Belgrade Insight, No. 20

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NEWS NEWS

Friday • June 13 • 2008

9 ISSN 1820-8339

771820 833000

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1 / Friday, June 13, 2008 Jan. 29, 2009 Weekly Issue No.Issue 20, No. Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday,

The Year Of Splits The Ox Lure of Tadic Alliance Socialists Belgrade’s Chinese community look forward to “Prosperity Through Fortitude”

While younger Socialists support joining a new, pro-EU government, old Milosevic loyalists threaten revolt over the prospect. party over which way to turn.

“The situation in the party seems extremely complicated, as we try to convince the few remaining laggards that we need to move out of Milosevic’s shadow,” one Socialist Party official complained.

“Dacic will eventually side with Tadic in a bid to guide his party into the European mainstream, but much of the membership and many officials may oppose that move.”

Nikolic agreed: “The question is will the party split or will the ‘oldtimers’ back down,” he noted.

Fearing they might not cross the 5-per-cent threshold to enter parliament, the Socialists teamed up with the Association of Pensioners and the United Serbia Party, led by businessman Dragan Markovic “Palma”.

Pensioners leader, Jovan Krkobabic, Palma and Dacic are all pushing for a deal with the Democrats.

The reported price is the post of Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains the Serbian kingmaker Photo

by Caslav Vukojicic deputy PM, with a brief in charge of Though the New Year is a big celebration in China, many of Belgrade’s ethnic Chinese will celebrate at home with family and friends.

Some will use the three day holiday to take a break from work, security for the Socialist leader. faces extinction unless it changes. to Serbia’s late president, Slobodan By Rade Maroevic in Belgrade sleep in and go for a walk, although a lucky few have gone back to China to celebrate in the traditional way.

In addition, the Socialists are barHowever, a strong current also Milosevic, and reformists who want gaining for huge other New ministries, includNew comDepending on whether they come of the Year parade flows in the opposite direction, led sion theInparty to Belgrade, become a Chinese modern Euroense negotiations on a new govBy Ljilja Cvekic mercial life centres around the green from south veterans or north enraged of China, they ining Beijing and beamed byKosovo satelliteand to capital investments, by party by the pean social democrat organisation. ernment have divided the ranks Reporting from Belgrade structure of the Blok 70 mall.

The will also make dumplings – wheat millions of homes across the country education, Belgrade media reported. prospect of a deal with Tadic.

After eight years of stagnation, of the Socialist Party, which holds traders’ goods spill out onto the flour pockets filled with vegetables and abroad.

Tadic horseMihajlo Markovic, a founder of the Socialists returned to centre stage the balance of power between the corridors from the cramped shops - and meat – or rice balls, tuanyuen, “It is has huge,denied like talk the of Olympic trading with the says.

Socialists, the party, recently warned crisis games,” after winning 20 oftoys the 250 in which main blocs and hasNew yet to announce and shoes, and seats colourmeans “The wholeof afamily Lu Tao “Thatmaintainis why he Chinese Year, tradi- clothes go only to artificialinflowers, and together to the iting wasthat notministries a problemwould for China to orif Dacicforever”. opts for According the pro-European parliament the May jewellery 11 elections. whichtionally side theycelebrated will support. with great ful and bathroom items custom, all familythe members should Olympics – we hadfor great dragons will and pottery, those the committed to working the bloc, abandoning Socialists’ “nat- ganise With kitchen the pro-European and nation“It parades, looks as ifpaper the Socialists all made China,evenly and amatched, fraction join inideological preparationpartners. of the meal. experience.” fireworks, will abegovernment marked byledBelgovernment’s “strategic goal”. ural” blocs in almost move towards by –alist The Chinese New Year tradition The Chinese started to come to grade’s Chinese community quietly of the price that one would pay in At the same time, Dacic seems reMarkovic, a prominent supporter the Socialists now have the final say the Democrats,” political analyst Miarises from a legend in which the Serbia in the early 90’s at the height and within a closed family circle, ‘Western’ shops. to call off negotiations with of Milosevic during the 1990s, is ofluctant on“Many the fatepeople of the country. lan Nikolic, of the independent Cenagainst a mythical beast called the sanctions against Yugoslavia who could afford fight away from the eyes of the Serbian theits nationalists. who would come the for role in the wars in Croatia so, have already left for ChiseenNian, as representative of theon“oldNikolic believes the Socialists, led the tre of Policy Studies,inhabitants. said. “But such to do capital’s two million day in ofthe theparty newwho yearwant to devour Bosnia.

Withreach only an cursory visa celebrate Chun might Jie, or provoke Spring Festival, as it na we don’t agreement timers” to stay and “If bytoIvica Dacic,with will their comefamilies. over to first a move deeper divilivestock, crops, and kill villagers, requirements to enter, their numbers Here in Belgrade the community issions called in China, has been celebrated with the DSS and Radicals, the partrue to the former regime’s policies, Tadic, if only out of a pragmatic deand even split the party.” for some 5,000 years and is the big- will stay at home or go to a friend’s especially children. To protect them- grew and soon there were 500 small ty leadership will decidefrom on future even though these almost ruined the sire to ensure their political survival.

Simultaneous negotiations held house,” selling everything neeLu Tao, the owner of a selves, villagers would put food in shops gest event on the Chinese cultural steps”, Dacic announced, Socialists for doors good. at the beginning dles “The group of younger with the It pro-European nationalof their supermarket, toldSocialists BIRN, front to wardrobes, making following Blok 70 calendar. traditionally and begins on the Chinese first session of country’s new paryearyounger to appease the Nian.

One a the by exotic products favourite shopping destination for Some Socialist officials gathered around Dacicfood seems to be of the ist blocs drawn attention a surrounded first day ofhave the first lunar month toand that theover Nian was many elsewhere Belgrade. working-class Belgraders. ends with the Lantern unavailable liament on Wednesday. havepeople voicedsaw frustration the conin the majority”, Nikolicinsaid, adding day, deep 15 rift days insidelater the Socialists. by a little child wearing are groaning cans scared Even since the development of Festival.

This year, the Year ofloyal the The tinuingaway impasse within their own that shelves these reformists believewith the party This divides “old-timers” Source: Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com) Ox, officially statrts on January 26, of unusual vegetables, tofu and hot red and thereafter, at the approach upmarket foreign shops and malls according to a set rotation steeped in and spicy sauces. The freezers are of the New Year the villagers would such as Delta City, Belgrade’s ramstuffed with ready-made dump- hang red lanterns in windows and shackle Chinatown continues its own legend. and used firecrackers to fright- busy life and the Chinese community and unusual seafood like Pike doors ISSUE UnlikeTHIS in many other OF cities where lings Business Insight Neighbourhood Matters has continued to increase. decadesBelgrade of Chinese Insight immigrant pres- Eel, Blue Swimming Crab, or Ilex en the Nian away.

“We will not work for three days Squid.

The majority of the migrants ence IS have resulted in lacquer-red SUPPORTED BY: “People will prepare traditional for the New Year, and it’s an oppor- are from the south China province faux temples in tourist-friendly Chinatowns, the Chinese in Belgrade food made only for the New Year,” tunity to sleep and rest and go for a of Zhejiang, between Hong-Kong conomists warninga that hile the footballa world watchWendan, 19-year old and Shanghai, traditionally a re“like are Niangao, kindproof walk,” said are both noticeable and invisible, de- he adds, neighbour said gion of traders. bread uncertainty made of sticky and salesgirl,es while over rice Serbia’s eventsher unfold at the Europending on where you go, and how sweetlonged would watch the live transmisdrink wine.” much money you have.

Page 4 futurerice could scare off investors, lead he pean Championships in Austria and to higher inflation and jeopardise Switzerland, Bosnia is experiencing BUSINESS NEIGHBOURHOOD prosperity for years to come. a soccer rebellion, led by fans, playPlans to create a new ‘people’s capiChinese Uighur, Tira“This year has been lost, from the Aers and former starsrelocated who are to enraged talism’ through offers of free shares na following his release from Guanstandpoint of economic policy,” says by what they see as corrupt leaders in privatised companies could prove tanamo Bay in 2006, says there can Stojan Stamenkovic of the Economthe‘closure’ country’sfor football association more difficult to pursue in the current beof no him until Presiics Institute in Belgrade. leaders. economic climate. dent Obama fulfils his promise to page 5 page 10 shut down the detention centre.

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Costs Mounting

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Football Rebellion

EDITOR’S WORD POLITICS Serbian political leaders and analysts don’t expect much change with Barack Obama as the new president R.States.

Pullen ofBy theMark United

Political Predictability

Many of us who have experi3 enced numerous SerbianPage elections rate ourselves as pundits when it BELGRADE comes to predicting election reAssults partand of apost-election long Serbianmoves. tradition, whichWesymbolises Jesus’ feel in-the-know baptism, because swimmers took a dive in Ada Ciganour experience of elections in Serlija on January 19th, to recover a bia has shown that (a.) no single cross thrown by aus priest. party or coalition will ever gain5 the Page majority required to form a governABOUT ment, OUT and (b.)&political negotiations willeco-hotels never be quickly concluded.

Ten and guest houses to Even the Democrats choose fromwhen when visiting the wild untouched countryside. achievedBulgarian their surprising result at last month’s general election, it quickly became clear that the result was actually more-or-less the same as every other election result in Serbia, i.e. inconclusive.

This is likely to continue as long as Serbia’s politicians form new political parties every time they disagree with their current party leader (there are currently 342 registered political parties in Serbia).

Drawn-out negotiations are also the norm. One Belgrade-based Page 9 Ambassador recently told me he GOING was also alarmedOUT by the distinct lack of urgency among Serbian Those who have a hard time letting “The country gopoliticians. of the festive season can goistoatthea standstill I don’t understand Sava Centarand on Sunday, January 25 for a final holiday entertheir logic.hurrah If theyofare so eager to tainment Swan Lake on Ice. progress towards the EU and encourage investors, howPage come12they go home at 5pm sharp and don’t SPORT work weekends?”

Surely the situation is urgent While the Serbian national handenough warrant a little overtime. ball team to was warmly embraced in Croatia’s northern coastal resort of Porec, Belgrade’s two basketball teams were given a more familiar reception in Zadar and Split.

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Source: www.weather2umbrella.com

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Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

politics

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Obama ‘Will Not Mean Change For Serbia’

Photo by FoNet

As Obama prepared to take the oath of office, many in Serbia questioned whether America’s new president would bring a change in diplomatic relations between the two nations.

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he morning after Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th president of the United States, dailies in Serbia ran headlines like “An Oath For a Better World,” and “Obama: Hope For the World”.

As Obama’s face beamed up from the covers of nearly every newspaper, some analysts were wary about whether or not Obama will mean change for the US’s relationship with Serbia.

US policy in the Balkans will not change with Obama as president, and Serbia cannot hope for any shift in Washington’s stance over Kosovo, a veteran Serbian diplomat said.

Zivorad Kovacevic, a former Yugoslav ambassador to the US and current head of the European Movement NGO told Serbia’s Novosti daily that US policy in the Western Balkans would stay in line with current positions.

“The US administration will be less arrogant and ready to listen, but Obama’s policy is the same as McCain’s in the context of Serbia and Western Balkans” Kovacevic said, adding that Washington has no dilemmas on Kosovo’s status.

“The story is over for Obama,” said Kovacevic. “The new administration believes there is no need to open new talks, either international or between Serbia and Kosovo.

Obama has called for dialogue only in Kosovo between Serbian communities and the authorities in Pristina, and asked the Serbian government to show understanding for the new reality. Kosovo and Serbia are not among the new administration’s 20 priorities.”

Kovacevic added that Obama supports Serbia’s path towards the European Union, but would also insist on the arrest of Hague fugutive Ratko Mladic.

Above all, he said, the US expected Belgrade to not start trouble.

“Washington will not mind Serbia sticking to its position about not recognising Kosovo’s independence, but it will expect it to contact Kosovo’s government specifically on matters regarding the Serbian community and cultural and religious artefacts,” he added.

Bosko Jaksic, commentator for Serbian daily Politika, said that Obama was already offering a very different approach to the presidency of George W. Bush.

“His message is one of peace and varies drastically from the aggressive politics of Bush,” he said.

“He is offering the world America’s friendship, and is talking about the possibility of solving problems in a diplomatic way.”

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic’s Cabinet Chief, Borko Stefanovic, said that there are issues that unite Serbia and the US, while the issue of Kosovo’s independence is a sticky point between the two states.

“Right now the Serbian caucus in Washington is a group of decent people that is growing everyday, and it is in this way that we will try to influence American politics,” Stefanovic said.

Kosovo Launches Armed Forces

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osovo has inaugurated a NATO-sponsored security force, an army in all but name.

With this move, Kosovo is taking a firm step to full statehood after its secession from Serbia last year.

The new force, the Kosovo Security Force, KSF, replaces the Kosovo Protection Corps, the territory’s first quasi-military body that was set up after the end of the 1998-99 war between ethnic Albanian guerillas and Serb forces.

Kosovo declared independence last February after almost nine years as a United Nations protectorate, but is still supervised by international monitors and Serbia is blocking its entry into the UN. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the forces meet the requirements set by UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari, whose report served as a basis for Kosovo’s current status of “supervised independence”.

Although Kosovo and international officials are careful not to call it an army, the KSF will be organised along military command lines and fulfill most of the functions of any national army, including foreign peacekeeping duties under the umbrella of NATO, which still maintains a large peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

Understanding the significance of the move, Serbia has said it will never accept its formation.

“The only way for stabilisation in Kosovo is a process of demilitarisation” Serbian President Boris Tadic

said in an interview for TV B92, adding that the “formation of armed forces is against United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244,” which stipulates that only UN peacekeepers in Kosovo can be armed.

The vice-president of the Serb National Council, a Belgrade-financed parallel structure operating in Serb areas, especially in north Kosovo, has slammed the creation of the force, saying it was a means of control over the Serbs of Kosovo.

“All security formations and institutions formed in Kosovo, given that they’re mono-national, actually have battle at the top of their agendas or the priority of data and information collection of those who they perceive to be least loyal - namely, the Serb community and the Serbian state,” said Rada Trajkovic.

The Serbs - some 100,000 among Kosovo’s two million people - were hostile to the previous body, the KPC, because it was overwhelmingly made up from former ethnic Albanian veterans of the war. The conflict rumbled on for over a year until NATO bombed Serbian targets in 1999 to expel Serb forces.

Aware of the sensitivities, NATO sources said that one of the main conditions for future members of the KSF will be the knowledge of both the Albanian and Serbian language.

Lah Nitaj, advisor to the Minister of the Security Forces told Balkan Insight that while “2,600 former KPC members had applied to get into the Secu-

Photo by FoNet

The launch of the armed forces is causing fury among Serbian politicians.

rity Force, only 1,300 were accepted.”

Those who were not successful would be taken on a government program intended to teach them other skills and prepare them for civilian jobs.

Military and security expert Ramadan Qehaja told Balkan Insight that he believes the Security Force is currently too small to have real military influence and ability. However, he sees this changing in the future, as NATO begins to withdraw its troops from Kosovo.

Qehaja sees the Security Force as an improvement on the Kosovo Protection Corps because the forces are entitled to carry weapons, something not allowed to the corps, and it “can be considered a starting point for the establishment of an army.”

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Profile of the Week

Rasim Ljajic

By Slobodan Georgijev Reporting from Belgrade

Cleans Up Spots Other Ministers Can Not Reach

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ilver-tongued and smooth as Teflon, Rasim Ljajic has one of the toughest jobs in Serbia as Belgrade’s buffer-man to the Hague war crimes tribunal.

But while his good-guy image and conciliatory tones have made him a media darling at home and abroad, the Sandzak native is becoming increasingly assertive as the de facto representative of Serbia’s Bosniaks (Muslims) rather than his former political mentor, Sulejman Ugljanin.

Ljajic, who rose to power as an ally of the Democratic Party after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic on Oct. 5, 2000, has the reputation of a man who can take the coals out of the fire and smile for the cameras while his sleeve goes up in flames. His ministerial portfolios alone could make you think someone is out to get him, having included such poisoned apples as the human rights brief, relations with rebellious Albanians in southern Serbia, and the most thankless task of all, head of the office for cooperation with ICTY. When Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz is in town, Ljajic sits next to him in press conferences, looking contrite like a schoolboy failing his exams. On a typical week, the trained doctor will say at least once a day and twice on Sundays that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of fugitive Ratko Mladic - and get in the papers every time.

Sometimes he will have something hopeful that makes headlines: “Now we know Mladic’s movements up until 2006,” Ljajic told Reuters this week. “The network of his helpers is increasingly smaller, partly because he intimidated his accomplices, even threatening the children of his helpers.” Not much, you would think, but the optimism in his tone helps. When chosen as person of the year by the Vreme weekly in 2006, he said of his communications skills: “I managed to turn my ministry into a brand.”

But now Ljajic, who turns 45 next week, has decided that it’s “no more Mr. Nice Guy”, and has threatened to leave the government unless he gets support for his showdown with his now arch-nemesis in Sandzak, Sulejman Ugljanin, who is also a minister.

The power struggle has led to some ugly clashes in the regional capital of Novi Pazar, and attempts to include both rivals in the regional government have come to nothing.

“They probably think: Rasim is tolerant, he won’t make any problems, and Ugljanin is mad, he can do anything, so let us calm him down,” Ljajic said. “But I say, if we are tolerant, that does not mean we are fools.”

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belgrade chronicle

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Continued from page 1

The Year Of The Ox Most of the migrants say they had no trouble adjusting to life in Serbia.

The Serbs and Chinese have considered each other allies for decades, especially during the time of the long rule of Mao Zedong and Josip Broz Tito, when the study of each other’s political system was a common subject at school.

“We all loved Yugoslav war films, we watched them again and again,” Jin Dongrong, the head of an association of Chinese traders in Serbia, told Belgrade Insight.

“And besides, there’s not a single person out of 2 billion Chinese who didn’t hear about Tito. Some people in China might not know where Canada is, but they certainly know where Serbia is.”

Not many speak Serbian, other than a few necessary words, and the majority are very reluctant to talk to journalists. Mothers oftenbring babies and young children to work or take them to kindergartens or private babysitters. Usually they send school age children to China back to their grandparents, so they can get a Chinese education.

Yong Tsan, 42, says she arrived seven years ago and lives in Pancevo, near Belgrade. Each day, other than Tuesday, when the stores are closed, she sells Chinese delicacies from a cart in the small square between two mall buildings: tofu, pickled vegetables, rice noodles and homemade soy sauce. All her three daughters live in Serbia now, together with her and her husband.

Photo by Caslav Vukojicic

Chinese restaurants around town will be busy with special New Year promotions, but members of the Chinese community are just as likely to celebrate at home with friends and family.

“I have a grandchild now as well. My family cannot afford to travel to China and we will stay at home in Belgrade. My daughters went to school in China, but we’re all together now,” she said smiling.

Although still largely a closed group, the Chinese are branching out. They have started employing more and more Serbs in their shops, and as their numbers have grown, they have

moved into rented apartments and come more into contact with local Serbs.

“I was the first one to come to Belgrade, two years ago, and then my mother arrived and my father last. I still have a kid sister back home,” said Wendan.

She explains that she wanted to study in Serbia but she had to start working. Now she is not so eager to study any more, although her parents would like her to.

For the merchants, the New Year break fits well with the schedule of their customers: for Serbs January is the most difficult month financially, since numerous celebrations – Orthodox Christmas, two New Years, as well as many “slavas” – family saint days – exhaust their home budgets.

“The global economic crisis has an impact on Chinese people here as well. The value of the dinar is dropping and the Chinese currency, the yuan is going up, and traders are losing a lot,” Lu Tao said.

In the spirit of a leaner time, the Chinese New Year’s celebration in Belgrade was organised on a much smaller scale this year on January 12 at the Sava Centar, with several hundred Chinese people and Serbian guests attending.

“We recommend all companies to pay all taxes and contributions and to have at least one Serb employee because of language,” Jin said.

“The short residence permits, valid for only six months, and a new law requiring them to be renewed at least a month in advance, are giving us lot of headaches.”

The traders say they look forward to more cross-national cooperation. After his visit to Beijing last year, Serbian President, Boris Tadic, said that many Chinese companies had expressed an interest in investing in Serbia, including big telecommunication and construction companies. The Chinese business association is trying to work with companies to develop Chinese imports, but also to export some goods from Serbia, such as wine, fire wood and chocolate bars to the Chinese market.

Last September, Serbia and China also signed an agreement on cultural cooperation, planning a seven-day Chinese festival in Belgrade and a Serbian festival in Beijing.

Already, the year of the Ox looks set to live up to its promise of “prosperity through fortitude and hard work.” The year just gone was the Year of the Rat, considered to be full of energy but also turmoil, while the Ox, according to Chinese astrological charts, enhances the ability to achieve great things, brings calmness and modesty, patience and tirelessness in work

“Those who could afford to do so left for China to celebrate with their families.

Here, they will stay at home or go to a friend’s house.”

Lu Tao, owner of Chinese supermarket and great endurance of any hardship without complaint.

Maybe with an eye to an auspicious start, the Chinese trading company Fenix plans this year to open a €40 million shopping mall, Fenix City, to replace the existing trading centre and offer much better conditions for some 2,000 small firms.

Belgrade is also due to get a new Chinese restaurant, “The Chinese Wall”, billed as the biggest one in the Balkans, a fitting tribute to the one thing Chinese say they definitely share with Serbs: their love of good food.

Source: www.panoramio.com

Across the world the community welcome the New Year with a carvinival. Here, the celebrations will be muted.

belgrade chronicle

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Take an Icy Dive to Celebrate The Epiphany As part of a long Serbian tradition symbolising Jesus’ baptism, swimmers took a dive in Ada Ciganlija on January 19th, to recover a cross thrown by a priest .

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Photo by FoNet

Over a dozen participants dived into a cold, icy Ada Ciganlija to retreive a cross thrown by the Serbian Orthodox priest. However, only one man was crowned the winner, and is pictured above receiving his prize.

the icy waters of the lake.

Another gendarmerie officer, Igor Cicovic, got the cross first at the Zemun Quay as well, where 50 people

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participated in the swim in the Danube River. Before the ceremony in Zemun, some 2,000 residents followed a procession down the main street, led

by church and state officials.

The youngest participant was a seven year old, while the oldest was 76 year-old Aleksandar Danicic.

Street Vendors and Police ‘Fight’ Over the Boulevard

Taxi Drivers To ‘Sue’ City elgrade taxi drivers are preparing a lawsuit against the city, saying their “work environment” is unsatisfactory.

The chief representative of Beotaksi, Milivoje Armus, told local daily Blic that taxi drivers’ unions are considering taking legal action so that their problems can be solved in a just manner.

“They have not removed the ‘wild’ (illegal) taxis from the Belgrade streets, those who are taking money out of the pockets of those of us who are working properly and pay taxes to the state,” Armus said.

He added that said fares had not been adjusted to reflect the economic situation, and the number of taxis on the city streets has increased.

“We plan on asking for reparations for the damage incurred from all this,” Armus added.

The public transportation directorate said the taxi drivers had indicated they would file charges but not given an adequate reason.

Taxi drivers are also displeased by rumours that the state does not plan on approving another fare increase, because of the recent drop in fuel prices.

“We are waiting for Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas to give his opinion in the next 10 to 15 days on the price of taxi services,” Armus said.

Taxi drivers submitted a demand almost three months ago for fares to be increased by between seven and 10 percent, but have yet to receive an answer from the city.

Local Police Investigate Murder of a Transsexual The recent murder of Minja Kocis has caused an uproar in the gay community, who say the murder brings into the limelight the violence and hate directed towards this group.

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he bravest of swimmers took to the freezing waters of local rivers and lakes for the traditional race for the cross held every year to celebrate the Orthodox Epiphany.

The Orthodox Church celebrates the Holy Epiphany on January 19, with races organised in many of Serbia’s cities. A priest throws the cross in the water, and swimmers jump in and race to retreive it. The event commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River and his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. For the third year in a row, Marko Tomasevic, a member of the gendarmerie special police, got to the cross first in Belgrade’s Ada Ciganlija lake, where most of the city goes during the summer to take a dip and cool off.

Tomasevic had stiff competition from other gendarmerie officers and soldiers who took the plunge and subsequent 33-metre long swim into

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f you’ve lived in Belgrade for more than a month or two and have ever walked down Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra, then you have spotted the street merchants, lined up along the sidewalk: they offer shirts, shoes, hair products and everything else you may need. With one stand right next to the other, they stretch on for miles along one of Zvezdara’s longest streets.

On December 1st, the police began a crack-down on merchants they deem to be illegal because they avoid paying taxes on their sales, and are competition for stores who are paying rent and taxes on their goods.

Police have increased their presence on the boulevard, and as a result, street merchants haven’t been able to continue with business as usual.

“Since the 1st of December, there haven’t been rags on the Boulevard and we’re determined to have it stay that way,” a source from the city’s market inspection agency told Serbian daily Politika.

“Never have inspection teams been this effective, and we’re on the scene the entire day, ”At first, we didn’t work on Sundays, but street merchants realised this around New Year’s, and used the opportunity to their benefit. It hasn’t been business as usual for these illegal merchants, and most often they show up on the Boulevard and stand on the street, and it looks like this has become a life philosophy to them.”“We stand here because we are looking for a chance to display our goods, if even for a moment, when the inspectors aren’t looking. How can you ask if we’ve tried to find other jobs in this time when thousands of workers in Serbia are losing theirs? Many

Source: www.panoramio.com

The street vendors on Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra haven’t been able to go on with business as usual because of increased inspections in this key area.

of us are too old to try to find jobs elsewhere and we’ve got to live from something. For us, it’s like we’re living in the hyperinflation of 1993. But, at least it’s been proven that we’re not competition for merchants that own shops. We’ve noticed that since there haven’t been street merchants on the streets, there also haven’t been people in the shops,” said Dragica Stojimanovic, president of the Zvezdara society for street merchants.

Every year, around New Year, market inspections and controls are strengthened in this key point in the

city. However, every year, after inspectors start appearing less and less, the street merchants go back to business as usual. The question this year, of course, how long it will last this time.

elgrade police are investigating the murder of a 39-year old transsexual, a case that gay activists have called the tip of the iceberg of violence against minorities in Serbia.

Minja Kocis, who was born Mihajl and had sex reassignment surgery in her 30s, was found dead in her apartment in the Crveni Krst area on January 19th. She was discovered by a man who came to collect the rent on behalf of her landlord, found the door unlocked and Kocis lying on her front on the floor in a pool of blood.

According to a report in the daily Blic, Kocis suffered two stab wounds to the chest. A knife found in the sink is believed to be the murder weapon.

Since the front door wasn’t forced, police believed Kocis may have known her killer.

“Minja was always well dressed and quite attractive. As far as I know, she lived alone and didn’t have a boyfriend. She did everything by herself around the house,” one neighbour said. “No one suspected that she was once a man until she started openly talking about taking hormone therapy and how she’d surgically changed her sex.”

The Gay Straight Alliance of Serbia issued a statement calling on Serbian police to act quickly in what they called “this gruesome murder.”

“The Minja Kocis murder is a clear indicator of the amount of hate and violence directed towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community in Serbia. Moreover, this murder is only the tip of the wave of violence towards the gay community lately.”

Human rights activists say that homophobia is widespread in Serbia, mostly demonstrated by casual and institutional discrimination. Violent attacks are not uncommon, but victims hesitate to go to the police for fear of ridicule and publicity. The murder of transvestite actor Vjeran Miladinovic from 2003 is still unsolved.

Miroslav Djordjevic, a doctor who assists in gender reassignment surgeries, said that for every 100,000 people in Serbia, three or four have changed their sex.

“This would mean that in Serbia there are 26 people who have changed their sex or are in the preoperative phase, meaning they are having psychological treatment or hormone therapy to prepare,” Djordjevic said.

We fly for your smile.

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business

Companies & Markets EPS Announces Tenders For Two Projects Elektroprivreda Srbije, EPS, has announced tenders for a partner for the completion of a power station known as Kolubara B, and a new block at the Nikola Tesla B power plant.

Energy Minister, Petar Skundric, recently said that the project is valued at €2 billion. EPS Director Vladimir Djordjevic said that 16 companies have shown interest in the tender so far. The construction of the Kolubara B power plant started in 1988, and came to a halt three years later.

Novi Sad Plans Construction of Airport A member of the Novi Sad City Council, Sinisa Bubnjevid, says that the city is currently working on plans for the construction of a regional passenger airport. Bubnjevid added that the airport will be aimed at aircraft carrying up to 50 passengers. According to Bubnjevid, the city will look to investors for 100 per cent of the funding of the project.

BA Discounts BelgradeLondon Flights In a sure sign that recession is hitting the industry, British Airways announced flight prices to London from just €65 plus taxes. The airline which focuses mainly on the lucrative business market recently announced a decline of 12.1 per cent in premium traffic and declines in overall revenue per seat and passenger kilometre.

Novi Sad Port For Sale Despite Local Objections The Privatisation Agency has announced that Port “Novi Sad” will be offered for sale at the end of March, contrary to the wishes of the local authority in Vojvodina which believes that port should be run by the city and the province.

Negotiations between the provincial and republic government about the exclusion of the port from the privatisation process are underway, the CEO of that company, Milenko Milivojevic, told the Beta news agency. Authorities in other countries had come to rue their decisions to sell, he claimed.

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Global Downturn Slows Serbia Privatisation Drive Plans to create a new ‘people’s capitalism’ through offers of free shares in privatised companies could prove more difficult to pursue in the current economic climate.

By Ljilja Cvekic

Reporting from Belgrade

S

erbia’s hopes of speeding up privatisation of the rest of its stock of big state companies are hitting turbulence as the global downturn inevitably reduces buyers’ interest.

Accelerating sell-offs of state enterprises is a key demand of the European Union, which Serbia is anxious to join, and of the IMF, which signed a deal with Belgrade last November.

Nebojsa Ciric, state secretary for privatisation, said last week Serbia had sold 1,796 former state enterprises for €2.9 billion so far.

But the Privatisation Agency said almost 470 public firms remained unsold, awaiting sale by auction or tender, including 200 whose sale has been put on hold because their fate is unclear – often because they were founded by other former Yugoslav republics.

Although the government last year invited bidders to express interest in the remaining firms, many experts predict the sell-offs could take years, if they occur at all. In some cases, tenders have failed several times already.

Meanwhile, international interest is subdued in companies that frequently possess antiquated technology, too many workers and which would require huge investment to make them profitable.

Twenty per cent of sale agreements have been cancelled by the Privatisation Agency itself because the new owners failed to honour their contractual obligations.

A ‘People’s Capitalism’ Privatisation in Serbia dates back to 1990 when multi-party politics and a market economy began to erode the contours of the old one-party socialist state.

Sell-offs began in earnest only after 2000, however, when a pro-Western coalition ousted the autocratic regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

Many economists, meanwhile, say the money earned from the sales was used unwisely, being targeted for short-term purposes, such as filling holes in the budget, rather than being set aside for investment.

“Most of the funds gained from privatisation have unfortunately gone

towards regular spending, either repayment of public debts or covering deficits - buying social peace instead of investing in the reform of the pension system or infrastructure,” Miroslav Prokopijevic, an economic analyst, told Belgrade Insight.

It was late in 2007 that the Kostunica government, then with the same economy minister, Mladjan Dinkic, as today, offered all adults free shares in six major public companies, initially estimated to be worth some €25 billion.

The offer formed part of a threeyear plan to fully or partially privatise the NIS oil giant, the power and fixed line telecoms monopolies, the national airline, JAT, Belgrade airport and the drug producer, Galenika.

Fifteen per cent of each company’s basic capital was earmarked for division among ordinary people who could then sell or keep their shares.

When parliament passed legislation to enable the sell-offs in December 2007, Dinkic promised it would bring at least €1,000 to each person involved.

According to Miroslav Prokopijevic, Dinkic was aiming to emulate former the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s model of “a people’s capitalism”, by giving ordinary people a stake in major privatised enterprises.

As Prokopijevic notes, several other countries in the region had experimented with similar schemes. “In the Czech Republic and in Montenegro, they also distributed such vouchers,” he said.

Serbia adopted its law on the sale of the six big companies in 2007, and many economists viewed the offer of free shares as a piece of marketing

by Dinkic, leader of the technocratic G 17 Plus party and a partner in the governments both of Kostunica and current Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic.

“It was part of a strategy to buy votes, though that doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing,” Prokopijevic said.

“The problem is that this is a bad moment for the stock market.”

In the event, more than 5 million people applied for free shares of whom 4,166,073 were approved, Sanja Celic, of the Privatisation Agency, notes.

The problem now is what will happen to those free shares – and to those holding them – if the six companies fail to find appropriate buyers in the current economic climate.

According to Ciric, the authorities still estimate the total value of the shares to be around €1,000 for each adult.

Photo by FoNet

In 2007, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic offered all adults free shares in six major companies .

A controversial sale Confidence in the consistency of government plans to sell off state companies, has, meanwhile, been shaken by the handling of the sale of NIS. Under the legislation, public companies should be sold either through public auction or by public tender.

But in December 2008, the government circumvented those processes and sold a majority stake in NIS of 51 per cent to Gazprom Neft, an arm of the Russian gas export monopoly, Gazprom. Parliament has approved the sale.

Under the terms, Gazprom is to pay €400 million for its stake in NIS and invest a further €547 million by 2012.

The sale of the company, with an estimated book value of between $1-1.5 billion, was seen by many analysts in Serbia as politically motivated and as pay-back for Russia’s support of Serbia over Kosovo, the former Serbian province that seceded last February with Western backing.

Russia has sided with Serbia in denouncing the secession as illegal.

“It is hard to say what the main motivation for this deal was,” Dusko Vasiljevic, of the CIVES think tank, said, [but] “politics played a key role”.

Amid rumblings of discontent in Serbia over the NIS sale, Dinkic tried to renegotiate a higher price for the company but only after the deal had been initialled. The Russians refused to budge.

Officials involved in the sale remain unrepentant. Velimir Ilic, the

former infrastructure minister who signed the initial agreement with the Russians, last month poured scorn on those who had sought to renegotiate the terms. “There is no bargaining with Russians – either we sign the agreement - or not,” he said.

Shares in NIS should, according to the law, be distributed within six months of the December 2008 sale.

Meanwhile, a tender for the sale of 70 per cent of Galenika is to be published this year and a privatisation advisor named for the airport, in which the state will keep a majority stake.

Plans to sell the fixed line telecoms operator, Telekom, through an initial public offering and an analysis of its business will start in early February, Ciric said.

Sale of the power monopoly, EPS, is planned for 2010 but the government will remain managers of this company.

Officials insist global economic jitters will not panic Serbia’s government into slashing the sale price of its remaining assets.

“We will not go for reduced prices,” Vesna Dzinic, the Privatisation Agency director, told a news conference on Wednesday. She said it should be enough that the government will allow buyers to pay in instalments over five years, following a down payment of 30 per cent.

However, the government has recently admitted it is giving up – for now – plans to sell JAT Airways after the tender failed. Instead, it will try to restructure the company by cutting the workforce through offering redundancy payments and buying four new planes by the end of this year.

BELEX Holds Steady But Foreign Investors Continue To Sell

By Tijana Cvetkovic Turnover on the Belgrade Stock Exchange was 27 per cent higher than last week at 340 million dinars but the Belex indices mirrored global trends and with the exception of January 22nd, which saw modest gains and an increase in the Belex15 of 2.94 per cent, daily trading was negative. On 22 January the Belex 15 closed at 513,74 points around one per cent up on the week, while the

composite index, Belexline was 0.5 per cent weaker at 1,120.34 points.

Foreign investors accounted for 42.4 per cent of business, with an intensive presence on the sell side.

The top traded issue between January 16th and 22th was Vranje based Alfa plam, with a turnover of 66 million dinars. Other active shares were Agrobank and A Listing member, Energoprojekt holding, with turnover of 40.5 million dinars and 34.8 million dinars, respectively. Another A Listing member, soybean producer, Sojaprotein announced the issue of 5,390,000 new shares to finance increased production capacity, export growth and the refinancing of debt.

The week`s biggest gainer was AIK Bank, rising 16.2 per cent. Dur-

ing the reviewed period AIK Bank recorded continual price hikes, particularly on January 22nd which saw a rise of more than 12 per cent. Metals Bank and Dunav osiguranje also had a good week with price increase of 14.3 per cent and 7.8 per cent.

Credy Bank was the top loser, plummeting 31.6 per cent. Also on the downside, were Energomontaza which sagged 30.6 per cent, and Velefarm which saw a decline of 10.2 per cent.

Government FX bond sales realised over €1.2 million in the reviewed period with series A2016 the most active, with turnover of €855,000.

Tijana Cvetkovic is an analyst with FIMA Fas Ltd. in Belgrade.

neighbourhood business

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

7

Ex-Guantanamo Prisoner’s New Life in Albania A Chinese Uighur, living in Tirana following his release in 2006, says there can be no ‘closure’ for him until President Obama fulfills his promise to shut down the detention centre.

By Besar Likmeta and Ben Andoni Reporting from Tirana

A

s US president Barack Obama prepared to take the oath of office, in tiny Albania, Abu Bakr Qassim, a former prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, was glued to the screen.

The president-elect has already signaled that during his first week in office he will act to overturn some of the most unpopular policies of the Bush administration, including closure of the detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba.

“The first thing Obama should do is shut it down because the American people and the rest of the world don’t want it anymore,” said Abu Bakr Qassim, speaking of the detention centre where he and dozens of other fellow Uighurs were dispatched after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

“It will be welcome news for us but also for the American people because it will lift the doubts that Guantanamo has created about American democracy,” he added.

Casualties of the ‘War on Terror’ When Abu Bakr left home in China’s Xingjian province in 2001, his dream was to reach Western Europe, or, preferably, the United States.

He joined a larger group of 17 would-be migrants as they set off through the neighbouring Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In the winter of 2001, they arrived in the Afghan city of Jalalabad only days before the start of a US bombing campaign aimed at overthrowing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Within days of their arrival, Jalalabad was being bombed by US fighter jets, so they left to seek sanctuary in neighbouring Pakistan.

Little did they know that the villagers that would greet them warmly on the other side of the border had, only a few days earlier, been targeted by masses of flyers dropped by US planes, promising that whosoever “hunts an Arab becomes a rich man”.

The men were handed over to the Pakistan authorities for the promised reward of $5,000. They would spend the next four months in jail in Pakistan before being sent to Guantanamo Bay. “We were 20 on the plane, all bound and shackled and with the now infamous orange jumpsuits,” remembers Abu Bakr. “At that point, we understood that we were flying into hell.”

The Uighurs would spend the next five years until their release in an iron cage at Camp Delta.

“Even when they found out that we were innocent, they would not release us,” said Abu Bakr. “In Guantanamo, the laws are neither communist nor democrat; they don’t exist at all.”

Relocated to Albania The five Uighurs were not released until May 5, 2006, after a US

Photo by Ben Andoni

Abu Bakr, former prisoner of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, has built a new life in Albania. However, when he left China, he imagined he would be leading a very different life by now.

“Even when they found out that we were innocent, they would not release us. In Guantanamo, the laws are neither communist nor democratic; they don’t exist at all.”

Abu Bakr federal court ruled their detention illegal and only hours before an appeals court was expected to order that they be freed.

The Bush administration tried feverishly to find a host country for the five men in order to prevent the appeals court from freeing them onto American soil. After more than 100 countries refused, the US found a host in Albania, its small ally in the Balkans.

Of nearly 250 inmates still in Guantanamo, the US says 55 to 60 cannot be returned to their home country because they risk persecution at the hands of local authorities.

Among them are 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs who, together with Libyans, Uzbeks and Algerians, are also seen as at risk.

The US administration has asked its European allies to help relocate a number of former inmates not deemed a security threat.

However, as the deadline for Guantanamo’s closure approaches, some of its most vociferous critics in the EU appear lukewarm about the idea of taking in detainees.

Human Rights Groups believe European help is critical to protect detainees that have not been charged with any crimes but cannot return to their home countries.

In a joint statement on November 10, Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, Reprieve and the International Federation for Human Rights, urged governments around the world to work

with the new US administration in order to facilitate the closure of Guantanamo.

“Clearly, other governments can help make this happen by offering protection to individuals who cannot be released to their own countries,” said Daniel Gorevan, of Amnesty International, during a workshop held in Berlin.

“This would have a double effect: helping to end the ordeal of an individual unlawfully held in violation of his human rights and helping end the international human rights scandal that is Guantanamo.”

Human rights campaigners say that when the US has returned former detainees to countries with poor records of respect for human rights, they have faced threats, torture and persecution.

“President-elect Obama says he will close Guantanamo; the question is when and how,” said Cori Crider, an attorney at Reprieve.

“One of Reprieve’s clients was sent back to Tunisia, drugged, hit, and threatened with the rape of his wife and daughter. Another is fighting, even now, to stay in Guantanamo because Tunisia threatened him with ‘water torture in a barrel’.

Please can we have a map?

Even if the remaining detainees that are not facing criminal charges are sent to friendly third countries, they still face up-hill battles to rebuild their lives.

“We were 20 on the plane, all bound and shackled and with the now infamous orange jumpsuits. At that point, we understood that we were flying into hell.”

Abu Bakr

“President-elect Obama says he will close Guantanamo; the question is when and how.”

Cori Crider, attorney at Reprieve The first thing that the five Uighurs asked for after their arrival in Albania and after being sent to an immigration centre on the outskirts of the capital, Tirana, was a map.

Having grown up watching Albanian movies from the Seventies, when Tirana’s communist regime was cultivating strong ties to Maoist China, they knew Tirana was in Europe but had trouble locating on the map.

“At the immigration centre, the conditions were not that great, but now we have our own apartments in town, we go to the local mosque and have started to create bonds with the locals,” said Abu Bakr, who has now shaved off his long beard and sports Western clothes.

Although overwhelmingly Muslim, Albanian society is strongly secular and conservative Islam is often frowned upon.

“At the beginning, people looked on us as terrorists but I think the Albanians have come to understand that we were no such thing,” Abu Bakr said.

One of the Uighurs relocated to Albania has since moved to Sweden but the other four, including Abu Bakr, are doing their best to build a new life in Albania.

They have worked as volunteers for a local NGO, planting trees in the city, and one has enrolled at the local American university in Tirana.

However, Abu Bakr says that as far as he and his companions are concerned, there will be no closure until Guantanamo is shut.

“I would like to separate the American people from the policies carried out at Guantanamo but the latter is not a closed chapter yet,” Abu Bakr said.

“Seventeen Uighurs are still locked up in there while the law says that they are completely innocent.”

Source:www.BalkanInsight.com

8

neighbourhood

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Cautionary Tales From EU’s ‘Toilet’ A controversial Czech art installation in Brussels has come as an unwelcome reminder to Bulgarians of their poor image in the European club.

Obama Posters Flood Kosovo

By Shega A’Mula and Vjosa Musliu

Reporting from Pristina

By Shiv Sharma

A

In London

of toilet paper were tossed at government buildings while protesters shouted: “End the humiliation, down with the government.”

For Brussels, meanwhile, Bulgaria represents something of a cautionary tale. The EU will put up with Bulgaria and Romania, both which joined the bloc in 2007, viewing them for now as the unruly pupils at the back of the classroom, but aspiring members are likely to face more stringent entry requirements.

Croatia, the bloc’s next likely newcomer, saw a wave of killings last year, linked to organised crime.

The Sofia media mocked that Croatia had contracted the “Bulgarian disease”, an unhelpful diagnosis that Zagreb fears could lead to further delays in its EU accession.

Lessons learnt from the Bulgarian example could be bad news for other Western Balkan countries, too, all of which are enthusiastically pinning their hopes on a future in the EU.

s Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th United States president, his winning smile was plastered on billboards and posters all around Kosovo, the most pro-American nation in Europe, due to the US’s support for Kosovo’s secession from Serbia.

“I think he is a good man, we have many hopes that he will continue to do positive things for Kosovo,” said Bejte Feta as he walked by one of the Obama billboards in the Kosovo capital, Pristina. “I am actually very happy to see him on the billboards.”

The billboards - a picture of Obama against a Stars-And-Stripes backdrop over the words “Congratulations President Obama” - were put up by the outdoor marketing company Europlakat who said they were financing the entire cost themselves.

Gezim Dobroshi, a student at the American University in Kosovo said Obama would bring some much needed optimism.

“As far as Kosovo is concerned, I’m pretty sure we can expect the same political stance as the previous president”, he told Balkan Insight.

Obama’s path to the White House was keenly watched in Kosovo, with his foreign policy statements covered daily and scrutinised for hints of his future direction on the territory’s progress towards full statehood. Recognised by most European Union countries, Kosovo is still under the mandate of international supervisors and is blocked from entering the UN and other international organisations by Serbia and Serbia’s big-power ally, Russia.

Kosovo’s politicians recognise that they rely on the US for muscle, and from early on started efforts to lobby the new president, sending him a letter of congratulations on his victory.

“We may send another letter to President Obama, emphasizing our commitment to work and cooperate together”, government spokesman Memli Krasniqi told Balkan Insight.

Political analysts say US foreign policy toward Kosovo will not change as Obama had shown his support for Kosovo’s independence both through his statements and by the choice of his team.

“His political cabinet, composed of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, both important figures in Kosovo’s history, testifies to his approach and attitude toward Kosovo”, analyst Mufial Limani for Balkan Insight.

According to him, the US doesn’t have a “mystic love for Kosovo” but specific interests, adding that its foreign policy is driven by an agenda to protect human rights and spread democracy around the world.

With the posters brightening up Pristina’s wintery streets and state television due to cover the inauguration live, people are already discussing the addition of a Barack Obama street to the capital’s roster of appreciation, which already features a Bill Clinton Boulevard and George Bush Road.

“The municipality’s commission decides the names of roads based on requests and proposals,” said Muhamet Gashi, spokesperson for the municipality of Pristina, “therefore, I’m not ruling out the possibility that one can be named after Obama.”

Source: www.BalkanInsight.com

Source: www.BalkanInsight.com

I

t was supposedly a test to see whether Europe could laugh at itself. But for Sofia it was too much to stomach. Bulgarians are up in arms over the art installation commissioned by the Czechs to mark the start of their EU presidency, which depicts their country as a toilet.

Prague’s ambassador in Sofia was immediately summoned to explain the giant artwork erected in Brussels, which also portrays Germany’s network of autobahns in a shape ressembling a swastika, France on perpetual strike, Britain missing altogether (possibly a reference to their perceived Euroscepticism) and the Netherlands as a land of minarets.

“This piece of art was never meant as the Czech presidency’s vision of the European Union,” the Deputy Prime Minister, Alexandr Vondra, told a news conference.

The Czech artist, David Cerny, who had apparently deceived his own government into believing the installation was the work of artists from all 27 European Union member states, later agreed to remove the offending segment of his piece.

However, the damage had been done. If being depicted as a toilet wasn’t bad enough, adding insult to injury was the fact that Cerny had portrayed Bulgaria as a series of “squat toilets”, as opposed to the more conventional “Western” or “sitting” toilet. These are also known as “Turkish toilets”, which some saw as a possible allusion to Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish minority of around 10 per cent – who regularly complain of discrimination.

With the global financial crisis beginning to bite and as the country gears up for elections in summer, which increasingly look likely to unseat the ruling Socialists, Bulgaria’s ethnic Turks claim, as they did in the twilight years of Cold War strongman Todor Zhivkov’s regime in the late 1980s, that they’re being made scapegoats for Bulgaria’s woes.

Another take on the portrayal of Bulgaria as a “squat toilet”, more common in the developing world, argues that Brussels sees Bulgarians as an inherently backward people.

Forums on Bulgarian media sites complain that Bulgarians are treated as second-class citizens in the EU and about how the older, richer member states have effectively sealed off their labour markets to workers from the bloc’s newest states.

They recall the “sacrifices” that Sofia had to make for EU membership, such as the closure of two Soviet-era nuclear reactors at Kozloduy, a power plant that was once a source of immense national pride.

Bitterness over the plant’s closure increased in recent weeks when a dispute over gas prices between Moscow and Ukraine led to a dramatic cut in supplies of Russian gas across Central and Eastern Europe at the height of a deep freeze.

Bulgarians, could, however draw comfort from the fact that, unlike Ukraine, they have successfully managed to shake off the Russian yoke.

Indeed, soon after Russia’s war with Georgia last August, the Bulgar-

The EU’s recent exhibition was meant to be taken with a light heart. However, despite the best intention’s of the presidency, it did not turn out as planned: (Above Left) Bulgaria is depicted as a toilet. (Above Right) Germany’s autobahn’s are depicted in the shape of a swastika, imagery from the country’s not so pleasant past. (Lower Left) Luxemburg is depicted as being for sale. (Lower Right) Poland is portrayed by a group of monks raising the gay flag.

ian media erupted into anti-Moscow hysteria after Russia’s ambassador to the EU was reported as saying he expected Sofia to veto any EU sanctions against Moscow.

While ambassador Chizov claimed he had been misquoted, Bulgaria’s message was clear. If Russia was seeking a Trojan horse in Brussels, it had not found one in Bulgaria; the days when Zhivkov danced to Moscow’s tune were long gone.

Yet, old habits take longer to die.

The corruption that the Zhivkov regime institutionalised, for example, remains endemic in most spheres of life, according to the latest report of the anti-graft watchdog Transparency International.

Last year, Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry was rocked by a succession of scandals that led to the resignation of the police minister, while the killings of a high-profile investigative journalist and the chief of an energy company took the number of Bulgaria’s unsolved mafia-style murders in recent years to nearly 200.

The US embassy in Sofia even sent out a note to American citizens, advising against visiting the capital’s strip clubs after a spate of fatal bombings linked to turf wars between rival mafias. An old university colleague of mine

“This piece of art was never meant as the Czech presidency’s vision of the European Union.”

Alexandr Vodra, Czech Deputy Prime Minister

says the pervasive nature of corruption and organised crime in Bulgaria is one reason why he does not see himself returning there for a long time.

“Life there can only work for you based on who you know, not what you know,” said Iliya, who now works as an investment banker in London. “People will take anything that’s thrown at them, especially money and power, but unlike the West, you have no obligation to prove yourself because society isn’t based on merit.”

Whether or not these claims are true, the EU’s unprecedented move, last year, to block hundreds of millions of euros in funding to Bulgaria over corruption fears, came as a nasty surprise.

Brussels had to be seen to be taking action amid criticism that millions of euros of EU taxpayer’s money was going unaccounted for in Bulgaria.

To continue the toilet theme, it was as if it was being flushed away.

Bulgaria’s government staved off immediate domestic criticism by announcing it would make up for the lost funds by tapping into a huge budget surplus.

But with the global financial slowdown set to take its toll on Bulgaria in 2009 – the IMF has already cut the country’s growth forecast from more than 6 per cent to a modest 2 per cent – Sofia’s politicians may struggle if the EU imposes such penalties again.

Economic slowdown could also bring disgruntled Bulgarians out on to the streets. Last week, protesters fought pitched battles with police in the capital over gas shortages and growing economic worries. Rolls

“Life there can only work for you based on who you know, not what you know. People will take anything that’s thrown at them, especially money and power, but unlike the West, you have no obligation to prove yourself, because society isn’t based on merit.”

Iliya, investment banker in London

out & about

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

9

Go Green in Bulgaria Ten eco-hotels and guest houses to choose from when visiting the wild, untouched countryside.

B

ulgaria’s countryside is a pristine treasure. Poor and underdeveloped, many regions have remained untouched for decades.

They are a wonderful destination for travellers with a taste for nature in its full glory and for those who want to escape from the overbuilt seaside and mountain resorts. While visiting these hotels, you will be able to escape to nature, go berry picking, mushroom tasting, and much more.

We’ve selected our favourite 10 guest houses from among the 14 which recently received a Green Lodge Award from the Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism.

Deshka Guest House Located in the village of Gorno Dragalishte in the foot of the Rila Mountain in south-western Bulgaria, with views over the nearby Pirin Mountain, the guest house is ideal for small groups, as it offers two double rooms, a triple room and a common area. The host offers demonstrations of traditional textile crafts and guests have the opportunity to try their hand at weaving, spinning and knitting, using natural materials. Another highlight of staying at Deshka’s is the home-cooking and culinary demonstrations, after which guests go away with a written recipe as a gift. The Deshka Guest House received the award for the maintenance of local traditions as part of the Green House Awards.

Contact: +359886436708 or kashta_deshka.10.bg@abv.bg

Eco Art Guest House Located in the village of Drashkova Polyana, north-central Bulgaria, on the road between the towns of Troyan and Apriltsi. In addition to the cosy, relaxing and calm atmosphere provided by the house, the host couple – photographer Velichka Gankovska and potter Encho Gankovski - can organise ceramics workshops in the studio and photography trips to the area’s natural and historical attractions. The Eco Art Guest House also received the award for the maintenance of local traditions as part of the Green House Awards.

Contact: +3596964599, +359888942528

Villa Colour Located in the quiet village of Gorno Trape, near the Beli Osam River and the town of Troyan in central Bulgaria, this four-room, ten-bed house also has an adjacent flower garden, a swimming pool and a veranda for barbeques. The house’s great location makes it possible to visit the historical village of Ribaritsa, the Troyan Monastery, the Museum of National Crafts in Troyan, the Natural Science Museum of the village Cherni Osam and several ecopaths and trails.

Contact: +359887224339; +359878695288 or v.colour@abv.bg

Madonna Guest House Located in the town of Belogradchik in north-western Bulgaria, this

Source: www.balkantravellers.com

In the Moravsko Selo Bio-Hotel, the hosts serve organically grown fruits and vegetables to their guests. During the winter, visitors can ski and snowboard in Bansko or on the local Kulinoto slope.

property has six good-sized bedrooms.

Attached to the house is a tavern where you can enjoy Bulgarian food amid the authentic atmosphere. There are several interesting sites in the vicinity: the surreal rock formations of Belogradchik, the Magura Cave with its ancient drawings, the first-century Kale Fortress, and the town’s observatory and museums.

horses graze. The hosts use organically grown fruits and vegetables to prepare food for guests. During the winter, visitors can ski and snowboard on Bansko’s slopes or the local Kulinoto slope.

Contact: +35993655546, +359898457198

Located in the Skandaloto village in north-central Bulgaria, 15 km from the town of Troyan and 3 km from the village of Apriltsi. The two-suite, eight-room family hotel is housed in a traditional house, which was restored with natural materials. The former home-manufacturing workshop was turned into a common dining area, but in the summer it is also possible to eat in the cosy internal courtyard. Close to the hotel, visitors can bask in the sun on the banks of a river, while the more active types can go fishing, hike or collect mushrooms, wild fruits and herbs.

An equestrian base 15 km away also offers opportunities for horse-riding.

Maria Nevena Guest House Located in the village of Bezmer, in north-eastern Bulgaria, the fiveroom house has a common area with a fireplace, kitchen and mini bar. Guests can choose either the hosts’ homemade cooking – with fruits and vegetables from the adjacent garden, or to cook for themselves in the kitchen, or to use the barbeque or a wood burning stove. A pleasant addition is the house’s collection of traditional crafts from the Dobrudzha region. Near the village, there are several tourist spots worth a visit: the Suha River canyon, a 100-year-old monastery, eight microdams teeming with fish and the Koru Cheshma healing water spring. The hosts offer to take their guests to the nearby sites either by a donkey-drawn cart or by more traditional transportation, depending on the distance.

Contact: +359887390313 or nevena_deneva@abv.bg

Moravsko Selo Bio-Hotel Situated in the Predela area, 12 km from the town of Bansko and 8 km from Razlog, in southern Bulgaria. The hotel stands among quaint gardens where the Pirin Mountain meets the Rila Mountain and is surrounded by lakes and meadows on which cows and wild

Contact: + 359898621765 or 2@biohotel-bg.com

Skandaloto Hotel

Contact: +359898703360; +359887814995

Bistrilichki Guest Houses The complex is located in the village of Bistrilitsa, north-western Bulgaria. It consists of four houses – one of which was built 110 years ago. Each of the houses can be rented separately.

The spot is perfect for those who enjoy fishing (because of its proximity to three rivers and three dams) and for collecting herbs and mushrooms, but what really sets it apart is its proximity to the Varshets resort and spa which boasts a huge range of treatments using the local spa water. Winter sports fans will not be disappointed either – the complex lies close to a ski slope which starts at the Malkia Kom peak,

Source: www.balkantravellers.com

The Maria Nevena Guest House offers a relaxing atmosphere close to many attractions.

and boasts two tow-lifts, two mountain cabins, a ski school and an equipment rental facility. Tourists can also visit the Lopushansky Monastery and the springs of the Ogosta River.

Contact: +359446233333, + 359886836263 or hoteltoma@sliven.net

Contact: +359887428108, +359887953703, +359878866936, +35995398908, te_15@bulinfo.net

This guest house stands out amongst its peers in the town of Bansko, in south-western Bulgaria, which has in the last several years witnessed overdevelopment and the construction of large and not always very attractive hotels. It is an ideal base from which to explore the town, as well as the Pirin Mountain and National Park.

In the winter, as one of Bulgaria’s chief mountain resorts – Bankso’s slopes offer plenty of opportunities for skiers and snowboarders of all levels and abilities. The Hadzhipopova House treats its guests to the region’s culinary specialties, including kapama, chomlek, karvavitsa and banski starets.

Toma Hotel Located in the centre of the town of Sliven, in south-eastern Bulgaria. The building that houses the hotel, now a cultural monument, was constructed in 1856. Nowadays, it has been restored and retains a feeling of authenticity, but has modern conveniences. In addition to the four apartments and two rooms, it has a tavern with a fireplace and a menu rich in traditional Bulgarian specialties. Sites to visit in Sliven include the 1,000-year old Stariya Briast – a large smooth-leaved elm in the centre of the city (which is also featured in its coat of arms), the Hadzhi Dimitar House-Museum and the nearby rocky massif Sinite Kamani and the associated national park, complete with mineral water springs.

Hadzhipopova Guest House

Contact: +35974982131, +35974982602, +359898633933, +359898633133 or hadjipopov@yahoo.com Source: BalkanTravellers.com

10

the belgrader

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Dining Out

Indian Palace Indian food can be just the thing after a few drinks with friends.

Belgrade Insight checks out the only option in town.

By Trencherman

Reporting from Belgrade

T

he British have a great affection for curry. Contrary to what many think, Britain’s national dish is not fish and chips or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Britain’s most eaten meal, in restaurants, take-aways and at home is Chicken Tikka Masala. This is not as strange as it may sound as this dish has few links to India, having reputedly been invented in a Glasgow curry house. But in cities across the world, wherever the British congregate, more often than not, you’ll find an Indian restaurant.

But the curry bug has really not reached Belgrade and there is just one Indian restaurant, the Indian Palace. Set in a less than salubrious area of town, and a fair taxi ride from the centre, the Indian Palace must be sought out by the curry fanatic. Passing trade is most unlikely!

However, there are times, I feel, when only a good curry will do, so we made the effort, booked a taxi

and headed out. The restaurant is modern looking but casual, light and airy with some Indian-style artwork on the walls. But this wasn’t the first thing we noticed. What we noticed was that it was Saturday night and it was virtually empty. This is never a good sign. Ever. But, nothing ventured … as the saying goes.

The menu is reminiscent of this kind of place the world over, samosas, bahgees, pakoras, dahls, curries from korma to jalfrezi, tandooris, breads and rice.

We selected some papadoms, a portion of onion bahgees and cheese pakoras to start, and a chicken tikka masala, a chicken vindaloo, a dahl, pilao rice, onion kulcha and aloo paratha to follow.

We didn’t get off to a promising start. The papadoms were oily and were served with a thick green dip which vaguely tasted of mint and a very hot tomato sauce. No onion, no chutney, no pickles, no raita. The bahgees were leaden, dark brown, with a sticky floury filling. The pakora reminded me less of anything I’d ever had in an Indian restaurant as it did of pohovani kackavalj, the battered fried cheese you can find in most traditional Serbain restaurants.

Neither the bahgees nor the pakora came with any accompaniment or garnish.

Things didn’t really improve too much with the main dishes. Far from a creamy, lightly spiced, tomato and yoghurt sauce, the chicken tikka masala came with a viscous sludge. The

Source: www.indianpalace.rs

The Indian Palace is the only choice in town if you’re looking for a curry, but unlike in many cities around the world, it is not a budget option.

chicken seemed to have been cooked in a tandoor and alone tasted fine, but the sauce added little. The vindaloo was comically hot - the kind of curry young men dare each other to eat - tasting of little except roasting hot chilli pepper. The rice was well cooked but was not basmati rice as one perhaps should expect for 255 dinars a portion. The breads were fine but the kulcha was not puffed and light as you’d

expect from a tandoor- cooked kulcha and the paratha had been baked rather than fried. The dahl, made with green lentils, was good, savoury and thick.

Desserts are always a difficult proposition in an Indian restaurant and I’ve yet to find anyone who has convinced me that they really like lhassi or halwa, so, from the menu we picked a banana split! And, as they go, it was successful.

Indian food is a budget option in many places but unfortunately, not here. With a modest wine, beer and coffee, the total for the night was over 7,000 dinars – ouch!

The Indian Palace Ljubicka 1b Tel: 0113446 235 Price guide, 3,000 – 3,500 for three courses with a modest wine.

We Recommend Every week we feature a selection of restaurants picked by our team. They give a flavour of what’s out there on the Belgrade restaurant scene and should provide you with a few alternatives to get you out of your dining rut. Our choices may not always have had the full Trencherman treatment but you can be sure that one of us has eaten there and enjoyed it.

Srpska Brvnara

Family House

Fu Man

Ottimo

This restaurant is dived into several sections—a café, a children’s playroom and two dining areas. There are several large windows, making it a great place to sit if you want to eat inside while enjoying the sun outside. This is a good place to take the family if you want a pleasant lunch with the wife but can’t find a babysitter in time.

A typical Chinese restaurant with loud yellow and red décor, seating on two floors and a great terrace.

Its specialties include exotic meals like shark fins in soy sauce - not one for the environmentally conscious!

A small Italian restaurant with a hint of southern Sicily. We recommend the veal in gorgonzola sauce. The wine selection is extensive and the service is good.

This restaurant claims that it has something to please even the most picky and finicky diner. The atmosphere is relaxed, and there’s romantic Italian music to serenade you as you eat!

A great traditional restaurant with an extensive garden located on the quay of the Sava River. Its specialty is a steak wrap that includes steak (naturally), chicken and vegetables, all rolled into one large slab of meaty goodness.

Nebojsina 41 011-2436098

Ustanicka 242a 011-3470058

Studentski trg 10 011-2189514

Pozeska 65a 011-3557559

Savski kej BB 011-3180232

Pepen

Nobel Kuca

Ruski Stil

Absinthe

Zlatnik

Spin

An ethno style restaurant with a wood stove adding to the warm atmosphere. We recommend the mountain style goulash and the fine selection of homemade rakija to go with it. A traditional tambura band plays on Friday and Saturday nights.

The owner and cook here, a Russian woman, makes a special effort to keep all of the dishes exclusively Russian. Instead of a wine selection, there is a large vodka selection. Also try the zbiten, made of dry red wine, honey, lemon and spices.

Be careful. Absinthe has been the ruin of many. Fortunately there’s no need to actually drink the stuff here. The cocktail menu is extensive and the french inspired cookery is accomplished without being overly fussy.

A five-star restaurant located in a very quiet part of the Belgrade suburb of Zemun. A favorite with the diplomatic community for years, it has increased in popularity since a luxury hotel was recently added to the complex.

Claims to serve the “most luxurious pizzas” in the city. If you are interested in finding out what a luxurious pizza tastes like, or you already know and want to see if these pizzas are truly more luxurious than the last one you had, this is the place to be.

Prve pruge 8 011-3192931

Kraljice Natalije 33 011-2642178

Kralja Milutina 33 011-3640625

Slavonska 26 011-3166256

Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 87 011-426619

the belgrader

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

11

We Recommend Friday

Saturday

If you missed out on the 1990s in Serbia, here’s your chance to take in the vibe. Obviously, we are talking about the fun part, the hilarious “turbo folk” dance music, not the sanctions and inflation.

Strap on your Air Max sneakers, tuck your sweatshirt into your Diesel jeans, find an absurd gold chain to wear and come on down! Vanila, Studentski Trg 15

The newly-opened Escape, previously a popular club called Voodoo, has begun hosting live acts.

Saturday will feature Tea Break, who play melodic California style punk and Yobo, a band specialising in the nu metal sounds of bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn. A good time for all fans of American contemporary rock music. It’s free too! Escape, Nikole Spasica 3

Serbian 90s Night

Tea Break and Yobo

Sunday

Underground Hip-hop A showcase of Serbia’s young, underground rappers will be on display at Hector on Sunday. Some of the most promising Belgrade rappers who are still unsigned will be performing, including Blokovski and Supreme from the independent Carski Rez (C-Section) clique. There will also be a DJ competition held to see who has the best scratching skills on the turntables. Hector, Skadarska 40c

Monday

Di Luna Blues Band

Tuesday

Musical Golje

Even though this production is in Serbian, it’s actually a musical, and since music is a universal language, it can be enjoyed by anyone. The musical has been described as having a “modern sensibility, provocative story, impressive music and choreography, and great acting and singing.” To clinch the deal, there are also male strippers involved in the plot.

Terazije Theatre, Terazije 29

Wednesday

Thursday

Unknown local bands battling it out in a competition in which the votes of drunken concert attendees will determine which band wins the prize, which of course is free beer. If you can find something classier than this event please let us know.

Danguba, Cirila i Metodija 2

Hector has become one of the most active clubs in Belgrade lately, with something interesting on the program nearly every night for those who are into urban music styles such as hip-hop, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass.

The club welcomes American producer CBX on Friday, who is part of the production group Identity.

Identity has been on the scene for many years and is regarded as one of the most innovative drum ‘n’ bass production teams on the underground scene. The group says they wish to “merge the dance floor vibe of drum

‘n’ bass with a twisted mix of techno influences”.

The group prides itself in being innovative and constantly creating and producing new projects, in an attempt to break boundaries that needlessly separate different styles of underground dance music.

CBX will be supported by some of Belgrade’s most accomplished drum ‘n’ bass DJs, Rahmanee, Evidence and Worke.

Hector Skadarska 40c Friday Jan. 23

Spoken Word and Poetry Night

Di Luna are Living Room’s resident blues band, and play a very smooth and funky style of blues with elements of jazzy grooves. This is the perfect opportunity to unwind with a glass of whisky and listen to a very skilled group of blues enthusiasts play both tweaked classics and their own tunes.

Living Room, Kralja Milana 48

Music for Beer

‘Identity’s’ CBX

Sometimes you just need to release your inner hippie. What better way than to attend a spoken word event that promises “intimate confessions, cabaret and wine.”

Three artists, Slobodan Ocokoljic, Nikola Radovic and Predrag Ceramilac, will be reciting poetry, acting, performing, playing music and reliving personal stories in front of a small crowd.

Their sentimental and intimate poetry will also include interaction

between all three artists as they try to summon and exorcise their demons in front of a crowd of 20-something intellectuals dressed in tight jeans and semi-ironic sweaters.

This is a highly recommended event for those looking for inner piece or people who like to scoff under their breath at various forms of alternative art.

REX, Jevrejska 16 Sunday Jan. 25

Exhibition: Joan Miro

Iskaz i Svedoci

Iskaz is the leader of Belgrade’s only full live hip hop band called Iskaz i Svedoci (Testimony and the Witnesses). He will be performing with DJ Beatanga. Iskaz has worked with nearly all of Serbia’s most important rappers, with many appearing on his last album Teorija Hausa (Chaos Theory). Hector, Skadarska 40c

An exhibition of the work of famous Spanish artist Joan Miro will be on display at the Progress Gallery until early February.

During his life, Miro worked in many different styles, but with an emphasis on painting, sculpting and ceramics.

He emerged as one of the most talked-about Surrealist painters, showing disdain in early interviews for traditional painting as a “way of supporting bourgeois society,” and calling for an “assassination of painting.”

Despite this, Miro did not want to associate himself with any specific

group or movement, affording himself the freedom to experiment with many different styles, leading him to new breakthroughs in expressionism and new techniques in automatic painting and colour field painting.

His influence on pop culture is just as strong today, with Nike recently releasing a special edition of the Air Jordan line of sports shoes in memory of the artist, with the design of the shoe based on one of Miro’s most famed sculptures.

Progress Gallery Zmaj Jovina 8-10 Wednesday Jan. 28

12

the belgrader

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Going Out

Bitef Art Cafe

This Dorcol club is an aesthetically pleasing escape from the technocharged and smoke-filled basement scene.

Source: ww.imperialicestars.com

The St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet has 7,000 performances under its belt at the most prestigious venues. Their history can be traced back to 1967, with the idea to combine two things Russians excel in - ballet and figure skating.

Swan Lake On Ice

Those who have a hard time letting go of the festive season can go to the Sava Centar on Sunday, January 25, for a final hurrah of holiday entertainment.

By David Galic

Reporting from Belgrade

S

wan Lake on Ice, arguably the next best thing to the Nutcracker on a slippery, frozen surface, features some of the best ice dancers Russia has to offer and is a perfect event for those who have a hard time taking down their Christmas trees and decorations in January.

The St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet is world famous, with 7,000 performances under its belt at the most prestigious international venues.

The ensemble is led by choreographer Konstantin Rasadin, who has performed with some of the biggest

My Picks

DO Fashion Every week, Rian Harris tells us one of her favourite places to shop.

By Rian Harris

Reporting from Belgrade

M

ost fashionistas living in Belgrade already know about Dragana Ognjenovic, but just in case there are some newcomers out there who have not discovered her wonderful creations, I offer this brief tutorial.

Dragana Ognjenovic is an acclaimed designer who works in fashion, jewelry, theatre and interiors. Her company, DO Fashion, has opened three boutiques in Belgrade: d.o. shop - tailored, professional, simple-but-lovely fashion, d.o. home - good quality, hip home accessories in all shapes and sizes and software beograd - moderately priced, youthful, more casual wear.

names in ballet, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova, and has been featured as a soloist in many productions.

As if the graceful ice dancing is not enough to stir the senses, the production also features over 100 extravagant costumes and custom sets designed by another legend in his field, opera set designer extraordinaire Mikhail Shavdatuashvili.

The history of ice ballet can be traced back to 1967, when the St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet, then called the Leningrad Ice Ballet, was led by choreographer Konstantin Boyarsky.

The idea was to fuse two things that the Russians excel in, ballet and figure skating, creating a new art form that merged the athleticism of Once you’re done shopping, if you still can’t get enough of this accomplished fashion maven, stop by her restaurant, Pire Slow Food, where everything from the tablecloths to the staff uniforms were created by DO Fashion.

ice skating with the grace and artistry of ballet.

The dancers in the current ensemble are some of the best individual and pairs figure skaters in the world, and some, such as former European champion Olga Ivanova and the former Olympian Andrey Stroganov, have taken home numerous medals in skating competitions around the globe.

“Topping it all off is the wonderful music of Tchaikovsky and the Swan Lake story, which seems destined to be combined with the already potent combination of ballet and figure skating,” the Sava Centar gushes in its promotional campaign for the event.

Reservations for the show can be made by calling 011 220 6775.

D.O. home Kneza Sime Markovica 10 011 639 433

Source: www.bitefartcafe.co.yu

The club’s regular Tuesday karaoke nights are a great way to spend the evening. Believe us when we say that this is not a run-of-the-mill karaoke event.

By Vanja Petrovic

Reporting from Belgrade

L

ocated behind the Bajloni open market in Mira Trailovic Square, this club has achieved a cult following among Belgrade inSoftware beograd tellectuals of all generations. HowTerazije 29 ever, it’s not pretentious or stuck up, 011 323 9187 on the contrary, it’s warm and welcoming.

Pire Slow Food DO Fashion stores: Perhaps this is because of the type Cara Lazara 11 of people that visit Bitef Art. I had a 011 263 4944 D.O. shop poetry professor once who said that Kneza Sime Markovica 10 there are two types of intellectuals. www.draganaognjenovic.com 011 328 3936 The first type are those that have become bitter because of an understanding that the world is one giant unjust mess and blah, blah, blah. They then decided to sit around and judge everything around them and talk about it at length. The second type are those who have come to terms with this fact, realised that they can’t really change anything, and have decided to laugh about it.

The people of Bitef Art are the second type, and though I didn’t speak with everybody there, I will go out on a limb and say that they were out to have a good time, judging by their enthusiastic dancing.

I visited Bitef Art on a Tuesday, when, I know now, they have their karaoke night.

When I think of karaoke, I think of poorly lit basement bars, horrible sound systems, and dodgy 1990’s www.bagtrends.com telephone ring-tone style audio files Dragana Ognjenovic does fashion, jewellery, home accessories and, when you’ve had enough of accompanying the voice of a drunk all that, you can stop for lunch at her restaurant “Pire Slow Food”.

19-year-old who can’t sing.

But, at Bitef Art, it was not so.

When we first walked in, we didn’t realise that what we were listening to was indeed karaoke. There was a live band, backup singers and two hosts, one of whom was B92 radio-show host Igor Brakus. In addition, the singers weren’t the only ones enjoying the music, the crowd were as well.

The stage is the real focus of this club and depending on the event can take a range of shapes and sizes.

At stage-left there is a balcony, which gives the club an airy feel and as the ceilings are high, I got none of the claustrophobia or paranoia that I get in many basement clubs.

Now, since we’re on the topic of basement clubs, there’s another very specific point to delve into as far as Bitef Art is concerned. In other underground venues I have on a number of occasions been on the verge collapse from smoke inhalation because of the lack of ventilation. Though I am a smoker, I’ve become weary of too much cigarette smoke. In Bitef Art, it seems most people don’t smoke, which is a relief.

The club is well lit throughout with stage spots - another welcome point of difference from the usual dingy basement!

I would recommend you check out Bitef Art on a Tuesday but if Karaoke’s not your thing, the club offers a number of other options like themed nights, and live jazz bands.

Bitef Art Cafe Skver Mire Trailovic 1 063 594 294

the belgrader

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Magnificent 7 Film Festival

Tuckwood Cineplex Kneza Milosa 7, tel: 011 3236517

Soul Touch, Blue Moon, Kneginje Ljubice 4, 23,00

Australia 16:10, 19:20, 22:20 Bolt 17:00, 19:00 Bride Wars 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00 Four Christmases 21:00 Madagascar II 19:15 Pride and Glory 22:30 The Day The Earth Stood Still 22:50 Twilight 15:25, 17:45, 20:40 Yes Man 16:15, 18:30, 20:30, 22:50

Other:

Friday, January 23

Music:

Music:

Makao Band, Mr. Stefan Braun, Nemanjina 4/9, 23:00 Live Bands, Underworld, Corner of Ruzveltova and 27. Marta, 23:00 Borislav Pascan Youth Philharmonic, Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation Hall, Studentski Trg 5, 20:00 Live Bands, Blue Moon, Kneginje Ljubice 4, 23:00

Extra Orkestar, Lava Bar, Kneza Milosa 77, 23:00 Some Like it Hot (musical), Terazije Theatre, Terazije 29, 19:30 Kraljevski Apartman, Fest, Majke Jevrosime 20, 22:30 Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation Hall, Studentski Trg 5, 20:00 Toca and Band, Mr. Stefan Braun, Nemanjina 4/9, 23:00 Cavalleria rusticana (opera), National Theatre, Trg Republike 5, 19:30 Nightlife:

Photo Courtesy of Magnificent 7 Film Festival

El Oldivo, one of the films showcased at the festival, is a story that explores the people and stories of Peru’s capital, Lima.

T

he “Magnificent 7” European documentary film festival - a showcase of the seven “most provocative, artistic and controversial feature documentary films made in Europe last year” - takes place at the Sava Centar from January 25th -29th.

One of the defining characteristics of the festival is that it is a completely interactive experience, featuring guest speakers, workshops and master classes throughout the five days.

“These are the most important films produced in Europe last year, and all of them will have English subtitles,” Festival Producer Mila Turajlic told Belgrade Insight.

“What is especially important is that the director of every film attends the festival as a guest and will be holding master classes for young filmmakers,” she added, noting that after each movie is screened, there will be a question and answer session between the audience and someone involved in the creation of the movie, usually the director.

The master classes are for movie

buffs, people who are involved in the film business and students who want to learn from successful filmmakers and ask them questions about their work, face to face.

The master classes will involve both detailed questions regarding the films, and also general discussions on current trends and movements in the sphere of documentary film making.

Of the seven films being screened, two are from Switzerland (Mother, Shake the Devil Off), two from Great Britain (All White in Barking, Sleep Furiously), one from Slovakia (Blind Loves), one from Denmark (Vesterbro), and one is a Dutch-German coproduction (Oblivion).

Tue Steen Muler, former director and founder of the European Documentary Network was responsible for selecting the films.

Tickets are already available and are very affordable, with one screening costing 250 dinars (less than € 3).

“Come and chase away the winter blues with the help of these great documentary films,” Turajlic urged.

What’s On CINEMAS Roda Cineplex Pozeska 83A , tel: 011 2545260 Australia 17:45, 21:00 Bedtime Stories 16:15 Bolt 15:50 Bride Wars 18:00, 20:00, 22:00 Madagascar II 16:30 Yes Man 18:15, 20:30, 22:30 Dom sindikata Trg Nikole Pasica 5, tel. 011 3234849 Australia 18:00, 21:00 Bolt 16:00, 17:00 Bride Wars 18:45, 20:30, 22:15 Madagascar II 16:30

Twilight 18:00, 20:00 Vicky Christina Barcelona 16:00, 22:00 Yes Man 18:00, 20:00, 22:00 Ster City Cinema Delta City, Jurija Gagarina 16 (Blok 67), tel: 011 2203400 Australia 13:20, 16:40, 20:00, 23:20 Bedtime Stories 11:40, 13:40, 15:40, 17:40, 19:40, 21:40 Bolt 11:10, 13:10, 16:20, 17:20, 19:20 Bride Wars 12:40, 14:30, 16:20, 18:30, 20:40, 22:40 Madagascar II 19:00 Twilight 21:20, 23:40 Vicky Christina Barcelona 21:00, 23:00 Yes Man 13:50, 16:00, 18:10, 20:20, 22:30

Barthelemy Vincent and Shwabe, Energija, Nusiceva 8, 23:00 Disco Plastic, Plastic, Djusina 7, 23:00 DJ Stevie, Underworld, Corner of Ruzveltova and 27. Marta, 23:00 Vocal House, Mr. Stefan Braun, Nemanjina 4/9, 23:00 Sweeet Fridays, Ex-Lagoom, Svetozara Radica 5, 23:00 Yu Rock, White, Pariska 1a, 23:00 Les Gigantes, Blue Moon, Kneginje Ljubice 4, 23,00 Other: Exhibition: Mihailo Stanisavac (graphics), Graphic Collective Gallery, Obilicev venac 27, 17:00 Exhibition: Marina Markovic and Marjia Sulica (multimedia), Magacin in Kraljevica Marka, Kraljevica Marka 4, 17:00 Massacre God (play), Atelje 212, Svetogorska 21, 20:00 Some Girl (play), Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP), Milesavska 64 20:00 Milk (play), Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP), Milesavska 64 20:30

Saturday, January 24 Music: La Traviata, (opera), Madlenianum, Glavna 32, 20:00 Swan Lake (ballet), National Theatre, Trg Republike 5, 19:30 Frankestra Band, Gaucosi, Dunavska 17a, 23:00 No Comment Band, Lava bar, Kneza Milosa 77, 23:00 Maja Rajkovic (piano), Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation Hall, Studentski trg 5, 20:00

Half Price (play), Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP), Milesavska 64 20:00 Hen (play), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50

Sunday, January 25

Nightlife: Sportsman Night, White, Pariska 1a, 23:00 Shaker Party, Mr. Stefan Braun, Vojislava Ilica 86, 23:00 Lazy Sunday Afternoon, Fest, Majke Jevrosime 20, 22:00 Karaoke, Miss Moneypenny, Ada Ciganlija (Makiska side 4), 21:30 Other: Rabit Hole. (play), Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP), Milesavska 64 20:00 Dr (play), National Theatre, Trg Republike 5, 19:30

Monday, January 26 Music: Classical Duo (violin/piano), SASA Gallery Kneza Mihajila 35 20:00 Piano and Voice Concert, Artget Gallery, Trg Republike 5, 20:00 Do you love Beethoven?, Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation Hall, Studentski trg 5, 20:00 Nightlife: Wandered in From a Rave, Francuska Sobarica, Francuska 12, 22:00 Discount Night, Fest, ajke Jevrosime 20, 22:00 House Party (DJ Kobac), Blue Moon, Kneginje Ljubice 4, 23:00 Bla Bla Band, Vanila, Studentski trg 15, 22:30 Other: The Marriage and Divorce of Figaro (play), National Theatre, Trg Republike 1a, 19:30 Small Trilogy of Death (play), Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP), Milesavska 64 20:00 Love Letter (play), Atelje 212, Svetogorska 21, 20:00 Frida Kahlo (play), Madlenianum, Glavna 32, 20:00

Nightlife:

Tuesday, January 27

Peppe & DJ Ura, The Tube, Dobracina 17, 23:00 Gramaphondzije, Energija, Nusiceva 8, 23:00 House Night, Mamolo, Ilije Garasanina 26, 21:00 DJ Ike & Prema, Plastic, Djusina 7 , 23:00 DJ Marko Gangbangers, Underworld, Corner of Ruzveltova and 27.

Marta, 23:00 House Fever, Mr. Stefan Braun, Nemanjina 4/9, 23:00 Disco House Night, White, Pariska 1a, 23:00

Music: St. John Academy, Sava Centar, Great Hall, Milentija Popovica 9, 20:00 Manisent I Mentalnost, Blue Moon, Knegilje Ljubice 4, 23:00 Kinky Acoustic, Miss Moneypenny, Ada Ciganlija (Makiska side 4), 21:30 Nightlife: Psychedelic Tuesday, Underworld, Corner of Ruzveltova and 27 Marta, 23:00 Riffs, Francuska Sobarica, Francuska 12, 22:00

13

Diesel Party, Mr. Stefan Braun, Nemanjina 4/9, 23:00 Discount Night, Fest, Majke Jevrosime 20, 22:00 Zex Kazanova, Bambo Bar, Strahinjica Bana 71, 22:00 Other: Exhibition – Vladimir Urosevic (industrial design), Singidunum Gallery, Kneza Mihaila 40 20:00 Kikinda Short (short stories), Artget Gallery, Trg Republike 5 23:00 Don Krsto (play), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50 20:00 Golje (play), Terazije Theatre, Terazije 29, 19:30

Wednesday, January 28 Music: Zoran Anic (guitarist), Madlenianum, Glavna 32, 20:00 Live Bands, Blue Moon, Kneginje Ljubice 4, 23:00 A Night of Medieval Spiritual Music City Parliament Reception Hall, Dragoslava Jovanovica 2, 20:00 Nightlife: Cocktail Wednesdays, Mamolo, Ilije Garasanina 26, 21:00 DJ Ike & Prema, Plastic, Djusina 7, 23:00 Popular Science, Underworld, Corner of Ruzveltova and 27. Marta, 23:00 Karaoke Challenge, Mr. Stefan Braun, Nemanjina 4/9, 23:00 Salsa Night, Havana, Nikole Spasica 1, 22:00 Samba, Bossa, Jazzy, Salvador Dali, Hilandarska 20, 21:00 Fest Café, Fest, Majke Jevrosime 20, 22:00 Other: Vladimir Kecmanovic – author (lecture), Student Cultural Centre (SKC), Kralja Milana 48 Chicago (musical), Terazije Theatre, Terazije 29, 19:30 Romance (play), Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP), Milesavska 64 20:00

Thursday, January 29 Music: Cabaret (musical), Terazije Theatre, Terazije 29, 19:30 The Resident, Bitefart café, Skver Mire Trailovic 1, 22:30 Tropico Band, Lava Bar, Kneza Milosa 77, 23:00 Nightlife: A Little Bit of 90s, Mistique, Aberdareva 1b, 23:00 Booki/Kinetic Vibe, Mamolo, Ilije Garasanina 26, 21:00 Ladies’ Night, Mr Stefan Braun’s Garden, Vojislava Ilica 86, 23:00 Playground Radio Show Live, Tapas Bar, Dositejeva 17, 22:00 Weekend Warm Up, Fest, Majke Jevrosime 20, 22:00 Other: Crni Gruja 2 (movie) , Sava Centar, Milentija Popovica 9, 20:00 Exhibition: Istvan Balind (sculptor), ULUPUDS Gallery, Uzun Mirkova 12, 17:00 Exhibition: Hunting Weapons of Josip Broz Tito, 25 Maj Museum, Jugoslavije Boticeva 6, 17:00 Grasshoppers (play), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50 20:00

14

sport

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Will the Serbo-Croat Feud Ever End? While the Serbian national handball team was warmly embraced in Croatia’s northern coastal resort of Porec, Belgrade’s two basketball teams were given a more familiar reception in Zadar and Split

By Zoran Milosavljevic Reporting from Belgrade

A

nyone following Serbia’s progress in the World Handball Championship in Croatia must be shocked to the point of disbelief. Not by the team’s patchy performances, but rather by the surreal scenes in the coastal resort of Porec, where Croatian fans have by and large cheered on their bitter Balkan rivals and sided with Serbia’s supporters. In fact, one might easily be forgiven for thinking Serbia were playing at home, with the country’s flags and other fan items to be seen everywhere.

Ironically, the amiable reception appears to have backfired on the court. The Serbian team, back on the world map after languishing in the doldrums for some time, left themselves in limbo, needing a win in their final preliminary group match with Saudi Arabia played late on Thursday. Their passage into the second round also depended on other results going their way after an embarrassing 32-30 defeat to underdogs Brazil, followed by a last-gasp 27-26 victory over Norway.

“People in Porec have been incredibly hospitable and we are quite

simply overwhelmed by the support from our hosts, who have gone out of their way to make us feel at home,” said Serbia’s centre-guard Danijel Andjelkovic. “Our task now is to advance into the next round and live up to the expectations of our own fans, who came here in droves,” he added.

However, if in the unlikely event that they fail to squeeze into the last 12 of the competition, it might be a blessing in disguise for Serbia. Should they progress to the second stage, their destination is Zadar - where Serbian and regional basketball champions Partizan Belgrade were given an all too familiar roasting, the day after televised footage from Porec evoked memories of a bygone era when Serbs and Croats were not at loggerheads. Having withstood the usual volley of nationalist insults, Partizan were nearly forced to retreat into the dressing rooms when the home fans hit one of the club’s officials in the head with a coin. Not surprisingly and not for the first time on the most hostile turf in Croatia, Partizan lost their nerve and the game, 74-65 if it matters. It’s always fun and games in Zadar, where local fans have a habit of joining forces with rivals from Split and Sibenik to fight those from Zagreb, while on other days with no other visitors around the three former groups fight each other.

Worse was to follow when Red Star Belgrade played in Split on Tuesday. While the home fans behaved impeccably during the enthralling basketball derby which Red Star won 67-62, two dozen hooligans attacked the Belgrade team at Split airport, hurling rocks, bottles and other objects at them. Sensibly, both sides played down the “isolated incident,” as Red Star’s officials called it, for it could not have come at a more delicate time. With Serbia’s handball team in all likelihood off to Zadar, where diehard fans declared Serbian supporters unwelcome in a public warning that seems entirely superfluous, Croatia’s

Photo by FoNet

Serbia erupt in joy after beating Norway. They needed a win against the group’s whipping boys Saudi Arabia on Thursday and favours from other teams to advance into the second round in Zadar, where a hostile crowd awaits.

basketball contenders Cibona Zagreb are heading to Belgrade for a showdown with Red Star on Saturday.

With passions running high on both sides of the border, the calm and composed reactions by Red Star and Split officials offer a glimmer of hope that on-court rivalry and chivalry will not be defeated by the madness around it. “We realise this is an isolated incident and in no way can the Split team be held responsible because their hos-

Cardinals and Steelers Reach Super Bowl The showdown in Tampa Bay may ing to the Super Bowl,” a delighted provide a fairytale ending to Kurt Warner said in an emotional postgame speech to his team.

Warner’s career.

By Zoran Milosavljevic Reporting from Belgrade

I

f Serbia’s famous film director Emir Kusturica ever does a sequel to his blockbuster Arizona Dream, he should make sure that Kurt Warner plays a part, if not the leading role. The 37-year old quarterback produced a stunning performance to lead the Arizona Cardinals to a rollercoaster 32-25 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL National Conference Championship game, thus setting up a potentially perfect climax to his illustrious career. Warner, who did night shifts in a grocery store in Iowa and languished in the oblivion of Arena Football before winning the Super Bowl with the Saint Louis Rams in 2000, will take the field in Tampa Bay on February 2 confident that he can stop his opposite number Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers, when they lock horns in an eagerly awaited clash. “When nobody else believed in us, when nobody else believed in me, you guys did it and we are go-

The Cardinals so nearly made a pig’s ear of their 24-6 halftime lead against the Eagles, who stormed back to edge ahead 25-24 with only a few minutes left on the clock. But Warner came up big when his team mates needed him most and threw a perfect pass for Tim Hightower, after wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald set the tone with three touchdowns in a one-man first half show. Fitzgerald, a Pittsburgh college graduate in his fifth season with the Cardinals, finished with 152 yards on nine catches.

“Everybody did their job when we needed them, nobody wanted to be the guy who let his team down,” he said. “The guys were focused and ready to go when the going got tough, Larry Fitzgerald sent the Cardinals on their way to the team’s first Super Bowl. you could see it in their eyes.”

In a battle of the NFL’s toughest raced into the end-zone to send the defensive teams, the Steelers mus- raucous home crowd into raptures on cled past the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 a freezing night. after they also survived a late scare.

Serbia’s Sport Klub channel will Having taken a 13-0 lead midway have full live coverage of Super through the second quarter thanks to Bowl XLIII with fans around the Roethlisberger’s intricate passing, the country, where American Football Steelers saw the Ravens claw their has expanded rapidly in the past few way back into the game and reduce years, expected to be glued to their the arrears to 16-14, before Troy Po- television sets for a fitting finale to a lamalu made a vital interception and most entertaining season.

pitality and the conduct of their fans during the match was exemplary,” said Red Star’s general manager Milan Opacic. “We deeply regret the senseless act perpetrated by a handful of villains, who are enemies of sport and alien to our club,” replied his Split opposite number Petar Skovrlj. “We also hope the incident will not sever ties between Red Star and Split, who treated basketball fans to a memorable encounter on the court,” he added.

Hopefully, the common sense shown by both parties will be enough to keep tension at bay in the coming days. In the long term though, bolder action may be needed, for as the saying goes: all it takes for evil to win is that good men do nothing.

Zoran Milosavljevic is Belgrade Insight’s sports writer and also a regional sports correspondent for Reuters.

Live Sports on TV Friday, Jan 23: Tennis: Australian Open Day 5 (Eurosport 1.00 a.m. to 2.15 p.m.); Alpine Skiing: World Cup Women’s Downhill (Eurosport 2 at 10.00 a.m.), Men’s Super Giant Slalom (HRT 2 at 11.20 a.m.); Soccer: Ghent v Anderlecht (Sport Klub 8.30 p.m.), FA Cup – Derby County v Nottingham Forest (Sport Klub + 8.45 p.m.).

Saturday, Jan 24: Basketball: Spanish League – TAU Ceramica Vitoria v Unicaja Malaga (Sport Klub 8.00 p.m.), NLB Regional League – Red Star Belgrade v Cibona Zagreb (FOX Serbia at 5.00 p.m.); Alpine Skiing: World Cup Women’s Downhill (Eurosport 2 and HRT 2 at 10.00 a.m.), Men’s Downhill (Eurosport and HRT 2 at 11.30 a.m.); Tennis: Australian Open Day 6 (Eurosport 1.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.); Soccer: FA Cup – Hartlepool v West Ham (Sport Klub 1.45 p.m.), Kettering v Fulham (Sport Klub 4.00 p.m.), Manchester United v Tottenham (Sport Klub 6.15 p.m.), Spanish League Match (FOX Serbia 8.00 p.m), Juventus v Fiorentina (Avala and OBN at 8.30 p.m.), Spanish League Match (FOX Serbia 10.00 p.m.).

Sunday, Jan 25: Basketball: Span-

ish League – Pamesa v Barcelona (Sport Klub 12.30 p.m.), NBA Regular Season – L.A. Lakers v San Antonio Spurs (OBN 11.45 p.m.); NHL Ice Hockey: The All Star Game (Sport Klub midnight ); Tennis: Australian Open Day 7 (Eurosport 1.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m.); Alpine Skiing: World Cup Men’s Slalom and Women’s Giant Slalom (HRT 2 from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.); Soccer: FA Cup Cardiff v Arsenal (Sport Klub + 2.30 p.m.), Various Italian League Matches (Sport Klub 3.00 p.m.), Lazio v Cagliari (Avala 3.00 p.m.), Bologna v AC Milan (OBN 3.00 p.m.), Spanish League Match (Kosava 5.00 p.m.), FA Cup – Liverpool v Everton (Sport Klub 5.00 p.m), Spanish League Match (FOX Serbia 7.00 p.m.), Inter Milan v Sampdoria (Avala and OBN 8.30 p.m), Spanish League Match (Kosava 9.00 p.m.).

Note: Check daily Eurosport TV schedule (http://eurosport.yahoo. com) and teletext for Australian Open coverage in the week commencing on Monday, Jan 26.

TV channels reserve the right to change their schedules.

directory

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

TAXI SERVICES

Beo Taxi 011 9801 Blue Taxi 011 555999 Joker Taxi 011 3971174 Lux Taxi 011 3033123 Pink Taxi 011 9803 Taxi Bell 011 9808 Yellow Taxi 011 9802

BEAUTICIANS

MIOLIFT STUDIO Trg Nikole Pasica 8 Tel: 011 3340554 www.centarlepote.co.yu NENA Terazije 42, 1st floor Tel: 011 3619115, 011 619577 WELLNESS CENTAR ZORICA Dobracina 33, Bulevar Despota Stefana 71, 2nd floor Tel: 011 3285922, 011 3243940, 063 356001 www.zorica.co.yu SPA CENTAR Strahinjica Bana 5 Tel: 011 3285408 www.spacentar.co.yu office@spacentar.co.yu

BUILDERS ENJUB Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 20 Tel: 011 2601673 www.enjub.co.yu info@enjub.co.yu

ESTATE AGENTS

INTERNET HOTSPOS

AS-YUBC ESTATE Bul. Mihajla Pupina 10a Tel: 011 3118424, 063 371 879 as.yubc@sbb.co.yu EURENT Dobracina 21 Tel: 011 3038662 www.eurent.co.yu info@eurent.co.yu

Backstage Restaurant Svetogorska 19 BAR Central Kralja Petra 59 Bistro Pastis Strahinjica Bana 52B Bizzare Zmaj Jovina 25 Café bar MODA Njegoseva 61 Café Biblioteka Terazije 27 Café Koeficijent Terazije 15-23 Café Nautilus Turgenjeva 5 Café Paleta Trg Republike 5 Celzijus Dzordza Vasingtona 12 Coffee dream Kralja Petra 23 Café Pianeta 27. Marta 141 Colonial Sun Bul. Vojvode Putnika 32-34 Cuba Café Kneza Viseslava 63 Extreme kids Cvijiceva 1 Gradski Macor Svetozara Markovica 43 Ice bar Kosovska 37 Idiott Dalmatinska 13 Insomnia Strahinjica Bana 66A Ipanema Strahinjica Bana 68 Journal Kralja Milutina 21 Koling Klub Neznanog junaka 23 Kontra Bar Strahinjica Bana 59 Langust Kosancicev venac 29 Mart Caffe Krunska 6 Monin Bar Dositejeva 9A Monument Admirala Geprata 14 New York, New York Krunska 86 Oktopus Brace Krsmanovic 3 O’Polo Café Rige od Fere 15 Pietro Dell Oro Trnska 2 Pomodoro Hilandarska 32 Que pasa Kralja Petra 13 Rezime Centar Cafe Kralja Petra 41 Veprov dah Strahinjica Bana 52 Vespa Bar Toplicin venac 6 Via Del Gusto Knez Mihailova 48

EVENTS & CATERERS Villa catering Krunska 69, Beograd Tel: 011 3442656, 3835570, 063 207976 www.villa-catering.com office@villa-catering.com PARTY SERVICE Tel: 011 3946461 GODO Savski kej bb Tel: 011 2168101 BUTTERFLY CATERING Tel: 011 2972027, 063 7579825 office@butterfly-catering.rs Aleksandra-Anais Tel/fax: 011 4898173 063 7775889 office@aleksandra-anais.co.yu CATERING CLUB DB Tel. 065 8099819 Fax: 011 2980800 cateringclubdb@eunet.yu CATERING PLUS Palmira Toljatija 5 Tel: 011 2608410 office@catering.co.yu DIPLOMAT CATERING Josipa Slavenskog 10 Tel: 011 3672605 diplomatcatering@icomline.net EURO CATERING Prve pruge 2 11080 Zemun Tel/fax: 011 3190469 office@eurocatering.co.yu

FLORISTS

COSMETIC & HEALTH SERVICES KOMNENUS Kraljice Natalije 19 Tel: 011 3613677 www.komnenus.com office@komnenus.com ANTI-AGING CENTAR Nikolaja Ostrovskog 3 Tel: 011 2199645 www.aacentar.com EPILION dermatological laser centre Admirala Geprata 13 Tel: 011 3611420, 011 3615203 www.epilion.co.yu, info@epilion.co.yu

DENTISTS BIG TOOTH Mite Ruzica 10a Tel: 063 8019190 www.big-tooth.com dr.ilic@beotel.yu FAMILY DENTIST Bulevar Dr Zorana Djindica bb Tel: 011 136437 www.familydentist.co.yu ordinacija@familydentist.co.yu BELDENT Brankova 23 Tel: 011 2634455 APOLONIJA Stevana Sremca 13, Tel: 011 3223420 DUKADENT Pariske Komune 11 Tel: 011 3190766

MALA VRTNA RADIONICA Spanskih boraca 22g Tel: 011 3130300 www.mvr.co.yu mvr@verat.net CVET EXPRES Rajka Od Rasine 28 Tel: 011 2545987 INTERFLORA Vojvode Stepe 405 Tel: 011 462687 TELEFLORA Svetogorska 11 Tel: 011 03030047/048

HAIR STYLISTS HAIR FACTORY Kosovska 37/10 Tel: 011 3227775 www.hairfactory.co.yu vlada@hairfactory.co.yu EXCLUSIVE UNISEX HAIR SALONE ALEKSANDAR Bulevar Despota Stefana 96 Tel: 011 2087602 www.aleksandar.weebly.com fsaleksandar@gmail.comKralja Milutina 33

GYMS, LEISURE & SPORTS CENTRES EXTREME GYM TC ABC Cvijiceva 1 Tel: 011 2768255 www.x3mgym.com extremegym@x3mgym.com LPG Centar YU BIZNIS Centre, Bulevar Mihaila Pupina 10b Tel: 011 3130806 lpgstosic@eunet.yu, www.lpgsalon.co.yu RELAX PLATO Beogradjanka Tower Masarikova 5, 5th floor Tel: 011 3061765

www.relaxplato.com Golf Club Beograd Ada Ciganlija 2 Tel: 063 8963816 Partizan Shooting Club Tel: 011 2647942, 064 801 9900 Fax: 011 2647261 www.partizanshooting.rs info@partizanshooting.rs Hippodrome Belgrade Pastroviceva 2 Tel: 011 3546826

LEGAL SERVICES ILS Ltd. in association with Clyde & Co Gospodar Jevremova 47 Tel: 011 3038822 www.clydeco.co.uk clyde@clyde.co.yu HARRISONS SOLICITORS Terazije 34 Tel: 011 3615918 www.harisons-solicitors.com KARANOVIC&NIKOLIC Lepenicka 7 Tel: 011 3094200 www.karanovic-nikolic.co.yu info@karanovic-nikolic.co.yu

MASSEURS

HEALTHCARE BEL MEDIC Viktora Igoa 1 Tel. 011 3065888, 011 3066999, 063 206602 www.belmedic.com BEL MEDIC Koste Jovanovića 87 Tel. 011 3091000, 065 3091000 www.belmedic.com Dr. RISTIC HEALTH CENTRE Narodnih Heroja 38 Tel: 011 2693287 www.dr-ristic.co.yu zcentar@dr-ristic.co.yu LABOMEDICA Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra 193a Tel: 011 3088304 www.labomedica.net klinika@labomedica.net Privatna Praksa Petrovic Kralja Milutina 10 Tel: 011 3460777 Dom Zdravlja “Stari Grad” Obilicev venac 30 Tel: 011 635236 Dom Zdravlja “Vracar” Kneginje Zorke 15 Tel. 011 2441413

15

VETS&PETS

NOVAK VETERINARIAN CLINIC Veselina Maslese 55 Tel: 011 2851856, 011 2851923 www.vetnovak.co.yu novak@ptt.yu Veterinarska stanica Lazarevic Zrenjaninski put 30 Tel: 011 3319 015, 063 216 663 Fax: +381 (0)11 2712 385 Oaza Miklosiceva 11, Tel: 011 4440899

Bookstores

PLUMBERS

BEAUTY CENTAR Traditional Thai Massage Centre Knez Mihajlova 2-4 Tel: 011 3030003 www.menta.co.yu menta_bg@ptt.yu

MOVERS ALLIED PICKFORDS SERBIA Zarka Obreskog 23 Tel: 011 8487744 www.alliedpickfords.co.yu movers@alliedpickfords.co.yu AGS Belgrade Niski autoput 17 Tel: 011 3472321 www.agsmovers.com belgrade@agsmovers.com

OPTICIANS

HAUZMAJSTOR Francuska 56 Tel: 011 3034034 office@hauzmajstor.co.yu HIDROTEK Ljutice Bogdana 2 Tel: 011 2666823 kontakt@hidrotek.co.yu

SOLARIUMS SUN FACTORY MEGASUN Maksima Gorkog 82 Tel: 011 3440403 sun.factory.megasun@gmail.com ORNELA MEGASUN Njegoseva 56 Tel: 011 2458398 ornelakbl@eunet.yu Studio miolift Beograd, Trg Nikole Pašica 8 Tel: 011 3033211, 064 2351313 Aleksandar team Bulevar Despota Stefana 34a Tel: 011 3225632 www.aleksandar-team.co.yu Sun look Makedonska 5 Tel: 011 3343810 www.sunlook-bg.com

TICKET SERVICES

EUROOPTIC Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 278 Tel: 011 2415130 www.eurooptic.co.yu OPTIKA BEOGRAD A.D. Cara Urosa 8-10 Tel: 011 2629833

PRINTERS DIGITAL PRINTING CENTAR Cvijiceva 29 Tel: 011 2078000 www.dpc.co.yu office@dpc.co.yu DIGITAL ART Tel: 011 3617281

BILET SERVICE Trg Republike 5 IPS & MAMUT MEGASTORE Knez Mihajlova 1 Tel: 011 3033311 www.ips.co.yu

TRANSLATORS TODOROVIC AGENCY Tel: 011 2188197 BELGRADE TRANSLATION CENTRE Dobracina 50/11 Tel: 011 3287388 www.btc.co.yu natasa.ralic@btc.co.yu LEXICA TRANSLATION AGENCY Beogradska 35 Tel: 011 3222750 www.lexica.co.yu office@lexica.co.yu

Akademija Knez Mihailova 35 Tel: 011 2627846 Antikvarijat Knez Mihailova 35 Tel: 011 636087 Beopolis Makedonska 22 Tel: 011 3229922 Dereta Dostojevskog 7 Tel: 011 3058707, 011 556-445 Kneza Mihaila 46 Tel. 011 3033503, 011 3030 514, 011 627-934 Geca Kon Kneza Mihaila 12 Tel. 011 622073 IPS Mercator, Bulevar umetnosti 4 Tel: 011 132872 Super Vero Milutina MIlankovica 86a Tel: 011 3130640 IPS BOOK & MUSIC STORE Beoizlog, basement, Trg Republike 5 Tel: 011 3281859 Plato Knez Mihailova 48 Tel: 011 625834 SKZ Kralja Milana 19 Tel: 011 3231593 Stubovi kulture Knez Mihailova 6 Tel: 011 3281851, 011 632384 The Oxford Center Dobracina 27 Tel. 011 631021 We welcome suggestions for inclusion in the directory.

Please send details to: belgradeinsightmarketing@ birn.eu.com

16

advert

Friday, Jan. 23 - Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Latest news from across the Balkans, in-depth analysis and investigations from our journalists in nine countries.