I wished I could have another night on the boats but the next day I got fever. Damn! But I nevertheless rented a bike to cycle a bit around. Belgrade has enough parks to rest when it will be necessary. I switched to a real hotel and that way talked to locals and learned a bit how they think and feel. The guide at the free city tour already explained a bit and many of his informations turned out to be true. Serbia is currently a quite poor country and the unemployment rate is high. People are suffering from that but the most important point for them is not to improve the situation but to mourn that Serbia is not "united". I also often heard sentences like "25% of the Serbians are unemployed, but 100% know how to party." This is definitely true because I have never seen a town like Belgrade with so many locations to eat, drink, listen to music of all kinds and to dance. Besides the boats there are very nice locations inside the castle, in Dorcol and in Zemun.
People are very polite but what made me "sick" are their often strange view onto politics. The captain on the boat tour recommended me to go to Albania because this country would be so incredibly beautiful. (Later on I got the impression that I met the only Serb who have ever been in Albania.) So I went to book stores to by a travel guide for Albania. They had travel guides for almost every country in the world but not for Albania. When I asked for this, the facial expression of the salesperson changed suddenly and I was complimented out of the book store. This happened in different book stores. I asked the young lady at the reception of my hotel for the reason but she didn't want to explain me that. After begging she whispered that this is a taboo and that Albanians are all criminals. As as girl she would be raped there and there is absolutely no infrastructure in Albania. Uuhh that was strong stuff! She was never in Albania but knew that fur sure and she was not the only the only one I met thinking so. Before that discussion I was not sure if I should go to Macedonia or to Albania but then it was clear that I had to go to Albania! Childish as I sometimes are, this song came into my mind.
My infection got worse and I needed antibacterial but in the pharmacies they told me that strangers need to go to a doctor first or that I could bribe the pharmacy personal to sell me some. Yes, Serbia has the same problems with corruption than the other Balkan states (see my corresponding blog posts from last year). But I hate bribing and going to a doctor would cost me much time and money and so I went to another pharmacy and explained them that I am a tourist traveling through the Balkans. I will later on also go to Albania and I have now heard that this country is extremely poor and there is no medical infrastructure. So for the case I get sick in Albania people recommended to have medication with me and therefore I need an antibacterial. The woman at the pharmacy nodded sympathetically and I got an excellent consultation when to take what medication. Eventually I bought a package with Erythromycin for only 4,50 €. (Important advice: don't use antibacterial containing tetracycline antibiotics in sunny countries unless a doctor said you should use it. These substances are phototoxic and you don't want to see how your skin then looks - trust me!)
Talking about politics always lead to troubles. I learned for example that Serbia has problems with vipers because the birds of prey normally hunting them, are almost died out. And this is only because of the bombardment of Belgrade in 1999. Makes sense, isn't it? Furthermore there is a big intrigue of the countries of Europe against the Serbian nation etc.. I defended my opinion that the NATO bombardment was the right decision. (I have been in the army that time and know more than I wanted about this.) People don't expect such a clear statement from a stranger and this was the start of very interesting discussions where I learned a lot about the feelings of the people and also think I could convince some to reflect the reasons of the economic situation. Finally I could not resist to give some my corresponding blog post.
The NATO bombing was based on lies. And in the U.S. they were already contracting for the HUGE military base (Bondsteel) to be built in Kosovo before the bombing!
ReplyDeleteThese wars from pre-start to finish were set up and there definitely were things STAGED for the cameras in Bosnia: with the only two professional news cameras set up and in place to record one of the Markale bombings (they were at a safe distance but close enough to record it AS IT OCCURRED.)
Furthermore, before at least one of those attacks the area had been closed off by the police/military to the public (as they no doubt set up things) and then they allowed people to come in when BOOM, there went the bomb.
Several investigators pointed to the Bosnian Muslim positions in these or attacks, while others said they could not determine where it came from. And one investigator believed it was a planted nail bomb due to no one hearing the characteristic sound of a missile coming and that the injuries were all to the lower extremities, and so on. Other theories had a bomb dropped from the roof.
In any event UN officer have testified that the Bosnian Muslims did provoke attacks onto the Serbs on a regular basis, and they would shoot from around UN compounds which were in the Muslim-sector of Sarajevo, they were spotted with mortars on hospital grounds by a Brit delivering oil to that hospital, there was a sniper shooting at the military hospital (which at the very beginning of the war was held by Yugoslav army) from a MINARET.
And the UN records point to the Bosnian Muslim government in Sarajevo for interfering with utilities more than the fighting itself. As well, they point to the Bosnian Muslim government to stockpiling the food aid from the UN instead of distributing it to the civilians. The UN traced a certain percent of the food, which was coming by regular deliveries throughout the war, to the (very large) government/Muslim military forces in Sarajevo, another percentage to the blackmarket, but that 60% they couldn't trace and believed the government was stockpiling it - they certainly weren't distributing it.
Things were made much worse to SELL the war to the foreign masses. It was the M.O. of the Bosnian government forces, especially in Sarajevo where they had constant media attention and cameras, to do this.
A Canadian soldier who lived there, James R. Davis, wrote in this book "The Sharp End: A Canadian Soldier's Story" about witnesses these provoked and staged attacks and even accuses the Bosnian Muslim forces (the TO - or Territorial Defense as they were called) of mortaring their own children. It was an attack which took place on the street below where the Canadian soldiers were stationed.
NATO bombing was very wrong and was done for ULTERIOR agenda. It was done to expand NATO/U.S. power and bases and also part of breaking up Yugoslavia into little ethnically pure or divided statelets - to be easier dictated to or absorbed into the EU, at a very weak state.
Before Yugoslavia broke apart it was a strong competitor in the construction and defense industries, for example, often winning many contracts in third countries over western European countries.
ReplyDeleteIt build Iraq's underground runways and bunkers which U.S. and Brit "bunker buster" bombs couldn't damage - though they repeatedly tried.
As for Albania and Albanians - it does have a much higher crime rate than Serbia. Albanians are known for human trafficking and often sex slavery. In the Soho district of Britain, they are said to control 80% or more of that trade.
Kosovo is a Serbian word and it was established and built up by Serbs and had many beautiful monasteries and churches. Some of them are in ruined state or were systematically looted, burned, then bombed until there was nothing left by Albanians under the watch of NATO soldiers.
Also you overlook how NATO drooped DU (depleted Uranium) and contaminated Kosovo, parts of Bosnia and Serbia. You seem ignorant that NATO also bombed chemical and petrochemical plants and refineries and damaged the environment.
You also ignore that the NATO claims of people killed in Kosovo during the bombing was GROSSLY exaggerated and you ignore that it was the Kosovo Albanians who initiated the killings against Serbian civilians and police around 2 years before the bombing.
A German reporter (last name Hutsch) who was embedded with the KLA (militant Kosovo Albanian forces) even says that they ordered out the Albanian civilians when the bombing began. He says the KLA even had priority lists of towns to be evacuated for when the bombing would happen. The KLA and NATO prepared for it in advance. CIA, MI6 and BND (German) were training the KLA for long before the bombing.