“Legal experts said that while the International Court of Justice had ruled that Kosovo’s declaration of independence was legal, it had avoided saying that the state of Kosovo was legal under international law, a narrow and carefully calibrated compromise that they said could allow both sides to declare victory in a dispute that remains raw even 11 years after the war there.”
From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/world/europe/23kosovo.html?_r=3&ref=world

Disgrace.

And I’m not saying this as a Serbian nationalist from Kosovo or anything. It is a disgrace because  an institution that is supposed to use the logic and common sense (whatever that is in this case) decided not to decide at all (!!!), and left the politicians in the UN to play the game and make a “final decision” withing the General Assembly of the UN. An easy parallel would be if the pedagogues in the kindergarten would be asked for an opinion on who is right and who is wrong and they just tell the kids to decide themselves. Who wins? Bigger and stronger, of course, and in most cases those that won’t ever admit they made a mistake.

This way, all they did was to pretty much retain the status quo for now. Both sides will read between the lines in their own ways and we are still far from any kind of a decision. Disgrace!

What has this shown us? Only one thing, in my opinion – that ICJ doesn’t have cojones/balls/muda to do their job.
I mean, since the ’90s, we are being told that we have to deal with what our leaders and people did in the past, been that Srebrenica or whatever else. And we pretty much have dealt with it. I don’t know many people in Serbia that don’t accept Srebrenica as a crime against humanity, and don’t feel ashamed that someone of our kind did that. Sure, there is still a lot that needs to be discussed and accepted on all sides in that bloody war, but we are going into the right direction. As a whole region, that is.

However, what we have in this case is that a major institution – International Court of Justice, which was created to deal with such situations, clearly rejected to show some courage and either confirm that independence is OK, or admit a mistake and support the negotiations about the final status.

What kind of a crap is that? Were they afraid to make a decision that either USA or Russia will not like and thought that this way they won’t get in a position where one super-power doesn’t care about and overrules such decision (remember USA and UN)? Or were they just afraid that a clear decision will spark either fights between Albanians and Serbs or enforce secessionist movements in many regions in the world (Catalonia, to start with - check out the reaction of their PM yesterday, or Armenians in Azerbaijan, or Cyprus situation - check how quickly Germans issued this press release)? (check also other reactions here and here)

I honestly believed that this agony will be finished, whatever the decision would be… Honestly… For the sake of  the youth that should grow up learning about important things and enjoying life and not watching the news and looking forward to find a way to get a passport and leave the country. I honestly believed that international community has balls to make a decision and stick with it.  And, believe it or not, I was ready to accept that Kosovo will not be part of Serbia anymore. I knew it would be hard, but I was ready to cry my ass off and feel miserable for some time. For the sake of the future.

But that was until yesterday. Who is going to convince me today that it is OK to be OK with losing Kosovo? Nobody. Ever. Again.
I’m OK when someone proves me wrong. Someone with a clear idea why I am wrong and he/she is right. But who can prove me wrong here? Someone without a stand?
And stupid rhetorics about “de-facto situation” or “it would be too hard to get back there and convince Albanians that living with Serbs is OK” doesn’t work anymore. It’s just absurd.

And don’t think I’m becoming a nationalist. Nope. Never been, never will be. My thoughts are on a much higher level. I’m actually sure now that my old idea about the need of the  World War 3 and “restart of the system” is actually very good. Couple of nukes would probably help solve all the world’s problems. Am sure that Mr. Bush and Clinton would agree with me, along with all leaders of NATO countries. Don’t you agree?

That, or and old idea of Mr. Arthur C. Clarke (somebody reminded me of this idea today):
“Any teacher (leader) that can be replaced by a machine, should be!”
Machines think logically. They know only 1 and 0, true or false. Their logic cannot be affected by Monica Lewinsky, Mr. Putin or fancy Mr. Obama and his administration. They don’t know what the word “inat” means. They don’t give a fuck. That’s why I love computers.

It’s funny ’cause it’s true…

Cartoons from: http://www.donika.com/cartoon.html

2 important things happened in last 2 days, and both are moving Serbia forward, one way or another…

First is long waited abolishment of visas for Schengen zone for Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, or in other words all EU countries except UK. What this means for Serbian people cannot be translated in words, really…
Most of my readers probably don’t know that 20 years ago Serbian (well, Yugoslav at that time) famous “red passport” was among the most respected in the world. Yugoslav people could travel freely to most of the countries of the world etc.
Balkan wars and sanctions did the thing and in last 2 decades borders of most of the countries were closed for Serbs (in order to stop refugees and immigrants), and getting visa was for most countries so tough that we often felt really helpless…
I mean, when they ask you to bring confirmations that you are paying taxes regularly (along with the actual amounts), or to confirm that you don’t want to immigrate to this certain country by submitting proofs that you own real estate in Serbia and also salary slips of all family members, then you really feel small and pathetic… and you are not sure anymore if you want to go to this country or not…
Myself, I consider myself a very lucky person, because being an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in such Serbia is definitely not an asset However, I started working early (when I was 19) and could support myself for travelling quite a lot in last 10 years, and was really lucky to get proper support for visas when I needed them the most (and couldn’t really prove to consulates that I’m not a potential immigrant). Support from relevant individuals and institutions, that is…

All this resulted into almost 70% of people in Serbia not even having a passport! Can you imagine that?

Therefore, this abolishment of visas means much easier traveling for us. Not only that we don’t need visas, but also the prices are going down… Low cost airline companies are already announcing flights from Belgrade so for example a return ticket to Vienna is not anymore 300 EUR but around 100 EUR…

As soon as it was announced, people on twitter got crazy with planning the trips for new years and Christmas, so I think that only Slovenians will be in Belgrade on December 31st (traditionally there are thousands of tourists from Slovenia in Belgrade for new year eve)

There’s another joke already: “Last one that leaves Serbia on December 19th should turn off the light!”

Read more at:
EU scraps visas for three Balkan states
The EU has granted visa-free travel for citizens of three Balkan countries – Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
From 19 December citizens of the three former Yugoslav republics who hold biometric passports will not need visas to enter the borderless Schengen area.
Read the rest here…

Second big thing happening is Kosovo case debate at International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Everyone basically knows the story – Kosovo unilateral proclaimed independence, Serbia rejects it, around 60 countries recognized it so far, and then Serbia managed to move this fight from political to legal/judicial arena, so Int. Court of Justice is supposed to give an opinion now.
This opinion is not something obligatory whatsoever but it is a big thing anyways.

If you are not convinced that it is a big thing, let me just tell you that 29 UN member countries are going to debate this topic for 10 days, including all Security Council members, and it is going to be the first time the China is giving an official opinion before this Court.

Regardless of the process and results, this is a big thing for Serbia and Serbs. It’s a step. We still don’t know in which direction, but it is a step forward!

Read more here…

And then again – I am sure that both of these are taking us forward!
Have never been so sure, to be honest…

Dunno what to say really… I feel awful, ashamed, terrible…
There are not many things that can be said in a moment like this, at least not in an articulated way…
In just a few days, Belgrade has lost its biggest pride – to be the safest city we know about… I’m travelling a lot, and I mean a lot, but never ever do I feel so safe like when I am in Belgrade.
Not anymore, though…

Bunch of products of the social situation in Serbia in last two decades, products hiding among football fans and usually ultra-right organizations, encouraged by completely corrupted and screwed up system, have again shown how easy it is to misrepresent the majority on good and hospitable people of this country…

They cowardly attacked and beaten up to death this poor guy, which will, I still believe and hope, become a symbol of the time when Serbia finally said NO to hooligans of any sort. That’s the least we can do at this moment.
RIP Brice – you will not be forgotten…

I think Adam has put it together very good in his post at http://www.balkanfile.com/belgraders-say-no-to-violence.

See you tomorrow at the Republic Square…

Belgraders, Say NO to Violence
Sep 29th, 2009

by Adam.

28-year-old Toulouse football support Brice Taton died this morning in a Belgrade hospital. Brice was critically injured on 17 September while sitting with other Toulouse fans in a cafe in central Belgrade when a group of some 30 hooligans/cowards attacked them unprovoked. This incident, along with a series of other attacks on foreigners over the last 2 weeks, has shocked Belgrade and her citizens.

No words can describe how terrible this is. This young man came to Belgrade, a city which has been recently gaining a reputation for being a safe, friendly and welcoming city, to support the team he loved, to spend time with his friends and enjoy himself, but he died at the hands of cowards who need numbers and weapons to carry out their pointless violence.

The police arrested and detained a number of young men and intended to charge them with attempted murder. Now they’ll be facing charges of murder and I hope they receive adequate sentences for their involvement in the death of this visitor to Belgrade.

You may be thinking, “what’s the big deal? Football violence and tourist attacks happen all the time in other countries.” Yes. It does. But it does not happen in Belgrade. Foreigners who have made Belgrade their home go on and on how it  is one of the safest places they’ve ever lived. That’s why it is so shocking for us who live here. I’ve never felt threatened in Belgrade – I can’t say the same for the time when I lived in the UK.

The people of Belgrade need to denounce the violence that has taken place on our streets over the last 2 weeks. There are hundreds of condolence comments on Serbian news websites, but Belgraders need to go out and show the world that we will not allow thugs and hooligans to threaten our amazingly safe city. And you know what, I think they will.

The Serbian Ministry of Human Rights has called on citizens to light candles and lay flowers tomorrow, Wednesday 30 September, at 11.30am at Trg Republike (Republic Square). Also, a Protest Walk Against Violence will take place on Thursday 1 October at 5pm, from Plato to the Victor Monument in Kalemegdan Park.

I guess we all knew this was coming, just never knew when… And we thought they might calm down a bit and start it again in a few decades or so…

I hope I’m wrong, but this looks like the same scenario that we all have seen already… Incidents, requests for more and more autonomy etc…

For those who are not getting it, I am referring to the “project” of “Greater Albania”, where certain Albanian groups are trying to form what they call “Historical Ethnic Albania”…

Picture shows how it should look like – you can clearly see which part of Southern Serbia (apart from Kosovo) they want:

And this is today’s news at B92…

Ethnic Albanians push for “region” in south
3 August 2009 | 09:56 | Source: Tanjug
PREŠEVO — Ethnic Albanian councilors in Serbia’s south have launched an initiative to form Albanian regional institutions and a separate region of Preševo Valley.

Read more at B92…

I immediately got flashbacks from 10 years ago…
Please please please – no more blood!
So help us god…

What an awesome day!

1. No more visas soon!
Report: EC to propose visa liberalization
14 July 2009 | 20:03 | Source: Tanjug
BRUSSELS — The European Commission (EC) adopted unanimously on Tuesday recommendations for visa liberalization for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

EU diplomatic sources told Tanjug news agency that the recommendations relate to period starting January 1, 2010.
More at B92.net

2. Champions League: FC Partizan hammered Rhyl in qualifications 4:0…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSSC_YbLUdk

and most importantly:

3. THE LEGEND COMES BACK!
Partizan Belgrade announced Tuesday that former star forward Dejan Milojevic signed with the club for what may be his last season.
More at euroleague.net

@Miss_Cybernaut and couple more twitternauts have discussed last night and I think we all agree that .wtf would be a perfect top level domain for Serbia, instead of .rs.
.wtf, of course, comes from “What The F..K!?” as it is a phrase we use after almost every news item that we hear or read.

This one amazed me and I used WTF several times -- Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the new conservative political party in Serbia (which was established recently after Nikolic and Vucic left Serbian Radical Party), and the guy most of us are afraid to win some future elections, apparently visited EU officials and promised to start an EU Integrations Council. This would be great news if we could forget that he was leading the political party that was openly agitating for “Great Serbia” (the one that includes half of Croatia and most of Bosnia) and the same party that was openly supporting paramilitary troops in wars in Croatia and Bosnia which were doing things most of Serbs will feel ashamed forever.

Read more at B92.net

And while I was screaming WTF WTF WTF WTF, a friend from Macedonia has put this video below on his facebook page, and I couldn’t stop WTFs coming out from my mouth… Check it out and tell me if this is a Union we want to join?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLlqQXQCxyc

And, as a proof that not everything is bad, there is one more .wtf, this time a positive one that came out of a surprise! 25th Universiade is happening these days in Belgrade and I watched the grand opening. It started a bit boring, with not so cool hosts and announcing 145 countries participating (15-20 seconds for each country), but then when the 3rd part of the opening started I couldn’t believe my eyes -- it was a celebration of creativity, emotions and technologically advanced audio-visual performance that made me just so proud, as if I was doing it
You can see the whole opening on youtube and I’m embedding here the playlist -- I suggest starting from part 9, as there the most interesting part begins

www.youtube.com/watch?v=86E4D9CE41746F40

I have been thinking about writing about Generation Y for almost 2 months already, and still am thinking quite a lot about the topic, especially when it comes to analyzing GenY in Serbia… I promise I will write my comments about it very soon, and ’til then enjoy this fantastic text that Sandra shared with me today.

If you are not familiar with what the term Generation Y stands for, do click here first.

The text below is originally found at http://management.silicon.com/itdirector/0,39024855,39405160,00.htm

Five ways Gen Y will change the way you work
Don Tapscott on Millennials: ‘Show us the wikis, not the money’

By Nick Heath

Published: Thursday 26 March 2009

The Millennials are coming – armed with Facebook accounts and netbooks, the latest generation of young workers are entering the workplace ready to raze traditional touchstones of business to the ground.

Web 2.0 evangelist Don Tapscott – author of tech titles including Wikinomics and The Digital Economy – is forecasting a “big conflict” in the office, sparked by the generation of 11- to 30-year-olds who are determined to reshape the workplace in their own image.

Talking to silicon.com about his latest book Grown Up Digital, Tapscott laid out five “generational firewalls” that bosses need to tear down if they want to attract the brightest and best of Generation Y.

“We do the opposite of what we should be doing, which is learning from this culture,” he told silicon.com.

“The whole paradigm that you train, you supervise, you compensate and you retain – all of those are wrong.”

Here’s Tapscott’s top five ways to embrace the Millennials’ working culture.

Don’t supervise

Understand that in their age group there is a new culture of work: the social network is the new operating system for business.

The way that they work is by using networks like Facebook and Twitter to create a new nervous system.

If you have a great collaborative environment, that is going to be way more attractive to them than paying them lots of money and tightly controlling the way they work.

I’m talking about using wikis, blogs, social networks and collaborative filtering in the workplace.

For example, US electronics retailer Best Buy has a social network for employees called Blue Shirt Nation, with 70,000 people at the electronic water cooler every day who are coming up with great ideas that are being implemented.

You always see the same argument: ‘Why should we embrace this new thing? The old ways have always worked.’

It results in better performance and better innovation in business – that is why we should adopt these practices, because it’s good for us.

That also means giving employees freedom of work – having the ability to work at home and to set their own hours – and allowing employees to have custom job descriptions – as they do at Deloitte.

Dead as a Dodo – the tech that Gen-Y will sweep away

Email

“Young people see email as good for sending a thank you letter to an aunt but not much else.”

Websites

“The internet is increasingly about building community, not providing content – it offers a way for people to self-organise to create communities. That is why Facebook beat Match.com, why bloggers are beating CNN.com and why Wikipedia is beating Encyclopaedia Britannica.”

Datacentres

“They are going to move into the cloud, in much the same way that electricity companies moved away from the practice of having their own power plants onsite during the early days of electricity.”

Fixed line phones

“They will be replaced by mobile devices.”

The personal computer

“They will be replaced by small always-connected devices with a high degree of mobility. The personal computer was always an oxymoron for me, it’s like the idea of personal sex. The purpose of computing is to communicate.”

Traditional data processing

“This is headed for the ashcan of history. Everything in a report will have an XML tag called eXtensible Business Reporting Language.” [This provides an identifying tag for each piece of information which is computer readable so the machine can understand what data it is handling].

Don’t train

Rather than spending so much on training people, why not invest in increasing the learning and collaborative components at work?

It’s called knowledge work, where work and learning is the same activity. Why shouldn’t work be fun?

The training department at my company nGenera is that everybody must blog on a regular basis.

Why isn’t every job like that? Where working and learning are the same thing, you increase the learning component for day-to-day activities, so you get both better learning and better work.

Don’t retain people

There are all kinds of new ways to harness human capital without it being inside your boundaries at all times.

The talent does not have to be inside: at Procter and Gamble half of its innovation team are outside the company.

There is a case in Grown Up Digital of Denis Hancock, who is running the Wikinomics blog – I will have hired him five times by the time he is 32.

I am creating an alumni network I can draw on, it’s so good to have Denis but I don’t try and retain him.

I communicate with Denis on a social network and occasionally he shows up at the office. I’ll take him anyway I can get him.

It’s about how you architect a corporation and about rethinking how you orchestrate capability.

Don’t hide behind security fears

At their fingertips employees have these powerful tools of social networks and what do we do with them? We ban them, we ban Facebook.

There’s no security issue that you can’t handle – for Pete’s sake, the CIA have a social networking wiki, called Intellipedia, the way you get better security is by opening up and sharing information.

I heard the same arguments 15 years ago from people who did not want the internet in their company because they were afraid there would be security violations and people would be wasting time.

These are called implementation challenges, they are not reasons to not do it but things that you need to take into account.

Don’t recruit

Instead, initiate relationships with your potential employees at an early age using social networks.

A corollary of that is don’t spend money on advertising for recruitment – it’s a waste of time, better to get a big pile of money and burn it.

Just read this article of Financial Times and am wondering what people think about it… 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5a87a1d2-19a6-11de-9d34-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Please read the article and let me know your opinion… 

Myself, I am trying to form an opinion – on one side, it is true that we haven’t felt the crisis yet, but on the other side, it is also true that we are in general one screwed up country… So, if they say that we are better off then other countries at the moment, then I really feel bad for them

To be honest, I would prefer our foreign affaird minister addressing them, as he is a bit sharper then Tadic, but I think this is direct enough too…

Serbian: click here

English translation by google: click here