Woohoo! It's Friday :o) Look for Dj Vegas at the Phoenix bar tonight...I'll be rocking it up with some classic air guitar favs and slipping in a bit of country for the good ol' boys! I'll be putting in appearances at the Phoenix every other weekend, alternating with Jimmy (he hasn't come up with a cool name yet...have to try to fix that!)
In political news, that status talks have been postponed as requested by Serbia until 21 February. President Tadic promised that Serbia would have a team ready for the talks if they were delayed. The EU's Javier Solano is rumored to have "upset" the Albanian government of Kosovo in accepting the delay in the talks.
Not everyone is putting their support behind the special envoy's proposal like the US and many EU countries. The president of Slovakia has criticized the UN plan stating that it is disadvantageous for Serbia and the leader of the Slovak National Party has labeled the plan as a "pile of trash" and likened it to the Munich agreement that permitted Nazi Germany to invade Czechoslovakia. Russia is warning that the independence of Kosovo could open a "pandora's box" where other people who are not given independence will question why the same situation does not apply to them.
The protest in Mitrovica was peaceful with a reported 10,000 Serbs in attendance (The Post Chronicle/Daily India). Another source (Focus News - Bulgaria) reported 5,000 Serbs. Whatever the number, it was the biggest gathering of Serbs since 1999. The crowd marched to near the bridge and no incidents were reported. Tomorrow Vetevendosje will demonstrate at 1400 CET. I would not be surprised if there is some damage to property during that protest as there was three months ago.
After more than 24 hours, the power has been restored in my area around 1800 CET. The power went off yesterday in Dragodan due to a technical problem. Luckily the central heating runs on diesel in my flat so it wasn't too cold although I did start to worry about the freshness of the food in my refrigerator! The landlord ran the generator most of the night so I was able to use the internet and watch TV...and not sit in the dark and curse KEK :o) I guess this "technical problem" has occurred in other areas of Pristina. I mentioned to someone in passing and they told me that the same thing had happened in the area where their office was located last week. Maybe some sort of maintenance was being performed by KEK and they just didn't tell anyone...who knows...but I can tell you that not having power for more than one day is pretty miserable. I had to take a cold shower!
