I have written here before about the way the BBC defaults towards glossing over collectivist crimes and damning with faint praise the success of market-based solutions. Or slips in other strange invariably Lefty assumptions via sly editing. A handy compilation of a few horrors: – Sneaky use of inverted comma qualification to […]
I am entranced not only by the sound of my voice, but also by the sight of it. Here once again is my contribution to the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, describing my long and ever-fascinating diplomatic career. Many points of interest here, including on South Africa’s not-so-peaceful transition away from […]
I write little here about Israel/Palestine as I have little to say which countless others are not saying. Plus I don’t have first-hand professional experience. What is going on? Of course the Palestinians want to advance their claims and demands on all international fronts. Upping their status at the UN […]
Many of my loyal readers know a few things about the Balkans. Relax. That probably does not make you bad people. Here is a gripping analysis of the dreary political paralysis in Bosnia: In theory, Bosnia’s constitution treats Croats as one of the country’s three constituent peoples, entitling them to […]
Here is my latest LSE book review of a tome exploring the exotic world of rumours – how they spread, what they mean, and what might be done about them: The Global Grapevine: Why Rumours of Terrorism, Immigration and Trade Matter. Gary Alan Fine and Bill Ellis, OUP 2010 My […]
Julian Borger at the Guardian has written a long and well-sourced piece about the hunt for Bosnian war crimes suspects. It even quotes me a couple of times (no great surprises for diligent readers of this site). The key policy dilemma point is here, tucked away in the middle of the […]
Remember the Bonn Powers for Bosnia and Herzegovina – the supposed authority bestowed on the High Representative by the ‘international community’ to allow him/her to remove recalcitrant Bosnians from office or otherwise ‘move forward’ the ‘peace process’? The impressive thing was that as far as I could see the Bonn Powers […]
Ha ha ha! Serbia has been shoved to the top of the diplomatic rubbish-heap by the Russian Foreign Ministry when it comes to issuing extra money for hardship postings! This piece by RFE/RL notes that Serbia with Kosovo (sic) is now in the same category as Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Georgia, […]
A snappy young Serbian woman with two degrees from universities in the USA comes back to Belgrade to live and work. She gets a good job in a major Serbian bank on the corporate communications side. She gives a presentation to the bank top brass on how the bank can […]
