· December, 2008

Stories about Serbia from December, 2008

Serbia: Blogger Krugolina Borup Wins Disruption Prize

  30 December 2008

On Dec. 18, Sinisa Boljanovic wrote about Serbian blogger Krugolina Borup and her "Mother Courage" initiative. A few days later, Krugolina Borup (whose real name is Branka Stamenkovic) became the fifth laureate of the Disruption Prize, which Luna TBWA Agency has been awarding to individuals or organizations from Serbia for social liability and changing of social conventions.

Central and Eastern Europe: A Christmas Roundup

  24 December 2008

A holiday season roundup: Tanja of Czechmatediary recalls family Christmas celebrations of her childhood, writes about the Czech Christmas Mass, and shares a recipe of Vanocka (“Christmas bread”); CzechFolks.com writes about a calorie-free yet mouth-watering way of decorating a holiday table with crocheted Czech Christmas cookies; The Foreigner's Guide to...

Russia, Serbia: Gazprom, NIS, and Gas Prices

  24 December 2008

Streetwise Professor posts an update on Gazprom's “vaporware” in Serbia, which includes a recent resignation of the “anti-Gazprom” Serbian economics minister, Mladan Dinkic (more on that – at Robert Amsterdam's blog). Meanwhile, gas costs $5.80 per gallon in Serbia, according to Bill's Blog: “To put the $5.80 into perspective, the...

The Balkans: Distortion of History

  22 December 2008

Jasmin's Heart writes about deliberate distortions that often pass for the recent history of the Balkans: “Also, history, as written by too many historians here, in recent years, Croatian historians, Serbian, Bosnian – on the subject of the last war and many others that proceeded on this area – is...

Central & Eastern Europe: Freedom in the Balkans; Visa Restrictions

  22 December 2008

Ari Rusila examines the Balkan-related results of the Freedom House's Freedom in the World survey at AriRusila’s BalkanBlog, and writes about the Henley Visa Restrictions Index, highlighting the results for countries of Central and Eastern Europe, at AriRusila's BalkanPerspective at Blogactiv.eu.

Serbia: “Mother Courage”

  18 December 2008

Sinisa Boljanovic translates a selection of heartbreakingly shocking stories of giving birth in Serbia, shared by anonymous Serbian women on the Majka Hrabrost ("Mother Courage") web site.

Russia: Miss World and the Wrong Flag

  17 December 2008

Eternal Remont and English Russia note that the newest Miss World – Ksenia Sukhinova from Russia – is holding the wrong flag during an event at Moscow's Red Square; Belgraded notes that the flag is actually Serbian.

Greece: Notes on the Riots

  17 December 2008

Notes on the Greek riots – at LimbicNutrition Weblog: “The riots have been descibed as ‘the first credit-crunch riots.’ Countries with high youth unemployment and a tradition of mass protest (e.g. France, Italy, Spain, Serbia) should be concerned about the riots spreading. From Belgrade to Bordeaux solidarity graffiti warns of...

U.S.: Rod Blagojevich's Serbian Roots

  17 December 2008

Gray Falcon comments on the media mentions of Rod Blagojevich's Serbian roots: “In this era of political correctness and mandatory ‘diversity,’ there are still groups (entire nations, really) one is allowed, supposed, or even required to hate. Serbs are one of those groups.”

Serbia: Facebook Group of Serbian Nationalists

  12 December 2008

"Knife, Wire, Srebrenica!" (Nož, Žica, Srebrenica!) is one of the favorite slogans of Serbian nationalists. A while ago, there appeared a Facebook group with the same name and 1,045 members - as well as a counter-group, whose 10,584 members are appealing to Facebook administrators to close the NOŽ ŽICA SREBRENICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! group because it "glorifies the acts of genocide that took place in Srebrenica, where 8,000 men and boys were murdered." Sinisa Boljanovic translates a Serbian blogger's response to it.

Serbia: Belgrade Photos

  2 December 2008

A few Belgrade and Serbia photo links: Balkan File shows “what Belgrade looks like off the tourist path” and writes about the city's stray dogs; A Yankee-in-Belgrade also posts a picture of two neighborhood strays; Belgraded links to Serbia and Belgrade sets by Flickr users tanjica, tigric, and 314dzi, as...

Serbia: More Belgrade Trivia

  1 December 2008

JFK's gift to Tito on display at The House of Flowers in Belgrade; a post on life and work of Serbian writer Branislav Nušić; a picture of an eccentric-looking roller-skater – at A Yankee-in-Belgrade.

Serbia: Trivia

  1 December 2008

A story of a chimpanzee that managed to escape from the Belgrade Zoo twice; a history of Disney's Mickey Mouse in Serbia; a list of what an average Serbian salary (386 Euros a month) can buy – at Belgraded. An anti-ode to Belgrade – at Zukointheworld: “Belgrade is raffish and...

The Balkans: Yugo

  1 December 2008

Balkan File and Eternal Remont are saying good-bye to the Yugo cars; the latter posts this joke: “Q: So, what do you call the shock absorbers inside a Yugo? A: Passengers.”