A reader writes: I have been hoping for your comment on the recent move by EULEX concerning the border between Kosovo and Serbia which seems to have equally upset both sides. I think he means this: The EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo and Serbia have signed the policing protocol, despite strong opposition from […]
Picking up the theme of the previous posting, I might add that after the St Albans School prize giving this week a smart young pupil asked me for a couple of lessons learned from my diplomatic career. Gulp. Where to start? I offered only this one. Back in Belgrade in 1981/82 […]
I mentioned a while back my latest article in DIPLOMAT magaizine about Ethnicity and Foreign Policy, with some general analysis of what is or is not a state under international law: DIPLOMATIC HOBGOBLINS AND BALKAN OMELETTES: WHERE DIPLOMACY MEETS ETHNICITY Here it is if you want to read the full […]
Florence Hartmann, former ICTY spokesperson, has been fined for leaking ICTY documents improperly. It looks as if the Serbian authorities in Belgrade handed over the documents to ICTY on condition that they were used only for the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic, and not passed on to the International […]
My latest article for DIPLOMAT magazine is out (not currently available online, alas). It is all about HOBGOBLINS AND OMELETTES: WHERE DIPLOMACY MEETS ETHNICITY It starts thus: A vital date in the history of the modern world is 1648. That was when the Treaties of Osnabrück and Münster were signed. […]
Aaargh. Bosnia hits another political crisis or two or three: Meanwhile, Bosnia’s state government – the Council of Ministers – is facing a similar crisis after the strongest Bosniak party, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, announced it may boycott the government over the issue of top appointments to key state […]
Let me describe to you my one and only only encounter with Bono, an influential figurehead who, says Carne Ross of Independent Diplomat, is “almost as important as governments” and (according to surveys!) “already more trusted”. It was on 21 December 1997, in Mostar. Mostar was one of the cities most wrecked by […]
One thing we Brits (sic) like to do (see this blog and many others) is to pore over the ethnic and other divisions in countries beyond our fog-bound shores and try to come up with ingenious outcomes for them. See eg Bosnia/Afghanistan/Kashmir/Cprus and so on and on. You name a conflict […]
If you are looking for a good example of why the Bosnia situation is so problematic, take national symbols. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two Entities formally established under the Dayton Peace Accords of 1995. The other is Republika Srpska. In principle any citizen of […]
William Hague’s interview with the Independent earlier this week was especially gloomy about Bosnia: Mr Hague, who also had extensive meetings with political leaders in a visit to Bosnia last autumn, said he feared the tensions could deteriorate into something worse. He said: "In some form [Bosnia] could break down […]
