From info at balkan-info.net Mon Dec 4 19:30:12 2000 From: info at balkan-info.net (info at balkan-info.net) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 19:30:12 Subject: [ALST-L] News Summary-4 December Message-ID: <510.698189.284191@balkan-info.net> Russian Defence Minister to Meet with NATO Officials Moscow- Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev will hold talks with NATO officials in Brussels on Tuesday. Agenda topics include the latest developments in the Balkans and a schedule for reopening the NATO office in Moscow, ITAR-TASS reported. Sergeyev met with Japan's Prime Minister during a recent four day visit to Tokyo. (Copyright AFP 2000) Yugoslavia Seeks Renewed Relations with Albania Tirana- Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said Belgrade was prepared to renew diplomatic relations with Albania, DPA reported. ?We should communicate, discuss delicate problems and this is the reason that we should restore full diplomatic relations,? Svilanovic said in an interview with the state-run Albanian Telegraphic Agency. Albania has also stated its willingness to restore relations with Yugoslavia, on the condition that Kosovo Albanians remaining in Serbian prisons are released. (DPA ? 03/12/00) Kostunica Urges Diplomacy in Southern Serbia Belgrade- Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica urged politicians in the Balkan country to refrain from calls for war in southern Serbia, AFP reported. ?This is not the time for war, but for wise diplomatic action,? Kostunica said in a statement, according to AFP. In recent weeks, ethnic Albanian insurgents have clashed with Serbian police in southern section of the republic, along the administrative border with Kosovo. (AFP ? 03/12/00) Stolojan Warns Against Voting for Tudor Bucharest- The Liberal Party of Romanian presidential candidate Theodor Stolojan warned the country?s citizens that Romania could be isolated if far-right candidate Corneliu Vadim Tudor wins the runoff election, AP reported. ?Vote against extremism, against Corneliu Vadim Tudor, in the second round of the presidential elections,? Liberal Party deputy leader Valeriu Stoica said, according to AP. Tudor finished the first round in second place with 28 percent of the vote, with former President Ion Iliescu winning 36 percent. Stolojan finished third with 11.78 percent. (AP ? 03/12/00) Serbian Judge Found Dead: Report Belgrade- Belgrade television reported that Serbian judge Nebojsa Simeunovic was found dead over the weekend, nearly one month after his disappearance, according to DPA. Simeunovic gained notoriety during the Yugoslav post-election crisis when he refused to issue arrest warrants for Democratic Opposition of Serbia officials Nebojsa Covic and Boris Tadic. (DPA ? 03/12/00) Otpor Gathers Support For Yugoslav Secret Police Chief Ouster Belgrade- The student-run resistance movement Otpor has put together a petition of 60,000 names calling for the ouster of secret police chief Rade Markovic, AFP reported. Otpor accused Markovic of stymieing the progress of Serbia?s transitional government. Vukasin Petrovic, an Otpor official, warned that the student-run group would focus on other individuals in the police and political system who supported former president Slobodan Milosevic. (AFP ? 04/12/00) From info at balkan-info.com Sun Dec 24 12:29:48 2000 From: info at balkan-info.com (info at balkan-info.com) Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 12:29:48 Subject: [ALST-L] Greetings from the Balkan Information Exchange Message-ID: <544.869118.445740@balkan-info.com> Below is a news item recently reported in the international media, and carried on the Balkan Information Exchange web site at www.balkan-info.com. ********************************************************* UN, KFOR Work for Peace in Southern Serbia (Sources: Agence France Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), KFOR) Efforts of the United Nations, KFOR and Yugoslav officials to bring a peaceful resolution to the unrest in southern Serbia continue despite continued resistance by ethnic Albanian rebels. Ethnic Albanian extremists with the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) maintain their presence in the Ground Safety Zone (GSZ), meant to act as a five-kilometre buffer zone between Serbia proper and Kosovo. The United Nations Security Council sent a strong message to the UCPMB in a resolution adopted 19 December, AFP reported. "The Security Council calls for the dissolution of ethnic Albanian extremist groups. The Council also calls for the immediate withdrawal from the area, and particular from the Ground Safety Zone, of all non-residents engaged in extremist activities," the resolution said. The Council also strongly condemned violent actions by the UCPMB. The KFOR troop presence along Kosovo?s border with Serbia has been stepped-up in an attempt to prevent rebel and arms movement between the GSZ and Kosovo. On 20 December KFOR troops arrested 13 Kosovo Albanians attempting to cross the border into the GSZ.. Uniforms and weaponry were confiscated. "KFOR is dedicated to ensuring that ethnic Albanian armed groups are not permitted to use Kosovo as a staging area for extremist activity," KFOR spokesman Major Steven Shappel said following the arrest. High-level diplomacy has also made been used to bring peace in the region. KFOR Commanding General Carlo Cabigiosu met with Serb Vice-Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic on 20 December to discuss potential solutions to the rebel activity, AFP reported. Although no details on the content of the meeting were made available, Cabigiosu released a statement saying he was encouraged by the discussion. "I believe it is possible to find a peaceful solution to this problem, and this meeting was a step in the right direction," Cabigiosu said, according to AFP. Yugoslavia has appealed for a diplomatic solution to the unrest despite a November offensive by the UCPMB that claimed the lives of four Serb policemen. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has urged NATO to consider a change in the agreement that brought an end to the hostilities in Kosovo in 1999 and established the GSZ. "A possible solution is to have the five-kilometre zone reduced to two or one kilometres and free the communication route to the south?. It is not realistic to expect the changes in the entirety of the text, that would only lead to further instability," Kostunica said on 19 December, according to AP. For more information, please see "Background on the Conflict in the Presevo Valley" in the Background and Bios section of this site. ********************************************************* For more regional news, we encourage you to visit www.balkan-info.com. The Balkan Information Exchange is a news and information clearinghouse that reflects the reporting of international and regional news agencies. Site content is written in Albanian, English, Greek, Russian and Serbian languages, and is updated daily. Please send your comments to info at balkan-info.net. To unsubscribe, reply with unsubscribe in the subject line to unsubscribe at balkan-info.net. From ailirjani at hotmail.com Sun Dec 24 13:43:29 2000 From: ailirjani at hotmail.com (Altin Ilirjani) Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 13:43:29 -0500 Subject: [ALST-L] Southeast European Politics (SEEP) 2/2000 Message-ID: Southeast European Politics (SEEP) Volume 1, Number 2, December 2000. Online version available at http://www.seep.ceu.hu/ TABLE OF CONTENT Serbia's Bulldozer Revolution: Conditions and Prospects. ERIC D. GORDY Clark University/Collegium Budapest The 'Taiwan of the Balkans'? The De Facto State Option for Kosova. SCOTT PEGG Bilkent University Learning to Play the Game: Bulgaria's Relations with Multilateral Organizations. VESSELIN DIMITROV London School of Economics Understanding Balkan Nationalism: The wrong people, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. SRDJA PAVLOVIC University of Alberta BOOK REVIEWS Schvpflin, George. Nations, Identity, Power. The New Politics of Europe. London: Hurst & Co., 2000. Reviewed by STEFAN WOLFF Ger Duijzings. Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo. London: Hurst & Company, 2000. Reviewed by ISA BLUMI Mladen Lazic (Ed.) Protest in Belgrade. Winter of Discontent. Budapest: CEU Press, 1999. Reviewed by LAZAR NIKOLIC -------------------- Southeast European Politics CEU, Political Science Dept. Nador U. 9, Budapest 1051 Hungary Email: editor at seep.ceu.hu Web: http://www.seep.ceu.hu/ -------------- next part -------------- HTML attachment scrubbed and removed