Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Serbia

EU Warns Kosovo Against Declaring Independence

(RFE/RL)

June 22, 2007 -- A European Union envoy has warned Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian leaders against making an "irresponsible" declaration of independence.

TEXT SIZE - +

June 22, 2007

The EU's envoy to Kosovo, Stefan Lehne, delivered the warning June 21, shortly after Russia rejected a revised UN Security Council resolution that would delay independence for Kosovo to give the province's ethnic-Albanian majority and Serbs more time to negotiate the future status of the Serbian territory.

Lehne, on a visit to Kosovo's capital, Pristina, said it "would be a huge step backwards" and could erase international goodwill toward Kosovo if ethnic-Albanian leaders were to take the independence issue into their own hands.

(Reuters)

Moscow And Washington: Toe To Toe

U.S. President George W. Bush (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Germany on June 7 (AFP)

MOUNTING TENSIONS. Relations between Russia and the United States have grown increasingly tense in recent months as issues like missile-defense, Kosovo's status, and Russia's domestic policies have provoked sharp, public differences. On June 5, U.S. President George W. Bush said democratic reforms in Russia have been "derailed"....(more)

Silent Diplomacy Versus Public Criticism

Analysts Say New Arms Race Unlikely

Moscow's Patience With U.S., Allies 'Wearing Thin'

Russian Parliament Accuses U.S. Of Election Meddling

MORE: A special archive of RFE/RL's coverage of U.S.-Russian relations.

"The main impression...after being 15 minutes in her presence is that she is not frightened," a colleague says of Natasa Kandic (above).

The Truth-Teller: Natasa Kandic, Urging Serbs To Face The Past

More than a decade has passed since the end of the Balkan wars, where international observers say ethnic Serb fighters were responsible for the bulk of atrocities in the region, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. But despite the handover of major war-crimes suspects like Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Belgrade remains reluctant to face the sins of the past. Lawyer Natasa Kandic has built an unpopular and often dangerous career out of pushing her country to face the truth about its history. More

Zoran Laketa lost his father and brother in the war

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, One Family, Three Armies, And A Lost Generation

Zoran Laketa knows what it's like to fire a gun and wonder if the soldier on the other side of the front line just might be his brother. Or his father. More

Angelina Jolie at the premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in Los Angeles in December

Jolie Earns Serbian Scorn For War Film

She’s known internationally as one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses; she’s won praise from governments and NGOs across the globe for her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations; and she’s often reckoned to be the world’s most beautiful woman. But Angelina Jolie has been going by a few other titles lately in the Balkans nation of Serbia, where prominent media outlets have taken to describing her as an American propagandist and all-around "jerk." More