece's northern border. In the café on the main square, a handful of elderly residents silently run chains of wooden beads through their fingers.

At first glance, Achlada, with its snow-white church, looks like a sleepy, idyllic Greek village. During the Ottoman era, however, Achlada was called Krusoradi, named after the Slavic word for pear tree. As a result of the Second Balkan War in 1913, the village became part of Greece and was renamed, coinciding with the partition of the historic region of Macedonia among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. This part of Achlada's history is barely spoken about.

Strangers approaching a two-story house at the end of a path near the church are likely to encounter suspicious looks. The building has stood empty for more than half a century. According to a local war memorial, the former owner was killed in 1940 during Greece's struggle against fascist Italy. His name was Nikos Gruios, and according to the inscription on the memorial, he gave his life "for his homeland."

This would hardly be worth mentioning, except that Nikola Gruevski, the grandson of the fallen war hero, wrote a letter to the government in Athens in the summer of 2008. In the letter, he demanded official recognition of the Slavic-Macedonian minority in Greece and the restitution of the property of former residents of Slavic origin who had fled Greece after 1945.

The letter was taken seriously, but mainly because of the identity of its author. Nikola Gruevski, the grandson of the hero Nikos Gruios, happens to be the prime minister of Greece's northern neighbor, the Republic of Macedonia.

US army 'had opportunities to grab Mladic'

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:59:48 -0800

Peter Beaumont | Mar 8

The Observer - Fugitive general was shadowed for five months after Serbian conflict ended, claims historian

For fifteen years he has been Europe's most wanted man - the Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic - alleged architect of the deaths of up to 7,500 men and boys at Srebrenica, and commander of the siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.

Now, amid rumours of negotiations with the European Union over his possible arrest, it has been alleged that for five months after the end of the war a US army unit tracked Mladic and conducted meetings with the fugitive general, but declined to arrest him for fear of triggering violence that might result in US casualties.

The allegations - if proved - would rewrite the story of how so many Bosnian Serb indictees before the Hague managed to slip through the net despite the presence of so many US and other troops. It is claimed that for 18 months after the war, indictees including Karadzic were able to commute between home and office in full view of the International Police Task Force, whose Austrian, Swedish, and Ukrainian officers failed to report these sightings

It has emerged at an especially sensitive time as Mladic's colleague, the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, has begun his trial at the Hague claiming in his defence that he had signed a secret deal with US envoy Richard Holbrooke that he would not be prosecuted if he withdrew from politics - a claim that has been described as "crap" by Holbrooke.

Serbian spy's trial lifts cloak on his CIA alliance

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:25:35 -0800

Greg Miller | Belgrade, Serbia | Mar 1

LA Times - As Milosevic's intelligence chief, Jovica Stanisic is accused of setting up genocidal death squads. But as a valuable source for the CIA, an agency veteran says, he also 'did a whole lot of good.'

At night, when the lawns are empty and the lamps along the walking paths are the only source of light, Topcider Park on the outskirts of Belgrade is a perfect meeting place for spies.

It was here in 1992, as the former Yugoslavia was erupting in ethnic violence, that a wary CIA agent made his way toward the park's gazebo and shook hands with a Serbian intelligence officer.

Jovica Stanisic had a cold gaze and a sinister reputation. He was the intelligence chief for Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and regarded by many as the brains of a regime that gave the world a chilling new term: "ethnic cleansing."

But the CIA officer, William Lofgren, needed help. The agency was all but blind after Yugoslavia shattered into civil war. Fighting had broken out in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Milosevic was seen as a menace to European security, and the CIA was desperate to get intelligence from inside the turmoil.

So on that midnight stroll, the two spies carved out a clandestine relationship that remained undisclosed: For eight years, Stanisic was the CIA's main man in Belgrade. During secret meetings in boats and safe houses along the Sava River, he shared details on the inner workings of the Milosevic regime. He provided information on the locations of NATO hostages, aided CIA operatives in their search for grave sites and helped the agency set up a network of secret bases in Bosnia.

At the same time, Stanisic was setting up death squads for Milosevic that carried out a genocidal campaign, according to prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which was established by the U.N. Security Council in 1993 to try those responsible for serious human rights violations in the Balkan wars.

Now facing a trial at The Hague that could send him to prison for life, Stanisic has called in a marker with his American allies. In an exceedingly rare move, the CIA has submitted a classified document to the court that lists Stanisic's contributions and attests to his helpful role. The document remains sealed, but its contents were described by sources to The Times.

The CIA's Lofgren, now retired, said the agency drafted the document to show "that this allegedly evil person did a whole lot of good." Lofgren, however, doesn't claim to disprove the allegations against Stanisic.

"But setting the indictment aside," he said, "there are things this man did that helped bring hostilities to an end and establish peace in Bosnia."

more unfrickinbelievable

The Prophet's Fifth Column: Islamists Gain Ground in Sarajevo

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:54:38 -0800

Walter Mayr | Feb 25

Spiegel Online - Radical Muslim imams and nationalist politicians from all camps are threatening Sarajevo's multicultural legacy. With the help of Arab benefactors, the deeply devout are acquiring new recruits. In the "Jerusalem of the Balkans," Islamists are on the rise.

The obliteration of Israel is heralded in a torrent of words. "Zionist terrorists," the imam thunders from the glass-enclosed pulpit at the end of the mosque. "Animals in human form" have transformed the Gaza Strip into a "concentration camp," and this marks "the beginning of the end" for the Jewish pseudo-state.

Over 4,000 faithful are listening to the religious service in the King Fahd Mosque, named after the late Saudi Arabian monarch King Fahd Bin Abd al-Asis Al Saud. The women sit separately, screened off in the left wing of the building. It is the day of the Khutbah, the great Friday sermon, and the city where the imam has predicted Israel's demise lies some 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) northwest of Gaza.

It is a city in the heart of Europe: Sarajevo.

** Photo Gallery: The Fifth Column of the Prophet
** From the Archive: Balkan Mujahedeens