Demonstrations against President Aleksandar Vucic, Belgrade, Serbia

[angelburst29]

Serbian interior ministry says Lufthansa bomb threat was fake

Authorities at Nikola Tesla Airport respond to a possible bomb threat to a Lufthansa Airbus A320neo plane in Belgrade, Serbia July 18, 2019. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic

The Serbian interior ministry said a bomb threat which prompted the evacuation of a Lufthansa plane bound for Frankfurt on Thursday morning was fake.

Serbian state TV reported that 130 passengers and five crew members had been evacuated after boarding the 6.15 a.m. (0415 GMT) HL 1411 flight, and the plane was taken off the runway. Special police units were deployed to search the plane.

“This morning at 6 a.m. an unknown person called and reported there was a bomb on the plane bound for Frankfurt,” a ministry statement had said earlier in the day.

A Lufthansa spokesman confirmed the plane was being checked by authorities.

Croatia PM reshuffles cabinet, proposes six new ministers

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday ordered a reshuffle of his cabinet with six new ministers, just over a year before his government's term in office expires in late 2020.

 

[angelburst29]

Kosovo's PM says quits after being called to Hague war crimes court

FILE PHOTO: Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj talks during an interview withe Reuters in Pristina, Kosovo, October 16, 2017. REUTERS/Hazir reka

Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said on Friday he was resigning after being called to The Hague war crimes court linked to Kosovo's violent independence struggle.

“The reason for this decision is because of a call I have received from a specialist chamber as a suspect,” Haradinaj said, adding he would travel to the Hague next week.

Haradinaj, a former guerrilla commander, has always denied any wrongdoing and said he is ready to face any accusations.

He said the country should now have early elections.

The Specialist Chamber was set up in 2015 to try ex-Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas for alleged atrocities in the war of 1998-99 that led to independence from Serbia.

The chamber in The Hague is governed by Kosovo law, but staffed by international judges and prosecutors. It is funded by the European Union, which both Kosovo and Serbia hope to join.

The court sits in the Dutch city partly to help ensure protection of witnesses. Previous cases involving high-ranking former KLA officers have seen witness intimidation.

This is the second time Hardinaj has to resign as prime minister. In 2005 he was indicted by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. He was tried and acquitted twice by that court.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci will now have to consult with political parties on forming another government or holding snap elections.

Kosovo's PM quits after being called to Hague war crimes court

Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said on Friday he was resigning because he had been called to a war crimes court in The Hague to answer questions from prosecutors related to Kosovo's violent independence struggle.

 

[Persej]

“This morning at 6 a.m. an unknown person called and reported there was a bomb on the plane bound for Frankfurt,” a ministry statement had said earlier in the day.

And this was the reason for the bomb threat:

According to the defense of the suspect (Zoran N. (65)), he met two Lufthansa stewardesses and invited them to dinner.

He especially liked one of them, dark skinned, but they did not agree to go with him for dinner.

Since the girl he liked he could not find in the hotel, the following day, on Wednesday, he called the airport and reported a fake bomb in order to stop the stewardess from leaving.

Lažna dojava o bombi u avionu zbog stjuardese

Zoran N. (65) priznao je da pre dva dana uputio lažnu dojavu da je podmetnuta bomba u avionu Lufthanze, koji je iz Beograda trebalo da poleti za Frankfurt, a pravdao se time da mu se svidela stjuardesa sa tog leta.

www.rts.rs

 

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Bosnian court detains Indian businessman Pramod Mittal over suspected fraud

A court in Bosnia on Thursday ordered a one-month detention for Indian businessman Pramod Mittal and two other officials who have been suspected of involvement with organized crime and abuse of office at a Bosnian coke plant, regional television reported.

Mittal, younger brother of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, heads the supervisory board and co-owns metallurgical coke producer Global Ispat Koksna Industrija Lukavac (GIKIL) in northern Bosnia, one of the country’s biggest exporters.

Mittal has been held in police custody since Tuesday, along with GIKIL’s general manager, Paramesh Bhattacharyya, and supervisory board member Razib Dash.

Prosecutor Camil Serhatlic told Reuters that Mittal and the other two executives invoked their right to remain silent during the questioning in the town of Tuzla, and that the prosecution asked the Tuzla cantonal court for their detention.

Regional television in Bosnia’s Bosniak-Croat Federation reported that the court then ordered a one-month detention for the trio.

A spokeswoman for GIKIL told Reuters she was not officially notified about the court’s order, which occurred during evening hours on Thursday.

Police said they seized documentation, computers and cell phones during a raid at GIKIL on Tuesday.

GIKIL union members said on Thursday the plant’s operation was not interrupted.

GIKIL, with around 1,000 employees in the town of Lukavac, is jointly run by Dubai-based Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSH) and local government-owned KHK since 2003.

Last year, Bosnian police briefly detained GIKIL’s then-general manager over environmental negligence. He fled Bosnia just before the indictment against him was confirmed in early in 2019, the prosecutors said.

 

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Serbian Church will never recognize Kosovo’s independence — Montenegro Metropolitan

© AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu

BELGRADE, July 29, 2019 - The Serbian Orthodox Church will never officially recognize the Province of Kosovo and Metohija as an independent state, Metropolitan bishop of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije said in an interview with TASS.

"The church has never accepted and will never accept Kosovo’s independence or partition options, this is the church’s position. It is unacceptable for the church to abandon Decani, Gracanica and Pec [Orthodox holy places in Kosovo and Metohija — TASS]. It is for [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucic that there is nothing there, just buildings where no one lives. He believes that there is nothing in Kosovo and Metohija, and if there is nothing there, then where is it? All our historic existence and modernity is there," the Metropolitan stated.

According to the cleric, the situation in Kosovo is dire not just for Serbs but for Kosovars as well. "Those who seized power in Kosovo are a disgrace to the whole respectable Albanian nation. They devastated their own people, nowadays Albanians are fleeing Kosovo and Metohija en masse. They are under threat there in moral and physical sense, they live off drug trafficking, the crimes committed there are unthinkable. If the EU gives them visas, and I believe it should be done, they will all leave."

In the past year, Belgrade and Pristina were actively discussing a compromise decision relating to adjustment of borders and exchange of territories. The United States was supporting this idea, insisting on a final agreement, which would envision adjustment of the border between Serbia and the partially recognized republic. In turn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposed the proposal to change the borders in the Balkans, underlining that all the countries in the region have prospects to join the European community as it is.

The proposals to split the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija along the ethnic lines (leave the areas where Kosovars dominate under Pristina’s control and transfer the north of Kosovo, where Serbs still live, to Belgrade) were already out forward before that. However, in response to these proposals Pristina demanded that the territorial approach be implemented not only in relation to Kosovo, but also to other territories of Serbia, including the southern Serbian municipalities on the border with Kosovo, where Albanians make up a significant part of the population.

In early May, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic admitted that the idea to split Central Serbia with the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija had failed. According to him, this will cost Serbia an arm and a leg in the coming decades. The Serbian leader pointed out that the partition had been opposed both in Serbia and internationally.


Second line of TurkStream to pass through Bulgaria, Hungary, and Serbia

© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

ANTALYA, July 26. /TASS/. The second line of the export gas pipeline TurkStream will pass through the territory of Bulgaria, not Greece, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission.

"[The second thread of the TurkStream will go through] Bulgaria, Hungary, and Serbia. To Bulgaria directly," he reported.

Novak also recalled that gas supplies through the first line of the TurkStream pipeline will start on January 1, 2020.

The first line of TurkStream is intended to supply the domestic market of Turkey, the second — South and Southeast Europe. Gazprom considers Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary as potential markets. The capacity of each line is 15.75 bln cubic meters of gas per year.

In an interview with Anadolu news agency on Friday, the minister stated that throughput capacity of the TurkStream main gas pipeline can be expanded if the demand for Russian gas increases.

"We believe the Nord Stream 2 implementation is on track. Throughput capacity expansion of the TurkStream is possible," Novak noted.

Europe has high demand for natural gas as well as well-developed competition, the Minister pointed out. "We are ready to supply gas in required volume within the competition framework," Novak pledged.

TurkStream is a project for an export pipeline stretching from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea that will further extend to the Turkish border with adjacent countries.

 

[angelburst29]

Rival Bosnia leaders agree to form government 10 months after vote
August 5, 2019 - SARAJEVO - Bosnia’s rival Serb, Croat and Bosniak leaders agreed on Monday to form a central government 10 months after a general election, reaching a compromise about Bosnia’s integration into NATO which had been a key stumbling block.

The heads of the country’s three largest ethnic parties signed an agreement on the main principles for the government formation at a meeting facilitated by the European Union mission in Bosnia.

“This agreement provides the conditions for the formation of the central cabinet ... within the next 30 days,” Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia’s three-man inter-ethnic presidency who heads the Bosnian Serb ruling SNSD party, told a news conference.

“I think this is an important moment which allows us to move forward,” said Dodik.

But he also warned that unless the agreement has been implemented within agreed deadline, “that will mean that Bosnia is in a deep constitutional and political crisis and that its sovereignty will come into question”.

Bosnia’s complex government structure, based on ethnic quotas, allows each group to block key decisions.

The formation of the central cabinet has been blocked by the Bosniak and Croat members of the presidency who had insisted that a Serb prime minister-designate, who will come from the SNSD, should plead to continue Bosnia’s path toward NATO integration.

The SNSD has, in turn, blocked the work of the national parliament.

The Bosnian Serbs do not support Bosnia’s membership in NATO which bombed their positions, as well as their ally Serbia, during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

But under the agreement, the leaders confirmed they will “promote relations with NATO without prejudicing a future decision about the membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

“Unless this document as agreed and signed has been implemented in the next 30 days, the SNSD will block the work of all institutions and nobody will be able to stop that, neither European or any other international institutions,” Dodik said.


Dodik, who has preferred ties with Russia to those with the EU and NATO, has repeatedly threatened with the secession of the Orthodox Serb-dominated autonomous Serb Republic from Bosnia.

Bosnia also comprises the Federation dominated by Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats.

 

[stellar]

Interestingly, when I was in Serbia, I had a conversation with the driver/attendant who took me to a couple of medical tests. He was SOOO pro-America and SOOO anti-Russia, I was just mind boggled. What part of the US manipulating the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Balkan war did he not understand? And he was just LOOOVING the manipulators and the ones dropping the bombs!!!

Such backward sellouts have been a major problem in the former Yugoslavia and contributed to the breakup. They were and are not hard to find, sadly. They want easy work and big money. That's how they see the west via a plethora of media propaganda, movies included. They do not and cannot see the world for what it is. Instead they prefer to stay in denial and kiss the arse of their conqueror lest they be kindly looked upon.

 

[stellar]

But under the agreement, the leaders confirmed they will “promote relations with NATO without prejudicing a future decision about the membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

How is that even possible? Sound like an oxymoron?

 

[angelburst29]

How is that even possible? Sound like an oxymoron?

I agree with your assertion, Stellar!

I'm not aware of all the legal complexities involved in this "arm-twisting promotional Agreement" to satisfy the needs of EU-NATO?

The over-all agreements seems to point to "forming a central Government" with the Countries three largest ethnic groups, blurring the lines to each of their own sovereignty and ethnic backgrounds and lumping them together, as one Government body, for easier control and manipulation by the EU - to serve NATO's needs? The EU-NATO then become the over-lords and dictators over that government body? What NATO didn't accomplish in the bombings, they are now trying to get by forming proxy agreements.

The Bosnian Serbs do not support Bosnia's membership in NATO which bombed their positions, as well as, their ally Serbia, during the Balkan wars of the 1990's.

But under the agreement, the leaders confirmed they will “promote relations with NATO without prejudicing a future decision about the membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

There is also the feeling, NATO is trying to "re-write History" in their favor - presenting themselves "as Saviors" to the divisions their war activities created in the first place. The Agreement is nothing more then exerting control and taking possession of the former Yugoslavia! The Agreement has no safe-guards in protecting individual ethnic traditions - it's now lost in a combined central Government body.

 

[stellar]

I agree with your assertion, Stellar!

I'm not aware of all the legal complexities involved in this "arm-twisting promotional Agreement" to satisfy the needs of EU-NATO?

The over-all agreements seems to point to "forming a central Government" with the Countries three largest ethnic groups, blurring the lines to each of their own sovereignty and ethnic backgrounds and lumping them together, as one Government body, for easier control and manipulation by the EU - to serve NATO's needs? The EU-NATO then become the over-lords and dictators over that government body? What NATO didn't accomplish in the bombings, they are now trying to get by forming proxy agreements.



There is also the feeling, NATO is trying to "re-write History" in their favor - presenting themselves "as Saviors" to the divisions their war activities created in the first place. The Agreement is nothing more then exerting control and taking possession of the former Yugoslavia! The Agreement has no safe-guards in protecting individual ethnic traditions - it's now lost in a combined central Government body.

Yeah. They are certainly working on further and more refined acts of divide and conquer, or in this case, annihilate the Serbian ethnicity. They may be of 'too Russian' mentality. Just like the west mind cannot understand Russians, so too, they will never understand Serbs. At their core, I think, both are resilient, determined and have an ingrained sense of the obyvatel for the most part. There are always exceptions and they are the ones placed in governing positions to be vassals of the west.

I have been watching the developments quite closely as I have a lot of family living there, as well as in Monte Negro, and in my assessment it is not looking promising at all. Government corruption is so widespread and obvious and in an obvious and arrogant way, ya can't not see it.

One more thing that came to mind was tv news channel N1 which is treated by the establishment as RT is treated by the west. That says something to me about the validity and integrity of their reporting. It is actually blocked in some areas by respective internet carriers or they are not part of the option when one subscribes to a carrier.

 

[angelburst29]

Kosovo investigates 22 police officers over extraditions to Turkey
Kosovo's special prosecutors are investigating the role of 22 police officers in the last year's arrest and extradition of six Turkish nationals, a move activists called human rights violation, the prosecutors said on Thursday.

The six Turks were arrested in Kosovo on Turkey’s request in March 2018 over alleged links to schools financed by the Gulen movement and a failed coup in 2016. The Gulen movement denies being involved. “We are also interviewing more suspects in relation to this case,” Ekrem Lutfiu, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office stated.

Days after the six men were expelled, Kosovo’s prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, dismissed the country’s interior minister and secret service chief because he was not told the six would be deported to Turkey.

A parliament commission report concluded that the deportation was illegal and the constitution was violated 31 times during the arrests.

Kosovo’s opposition has accused President Hashim Thaci of ordering the deportations because of his close relations with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Thaci has denied any wrongdoing.

Ankara said the six were recruiters for a network run by the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and had helped people accused of links to his network leave Turkey during a security crackdown in which tens of thousands of people were sacked or jailed.

At its peak, the Gulen movement operated schools in 160 countries, from Afghanistan to the United States. Since the coup attempt, Turkey has pressured allies to shut down Gulen-run establishments.

West tells Kosovo and Serbia to return to negotiating table
Four European countries and the United States urged Kosovo and Serbia on Tuesday to re-launch their dialogue on normalizing ties in order to advance their bid for EU membership.

Czech president rejects minister nominee in row with government party

Czech President Milos Zeman on Wednesday rejected the nominee for culture minister proposed by the junior government partners, the Social Democrats, in a dispute that has threatened Prime Minister Andrej Babis's coalition.

Foreign power was behind cyber attack on Czech ministry: Senate
A foreign state staged the latest cyber attack targeting the Czech Foreign Ministry, the Senate's security committee said on Tuesday, though it did not identify the nation concerned or provide any details on the incident.

 

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New U.S. Balkan envoy says restarting Serbia-Kosovo dialogue a priority
BLED, Slovenia Sept. 3, 2019 - The new U.S. Special Envoy to the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, said on Tuesday a priority in his new role is restarting a dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo.

“The first (step) is getting the parties back to the table,” Palmer, who was appointed last week, told a regional political conference in Slovenia.

He said he expected the next Kosovo government would be open to re-engagement and would suspend 100% tariffs on Serbian imports it imposed last year, claiming that Belgrade's diplomatic moves blocked Kosovo from joining Interpol.

Palmer said Serbia’s campaign to persuade countries to rescind their recognition of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, was “counterproductive” and “not in the interest of peace, stability and security in the region”.

“I think the United States will play an absolutely critical role in helping the parties ... identify the points of disagreement and keep focused on the prize which is normalizing the relationship between Belgrade and Pristina, opening a path to ... Europe for both countries,” Palmer said.

All of the Western Balkans states, which also include Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania, aim to join the European Union. Most of them also want to join NATO.

Kosovo will hold a snap election on October 6 following the July resignation of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who has been summoned for questioning by the country’s war crimes prosecutor regarding his role in the 1998-99 insurgency against Serb forces.

 

[angelburst29]

A Kosovo court jailed eight men on Wednesday for the attempted murder of a former politician and plotting to kill the Balkan country's President and Prime Minister in 2017.

Kosovo jails eight over plot to kill president and prime minister

January 22, 2020 - PRISTINA - A Kosovo court jailed eight men on Wednesday for the attempted murder of a former politician and plotting to kill the Balkan country’s President and Prime Minister in 2017.

The eight received jail terms ranging from two to 12 years and were part of an organization known as People’s Eye which President Hashim Thaci and the court have described as a terrorist organization.

One of the eight, Murat Jashari, received a 10-year sentence for shooting at and wounding former politician and prominent lawyer Azem Vllasi on the doorstep of his house in March 2017.

The court said Vllasi was the first victim on a list of potential targets that included Thaci and Isa Mustafa, who was prime minister at the time.

“Their aim was to seriously destabilize or destroy the political, economic, constitutional or social structures of the Republic of Kosovo,” presiding judge Naime Krasniqi Jashanica said in the verdict.

The group had also put religious leaders, businessmen and journalists on the list of people it wanted to kill, the court said.


Serbia introduces airport screening for new coronavirus
Serbia will screen passengers arriving at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport using a thermal camera and is ready to quarantine anyone suspected of carrying the new coronavirus, health minister Zlatibor Loncar said on Wednesday.

 

[Agron]

Heres a few links for people that are native to Balkans (they are from a well know Serbian sports journalist and on Serbian language). First one is from 12.08.2019 and is titled "Criminal politicians of Serbia"
Second one is fresh, related to current elections, released yesterday, title:"Vucic's regime is illegal as his election.".

Milojko Pantic also has a book out!
"NEBO SE OTVORILO" ("The Sky Has Opened")
And theres much more on this youtube channel if anyone is interested.
Sportska Galaksija - DIREKTNO I BEZ PARDONA
I see this region is slowly waking up from the hypnosis and fear that money and drugs from Balkan Route narco cartels and ex secret services installed in the 90s.
Serbia and Croatia and Bosnia are victims of foreign interests and criminal radical "politicians" who are all in power thanks to ex-secret services from Yugoslavia and their foreign friends.
People here are used as ping-pong hate balls however any of the players see fit and Im quite sick of it.
I hope this will stop one day soon and maybe some prosperity will be allowed for us that were made to loose our dignity and love in this awfull war.

Regards

Agron

 

[angelburst29]

Vucic may find it difficult to form any Peace with Kosovo?

Kosovo approves new government, PM vows to be tough negotiator with Serbia

Kosovo's parliament approved a new government on Monday after weeks of coalition talks, and Prime Minister Albin Kurti promised to take a tough stance in negotiations with Balkan rival Serbia.

Slovenia's largest party calls for coalition talks
Slovenia's centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), the biggest in parliament, has invited all other parties in the assembly to coalition talks following the resignation of centre-left Prime Minister Marjan Sarec.