This one is just too good to pass up so here's the story...a couple days ago a report came in to KPS that seven known Albanian illegal woodcutters tied up and assaulted four Albanian employees of the Forestry Department. The illegal woodcutters allegedly bound and beat the Forestry employees with axes and chairs before fleeing the scene. The victims of the assault sustained various injuries which were treated at a local hospital and the attackers were detained in conjunction with the investigation. How wild is that???
On Thursday, 18 January, Dj Vegas & Friends will be at the Phoenix Bar to raise donations for the Dj Vegas Charity Clothing & Toy Drive. While I was hoping to have the fundraising and distribution done already, the Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare has been a bit slow in identifying the families in need and we are still waiting on them to correct the lists they gave us of the vulnerable pupils. I don't remember if I mentioned but a couple of the lists had only a pupil's name & age but when the family showed up we discovered that there were younger or older children in the family that also needed aid, so I asked the DCA to request the Ministry to correct the list and we have been waiting ever since. But thankfully the Phoenix Bar has graciously agreed to donate the proceeds from the Thursday night quiz to the drive (details below!)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Happy Orthodox New Year!
Happy Orthodox New Year! We celebrated in style with a big dinner party at Ciao Restaurant in Caglavica. We ate and danced to Serbian music well past 1am...which was bad considering that none of us had the day off the following day! I never actually realized that New Years was celebrated late by the Orthodox but it does make sense considering Christmas is on 7 January!
Unfortunately I didn't get my New Year off to a good start as I ended up with food poisoning over the weekend from eating sushi in Pristina. I managed to last about 1 1/2 hours after dinner before I started paying homage to the porcelain gods. By T-5 hours (or maybe it should be S for Sushi?) S-5 hours, I was only getting worse and basically wanted to die right then & there on my bathroom floor which I discovered was very comfortably heated and okay to sleep on! S-16 hours I still couldn't hold down anything, my body even rejected plain bottled water! Finally S-26 hours I actually started to feel hungry and was able to hold down my first meal since eating the infamous sushi. But still even two full days after eating the sushi my stomach still isn't 100% recovered which is kind of scary!
A Ministry of Labor and Welfare vehicle with four Albanian passengers was blown up at approximately 1330 hours, seriously injuring one of the occupants. A KPS spokesperson verified that the explosion was caused by a hand grenade. It is not known if the government vehicle was the intended target or what was the motive.
MTCowgirl's Interesting Articles (So with the new year upon us, I will again say that these articles do not reflect my personal opinion but after reading them, I did find the articles interesting so I want to share them. Besides, you should always try to see things from different perspectives. After all if you want to make an argument for or against something it's best to see what opinions are out there!)
Unfortunately I didn't get my New Year off to a good start as I ended up with food poisoning over the weekend from eating sushi in Pristina. I managed to last about 1 1/2 hours after dinner before I started paying homage to the porcelain gods. By T-5 hours (or maybe it should be S for Sushi?) S-5 hours, I was only getting worse and basically wanted to die right then & there on my bathroom floor which I discovered was very comfortably heated and okay to sleep on! S-16 hours I still couldn't hold down anything, my body even rejected plain bottled water! Finally S-26 hours I actually started to feel hungry and was able to hold down my first meal since eating the infamous sushi. But still even two full days after eating the sushi my stomach still isn't 100% recovered which is kind of scary!
A Ministry of Labor and Welfare vehicle with four Albanian passengers was blown up at approximately 1330 hours, seriously injuring one of the occupants. A KPS spokesperson verified that the explosion was caused by a hand grenade. It is not known if the government vehicle was the intended target or what was the motive.
MTCowgirl's Interesting Articles (So with the new year upon us, I will again say that these articles do not reflect my personal opinion but after reading them, I did find the articles interesting so I want to share them. Besides, you should always try to see things from different perspectives. After all if you want to make an argument for or against something it's best to see what opinions are out there!)
- Time to end Serb-bashing, an editorial in the Guardian Unlimited
- We will defend our territorial integrity, an interview with the Serbian Foreign Minister
- Factbox: Kosovo scenarios after elections, Reuters takes a look at what might, what if...
- Kosovo, the unintended consequences...World Net Daily commentary looks at what Kosovo's independence might mean
- Serbian Orthodox Church lashes out at world power-mongers over Kosovo
- Rewarding terrorism, deception in Kosovo, World Net Daily commentary
- UN puzzled over what to do after independence
- EU sees less than total independence for Kosovo
- Kosovo will not declare independence before 10 March
- EU mulling over timing of police mission
- UNMIK SRSG says that Standards depend on Status (anyone remember the saying Standards before Status???)
- Kosovo Serbs return to uncertainty, a look at Serb returnees near Klina
Friday, January 11, 2008
Haradinaj Released Because of Politics?
Rumor has reached MTCowgirl that former Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj was ordered to be released from the Hague and all charges to be dropped due to "political reasons". While so far I haven't found any news reports (the chance of this hitting the headlines is slim given the chance for criticism of the decision) the news came from an extremely reliable source and MTCowgirl is inclined to believe the information to be true...but you do never know! In late December, Ramush and another Kosovar on trial at the Hague were released for the winter break and France's Le Monde took a scathing look at the release.
Other Kosovo news is that the US and Germany are planning to recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence according to a "senior European official" who of course remains anonymous. The quote that I like in the article is "The cake has been baked, because the Americans have promised Kosovo independence"...that's a great line, I'll have to use it sometime :)
Other Kosovo News...
Other Kosovo news is that the US and Germany are planning to recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence according to a "senior European official" who of course remains anonymous. The quote that I like in the article is "The cake has been baked, because the Americans have promised Kosovo independence"...that's a great line, I'll have to use it sometime :)
Other Kosovo News...
- What Kosovo stalemate really means for Russia, the Journal of Turkish Weekly
- Contradicting earlier reports of mass exodus of Serbs from Kosovo, MedianaAdria reports that 60.8% of Kosovo Serbs would remain in Kosovo following independence
- Kosovo fire to be extinguished with gasoline (another great line!) according to Russia's new ambassador to NATO
- EU to wait until February to deploy mission to Kosovo due to fears of Serb backlash
- Serb ultranationalists confident of victory in elections
- Independence within a few weeks says Thaci (do you think he'll do the same as Ceku...finally resorting to saying soon in the very end?)
- Vetevendosje slams plans for EU mission (I thought they had been quiet for far too long!)
- The limbo beyond Kosovo, an editorial from the Financial Times
- Kosovo coalition government pact harms democracy
- Next war on Kosovo, an editorial in dtt-net
- Kosovo UDI is traditional way of declaring independence according to US law professor
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Slush Fest
Well, over the weekend the temperatures started climbing, the fuel unfroze, and the snow melted. Now what was a beautiful winter wonderland is now a slushy disaster...just waiting to ruin the back of those freshly laundered pants!
There are questions about the EU possibly tempting Kosovo with aid in exchange for less than complete independence. The idea is that Kosovo truly cannot be independent because it relies so heavily on foreign investment, particularly the EU, and in exchange for continuing the support the EU wants to take a supervisory role. At the beginning of January, Slovenia took over the presidency of the EU and placed Kosovo as a priority for 2008. In fact, Slovenia hopes that a solution for Kosovo is found before the end of its presidency in June.
What does the phrase spiritual cradle of Serbia really mean? An interesting article found in Balkan Analysis explores the term that is often mentioned in media but never really explained. The article also looks into how one organization is seeking to educate and preserve.
With winter upon us, there have been severe power outages in C-areas prompting cries of electrical discrimination along ethnic lines. Over the past few days, the power seems to go for an hour or two in Pristina which most is categorized as A-area so it is likely that C-areas are seeing 2:4 (on:off) or even 1:5. Having experienced living in a C-area in the dead of winter I know that it is difficult to keep the house warm and overall living difficult unless you have a generator and a wood stove.
I found it interesting when speaking to an Albanian about the power situation and whether or not he believed Thaci could come through on his promise of 24/7 power once elected, he naturally believed that things would change but the thing that really caught my attention was that he blamed the UN for all the power outages. To my knowledge, the power plant is actually overseen by a local ministry and managed by an independent company for the past several years. My jokingly tossed back reply was that it was okay to blame the UN for all the problems in Kosovo now and then the EU when it comes in but eventually the local government and its people will need to start taking responsibility for the continuing problems in Kosovo (another common joke is that if the US was going to bomb Kosovo the one thing above all else that should have bombed was the power plant).
I think back to the phrase "people only change when they want to change" and wonder if the same can be kind of applied to the situation in Kosovo...maybe that the situation in Kosovo will only change if the people really are willing to work at changing the situation. Now it is easy to blame someone else and hope that they will fix the problem...but maybe it would be better for the local populus to roll up their sleeves and force their politicians to fix the issues that they really care about. After all, what good is independence if you don't have a job, the electricity and water is off, and your life never improves despite all the promises?
There are questions about the EU possibly tempting Kosovo with aid in exchange for less than complete independence. The idea is that Kosovo truly cannot be independent because it relies so heavily on foreign investment, particularly the EU, and in exchange for continuing the support the EU wants to take a supervisory role. At the beginning of January, Slovenia took over the presidency of the EU and placed Kosovo as a priority for 2008. In fact, Slovenia hopes that a solution for Kosovo is found before the end of its presidency in June.
What does the phrase spiritual cradle of Serbia really mean? An interesting article found in Balkan Analysis explores the term that is often mentioned in media but never really explained. The article also looks into how one organization is seeking to educate and preserve.
With winter upon us, there have been severe power outages in C-areas prompting cries of electrical discrimination along ethnic lines. Over the past few days, the power seems to go for an hour or two in Pristina which most is categorized as A-area so it is likely that C-areas are seeing 2:4 (on:off) or even 1:5. Having experienced living in a C-area in the dead of winter I know that it is difficult to keep the house warm and overall living difficult unless you have a generator and a wood stove.
I found it interesting when speaking to an Albanian about the power situation and whether or not he believed Thaci could come through on his promise of 24/7 power once elected, he naturally believed that things would change but the thing that really caught my attention was that he blamed the UN for all the power outages. To my knowledge, the power plant is actually overseen by a local ministry and managed by an independent company for the past several years. My jokingly tossed back reply was that it was okay to blame the UN for all the problems in Kosovo now and then the EU when it comes in but eventually the local government and its people will need to start taking responsibility for the continuing problems in Kosovo (another common joke is that if the US was going to bomb Kosovo the one thing above all else that should have bombed was the power plant).
I think back to the phrase "people only change when they want to change" and wonder if the same can be kind of applied to the situation in Kosovo...maybe that the situation in Kosovo will only change if the people really are willing to work at changing the situation. Now it is easy to blame someone else and hope that they will fix the problem...but maybe it would be better for the local populus to roll up their sleeves and force their politicians to fix the issues that they really care about. After all, what good is independence if you don't have a job, the electricity and water is off, and your life never improves despite all the promises?
Friday, January 4, 2008
Speed Racer
I expected a response this morning when I floored the accelerator but again this year the UN is plagued with low-quality diesel problems (water in the diesel freezes & clogs the filter). You would think that the lesson was learnt last year when the temperatures dropped into the double-digit negatives but rather it seems that it would take a ton of bricks falling from a considerable height in order for the point to get through that they need to make sure that they switch to higher quality fuel during the cold winter months. Compared to many of the other UN vehicles on the streets I was Speed Racer as I passed them going a whopping 40kph! Man, I was flying with my accelerator pushed to the floor and my engine revving up to an impressive 1500rpms (Yippee). It basically took forever to get out to TSS as all the local traffic passed and gave me a dirty looks for going so slow :)
Besides having difficulty with the fuel, I don't think anyone has come to plow my street for more than a week now. I did see a snowplow at the bottom of Dragodan earlier this week but I guess with all the snow they haven't had enough time or people to take care of all the heavily used roads in Pristina. It can and is fairly interesting to nearly slide down one of the hills in Dragodan sideways in a 4-wheel drive due to the slick build-up of snow and ice :)
It's again time to do the waddle walk! The waddle walk is an art form that I have mastered since arriving in Kosovo and is performed ritually every winter. It consists of waddling much like a duck when you walk on the sidewalks in an effort not to lose your balance and fall on your...you know...in front of everyone. The concept of shoveling the sidewalks in front of businesses or on main pedestrian areas is unknown to Kosovars so you end up trudging (sorry, waddling!) through the built-up dirty slush-snow. Crossing the street is also interesting as vehicles in one lane will often stop to let you pass and when the guy in the other lane tries whipping by (and you freeze like a deer in the headlights) he ends up sliding to a stop mere meters away from you (thank goodness for anti-lock brakes I guess!)
Besides having difficulty with the fuel, I don't think anyone has come to plow my street for more than a week now. I did see a snowplow at the bottom of Dragodan earlier this week but I guess with all the snow they haven't had enough time or people to take care of all the heavily used roads in Pristina. It can and is fairly interesting to nearly slide down one of the hills in Dragodan sideways in a 4-wheel drive due to the slick build-up of snow and ice :)
It's again time to do the waddle walk! The waddle walk is an art form that I have mastered since arriving in Kosovo and is performed ritually every winter. It consists of waddling much like a duck when you walk on the sidewalks in an effort not to lose your balance and fall on your...you know...in front of everyone. The concept of shoveling the sidewalks in front of businesses or on main pedestrian areas is unknown to Kosovars so you end up trudging (sorry, waddling!) through the built-up dirty slush-snow. Crossing the street is also interesting as vehicles in one lane will often stop to let you pass and when the guy in the other lane tries whipping by (and you freeze like a deer in the headlights) he ends up sliding to a stop mere meters away from you (thank goodness for anti-lock brakes I guess!)
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Mother Theresa - What's the Deal?
I came across a fun article titled 50 Cent, emergency generators and contraband tobacco, a blog-type article from Cafe Babel. Not all the information is correct in their articles (Mother Theresa has been under construction for 4 months, not years) but for the most part I think they have captured the spirit of Pristina pretty well! I'm interested to see what else comes out of Cafe Babel :)
Thinking of the recent renovation of Mother Theresa where the government decided to close off one of the main downtown arterials and make it a pedestrian walkway forever condemning the city's citizens to be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic when attempting to do business in the downtown area...I along with many of the local population have to ask "what's the deal?" In speaking with local friends, many are beyond disgusted with the local government's payout of more than a million and half euros to export granite from China and create the walkway.
Then there is radioactive granite debate which still rages. The story is that the granite that was imported (and you have to ask why they chose to import rather than use the plentiful granite/marble supplies in the Balkans and further stimulate their own economy!) from China has radioactive levels that are above the norm and above what is considered safe for the people living in the streets surrounding the walkway.
So first the government screws up traffic, then they import granite when it's available locally and pay a lot of money for it, and finally the imported granite turns up to be radioactive??? Seems like it just wasn't meant to be...especially since there are rumors that all the renovations will be torn up due to the radioactive nature of the granite.
Thinking of the recent renovation of Mother Theresa where the government decided to close off one of the main downtown arterials and make it a pedestrian walkway forever condemning the city's citizens to be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic when attempting to do business in the downtown area...I along with many of the local population have to ask "what's the deal?" In speaking with local friends, many are beyond disgusted with the local government's payout of more than a million and half euros to export granite from China and create the walkway.
Then there is radioactive granite debate which still rages. The story is that the granite that was imported (and you have to ask why they chose to import rather than use the plentiful granite/marble supplies in the Balkans and further stimulate their own economy!) from China has radioactive levels that are above the norm and above what is considered safe for the people living in the streets surrounding the walkway.
So first the government screws up traffic, then they import granite when it's available locally and pay a lot of money for it, and finally the imported granite turns up to be radioactive??? Seems like it just wasn't meant to be...especially since there are rumors that all the renovations will be torn up due to the radioactive nature of the granite.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!
Despite the expectations of possibly being gone by the end of the year, it appears that I will be spending another full winter in Kosovo. And what a winter it is turning out to be! There has been lots of snow, it's cold...and while I will complain that I'm miserably cold (years in Las Vegas spoiled my Montana winter temperament!) I'm very happy to see the amount of snowfall we've had because that means the water reservoirs will be replenished in the spring and hopefully there will not be the same concern in the coming summer that Kosovo will run out of water supplies!
Kosovo started New Year's celebrations with a bang...literally! An explosive device was placed in front of the door of the Commercial Bank in Dragash and caused considerable damage to the building. It is thought that the incident was more criminally than ethnically motivated...probably more like someone thinking about a smash & grab rather than targeting a Serbian bank. However, there are reports that on New Year's Day there have been several attacks on Serbian homes in North Mitrovica. One house was set on fire and seven others were stoned according to the Serbian Coordination Office
Kosovo started New Year's celebrations with a bang...literally! An explosive device was placed in front of the door of the Commercial Bank in Dragash and caused considerable damage to the building. It is thought that the incident was more criminally than ethnically motivated...probably more like someone thinking about a smash & grab rather than targeting a Serbian bank. However, there are reports that on New Year's Day there have been several attacks on Serbian homes in North Mitrovica. One house was set on fire and seven others were stoned according to the Serbian Coordination Office
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