Don’t cry for me Serbia…

March 20, 2006 1 Comment

On Saturday, I stopped by the ‘meeting’ to commemorate the death of Miloesvic in front of the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro. Although the numbers were impressive (80,000 according to police, 500,000 according to SPS), the gathering was pretty pathetic. The atmosphere was too pathetic for a meeting or protest, and too angry for a funeral.
Particularly striking were the women who cried at the manifestation for Milosevic’s funeral not for Slobo, but for themselves. They cried over their own misery and poverty. The tragedy lies in the fact that they do not realize that the one they are formally crying for is the one mostly responsible for their misery.

Filed under Serbia, War and War Crimes

Interview for Gradjanski List

February 18, 2006 Leave a comment

Here’s a short

interview with Gradjanski List on Kosovo, Montenegro and other
easy topics. The English version will be available soon.

Filed under interview, Serbia

the ‘neuter’ members of the RS parliament

February 8, 2006 Leave a comment

In the brave new world of ethnicity in Bosnia, the House of Peoples in the Serb Republic also has one MP, who is ‘neuter’… in the original it is “neopredjeljena”, I guess undecided. Otherwise, its multiethnic heaven, including Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Bosniaks, Slovenes and Jews.

Filed under Bosnia

Plagiarism in speeches

February 6, 2006 Leave a comment

It turns out that Sali Berisha plagiarized a speech from his much beloved predecessor Fatos Nano (as if talking about “solving the system of equations” wouldn’t give it away). Coincidentally, I found out recently from a colleague that a draft constitution of an unnamed African country plagiarized its neighbors constitutions. Hmm, how could one punish governmental plagiarism? Maybe there should be an EU guideline against state plagiarism, but then how would candidate countries adopt all this acquis communitaire…

Filed under Albania

Needle in the haystack

January 27, 2006 1 Comment

I guess that Minister of Defense of SCG Zoran Stankovic took the metophor of parallels between finding Mladic and finding a needle in a hay stack a bit too literally.

Filed under ICTY, Serbia, War and War Crimes

EU standards for writing a novel

January 10, 2006 2 Comments

György Spiró has discovered the EU Commission for European Standards guidelines for writing a novel. It contains gems such as Art. 13 D):

“Positive Main Characters recommended exceptionally strongly:

a) A grandmother who underwent many terrible tribulations before the advent of the EU with her spiritual and moral integrity remaining intact, and who now educates her grandchildren single-handedly in such a manner that they become upright, law-abiding citizens of the European Union who meet the challenges of business life.”

or

Art. 5 & 6:

5) The Novel must contain Dialogue and Author’s Text. A work lacking either of these will not qualify as a Novel and will not be supported.

6) The ideal ratio between Dialogue and Author’s Text is 2 : 1. A maximum divergence of + or 12 per cent is tolerable. Any divergence of a larger order will result in the disqualification of the work from European Union support.

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-03-spiro-en.html

Filed under European Union

The good Germans and to find them

January 10, 2006 1 Comment

The German state of Baden Württemberg introduced a “guiding” questionnaire for applicants for German citizenship. The questionnaire has been criticized by the Greens and others for being biased, as most questions appear to be focusing particular on the Muslim community and making personal views (“Gesinnung”) a
criteria for citizenship.

I think the problem is not so much the questions, they are less problematic than some countries asking for cooking recipes as criteria of citizenship. I am just wondering how many “good Germans” would answer questions such as “Imagine your adult son tells you he is gay and wants to live with another man. How do you react?” or “Your daughter applies for a job in Germany. She is rejected while the job was offered to a black African from Somalia. How do you react?” in the desired way. What is the right answer to become an average German (or average West European in general)?

For the full list in German see the following link from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Filed under Multiculturalism

Build your own banlieu

January 8, 2006 Leave a comment

The Muji shop in the UK has followed recent events and issued the Paris + Banlieu package to play with… I did not dare to open the bag and find out what it contains (burned cars, etc.)

Filed under Multiculturalism

Cleaning Sponge instructions

December 21, 2005 Leave a comment

C-Market, the Serbian super market chain, is not only responsible for providing first class products, but also for items which are able to satisfy the housewives of the Soviet Union.

Filed under Fun

Op-ed for Washington Times

December 20, 2005 3 Comments

I admit that writing a letter to the editor for the Washington Times is like writing a policy brief to Rumsfeld telling him that the war in Iraq was a bad idea and hoping for change. Anyhow, I did write one following a particularly disturbing opinion piece on Bosnia, which hit on all the themes any nationalist publication in Serbia would be proad of: The Islamist-terrorist threat, the artificial nature of multiethnic states and the threat through centralization to Serbs and Croats.

The letter can be read at:

https://florianbieber.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2005-12-letters-to-the-editor-the-washington-times.pdf

The original article “Islamist State in Europe” with such memorable lines as “The Croatians are dying” is available at:

http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20051218-125507-6951r.htm

Filed under Publication, USA, Western Balkans

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