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General Draza Mihailovich Awaits the Verdict // Carl Savich on the Mihailovich Trial Coverage in LIFE Magazine July 15, 1946 In the July 15, 1946 issue, LIFE magazine reported on the Draza Mihailovich trial in an article entitled “Mihailovich Awaits the Verdict”. LIFE photographer John Phillips took pictures of Draza Mihailovich before the Communist military court, smoking a pipe, drinking a bottle of beer, and lying in his bed in his cell reading a book. In a photo essay entitled “Mihailovich: Chetnik leader fights for his life before open Yugoslav court-martial”, Phillips also photographed a military guard, wearing a cap...

* JAT facing increasing competition from outside airlines * EU visa ruling eases travel from Belgrade * Sharp increase in passenger traffic seen next year BELGRADE, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Serbia's state airline JAT must become competitive or fade away, officials said this week, after the European Union relaxed travel between Belgrade and the bloc, prompting rivals to step up penetration of its home market. After years of bolstering by the government and protection against outside competitors, the stakes have increased dramatically for JAT following the EU's decision on Monday allowing Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins to travel visa free to...

SINGAPORE - Looking to tread terrain still untouched by foreign stag expeditions? Want to unwind in luxury or drink up the sun? Lonely Planet lists the world's top 10 party cities in its new guide, the “1000 Ultimate Experiences.” 1. Belgrade, SerbiaThe long years of bad press that kept Serbia off the map have now passed, and foreigners are now realizing what locals always knew — that Belgrade really rocks. With an exuberant population and its legacy as an intellectual hangout, Belgrade offers varied nightlife, ranging from eclectic watering holes for those in the know, to the busy restaurants and...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Belgrade Expatriates Experiencing Attacks CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Europe - Serbia 25 Sep 2009 U.S. Embassy Belgrade issues the following Warden Message September 25: The U.S. Embassy wishes to alert American Citizens to a recent spate of crimes affecting the expatriate community in Belgrade. The Regional Security Office (RSO) states that trends involving physical assaults and gun violence remain a threat to foreigners. The RSO wishes to highlight the some recent criminal events: · On September 16, 2009, a British...

From Alex M. in Belgrade, Serbia:For all my friends abroad - those of you who wish to learn about Belgrade or are planning to come for a visit, and for my countrymen abroad who feel nostalgic for home, I have written my own guide to Belgrade. A lot of effort went into this. I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Read it slowly, and try to imagine the pictures as you are reading. Enjoy!NOTE from Ravnagora: I have included the photos in Alex's piece and they have been taken from various sources on the internet. ***** According to...

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Serbian President Boris Tadic on Thursday agreed to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries. During their talks held Thursday afternoon, the two heads of state exchanged views on building and developing a strategic partnership and reached a broad consensus. Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) welcomes visiting Serbian President Boris Tadic in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 20, 2009.(Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)Hu highly valued Chinese relations with Serbia, saying the two peoples have traditional friendship and no matter what happened in the world, the relations between the two countries have developed healthily. He put forward...

Note: In commemoration of the anniversary week of General Draza Mihailovich's execution in 1946, I wanted to share articles from that time that most folks wouldn't have the opportunity to see. ______________________ The Whitehall News London July 19, 1946 POLITICAL MURDERGeneral Mihailovich is dead, shot by a firing squad in Belgrade. This political murder, carried out by Marshal Tito’s appointed judges, was committed on the national hero of Serbia and on the man, who, in 1941, brought Yugoslavia into the war on the Allied side. It is, therefore, one of the most revolting examples of abandonment by the Western Democracies...

July 3, 2009 SNIPPET: "Belgrade, 3 July (AKI) - A special Belgrade court on Friday sentenced 11 members of a radical Islamic Wahabi movement to more than 60 years in prison after they were found guilty of planning terrorist activities and illegal weapons possession. Fifteen members of the group were arrested in Serbia’s southern Sandzak region, which has a substantial Muslim population. The trial started in January last year but 12 members of the group refused to engage defence lawyers, saying they did not recognise a Serbian court and could be “judged only by Allah”...."

Photos by "Beobuild" The biggest shopping mall in the Balkans and the latest consumer hotspot will be opened in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, on 31 March 2009, regardless of the economic crisis or anything else, for that matter. The Usce Shopping Center investment is worth 150 million euros. The investor is MPC Properties. The shopping mall will take 130,000 square meters of space, of which commercial space will be 50,000 square meters. The hyper-market will take 4,000 square meters of space; there will be 150 brand stores, with many familiar brands, but also with about 50 world brands that...

Under the title "CNN Opens a Subway in Belgrade" Serbian RTS reported that the most viewed American news television yesterday broadcast the footage of July 30 unrests which interrupted the Belgrade rally, generously stuffing it with chunks from much more violent demonstrations which took place a year ago in Budapest, Hungary. Serbian TV commented that the impressive amount of attention the Atlanta-based broadcast giant has paid to Belgrade unrest was hampered by the fact the editors didn't have enough of sufficiently explosive visual material to justify CNN's enormous interest in Serbian demonstrations, so they once again resorted to their favorite...

Serbian hero Milorad Cavic long ago brought his decision to become a professional swimmer, but only a couple of weeks ago realised he was not only an athlete but also his nation’s ambassador. He consequently decided to wear a T-shirt that read “Kosovo is Serbia” in Serbian to a European Swimming Championships medal ceremony in Eindhoven, Holland. The red shirt which according to Cavic bore a “message of positive energy to the Serbian people” cost the swimmer his further taking part in the competition’s races and possibly another gold medal and a European record – all in the 100-metre butterfly...

President can sign agreement with EU. One of the most important issues in pre-election campaign that stances of the DS and DSS shall be conflicted over is if the stabilization and association agreement (SAA) with EU should be signed and who can sign it. Vojislav Kostunica said yesterday that ‘Serbia President has no constitutional authority to do that’, while President Tadic’s cabinet yesterday told ‘Blic’ that ‘such authority is undisputable as per Vienna Convention’. The PM Vojislav Kostunica who actually made Serbia Government fall for the reason that he has lost the trust in the DS and G17 Plus that...

The top U.S. intelligence official says Serbia's government ordered police not to interfere with rioters who attacked the Belgrade embassies of western countries, including the United States, for their recognition of Kosovo's independence. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill, where Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell made his comments Wednesday. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Serbia's government directed police not to intervene in the violent demonstrations in Belgrade last week. "We have good information that when the U.S. Embassy and the British Embassy and others were attacked, a decision was taken...

Serb rioters enraged by Kosovo's secession stormed the U.S. embassy in Belgrade and set it on fire, leaving one person dead and drawing swift condemnation from Washington and the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. State Department said the lack of protection for its mission -- riot police were nowhere to be seen when the attack began on Thursday -- was intolerable and demanded the Security Council respond. "The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the mob attacks against embassies in Belgrade, which have resulted in damage to embassy premises and have endangered diplomatic personnel," the Security...

Protesters Set Fire To Building's Facade During Unrest About Kosovo BELGRADE, Serbia (CBS News) ― Angry Serbs broke into the U.S. Embassy and set fire to an office Thursday night as rioters rampaged through Belgrade's streets, putting an exclamation point of violence to a day of mass protest against Western support for an independent Kosovo. At least 150,000 people rallied in Belgrade, waving Serbian flags and signs proclaiming "Stop USA terror," to denounce the bid by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to create their own state out of what Serbs consider the ancient heartland of their culture. Several hundred men...

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people. Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire. Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities. The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was...

BELGRADE, Serbia - A handful of protesters broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, cheered on by crowds outside, in a protest at U.S. support for Kosovo's independence.

Belgrade in Flames Around 4 p.m. on Sunday, after the Kosovo Albanian war criminal Hashim Thaci declared unilateral independence of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija, the violent riots broke out throughout Serbia proper, including the capital Belgrade, and lasted until midnight. American and Slovenian embassy were the main targets of the enraged citizens. Carrying Serbian flags and chanting "Kosovo is Serbia", "We won't give up Kosovo", the protesters broke the windows on both buildings and threw the torches inside. Police cordon in front of Slovenian embassy was broken and the demonstrators ransacked the building, tearing and burning the furniture...

Excerpt - BELGRADE, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Angry Serbs stoned the U.S. embassy in Belgrade to protest at Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, smashing windows before riot police appeared to regain the upper hand. "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia," many shouted as up to 2,000 demonstrators, mostly young men, surrounded the embassy, which was guarded by more than 500 police in full riot gear. Washington has strongly backed Kosovo's bid for independence. Protesters chanting patriotic songs ripped up paving stones and prised concrete and tiles from nearby buildings to throw them at the police along with bottles, firecrackers...

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

The protests against Kosovo's independence in Serbian capital Belgrade turned into riots on Sunday, with two policemen injured, local media reported. Two riot police were hit when protests in front of the U.S. embassy escalated into riots. Protesters destroyed cars, threw stones at and set fire to the embassy building.

SEVERAL hundred protesters threw stones and flares at riot police protecting the US embassy in Belgrade today after Kosovo's declaration of independence, witnesses said. One policeman was injured during scuffles as riot police fought to keep the protesters, mainly hardline football fans, away from the embassy building, the witnesses said. One embassy window was smashed. The protesters marched through the middle of the capital towards the US embassy chanting "Kosovo is Serbia" and anti-American slogans. They waved Serbian flags and vowed to protest "until Kosovo is returned to Serbia". After the scuffles, protesters dispersed in nearby streets, while the police...

AS a man to spend the night with, Adolf Hitler must rank pretty close to the bottom of the list. But that hasn't deterred a new Belgrade hotel, which features a room dedicated to the Nazi dictator. A large portrait of a swastika-wearing Hitler looms over the king-size bed...

BELGRADE, Serbia — The lifeless body of a man was found in a bear cage yesterday in the Belgrade Zoo, an official said. A restaurant is located just above the zoo, and thousands have visited the fortress this week for a beer festival. -------------------------------------------------------- Local media speculated he might have fallen off a wall into the bear enclosure during the night.

VATICAN CITY, MAY 4, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, the Holy Father received prelates from the International Episcopal Conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, who have just completed their "ad limina" visit. The conference is based in Belgrade and brings together Catholics of Latin and Byzantine rite from Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia and Kosovo. The Pope greeted the bishops recalling how they "come from different countries that have different ethnic groups, cultures and languages," but how nonetheless their "ecclesial communities are united by the same faith in the Risen Christ handed down to us by the Apostles." "The...

Excerpt - BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's ultranationalist Radical Party claimed victory in national elections on Sunday, in a voter rejection of Western appeals for closer cooperation on the arrest of war criminals and on Kosovo. A projection of the result showed the opposition Radicals, strongest party in Serbia for years, taking 28 percent of the vote, a point higher than the 2003 national elections. "The Radical Party has won these elections," said Tomislav Nikolic, the Radical's candidate for prime minister in the absence of party leader Vojislav Seselj, who is on trial for war crimes at the U.N. tribunal in...

The ultranationalist Radicals, Serbia's strongest party, unanimously re-elected war crimes defendant Vojislav Seselj as their leader on Sunday and vowed to protect Serbia's national interests if they take power. In a packed socialist-era hall in downtown Belgrade, deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic said the party had seen its toughest times since its last congress, when it "bade farewell to Seselj and sent him to The Hague to defend the honor of Serb fighters." "But we will keep on trying to lift Serbia up from its knees and make it stand tall," 54-year-old Nikolic said. "Until the Radicals come to power, Serbia...

A Serbian man needed emergency surgery after sticking a pencil inside his penis to keep it stiff during sex. Zeljko Tupic, from Belgrade, told doctors he had experienced erectile difficulties in the past. So as he prepared for a night with his new lover, he decided to insert a thin pencil into his penis. Tupic had to cut his sex session short when the pencil shifted and became lodged in his bladder, forcing him to call an ambulance, the daily Kurir reported. Doctor Aleksandar Milosevic from Belgrade's Zvezdara hospital, who succesfully removed the pencil, said: "At first the patient did...

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - A Socialist Party aide of Slobodan Milosevic said Saturday that the ex-president was defiant just before his death. "He told me, 'Don't you worry: They will not destroy me or break me; I shall defeat them all,'" said Milorad Vucelic of the Socialist Party, recounting a phone conversation with Milosevic late Friday. "But it was obvious he was very ill." Milosevic, who was found dead Saturday in his cell at the Netherlands-based war crimes court near The Hague, was daily in contact with Socialist party officials in Belgrade as he carried out his own defense before the...

War Crimes Fugitive Believed Cornered By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer War crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic, accused of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from the Bosnian war, has been located and authorities are negotiating his surrender, a top state security official said Tuesday. Mladic was located but "he has yet not been arrested," the official, who is close to the operation to locate Mladic, told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The state news agency Tanjug reported that Mladic was arrested in Belgrade and being...

BELGRADE (AP)--Unknown assailants threw an explosive device at the Albanian embassy in Belgrade, causing minor damage, police said Tuesday. The device was thrown Sunday evening, causing some damage to the facade of the embassy building. Police gave no other details. The incident comes before crucial U.N.-brokered talks on Kosovo, Serbia's southern province which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians. Albania has supported the desire of the Kosovo Albanians to gain independence from Serbia but Belgrade wants to retain at least formal control over the province. Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when a NATO air war against Serbia...

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Hamlet has become a Muslim prince at the Ottoman court in an adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy which its Bosnian director says reflects the world after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. In possibly the biggest theater co-production the war-torn Balkans region has seen in some 20 years, Haris Pasovic is seeking to put "Hamlet" into a 21st Century setting. "One of the most important issues of the 21st century is the world's increased understanding of the Muslim issue following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York," Pasovic, himself a Bosnian Muslim, told Reuters...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Belgrade — A probe into the mysterious shooting of two soldiers has revealed the existence beneath the Serbian capital of a secret communist-era network of tunnels and bunkers that could have served as recent hideouts for some of the world's most-wanted war crimes suspects. The three square kilometre complex — dubbed a “concrete underground city” by the local media — was built deep inside a rocky hill in a residential area of Belgrade in the 1960s on the orders of communist strongman Josip Broz Tito. Until recently its existence was known only to senior military commanders and politicians. The secret...

I'm researching the web for a BLOG post I'm titling "Yuri's Boys" about the possible realtionship between John Kerry, George Soros and Yuri Andropov's KGB, when I found the linked article with the following interesting tidbit: The Milosevic scenario — using flawed elections as a fulcrum to overthrow an unpopular president, which the opposition apparently studied in Belgrade under the tutelage of ngos funded by George Soros — worked.

BELGRADE, Serbia, Sept. 30 - A senior American diplomat expressed frustration on Thursday that Serbia had yet to turn over a leading war crimes suspect months after the election of a new president who had promised "full cooperation" with the international tribunal at The Hague. Marc Grossman, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said the Serbian government had made no progress toward arresting the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Gen. Ratko Mladic. General Mladic was indicted in 1995 on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his actions during the 1992-95 conflict...

SUBOTICA, Serbia, Sept. 15 - When the Setets family set off this morning to take their 13-year-old daughter to school, they got a shock. As they left their small, two-room house on the outskirts of Subotica, in northern Serbia, they found a 15-inch kitchen knife imbedded in their front door. Alongside it, someone had sprayed the Serbian word for "death" in red. Further to the right was "Drop dead, Hungarians." Such ethnically motivated attacks by Serbs against people like the Setets (pronounced sheh-tets), members of this country's 300,000-strong Hungarian minority, have become rife, souring relations between Serbia and neighboring Hungary....

Heard on Foxnews tonight that the only mosque in Belgrade was burned to the ground today by angry Serbs. Sheppard Smith reported it. Anyone else have info on this? Could be the start of some major backlashes there and possibly around Europe.

Kostunica's New Secret Service Chief Was Suspect in Djindjic Assassination Mar 6, 2004 The Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Saturday appointed a close aide as his new secret service chief, despite his arrest as a suspect in the assassination of a chief of government. Rade Bulatovic was a security adviser while Kostunica was president of Yugoslavia, the predecessor state to Serbia-Montenegro. He also was among dozens of suspects that the police said were part of the plot to kill former Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. He was arrested March 12 and held for several weeks,...

Ex-Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic is living in Belgrade, according to chief United Nations prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. Ms Del Ponte said she had received information from a credible source in the Serb capital last week. She described Belgrade as "a haven for fugitives", adding that her office's relations with Serbia had been frozen. Mr Karadzic, charged with genocide for his part in the Bosnian war, remains free eight years after the war ended. Ms Del Ponte said he had apparently joined his former army chief Ratko Mladic in the Serbian capital. "So we have...

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - An Iraqi envoy loyal to Saddam Hussein said Friday he believes the Iraqi leader was killed in the coalition bombing of Baghdad. "I know his character," Iraq (news - web sites)'s ambassador to Belgrade, Sami Sadoun, told The Associated Press in an interview. "The defense of Baghdad would not have collapsed so quickly if he was not dead." Sadoun, who headed the Iraqi Cabinet for 25 years, said he lost all contact with his superiors in Baghdad early this month after a U.S. warplane dropped four bunker-busting bombs near a restaurant where Saddam was believed to be...

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) The suspected sniper who killed Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic two weeks ago has been arrested, the slain premier's successor said Tuesday. Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic identified the suspect in custody as Zvezdan Jovanovic, a former deputy commander of an elite unit of police troops under former President Slobodan Milosevic. Zivkovic said police found a German-made sniper rifle suspected of being the murder weapon. Another man, identified as Sasa Pejakovic, was arrested for allegedly aiding the sniper during the killing, he said. Djindjic, Serbia's leading pro-Western politician, was killed by a sniper March 12 as he...

Belgrade Hands US Baghdad Secrets Officials in Belgrade have given the American government secret details of Saddam Hussein's war machine. By Aleksandar Radic in Belgrade (BCR No 374, 17-Oct-02) The authorities have handed the United States Milosevic-era intelligence on Saddam Hussein's regime as proof of their willingness to cooperate with the American-led campaign against terrorism, according to military sources in the Yugoslav capital. The move came after The Sunday Times newspaper in London reported at the beginning of the month that Belgrade continued to collaborate with the Baghdad regime. The authorities immediately denied the accusations. But concerned that the claims...

Ashes of late ambassador are buried in Belgrade BELGRADE (Kyodo) Relatives and friends of the late Japanese ambassador to Croatia, Keisuke Oba, buried his ashes in Belgrade on Friday. Oba, considered a great lover of Yugoslavia, died in the Philippines last month. About 100 people, including many of Oba's Serbian friends, attended the burial ceremony at the central Belgrade cemetery. Oba died in the Philippine island of Cebu on Aug. 29 at age 67 after battling a brain tumor. He had told his family he wanted to be buried in Yugoslavia. It is extremely rare for a Japanese diplomat to...

Nuclear shipment alarms Belgrade Serbia has flown 6,000 uranium rods - enough to make two nuclear bombs - back to Russia, in high-security operation that alarmed residents in the capital Belgrade. Helicopters hovered over the city and special police in gas masks guarded the route from the Vincha nuclear research institute to a local airport, as the transportation operation began early on Thursday. The Serbian Science Minister, Dragan Domazet, said city residents were in no danger, stressing that the operation had to be kept secret because of a risk of terrorist attack. "You always have to foresee everything, like...