While referring to Serbia’s province by its illegal name, Warlick, in her statement to Senate, did not say that the US will pressure Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

“On Kosovo, the United States and Serbia have agreed to disagree, and the Administration has no realistic expectation that Serbia will recognize the Republic of Kosovo in the near future,” Warlick told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that has to confirm her appointment.

Warlick said that US, like Serbia, wants to improve the lives of Serbs in Kosovo.

Over two thirds of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo have been either killed, forcibly expelled or intimidated to leave the province so that ethnic Albanian separatists, whom US views as legitimate rulers, can create an ethnically and religiously pure Muslim Albanian state.

While hundreds of Serbian churches have been destroyed by the separatists, scores of new mosques funded by extremist Saudi’s have gone up in the province.

The issue of Kosovo’s illegal declaration of independence which US recognizes is in front of the International Court of Justice.

The President of the International Court of Justice, Hisashi Owada, told Russian RIA Novosti that the ruling itself will not be a clear yes or no answer but a long 30 page text that will require interpretation.

Mary Warlick as a Director of Russia Desk at State Department.

In her Senate appearance, Warlick also noted that US will seek to help Serbia prosper economically and it is in her view that a stable prosperous Serbia will bring regional stability.

“Although Serbia has made real progress on economic reforms, a renewed commitment to these efforts will be needed to ensure long-term economic growth and European integration. Increased direct foreign investment, including by U.S. companies, has the potential to play an important role in Serbia’s economic recovery.” she told the Senate.

Warlick said that economic prosperity in Serbia depends on stamping “out corruption and ensure that the privatization of state companies continues in a transparent fashion.”

She praised President Tadic as a pro western leader who seeks EU and NATO integration and said that the government of Serbia is fully cooperating with the war crimes court, a statement interpreted by diplomats as a pressure on the DUtch to unblock Serbia’s EU integration process.

November 20, 2009
SERBIANNA

“Saran shot at the chief from a revolver at least 4 times, and at least two bullets have hit Muratovic,” says the prosecutor.

Hasan Muratovic is the chief of the Zivnice municipality.

A woman who escaped the bullets says that Saran walked into a meeting presided by Muratovic, opened up some documents but Muratovic responded that he has to take that elsewhere. Saran then took out the gun but Muratovic dropped under the table quickly says the woman Sena Divjak.

“The chief told him that this was a meeting and for him to take the material to a counter. On that, the man, who looked totally normal, peacefully closed the documents and pulled out a gun from his pocket and aimed at the chief. The chief had good reflexes and dropped under the table. I froze and the chief pulled me,” said Divjak who later lost conscience from the shock.

The chief is not hurt and the man was arrested down the street.

People who are in the know say that the chief cheated Saran by promising him that the municipality will not demolish his building.

Saran’s building was in the way of expanding a road and the municipality promised him an alternative building in case of demolition.

The municipality decided to demolish and give the man no alternative.

November 20, 2009
SERBIANNA

Fiat bought a 67% stake in Serbia’s sole car maker, Zastava, in September 2008. The Serbian government owns the remaining stake. Fiat will invest a total of EUR700 million in Serbia, Berlusconi said Friday.
 
“Serbia offers a huge advantage for Italian entrepreneurs” because of low cost labor and low taxes, Berlusconi said at a press conference following a visit with a Serbian trade delegation lead by Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Moreover, Berlusconi said, he believes that Italian businesses “will be able to exploit a series of free trade agreements” that Serbia has signed with surrounding countries (including Russia) “that will soon include Ukraine.”

Fiat will unveil its plans for its Serbian factory in December, it said Thursday. It plans to manufacture vehicles in Serbia to export to North America, Russia, Eastern Europe and Western Europe, it said.
 
It didn’t say whether it would make models like Jeep, manufactured by Chrysler Group LLC, of which Fiat took management control earlier this year.

Auto industry analysts are speculating that Fiat could use the Serbian factory to make Fiat and Chrysler vehicles to export to Russia in particular, which charges hefty import duties on foreign-made cars. Such a situation would give Fiat a strong competitive advantage in penetrating Russia’s car market.

Russia and Serbia’s free trade accord doesn’t extend to foreign-made cars, a Russian minister was quoted by the BBC as saying in April.

Berlusconi said Friday that Fiat has assured him that its Serbian factory will not suck jobs out of Italy.

+++

Serbian government opened a tender Friday to sell a 10-year license for a second fixed phone network.

Potential bidders must have more than 1 million subscribers and more than EUR200 million profit in 2008.
 
The deadline for bids is Jan. 12, the tender said.

The license is being offered for 10 years, with a possibility to extend it for a further 10.

Telekom Srbija is the sole provider of fixed-line services in the country of 7.5 million people. It also has a share in the public mobile services market through its unit MTS.
 
Two other mobile networks are active in Serbia–Norway’s Telenor and Austria’s Mobilkom VIP.

Local media reported that Telenor was interested in bidding for the fixed telephone license, as well as the local cable and Internet operator Serbia Broadband.

+++

The illegally elected ethnic Albanian separatist party that acts as a ruler in Serbia’s Kosovo province is ready to split from its junior coalition partner, days before the United Nations highest court begins hearings on the illegality of the territory’s independence.

The so-called Democratic Party of Kosovo said it was rethinking its coalition with the Democratic League of Kosovo after reports the LDK was set to forge an alternative alliance at a municipal level after recent polls.

Kosovo separatist daily Koha Ditore reported that Thaci has decided to end the partnership with Sejdiu after the LDK agreed on a local-level coalition with the smaller opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.

All these ethnic Albanian parties engaged in an illegal poll last weekend.

+++

The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal has appointed a British lawyer to represent Radovan Karadzic if the former Bosnian Serb leader continues to boycott his trial when it resumes in March, according to a document released Friday.

The U.N. court named Richard Harvey, a lawyer with experience in The Hague representing war crimes suspects from Kosovo.

The decision appears unlikely to break the stalemate that led to the adjournment of Karadzic’s trial just days after it began last month when the defendant refused to show up in court, saying he needed months more to prepare his defense.

Although he has no legal training, Karadzic has been representing himself with the help of legal advisers. He appeared alone in court at all pretrial hearings.

One of Karadzic’s advisers said the former Bosnian Serb leader will not cooperate with Harvey. Marko Sladojevic told The Associated Press that Karadzic will respond next week to the appointment.

Prosecutors allege in an 11-count indictment that Karadzic masterminded Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. He insists he is innocent.

Sladojevic said Karadzic had spoken to Harvey before his appointment, and Harvey had said he was unlikely to be ready by March 1, when the trial is scheduled to resume.

“Mr. Harvey has absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about the case,” Sladojevic said.

Karadzic believes he should have been given a list of all defense attorneys accredited to work at the tribunal so that he could make his own choice of lawyer, Sladojevic said.

“This affects his fair trial rights,” he added.

+++

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan sent a cable to Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Chairman, Zeljko Komsic, congratulating him in his name and on behalf of the Jordanian people and government on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

The King wished Presidency Chairman Komsic continued good health and happiness and the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina further progress and prosperity.

November 20, 2009
SERBIANNA
Associated Press
AFP

Pavle, a highly popular patriarch known for his modesty and humility, died over the weekend at age 95 after being hospitalized for two years with heart and lung problems. He had led the 7 million-member church since 1990.

White-robed church elders held funeral prayers in Belgrade’s Church of St. Michael the Archangel, or Saborna Crkva in Serbian, where Pavle’s body, covered by a green-and-gold embroidered cloth, lay surrounded by flickering candles in an open casket.

The frail-looking Pavle, known as “the walking saint,” had called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan wars that killed tens of thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless. But critics say he failed to openly condemn the extreme Serb nationalism of the late President Slobodan Milosevic, which triggered the clashes with Catholic Croats and Bosnian and Kosovo Muslims.

The casket was placed on a funeral caisson as crowds joined Serbian leaders and clergy in a solemn procession to the St. Sava Temple, the biggest Orthodox Christian church in the Balkans.

State television estimated that about half a million Orthodox believers, many from neighboring Bosnia and Montenegro, attended the funeral procession through downtown Belgrade as bells tolled from churches.

Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of world’s Orthodox Christians, led a liturgy in front of the masses gathered outside the white marble church.

Bartholomew described Pavle as a “great spiritual leader” during the turbulent era for the nation.

“His face and appearance were radiant with holiness and righteousness,” he said. “He was a true monk, a man of endless prayers, kind and calm but also a fighter who does not back down and is ready for any sacrifice when needed.”

Serbia’s President Boris Tadic, who attended the prayers, thanked the late patriarch “for having been there for us with his deeds and message that we should always be human and never respond to the evil in the others with the evil within us.”

Pavle was buried later Thursday at a monastery in a Belgrade suburb in a private ceremony attended only by church leaders and Serbian officials.

“I come to bid last farewell to the best man who ever lived,” said Gojko Ljubovic, 53-year-old teacher from the southern town of Vranje. “He has done so much for the Serbian nation.”

There have been reports of an internal struggle over who would succeed Pavle. The election cannot be held until 40 days after Pavle’s death. The favorite is influential Bishop Amfilohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and ultranationalist stances, who served as the acting head of church during Pavle’s hospitalization.

After the liturgy, Amfilohije described Pavle as a “modest and quiet man who is now a beacon of light that shines on us from the sky.”

“People have poured like a river only to touch him,” Amfilohije said of the large crowds who had come to the Saborna church to pay their last respects to Pavle since Sunday.

November 19, 2009
DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed to this report.

Police say the attacker has been arrested. NATO peacekeepers disposed of the second device Thursday. The motive for the attack was unclear but police say the man has mental problems.

Tensions are running high following protests by Kosovo voters contesting last week’s elections for mayors and local councils. Djakovica is run by the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, but a mayoral candidate has accused the governing party of election fraud. Election authorities are investigating the claim.

Associated Press
November 19, 2009

Radmila Jelic is 11 years old and after her mother’s death, Radmila is alone with her paraplegic father living in a village of Debelja near the city of Nova Varos. Radmila and her father have one another and no one else.

Radmila Jelic

Radmila feeds what little livestock they have left, cooks food for the family and makes sure her father has enough firewood to keep warm while she is in school.

“I need medical care but she needs education and I am in her way, but she does not want to leave me,” says Radmila’s father.

Radmila is up early every morning and after making sure her father stays warm and fed, she sets off for a 5 kilometer walk to the nearby village of Bozetici to attend her classes.

Radmila is a fifth grader.

“I also play,” says Radmila and adds with a smile “Alone”.

This fall, Radmila’s neighbor helped her stack tree logs so that Radmila and her father can have enough firewood for the winter.

“She has no means, she has to eat, to dress, to keep warm,” says neighbor Slobodan Trtovic.

The neighbors make sure that Radmila and her father have enough soap and warm water so they can stay clean.

Radmila would love to have a cake for her 12th birthday.

“I will not celebrate,” says Radmila.

Her greatest wish is for her father to be cured.

Radmila’s family receives some help from the state’s social center but that is nowhere enough to “live in dignity” say those who know the family.

Center for Social Work in Nova Varos, the major city in the region, is seeking a family willing to provide additional help to Radmila. Natasa Pucarevic, from the Center, says that they are seeking a match in the area so that Radmila can stay close to her father.

Radmila and her father Nebojsa Jelic

After airing the story about Radmila on Serbia’s TV, people across Serbia begun sending money in the mail to help Radmila and her father. So far, enough has arrived to renovate and clean her house and buy new clothes for her and her father.

Center for Social Work has opened up a bank account with the local Alfa Bank so that donations can be deposited rather then mailed.

Account numbers:
For non-Dinar donations: 180510101036191012
Help for Rada

November 18, 2009
SERBIANNA

Serbia is an observing member of the Adriatic Charter, established by the United States in 2003 that seeks to promote stability in the region and NATO enlargement.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Alexander Vershbow is set to speak to the gathered audience.

Bosnian Minister Nikola Spiric and Bosnia’s defense minister Selmo Cikotic will speak.

Agenda has not been disclosed.

The Adriatic Charter was signed in Albania along with Croatia, MAcedonia and the USA. Bosnia and Montenegro joined later.

The objective is to defense reforms and other areas in order to boost their NATO membership prospects.

NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer signing the Security Information Agreement with Dragan Šutanovac on the right.

Albanian officials say that NATO will stabilize the region and force Serbia to shun “extremist” policies such as insisting that Kosovo is part of Serbia even though Albanian separatists have violently captured the province and declared it independent.

“Aside from the issue of political civility, Albania has significant legal and institutional shortcomings,” assesses Congressional Research Service in October of 2008.

Congressional Research Service also notes that “Some of Europe’s most powerful crime organizations are based in or have strong links to Albania.”

Transparency International ranks Albania as 105th the most corrupt state in the world out of 175. 

An upcoming meeting of NATO foreign ministers may provide a boost for Bosnia and Montenegro to become the 29th and 30th members of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Spokesman James Appathurai said he expected the ministers to decide whether or not to grant the two nations their membership action plans when they meet in Brussels next month.

The plans, seen as the last step before full membership, are designed to ensure that a candidate nation meets NATO standards in areas such as military reform, civilian control over the armed forces, and transparency in defense budgets.

NATO and EU leaders have expressed concern in recent months over political tensions in Bosnia, where Western troops have maintained the peace since a civil war in the 1990s.

“All allies believe the most effective tool for promoting peace and security is Euro-Atlantic integration, specifically into NATO and the European Union,” Appathurai said.

Bosnia’s military comprises 10,000 active troops and 5,000 reservists.

Montenegro, a nation of 630,000 people, gained independence in 2006. Its army numbers 2,300 professional soldiers.

November 18, 2009
SERBIANNA | Associated Press

It is the first instalment of the 400-million-dollar loan agreed at a meeting with the World Bank’s vice president for Europe and Central Asia, Philippe Le Houerou in October, Dinkic was quoted as saying by Tanjug news agency.

The remaining 200 million dollars were aimed at supporting the 2010 budget, Dinkic said.

The World Bank representative in Serbia Simon Gray earlier said the loan was aimed at reducing public administration and improvement of the business climate in Serbia, Tanjug reported.

Serbia has been severely hit by the global economic crisis and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in September its economy would shrink by 4.0 percent in 2009.

Earlier this month, Serbia and a visiting IMF mission reached an agreement allowing Belgrade to draw a second instalment of a 2.9-billion-euro (4.3-billion-dollar) loan, up to 700 million euros on condition of further cost cuts.

The deal will result in a freeze on public sector wages and pensions extended into 2010 and the start of pensions reform next year, along with a half-a-percentage point cut in the budget deficit next year.

The IMF allowed Serbia to run a 2010 budget deficit of four percent of gross domestic product (GDP), despite initial request that it be 3.5 percent.

The accord is subject to approval by the IMF management and executive board, expected to meet on December 21.

Serbia’s Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic however said that Serbia needs to tighten its fiscal policy and will try to achieve this by cutting current expenditure for public sector wages and pensions,

“There is a consensus among economists that loose monetary policy may be appropriate but that fiscal policy needs to be tightened,” Dragutinovic told a conference in Vienna.

“We will try to achieve fiscal adjustment through cuts in current expenditure, and one possibility is to continue with equal burden sharing betwen public wages and pensions.”

Dragutinovic said mechanisms to ensure fiscal discipline remain in place included a special law or installation of a council that oversees the budgetary process.

She also urged that Serbia move towards a model of export-led growth by boosting the private sector’s role in the former Yugoslav republic’s economy.

“Serbia has to move to an export-led growth model,” she said. This means “the share of the private sector has to go up, which means substantial downsizing of the public sector, including much more discipline of public enterprises.”

November 18, 2009
AFP | Reuters

Judge Zoran Pasalic said Tuesday the three are requested to appear in court on Dec. 1.

Drinking alcohol at and around sports venues is illegal in Serbia and fines range from $150 to $1,500.

Police filed misdemeanor charges against all three officials after photos were published of them holding glasses filled with champagne after Serbia’s 5-0 victory over Romania last month in World Cup qualifying.

Tadic had said he was willing to pay the fine, but indicated he only made a toast and didn’t drink from his glass.

+++

French police believe that Toni Musulin, the driver of an armored van who made off with millions, stashed part of his loot in Serbia, the online edition of the weekly Le Point reported Tuesday. The 39-year-old Musulin surrendered to police in Monaco on Monday, 11 days after taking off with an armored van containing 11.6 million euros (17.2 million dollars) belonging to the Bank of France.

Some 9.1 million euros of the stolen money was recovered in a rental car in a garage in the city of Lyon, not far from where Musulin allegedly abandoned the van. But the whereabouts of the rest remain a mystery.

The reason Musulin gave himself up also remains unknown. According to the report, police in Lyon believe the surrender was part of the plan.

At the current stage of the investigation, it appears as if Musulin carried out the robbery alone.

However, according to Le Point, immediately after the robbery Musulin traveled to Serbia, where police believe he may have had accomplices.

They may be holding the rest of the stolen money, or about 2.5 million euros, which Musulin would be able to spend once he has served his sentence.

+++

Statement by the NATO Secretary General on the elections in Kosovo:

I congratulate the authorities in Kosovo for the successful organization of the elections, and the people of Kosovo for the peaceful way in which voting was carried out. I am encouraged by the participation by many Kosovo Serbs, to make their voices heard. NATO will continue to provide a safe and secure environment in Kosovo.

Since 1999, when NATO took over the province, hundreds of Serbian churches have been deliberately demolished by the Albanian Muslim separatists while two thirds of the Serbs have been ethnically cleansed.

+++

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says European nations must do more to resolve disputes between Greece and Turkey that are holding up a deal for improved security cooperation in Afghanistan.

Speaking before a meeting of EU defense and foreign ministers on Monday, Fogh Rasmussen said “pragmatic solutions” were needed to end the deadlock.

Frustrated in its attempts to join the EU, Turkey does not allow formal relations between NATO and the EU, making it impossible for NATO to provide protection for EU trainers in Afghanistan.

+++

Albania has become an official candidate for EU membership, EU officials say as reported by the UPI.

EU foreign ministers Monday backed Albania’s request for candidate status, with ambassadors from the 27 EU member states endorsing the move last week at a meeting in Brussels, the EUobserver reported Tuesday.

The European Commission must decide whether Tirana is ready to start talks, an assessment process that could last up to a year, the publication said.

With the approval, the EU foreign ministers declared their move “reaffirms that the future of the western Balkans lies in the European Union.”

The EUobserver said Albania applied for candidate status in April after it was admitted to NATO and likely faces years of talks before being admitted to the European bloc. EU officials say Tirana has much to do in terms of establishing an independent judiciary and tackling corruption before winning EU membership.

+++

The entrance to a college in Athens, Greece, was closed Tuesday in memory of 24 people killed in a 1973 uprising against a military junta, officials said.
 

The gates of National Technical University of Athens were shut for an annual remembrance that included a march toward the U.S. Embassy in the city, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported.

Prime Minister George Papandreou laid flowers at the gates Monday, calling the Nov. 17, 1973, uprising “always relevant.”

The riot at the school, then known as Athens Polytechnic, led to the collapse of a seven-year military dictatorship, which sent in tanks and armed soldiers to disperse the students and civilians who had taken over the campus.

November 18, 2009
AP
AFP
SERBIANNA

Serbia should apply for a status of candidate for EU membership when the implementation starts, Merkel said. She also expressed her condolences to the people of Serbia on the death of Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle.

Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European integration Bozidar Djelic qualified the message from German Chancellor Angela Merkel as quite significant.

“These are all positive signs, but we should not rejoice in advance,” said Djelic.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Serbia's President Boris Tadic shake hands after a news conference in Berlin

At the press conference in BErlin, Serbian President said that “Serbia is doing everything to continue cooperating with the ICTY and arrest Mladic and Hadzic, and I believe it will be possible to unblock the ITA and apply for membership in 2009, after the next report by Serge Brammertz.”

Tadic also reiterated Serbia’s position on the issue of Kosovo.

“Serbia is defending its integrity with diplomatic and legal arguments and we believe the circumstances will be different after a decision by the International Court of Justice, which will enable a continuation of political dialogue and negotiations in order to reach a political and sustainable solution not just when it comes to Serbs and Albanians, but the entire southeastern Europe, which has to be integrated into the EU,” Tadic said.

Merkel and Tadic also spoke about Bosnia.

Tadic said that “Serbia supports Bosnia-Herzegovina’s integrity and remains in favor of the negotiation process. As a member of the UN and one of the countries guaranteeing the Dayton Agreement, Serbia will defend the integrity of any country, especially a neighboring one, and oppose a division of Bosnia”.

Tadic also visited the German Ministry of Economy to attend the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Elektroprivreda Srbije and RWE, a German power company belonging to an energy concern.

November 17, 2009
SERBIANNA