Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Et tu, UN?
HEADLINE: When the peacekeepers become the problem
BYLINE: RAMESH THAKUR
The real UN scandal over the past decade was not the oil-for-food program in Iraq, but the abuse of civilians by UN peacekeepers. Almost 200,000 personnel from more than 100 countries are rotated through UN operations every year. After the damaging allegations of protectors turned predators in the Democratic Republic of Congo, usually in exchange for food or change money,Jordan's UN ambassador Prince Zeid Hussein wrote a forthright report that led to a new and stringent code of conduct for preventing, identifying and responding to sexual misconduct by UN peacekeepers.
The problem persists: UN vehicles are not an uncommon sight in haunts frequented by teenage prostitutes. Sexual exploitation and abuse are not the only side effects of the large numbers of missions and personnel living and working in isolation, far away from home and family, in conditions of loneliness, and without the discipline of the behaviour-regulating norms and codes of conduct of their home countries. Most studies of UN operations focus on the stated mandates and implicit goals of the international community and troop-contributing countries, and the success or failure in implementing them. But peace operations also produce unintended negative consequences, caused by the flood of international money -such as increased corruption and inflation, more prostitution, sex-trafficking and underworld criminal activity. Often the presence of large numbers of people on international salaries creates a shadow economy that drains skills, experience and talent away from the national bureaucracy, as in Afghanistan.
Consider the case of HIV/AIDS. In some of the war-affected countries of deployment in sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV prevalence rate is 40-60 per cent.Soldiers tend to be mainly men of a sexually active age, with money in their pockets far in excess of prevailing local incomes, deployed away from home for six months and prone by temperament and training to risk-taking behaviour.Almost half the Dutch military personnel serving with the UN mission in Cambodia in the 1990s had sexual contact with prostitutes or other local women. Often soldiers come into contact with young boys and girls who are poor,unemployed and traumatized victims of sexual exploitation during prolonged and vicious armed conflict. Troops from countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates make up one-third of UN peacekeepers. Some African military forces have infection rates five times that of the civilian population. Some countries, Ghana, for example, conduct compulsory testing before selecting soldiers for mission deployment. Some resist, for reasons of social and cultural sensitivity, others simply lack adequate testing facilities.
The number and seriousness of side effects of UN peace operations increased along with the growing numbers and complexity of the missions after the Cold War. In some cases, when children are raped by soldiers, for example, serious harm is done to individuals and communities that the peacekeepers are meant to protect, the ability of the mission to fulfill its mandate is weakened, the legitimacy of the UN as an organizer of peacekeeping is eroded, and support for the UN as a whole is diminished in both host and troop-contributing countries.
It is not easy to identify proper legal remedies. Many allegations are difficult to prove in a court of law. The offending soldiers are subject to the disciplinary authority of their own military, not the UN. Often, alleged perpetrators have returned home while victims and witnesses are from host countries with weak criminal justice systems. Yet, international peacekeepers must be held internationally accountable for criminal acts. Merely repeating promises of zero tolerance and setting up task forces and committees is not enough. In addition to education and training inhuman rights and international humanitarian law and standards, peacekeepers must be brought within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and made subject to criminal prosecution. Countries that demur from the more stringent standards, codes of conduct and international investigations and prosecution should be excused from contributing personnel to UN operations.
***
Ramesh Thakur Distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont.
***
Ramesh Thakur, former vice-rector of the UN University in Tokyo, is co-editor of the recently published Unintended Consequences of Peacekeeping Operations.
BYLINE: RAMESH THAKUR
The real UN scandal over the past decade was not the oil-for-food program in Iraq, but the abuse of civilians by UN peacekeepers. Almost 200,000 personnel from more than 100 countries are rotated through UN operations every year. After the damaging allegations of protectors turned predators in the Democratic Republic of Congo, usually in exchange for food or change money,Jordan's UN ambassador Prince Zeid Hussein wrote a forthright report that led to a new and stringent code of conduct for preventing, identifying and responding to sexual misconduct by UN peacekeepers.
The problem persists: UN vehicles are not an uncommon sight in haunts frequented by teenage prostitutes. Sexual exploitation and abuse are not the only side effects of the large numbers of missions and personnel living and working in isolation, far away from home and family, in conditions of loneliness, and without the discipline of the behaviour-regulating norms and codes of conduct of their home countries. Most studies of UN operations focus on the stated mandates and implicit goals of the international community and troop-contributing countries, and the success or failure in implementing them. But peace operations also produce unintended negative consequences, caused by the flood of international money -such as increased corruption and inflation, more prostitution, sex-trafficking and underworld criminal activity. Often the presence of large numbers of people on international salaries creates a shadow economy that drains skills, experience and talent away from the national bureaucracy, as in Afghanistan.
Consider the case of HIV/AIDS. In some of the war-affected countries of deployment in sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV prevalence rate is 40-60 per cent.Soldiers tend to be mainly men of a sexually active age, with money in their pockets far in excess of prevailing local incomes, deployed away from home for six months and prone by temperament and training to risk-taking behaviour.Almost half the Dutch military personnel serving with the UN mission in Cambodia in the 1990s had sexual contact with prostitutes or other local women. Often soldiers come into contact with young boys and girls who are poor,unemployed and traumatized victims of sexual exploitation during prolonged and vicious armed conflict. Troops from countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates make up one-third of UN peacekeepers. Some African military forces have infection rates five times that of the civilian population. Some countries, Ghana, for example, conduct compulsory testing before selecting soldiers for mission deployment. Some resist, for reasons of social and cultural sensitivity, others simply lack adequate testing facilities.
The number and seriousness of side effects of UN peace operations increased along with the growing numbers and complexity of the missions after the Cold War. In some cases, when children are raped by soldiers, for example, serious harm is done to individuals and communities that the peacekeepers are meant to protect, the ability of the mission to fulfill its mandate is weakened, the legitimacy of the UN as an organizer of peacekeeping is eroded, and support for the UN as a whole is diminished in both host and troop-contributing countries.
It is not easy to identify proper legal remedies. Many allegations are difficult to prove in a court of law. The offending soldiers are subject to the disciplinary authority of their own military, not the UN. Often, alleged perpetrators have returned home while victims and witnesses are from host countries with weak criminal justice systems. Yet, international peacekeepers must be held internationally accountable for criminal acts. Merely repeating promises of zero tolerance and setting up task forces and committees is not enough. In addition to education and training inhuman rights and international humanitarian law and standards, peacekeepers must be brought within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and made subject to criminal prosecution. Countries that demur from the more stringent standards, codes of conduct and international investigations and prosecution should be excused from contributing personnel to UN operations.
***
Ramesh Thakur Distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont.
***
Ramesh Thakur, former vice-rector of the UN University in Tokyo, is co-editor of the recently published Unintended Consequences of Peacekeeping Operations.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
.. and they will come: Qendra Kosovare per Strehim dhe Trajnimin e Qeneve Endacak (Kosovo Shelter for Stray Dogs)
I was recently contacted by the "Qendra Kosovare per Strehim dhe Trajnimin e Qeneve Endacak (Kosovo Shelter for Stray Dogs)". According to Petra, who contacted me, Qendra Kosovare per Strehim dhe Trajnimin e Qeneve Endacak is one of a kind of such facility in Kosovo. It is situated near the Prishtina airport. Here is the group's quote:
"The shelter has been built and funded solely by two Albanian Kosovars Florim Ferati and Nexhmedin Kabashi and has been in operation since May 2004. Both myself and Toni-Maree McInnes are NZ veterinarians based in the UK. We first visited Kosovo in April 2005 and have since been visiting biannually for approx 2 months per year taking unpaid leave from our jobs in the UK to volunteer at the shelter. We have independently set up a veterinary clinic at the shelter where our primary focus is the sterilisation of the streetdogs as well as providing medical care to owned dogs of both locals and internationals. We also spend a lot of our time raising funds and awareness within Kosovo and abroad. The shelter is a registered NGO but receives no formal funding relying solely upon donations to finance the daily running costs and continual upgrading of the facilities. Please see our website www.kosovodogshelter.org for further information. We will be in Kosovo for 3 weeks from Sunday May 27th . . . We will no doubt be running our well known pub quiz at the Phoenix Bar to raise funds during this time where we are well known!"
Sounds like they are doing great work and I encourage all animal lovers to support them. However, if I am (yes, I am), I'd like to raise an issue about the work of the doctors above. I am not up to date about the constitutional or statutory rights of dogs in various countries, but doesn't the sterilization of street dogs seem sort of ... how do I put this tactfully ... discriminatory and "classist". How come dogs with owners get medical care while street dogs only get sterilized? I am just raising a point which can be extrapolated to the state of human welfare where poor people seem to always be "paternalized" and sometimes made to feel that they do not deserve to pro-create due to their economic status. No, I did not make this up; there are groups and people from the West who go around paying people to sterilize themselves and stop having babies and some courts have upheld these arrangements as valid contracts. Yes, yes, Luna is running wild with ideas again but take a moment to wonder with the street dogs why they should get sterilized. I would appreciate Petra or someone else from the organization answering this for me. I am sure there is a good explanation for it; I just want to know it.
But people, not to take away focus from the work of this good organization, I should stop now. At least, they are doing something to help animals they care for ... that much cannot be said about most of us in Prishtina who just spend all our time drinking macchiatos!!!
In answer to my query above:
Hi Luna
We would like to clarify a few of the points from the previous email and hopefully clear up any confusion!
We are certainly not "classist" and when in Kosovo are more that happy (and do) sterilise owned dogs. The majority of our sterilisation is of street dogs for a number of reasons. Firstly the dogs in our shelter are street dogs and we sterilise them before homing, and secondly the concept of
sterilisation is not widely accepted/understood by the general public of Kosovo and hence we only have a small number of owned dogs presented for surgery. We regularly treat sick/injured street dogs as well as owned dogs when we (the vets) are in Kosovo. We must take care when treating owned dogs so as to always be mindful that we are not taking paid work away from the local veterinarians. With regard to sterilisation this is not too much of a problem as few perform this surgery. When we are not in Kosovo there are no veterinary services available at the shelter and sick/injured dogs and cats must be taken to a local veterinarian for treatment.
In answer to your query on sterilisation.....
Kosovo has tens of thousands of street dogs. Currently shooting campaigns are being run in an effort to reduce the dog population and individuals are being offered €7.50 for the tail of every dead dog. The practice of shooting dogs as a means of population control goes against World Heath Organisation guidelines. It is inhumane and in the long term is ineffective. Shootings are inhumane because dogs are often injured and suffer prolonged painful deaths. Those shot are usually the more tame members of the population and the more aggressive wary problem dogs are more likely to remain and for want of a better term are negative "role models" for new pack
members who can intimate the aggressive behaviours. Shooting is also ineffective in the long term. It is impossible to shoot all the street dogs. Removing large numbers of dogs allows greater resources (food/shelter) available to those remaining thus these dogs are then more successful in rearing litters of pups and shortly the problem again begins to escalate. Higher numbers lead to increased competition for food and can thus lead to increased disease incidence as body condition can suffer. This also allows different populations to enter new areas and introduce new illnesses/disease which can also impact on the human population (particularly relevant in areas where rabies is prevalent). Shootings largely fail to address the problem of the "owned" dogs who are likely to be confined during the culling periods. These owned dogs who receive human support and shelter are most successful in rearing litters of puppies. It is then their offspring abandoned to the street to fend for themselves who largely perpetuate the cycle. The only humane and effective means of population control (as advised in WHO guidelines) are neuter and release programmes targeting not only street dogs but those belonging to members of the public.
We understand from your blog that your concern was that we were victimising the street dog and not that you are against sterilisation, which not only humanely reduces the street dog population longterm but provides health benefits as well. On an individual level sterilisation is advantageous to reduce disease and help improve body condition. This is pertinent not only for behavioural issues eg less fighting/mating etc but also reduces disease incidence eg mammary cancers, womb infections etc. With these things in mind we are very keen to start a sterilisation programme focusing on "owned dogs". This will however take considerable funding, government legislation, public and veterinary education. As you can imagine this is far beyond the scope of just ourselves. We do hope this helps to clarify things.
Kind regards,
Toni and Petra
"The shelter has been built and funded solely by two Albanian Kosovars Florim Ferati and Nexhmedin Kabashi and has been in operation since May 2004. Both myself and Toni-Maree McInnes are NZ veterinarians based in the UK. We first visited Kosovo in April 2005 and have since been visiting biannually for approx 2 months per year taking unpaid leave from our jobs in the UK to volunteer at the shelter. We have independently set up a veterinary clinic at the shelter where our primary focus is the sterilisation of the streetdogs as well as providing medical care to owned dogs of both locals and internationals. We also spend a lot of our time raising funds and awareness within Kosovo and abroad. The shelter is a registered NGO but receives no formal funding relying solely upon donations to finance the daily running costs and continual upgrading of the facilities. Please see our website www.kosovodogshelter.org for further information. We will be in Kosovo for 3 weeks from Sunday May 27th . . . We will no doubt be running our well known pub quiz at the Phoenix Bar to raise funds during this time where we are well known!"
Sounds like they are doing great work and I encourage all animal lovers to support them. However, if I am (yes, I am), I'd like to raise an issue about the work of the doctors above. I am not up to date about the constitutional or statutory rights of dogs in various countries, but doesn't the sterilization of street dogs seem sort of ... how do I put this tactfully ... discriminatory and "classist". How come dogs with owners get medical care while street dogs only get sterilized? I am just raising a point which can be extrapolated to the state of human welfare where poor people seem to always be "paternalized" and sometimes made to feel that they do not deserve to pro-create due to their economic status. No, I did not make this up; there are groups and people from the West who go around paying people to sterilize themselves and stop having babies and some courts have upheld these arrangements as valid contracts. Yes, yes, Luna is running wild with ideas again but take a moment to wonder with the street dogs why they should get sterilized. I would appreciate Petra or someone else from the organization answering this for me. I am sure there is a good explanation for it; I just want to know it.
But people, not to take away focus from the work of this good organization, I should stop now. At least, they are doing something to help animals they care for ... that much cannot be said about most of us in Prishtina who just spend all our time drinking macchiatos!!!
In answer to my query above:
Hi Luna
We would like to clarify a few of the points from the previous email and hopefully clear up any confusion!
We are certainly not "classist" and when in Kosovo are more that happy (and do) sterilise owned dogs. The majority of our sterilisation is of street dogs for a number of reasons. Firstly the dogs in our shelter are street dogs and we sterilise them before homing, and secondly the concept of
sterilisation is not widely accepted/understood by the general public of Kosovo and hence we only have a small number of owned dogs presented for surgery. We regularly treat sick/injured street dogs as well as owned dogs when we (the vets) are in Kosovo. We must take care when treating owned dogs so as to always be mindful that we are not taking paid work away from the local veterinarians. With regard to sterilisation this is not too much of a problem as few perform this surgery. When we are not in Kosovo there are no veterinary services available at the shelter and sick/injured dogs and cats must be taken to a local veterinarian for treatment.
In answer to your query on sterilisation.....
Kosovo has tens of thousands of street dogs. Currently shooting campaigns are being run in an effort to reduce the dog population and individuals are being offered €7.50 for the tail of every dead dog. The practice of shooting dogs as a means of population control goes against World Heath Organisation guidelines. It is inhumane and in the long term is ineffective. Shootings are inhumane because dogs are often injured and suffer prolonged painful deaths. Those shot are usually the more tame members of the population and the more aggressive wary problem dogs are more likely to remain and for want of a better term are negative "role models" for new pack
members who can intimate the aggressive behaviours. Shooting is also ineffective in the long term. It is impossible to shoot all the street dogs. Removing large numbers of dogs allows greater resources (food/shelter) available to those remaining thus these dogs are then more successful in rearing litters of pups and shortly the problem again begins to escalate. Higher numbers lead to increased competition for food and can thus lead to increased disease incidence as body condition can suffer. This also allows different populations to enter new areas and introduce new illnesses/disease which can also impact on the human population (particularly relevant in areas where rabies is prevalent). Shootings largely fail to address the problem of the "owned" dogs who are likely to be confined during the culling periods. These owned dogs who receive human support and shelter are most successful in rearing litters of puppies. It is then their offspring abandoned to the street to fend for themselves who largely perpetuate the cycle. The only humane and effective means of population control (as advised in WHO guidelines) are neuter and release programmes targeting not only street dogs but those belonging to members of the public.
We understand from your blog that your concern was that we were victimising the street dog and not that you are against sterilisation, which not only humanely reduces the street dog population longterm but provides health benefits as well. On an individual level sterilisation is advantageous to reduce disease and help improve body condition. This is pertinent not only for behavioural issues eg less fighting/mating etc but also reduces disease incidence eg mammary cancers, womb infections etc. With these things in mind we are very keen to start a sterilisation programme focusing on "owned dogs". This will however take considerable funding, government legislation, public and veterinary education. As you can imagine this is far beyond the scope of just ourselves. We do hope this helps to clarify things.
Kind regards,
Toni and Petra
Friday, May 18, 2007
Graduation Season ....
I totally forgot that May is graduation month. I was reminded of this when I was walking home from my french class today and saw lots of young people at the Grand Hotel --- you got it--- Prom Night!!! That jolted my memory; after all, it was not that long ago that I graduated from professional school myself. So to all my peeps out there graduating transcontinentally, wishing you great after-graduation parties and hope we all become useful to our world one day. To commemorate your graduations, I am dedicating the best commencement speech ever written that never was but became a great music single in 1999 (under the name of "Wear Sunscreen"). Enjoy, live long and prosper.
June 1, 1997
Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out, some world-weary pundit eager to pontificate on life to young people who'd rather be Rollerblading. Most of us, alas, will never be invited to sow our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns, but there's no reason we can't entertain ourselves by composing a Guide to Life for Graduates.
I encourage anyone over 26 to try this and thank you for indulging my attempt.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young
Mary SchmichJune 1, 1997
Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out, some world-weary pundit eager to pontificate on life to young people who'd rather be Rollerblading. Most of us, alas, will never be invited to sow our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns, but there's no reason we can't entertain ourselves by composing a Guide to Life for Graduates.
I encourage anyone over 26 to try this and thank you for indulging my attempt.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Belgrade ... city with a soul
I know you all missed me ;) Here are some beautiful pictures from Belgrade ...
Sunday, May 6, 2007
KANUNI LEKE DUKAGJINIT
This has become my favorite reading material since I got to Prishtina. I find it to be very interesting and revealing. I am still reading enough not to make any comments on it. Just thought I'd share snippets of it with you. This is the English translation version of it. One sees the influence of the Christian priest that compiled the Kanuni on several pages.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Ah! So that was what the poster on my door meant ...
As I sit in the office waiting to go to lunch, I can hear the loud voices of protesters screaming in support of Ramush Haradinaj. He is the former Prime Minister of Kosovo who is now standing trial at the Hague with the ICTY for crimes against humanity. Mistaken not, the young Mr. Haradinaj is wildly popular with many Kosovans for his heroics when he was with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) –note to self: a glossary of acronyms for Kosovo would be good for readers. Now, he is better known for his over $3 million mansion in Pristina that looks like a big observatory and his unquestioned ability to make things happen in Kosovo. Not bad for a former security guard and club bouncer in the late 90s. Here is an article about him and his relationship with the international community.
A delegation came from the UN Security Council last week. No one really knows what they came from but they claimed to want to see how things are on the ground in Kosovo. Their prerogative; let's see if this will help in getting a quicker response on Kosovo's status or if Russia will still be holding the Council hostage on this issue.
Onto another serious issue, security forces need to come up with a way to rid the Prishtina community of personal grenades. I am lifting my moratorium on stories involving explosions. According to Kosovo Police, a person got injured in a bomb explosion in Prishtina, from an explosive device that was placed next to the entrance of the apartment of a police officer in the Bill Clinton Street. The police allegedly arrested an individual suspected of placing the explosive. This sort of story is becoming common-place here and people should not stand for it. Exploding one's business and love rivals is never an answer.
A delegation came from the UN Security Council last week. No one really knows what they came from but they claimed to want to see how things are on the ground in Kosovo. Their prerogative; let's see if this will help in getting a quicker response on Kosovo's status or if Russia will still be holding the Council hostage on this issue.
Onto another serious issue, security forces need to come up with a way to rid the Prishtina community of personal grenades. I am lifting my moratorium on stories involving explosions. According to Kosovo Police, a person got injured in a bomb explosion in Prishtina, from an explosive device that was placed next to the entrance of the apartment of a police officer in the Bill Clinton Street. The police allegedly arrested an individual suspected of placing the explosive. This sort of story is becoming common-place here and people should not stand for it. Exploding one's business and love rivals is never an answer.
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