I LOVE BOSNIA VOLIM TE

BOSNIAN FUNDRAISER FOR FLOOD VICTIMS IN BIH BY CHRIS MATHIEU AND BOSNIAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MILWAUKEE

2014-09-30T18:18:00.001-07:00

The Bosnian American Association of Milwaukee and Chris Mathieu have organized a fundraiser to assist a few families who suffered from the devastating floods in BiH in May of this year. Chris Mathieu is a journalist with eurobasket.com and a member of the Institute Research Genocide which specializes in dealing with the war in Bosnia and its aftermath.

On October 11^th 2014 they will hold a Fundraising dinner, cultural event and silent auction to benefit families affected by the flooding. 100% of the money raised will go directly to help families affected by the flooding. There will be a dinner, music, documentaries about Bosnia and Herzigovina and a silent auction. A selection of traditional Bosnian food and music will be included and some important documentaries about Bosnia and her history will also be shown.

Contributors to the silent auction include the Milwaukee Bucks, Bill Carter of Miss Sarajevo fame, Jasminko Halilovic, Abdullah Pejkic, Roger Richards, Harun Mehmedinovic and representatives from Davison College among others have contributed to the silent auction and fundraising efforts. The Milwaukee Bucks donated tickets to be raffled off; Bill Carter donated a signed copy of Miss Sarajevo documentary and a signed copy of his book “Fools Rush In”. Jasminko Halilovic donated three signed books; Abdullah Pejkic donated an original photograph as did Roger Richards and Harun Mehmedinovic. Others donated some money that was unable to attend the event.

The Bosnian American Association wants Bosnians who know people in desperate need to contact them via their Facebook site or the fundraising link on Facebook and to nominate people who are in desperate need of help. They will evaluate who needs help the most and will select 4-5 families who are in desperate need of help. The funds raised will be sent to someone in BiH who will oversee their disbursement process and will ensure the money gets to the families and will be properly used for supplies, medicines, food or materials needed to rebuild their homes and lives. Pictures will be posted on the Facebook site and you will be able to follow the people that you help.

A link to the Bosnian American Association of Milwaukee….

https://www.facebook.com/BosnianAmericanAssociation

A link to the fundraising site…

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470782426504302/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

What we are hoping for is to raise awareness that the need is still there to help the people of BiH after the devastating flooding. Due to the problems facing Bosnia before this catastrophe it has made recovery much more difficult. We are also hoping to give some hope to families affected by the flooding that they know that they have not been forgotten about, that people are aware of what happened and that we want to give them hope that they are not alone in their time of need.

Ultimately we want to encourage other expatriate communities to organize similar fundraisers in their communities, to realize it doesn’t have to be a difficult process and that they can do the same thing in their communities around the world and in the US. When you give money to organizations the trickle down aspect means your donation doesn’t always reach those in needs. In this setting we plan on 100% of all proceeds going to directly help those affected by the flooding and to give some hope that they will have a better future.

I know people who have died from the stress related to this flooding that has left too many feeling abandoned and hopeless. We are hoping restore a bit of hope in the lives of people that have already faced too much in their lives.

2014-06-17T17:11:00.001-07:00

20 years ago few thought Bosnia and her people would survive, even fewer actually cared. She and her people did though against impossible odds. She survived and her people, even though scattered around the globe and starting over have survived and thrived. They have become incredible people who overcame incredible odds to bring life to communities that were once left for dead (St.Louis).... Bosnia...n Zmajevi overcame the same calamity and impossible odds. Just a few years ago it appeared the team would collapse, they were threatened with being kicked out of FIFA. Bosnia and her people once again faced the impossible and overcame and beat the odds once again. Bosnia has become one of the most feared teams in the world and took the favored Argentina to the brink today. There is nothing to be disappointed about the history, the result or the people. Bosnia and her people will continue to defy the odds and make the world believe in the impossible. Today was just the beginning for Bosnia, echoes of the past of the war, the '84 Olympics can be heard but this history is being written today, less than 20 years from the calamity, is just the beginning for Bosnia and her people. Thank you Zmajevi for showing the world that Bosnia and Herzigovina is here, it has always been here and it will be a power and a people to be reckoned with for all of history...Bosnia the strong, Bosnia the bold, Bosnia the metaphor. It is a metaphor for survival, for fearlessness, for overcoming incredible odds and defying the laws of history...Bosnia is Greatness...Thank you for being one of a kind, a diamond.

13 THINGS I WOULD DO TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

2014-01-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

We live in a country with a one party system with a liberal and a conservative wing, neither party truly represents the people but divides the one party on "wedge issues" if I could change 13 things about the government this is what I would do...

1) Tax everyone for healthcare, or make them sign a waiver if they refuse to, that if they need medical help they have to pay in advance or no treatment.... Then I would open it up so everyone could buy health insurance on exchanges even if you have insurance and you just don't like yours.

2) Legalize marijuana, gambling and prostitution and tax them to the max. I don't do any of the three but I don't understand why people can't legally gamble on the super bowl or the NCAA tournament in almost all of the states.

3) Allow people to not wear a seat belt or helmet if they sign a waiver and become an organ donor (as long as they are 18 years old).

4) Eliminate the penny, round up to the nearest nickel on all transactions and the extra pennies go to the national debt. Sounds like nothing, but how many monetary transactions happen in the US everyday?

5) eliminate the $1 and $5 bill and replace them with coins. They are way more durable plus you can't bleach out a coin and turn it into a $20 bill.

6) If you get government benefits you get drug and alcohol tested. If you can afford either then you don't really need the benefits, do you?

7) Make it so you can't buy soda, candy or junk food with food stamps, or steaks and lobsters.

8) differentiate between violent predatory criminals who are menaces to society and the rest of the people who make mistakes. Longer sentences for the first category and shorter sentences and more treatment (which is cheaper) for the second.

9) CEO's of publicly traded companies should be capped at making 100X what the average worker makes. This sounds like on obscene amount anyway but when you realize CEO's make 400x this is a huge limit. Private companies would be exempt from this.

10) If you make more than 500k per year for 10 years (on average) you automatically opt out of social security and other retirement benefits. You still pay in but you need a hardship exemption in order to collect the money.

11) Universal background checks, drug tests and mental health screening for all gun purchases in the country.

12) De-incentivize people having kids they don't take care of. If you are on government assistance or disability every kid you have after the first one you lose some of your benefits not gain them. Also your benefits are tied to your kids attendance and test scores while in school.

13) Change it so that the only way the government can spend more than it takes in is in case of extreme emergency, like WWII or the Great Depression

Toronto Canada the perfect place to start your international travels

2013-09-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Toronto Canada is the perfect place to start your international travels. If your an American and unsure if you would enjoy or be able to master international travel, Toronto is the perfect place to test yourself. I would say it is about a quarter international compared to travelling to a European country were they don't speak English.
Montreal too is a good place to test yourself except you are likely to run into quite a few people than only speak French, or just refuse to speak English to you. Montreal I would rate at about half European and half North American culture wise.
Toronto features a well developed public transportation system that includes a subway, buses and tram system. This is a perfect way to test yourself in a international setting.
Also proving more difficult is the currency conversion, which holds steady at about a 1 to 1 ration currently. Getting used to using foreign currency is easier in Canada than in European countries that may or may not use the Euro.
They also have different credit/debit cards, using the more secure ones with the micro chip in them. Yours will work at almost any stores but you may have to find international bank machines (like the green TD bank locations) in order to withdraw cash. Also I did have some problems paying at the pump at certain gas stations.
We enjoyed staying at Hilton Gardens downtown, the rate was over $200 a night but included valet parking and breakfast for the whole family. They also had a pool and a hot tub.
Staying downtown is more pricey but is worth it if location and convenience is important to you, driving 20-30 minutes a day to get downtown didn't sound like fun to us.
Toronto is a pricey city but still cheaper and way safer than a comparable US city like Chicago or New York.
Toronto offers a wide variety of fun thing to do for the entire family. A few of the highlights for me...

1. Go visit the CN tower, expensive venture but if you are adventurous you can do the sky ledge and on outside of the tower for a premium.

2.Tornto Islands take a ferry and enjoy the day, the amusement park is expensive and a bit overrated but overall a fun experience. You can pack a lunch and have a picnic if you choose. The beach is excellent and safe and you have wide open green spaces on the islands to explore.

3.Shop in Yorkville, very surprised by how nice they were at Prada and Hermes two of my favorite brands. They were very nice at both shops, a far cry from the usual reputation both establishments have. Holt Renfro is a great department store with many exclusive brands.

4.St. Lawrence Market is an excellent place to get food, snacks and desserts. We tried one of the specialty sweet shops in Toronto and the fare was no better than what you could find at the Market. The seafood restaurant is a must see attraction. On Sundays next to the market is an interesting Flea/Antique market.

5.Mr Fleas flea market, an interesting place to checkout they have a ton of bootlegs that are hard to come by in the US. Get 10 bootleg dvds for $20 if you are interested.

6. Check out the ethnic neighborhoods downtown. There are a bunch and they are all fun, even the non ethnic ones are great the gay neighborhoods and the gritty urban areas are fun as well.

Overall Toronto is a great international city and a great place to visit.

Help deport war criminal Cedomir Kljajic from Canada back to Bosnia to face justice!

2013-08-04T16:35:00.002-07:00

Help deport war criminal Cedomir Kljajic from Canada back to Bosnia to face justice!

(Photo of Cedomir Kljajic testifying before the ICTY in defense of Radovan Karadzic)

Mr Klajic has been living in Canada since 1995 when he emigrated to Canada and in his application he claimed he had worked from 1985-1995 as a lawyer. He made no mention of his belonging to RS MUP police force which was responsible for much of the ethnic cleansing campaigns and Genocides committed in 1992 and later in the war.

Cedomir Kljajic was third in command of the notorious so called RS MUP chain of command, subordinate only to interior minister Mico Stanisic and his deputy Stojan Zupljanin.

A little background on his two superiors...

Mico Stanisic:
From 1 April 1992, Minister of the newly established Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (RS MUP) Convicted of persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, murder and torture!
Sentenced by the Hague to 22 years of imprisonment.

Stojan Zupljanin:

Chief of the Regional Security Services Centre (CSB) of Banja Luka, located in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina; member of the Autonomous Region of Krajina (ARK) Crisis Staff, and an advisor on internal affairs to the President of Republika Srpska (RS) Convicted of persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, extermination, murder and torture!

Sentenced by the Hague to 22 years of imprisonment.

Please contact the below officials and offices of the Canadian Government and tell them why he should not be allowed to continue to live in Canada as a free man, granted the same status of many of his victims....

Dear (recipient),

Mr. Cedomir Kljajic was third in command of the so called Republic Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) this criminal organization was responsible for organizing and carrying out of much of the Ethnic Cleansing campaigns and Genocides committed in Bosnia. Especially in 1992 when 70% of all war crimes were committed against civilians of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The MUP was responsible for creating the Serbian Crisis Staffs which carried out the orders of Radovan Karadzic in murdering, raping, interring in camps and expelling the rest of the non-Serbian populations in territory they controlled. They were directly responsible for organizing most the war crimes committed against the civilian population of BiH.

They were directly in control of the notorious camps of Bosnia Manjaca, Trnopolje, Omarska among numerous others. Mr. Kljajic no doubt played an integral role in establishing these policies and the reign of terror that followed.

Even if he has not been convicted or arrested for these crimes (yet) Canada must not be a safe harbor for criminals of his kind who have been linked to some of the gravest crimes committed in the history of mankind. His participation in the war, his admission of lying on his application to come to Canada and the very real chance that his victims who were granted asylum in Canada and received the same status as their tormentor, makes it of utmost importance that Canada takes a hard line on him and anyone in the future found to be responsible or at the very least partaken in such grave crimes against humanity at best, Genocide at worst.

Please do not sully the reputation of the great Canadian nation by turning your backs and ignoring this war criminal and his crimes. Please do not victimize the victims one more time by allowing this man to remain free one day longer on Canadian soil.

Sincerely,
(your name here)

Contact these offices and share your thoughts with them...

Immigration Minister

Honourable Chris Alexander at Minister@cic.gc.ca

The Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8

Email: mcu@justice.gc.ca

Policy Centre for Victim Issues

Fax: 613-952-1110
Email: pcvi-cpcv@justice.gc.ca
Address: Policy Centre for Victim Issues
Department of Justice Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8

Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section

Fax: 613-952-7370
Email: wc-cdg@justice.gc.ca
Address: Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section
Department of Justice Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8

Documentries on Srebrenica

2013-07-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

SREBRENICA-A CRY FROM THE GRAVE-THIS IS THE SAME DOCUMENTARY THAT I HAVE BEEN SELLING (STORY OF SREBRENICA) EXCEPT THIS IS THE BRITISH VERSION (THE BETTER VERSION I MAY ADD).THE FOTOS ARE OF NASER ORIC AND RATKO MLADIC. IT IS A RARE LOOK INSIDE THE WORST ATROCITY IN EUROPE SINCE WWII. THERE IS BETTER FOOTAGE AND MORE COMPLEX STORY THAN AMERICAN VERSION. EVERY TIME I VIEW THIS DVD I AM SHOCKED AND AMAZED. A UNIQUE CHANCE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ONE OF THE WORST CRIMES IN THE MODERN WORLD. 90 MINUTES IN ENGLISH.

STORY OF SREBRENICA-THIS IS THE SAME DOCUMENTARY THAT I HAVE BEEN SELLING (STORY OF SREBRENICA) EXCEPT THIS IS THE BRITISH VERSION (THE BETTER VERSION I MAY ADD).THE FOTOS ARE OF NASER ORIC AND RATKO MLADIC. IT IS A RARE LOOK INSIDE THE WORST ATROCITY IN EUROPE SINCE WWII. THERE IS BETTER FOOTAGE AND MORE COMPLEX STORY THAN AMERICAN VERSION. EVERY TIME I VIEW THIS DVD I AM SHOCKED AND AMAZED. A UNIQUE CHANCE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ONE OF THE WORST CRIMES IN THE MODERN WORLD. 90 MINUTES IN ENGLISH.

SREBRENICA THE UNBURIED WAR
TRIUMPH OF EVIL SREBRENICA-TELLS THE FOLLOW UP STORY OF THE DVD "SREBRENICA A CRY FROM THE GRAVE. THIS DVDS SHOWS SERBIAN RECORDINGS AND DUTCH RECORDINGS OF THE TAKE OVER OF SREBRENICA AND WHAT HAPPEND NEXT. THIS IS A RARE LOOK INSIDE ONE OF THE WORST CRIMES IN THE WORLD HISTORY. A RARE AND INTERESTING DVD FOR ALL THOSE INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE. IT IS 90 MINUTES AND IS IN BOSNIAN AND ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES.

SREBRENICA INFERNO-THIS IS AN INTERESTING LOOK BACK AT THE EVENTS IN SREBRENICA IN 1995. IT IS MORE THAN THAT THOUGH. IT LOOKS AT THE AREA SINCE THEN AND THE ATTEMPT OF THE PEOPLE WHO FLED WHO HAVE SENSE RETURNED AS THEY TRY TO REBUILD THEIR LIVES. IT SHOWS THE ATTEMPT AT JUSTICE AND FINDING THE VICTIMS STILL MISSING. IT ALSO SHOWS THE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EVENTS IN SREBRENICA AND AROUND THE WORLD. IT ALSO TALKS WITH SURVIVORS. IT IS A 3 PART DVD AND IS IN ENGLISH. IT IS ABOUT 2 HOURS IN LENGTH.

SREBRENICA KRIK 1995-2005-THIS IS AN EXCELLENT HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE FALL OF SREBRENICA AND THE AFTERMATH. THIS DVD HAS THE COMPLETE SCORPIONS MASSACRE OF CIVILLIANS PLUS SO MUCH MORE. IT IS DIVIDED INTO 5 PARTS. IT IS 3 HOURS IN LENGTH AND IS IN BOSNIAN.

SREBRENICA 11.07.1995-11.07.2005 The unburied war

SREBRENICA THE LOST IMAGES- t Everyone remembers the harrowing footage of the Srebrenica massacre shot by Zoran Petrovic, the only cameraman to capture the events on film. But this week’s fascinating documentary shows that the very worst of his pictures never reached our TV screens. Key scenes from Petrovic’s rushes were ‘lost’ or blacked over, presumably to prevent reprisals. We unearth the lost images, and the completed jigsaw is even more heinous than the already blood-spattered picture. Amazingly, Petrovic has never been interviewed by the War Crimes Tribunal about what he saw. For the first time, his incriminating material is available for scrutiny. Under the watch of Dutchbat soldiers, queues of Muslim men and women are separated by one of General Mladic’s men. They are familiar images, broadcast by TV stations around the world in the wake of the Srebrenica massacre. The War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague used Zoran Petrovic's tape to secure several prosecutions for the massacres in the early 1990s and to investigate the involvement of Dutch peacekeepers Dutchbat. It is 30 minutes in length and is in English.

Souvenir Srebrenica-A path through the memory of the last European genocide in the year of its 10th anniversary. Souvenir Srebrenica looks for a thread among the fragments of the tragedy, juxtaposing theatre, home movies from the siege, inedited archives, and nude documentary on the present life of the survivors. The exceptional film is mainly based on fragments of historical footage from 1995 and interviews with both Muslim and Serb survivors still living in Srebrenica today. This award winning documentary on Srebrenica and what has happened afterwards. It is 90 minutes in length and is in Italian with English subtitles.

Srebrenica: Autopsy of a Massacre In July 1995, at the height of the Bosnian war, French policeman Jean-René Ruez, arrived in Sarajevo tasked with hunting down snipers. But after hearing rumors thousands of Muslim men were being tortured and executed, he quickly abandoned his original mission. Appointed Chief Investigator by the Hague, Ruez has spent the past 13 years working tirelessly to prove the massacres were planned in advance. Haunted by all he has learnt and worn down by the weight of his responsibility, Ruez has sacrificed everything to try and hold the guilty to account. Through his eyes, we gain a fresh perspective on what happened at Srebrenica. 52 minutes in English.

RATKO MLADIC ZEPA, VLASENICA AND THE WHITE WOLVES RARE FOOTAGE OF MLADIC IN EASTERN BOSNIA IN 1995 BEFORE THE FALL OF THE EASTERN ENLCAVES. 2HR 30 MINUTES OF RARE FOOTAGE! IN BOSNIAN/SERBIAN! It shows Mladic in Srebrenica after the fall and talking to the victims of Srebrenica genocide as they are about to be taken away. It also shows the VRS forces around Srebrenica after the fall.

skies above srebrenica! 101 minutes w english subtitles! On the 11 of July 1995, the most mortifying crimes after World War II in Europe destroyed the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Shootings and deportations beyond imagination were preceded by a betrayal of humanity: while 40,000 civilians were looking into the sky of Srebrenica, waiting for a sign from the international community, guaranteeing their protection, the headquarters of the United Nations decided to surrender. The betrayal kills 8,372 men, women and children. Sky above Srebrenica is based on protocols of the secret crisis meetings of the UN headquarters. In a unique way never before released original material of the consequences is shown next to those who are responsible for these.

CANDLES AGAINST THE NIGHT a great documentary that shows how young people in Srebrenica, regardless of ethnicity are trying to create a better future for themselves and their town. It asks the question who is trying to hold onto the past (politicians and religious leaders on all sides) and keep Bosnia from moving forward. 55 minutes in English w some subtitles.

Srebrenica the Fall this video has been used at the Hague tribunal that shows a timeline inside the besieged town of Srebrenica before the fall, during the fall and after the fall. A rare deep look at the genocide that happened in Bosnia in 1995 in Srebrenica over 3 hours in length.

Srebrenica A Town Betrayed 60 min. made by Norway TV Documentary movie of the truth about Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995 and the destiny of the Serbs in Sarajevo during the civil war in Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1992-1995. Movie is made by Norwegian directors and shown for the first time in Sweden and Norway in summer 2011. Movie is in English and Serbian language.

SREBRENICA WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: DVD IN ENGLISH FROM SERBIAN VIEWPOINT MOSTLY PROPAGANDA

Village of forgotten windows

Srebrenica never again

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM SREBRENICA AND POTOCARI BOSNIA AND HERCIGOVINA

2013-07-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

A collection of photographs from Srebrenica and Potocari, Bosnia and Herzigovina...

An excellent site that shows the breakdown of the genocide in Srebrenica...

http://www.srebrenica-mappinggenocide.com/en-m/

A link to the Potocari memorial website.....

http://www.potocarimc.ba/_ba/mc/

A link to the Srebrenica genocide blog...

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/

The most haunting image from the war in Bosnia and the fall of Srebrenica

2013-07-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

The most haunting image from the war in Bosnia and the fall of Srebrenica.

If there is one image that is more haunting than all the rest from what was a brutal war, this is the image. A women who survived the fall of Srebrenica only to be unable to deal with the reality of what had happened to her and those she loved takes her own life.

Photo: Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) woman Ferida Osmanovic hanging from a tree after the fall of Srebrenica. Photographed by Darko Bandic. According to the U.S. Dept of State, another 14-year-old Bosniak child hung herself with her scarf in Potocari after she and her 12-year old cousin were raped by Serb soldiers.

By STEPHEN KINZERPublished: July 14, 1995.New York Times

TUZLA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 13— Thousands of stunned Muslim refugees streamed into this town in northern Bosnia today, telling of bodies left hanging from trees and littering the street after the Bosnian Serb conquest of the “safe area” of Srebrenica.

Busloads of refugees, many with just the clothes on their backs, continued to arrive late into the night. They camped under a full moon on mosquito-infested fields near the Tuzla airport, trying to come to grips with their sudden losses.

Dozens of refugees interviewed here told similar stories of atrocities. Many said they had hidden fearfully in their homes on Tuesday night, after Bosnian Serbs had entered Srebrenica late Tuesday afternoon with virtually no resistance.

On Wednesday morning, these witnesses said, when Bosnian Serb soldiers routed them out to waiting buses for shipment to Government-held territory, they saw “many men hanging” — words repeatedly used — and many more men lying dead in the streets. There was no independent verification of their accounts.

The refugees said that they had heard some shots during the night but that many of the men had apparently been stabbed to death.

“I saw men who seemed to have gone crazy, killing people with knives,” said Vahida Nukic. “We didn’t know what was happening,” she added.

Some of the refugees also described rapes and abductions of women, notorious weapons of degradation in past episodes of “ethnic cleansing” by the Serbs.

United Nations troops in and around Tuzla were plainly overwhelmed by the sudden flood of refugees, who were living in a United Nations-declared “safe area” until Serbian troops stormed past a contingent of peacekeepers and fell upon them this week.

Relief workers, local volunteers and United Nations soldiers distributed blankets and rubber mattresses to a few lucky refugees and gave scraps of food to some children, but most refugees knew no comfort and ate nothing today.

The vast crowd sat almost completely motionless and silent, as if in a collective state of shock. The only sounds heard were plaintive wails of babies and small children, broken occasionally by amplified announcements from local fire engines that passed by with rations of water.

United Nations officials said more than 8,000 refugees had arrived in Tuzla by tonight, after they were dropped at the front lines by the Serbs and transported to Tuzla by the Bosnian Government.

Relief workers said the refugees were all women and children, and no men were seen among those camped at the airport tonight. Military-age men captured in the Srebrenica enclave were separated by the Serbs and sent to Bratunac, where Bosnian Serb officers said they would be questioned for possible war crimes [note: the only war criminals in and around Srebrenica were Serbian fascists who started massacring Bosniak people in April of 1992, three years before the 1995 Srebrenica genocide].

“I saw neighbors dead, and it made me crazy,” said Haka Nukic, 67, who was born in Srebrenica and has lived there all her life and is the mother of Vahida Nukic. “The first night the Serbs were in the town, we heard screaming in the streets until morning. They took women away and did bad things to them, and killed men the way you slaughter cattle.”

Mrs. Nukic said that her 16-year-old grandson had been captured, and that she fears he may have been killed.

“At first the Serbs said we shouldn’t worry, that they wanted peace, that nothing would happen to us,” she said. “But later, when it got dark, they turned into wild animals. I don’t see how we will ever be able to go back there.”

The Serbian decision to remove all of Srebrenica’s more than 40,000 Muslims, most of whom had moved there after being forced from their homes in previous Serb campaigns, was the latest spasm of the “ethnic cleansing” that has been a tactic of Serbian forces since the Bosnian war began three years ago.

It is an article of faith among Bosnian Serbs that their self-proclaimed state, which no other nation recognizes, cannot survive while pockets of Muslims remain.

Bosnian Serbs are seeking to consolidate their control over eastern Bosnia by overrunning the Muslim “safe areas” established by the United Nations in 1993. After their success in Srebrenica, they have begun to turn their firepower on nearby Zepa.

The commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Gen. Ratko Mladic, asserted in an interview published today that the enclaves had never been truly demilitarized, and that in fact they had been used as bases from which Muslims had launched “terrorist actions.” In recent weeks there have been several reported incidents in which Muslim fighters evidently slipped out of the enclaves to raid Serb targets. [note: Serbs conveniently avoided to mention they also raided and attacked Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) villages around Srebrenica; Serbs blocked humanitarian aid from entering Srebrenica so they could starve Bosniak people to death.]

Asked if such assaults had been carried out by Muslim forces inside Srebrenica in recent weeks, a United Nations spokesman in Zagreb, Philip W. Arnold, replied: “It’s quite clear that there have been attacks by both sides that contradict their commitment to maintain this as a demilitarized area.”

Refugees interviewed today gave remarkably similar accounts of what they saw in Srebrenica. Their stories were graphic and horrific.

“I saw many bodies lying on the street,” said Beb Usmanovic, 25, as she cradled her 4-year-old son. “The men have all disappeared, and we think they may be dead. We are so scared, so sad, that we don’t know what to do.”

Muska Hasj, 24, said she saw women surrender themselves to rampaging Serbs in efforts to protect their families.

“The Serbs were running through the streets with knives,” she said. “They took some women away, and others hid inside their homes hoping not to be taken. A few went without protesting. I think they had lost their minds.”

“I have no idea where we will go now or what we will do. We have been thrown out into the wild like forest creatures, but we are normal European people. I don’t understand how this could happen.”

U.N. Condemns Serbian Actions

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (By The New York Times) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, whose organization has led the relief effort in Bosnia, today used some of her toughest language yet in accusing the Bosnian Serbs of “ethnically cleansing” Srebrenica of its Muslim civilian population.

“It is inconceivable to me that the Bosnian Serbs can inflict such hardship on the people of Srebrenica — people who have already endured years of war and suffering,” Mrs. Ogata said. “This is one of the most blatant examples of ethnically motivated forced displacement we have seen yet in this war.”

Mrs. Ogata’s statement, issued here and in Geneva, referred to the “ruthless efficiency” with which the Bosnian Serbs were busing women, children and elderly people from Potocari, the United Nations base where thousands of refugees had fled, and detaining men and boys. Her criticism was echoed today by other humanitarian and human rights organizations.

National Day of the Armija Republic of Bosnia and Herzigovina ARBiH!

2013-04-15T17:34:00.001-07:00

Bosnian war time army symbol ARBiH

Today is the National Day of the Bosnian Army to recognize the formation of the ARBiH in the defense of BiH during the war.

The Bosnian Army was able to overcome incredible obstacles to defend Bosnia during the war. At various times they fought a multitude of enemies including...

HVO: Bosnian Croat Defense Council, nominal allies in 1992. In 1993 the relationship broke down between the ARBiH and most HVO units and open warfare began between these two armies in 1993 in Herzigovina. Some units of the HVO remained loyal to the ARBiH, mostly located around Bihac and Tuzla.

HV: Units of the Croatian Army moved into Herzigovina and fought actively against the ARBiH especially around mostar and the Lasava valley.

VRS: Army of the rebellious Serbian army that committed the vast majority of crimes in BiH.

RSK: Rebellious Serbian army operating in Croatia also battled the Bosnian army.

JNA: Openly attacked Bosnian army units and towns in 1992. They moved to more clandestine operations after that point but bankrolled the VRS including paying officers salaries and pensions of the VRS.

NO ZB: Rebellious Muslims loyal to Fikret Abdic engaged in open warfare against their Muslim brethren.

Bosnians should be proud of the way their army fought and prevented crimes in the territory under their control. Their commitment to a multi-ethnic society was admirable in the face of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Some photos from the ARBiH...

Sefer Halilovic

Jovan Divjak (highest ranking Serb in Bosnian army)

Midhat "Hujka" Hujdur

Izet Nanic and Atif Dudakovic, 5th corps, 505th (Buzim)

HVO, the Bosnian Army, and HOS

(captured flag)

(with US soldiers)

Atif Dudakovic

Mehmed Alagic and Atif Dudakovic

Bosnian Film Festival 2013 synopsis and reviews

2013-04-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

The 8th annual Chicago Festival of Bosnian-Herzigovinian Film was another smashing success for Bosnian cinema and proved once again that BiH is one of the best countries on earth for film making and filmmakers. Bosnia has a long rich tradition of film making that goes back a long time. Like everything in Bosnia it suffured during the war and has recently had a resurgence in film making in the country.

This years film festival had just the right mix of Documentaries, featured films, tears and laughs. Always interesting and always compelling it is impossible to sit and watch films for 10 hours, yet here I was glued to my seat and compelled to see every last one of them.

I am including besides the synopsis a short review and grading of the film on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest.

ESMA
Documentary. Director: Alen Drljevic. 2007. 26 minutes.

In 1995, during official negotiations inside a UN protected area in Zepa, the Bosnian Serb Army abducted Colonel Avdo Palic, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Army negotiator. As of then, begins the long search by his wife, Esma, for her missing husband.

The sad and compelling story of widow Esma Palic who has been searching for her husbands remains since he went missing while negotiating the surrender of the Eastern UN safe Area of Zepa after neighboring town Srebrenica fell and Genocide was committed in 1995. Avdo wanting to avoid the same fate for the people he was in charge, that befall the civilians of Srebrenica, Avdo agreed to negotiate the surrender of the enclave in person with Ratko Mladic. Mladic guaranteed his safety, yet when the negotiations were over Avdo was killed and dumped into a grave. The film shows Esma search for her husbands mortal remains and her search for justice. The story is a reminder of the injustice of the internationally community and the lack of regard for international law shown by the Bosnian Serbs. It also reminds you of the case of Bosnian Prime Minister Hakija Turajlic, who was pulled out of UN Armored Personnel carrier in front of French troops and shot dead. The French peacekeepers made no attempt to intervene except to allow the killers access to him and then to allow the killer to escape. No one has ever been held accountable for either case. Palic remains were found in 2001 but were never identified until 2009.

GRADE: 8.0

THE BRIDGE
Documentary. Director: Haris Bilajbegovic. 2010. 11 minutes.

Based on true events, this short film covers the story of a father forced to leave behind his son at a bridge never to see him again. Thirteen young men lost their lives on that ominous day.

A harrowing tale that was a reenactment of an incident from the start of the war when Bosnian Serb soldiers executed a group of men on a bridge, their only crime not being Serb.

GRADE: 7.0

THE WITNESS
Documentary. Director: Haris Bilajbegovic. 2012. 42 minutes.

“The Witness” is a visually powerful interpretation and dramatization of Raif Begic’s experience during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is a film about the bravery of a survivor who is not afraid to tell his story as a key witness at the Hague Tribunal as well as at the Superior Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska, later found guilty of war crimes.

The story of the courage of one survivor of another massacre on another bridge, a story and scenario repeated hundreds of times in the war in Bosnia, except this time someone survived and showed the courage to face his tormentors in the Hague.

GRADE: 7.0

A CELL PHONE MOVIE
Documentary. Director: Nedzad Begovic. 2011. 60 minutes.

A spontaneous, entertaining, and emotional ‘spy story’ of the director's daily routine. The author is searching for fields of artistic freedom within the limits of a cell phone. He, in fact, uses the ‘voice record’ option saving his daily telephone conversations. The idea is that the film is realized as expressly minimalistic, in elementary form, without regard to rules of classic film expression.

One of the best filmmakers in Bosnia pushes the boundaries of film making and makes a film with a cellphone. It raises the question of what is art and what will be considered film in the future.

GRADE: 5.0

MIRZA DELIBASIC - BASKETBALL LEGEND
Documentary. Director: Miro Benkovic, 2012. 85 minutes.

This is a story about the most successful Bosnian basketball player Mirza Delibašić. The film is an objective, but also intimate story about a man who marked the Bosnian sport scene. Besides archive footage, the film shows Mirza’s friends, people who knew him personally, and his family.

As a huge basketball fan and a fan of Mirza Delibasic this film left me with a lot of wanting in the end. Mirza had a compelling story and a compelling life but this left a lot to be desired. Poorly constructed and organized it was also poorly edited. It never told his story in any order and lacked cohesion and sequence. It was not worthy of the person or the story it was trying to tell.

GRADE: 3.0

THREE DAYS
Documentary. Director: Zdenko Jurilj, 2011. 81 minutes.

An hour and a half after midnight, on May 6^th 1991, the commander of the 4^th Cropus of JNA general-major Milovan Zorc received a secret dispatch from the supreme command in Belgrade (Serbia), where he was ordered to move a part of the 10^th Armoured mechanized brigade from Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and join it to the rest of the tank units in Sinj (Croatia). A long tank column, equipped with the battle shells and the soldiers draftees, who got the rifles and guns with live ammunition for the first time while being in the military service, set off in the early morning on May 7^th 1991 from Mostar towards Sinj. 15 kilometers away from Mostar, the tank column came across the kilometers long barricade formed out of civilians and heavy trucks and passenger cars. While the verbal conflicts were lasting, passing over in the commanding chain of JNA the information came to the frightened soldiers in the tanks, composed out of all of the nations from the territory of former Yugoslavia, who didn’t even know where and why they were actually heading with the live ammunition, that they would have to use the firearms for the first time. The films enters the innermost feelings of the people in the bureaucratic offices, enters the souls of the commanders, soldiers, civilians! Through the feature film scenes, authentic takes, statements, radio and newspaper reports, the film “3 Days,” shows the chaos, the suspense, the fears that dominated among the people from both sides of the barricades on the eve of the beginning of Yugoslavia’s falling apart.

One of the most interesting stories never told from the Bosnian war. The most interesting part was the sight of Bosnian Croats in one of the most Croat Nationalist town in Bosnia (Siroki Brijeg) cheering for and wanting to see Alija Izetbegovic. It really showed that the course of events before, during and after the war could have been much different.

GRADE: 9.0

SOME OTHER WORLD*
Documentary. Director: Mustafa Hadziibrahimovic & Naida Ribic, 2012. 59 minutes.

Is a documentary film conceived as an intimate portrayal of the Turkish Halilbeyli village and its residents. Halilbeyli is approximately 40 kilometers from the Turkish coastal city of Izmir. Besides the Turkish language, the majority of the 2,300 people living in the village also speak an old variant of the Bosnian language. Hallibeyli was founded by Bosniaks, predominantly from the Herzegovina region, who moved to the area during the 19^th century. To this day, the descendants of these settlers maintained their language, culture, and customs. They represent a time which has disappeared, or is slowly fading away. The movie depicts an authentic picture of the life of Turkish citizens whose roots are mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

An interesting story of Bosnians who fled BiH after the Ottoman Empire left and the Austro-Hungarian empire moved in at the turn of the 20th century. It raises the question of how to preserve identity in a changing world, especially with the young. It also begs the question of why so few Bosnians identify as such around the world in contrast to their neighbors the Serbs and Croats.

GRADE: 7.0

CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO
Feature. Director: Aida Begic, 2012. 82 minutes.

Rahima (23) and Nedim (14) are orphans of the Bosnian war. They live in Sarajevo, a transitional society that has lost its moral compass, including the way it treats orphans whose parents were killed fighting for the freedom of their city. After her crime-prone adolescent years, Rahima has found comfort in Islam and she hopes her brother will follow in her footsteps. Their life of bare survival becomes even more difficult after Nedim gets into a fistfight with the son of a local strongman and breaks his expensive mobile phone. This incident triggers a chain of events leading Rahima to the discovery that her brother leads a double life.

Another compelling feature film from young filmmaker Aida Begic. This film raises troubling questions of young people struggling in postwar Bosnia. It also raises questions about struggling poor here in the US and how they deal with it.

GRADE: 7.0

Letters to the Celestial Serbs Bosnian war Siege of Sarajevo book review

2013-03-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

I just read this book and it was excellent and eloquently written. A great read of a collection of short columns he has wrote.

Letters to the Celestial Serbs

Gojko Berić

Introduction by Ivan Lovrenović

As a columnist for Oslobodenj (Sarajevo’s acclaimed daily newspaper), Gojko Berić gained an international reputation for his grimly ironic yet passionate writing from the city under siege. Since then, as this eloquent selection of his recent writing demonstrates, he has continued to cast an unsparing gaze on the miseries and hypocrisies besetting postwar Bosnia, as well as its Croatian and Serbian neighbours. Mingling recollections of his country’s bitter past with comments on its bitter present, Letters to the Celestial Serbs contains many of the most memorable pages ever penned on wartime and postwar Bosnia, of which his extended essay on the historical role of Alija Izetbegović is exemplary.
Compelled by events – and Western policy – to confront the question ‘Am I a Serb?’, Berić never doubted that the real issues in Bosnia were political and ethical, not ‘ethnic’.
‘All these years, Serb nationalists have been sending me insulting letters: Will I ever stop saying that the Serbs are to blame for the war, stop talking about Serbian fascism and Serb atrocities? No, I won’t.’

About the Author(s)

Gojko Beric is one of Bosnia-Herzegovina's best-known commentators. In 1991 he became the first political columnist to be awarded the prestigious 6 April Prize, commemorating Sarajevo's 1945 liberation, and was voted Journalist of the Year by the Journalists' Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. Beric's wartime and post-war reports have been syndicated to newspapers worldwide. He has been published in Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Sweden and Poland.

Bosnia remembers former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic

2013-03-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Since tomorrow is the 10 anniversary of assassination of the former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, citizens of Travnik also remembered him, specially his school colleagues since he went to primary and secondary school in that Bosnian town. Mirsad Ibrisimbegovic said Djindjic was different from the others, very intelligent, use to read a lot and had the energy to change his society.

Ten years ago today, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated by a sniper at the entrance of the cabinet office in Belgrade, marking a tremendous blow to the fledgling process of democratization in Serbia. While the conspirators, including the sniper, were condemned in a court of law and are serving long prison sentences, the identity of those who ordered his killing remains unknown.
The story of Djindjic — a modern, pro-European, democratic leader and statesman — is emblematic of Europe’s post-communist transitions. He became a politician after having pursued a successful academic career as political philosopher. Returning to Serbia from Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he helped found the Democratic Party (DS) and became its leader in 1992. Vehemently opposed to Slobodan Milosevic’s regime during the period of Yugoslavia’s bloody civil war, he eventually won a peaceful election in 2000. He was the chief architect of a victory in which political parties, civil society, a democratic media, and — notably — the student movement Otpor all played key roles.
The Western Balkan states — the former Yugoslavia and Albania — were latecomers to the process of EU and NATO enlargement during the 1990s. For two years after taking office in 2001, Djindjic lost no time in launching a massive privatization effort, knowing that Serbia had to leave behind its statist command economy model as quickly as possible in order to attract foreign investment. He also assumed the reins of the political democratization process. Djindjic was keenly aware of the burden of the communist legacy on Western Balkan society. A collectivist spirit still overrode any sense of individualism. Paternalistic, authoritarian mindsets needed to be overturned. And a democratic political culture had to be progressively instilled through the reform of the state, its security services, and the military. Modernization, he understood, would be a Sisyphean task.
Djindjic moved boldly. Arresting Milosevic and sending him to the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a demonstration of his willingness to confront the most difficult issues head-on. Most importantly, in February 2003, Djindjic decided to tackle the urgent problem of a resolution to the Kosovo issue. He was fully aware that if left unresolved, Kosovo would become a millstone around Serbia’s neck on its path to democracy and European integration. But his efforts were cut short by his tragic death.
A decade later, Serbia finds itself exactly where Djindjic wanted it to be at the end of 2003, showing the extent to which his assassination slowed Serbia’s democratic reforms. It was only in 2008, with the election of a Democratic Party government under President Boris Tadic, that Serbia once again began to move forward more forcefully. Under Tadic’s leadership, the last of the 40-odd Serbs indicted by the ICTY — including Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic — were arrested. Just as importantly, talks were launched in 2011 between Belgrade and Pristina to begin resolving the Kosovo issue. Facilitated by the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, the talks have brought the two sides to the cusp of a historical compromise, one that would allow both to move forward on the path to EU integration. Despite its current travails, it appears the EU’s soft power is very much alive and active in the Western Balkans.
Zoran Djindjic, Serbia’s first democratically elected prime minister, was violently taken away from his family and his country ten years ago. But his vision of a democratic and European Serbia — and of a Balkan region within the EU — lives on. There could be no better testament to his legacy than for the region’s countries to maintain the momentum of integration by continuing to pursue reform policies, and for the EU to continue supporting these efforts.

Bosnia and Herzigovina independence celebration with Bosnian President Zeljko Komsic

2013-03-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

Bosnian President Zeljko Komsic was in Chicago to celebrate Bosnian independence with the expat community and to honor some guests who have helped Bosnia over the years. It was also a celebration of International Womans day, a under celebrated holiday for some reason in the US. It was great celebration that I had the honor to be a part of. Here is my speech...

First I would like to thank the President Zeljko Komsic for this great honor. Next I would like to thank Suad and the B&H Club for this wonderful invitation. I am humbled and honored to share the stage with these distinguished gentlemen. I want to thank everyone for coming tonight.

Bosnia and Herzigovina, the country has been reduced to one word. If you mention Bosnia to someone outside of the country, they most often think of war. The first thoughts I have are of the magical time of the Sarajevo Olympics, Tito and Brotherhood and Unity. Bosnia to me means a cultural tradition of building bridges best represented by the Stari-Most. We have a saying in our home “Build the Stari-Most, not the Berlin Wall” Building connections across ethnic, religious and cultural divides is why Bosnia is so special to me.

The second thought that goes through my mind is the saying “NEVER AGAIN!” Never again will we allow the horrors of WWII to be brought upon the earth, especially in Europe “NEVER AGAIN!” Yet, in the year 1992 here we were again. When Bosnia cried out “NEVER AGAIN” and waited for a response, the world turned its backs on them. I asked myself “WHY?” Why is this happening again, live and in color at the end of the 20^th century when we were supposed to move beyond this in our human development? These were blonde-haired, blue-eyed Europeans, couldn’t we have looked into the mirror and said “ENOUGH!” Stop this slaughter! The world responded by sending spoiled food, spoiled medicines and spoiled peacekeepers who were neither capable of keeping the peace nor protecting themselves, let alone an unarmed Bosnian populace. Why was the world silent in a deafening wave of human destruction that you could see every day? I believe if it was “Muslims” slaughtering “Christians” the war would have never been allowed to begin.

Bosnia is so much more than an adjective for war. Bosnia, the people, the beautiful land it occupies and Bosnia the ideal are all things that I cherish more than the air that I breathe. Why? Why would an American have such strong feelings towards a place so far away from home? People that visit and even people that come from Bosnia, fall into two camps. You love Bosnia or you hate it, there are few that have feelings that fall in between. Bosnia being at the epicenter of so much history, culture and traditions is both a blessing and a curse. Bosnia has witnessed some of the most memorable events of the 20th century. Let us not forget the history, the false idea that “they have been fighting for centuries. Starting with the Bogomils, Bosnia has been a symbol of peace, tolerance and mutual understanding. The most obvious example is the The Ahdnama of Faith, oldest Human Rights Declaration in history, written in 1463 which states:

“LET NOBODY BOTHER OR DISTURB THOSE WHO ARE MENTIONED, NOT THEIR CHURCHES. LET THEM DWELL IN PEACE IN MY EMPIRE. AND LET THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME REFUGEES BE SAFE. LET THEM RETURN AND LET THEM SETTLE DOWN THEIR MONASTERIES WITHOUT FEAR IN ALL THE COUNTRIES OF MY EMPIRE.”

Let’s not forget this uniquely Bosnian tradition, which brought the Sarajevo Hagaddah to its final resting place. How did a Jewish manuscript of immeasurable value end up in Sarajevo in the first place? That is an easy answer, because the Jews of Europe, threatened with torture and extinction found a safe place where they could co-exist, the Muslim Bosnia, escaping their Christian torturers. That is Bosnia the ideal, not only an ideal but a tradition of tolerance, peaceful existence and mutual understanding where friendship and love can bloom and history be rewritten.

Bosnia the land is the easiest to explain, the natural beauty of the water that springs from the side of mountains and rivers that sparkle emerald green. From the lush hills and deep river valleys and mountains, there are few other beauties in the world like Bosnia. Towns like Jajce, Pocitelj, Trebenje, Sarajevo, Stolac, Mostar and too many others to mention. I remember seeing a poster on Zeljo Stadium about 10 years ago proclaiming “What is more beautiful Bosnia or her people?” I am still trying to decide. There is the natural beauty of Bosnia and there is the beauty of traditions, the call of the mosque, the Stari Most Bridge, the Olympics, Sarajevo’s town hall, Bascarsija and so many others.

It is fitting that these are the people that occupy the heart shaped country in the heart of Europe. I could tell you a hundred stories of the immeasurable kindness Bosnians have shown me both here and in Bosnia. The hospitality, the friendships, the closeness that I feel; its love. Love not because I was born with the same mother, or father. Love born of acts of kindness and care rarely seen in the world. The attention paid when one tells a story, listens and care shown when you talk. I am not the only one who feels this way, I have heard these stories from internationals that came for the Olympics, Medjurgorje or came because of the war and fell in love with the people. This kind of love is born in traditions, in kindness in a shared humanity, bonds stronger than those of random luck.

I have seen it and felt it in my friends like the Kabil family from Sarajevo Edin, Midhat and Envera who have become closer to me than my own flesh and blood. Midhat, an ophthalmologist by profession, regularly performed emergency surgeries often without medicines on bodies torn apart by war. His premature death was a direct result of his wartime occupation. Midhat’s death was not only a terrible loss for his family, but for all of humanity. He would always scold me like a parent; in a kind way “you always talk about Bosnia and always forget about Herzigovina”. His care and attention when we talked was like no other, I felt loved and cared for like a son. His wife Envera who volunteered during the war to defend Bosnia as a sniper but was told her job as a school teacher was more important. To this day I think of her as a mother. Then there is my dear brother Edin, who I have grown up with, respect deeply for his courage, his faith, and his convictions. He may not be right 100% of the time, but he is convinced he is 100% of the time. An unusual conversation a few years ago after covering every topic known to man was the war and what we thought 15 years later. He said to me he was happy for the war, not because war was good or he was happy it happened. But that it gave him the life he knows, the depth of understanding that he has and a perspective on life that few people on earth possess. It also brought him friendships and experiences he could never replace and people he could never forget.

Then there are my friends Abdullah, a Bosnian Serb who fought and defended Bosnia as a teenager. Abdullah, I have grown to consider him a dear friend and someone who is one of the most interesting people in the world. His story would be the stuff of legends if ever chose to reveal it. He exemplifies the complexity and beauty that is the Bosnian spirit, never easy to define or explain his life, his existence is an excellent example of Bosnia’s rich tapestry.

My friend Alan a British volunteer who flew helicopters for the Bosnian Government before the war, spent the next 18 months fighting for the ARBiH in Dobrinja, he has never asked a thing for, never sought the recognition, the honor he deserved for being one of the few westerners to defend Bosnia in her darkest hour. Alan loves Bosnia as much as I do, he knows what it feels to have chosen to be Bosnian. These are the people that have made Bosnia so special to me, them and so many others. I want to thank you and everyone who contributed to making Bosnia the amazing place and ideal that it is today.

I do have one request however, Bosnia needs your help. Bosnia the mother which gave birth to some of the most special people on this planet is in need of service. Bosnia needs active, energetic people who are willing to spend just 15 minutes a week to help keep her in the front of people’s minds. Bosnia needs people of service at a time when the Sarajevo museums are getting shuttered and the political process stagnates. I implore everyone to spend 15 minutes a week helping Bosnia, doing volunteer work. Fund a project, start a project, write a diplomat here or abroad. Talk to your friends about Bosnia, bring a friend to Bosnia. Help a Bosnian family struggling here in the US or back home. When an American who knows nothing about the country asks you about your name or were you are from, don’t give him the short answer, even though you have told your story 1,000 times. Take the time for Bosnia, for her victims, for her future generations to share what has happened, what is happening and what needs to happen in the future. No one should act surprised if we do not act in service to keep moving Bosnia forward towards a more stable, peaceful future. Thank you for taking the time today to listen; Bosnia has been the greatest gift ever given to me and that is why at every chance given, I share her with the world. Thank you.

An invitation to meet Zeljko Komsic and to celebrate Bosnian Independence in Chicago!

2013-03-02T17:47:00.001-08:00

An invitation to meet Zeljko Komsic (pictured) and to celebrate Bosnian Independence in Chicago!
Here is a chance to meet the great Bosnian hero Zeljko Komsic and meet and great Bosnians and their supporters and celebrate Bosnian independence day!

Saturday, March 9, 2013. 6:00 pm until 1:00 pm.

BH club Chicago celebrates the day of independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Women Day Celebration

Guests of the evening:

Zeljko Komsic - member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Master Haris Alibasic - President KBSA

Prof Ibrahim Vajzovic - St Louis

Chris Mathieu - A journalist and member of the expert team for the Research of Genocide - Milwaukee

Guests of the evening entertainment program

Ferid Avdic
Edis Mujčinović
Samir Melkić

Information and sales:

Nusret 773-338-8524

Darko 773-699-8173

Safet 773-841-9494

Bosnia video 773-275-8281

Admission $ 60 includes dinner and soft drinks

All visitors are kindly requested to come half an hour early because the academy starts exactly at 6:00 pm

Saturday, March 9, 2013

6:00pm until 1:00am

BH cub Chicago obiljezava proslavu dana nezavisnosti Bosne i Hercegovine i proslavu dana zena

Gosti veceri:

Zeljko Komsic - clan Predsjednistva Bosne i Hercegovine

Magistar Haris Alibasic - predsjednik KBSA

Prof.Dr. Ibrahim Vajzovic - St Louis

Chris Mathieu - Novinar i clan medjunarodnog ekspertnog tima za istrazivanje genocida - Milwaukee

Gosti veceri u zabavnom dijelu programa

Ferid Avdic
Edis MUjcinovic
Samir Melkic

Informacije i prodaja:

Nusreta 773-338-8524

Darko 773-699-8173

Safet 773-841-9494

Bosna video 773-275-8281

Ulaz $60 ukljucena vecera i bezalkoholna pica

Mole se svi posjetioci da dodju pola sata ranije jer akademija pocinje tacno u 6:00pm

Balkan absolutism and the reality of extremist ideals and reality in Bosnia and Herzigovina today

2013-02-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

Balkan absolutism and the reality of extremist ideals and reality in Bosnia and Herzigovina today.

I had a friend years ago, during a dinner conversation tell me that she was a huge fan of turbo-folk and specifically star Ceca Raznatovic. I found this odd since she came from a prominent Bosnian family who suffered greatly (like all Bosnians during the war). She said, don’t tell anyone because she would be quite embarrassed by this revelation.

While at the Bulls game on Wednesday night I mentioned that NBA veteran Vladimir Radmanovic is from Bosnia and Herzigovina. I was surprised by the strong beliefs and words that came from this declaration. Some claimed that he isn’t Bosnian because he claims no connection to it, others said that you can’t change were you are born no matter your ethnicity or claims making it undone. It led to a friend saying this to me “We need to give support to all Bosnian born, even if they identify themselves as something else. That's the only way to let everyone feel wanted and welcomed as Bosnians. I believe that us Bosniaks sometimes make mistake to alienate the ones that "don't feel Bosnian" too fast. Sometimes people just need some time. I remember times when Sasa Papac refused to acknowledge Bosnian anthem, later he became a bigger patriot than any one of the players on the team."

This led me to ponder the problems facing Bosnia today and since it’s dissolution in 1991 and rebirth, post war Dayton era. Too many people identify only along ethno patriotic lines. Bosnians who fled before or during the war, went abroad aren’t the same as the “patriots” who stayed and defended BiH. Serbs who stayed in Sarajevo and defended BiH aren’t real Serbs. Zeljko Kosmsic who fought for a united, unitary Bosnian State isn’t a true Croat because he doesn’t represent extremist, separatist Croat interests. The list goes on and on with the poet Ivo Andric, The filmmaker Emir Kusturica, just scratches the surface. Emir is a particularly interesting case, he was Sarajevo born and raised of Muslim parents. When the war broke out he fled to Serbia, some Sarajevans responded by ransacking his apartment which led him to declare himself not a Bosnian at all and swear that he would never return to Sarajevo for any reason.

The question is why? Why just because someone declares it as so do we have to respond in a way that legitimizes what they declare to be true even if it isn’t. If others can declare themselves NOT to be Bosnian, can I then declare myself TO be Bosnian because I feel as such? Well I don’t consider myself Bosnian, yet at the same time I do. I wasn’t born there; I have no blood relations to it. Yet, I feel connected to Bosnia and her people in a way that has made me feel a part of the Bosnian experience, both the good and the bad. It doesn’t make me less American of French and German descent. It just enriches my experience in life, to be a part of something bigger than you, to know something intimately and to understand as few others do inside or outside of the country makes you a part of it I believe. To fall in love with Bosnia the people, the landscape and most of all, the ideal.

It happens in every way, in every walk of life in Bosnia, sports stars who end up playing for Croatia or Serbia even though they have origins in BiH aren’t treated the same as the Bosnians who play for Slovenia or Turkey. They are forgotten by the patriotic leaders of the new divided and conquered BiH. The players are forgotten about by their fellow countrymen and not written about unless it is as some foreigner, in a strange and exotic land.

Bosnian patriotic leaders have their rise to power and prominence due to the fact the country remains isolated and divided since the war. It is estimated that 600,000 Bosnians fled the war and never returned. Many have gone on to establish new lives, new careers all around the globe. Many are the top of their professions and have been successful beyond their wildest dreams, or anything close to what they could become in Bosnia. Many young Bosnians either too young to remember the war or born after it began, have too established themselves. Bosnian officials have made no effort to reintegrate them back into the population. Many who have returned have found their path to success in Bosnia blocked by bureaucratic officials who owe their position to their military rank during the war, their family connections or political affiliation and little else.

The divide and conquer approach to post war Bosnia is both a symptom of the problem and the cause. At the same time it is the result of the war, of people who don’t identify with a weak divided state. It weakens the state at the same time it empowers the powers that be inside BiH and who benefit from such a fractured society.

Bosnia genocide deniers need to be treated like Nazi apologists! Stop war crimes apologists and deniers!

2013-01-31T06:44:00.001-08:00

Bosnian Community in Dallas/Fort Worth area has been deeply disturbed after it was notified that Mr. Michael Parenti will be a guest speaker at the Lone Star College in Kingwood, Texas.
As all Americans, we appreciate the freedom of speech, but are rightfully upset and horrified that Mr. Parenti, who openly denies genocide in Bosnia, will be allowed to speak on this subject as a self-proclaimed expert. It is unfortunate that he can "educate" others and deny that rapes, ethnic cleansing, and organized crimes against humanity took place in our beloved Bosnia. We, as American Bosnians, have suffered enough, and will not tolerate that people such as Mr. Parenti continue to damage our reputation and deny that such brutalities took place. They unfortunately did. It was proven in the Highest International Court for War Crimes in Hague. It still hurts and as the time goes on it will continue to be a wound that will bleed for those that were killed, tortured, raped, displaced and to those that to this day live with emotional scars that will most likely never heal. Our community will not stand silent as this is an insult to a rather bleeding and fresh injury. Many Bosnians have found their second home in Texas after we were ethnically cleansed from our homes in Bosnia; finding our peace here we learned to love Texas as our own second home. Knowing that Mr. Parenti decided to come to this state deeply affected us. The letter was sent to Dr. John J. Theis at the Lone Star College asking him to reconsider this decision to host Mr. Parenti as a guest speaker. The letter was distributed between many Bosnians that live in this area as well as Houston area and were urged to send the same letter to Dr. Theis asking the same.
Our cultural organization "Ljiljan" that strives to preserve our cultural heritage as well as our history has also been made aware of this incident. The same letter was published on its website and Facebook page. The organization urged all friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina to take part in this action asking Dr. Theis to stop spreading lies about our history by allowing the speaker to take the stage. We have yet to receive an answer from Dr. Theis on his decision, but are confident, as proud Texans, that he will change his mind after he learns the facts and not allow the event to take place.

Bosniak Association Lily
Dallas/Fort Worth TX

Here are contact people to protest what is being done and said...

here is the link to his web site - http://www.michaelparenti.org/events.html and if you wish you can send an e-mail John.J.Theis@lonestar.edu

Lone Star College, the president is Katherine Persson. Her email address is Katherine.Persson@lonestar.edu

Newton, Child Massacres, war in Bosnia and the Siege of Sarajevo

2013-01-10T14:05:00.001-08:00

The tragedy in Newton which saw 20 small innocent children and 6 heroes that tried to defend them massacred grabbed the attention of the nation, if only for a brief moment. Like all other massacres in America, we were too quick to grieve, lay teddy bears, and tell stories to console ourselves about the hero’s in this story and move on to the next crisis and condemn the memories to the past and move onto our daily routines.

I have a four year old son, Dejan. The thought of someone laying waste to 20 small innocent lives, riddling their little bodies with bullets and leaving them to suffer and die struck me particularly hard. I know the tragedy isn’t about me or my feelings about this terrible slaughter, it is about the families devastated by what happened and what we as Americans plan to do about such a tragedy, to attempt to prevent something like this from happening again in the future.

I have heard a lot about God, Religion and guns in relation to what happened. God is there to provide comfort for those who lost soo much, potentially everything they lived for, swept up in the madness that consumed this small town. God can provide the families comfort, perhaps. What he cannot do is find reason for the slaughter; God doesn’t kill children to prove messages about prayer in schools, gun control or mental illness. If you think that God did this because he wanted those kids in his kingdom you are more disturbed than the shooter himself. People don’t need to be comforted, they need to be outraged, outraged enough to demand change. Too quick to move on from this tragedy to the next and nothing is learned and nothing is proven and nothing will change. It makes the cycle of life and our time on earth pointless if we are not reflecting, developing as the human race and attempting to make the world a better place for all to live in.

The first time I walked into my son’s school after the tragedy, the day after the shooting. I heard the sound of little children’s laugher, oblivious to 20 human lives they shared so much in common so far away from them, thank goodness I told myself that it was unlikely they would ever have to experience such carnage in person. I broke down when I saw my sons teacher, crying I thanked her for the kindness and caring she provided for not only my son but all the children in her school. I realized that teachers love their children and what they do, in a day in age when we often treat public educators as a hindrance instead of an asset the realization that likely your child’s teacher too would sacrifice their own lives to protect the lives of their pupils, that they deserve more respect than they receive. I cried as I thanked her and the principle for the care and security which they provide, we give them our most precious gifts and yet we rarely take the time to appreciate what they do for us. The vitriol with which we attack educators in this country is appalling but that story is for another day.

I tried not to dwell too much on the details of what happened in Newton, CT and the endless cycle of coverage but my reaction was different than what I expected. I thought about all those children’s lives lost during the war in Bosnia, a war that started over 20 years ago and ended less than 5 years later. I thought about the endless cycle of massacres often directed, intentionally at children. From people waiting in lines to get bread and water in Sarajevo to children playing in parks, children were massacred on a daily basis. Sometimes like Markale I and II massacres that were covered heavily, while others like the children playing in a playground in Dobrinja to the endless cycle of sniper attacks were hardly ever mentioned. As soon as the story hit the papers, the outrage faded and so did the care about what was happening in Bosnia. The worst single massacre of children may have taken place in Tulza in 1995 when 71 people were killed and 240 wounded mostly young kids and young adults who were gathering and enjoying the day, being young and in love. The outrage was swift and concise, yet there was no video and it caused no change in the ineffectual UN policy which continued as is. The death of all these children still wasn’t enough to cause a change. A friend of mine survived a massacre of children playing in Sarajevo when the Serbs lobbed mortar rounds at a group of kids playing in Dobrinja, many of her friends weren’t so lucky.

A friend who fought in the Bosnian war walked by the same group of kid’s everyday on his way to the frontlines. One time after talking and walking past the group of kids sledding, he got about two blocks away when a mortar round landed on those kids. He ran back to the scene, tried to help one of the young girls mortally wounded who he had just been talking to minutes before. She laid their motionless, when he tried to help her up, her brain fell out of her head, an image he will never be able to get out of his head, and she was about 7 years old. My passion for Bosnia is partially driven by the lack of justice given to the victims by so much of the world after so much tragedy, trying to make up what they were never given, acknowledgment of their suffering and attention to it in an attempt, unlike what happened after WWII, that this time we will not allow it to happen to them again and we will not forget.

Scenes like that and the Newton classrooms, if people actually saw what it looked like to see classrooms with little bodies stacked up like wood, skid marks of blood trails as wounded children tried to pull themselves to safety and bloody handprints as they tried to get help for themselves and their wounded friends. If people actually saw these images instead of Facebook fake roadside velvet paintings of Jesus comforting those children while holding them in his arms, then maybe we could make a change.

Instead we are treated lunatics like Alex Jones spewing nonsense about suicide, homicide pills, 9-11 being an inside job and that the government of the US is a bunch of jack booted thugs (a comparison Osama Bin Laden would love if he was still alive today)…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1d5UhNnp1Y

War Photo Limited a must see for visitors to Dubrovnik, Croatia and must have photo books for all!

2013-01-05T13:25:00.001-08:00

War Photo Limited a must see for visitors to Dubrovnik, Croatia and must have photo books for all!

War Photo Limited operates a gallery in the scenic Croatian Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. What these exhibits bring is stark reality that most people never get to experience in their lifetime.

I was fortunate enough to see Ron Haviv’s Blood and Honey exhibit when I was there in 2005 and was even luckier to stumble across their website that features photographers and exhibits focusing not only on the Balkans but other trouble spots such as Chechnya, Palestine and conflict hotspots from around the globe.

The site features exhibits, upcoming exhibits, limited edition photos and very reasonably priced photography books.

A link to their website…

http://www.warphotoltd.com/

Some of the 11 books available include…

BROKEN LIGHTS

of yugoslavia

photographs and text by Emmanuel Ortiz

A journey through the wars that broke

the republics, broke the communities and

broke the people of the former Yugoslavia.

Emmanuel starts in Croatia visiting the

frontlines in eastern Slavonija and the

besieged city of Dubrovnik. War later

breaks out in Bosnia, Ortiz’s coverage of

Mostar, Bihaæ and the capital, Sarajevo

journeys through the lives both civilian and

combatants, their hardships, their loss.

Then on to Kosovo and its neighbouring

countries that accommodated hundreds of

thousands of expelled and fleeing Kosovo

Albanians seeking refuge from Serb security

forces.

Published in Croatia in 2012 by

War Photo Limited

ISBN:978-953-7904-00-5

Photography | © Emmanuel Ortiz

100 pages, 23.5 x 23.5

100,00 kn - 14.00 €

to place an order contact us at

info@warphotoltd.com

The Scars of David

Jan Grarup

Grarup’s exhibit “The Scars of David” brings

together his award winning work from Israel

and Palestine; “The boys from Ramallah”, a

glimpse into the lives of the Palestinian youth

of the west bank town of Ramallah and “The

boys from Hebron”, a similar look at the youth

of the Israeli settlement town of Hebron.

Grarups work questions the extreme

pressure applied on the youth by violence

and fear that surrounds them. He provides

us with an insight into the conditioning of a

population at a very young age, for a conflict

that is being pass through the generations.

Published in Croatia in 2005 by

War Photo Limited

Photography | © Jan Grarup

Forward by Jan Grarup

72 pages,

BLOOD & HONEY

Photographs by Ron Haviv

Of the thousands of photographs that

emerged from the wars in the former

Yugoslavia, Ron Haviv’s stand out as a

unique record. From the first outbreak

of war in 1991 to the recent turmoil in

Kosovo, Haviv produces images that

depicted both the urgency and the

tragedy of war.

Published in Croatia in 2010 by

War Photo Limited

ISBN: 978-953-55109-4-9

Photography | © Ron Haviv

Forward by Alison Morley

64 pages, 82 color images

100,00 kn - 14.00 €

Harun Mehmedinovic's masterpiece comes to you in bookform Blood and Honey is spectacular!

2012-11-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

Harun Mehmedinovic new coffee table book is worthy of the famous Balkan saying Balkan means blood and honey and this book by one of Bosnias best artists carries on the great tradition of Bosnian artists. You can contribute to the publishing of his photographs and recieve a great reward in return...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harun/bloodhoney-seance-a-book-of-photos-and-stories

A coffee table book of photographs and stories of people who escaped their daily lives and went on an adventure

Launched:Nov 8, 2012
Funding ends:Dec 16, 2012
Remind me

Remind Me

ORIGINS OF THE BLOODHONEY* PROJECT
I began taking photographs as a hobby ten years ago, during my studies at UCLA. Twice a year I would drive from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. and back, along Route 40, photographing landscapes. It was a way to disconnect from the daily grind, have a rare moment of solitude, and re-charge for the following six months. This process would later influence my approach to the Bloodhoney* project.
During my travels around the film festival circuit, I met old friends – some of whom I hadn’t seen in many years. Many were rooted in a 9-5 existence, living highly structured, stressful lives. They rarely, if ever, engaged in creative or artistic endeavors. Instead of going to a coffee shop, I proposed that they take a day off, pick a place that has meaning to them, and choose clothes in which they feel like themselves. That was the starting point. From there the idea was to improvise; spontaneity was to be at the heart of the process.

"The Eternal Youth" with Suzana Ognjanovic

Initially, most of the subjects were bored or frustrated. They asked me to give them instructions and wondered what they were doing there. Slowly, their minds began to let go, and they started doing what they felt like: jumping, climbing, wielding props, and taking risks. It felt almost like a return to childhood, physicality took over and the camera was there to capture the energy of the moment, telling a story.
These "séances" sometimes went on for 10-15 hours. They included long hikes through mountains, head-on collisions with hail and snow, walks through swamps and lakes, and quite a few mosquito bites and bruises.

"Waiting for Spring" with Amanda Deprez

The experience of the day was most important, not the resulting images. You could never predict what would come of it, and the idea was to let go and let things come together by circumstance. This is very opposite of the ideas of safety and caution that we are bombarded with by the current society. Although the idea of being in front of the camera while letting go may seem uncomfortable, after these "séances," just about every subject wanted to keep going or do it again. Each shoot was its own unique adventure. The rush of adrenaline and the feeling of being a child again, uninhibited no matter how silly or dangerous, proved to be liberating.

"Passion is a Dance with Fire" with Katherine

I called the project "Bloodhoney" in reference to the Balkans, the region I am from. It is a combination of two Turkish words: Bal, meaning “honey” and Kan, meaning “blood.” The name refers to the bittersweet nature of life, the moments of beauty and the sublime spontaneously captured in the photographs.
THE BOOK

"Seance" book cover concept design

Séance will be a 12x12'' 140-page full-color hardcover book when it’s completed, but this will only happen with your support!
Photographs from the Bloodhoney* project will be presented in 12x8'', 18x12'' and 24x12'' formats throughout the book, along with stories about the séances and the people featured in them.

The book will be a Limited Edition release of 500 copies, and each copy will be dated, numbered, and signed by the author.
Given the large dimensions, volume and print quality requirements, this type of a "coffee table" photo book is fairly expensive to print. In order to print only the first 200 copies, cover the shipping, taxes and additional fees, it will cost roughly $15,000. If this Kickstarter campaign raises funds beyond that, the amount of copies will be increased accordingly, until the Limited Edition run of 500 copies is reached.

REWARDS
$10 - Digital Copy of the Book & High Quality Computer Desktop Wallpaper Photo

$25 - Digital Copy of the Book & signed 12x8'' (30x20cm) Photo Print

$50 - One copy of the Limited Edition Book (signed and numbered by the author) & Digital Copy of the Book

$100 - One copy of the Limited Edition Book (signed and numbered by the author) & Digital Copy of the Book & signed 24x16'' (61x40cm) Photo Print

$150 - Two copies of the Limited Edition Book (signed and numbered by the author) & Digital Copy of the Book & Two signed 24x16'' (61x40cm) Photo Prints & Your name in the Thank You section of the book (This award can be adjusted to One copy of the Limited Edition book and three 24x16 prints, per wishes of the backer)

$200 - Two copies of the Limited Edition Book (signed and numbered by the author) & Digital Copy of the Book & signed 36x24'' (91x61cm) Photo Print & Your name in the Thank You section of the book (This award can be adjusted to One copy of the Limited Edition Book and Two signed 36x24'' Photo Prints, per wishes of the backer)

$500 - Three copies of the Limited Edition Book (signed and numbered by the author) & Digital Copy of the Book & Three signed 40x30'' (102x76cm) Photo Prints & Your name in the Thank You section of the book

$1000 - Four copies of the Limited Edition Book (signed and numbered by the author) & Digital Copy of the Book & signed 60x40'' (152x102cm) Limited Edition Photo Print ($2000 value) & Your name in the Thank You section of the book & You get to experience and become a part of the Bloodhoney* project with a commissioned shoot!
* All photo prints will be images of your choice (please choose from the selection of photographs featured on this page)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I spent my childhood in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a city that was under siege for nearly four years. Upon the conclusion of the Bosnian War in 1996, I moved to the United States and began working as a freelance designer.
I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where I studied screenwriting and theater directing. In 2007, I received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film Directing from the American Film Institute.
My thesis film, In the Name of the Son, premiered at Telluride Film Festival and won over thirty international awards, including Shanghai, Savannah, and Cleveland film festivals. It was the first live action short film to receive an exclusive screening for the members of United States Congress on Capitol Hill. In 2009, In the Name of the Son qualified for an Academy Award in Live Action Short Film category, and became one of only forty films to be considered for the award.
Bloodhoney* photographs have been exhibited internationally and featured by publications including Vogue Italia and the Los Angeles Times.
PROJECT LINKS
Official Website: http://www.bloodhoney.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/blood.honey.by.harun.mehmedinovic
SELECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS FEATURED IN THE BOOK

"Moments Before the Storm" with Zhanna Rozenbaum

"The Eternal Youth" with Suzana Ognjanovic

"In the Golden Hour" with Sanja Lukac

"All Quiet in the Meadow" with Morgan Ray Kean

"The Spirit" with Murielle Zuker

"Man Invented the Wheel to Conquer the Sun" with Val Morrison

"A Dance in the Temple of Light" with Natalie Kay

"Alice at Dawn" with Zhanna Rozenbaum

"Dance of the Hōrae" with Zhanna Rozenbaum

"She Brings the Rain" with Katherine

"Waiting For Blackfoot to Hunt the Buffalo" with Shelley Leung

"Autumn Wakes the Inner Child" with Anjali Hemphill

"Longing for Summer" with Mary Denman

"Zen in the Eye of the Storm" with Sean Stone

"Tilting at Windmills" with Amanda Deprez

"Liberty Walks Alone" with Ruckika Mandhyan

"A Postcard from a Shepard's Play" with Carrie Moore

"A Place Where Time Once Stopped" with Carrie Moore

"An Afternoon at Point Dume" with Josef Malonzo

59) Bosnia twenty years later a story of loss from Slatina

2012-08-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

SLATINIA VILLAGE

1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent? What town and what location in the town?

I was seven years old and leaving my first grade class to go home. Some of my friends were telling me that I should hurry home, there was a war coming. I had no idea what this meant. When I got home I wanted to do my homework but my mom said there was no need, I wouldn't be attending school the next day. I was confused and scared.

2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out, specifically?

I was in my home that I shared with my mother, two younger sisters and grandparents. My father was away, I did not know where at the time. We were huddled in the hallway of the lower level of our house. The windows were boarded up. I remember asking my mom if she knew whether a bullet could penetrate the walls.

3) Where were you when the war came to your town? Were you at home, relatives, friends, work?

We were in our home for many days, I don't know exactly. At one point my mother opened the small bathroom window to see if the neighbors were still in their home and realized that we were one of the few families that had not left the village yet. We got a ride from someone into town but my grandparents refused to leave their home. We had to leave them behind. We stayed at a hotel in town, sharing the dining room floor with what seemed like hundreds of people who were in the same situation as us.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?

There were many, but this is one I often replay in my head; it was late in the night when we heard grenades falling, everything shook. My mother told me to run to a friend's house that had a basement and she would be behind with my sisters. I ran on my own through the night with all my might. Whistling noises of the grenades seemed to surround me, and I wondered if I was a good enough person to be spared.

5) What made you hopeless during the war?

I kept thinking that somewhere, someone must have seen the movies the reporters were filming and that eventually we would be saved. The day never came.

6) What gave you hope during the war?

My mother. She was brave and never let us see her fear.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?

I lost my youngest sister who was three and a half years old. I watched her die as my mother carried her in her arms as we ran to the hospital. A grenade fell in front of our home. She was the only one killed, many were injured.

Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded? Anyone close to you wounded?

I was wounded. I was grazed by pieces of shrapnel on my neck, wrist, chest and toes. They were not serious injuries.

9) Your biggest loss during the war was?

My sister. My innocence. My family that seems to be falling apart.

10) What was the hardest part about the war?

Not having a normal childhood.

11) Did you leave the country during the war?

We left the country in 1993 and ended up in Gasinci Refugee Camp where we reunited with my father.

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?

I have no opinion. I am still confused.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?

For me, better. I am in Canada where I feel safe.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?

Not likely.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?

I think it will take another country ruling our people to make things somewhat right. Right now it is being run by ass holes that have learned nothing. The country is full of corruption.

A response to James Bissetts racists comments on Srebrenica and a plea for action against CTV News

2012-07-12T14:00:00.003-07:00

A response to the shameful explanation by the Former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia James Bissett on Canadian Television as to why the Srebrenica Genocide and the War in Bosnia occurred.

James Bissett explains why there was so little action in the west in the face of atrocities during the war in Bosnia. Although mandate after mandate was set, yet ignored by the international community. The illegal UN arms embargo created a clear advantage to the Bosnian Serb VRS and Bosnian Croat HVO who could rely on an endless supply of weapons and ammunition.

In addition, Many power brokers both out in the open and behind the scenes, like Yushi Akashi, Boutros Boutros Gali and General McKenzie openly and clearly sided with the Bosnian Serbs following in the treacherous footsteps of Margaret Thatcher and Lawrence Eagleburger who clearly favored the strongest (militarily) and largest population group in the Balkans, which happened to be the Serbs.

Bissett’s explanation that America was responsible for the war in Bosnia is reprehensible and is just a repeat of what Serb apologists claim. While nearly the entire international community openly recognizes that almost sole responsibility for the wars that consumed Yugoslavia belongs to the Serbs. A CIA report covered in the book “Balkan Battlegrounds” show that through an extensive review of the war the Serbs were responsible for over 90% of crimes committed in Bosnia during the war.

Bissett claims that for Bosnian Serbs what happened in Srebrenica is controversial, claiming that Bosniaks during the breakout “fought their way across” to free Bosnian territory is an outright lie not backed by any facts and is completely inaccurate. Yes, the Bosnian Army’s 28^th division led one of three main groups out of Srebrenica, but to claim they fought their way out is way off base. Ambushes, choke points and artillery and tanks were laid out all the way along the path and there was no fighting except at the eventual breakout point across to Bosnian territory. Almost all men were unarmed and carried no extra ammunition for their small arms. The idea that he purports that this was soldiers fighting is just another ridiculous account of blaming the victims and a repeat of Karadzic’s lies made up after the fact that those killed in Srebrenica were soldiers who died in fighting. When in fact it has been proven that they were bussed, herded into collection points, executed, buried then reburied in order to hide their crimes. There is no controversy over what happened in Srebrenica happened in cold blood, the facts have been established over and over again for 17 years except in the minds of racist nationalists and their apologists, like Bissett, around the globe.

Bissett’s claim that Tuzla was a “Muslim stronghold” is another use of words to obscure the truth. Tuzla was the one and only truly multi-ethnic city still left in Bosnia during the war. He purposefully uses the terms “Muslim stronghold” in order to raise fear among westerners and makes an attempt to tie Bosnian Muslims to Muslim extremists which helps to back up racist Serbian stereotypes of why they started the war in the first place.

His claim that “roughly the same percentages” of Bosnians and Serbians died during the war are widely inaccurate. Most Bosnian Muslims killed were civilians, most Bosnian Serbs killed were soldiers and relatively few Bosnian Croats died during the war.

Bissett’s further claims that Srebrenica was used as a base to raid Serbian villages has also been found to be untrue by the international courts. The Bosnians were starving and the Serbian villages nearby were chocked full of food and guarded by civilian defense forces who were heavily armed. The claim that 3,000 Serbian civilians were killed around Srebrenica is also an outright lie. While it is true that some Serbians died in that region, almost all were from combat both around Srebrenica, but also with the Serbian VRS across Bosnia. It has been established that fewer than 400 Serbian civilians died around Srebrenica during the war.

His claim that the US started the war mixes two stories; the referendum on independence being defeated is incorrect. There was a referendum and almost all voted for independence (most Serbs did boycott this referendum). Also there was an agreement to work on a loose confederation of States in the early 1990’s but once Slovenia and Croatia pulled out of these negotiations, it was dead, as Bosnians knew that meant Serbian domination of Bosnia and rump Yugoslavia.

The claim of Serbs not wanting to live under “Sharia law” is another example of Bissett trying to place fear in the minds of westerners and conjure up images of Iraq, Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden.

In the end he spends less than a minute of the interview talking about what happened in Srebrenica the next five minutes making excuses for what the Serbs did.

Please contact this network and point out what he said was wrong, factually inaccurate, racist and has no place in a discussion on the Genocide that was committed in Srebrenica by the Serbs against Bosnian Muslims.

A link to the original story is located here...
http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=719120&playlistId=1.874808&binId=1.810401&fb_source=message

Contact CTV News!

CTV News

To help direct your e-mails to the right department, please choose one of the following options:

CTVNews.ca team: newsonline@ctv.ca
CTV News: news@ctv.ca
CTV News Channel: newschannel@ctv.ca
CTV Medical Report: health@ctv.ca
Canada AM: Read the CanadaAM FAQ or email am@ctv.ca
W5: Read the W5 FAQ or email w5@ctv.ca
Consumer Alert segment on CTV News: alert@ctv.ca

If you wish to send in news-related photos and videos, please visit CTV's MyNews at mynews.ctv.ca.
To learn how to purchase a video or written transcript of a segment of CTV News, Canada AM, Question Period and W5 please click here.

Local CTV Affiliates

For questions regarding programming and news from local CTV affiliates, please select your location here to visit the appropriate website, then locate their 'Contact Us' page.

CTV Programming

If you have questions regarding programming on CTV, please read our Programming FAQ. For more information or to comment on CTV programming:

CTV Programming: programming@ctv.ca

Detailed schedules for all of CTV's affiliates click here.
For programming originating from one of our other stations, please contact:

For questions regarding the CTV News Channel Live Stream, please contact ctvsupport@insinc.com.

Advertising

To learn how to advertise your business on the CTVNews.ca website click here.
To learn about advertising on the CTV Television Network, click here.

Working at CTV

For employment and internship information, click here.

Media Enquiries

For media enquiries, please contact BellMediaPR@bellmedia.ca

CTV Television Network Mailing Address: P.O. Box 9, Station 'O,' Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4A 2M9 Courier Address: 9 Channel Nine Court, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada M1S 4B5		Bell Media Mailing Address: 299 Queen Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 2Z5
Telephone: (416) 384-5000 Telephone National: 1-866-690-6179 Telephone Ontario: 1-800-668-0060 TTY/TDD: 1-800-461-1542

58) BOSNIA TWENTY YEARS LATER A STORY OF SARAJEVO

2012-07-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent?

I remember very well when few days before Bosnian war broke out I was sitting in a

coffee shop with my friends. Of course, like everybody else in that time, we were talking

about politics and possible war that was coming to Bosnia-Herzegovina. When we left that coffee shop through my head passed thought “there is not chance that the war does not happen”. I felt so helpless.

2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out?

Of course, there are not too many wars in people's lifetime. I was step away from my

Mechanical engineering diploma in Sarajevo when war broke out in Bosnia.

3) Where were you when the war came to your town?

I was at my apartment in Sarajevo. Confused and scared like everybody else.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?

Unfortunately, many events were memorable in bad sense, but day when I lost my

Best friend Samir was the most memorable event of the war for me.

5) What made you hopeless during the war?

Better question would be what didn't make me hopeless during the war. It would be

Easier question to answer then this one. Almost everything was making me hopeless during the war, really.

6) What gave you hope during the war?

When war just started my hope was international community. Later even that hope I lost.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?

Of course, unfortunately. Many close people including my best friend.

Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded?

No, I wasn't. At least when we talk about physical wound. Other kind of wounds I think all of us had.

9) Your biggest loss during the war was?

Biggest loss are, of course, people I knew and I loved. People who unnecessarily died

during the war.

10) What was the hardest part about the war?

All parts of the war are hardest parts, because there is nothing normal or easy about war.

Especially in this kind of dirty war like we had in our country.

11) Did you leave the country during the war?

After 2 years of the war I left the country.

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?

I think all of us know what happened. I wouldn't go with further explanation.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?

Some things are better, but some things are worse than I was expecting. Still, peace is

better then war in any case.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?

I can only hope that war will never return to BiH. There is no winner in the war and I

hope everybody will understand that.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?

Future of BiH should be youth of this country. Young educated people who are not poisoned with nationalism and hatred. Youth who are ready to build our mutual and beautiful country called Bosnia-Herzegovina as place for all people who live in it. I can only hope that this younger generation will be better than their parents and grandparents.

(57 ) BOSNIA TWENTY YEARS LATER A STORY FROM BOSANSKA KRUPA

2012-04-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

(BOSANSKA KRUPA)

1) Do you remember where were you when you realized the war was imminent? What town and what location in the town?

I was in school. My parents ignored all the advices from our neighbors and friends believing that the war will not begin and that their neighbors would never do anything to harm them. Bosanska Krupa, elementary school at that time called “Djuro Pucar Stari”.

2) Do you remember where you were when the war broke out, specifically?

I was picked up from school, my father decided to stay and he sent my mom and us kids to go and visit our aunt that lived in nearby village, because he still did not want to accept the reality around us.

3) Where were you when the war came to your town? Were you at home, relatives, friends, work?

On April 21 1992, when the war started in my hometown I was in school together with a handful of other students that had the parents that refused to believe war was inevitable.

4) The most memorable event of the war for you was?

it is hard to pick between so many.....funerals, running from school when the attack starts, all the media coverage about the massacres in our country...really hard to choose only one – they are all unforgettable.

5) What made you hopeless during the war?

Never knowing if you are going to see your father, uncles and other family members the next day, constantly waiting to get the word about the death of your friends and family.

6) What gave you hope during the war?

I guess it was easier for me to be hopeful being a kid. Adults kept saying that it cannot last forever; it has to be over at some point and even though they did not believe in that, we did.

7) Did you lose anyone close to you during the war?

Friends, acquaintances, teachers, however I did not lose any immediate family members.

Were you wounded during the war? Where were you wounded? Anyone close to you wounded?

I was not wounded; My grandmother, grandfather, and two uncles were wounded.

9) Your biggest loss during the war was?

My friends and people I knew that died during the war.

10) What was the hardest part about the war?

Not knowing what tomorrow brings, if you will have to run again, if you will learn that your family members died.

11) Did you leave the country during the war?

No.

12) 20 years later, what do you think of what happened?

As with every war, politicians and people in power played a game with little people. Manipulated those that were too stupid to think about the consequences of their actions and clearly heartless enough to follow the plan that was presented to them. Those in power bounced back again, and the stupid little people are still trying to recover from years of hatred, unemployment and painful memories.

13) Are things better or worse than what you expected 20 years later?

I would say worse. I was hoping to see some change, it’s been 20 years after all, but it seems that we are still standing still, waiting for a miracle that will bring us all together so we can be one country with one president and people that are trying to improve that country not undermine it whenever there is a chance for that. We have three groups of people pulling in three different directions.

14) Do you think war will return to BiH?

I was refusing to say that for the longest time, but i am not sure anymore. There are still schools that are segregated, three different languages that are thought in schools, people calling themselves members of different countries even though they still live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I don’t know what to think.

15) What do you think the future of BiH will be?

I am trying to be positive, and believe that we can bounce back eventually. One the regular Joe sees that politicians are idiots trying to still fuel the hatred and undermine the country; maybe we will have the chance. We are at a point where we have nothing to lose, no job, no prosperity no hope of a better future. We need different representatives on the top, those that will work for better of every religious community, not just one and those that will try to improve the country and its infrastructure, not just their personal bank accounts.

Update on the Divovic family

2012-04-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here is some photos of the grave bought for Nermin. The money helped the family but they are still in a very difficult position. They live in this small flat and have two small children. The flat is moist and damp very,very small for a family of four.

The father has some heart condition and they live off of almost no money.

My work with the family and this project is finished but I have some contacts with people who help the family and with the family themselves for anyone interested in helping out.

I know I sleep better knowing that Nermin after almost 20 years has a proper final resting place.

Today marks the 20 anniversary of the ARBiH

2012-04-15T11:32:00.002-07:00

Today marks the 20 anniversary of the ARBiH. Twenty years ago Bosnia was already under attack, in 1991 in Ravno were the first ethnic cleansing occurred. Radovan Karadzic declared in congress "The road you are leading down, is the road to hell. You Muslims aren't prepared for war and may disappear". Stark warnings that would prove to be the blueprint for the genocide that was to soon face the Bosnian people and her defenders...Bosnia was ill prepared for what was about to happen to her, it's leaders failed to see what was happening in Croatia and to anticipate that she was next...Avoiding war at all costs when the war was already planned well in advance by the rebellious Bosnian Serb "leaders" it was just the arm, the heart and head lived in Serbia in the Serbian Academy of Sciences. In early 1992 before Bosnian independence already towns like Zvornik, Bijelinja and other towns bordering the Drina were attack. Some Bosnians supported an all defense position that Bosnia should be defended on the Drina and Sava rivers. Politics got involved and the goals from the beginning were obscured by political goals and ideas. The people organized themselves into groups like the Patriotic League, Civilian Defense Forces and Police and MUP forces. Eventually these organizations were reorganized into the ARBiH. Organizing an army in wartime under unbearable circumstances without weapons facing off against the fourth largest army in Europe seemed like a suicide mission and for many it was. Many Bosnians of all nationalities and ethnic background gave their lives in the defense of a unified unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many foreign volunteers’ not just ones from Muslim countries but from Western countries as well gave their lives for the birth of the modern Bosnian nation. The ground in BiH that gave life to the state was nourished by the blood of all those who sacrificed it all to make sure those others could live and that the story of the Bosnian people would continue. On this day of all days we in the world who oppose fascism in all its faces and forms who believe the words spoke about WW2 Germany, “Never again” hasn’t lost its meaning, salute those who fought fascism in Bosnia in all forms and the struggle for peace in Bosnia which continues today.

I LOVE BOSNIA VOLIM TE

BOSNIAN FUNDRAISER FOR FLOOD VICTIMS IN BIH BY CHRIS MATHIEU AND BOSNIAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MILWAUKEE

13 THINGS I WOULD DO TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Toronto Canada the perfect place to start your international travels

Help deport war criminal Cedomir Kljajic from Canada back to Bosnia to face justice!

Documentries on Srebrenica

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM SREBRENICA AND POTOCARI BOSNIA AND HERCIGOVINA

The most haunting image from the war in Bosnia and the fall of Srebrenica

The most haunting image from the war in Bosnia and the fall of Srebrenica.

National Day of the Armija Republic of Bosnia and Herzigovina ARBiH!

Bosnian Film Festival 2013 synopsis and reviews

ESMADocumentary. Director: Alen Drljevic. 2007. 26 minutes.

THE BRIDGEDocumentary. Director: Haris Bilajbegovic. 2010. 11 minutes.

THE WITNESSDocumentary. Director: Haris Bilajbegovic. 2012. 42 minutes.

A CELL PHONE MOVIEDocumentary. Director: Nedzad Begovic. 2011. 60 minutes.

MIRZA DELIBASIC - BASKETBALL LEGEND Documentary. Director: Miro Benkovic, 2012. 85 minutes.

THREE DAYS Documentary. Director: Zdenko Jurilj, 2011. 81 minutes.

SOME OTHER WORLD* Documentary. Director: Mustafa Hadziibrahimovic & Naida Ribic, 2012. 59 minutes.

CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO Feature. Director: Aida Begic, 2012. 82 minutes.

Letters to the Celestial Serbs Bosnian war Siege of Sarajevo book review

Letters to the Celestial Serbs

Gojko Berić

Introduction by Ivan Lovrenović

About the Author(s)

Bosnia remembers former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic

Bosnia and Herzigovina independence celebration with Bosnian President Zeljko Komsic

An invitation to meet Zeljko Komsic and to celebrate Bosnian Independence in Chicago!

Balkan absolutism and the reality of extremist ideals and reality in Bosnia and Herzigovina today

Bosnia genocide deniers need to be treated like Nazi apologists! Stop war crimes apologists and deniers!

Newton, Child Massacres, war in Bosnia and the Siege of Sarajevo

War Photo Limited a must see for visitors to Dubrovnik, Croatia and must have photo books for all!

Harun Mehmedinovic's masterpiece comes to you in bookform Blood and Honey is spectacular!

59) Bosnia twenty years later a story of loss from Slatina

A response to James Bissetts racists comments on Srebrenica and a plea for action against CTV News

CTV

CTV Two

News Programs

CTV News Channel

Sections

Local Stations

Follow CTV News

Contact

Subscribe

SECTIONS

BIOS

CTV News

Local CTV Affiliates

CTV Programming

Advertising

Working at CTV

Media Enquiries

58) BOSNIA TWENTY YEARS LATER A STORY OF SARAJEVO

(57 ) BOSNIA TWENTY YEARS LATER A STORY FROM BOSANSKA KRUPA

Update on the Divovic family

Today marks the 20 anniversary of the ARBiH

ESMA
Documentary. Director: Alen Drljevic. 2007. 26 minutes.

THE BRIDGE
Documentary. Director: Haris Bilajbegovic. 2010. 11 minutes.

THE WITNESS
Documentary. Director: Haris Bilajbegovic. 2012. 42 minutes.

A CELL PHONE MOVIE
Documentary. Director: Nedzad Begovic. 2011. 60 minutes.

MIRZA DELIBASIC - BASKETBALL LEGEND
Documentary. Director: Miro Benkovic, 2012. 85 minutes.

THREE DAYS
Documentary. Director: Zdenko Jurilj, 2011. 81 minutes.

SOME OTHER WORLD*
Documentary. Director: Mustafa Hadziibrahimovic & Naida Ribic, 2012. 59 minutes.

CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO
Feature. Director: Aida Begic, 2012. 82 minutes.