When Milosevic was abruptly transferred to the Hague Tribunal in June 2001 I dusted off my barristerial wig and sent a lively telegram to London from Belgrade on the theme "Is Milosevic Innocent?". My point was that linking Milosevic to the calamitous events in Bosnia and other non-Serbia parts of former Yugoslavia […]
I was a great fan of the Balkan ‘yellow press’ in all its exotic glory. Presumably these strange papers and magazines have a non-trivial readership otherwise they would not be published in such profusion. So as Ambassador wanting to develop insight into the thinkings of society as a whole, I […]
This is an elegant analysis from my former US Ambassadorial colleague in Belgrade Bill Montgomery about the current state of mind of Republika Srpska, the ‘Serb’ Entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bill argues that RS led by Prime Minister Dodik is pursuing a Montenegrin-style war of attrition aimed at making an eventual […]
The fantastic hopelessness of Craig Murray’s Uzbek local staff colleague as described in the previous posting (she did not know whether guests were coming to the Ambassador’s key dinner party, so she just guessed!) made me recall an episode back in Sarajevo. I was down to meet a senior Russian […]
Every now and again one sees a Balkan story of truly excellently bewildering folly. Take this one: The latest portion of benefits for war veterans paid on May 12 has left the two Bosnian entities with a budget crisis, FBiH Finance Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda said at a press conference on […]
Every now and again one sees an interview of such vigour, insight and directness that one wants to shake the hand of the speaker, even if one does not agree with everything said. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Major General Raul Cunha, Chief Military Liaison Officer of UNMIK, giving his views on the success […]
Croatia’s legendary publication Feral Tribune has closed for financial reasons. Feral was an outstanding and courageous source of scurrilous but hard-hitting attacks in the 1990s on Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and his close associates, who strove mightily to close down the paper. In 1997 Robin Cook flew from Banja Luka […]
Serving as HM Ambassador in Belgrade from 2001-2003 I had the task of advising London on how best to handle the aspirations of demands in Montenegro for independence from Serbia. At the time European capitals were just getting over the NATO bombing campaign aimed at ending Milosevic’s appalling rule over Kosovo. So […]
Montenegro has not followed the line of most EU countries and recognised its neighbour Kosovo as an independent state. Why not? Because doing so is "not high on its list of priorities": Everyone understands our positive distanced and considered views on Kosovo independence. Odd, that. Positive? Hard to say – […]
The problem with making speeches is that quite a lot of things have been said before. So do you strive to say something new? Or do you ‘borrow’ ideas from others..?
