MetaFilter posts tagged with Kosovo

Let's sit down and talk this over.

Free word order! — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:30:46 -0800

President Martti Ahtisaari wins the Nobel Peace Prize. A former Finnish President, an UN envoy, a social democrat, a school teacher and founder of Crisis Management Initiative has negotiated for peace in many troubled areas for three decades. Last fall and last summer CMI (without Ahtisaari's presence) called former Northern Ireland and South African militants to use their experience for finding Iraqi factions a way out of bloodshed. A plan for Kosovo. Negotiations ending 30-year conflict in Aceh, Indonesia. Negotiating Namibia independence. Got conflict? Mr. Ahtisaari is your man.

War (and Peace) Photographer

netbros — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:49:59 -0800

Andrija Ilic is a photographer from Belgrade, Serbia. He uses photography to document social change to his environment and events in his homeland. He has covered some of the most important events in the region: war in Kosovo in 1998, NATO maneuvers in Italy in 1998 and intervention in 1999, numerous anti-regime protests 1996-2000, events surrounding the fall of government in Belgrade in October 2000, the crisis in southern Serbia. More recently, he has published new photos from the conflict in Israel and Palestine, every day life in Gaza, and reportage from the Faroe Islands. [some images NSFW - war violence and gore] As an American, the events in the Balkans the past dozen years always seemed disturbing to me, but distant. Andrija has used his lens to help me understand the history and spirit that predates the conflict. Architecture is medieval, people farm and ranch, it snows ... all captured with the soft, filtered colorings of the Ilic style. Then there is war. You can see the pain in the faces of those that Andrija froze for eternity on film. The numb refugees, the stoic fighters, relatives searching for lost loved ones, the crying babies and weary mothers. You see it in the crumbled brick and block, the slaughtered livestock, the orange fire and billowing smoke, the stark consequences. Andrija was in the middle of it all. He was there too as his countrymen began their awakening with protests that led to the eventual fall of Miroslav Milosevic. Andrija Ilic was in the midst of the special police forces the night they arrested the tyrant. Those faces that once bore strain and pain now reflect joy and celebration. Lately Andrija aims his camera for art. He photographs illusion and theater, desire and sport, fashion and beauty. In other words, these days Andrija Ilic is photographing peace. I wish the photos on his site were larger. Most are only a few hundred pixels in width. Some of his images, however, can be seen in larger format at Report Digital.

Први светски рат

tellurian — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:06:22 -0800

Prvi svetski rat - Gritty and poignant Serbian postcards from the First World War. Just one of the seriously interesting (e.g. check out the collection of 78s) holdings at the Digital National Library of Serbia.

Saved and Depoliticised at One Stroke

geoff. — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:06:13 -0800

"The most startling features of Kosovo, now that the cleansing of the Serbian minority is on hold, are the poverty of the province ... and the pitiful economy that keeps it locked in."

Once a supplier of farm produce to other parts of Yugoslavia, Kosovo now brings in almost all its food, along with fuel and building materials. Its leading ‘export’ is scrap metal, a harvest of rundown plant from the Milosevic era and Nato bomb damage. Kosovo’s trade gap is dramatic: imports account for 90 per cent of legal cross-border trade ... The ambiguous status of the territory has been a large disincentive to foreign investors. Who can tell where their capital will be tied up or their taxes levied ten years from now? In a largely autonomous part of Serbia? A protectorate run by a handful of jaded international bodies? Or Europe’s latest sovereign state?

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal

XMLicious — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:05:27 -0800

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal Here's more photos of him and his art and here he is on YouTube in action and also on Google Video. More photos embedded in Flash in the Made in Montréal page for him. He's a bit dour in those but here he is smiling, straight out of Pixar's Geri's Game. I met this guy in the fall of Y2K while visiting “La Ville Aux Cent Clochers” / “The City of a Hundred Belltowers”. Flatluigi's recent post reminded me of him. He's a cool, talkative, and cheerful, if not entirely there, artiste of the grassroots genre. As you can tell by the frame of that first photo the Bedazzler was made for this man. It was quite confusing to try to carry on a conversation with him in my limited French until I realized that he didn't speak that language. (Or maybe his accent was so heavy I couldn't understand him.) According to the amusing anecdote on this page (in French) Papa Palmérino is a Kosovar. Though elsewhere it shows he emigrated to Canada from Italy. The YT video doesn't really do justice to what it's like being in his little shop, Le Musée de Papa Palmérino, but the Montréal Mirror says it best:

If religious collectibles are your thing, this place may be your little slice of heaven. The place is chock-full of Jesuses--statues big and small, crucifixes, key chains, mugs. Seems Papa is quite the Jesus fan, which makes sense, considering he believes himself to be his brother. Ask him to show you framed photos of himself mounted on a cross (I didn't ask if these were for sale). Papa Palmerino sells a wide variety of other religious doo-dads including rosary beads, candles and rings he claims cure arthritis. Even if the ‘Second Coming’ isn't quite the motif you're going for in decorating your house, this place is worth visiting for the browsing and... uh... conversation.

(Not sure if that's clear, but he actually has photos of himself mock-crucified, loincloth and crown of thorns and everything.) I don't know if he's still truckin' because he was 85 years old in 2003➚. I guess his shop burned down a couple of months after I met him! This person, Jona Pelovska, seems to have made a documentary about him. Her MySpace page says “in post-production.”

Now that Kosovo has declared independence, will Abkhazia follow?

gregb1007 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:33:01 -0800

Now that Kosovo has declared independence, will Abkhazia follow? The Abkhazian "autonomy" within Georgia already has its own president and parliament, as well as an independent army that has managed to expel Georgian presence by 1993. They've even got their own flag. The only thing missing? Official recognition from the UN. However, this insufficiency can be remedied. Reflecting on Kosovo's success in breaking free from Serbia, President Sergei Bapash pins his hopes on achieving a similar miracle in his own land. Declaring his intentions during a February 18th press conference held in Moscow, Bapash made it clear that he will turn to Russia and other former Soviet states for support in his quest to make Abkhazia officially independent.

Serbs appear unhappy about independent Kosovo

Emperor SnooKloze — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:27:33 -0800

This past Monday, the US recognized Kosovo as an independent state. Today, Serbs appear a little upset. What this means for the UN, the US, Russia, or Serbia is unclear. Predictably, reportage varies, from the staid international press to the "stormed by mobs" diction of US news networks. The picture is confused, but it might be pointing to some significant anti-Western sentiment. In the fog of civil unrest, how do we tell?

Independent Kosovo? Why Not Vermont?

stbalbach — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:58:33 -0800

Kosovo is technically part of Serbia, but it's been governed by the U.N. since 1999, after NATO militarily intervened to stop Slobodan Milosevic's brutal suppression and expulsion of ethnic Albanian separatists. Now that it has declared its independence (with US support), the elephant in the room remains: Independent Kosovo? Why Not Vermont? "Why is statehood OK for some people but frowned on for others?" There is no internationally accepted standard for independence. "This is the great hole in democratic theory."

One more thin gypsy thief

cal71 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:35:40 -0800

The debate over Kosovo's Independence is stalled. This could be an extremely dangerous turn of events. Neither side is willing to give any ground. If Kosovo does return to violence, there is one group that might suffer more than most: the oft-abused Roma. Having spent years in contaminated refugee camps, accused of all manner of crimes, and moved after a year of UN foot dragging, many fear they will be once more marginalized.

And it keeps coming...

Skeptic — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 03:04:02 -0800

"Little Gitmo". Council of Europe envoy Alvaro Gil-Robles reveals that US forces built a "Little Guantánamo" in, of all places, Kosovo. Gil-Robles also has interesting things to say about the strength of democracy, vastly underestimated in his opinion. (And before anyone starts a "liberal Euroweenies" tirade, let's note that the Gil-Robles family has rock-solid conservative credentials)

Charlie's Soapbox

DougieZero1982 — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:53:37 -0800

Super patriot Charlie Daniels famous for warning hippies that "it's a flag, not no rag" wrote about the Kosovo War back in the day... yeah... it's ironic.

Norwegian peacekeepers make better music videos.

insomnia_lj — Mon, 23 May 2005 12:42:37 -0800

A clever satirical video (Windows media) made by Norwegian peacekeepers in Kosovo triggers an international incident.
"Somalia, Grenada, or rescuing Kuwait-a... We screwed ya, Rwanda. Wish we coulda helped ya... Iraqi embargo. That's where we got hustled... Down in Kosovo, we'll kick some ass and then we'll see how it goes. And then we really don't know... Good luck to Kosovo"

Videoletters from the former Yugoslavia

Ljubljana — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 02:29:33 -0800

Hello to the Krilcic family. Ten years after we last saw you we are alive and well. And I hope you are. We would like to hear from you and see you. Goodbye.
In each episode of Videoletters, two former neighbors, friends or colleagues separated by the Bosnian war exchange video messages. Since 1999, two filmmakers have been helping people from across the former Yugoslavia find and reconnect with one another in this way, often with heart-breaking results. Watch a sample episode here about two young men, Vlada (a Serb) and Ivica (a Croat), whose families were close friends when the war began. [Bit more inside]

Saranda's Story

plep — Wed, 25 Jun 2003 10:47:06 -0800

Saranda's Story. 'My name is Saranda and I am 13 years old. I moved to Liverpool from Kosovo three years ago ... '

homunculus — Mon, 26 Aug 2002 11:21:07 -0800

"In the war on terrorism, alliances are not an obstacle to victory. They're the key to it." General Wesley Clark on the lessons of Kosovo and why diplomacy and international cooperation are essential to winning the war on terrorism.

snakey — Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:06:58 -0800

USA's Depleted Uranium Weapons

1 in 7 Gulf War veterans suffer from Gulf War Syndrome, including a high incidence of birth defects, respiratory, kidney and liver problems. There are outrageously high rates of leukemia and severe birth defects among Iraqi civilians. Now Israel uses DU weapons against Palestinians. After DU weapons were used in Kosovo, Italy wants to know why Kosovo veterans are getting cancer. Still the pentagon insists that "... we do not believe it poses any significant health risk." Does anybody in the US give a damn?

Mr. skullhead — Tue, 09 Jan 2001 17:00:29 -0800

NATO Ducks Uranium Ban Amid Clamor for Research.

NATO partners split on dangers of depleted uranium weapons.

"U.S. attack jets fired some 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition during NATO's 1999 campaign to end Serb repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. About 10,000 rounds were also fired in neighboring Bosnia in 1994-95."

Of course, this doesn't count rounds used during the Gulf War.

bliss322 — Sun, 07 Jan 2001 20:01:45 -0800

left-over gun shells poisoning the environment US and NATO forces left enough low-level depleted uranium shells lying around in bosnia/kosovo to cause an environmental hazard. I wrote whitehouse.gov and the d.o.d. about how important i think it is that we clean up this mess, pronto. i love using the word, pronto. this is important, and could really affect us if we don't fix it now.

Ezrael — Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:45:12 -0800

Bleeding Africa. I don't even understand exactly what the objective of the original mission was, other than risk your lives because we tell you to. Shouldn't we have goals when we send military units into action? (I say we because to me, the UN is all of us.) It reminds me of this article about how the Kosovo operation ignored the painful lessons America learned in Vietnam. I don't pretend to understand how we can solve these mammoth problems, but they still concern me. Is military force really the answer here?