Archive for the month of December 2008
NATO forces tighten security in Mitrovica
Balkanblog — December 30, 2008 - 16:38
NATO forces were deployed to the city of Kosovska Mitrovica. Riots erupted after two ethnic Albanians were arrested, suspected of stabbing a Serb man. Serbs hurled stones and set four Albanian-owned shops on fire.
Kosovo pushes ahead with trade ban
Balkanblog — December 27, 2008 - 13:51
The head of the Foreign Trade Department in Kosovo, Safet Grcaliu, said Kosovo will push ahead with a ban on the import of goods from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, effective January 1, 2009.
The Serbian Chamber of Commerce says this would be in violation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement — which Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo all signed in 2007.
See Dec 23.
Kosovo asked Serbia to release suspects
Balkanblog — December 27, 2008 - 13:41
The speaker of the Kosovan parliament, Jakup Krasniqi, said in a statement that the arrests of ten suspected former KLA fighters was "intended to make Albanians and Serbs enemies and provoke Kosovo". He asked Serbia to release them.
Nine of the ten arrested were transferred to Belgrade, one remains under investigation in southern Serbia. Serbia has strongly opposed Kosovo's independence and considers Kosovo part of its territory.
My favorite Firefox extensions
stplanken — December 26, 2008 - 10:09
Here are my Firefox extensions:
- Download status bar
- Display download details in the status bar. You can indicate with colors what the status is of a download (e.g. in progress, completed, interrupted).
- IE tab
Serbia arrests suspected former KLA fighters
Balkanblog — December 26, 2008 - 09:23
Police in Serbia arrested 10 suspected former fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the town of Presevo, near the eastern border with Kosovo.
They are suspected of killing more than 50 Serbs and other non-Albanians and abducting a 150 between June and October of 1999.
Czech PM: name issue may cost Macedonia EU accession
Balkanblog — December 25, 2008 - 09:45
Czech deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra warned Macedonia that the chances of beginning EU accession talks without resolving the name issue with Greece will be slim. The Czech Republic will take over EU presidency January 1.
Bosnia to work on constitutional reform
Balkanblog — December 23, 2008 - 21:04
Bosnia's Muslim, Croat and Serb parties agreed to request parliament a constitutional reform.
A key EU accession condition is the reform of the state police. This cannot be implemented until constitutional changes have been agreed on.
Firefox searches from the address bar can be mixed blessing
stplanken — December 23, 2008 - 09:56
By default, if Firefox cannot find the URL you typed in the address bar, it will use Google to try to guess what you meant. This may seem like a nice feature to some. I see it more as a nuisance and a security problem.
For example, today I typed in the name of one of our corporate servers, expecting to be taken to a familiar Citrix login screen. Instead, I ended up on a university's web site. In this case, no harm was done but it is not a guarantee this won't ever happen.
Kosovo to implement trade ban on Serbia, Bosnia
Balkanblog — December 22, 2008 - 22:47
Kosovo's Chamber of Commerce said companies should prepare to impose a ban on goods from Serbia and Bosnia. This is a retaliatory move as both Serbia and Bosnia stopped importing goods from Kosovo December 3. Products with labels from Customs of Kosovo are no longer being accepted, as Serbia and Bosnia do not recognize Kosovo.
ICTY likely to extend trials until 2012
Balkanblog — December 19, 2008 - 20:05
ICTY president Patrick Robinson told the UN Security Council that the tribunal was still on track to complete most of its trials during 2009. But a small number of trials can last until 2012. Initially, the deadline for ICTY proceedings was 2010.
Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said that if Mladic can be captured before the start of Karadzic's trial, the case against him could be joined and they could be tried more efficiently together.
Kovacevic released from jail
Balkanblog — December 19, 2008 - 19:24
Serb student Miladin Kovacevic was released from jail by order of the Belgrade district court. He is wanted in the US on assault charges.
ICTY rejects Karadzic claimed immunity deal
Balkanblog — December 18, 2008 - 22:22
The UN war crimes court said that any deal offered to Radovan Karadzic would not have been valid under international law and would not prevent Karadzic's trial. Karadzic claimed he was offered immunity by Richard Holbrooke in 1996 in exchange for giving up his leadership. This has always been denied by Holbrooke.