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Serbia and Ratko Mladic: Promises, promises...
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Oh look, here's something we've all heard before many times.
Serbia will arrest war crimes fugitive
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 30, 2008
BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia:
Serbia has told the European Union it would soon arrest the war crimes
fugitive Ratko Mladic, as the EU insists, but expressed concerns that
the dispute over Kosovo was driving the country further apart from the
group.
Serbia's foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, spoke with EU foreign
ministers Saturday in the first high-level EU-Serbia encounter since
member nations began recognizing Kosovo's secession last month. To
date, 18 of the 27 EU nations accept Kosovo's independence from Serbia.
Jeremic said EU nations' recognition of Kosovo was dangerous,
counterproductive and illegal, and that it played into the hands of
nationalists running in Serbia's May 11 elections.
Well, at least that last part is true. Kosovo's independence is actually the best thing that has happened to the nationalists in years.
He told the ministers it was not certain that his own or other
pro-EU forces in Serbia could win a legislative majority as long as
Kosovo continued to be seen as an independent nation. He also expressed
concern about the fate of Kosovar Serbs in overwhelmingly ethnic
Albanian Kosovo.
Jeremic's concerns over the future of Serbs in Kosovo aren't entirely unfounded, but Serbs in Kosovo would have a better future ahead of them if 1) they worked with the Kosovar Albanian authorities instead of rejecting them, and 2) Serbia did the same. By not recognizing Kosovo's independence and the legitmiacy of its state institutions, and by undermining the OSCE Mission to Kosovo (which has tried hard to protect Kosovo's minorities, including the Serb population) and the EU, Serbia is not doing Kosovar Serbs any favours.
"I am worried that today, Serbia is further away from the European
Union than it has been in quite a while," Jeremic said at the
ministers' meeting, in comments released to reporters.
How terrible. I am sure all 27 member states are shaking with fear. Clearly the EU cannot long survive without Serbia.
Jeremic stressed that Belgrade realized its role in bringing Balkan
war crimes suspects to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague
was crucial to normalizing relations.
"We shall locate, arrest and hand over Ratko Mladic" and others indicted on war crimes charges, Jeremic told the EU ministers. [IHT]
I wish I could say I think this is going to happen, but I don't. Serbia has said this over and over and over since Mladic was indicted. There was even a brief period this past summer when it appeared Mladic was going to be arrested any day. But, of course, that didn't happen. It was all talk. And it only added to the frustration and disappointment felt in Bosnia and the Hague.
March 30, 2008 | Permalink
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Two Dagestani journalists killed
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Russia's southern republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia have seen bursts public violence and a series of unsolved, brutal murders of journalists and public servants over the past few years. Additionally, rebel fighters from Chechnya (which is forcibly pacified under pro-Kremlin warlord-turn-president Ramzan Kadyrov) have also spread unrest to Checnhya's neighbors.
On Friday, two Dagestani journalists were killed in what authorities claim were unrelated murders. Television reporter Ilyas Shurpayev from Dagestan was found dead
Friday in a Moscow apartment with a belt around his neck and multiple
knife wounds. He had worked in Moscow for Russia's state-run Channel
One television.
Later that day, the head of Dagestan's state-controlled television
channel, Gadzhi Abashilov, was shot to death in the provincial capital
of Makhachkala.
"This is just a coincidence; the murders are not related to each
other," Shamil Guseinov, deputy police chief in Dagestan's capital,
told The Associated Press.
Dagestan's information minister, Eduard Urazayev, also expressed
confidence the murders were not linked. He told the AP the journalists
had different principles in their work and belonged to different age
groups.
Shurpayev, 32, worked for the national channel that served as a
Kremlin mouthpiece and has not contradicted the official viewpoint in
his reports, the minister said.
Abashilov, 58, worked mostly as a writer and newspaper editor,
despite his recent appointment as head of a television station, and
often confronted authorities in his controversial articles, Urazayev
said. [IHT]
Even if the killings weren't related, they still serve to intimidate the press, and Russia has a very poor record of solving murders of journalists and bringing those who commit them to justice. And perhaps no other region of Russia needs journalists more than the North Caucasus, where there is little accountability for government officials or law enforcement, and organized crime runs rampant.
March 23, 2008 | Permalink
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Back...sort of
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I have been away from the blog for a while.
Since the end of January, I have moved from Sarajevo to Connecticut (temporarily, to store my stuff at my grandmother's house), visited friends in DC, and moved to Albany, New York to start a new job coordinating direct services for victims of human trafficking.
During my last two weeks in Bosnia, I began to feel strange. Despite my size, I am usually as strong as a draught horse (I credit traveling alone with heavy backpacks and suitcases since I was a young teen), but I began staining to do everyday tasks like cleaning the bathtub, and packing to leave Sarajevo wiped me out. I also began to slow mentally and needed ten hours of sleep every night to just be functional in the morning.
I figured it was just the stress of moving, coupled with career anxiety. When I got back to the US, however, I didn't get better. My appetite disappeared, and my muscle strength depleted. When I moved to Albany, I really struggled to stay awake and alert in my first two weeks in the new job. One day, I found that I could barely lift my messenger bag. Then, my mother came to visit and bring the rest of my furniture from Connecticut. She realized something was wrong with me straight away and guessed that I was iron-deficient. Once I began taking iron supplements, my strength quickly returned, and I stopped being quite so ghostly pale.
It turns out I had become severely anemic during my last two months in BiH, largely as a result of unhealthy lifestyle (see: too much drinking, too few leafy vegetables.) I was glad that it wasn't something very serious, but annoyed at myself for having let it get as bad as it did.
So take your vitamin supplements, kids! Especially if you're traveling, and especially iron!
Now, I'm somewhat settled in Albany for the time being, and I like my new gig a lot. As I develop more of a routine, I'll have more time and energy for blogging. Until then, I'll be posting sporadically.
March 23, 2008 | Permalink
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Temporary Protected Status for Haitians
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In February, Haitian President Rene Preval wrote a letter to President Bush requesting the designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for undocumented Haitians in the United States. TPS may be granted by the President when any of the following conditions are met: 1) ongoing armed conflict posing risk to personal safety; 2) it is requested by a foreign state that cannot handle the return of nationals due to a natural disaster; 3) when extraordinary and temporary conditions exist in a foreign state which prevents nationals from returning. There are currently six countries protected under the TPS provision: Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Burundi, Somalia, and Sudan.
Haiti has suffered from floods and tropical storms over the past few years resulting in the deaths of thousands. The country is also rebuilding after a coup that ousted President Aristide in 2004. Finally, Haiti is a severely impoverished country that depends upon the remittances from its nationals living in the United States and Canada.
Haiti is improving, but as President Preval has acknowledged the burden of absorbing repatriated nationals back to the country is putting a severe strain on a nation that is already struggling to rebuild. Haiti meets all the criteria for TPS. Unfortunately, it is a designation that can only be granted by the President of the United States. Hopefully, President Bush will respond to President Preval's request, along with letters of support from members of Congress, major religious figures, and thousands of letters from indviduals such as yourself that recognize the international importance of this designation at this critical time.
March 16, 2008 | Permalink
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The Man Behind the Iron Curtian
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Russian President Vladimir Putin's apprentice Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, managed to eek out a minuscule 70.23% of the vote, securing himself as the next president... surprise surprise. There can be little doubt that Russian "democracy" is anything more than a farce. Even if reports of coerced voting, forced absenteeism and outright vote tampering are untrue, Putin's hand-picked successor was automatically guaranteed airtime on the state-run television channels. Opposition candidates, if they were even allowed on the ballot, were marginalized from the start. International and domestic activists and observers alike report being barred from some voting areas altogether.
So who is this person that Putin carefully selected, out of his myriad of cronies, to be Russia's next leader? While researching articles on this election, I was quickly drawn to this picture on Bloomberg's website. Black leather, jeans? Ladies and Gentlemen we have ourselves a rockin' despotic head of state! If I hadn't recognized Putin's dour face I would have suggested this was an article on one of Russia's classic rock stars.
The younger Medvedev clearly holds at least some visage of youth and freshness. While he refused to debate his political opponents at all (not even in the insubstantial-bicker style of US debates!) Medvedev has mentioned a move to end corruption in Russian politics. (A task much like removing salt from sea water) I recall two years ago I worked as a camp councilor for teenagers learning English in the US. Even at the age of 13, one of my American-rap-loving-charges had a vehement dislike for his president, Putin, quantifying his disgust in words that neither a teenager nor a student of English should be likely to know. Putin had a strong hold on the post Cold-War generation, fearful of continued miserable economic conditions after the fall of the communist regime. However his hold on younger generations remains questionable. Medvedev, on the other hand, is still a much unknown character. Putin's congratulatory presentation to Medvedev at a rock concert was perhaps a method to bridge generations and ensure longevity to his legacy.
Don't expect anything in Russia to actually change though. Putin has humbly "agreed" to stay on as Medvedev's Prime Minister, and while he claims he will maintain the duties relegated to each office, there is no guarantee he will not control his protegee from behind the scenes.
Will Medvedev be able to break Putin's hold and develop his own legacy, or will he be known as Putin's lackey? Having never been in an elected position before, there is no way of telling what this former aide to Putin is capable of being for a one-party Russia.
March 4, 2008 | Permalink
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