Join the Western Media Battle over Serbia's Thuggish Image | B92 Blog http://blog.b92.net/blog/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Rosemary Bailey Brown sr http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss rss@b92.net rss@b92.net Blog A-JE! RSS generator v0.3 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:49:33 +0000 http://blog.b92.net/user_stuff/avatars/mali/247/10247.jpg Rosemary Bailey Brown http://blog.b92.net/ 50 50 Re: Monkeying with the Mainstream Media http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k233492
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Well, I have an interesting essay with regards personal experiences in Yugoslavia 1991-1995. How to Post it in this blog?
I see no link offered to do it!!! ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:40:02 GMT Vozac http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Well, yeah http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k189350
You don't know any Danes though, do you? Or if you do, you know the sort of people mostly akin to Serbs who do not criticize their country. At this exact moment I am listening to a song by a Danish band, about Denmark, specifically Copenhagen, which sings about how much their government sucks.

You are welcome. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:37:57 GMT Dawngreeter http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Well, yeah http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k189329
Which we do. We have allowed the downtown region of our capital to be in flames, to be systematically ravaged and vandalized for almost a week continually and government and church sponsored rally was called to further add fuel to the fire. We deserve everything we get, not because those idiots did what they did but because the rest of us allowed for it to happen.

Funny how I have never seen any Danes say that Denmark sucks. And yet, their have now been riots for weeks in the Copenhagen center. Muslims were unhappy with the republishing of the caricatures of their Prophet... Perhaps Denmark is not really one of the best countries to live in. It must be propaganda. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:38:52 GMT Milos_cz http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Image http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188998 just listen to yourself......totalitarian, medieval....nightmare......and you wonder why your warnings have not succeeded in anything.....what you're describing has never been the country I have been living in......even in the worst of times....country I have lived in and people I am sharing my life with have always been strong enough to live through all the hell with enough spirit to move on and create good things.......

the fact that it took less then couple of hours for a "concerned intellectual" to put a label on me makes me scared of what this country would look like if people like you would take over.....

all you know is to criticize and moan...... as far as I am concerned, you're just as good in empowering people like Kostunica, as nationalists are...... ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:44:14 GMT Nausikaa http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Monkeying with the Mainstream Media http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188630 As if the headline is not bad enough, the editorial is completely one-sided and simple-minded, basically saying Serbs Yet Again Suck, but not giving any reasons why or background into how the US government may have (heartily) contributed to the problems.

Hey Rosy, I've found solution. Wouldn't it be great if your Web browser could automatically point out the trigger words in documents you read, and even translate politically correct gobbledegook into plain talk? Well it is possible!

Read here!

]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:23:32 GMT Izanagi http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Canadian press http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188494 It's my job as a US citizen to speak out in my own nation's affairs and vote there. And I do so.

I'd say it is my duty to speak up as a citizen, unless I get payed for that... No more comments on that.

That same "democratic" international community cut-off the Internet to Serbia in early nineties... Luckily there were some conscious and brave people around the world that found the way to enable e-mails to go through. We should pay tribute to them! THANK YOU!
[url=http://www.pcpress.co.yu/arhiva/tekst.asp?broj=20&tekstID=910]
Read "1992: Slepi putnici na Internetu" from Pavle Pekovic[/url]



]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:52:53 GMT Izanagi http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Russia http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188368 For a long time I hoped that the "dying whale on the beach", as we thought Russia was turning into, didn't die after all. It's still alive and kicking, dangerously.

No, it's not. Evidence - list below:

Russia is not "a whale" - btw I hope whales stay alive and kicking forever - but hundred of million people of hundreds of ethnicities, where the birth rate dynamic is at its best for the last 25 years.

[…]”“What Americans who live [in Russia] here think and feel […]”

An educated view on Russian opposition and their perspectives:

[url=http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8582040][/url]

http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2008/02/14/1011_type82915_160266.shtml

SPIEGEL: Do you still stand by the statements you made about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin being a "flawless democrat?"

Schröder: Yes, certainly as far as his being a flawless democrat is concerned. I still feel exactly the same about that.that.

]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:38:56 GMT Out of Beirut http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188361 In response to your post, I do, on sites I frequent. Why don't people do it more often - probably lack of Internet access and knowledge of English.

There are enough people who live in US and Canada to make up for everything wrong in the media.

But, among else,

- they are disgusted with Serbia: they had enough of bad experiences with the country that, by the way, gave them their basic culture and education

- they don't want their shiny middle-class image to suffer from exposing such facts as the primitive way of managing international affairs by their countries of residence, and the overall primitive state of the western mass media, unfit for the 21 century challenges.
]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:22:00 GMT Out of Beirut http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ nonsense article in Spiegel http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188352 Serbia -- Angry Forever?

"Had Belgrade submitted a list of demands in exchange for flexibility over the Kosovo issue -- territorial compensation, financial aid or a timeline for accession -- it would have gotten the majority, if not all, of what it asked for."

Oh you poor malicious fool, Belgrade did that, and much, much more:

http://blog.b92.net/text/2289/%C4%90in%C4%91i%C4%87ev%20zahtev%20za%20re%C5%A1enje%20statusa%20Kosova/

Will anyone tell this to Spiegel? (I can't bother with them, and I'm not a Serb.) ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:00:34 GMT Out of Beirut http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Canadian press http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k188287 I also agree that we should speak out more in order to clean our name from years of propaganda

Speak all you want but don't expect too much knowing that 2.5 million people in Serbia today support the party that is among those largely responsible for all the catastrophes that happened to us and other nations since 1990. Thugs and looters are not the problem, the problem is that the official Serbia is continuously producing thugs and looters and has support for it.

So, if you want to take on propaganda, why don't you start at home - plenty of opportunities right at your doorstep. Fix that and there won't be foreign propaganda to worry about anymore. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:54:25 GMT vnk http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ ATAC http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187938 Protests don't only go sour in Serbia; and a protest attended by a quarter of a million is practically an accident waiting to happen. Certainly the attacks on the embassies were deplorable and should have been prevented, but they don't prove anything about Serbian people in general. What the blog comments here seem to show, however, is that a number of Serbian people have an undeservedly low self-image, which is why it is good to have "naïve" friends like Rosemary telling you something different. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:23:54 GMT Whyomar http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Serbia is divided http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187787
Wim Roffel
If you look at the comments of the "Serbia's thugs" article and other articles about Kosovo's independence you will see that about half the writers are against the independece. Serbia's position is not without support.

But none of these comments addresses the "thug" image problem and I think that that is because many of the internationally oriented Serbs look down on their primitive compatriots and consider them "thugs" too. Just look at the B92 news. Every violent action by protestors is recorded and everybody who asks for Kostunica's resigntion gets an article. But when Kostunica condemns the riots and asks for calm and when the police starts arresting rioters nothing is mentioned. Why? I think that it is because such signs of civilization wouldn't fit in their image of the primitive "other" Serbs.

No, it's because people think that Kostunica's calls for piecefull demonstrations ware fake. If you had some experience with riots, like most of us did have in the time of Miloshevic you could see that the police on streets of Belgrade didn't show pretty much anything of its notorious "might". I don't think it is because they are incompetent, trust me - they are very capable of biting shit out of anybody who throws rock on them , or because they decided by them self to be nice to those thugs and thieves. Police works on orders.

I think you are also mistaken about what was said on B92. They did report Kostunica's calls for "peaceful demonstrations" on several occasions - I knew about that since my source is B92 mainly and I remember. But primitives who were there didn't care much for what he said and he should have known that, and he should care about that. Otherwise, he is primitive "other" as you put, and it fits the image that about half of people have about him and his ministers.





]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:38:48 GMT Srki http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187756
Vasa S Tajcic
I said I was not going to debate with frustrated fascists but I just wante to say hi to Srki.

Srki please do not defend "our" national interests and shut the f**k up.

Well, I didn't think my polite proposal would work with you Vaso, you like to listen only yourself. My grand mom used to say: "sa budalom se ne vredi objasnjavati". So, go ahead with your mission, do what you think is the best, who can stop you? Never mind even if the results of that approach are pretty obvious. At least we exchanged honest opinions on each other ;-).


]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:12:36 GMT Srki http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Serbia is divided http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187722
But none of these comments addresses the "thug" image problem and I think that that is because many of the internationally oriented Serbs look down on their primitive compatriots and consider them "thugs" too. Just look at the B92 news. Every violent action by protestors is recorded and everybody who asks for Kostunica's resigntion gets an article. But when Kostunica condemns the riots and asks for calm and when the police starts arresting rioters nothing is mentioned. Why? I think that it is because such signs of civilization wouldn't fit in their image of the primitive "other" Serbs. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:33:50 GMT Wim Roffel http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Who cares…. http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187716
Handing over indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic would be "good news" ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:30:10 GMT Hugh Griffiths http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187456
Srki please do not defend "our" national interests and shut the f**k up. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:04:13 GMT Vasa S Tajcic http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Who cares…. http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187411 There is so much you can push somebody and so much irony and hypocrisy that one take, at some point you just say whatever, who cares think whatever you want I don’t exist to please you… ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:34:03 GMT BeogradjaninOdFloride http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187256 http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:54:39 GMT Hugh Griffiths http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187254
I think you misunderstand. You wrote "why are all serbs to blame what SRS, DSS does."

First, whoever said they were?

Ah, I remember now. It's because the SRS and DSS keep on saying that they speak for Serbs and Serbia. This is clearly false, given the many of the more worldly comments on this blogand the fact that these primitives couldn't fool people to the extent that they couldn't leverage Tomo the gravedigger into the presidency a couple of weeks back.

The linkage between B92 and "all the nonsense I wrote" is that a couple of months back, the deputy leader of the party of Highway Robbery (that's handsome Velimir Ilic's gang) threatened B92, saying that they would end up like "TV Bastille" (burnt, looted & beaten up). And lo and behold, on the night of riots following a "people's protest" organised by these parties led by charming characters with the welfare of their citizens at heart, a mob marches on B92....That's the relevence. But you might have missed all of this, as I rather get the feeling you don't get out in Belgrade much. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:52:37 GMT Hugh Griffiths http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ No good idea for subject http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187212
- Blacks are crazy fascists and that's it.
- Blacks have allowed the downtown region of their capital to be in flames, to be systematically ravaged and vandalized for almost a week [...] They deserve everything they get.
- Blacks are thugs, they have always been that way. Violent and vindictive.

In response to your post, I do, on sites I frequent. Why don't people do it more often - probably lack of Internet access and knowledge of English. On websites of Serbian media, people are commenting like there's no tomorrow.

Luckily, at least regarding recent events, I get the impression that there's almost no need for Serbian comments. People in the West are angry about this almost as much as Serbs are. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:35:17 GMT Николa Смоленски http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ For Vasa S Tajcic claptrap http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187192
Please, try to understand that your opinion and attitude places you way below these 2 girls cought on tape while looting the sportswear shops during this pathetic gathering of confused Sloba's counter-meetingers, Obraz thugs and random passengers. At least they were honest in what they represent. What or who do you represent, if I may ask?

And, among us here, despite how great you opinion on us may be - you and I both know that these two girls are the typical examples of average young people in Serbia. Don't even try to deny that, because that means you are either not living in Serbia or you are dishonest. I don't blame them, they are just a consequence of society they grew up in. And please, read twice - I don't claim everybody is like that, but in my opinion, the majority is, and was as long as I can remember. Well, when they grow up, they may become good ministers in SRS-SPS-DSS goverment in another isolated Serbia , but because of them people that represent minority there, like myself, are going to run away from the country as soon as they can and as far as they can.

You probably don't realize this, but people with attitude like yours ARE the problem for us abroad who are trying to put up some "good" story about our country and their people. Much bigger problem then those DSS instructed thugs that are defending Kosovo against McDonalds, foreign embassies, and Nike shops. We do not do that by contacting media and telling lies that would make Serbia looking better, that is a stupid or at least naive way. That is how our incompetent Ministry of Diaspora believes the things should be done. This is done more directly, with our friends, girlfriends, their family members, colleagues, neighbors, whoever is interested to ask and listen.

I'll repeat this to emphasize the importance: drunk morons burning embassies in Belgrade are easy to explain, same is with these psychopathological outbursts of some ministers in public, but attitudes and opinions like yours are much, much tougher to deal with. So, I have to ask you, in our national interest and pride, please - shut the f...k up and make things little bit easier for us!.
]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:48:36 GMT Srki http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Hopeless http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187168
Sepulturero
No amount of letters to the editor, blogging or (expensive) lobbying can change that.And, as you see here, it is probably better that there is no reaction.


Not now, after all.

However, paying for the truth is the only language that works these days. I think.

Albanians used to pay for their truth many years till now, and that is not the real truth, that is payed truth, the world most powerful weapon lately. Money collected for that purpose usually comes from illegal activities. There were many , 3 or 4 waves of Serbian refugees from Kosovo after World War II, however, it wasn't possible to do anything, because Yugoslavia was multiethnic, comunist country, with strong intolerancy to the Serbian issue. Serbian inteligence were ruined sistematically during Tito's regime, because Serbians were not Catholics.

We lost Kosovo before Milosevic's era, who unfortunately made things more easier for Albanians, and was the best weapon for NATO leaders. Now, it is too late.

We should ask Russian government to give a protectorate to Serbian minorities in northern Kosovo (as reciprocity to what Albanians got from USA) , not let Russians make us fight for their interests. We have legal rights to protect Serbs, because Kosovo is nothing else but ethnic state, that exactly makes the precedent by itself, not one other country in the whole world was made on that principle. I see this that way.

If Russians could not offer that protection, we should give up finally. This looks like uthopia, because Russians always used Serbia in the name of their own interest. They want Serbia fight for them not vice versa.

Explanations are wortless. Comments are useless. Blogs stay useful for collecting opinions only. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:54:11 GMT DETENCE70 http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Unfortunately/lidiaz http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187123
Until we have that chaos, we can not make that picture nicer.

]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:21:29 GMT DETENCE70 http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k187012 http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:26:45 GMT Dawngreeter http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186950
I have been listening B92, since 1989 while I was in high school. So you do not really have to tell me what B92 is and what they stand for and how good they are. I do not know what the intimidation and persecution of B92 has to do with nonsense that you wrote.

With respect to physical appearance, you started that. And if you are not connected to Prince Charles and the UK government, why are all the Serbs to blame what SRS, DSS does. Same as we were blamed for Milosevic’s idiotic policies.

This blog is about Serbian image in the world. I know that you do not believe this, but 95% of Serbs do not like that Kosovo is being illegally taken away from Serbia. I know that this is our government’s fault; I know that this was bound to happened, but still, it is no pleasant. We cannot celebrate with Taci and I firmly believe that we should never recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Despite all of this, Serbs still have a right to fight against demonization in the media of so called democratic countries.


Good riddance mister Hugh
]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:45:00 GMT Vasa S Tajcic http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Canadian press http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186723 There is no excuse for the misconduct of the Serbian government officials and the police during the recent events, although I hate to think what else may occur in the world before the new US president is sworn in. It somehow becomes rather busy in the world during this time. And this rush of events, from Kosovo, to the launched missile that shot some wondering satellite, made Russians very angry. For a long time I hoped that the "dying whale on the beach", as we thought Russia was turning into, would die after all, but it didn't. It's still alive and kicking, dangerously. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:34:23 GMT Jelena Pavlović http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: things got ugly http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186665 http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:49:27 GMT Hugh Griffiths http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186629
The B92 family is a very tolerant one and I am honoured to be allowed to blog on their site at a time when their output is so important that a politically inspired mob attempts to burn them down. That shows relevence and also their bravery. But then this is not the first time they have experienced political pressure, intimidation or physical violence. They are a great team of people and one of the very best media outlets in Europe, if not the world.

Perhaps you feel that because I am a UK citizen, I am somehow involved with the Queen, Prince Charles, George W or Dick Cheney, or the big adventure in Iraq? I should say that just as many of my friends in Belgrade have nothing to do with Vojo K. or the gravedigger, I have no connections to US presidents or royalty.

As to watching Serbian news for sexual pleasure, this would be an unusual perversion, however it is not my cup of tea. News from Serbia has elicited many emotions from me in the past ten years: concern, hope, disappointment, sadness, anger and a sense of time passing, but never tumescence.





]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:28:53 GMT Hugh Griffiths http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186576
Vasa S Tajcic
But if you don't then I would strongly advise you to recommend to all those in Serbia you would like to advise on PR that the best thing they can do is vote out of office the rather primitive demagogues who encouraged the rioting and don't appear very pleasant to look at on TV.





Dear Hugh,

I don not support DSS and SRS, nor the burning and looting of Belgrade. Not because I think Americans and English are right, but because it is my city. The current US administration and the UK government are band of thugs who are directly responsible for horrible deaths of hundreds of thousands Iraqis women and children. Also, they reintroducing torture during interrogation of POWs (i.e., water boarding). Well, that is democracy the Anglo-Saxon way.





Maybe you are not their supporter (no one ever is, it seems :)), but you sure sound like one.

I really don't understand this obsession with "them". Who cares about "them"! Bush this, Chaney that. You should be concerned by people representing YOU. And they are thugs, murderers and some - war criminals.

All your anger is directed at something you can not possibly control. It's so sad that we, as a nation, prefer that childish and immature response to frustration, as opposed to taking care of our affairs in a rational and efficient way. EVERY single Balkan nation outsmarted us. Do you EVER stop and think to figure out why? Obviously not, all you can do is "fire" blindly in all directions.




Anyway, what you just wrote is a clear example of WASP fascist behaviour. What about the oil deals of George W and Dick Chaney? What about the handsome American and UK politicians? What about the good looking freak of a queen and her lovely son. I know that you are frustrated that only dozen of countries recognized the fake nation of Kosovo, but what you wrote is very stupid and arrogant. I am also sorry that we cannot elect better looking politicians so you can get aroused when watching Serbian news. You are a fascist and a pervert and I cannot believe that B92 is tolerating this chauvinistic writing from an old frustrated pervert.

Shame on you


Well, if you think that you will change our "thuggish" image with this kind of language, please shut up.

I do not think that moderators should tolerate this.
]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:40:15 GMT gavroche http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Radical or DSS supporter? http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186560
Hugh Griffiths
Rosemary,

A defence or sympathetic explanation of why the US embassy was burnt, shops looted etc. at this time, is not a defence of Serbia nor Serbs in general.

It would be a defence of the DSS/Radicals/NS who organised these demonstrations and control the police who allowed the demonstrators to burn the embassy through their absence. By linking current events to "Serbia" rather than the machinations of a particular group of rather unpleasant politicians, you fall for the nationalistic trap.




Thanks Hugh. You obviously understand much better what's actually going on. Thugs are running this country, we are represented by them, again and again. The vandalism that we have all witnessed is not an incident, it is state policy of elected officials.

If we cannot establish a civilized government based on the rule of law, then we are a primitive horde. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:05:27 GMT gavroche http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ esej http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186557
Birth of a Nation

By DEJAN ANASTASIJEVIC



There's a famous saying that everyone is better off not seeing how sausages and laws are made. The same applies to countries. In less than two decades, I've seen no less then six new nations born in my immediate neighborhood, the Balkans, and it was a messy process every time. So please forgive me if I'm not greeting the latest one — Kosovo, which declared independence on Sunday, Feb. 17 — with the respect and admiration it probably deserves.
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Just like its slightly older siblings — Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro — Kosovo rose from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia, whose destruction was caused by the brutal policies of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. But there are key differences. Unlike the others, Kosovo was not a Yugoslav republic, but an autonomous province within Serbia. It is mostly populated by ethnic Albanians, while the other post-Yugoslav states have Slavic majorities. And Kosovo has been effectively ruled by the United Nations since 1999, when Milosevic's troops were forced to pull out under NATO bombs, although Serbia was allowed to retain a token sovereignty over the province.

Now that this sovereignty is being voided by Kosovo's elected government, Serbia is furious, blaming the Kosovars and their Western backers, especially the United States, one of the first countries to recognize Kosovo's independence. This anger reflects the special place Kosovo holds in Serbs' hearts and minds, as the birthplace of their culture and religion. But it is fueled as well by memories of the U.S.-led bombing campaign, described at the time as "humanitarian intervention" but viewed in Belgrade as part of a cynical plan to rip off a piece of Serbia.

Russia, China and several European countries claim that an independent Kosovo sets a dangerous precedent, encouraging separatist movements throughout the world, from Taiwan to Nagorno-Karabakh. To this, the United States and its European allies reply that Kosovo is a unique case, and that other regions would not be allowed to use it as a precedent.

As a Serb, I empathize with my compatriots' anger and frustration over losing Kosovo. But as a reporter who witnessed the atrocities against ethnic Albanians in the '90s, I can understand that the vast majority of them would under no circumstances accept living under Serbian patronage, even though Milosevic is dead and Serbia is now a democracy. And as for setting a precedent, I don't think that Kosovo's independence would have much effect on the rest of the world — and frankly, I don't really care.

But I am deeply concerned about something else: what kind of country has just been created, and what kind of life its citizens will have. Kosovo holds three European records: it has the highest unemployment, the worst infant-mortality rate and the lowest living standards on the Continent. The latest Human Rights Watch report chronicles widespread oppression and discrimination of non-Albanian ethnic minorities — Serbs, Turks and Roma — along with organized crime, rampant corruption and a dysfunctional justice system.

And if that's not enough, Kosovo already faces its own separatist movement: Serbs in northern Kosovo, many of whom were evicted from their homes in revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians, don't accept being dominated by Pristina for exactly the same reasons Pristina refuses to be dominated by Belgrade. With the backing of the Serbian government, they are resolved to keep their territory — some 15% of Kosovo — within Serbia.

So instead of stabilizing the Balkans, the creation of Europe's youngest state could be paving the way for future troubles. How things turn out largely depends on the European Union, which just decided to dispatch some 2,000 police officers, prosecutors and judges to Kosovo. Their goal, in essence, is to establish the rule of law in Kosovo so that the 15,000 NATO peacekeepers currently deployed there can go home. The E.U. must also keep an angry and frustrated Serbia on the path toward European membership, because that prospect is just about its only inducement to good behavior toward its new neighbor.

I dearly hope that E.U. officials know what they're doing, and that they're up to this challenge. Declaring Kosovo's independence was easy, but making it a decent place to live will be a long haul. The price of failure will be paid in the lost lives and torched homes that have become a tragic pedal note to recent Balkan history. And this time, it would not be quite as easy to blame the Serbs. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:03:48 GMT bandi fornoski http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ things got ugly http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186540
Vasa S Tajcic
Also, they reintroducing torture during interrogation of POWs (i.e., water boarding).
Waterboarding is not the only torturing technique practiced by the American nation. It got a disproportional amount of media attention, but it's not the only one.
And you are right about Prince Charles, he is one ugly SOB. lol ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:43:14 GMT Dzokavac http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Canadian press http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186512 http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=32b1a951-15cf-4193-bff5-af0cb5d3fa90&p=1 ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:14:44 GMT Blade Runner http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ good quetion http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186501 My question is, why are almost no Serbs or Friends of Serbs posting comments or editorial replies on the vast majority of these stories??? Almost all the major US, UK and Canadian press now allow online readers to post comments. You may have to register to do so, but it's free. It's your chance to fight a the PR battle, and no one on the Serb side seems to be taking advantage of it - AT ALL! It's like an entire nation is laying down and saying, "Oh poor me, what nasty things they are saying about me again, I am far too victimized to defend myself at the moment."

You are right about this 100%. I've been asking myself the same question for a long time now. The other day I was trying to address the same question at some other blog.
In my opinion there is no need to explain what happened and why Serbs acted / reacted the way they did. There is more need to be engaged in correspondence with the democratic forces outside Serbia on the issue of what is to be done about the situation now. Serbs need to make friends out there in the free world. Communication is very important to making friends. There is wide spectrum of themes and subjects that could be exchanged.
In my opinion the press would welcome hearing from Serbs. On the BBC home page there was a request for people in Serbia to express their views. All the major USA papers publish online correspondence. In my opinion Serbs who can write in English should try to communicate with the English speaking world so they see this as a global issue, and Serbia as part of the global community. ]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:07:28 GMT bindu http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/ Re: Canadian press http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#k186492 By the way - I turned both interview requests down both because I am not currently in Serbia (had to leave a couple of days ago on an unrelated lengthy business trip) and also because I do realize I'm too innocent and under-educated on the Serbian political situation to make any kind of formal comment. Anyway, I think Serbs need to speak for themselves on the world's stage more.


I think it would have been good if you talked to them. From reading your blogs I think that you know much more than self proclaimed experts who go around and demonize Serbia. They are usually paid for that. Like our good friend Hugh.
Anyway, I believe that you would’ve given an honest opinion of the whole situation.

I also agree that we should speak out more in order to clean our name from years of propaganda and to point out to citizens of western countries that this deceleration of independence is illegal.

Albanians have been voicing their opinion for years by lobbying in the US congress and other western governments and organizations.
]]> http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/#komentari Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:00:54 GMT Vasa S Tajcic http://blog.b92.net/text/2345/Join%20the%20Western%20Media%20Battle%20over%20Serbia%27s%20Thuggish%20Image/