CorD Magazine No.51

STRENGTHENING AND ENLARGING HE Jean-Francois Terral French Ambassador to Serbia

NUCLEAR PROGRAMME FOR CIVILIAN PURPOSES HE Ali Asghar Soltanie Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA

STAF PUZZLE Mirko Cvetkovic Finance Minister

interviews opinions news comments events www.cordmagazine.com

July 2008 / Issue No. 51 / Price 170 RSD

Better Than Well

CorD, July 2008

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POLITICS & DIPOLOMACY

HISTORICAL INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY

CORD CLUBE & B 2 B

SOCIALIST COMEBACK

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The Socialist Party of Serbia is going to be the ‘connective tissue’ in a surprise Serbian government.

STAFF PUZZLE

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Interview: HE the French Ambassador to Serbia, Jean-Francois Terral

NUCLEAR PROGRAMME ONLY FOR CIVILIAN PURPOSES

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Interview with the Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency

BUSINESS & CURENT AFFAIRS

MANAGING DIRECTOR Ana Isaković, a.isakovic@cma.co.yu EDITOR IN CHIEF Vladan Alimpijević, v.alimpijevic@cma.co.yu ASSOCIATE EDITOR Richard Wordsworth, r.wordsworth@cma.co.yu CORPORATE EDITOR Tatjana Ostojić, t.ostojic@cma.co.yu DESIGN CMA agency EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Ivica Petrović, Dragan Bujošević, Ljubodrag Stojadinović, Sonja Ćirić, Mirjana Vujović, Ilija Despotović, Rade Radovanović PHOTO Stanislav Milojković, Časlav Vukojičić, Jelena Seferin, CorD Archive, Tanjug TRANSLATORS Jelena Gledić, Snežana Rakić, Dejan Zubac, Milica Kubura, Momčilo Drakulić EDITORIAL MANAGER Tanja Banković, t.bankovic@cma.co.yu SUBSCRIPTION & WEB Ivan Lakatoš, i.lakatos@cma.co,yu EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Sanja Zimonjić, s.zimonjic@cma.co.yu GENERAL MANAGER Ivan Novčić, i.novcic@cma.co.yu

4 CorD / July 2008

“Interview: Branislav Bugarski, director of Vojvodina Investment Promotion

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FAST DEVELOPING MARKET

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Interview: Finance Minister, Mirko Cvetković

STRENGTHENING AND ENLARGING

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Interview: Petr Nemec, CEO PharmaSwiss

NEW FACE OF SERBIA

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SPORT

OLYMPIC GAMES IN BEIJING

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The most expensive Olympic Games in history will be held from 8 to 24 August in Beijing

WITNESS TO AND PARTICIPANT IN 12 OLYMPICS

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BORISLAV STANKOVIĆ, Honorary Secretary General of the FIBA and the International Olympic Committee

FINANCIAL DIRECTOR Ana Besedić, a.besedic@cma.co.yu PRINTING Politika AD CorD is published by: alliancemedia Knjeginje Zorke 11b, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Phone: +(381 11) 308 99 77, 308 99 88 Fascimile: +(381 11) 244 81 27 E-mail: cordeditorial@cma.co.yu www.cordmagazine.com ISSN no: 1451-7833 All rights reserved alliancemedia 2008

Ministry of Economy declared that the tender invitation for the privatization of the company JAT Airways will be issued around 15 July

After the Australian Open Championship in Melbourne, people talked about Serbia as the land of tennis

CULTURE

A MAN IN NO RUSH

66

Interview: Srđan Valjarević, writer

THE SILVER WORLD OF JOSIP BROZ

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The exhibition “Svet od srebra” (World of Silver) in the Museum of Yugoslav History

HOMAGE TO LOST GENERATIONS

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Interview: Svetilsav Bata Prelić, Director

LEISURE & LIFESTYLE

BETTER THAN WELL OUR GENETIC FUTURE

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The advances in human genetic engineering which are making science fiction and comic books into reality.

COLD READING

86

The people who can teach you to read minds, predict the future and make boatloads of cash in the process.

COMMENT

Editorial

Distant Europe After the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty, the EU administration in Brussels tries to perform some damage control and find a way to continue EU expansion.

BY VLADAN ALIMPIJEVIĆ mechanisms should be found for furthers first it was “No” to the constituing the expansion of the EU. The essence of tion, now Ireland has refused the idea these, I suspect, will be the old French idea of expanding the EU into poor counabout a new class of “secondary” EU memtries from South Eastern Europe, because of bers, without the right to veto. “I cannot imfears over an increase in taxes. After hearing agine that in the near future presidency over this news in Strasbourg, one high official of the EU will be passed around from Bulgaria the European Parliament footed the idea that to Serbia to Croatia and so on. It would start perhaps in that case the EU would be better off to look like Eurovision” he says. Well, that without Ireland altogether. In Belgrade, specmay be an idea that they’ll have to get used ulations have been made that the Irish “no” to. might extend to Serbia’s future membership Old EU member states do not have a bid, and that perhaps the country’s eligibility monopoly. The European Union is not a for membership isn’t in fact as dependant on European UN. The current crisis over the internal politics as the current member states Lisbon papers is a mere storm in a teacup. are making out.

One of many the EU must overcome in purDomestic Euro-sceptics were thrilled suit of its mission. with these developments - no change, no We might face the disappearance of oil, compulsion to adapt to and adopt European and possibly a serious increase in the price Old EU member states standards. Now we can peacefully integrate of food, but the borders, customs and return do not have a monopoly. with Belarus and Russia, because, say the to old monetary units shall never return. It’s Euro-sceptics, if Europe doesn’t want us, The European Union is interesting at this junction to look at the hiswe have other options. I think that behind not a European UN. The tory of the Roman state: one thousand years this bravado lurks the idea that it is easicurrent crisis over the after demise of Rome, the capital city of the er to be elite in a poor and retrograde counLisbon papers is a mere kingdom was on the Bosporus. try, than it would be as part of the West. In I find it difficult to take Euro-sceptics seriany case, whether Serbia goes the EU route storm in a teacup. One ously. No, you won’t see the demise of Europe, of many the EU must or not, in the end it shall be decided by the but neither are we ready to become an integral money of the sponsors of the political par- overcome in pursuit of its part of it just yet. Uniting Europe is not the ties. Serbia has faced the “European dilemnoble idea of a group of wise politicians or mission. ma” for two centuries already. Even among rich political party sponsors - it is a continued current EU members, there are those who step in the maturing of our continent. are reluctant at best to consider merging into one continental But Europe is not united by history, but market and capital. The super-state, and this is a sentiment that echoes loudly over new Serbian Government, just like any other government, can do here as well. a lot of damage and provide few benefits to its people during the It is normal that domestic capital influences power in a mandate. It would be very painful once we discover that as certain state. It is also normal that national interests should be care- as the European future is, it could also be very distant. fully weighed when they oppose international obligations and Luckily, the enthusiasm shown by Serbia when it comes the EU plans. What is distinctly abnormal in this country is the pres- integrations will be more rational if the visas for Serbian citizens ence of a political elite who, so divided and with such poor are finally abolished. Nobody will benefit from joining the EU too democratic spirit, conspire together in the creation of a legal soon. We saw this on Bulgarian, and even Romanian example. and political system where there is such a correlation between Hence the Irish ’no’ could be good for Serbia. The official power and sponsorship that there can be accusations of spon- Belgrade needs much longer time than one government mansorship pouring over into private pockets. That is immoral. date to join the EU. However, the issue of visas is the human During the time of negotiations on the formation of the rights issue and the matter of mistrust. This is where Serbia new Government, one diplomat in Belgrade told me that new should not wait any longer.

A

6 CorD / July 2008

COMMENT

The Government of Serbia

Socialist Comeback

Mr. Miskovic and the british ambassador Stephen Wordsworth

The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) is going to be the ‘connective tissue’ in a surprise Serbian government.The party desperately needs time to demonstrate its new skills and acquire new voters.

BY DRAGAN BUJOŠEVIĆ PHOTO FONET

T

he leader of SPS, Ivica Dačić was man to watch at the Queen’s Birthday Party held on the green grass of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Belgrade. He even managed to make Miroslav Mišković and Milan Beko smile, which is an achievement in itself. Boris Tadić probably smiled too once he realized that Dačić was his new coalition partner in constituting a government. Only after this realization did Tadić’s victory at the May 11 election feel like a true victory. Before that, it was a mixture of fears, hopes and reasons to develop anxious depression.

Tadić’s good will was so evident that he felt confident enough to talk about the leaders of the two losing parties, and the pain that he was sure this was causing them. He knew, but did not care, that this would cause a storm of protest on his side of the political fence. In his own understanding of fair play and political marketing, he had to respond in kind to Dačić’s cou-

8 CorD / July 2008

rage and generosity with just the smallest hint at future possible reconciliation.

Surely “reconciliation” - whatever that means - should not be the first and foremost task of a new Serbian government, especially one which marks the beginning of the socialists’ comeback to the political scene after spending eight years as the opposition. They succeeded in this reconciliation with the help from pensioners and Dragan Marković Palma, the for-

mer war comrade of Željko Ražnatović Arkan, a man who the communist secret services used for “special tasks” and Milošević’s police used for fighting in Croatia and Bosnia at the beginning of the ‘90s.

The first two tasks of the new government will be to show Serbian citizens that Europe does like them, like a mother likes her youngest child, and convince everybody who considers Tadić, Dinkić and Čanak as traitors (we are talking about those who voted for the radicals, DSS, as well as SPS), that they truly care about Kosovo, as much as Koštunica does. These two tasks of the new Serbian Government will be completely intertwined.

Europe certainly doesn’t think so, but the

PALMA

KOŠTUNICA

ČEDA

Dragan Marković Palma was war comrade of Željko Ražnatović Arkan, a man who the communist secret services used for “special tasks” and Milošević’s police used for fighting in Croatia and Bosnia at the beginning of the ‘90s.

Kosovo remain one of the greatest problems for the government.

This will be the only topic endorsed by Vojislav Koštunica which the radicals will not be able to ignore. Serbian Europeans will also have to deal with it since they will be bound by SPS rhetoric.

LDP attained this position after Čedomir Jovanović said to Tadić that he would pay any price just as long as the radicals and DSS were kept out of the government. This party has already become something of a back-up option.

majority of Serbian citizens are convinced that Europe has treated them like an evil stepmother. Despite this, Europe this time can really say that it has provided support to the coalition ‘For European Serbia’, led by Tadić. He certainly would not have won if Europe had not handed him the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) to sign. However, that was only one half of the problem between Serbian Europeans and the radicals. The second half was marked by FIAT’s return to Kragujevac, after 20 years. An average voter, and especially those who consider themselves transitional losers (at least a million voters in Serbia) put two and two together. They say that Europe means new jobs and better life, and as soon as the SAA was signed, FIAT came back to Crvena Zastava as one of the symbols of differences between the Yugoslav ‘soft’ communism and ‘iron curtain’ communism.

One of the first tasks for the government will be creating a more solid society. For the last 25 years this country that has been falling apart, engulfed by wars and still with unknown borders, while for the past 20 years the country has been shaken up by transitional poverty and suffering caused by hyper inflation. All of that created a society in which people are at each other’s throats and almost nobody is given any help or sympathy. The so-called transitional losers are almost despised while most of the transitional winners are well aware that they have succeeded not because of their individual characters, but largely thanks to special relations with the political elite and corrupt justice system, which could be viewed as the gra-

The leader of SPS: Ivica Dačić Priština will not lose anything by consenting to this, since it has never governed Serbs in the enclaves and north Kosovo. Maybe the officials in Priština will understand one day that that is the fastest way towards the independence. After all, if they had accepted substantial autonomy offered by Belgrade, Priština would have had a much larger authority than it does currently, in addition to recognition from Belgrade. Finally, Brussels, Belgrade and Priština would have to find a way to include EULEX in Resolution 1244, as well as to include Serbian security and justice structures.

If the Government reaches these two key goals, nobody will ever say another word about

Boris Tadić probably smiled when he realized that Dačić was his new coalition partner in constituting a government. Only after this realization did Tadić’s victory at the May 11 election feel like a true victory. vest disease of the contemporary Serbian society. Social justice will be one of the government’s priorities and will be tackled within the project entitled ‘Europe now’ which has two integral parts – better life and solidarity.

The socialists will have to give special notice to the issue of social policy since they presented themselves as the only protectors of the people who live at society’s margins.

Kosovo and Metohija remain two of the greatest problems for the government. This will be the only topic endorsed by Vojislav Koštunica which the radicals will not be able to ignore. Serbian Europeans will also have to deal with it since they will be bound by SPS rhetoric, which was sometimes much louder than that of the radicals and Koštunica. Remember when Dačić kept on asking why Serbia was refusing to apply force when Kosovar Albanians were constantly threatening violence with weapons? At that time, Koštunica and Tomislav Nikolić were firmly advocating a peaceful solution to Kosovo’s problem.

it being a government of reconciliation. Better life and even better future would completely push out a traumatic past and the mutual accusations over who is guilty for the deaths of the leaders of the socialists and democrats. We are talking reconciliation even when there is none, when it is only desired - when yesterday is more important than today or tomorrow.

Some analysts claim that such government, comprised of large and small groups, will not be able to survive for a long time. Maybe that analysis stems from their desire rather than reality. Small political parties, assembled around

DS, will not do anything detrimental. We should remember how humiliated Vuk Drašković was in the first government put together by Vojislav Koštunica, and still he did not even think about working against it, and busied himself repeating the phrase “I wish I were what I used to be”.

Mlađan Dinkić could be the second possible ‘destroyer’ of the government. He is often described as a man who brought down three governments. True, he did bring down the government of Zoran Živković, and he did this with the help from the former Head of Vojislav Koštunica’s cabinet, Aleksandar Nikitović.

However, the last two governments were definitely destroyed by Koštunica himself.

Dinkić is well aware of the fact that he alone could not participate in any future elections.

He couldn’t have done this in the recent elections either, with the public opinion surveys showing that his undisputed election and marketing genius would not help him in reaching parliamentary census. Hence, he will probably try to convince Tadić that he should be the sole Deputy President of DS, once his party G17 merges with DS. This will give him a chance of being nominated as Prime Minister in the following term.

The socialists have the least reason to be the weak link in the future government. On the contrary, they have to be its strongest link. They need the complete government term to convince their suspicious voters that they have chosen the right way, as well to convince future voters that they are a party which has a good future in store. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will also push them towards a long tenure in the government, as this party has already found its way to becoming a back-up option.

LDP attained this position after Čedomir Jovanović said to Tadić that he would pay any price just as long as the radicals and DSS were kept out of the government. Then somebody remembered that if the pensioners and Jedinstvena Srbija (JS) gave their support to Tadić, it would be better to have LDP’s support with their 13 MPs, than the socialists’ with their 12, especially when we know that Jovanović can be less demanding than Dačić and other comrades who have been so far away from power for such a long time.

However, at that stage, talks that hadn’t even begun with the socialists, as Tadić claimed, were far along. In addition to that, the Serbian President remembered just how many times the cocky leader of the liberals had gotten on his nerves in the past. If yesterday was too late for LDP to make it to the government, tomorrow would be just the

SERBIA AND EU For the Government and its patron, Tadić, the best thing to do would be for the EU not to rush the solution for Kosovo and let Belgrade set up government in Serbian ghettos, north and south of the Ibar River. If they really want a multi-national Kosovo, then support for the Serbs there should be a priority, and that is possible only if the Serbs are under official Belgrade jurisdiction.

CorD / July 2008 9

INTERVIEW

Finance Minister Mirko Cvetković

Staff Puzzle As we wait to start the interview, he talks with his PR consultants and jokes about the negotiations over the new government.This was an ideal moment to start an interview with the current Finance Minister. Was there any truth to claims that he is the most serious candidate for the position of Serbian Prime Minister?

BY RADE RANKOVIĆ

J

ust as Doc Holiday became a legend, so did Mirko Cvetković make it to the Government. Quietly. He was appointed Finance Minister, and as the media are speculating with increasing frequency he could well be in line to become the next Prime Minister. His first significant experience in the state administration was in Đinđić’s government, where he was Deputy Minister of Economy. After that, he was appointed Head of the Privatization Agency.

When the Democratic Party (DS) lost elections and became the opposition in 2003, Mirko Cvetković became an entrepreneur.

Once he was appointed Finance Minister, he closed down his successful consulting company Interkom, retaining only his Volvo and a tax return. „These speculations have been flying around for a while and I have nothing new to add. Formally speaking, the Democratic Party hasn’t started official negotiations, so I don’t think it is a good time for anybody to say “I am going to the Prime Minister, or I am not going to be the Prime Minister…”

Such things are not straight forward.

Whether or not somebody wants to be the PM, and whether or not the position is even offered to them is a matter of that requires a wider consensus and agreement. Such appointments are rarely take-it-or-leave-it offers either, but rather part of an agreement about a joint strategy, policy, staff etc. So, in that context, I really have nothing to add.

Since nobody has had this kind of conversation with me, I really have nothing to say.

You mean nobody from the party has asked you even if you would like to be the Prime Minister?

No. There were talks, but there were not talks of that kind – i.e. the kind of conversation I would like to have - a serious conversation about profiles, when and in what direction the whole thing will take. I still think it is too early. Maybe you should come back in a week or two.

I really think that the DS is comprised of 10 CorD / July 2008

strong staff and I have absolutely no intention of putting myself in the “I am so and so or I am not so and so” position. I think that there are quite a few people that are suitable for that position, many of them are probably better than me, so there is no need for me to ‘jump the gun’, so to speak.

For days and weeks we have been closely following the negotiations about the new government. Now, the democrats and the coalition of parties assembled around SPS are negotiating, but your name, as the Finance Minister, is not mentioned anywhere. Why? I really don’t partake in any negotiations.

On the basis of what we’ve seen, it seems to me pretty obvious that there are only two possible outcomes. One is to form a proEuropean government. The second one is to schedule new elections. The other side cannot form a majority - that is pretty obvious. The question now is what is in the best interests of the country and the individual political parties.

I think that the best thing to do, for the country, as well as the political parties in question, would be to form a government rather than to schedule new elections.

Still, the coalition of parties assembled around the SPS, namely PUPS, is demanding that pensions in Serbia be increased by 10% as one of the conditions for forming a coalition. Should you, as the Finance Minister, not have voiced your opinion or at least have been con-

sulted on this matter?

The DS is primarily a left-wing party and it advocates a socially responsible state. As a part of that, there are certain groups which are in a vulnerable position, so to speak, and that have to find their place in this new policy.

BUDGET

PRIME MINISTER

INFLATION

We have a deficit in the budget, which this year amounts to 14.8 billion.

Our long-term goal is to secure a surplus in the budget in order to finance the expenses that do not come under the category of the current budgetary expenses.

I really think that the DS is comprised of strong staff and I have absolutely no intention of putting myself in the “I am so and so or I am not so and so” position. I think that there are quite a few people that are suitable for that position

Inflation, clearly, is not something that happens as the result of a particular economic policy which can be found in one country and not in another.This is a global phenomenon which every country has to deal with, in varying degrees.

These vulnerable groups are almost solely pensioners. There is a large number of socalled unemployed people. You have young people – some employed, some not, who are deciding upon a future for themselves. So, in my opinion, we need to have a balanced approach where everybody can find his or her place.

Primarily, we need to see how our neighbouring countries, maybe even the EU, deal with this issue; to see the ratio between average pensions here and there. Maybe, if our party is truly a left-wing party, we should try to work the solutions that are considered the best in all those countries that we have observed that have dealt with similar problems.

We should be certain that people here do not fare worse than in other countries. But what we are dealing with in this instance is a

re-distribution of wealth. It is not possible to give a straightforward ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, or simply to say that there is or isn’t enough money. Of course there is enough money, but the question is whether its re-distribution in this situation makes sense, or whether it makes more sense for it to be re-distributed differently in order for this group to fare better in mid-term and long-term.

When you say re-distribution, you mean re-distribution within the budget or re-distribution through new or higher taxes?

If we are talking about current fiscal instruments being sufficient to generate such funds, we leave ourselves open to being underfunded if and when a drastic and unforeseen situation arises. In my opinion we should not raise taxes which, in turn,

contribute to higher production costs. We should concentrate on taxes pertaining to consumption, i.e. VAT, excises and so on, which would lead to lower public spending.

This is what I mean by re-distribution; using money which would previously have been in the hands of buyers and shoppers to fund state projects to improve quality of life.

Will that increase the inflation rate?

Hypothetically, if we were to increase the VAT rate, then yes. That would definitely affect the inflation rate. We have even measured what would happen if we were to raise the VAT by 2%. In that respect, you would see two increases – the first one is just a one-off, and the second one is distributed over a longer time period. The ratio here is approximately 2:1. That means that you would start with the inflation rate that CorD / July 2008 11

INTERVIEW

is 2% higher, with a 1% increase over the period of several months. So if you increase the VAT rate by 2%, the inflation rate will go up by 3%.

Aside from Bulgaria, Serbia has the highest inflation rate in Europe...

No, it is not true that it is the highest in Europe. There are a few other countries that have a higher inflation rate. But inflation is a global phenomenon. If you take a look at what is happening in developed European countries, just a few days ago a report was released which stated that the inflation rate reached the annual level of 3.7%, which to us is really low. But take into consideration that their starting basis was 2, and 3.7 in relation to 2 is almost a double of what they are used to and what they’ve been living with for years. So, you have a phenomenon that is ‘spilling over’.

Inflation, clearly, is not something that happens as the result of a particular economic policy which can be found in one country and not in another. This is a global phenomenon which every country has to deal with, in varying degrees.

Governor Jelašić says that the central bank alone cannot fight the inflation rate and that he expects the Government to do its part.

When I read his statements, I sometimes get the impression that two separate economic policies are being led in this country, with one led by the Government, and the other by the National Bank. But I don’t know of any country that has two economic policies, and so I believe that his statements are either being taken out of the context or he was perhaps a little overzealous when gave them. If you have a chance to talk to him, ask him whether two economic policies are being led in this country, and ask him to elaborate on the second one, of which I was not aware.

The way I see it, there is one economic policy here and this policy should be supported by the government, as well as the National Bank. Only together can they carry it out.

How do you respond to IMF’s claims that Serbia’s public spending is too high, and that the country has the most expensive state administration in Europe?

Public spending in Serbia is not the issue here and it is not that much bigger than in other countries. The issue is that, in Serbia, the consumption is larger than production.

This is the cause of our foreign trade deficit.

Personal spending is what creates a problem in our country, and, in my opinion, the biggest problem is the fact that some of the country’s old debt is a debt towards citizens, 12 CorD / July 2008

VOLVO AND TAX RETURN I have a Volvo S60, not the biggest one, but it is quite solid. Before I was Finance Minister I had my own company called Interkom which was a consultancy I founded after leaving the Privatization Agency. The company was operational for 3 to 4 years, and it was quite successful financially speaking, but once I became the Finance Minister I closed it down since I was the sole owner. The company’s property was transferred to me, so I registered this Volvo, which was company property, in my name. Before that, I had a Toyota Corolla, which was 10 to 15 years old. I gave it to my son.

With regard to taxes – I pay them. This year I have to pay around 86.000 Dinars in taxes. I just got my tax return. This is because my company did make some money in the first five months. Here, I receive salary as a minister, which is close to 100,000 Dinars. I’m not sure of the exact amount.

which is ‘spilling over’ into demand. Our single biggest debt is the old foreign currency savings.

The current situation is that we have a deficit in the budget, which this year amounts to 14.8 billion. Maybe we will implement everything that we have planned, maybe we are going to do it to a lesser extent, but our long-term goal is to secure a

surplus in the budget in order to finance the expenses that do not come under the category of the current budgetary expenses. This includes settling various debts which are still a problem to us, since we have no funds to pay them due to the halt in the privatization process.

As the former Director of the Priva-

TO CHALKIDKI BY CAR I have booked my summer vacation earlier so I don’t need to lose sleep worrying about whether I’ll be able to go. I am going to Greece, to Chalkidiki to be more precise. I just like to sit in my car and drive. It takes me 7 to 8 hours to get there by myself, if I don’t take bumpy roads. I went to Montenegro once. That was a big problem for me. I go by plane only if I travel to an island, i.e. in situations where I cannot use my car. I’ve been to Sicily, and also to Crete. I like to drive and Greece is just ideal for that.

tization Agency, could you please explain why this process halted in the first place?

I don’t think that that is a personal issue, or that somebody is doing a bad job in the Agency. The thing is that we are going to have fewer and fewer companies to privatize. During the initial privatization years, there were quite a few attractive companies to sell, but the problem was that the state itself was unattractive and what we had, at that time, were prices that seemed acceptable at that given moment. Now, with the market and its attractiveness growing, you have companies like Putnik which was sold for a ridiculously small amount of money and is now worth 4-5 times more, but is in worse condition than when it was sold.

I even heard that there are plans in the Ministry of Economy to change the privatization model, and not to be focused primarily on sale, but to look for a kind of recapitalization by strategic partners. I haven’t seen that model yet, and I don’t know how it is going to be implemented.

I look at it from the budget’s standpoint and, to be honest, I don’t expect anything spectacular to happen.

are scheduled to be sold, but that doesn’t serve a purpose here. JAT is scheduled to be sold.

Bids for shares are going to be asked for next months. It will be sold. I really couldn’t tell you how much money we are going to get for it and whether or not something will go to the budget. I don’t plan anything.

Also, there is NIS, which is also going to be sold once the interstate treaty is ratified.

I presume that would speed up the transaction itself. We, in the financial sector, have several banks left to sell which are relatively small and we don’t expect them to be sold for a significant amount of money.

foreign currency savings, there is a debt to the London Club, the Paris Club etc., and we really don’t know where to find the money to pay it all. Our calculations show that we are going to have a deficit of 30 to 35 bil- At the end of this interview, let’s go lion Dinars, i.e. €400 million, once we pay back to the beginning. If a government is formed with the socialists, are they going all these debts.

There is a plan in the Ministry that if there to be used as an excuse, just like the DSS is no privatization processes carried out by was, for Serbia stumbling on its path to the end of this year, we will have to take out EU membership? loans to settle these obligations.

I am going to explain this, since I look at it from the budget’s standpoint when the people hear the word and, to be honest, I don’t expect anything ‘loan’, they immediately think spectacular to happen. of drama. This is just consolidation of old debts.

I have already told you about our esti- I really haven’t thought about it, but I think mates. My philosophy is, and I believe it is that this should work. I think that the DS rea good one, that we should start off with the ally considers the country’s sovereignty and most conservative approach, and plan for the European integration as its two main prioriworst possible scenario when we are consid- ties. No, I don’t believe that SPS will be a ering these numbers. It could easily happen hindrance. Why? Because they will insist on that the amount to be paid is not 400 but 200, their demands for workers in this country to be protected, which will be carried out in acand it could even be zero. cordance with the situation in the country. If Are we going to sell another public en- individuals or groups start trying to obstruct terprise by the end of the year? the path of the government as a whole from I could tell you all of the companies which within, it will cease to function.

You and Governor Jelašić have announced that the budget will be in crisis by the end of this year and that the state would have to sell yet another public enterprise.

You see, what I was talking about was the inability to pay certain debts. The budget, as it is at the moment, i.e. the liquid part of it, will not go through a crisis. It is developing in a way that is in fact going a little better than we planned.

However, in addition to the liquid part of the budget, we have a part that pertains to the settling of old financial obligations, providing further recapitalizations and so on, and this part is not funded from the current revenues unless you have a surplus, which is our mid-term goal. It is financed from occasional and irregular revenues, so to speak, and these are the revenues coming from the sale of property. In other words, it is privatization revenue.

We are reaching the end of privatization and it no longer generates funds as it used to. However, financial obligations still remain. In addition to the aforementioned old 13 CorD / July 2008

COMMENT

Are sheiks already investing in nuclear power stations because petrol is running out?

The Energy Crisis

If one were feeling especially cynical, one might accuse OPEC of secretly being in love with nuclear power, and view their stirring up of petrol prices on the global market as a way of making atomic energy more palatable.The idea might even be funny, if the petrol situation weren’t so serious.

BY SIJKA PIŠTOLOVA

T

oday, the price of barrel of crude oil has hit a record high of $140. That’s a significant price hike when compared to the cost per barrel in 1970 ($2).

The price has been climbing steadily over the years, due to diminishing supplies, wars, natural disasters, political tension etc. But is the end in sight? Will the price hold steady at $140, or as some analysts predict, carry on increasing past $200?

If I knew the answer to this question, I could give up overnight my life of renting my flat and my dreams of one day earning enough money to purchase a one room flat before retiring. But what I do know for certain is that cheap petrol is a thing of the distant past, and clever scientists meanwhile have not invented anything that could replace it. Therefore we have ended up in the situation where ominous nuclear power stations are again being placed on the energy pedestal, championed as the final answers to rising energy prices and fears over pollution and global warming.

Only Germany bucks the trend by confirm-

14 CorD / July 2008

ing its hesitations regarding nuclear energy. The group of the most developed industrial countries, G-8, recently held a meeting with China, India and South Korea in Aomori in Japan. In a joint statement, those 11 countries, which control two thirds of the world’s energy, stated that the “number of countries interested in nuclear energy is increasing”.

We are on the doorstep of a new nuclear era,

the production of electrical power from nuclear energy. In the meantime Iran has stated that the price of a barrel will reach $150 by the end of this summer. Tellingly, this estimation was made by the Iranian representative in OPEC, Ali Khatibi. On Iranian state television he stated that the reasons for the increase of the price of petrol are the weak US dollar and the current situation in the Near East.

Our neighbouring countries have not remained immune to the nuclear trend either.

When the Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader and the President, Stjepan Mesić recently went to Vienna to meet the Austrian President Hans Fisher and the Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Sanader’s statement that nuclear energy is not a

In a joint statement, those 11 countries, which control two thirds of the world’s energy, stated that the “number of countries interested in nuclear energy is increasing”. said the British Energy Minister, John Hutton.

He is convinced that this is a good thing, citing reductions in damaging greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming as one of many benefits that come with the introduction of nuclear power.

The USA, Canada and Italy have renewed their plans to build nuclear power stations after a five fold increase in petrol prices since 2003. France and Japan are still the leaders in

taboo subject for him caused a genuine scandal.

Austria still does not want to hear about nuclear power stations in its neighbourhood.

In response to the question as to whether Croatia is going to build nuclear power station, Sanader replied that his country is having increasing problems regarding energy. “This should not be made into a taboo subject and nor should nuclear energy”, he noted. The Prime Minister also said that the Croatian Constitution

states that the state has to secure energy sources. He believes it is critical to consider nuclear energy now, rather than in the future as the other sources are running low. However, under the pressure of the media and both governing and oppositional parties, Sanader changed his opinion in only a week and stated: “If the Croatian Electro Industry (HEP) successfully completes its investment plan, nuclear power stations might not be needed.”

However, if Sanader changes his mind again, the Prevlaka between Sisak and Zagreb and a site on the Danube near Erdut in Slavonia were mentioned as the most desirable locations for nuclear power stations. Since there is already a nuclear power station near Zagreb, in Krsko, the most likely location of these two is in Slavonia.

It is possible that the recent message from Slovenia will put pressure on Sanader to change his mind again. The Slovenian co-owner of the Croatian-Slovenian nuclear power station in Krsko (NEK), Gen Energy, wants to purchase the Croatian part of the plant, if it is ever for sale. “The French giant, EDF, has expressed their interest in purchasing the Croatian part of NEK and they are offering the Croatian Electro Industry $ 800 million for their share in Krsko. According to the Slovenian daily, Delo, the French have already discussed this subject with the Croatian President Mesić.

With regard to Bulgaria and Romania, those countries have already given up on expensive petrol and entrusted their energy future to nuclear power stations. Romania is already working on the increased capacities of the old nuclear power station, Cernavoda, but is also looking for a location for another completely new power station.

However, the real surprise for the nuclear lobby was the Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisa. It seems that he has had enough of the electricity restrictions which continue in his country in the 21st century and with criticism from the opposition and has therefore offered the Americans and Italians the opportunity to build a nuclear power station which they would also use. Italian Enel has warmly welcomed this offer because it would be very simple to transfer electricity from Albania to the Italian coast through underwater cables, solving Italy’s chronic shortage of electricity.

However, the Italian nuclear lobby complained and requested that Enel first finish the nuclear power station which was started in their back yard a long time ago, before going further afield to build new nuclear power stations. Italy is a good example of a country that was until recently a sworn enemy of nuclear energy, has changed its mind in light of increasing oil prices.

Bulgaria has always been the atomic leader in the Balkans. This country paid dearly for its entry to the EU with promises to gradually close down Kozloduj, as this nuclear power station uses the same technology as Chernobyl.

Currently, out of six blocks in this power station, only two are operating. Meanwhile the Bulgarians decided to compensate for the closing down of Kozldoduj with the construction of a new nuclear power station. Belane and German RWE and Belgian Elektrabel are feverishly struggling to become the sub-investors in this project. The Serbian vice Prime Minister, Božidar Djelić, has also expressed interest in

out that he was afraid of being accused of lobbying for the French company Areva, one of the most famous and recognised companies in the field of nuclear power plant construction.

It is clear that even if OPEC increases the production of oil, any drop in price would only be temporary. Furthermore it is something of a public secret that Russia’s future prosperity is dependent on the development of technologies

It is clear that even if OPEC increases the production of oil, any drop in price would only be temporary. this station.

Six months ago Djelic visited Sofia and asked whether the invitation made by the Bulgarian Prime Minister for other Balkan countries to participate in its construction still stood. It is unknown what kind of response Djelić received. However, Djelić was one of the rare Serbian politicians to publicly state that nuclear power stations are the future. He encountered media resistance and today it is a subject that is rarely mentioned. It should not be ruled

for deeper and deeper drilling.

As things currently stand, the only ones who can get excited over the rising cost of petrol are the giants of the nuclear power station construction business, such as Russian Atomstrojeksport, French Areva, American Westinghouse and many Japanese companies which, after the Chernobyl catastrophe, were all literarily without work for years. I would not be surprised if meanwhile Arab sheiks and petrol companies became the shareholders in those companies, as they realised a long time ago that petrol is running out and that nuclear power stations will become the most profitable investments.

As far as Serbia is concerned, according to most important energy institutions, there are no reasons for panic, and therefore no reason even to talk of energy crises. The same institutions were publicly slated by the specialist website Energyobserver.com for this lackadaisical viewpoint, and it seems that this attack has finally spurred at least some of those concerned into action. The Ministry of Mining and Energy and agencies for energy and energy efficiency have organised a conference in Zlatibor, but given their reluctance to believe there is any real danger of an energy crisis, it is difficult to see what they’ll have to talk about.

CorD / July 2008 15

INTERVIEW

His Excellency the French Ambassador to Serbia, Jean-Francois Terral

Strengthening and Enlarging On the first of July, France begins its six month presidency of the European Union. For a preview of what to expect over the next half year, CorD sat down to an interview with JeanFrancois Terral, France’s ambassador to Serbia. He stressed that one of their top priorities is the enlargement of the EU.

BY RADE RANKOVIĆ PHOTO O. BUNIĆ

J

ean-Francois Terral was born in Bordeaux, on the 25th of January 1948, graduated from the Institute for Political Studies and finished post graduate studies at the National School for Administration. In the late ‘90s he was the director of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Apatriates. He served as the ambassador in Macedonia from 2000 until 2003, and was director of

16 CorD / July 2008

the Department for Continental Europe in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the Serbian Media there has been a lot of talk about the influence that foreign ambassadors have in the formation of the Serbian government, but it is significant that France went largely unmentioned in these discussions. Now that Serbia is facing a proEU government, is the EU ready to accept a Serbian membership bid?

Is the enlargement the foremost policy of the EU? At what point will it stop?

Will other nations like Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and Bosnia be included as full members, or will there be some kind of “second tier” membership for them?

From my thirty years experience as a diplomat, I can say that the French policy toward the EU has always had two goals: strengthening and enlarging. So far we have been able to carry out those two processes in parallel, and certainly we will continue.

We are keen to improve the decision making process and to further new policies to match new challenges like environment, immigration, and energy, for instance. With regard to enlargement, we have a clear commitment to involve Western Balkans countries as full members of the EU. This commitment has already been underlined at the Zagreb conference in 2000 and in many top level EU statements. I must add that we see

Serbia as being the most promising country in the region, in view of its great potential in terms of population, economics and administrative capacities. Serbia is still lagging in the process of becoming an EU member, but apro-European government will certainly give it a boost.

Is the establishment of Kosovo as an independent country making this process easier or more difficult?

I see the EU membership process as totally independent from the Kosovo status question. Nevertheless, it is obvious that having a stable regional situation, with good relationships between its various components, will be helpful. This means that we have to find pragmatic solutions to a number of problems concerning Serbia and Kosovo. In this context, the EU has an important role to play, in view of the perspectives it offers to the region. EULEX is part of this effort and should be considered as such, rather than being used as an argument in internal politics.

Is Europe so dependant on the United States economically that is in danger of losing some of its autonomy?

The USA is dependant on the EU as much as the EU is dependant on the USA. For instance, we have in the USA as many French enterprises as we have American societies in France. And do you know that about 25% of the value of the European Airbus A320 is of American origin? The engine is a French-American joint-venture, made by a company called CFM international. In the world we are living now, nobody is independent: we are all dependant on international factors like energy, value of international currencies, transnational companies, before we even get to factors like destruction of the environment or terrorism.

In such circumstances, I would say that the EU has to find its way, while preserving a good relationship with the USA and other important countries. We are all in the same boat.

For new members of the EU, will joining NATO be a requirement?

The answer is the following: Sweden,

Austria, Ireland, Finland are not members of NATO. What would the benefits for Serbia to join the EU, rather than to focus on forming closer ties with Russia?

I don’t know anybody serious who thinks that Serbia would be the sole country in the region not to join EU. Go and visit the new EU member-states of central Europe, the former communist states, and see how much progress has been made in term of living standards, economic development,

SERBIA ANDTHE EU

EULEX

EU AND USA

I don’t know anybody serious who thinks that Serbia would be the sole country in the region not to join EU. Go and visit the new EU member-states of central Europe, the former communist states,and see how much progress has been made in term of living standards.

We have to find pragmatic solutions to a number of problems concerning Serbia and Kosovo. EULEX is part of this effort and should be considered as such, rather than being used as an argument in internal politics.

The USA is dependant on the EU as much as the EU is dependant on the USA. In the world we are living now, nobody is independent: we are all dependant on international factors like energy, value of international currencies, transnational companies.

democracy, and the rule of law. Also, when speaking about Russia, don’t forget that its economy, in term of GNP, is about the same size as Spain. It is on a totally different scale from the EU or the USA. Of course that said it is not contradictory to develop strong links with Russia, which is an essential partner for the EU, and which will continue to be more and more so in the future.

Can there be any real reconciliation between Muslim and Western culture, or has the idea of the “war on terror” driven the two concepts irreconcilably apart?

In France, we like the diversity of the world and its variety of cultures. And we dismiss the Huntington philosophy about the clash of r civilizations. In our view, true Islam has nothing to do with terrorism even when the terrorists are acting in the name of religion.

After the experience of the 2005 civil unrest in Paris, what is the correct way for governments to deal CorD / July 2008 17

INTERVIEW

and diplomacy. This is a part of what the EU can do. We [France] want to increase this capacity for action in the EU in the framework of ESDP. What can be done to improve economic ties between France and Serbia, given that culturally they are already so closely linked?

Strengthening economic relations of Serbia with its main partners like France mainly depends on having a stable political situation- a policy focusing on reforms, with a clear EU commitment. I think it is essential as that is what entices foreign companies to enter into the market and make investments. Now, as a French Ambassador, I have the duty of marketing Serbia to French companies. That is why we are looking forward to two big FrenchSerbian economic events in Belgrade, next year: an important conference about advanced technology, organized by UBIFRANCE (the equivalent of your SIEPA), probably in March, and later on the visit of a large delegation of the big French business under the heading of MEDEF (the French entrepreneurial association). Those events should have taken place this year, but the frozen political situation made it impossible.

UNACCEPTABLE What is your opinion of the recent political protests in Serbia?

If you’re referring to last February’s attacks against some embassies, I can say they are totally unacceptable and opposite to our values. If you’re referring to people going on strike or demonstrating in the streets to defend their interests or their ideas, I would say that’s the normal way in democratic countries.

with such problems?

I was in New York at the time and I read in the American press and heard on the TV that Paris was on fire. It was more than a little exaggerated. There were injured people, vandalism, cars on fire, but nobody was killed. Such events have taken place in various countries where people are facing difficult situations and where immigrant populations have not fully integrated themselves.

Having said that, I’m not looking back with rose coloured spectacles. I am not an expert but it seems to me that the most appropriate solution is to provide this segment of the population with jobs and education. This process is ongoing, but of course it requires time and effort.

number of emerging countries with strong economic development, mainly in Asia and in South America. From the long term perspective this is an extremely positive development. On the other hand we have still a large number of countries which are lagging and facing increasingly difficult economic situations, mainly in Africa. For a long time France and the EU have made real efforts to help those countries, as evidenced by, for instance, the Lomé Convention, technical and

What is the EU’s plan to slow the widening gap between first and third world countries? What, especially, are countries such as France which have strong cultural ties to developing countries in Africa doing to help?

The third world is an old concept which no longer exists. Among what we used to call ‘developing countries’ we have now a

financial assistance, debt relief, commercial facilities and so. We have to continue. But in the same time, a shared responsibility lies with the political leaders of those countries, which have to focus on good governance and adequate policies. Additionally, in some areas, like Sudan or Chad, the situation is worsened by armed conflicts, and we have to tackle such situations with military action

18 CorD / July 2008

As a representative of a foreign government what could be done to improve Serbia’s image abroad?

Having Mladic in The Hague.

What changes do you expect to come about during the 6 months of the next EU presidency?

First, let’s talk about the priority of the French presidency, which is to make progress in four fields: protection of the environment; immigration, where we need a real common policy within EU; agriculture, where the common agricultural policy has to be updated, taking into account the new worldwide situation of food shortages, while also protecting the environment; and making new progress in the field of the common defence and external policies. But we will have also to

First, let’s talk about the priority of the French presidency, which is to make progress in four fields: energy and protection of the environment, immigration, agriculture and defence and external policies. tackle the question of how to implement the reforms involved in the Lisbon Treaty, after the negative referendum in Ireland.

Finally, as a French Ambassador, I will be quite happy if we are see Serbia become an EU candidate: I can assure you that during the French presidency of EU we will make every effort to help Serbia reach this target as soon as possible.

POLITICS

The newly appointed president of the parliament, Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, with Ivica Dacic and Zarko Obradovic.

Government formation negotiations

An anatomy of odd liaisons I read a ‘wow’ of an interview for daily Kurir in which Milutin Mrkonjić, current and founding member of the Socialist Party of Serbia, came across as the Charles Bukowski of Serbian politics.The only minor differences being that Bukowski was a womaniser, poet and author of writings inspired by the sensations born of his constant phantasmagorical DTs.

BY LJUBODRAG STOJADINOVIĆ PHOTO FONET

S

lobodan Milošević’s best builder, Milutin Mrkonjić may be a civil engineer, but he hasn’t got a clue about poetry. If we don’t count the panSlavic version of Kalinka, which he sang on election night with a drunken Russian bass tone, we would have to conclude that Mrkonjic knows nothing of literature, poetry or music. Indeed, we didn’t even know of his fondness for gastronomy and eroti-

20 CorD / July 2008

ca until a few days ago, when ‘Mrka’ revealed his as yet unbeknown interests.

Mrkonjić enriched Serbian gutter vocabulary for all time in his interview for Belgrade daily Kurir. The interview was anthological in every sense; it was a ‘faecal outburst” on Europe, the offer of multiple cooking and erotic privileges of an oral type, the Olympics in swearing, which would shame even rough port labourers.

Still, Mrkonjić was only expressing his opinion, or who knows who else’s, and the capital he has spent years work-

ing for. Finally, after all these years, his expressions from the gutter became political rhetoric.

Tropical Jagodina?

Mr. Palma lives in Serbia’s Morava River basin, but his exotic nickname is somewhat out of place: the vegetation of that vicinity does not include palms.

Nevertheless, despite his inappropriate choice of tree (each man picks the one he thinks suits him best), Dragan Marković Palma at least understands one thins that PM Koštunica never will: it is impossible to survive on empty promises and pathetic judicial laments. The funny Kalimero of modern Serbia!

You can, however, survive on investments, work, production and connections with the world. Palma, Arkan’s former sol-

dier, wants to complete his long trip to Europe, and he is not giving up. He was the first to understand Koštunica’s fertile, pathetic affectation, and he duly took flight from that funeral vibe.

Never the same suit twice I have to wonder what’s happening with the oldest member of that group, United Pensioners’ leader Jovan Krkobabić. That man, whose accumulated years are no longer counted by anybody, has an admirable collection of suits. He could dress half of Serbia’s pensioners. He has been collecting jackets and trousers since his early youth, and nobody has yet seen him dressed in the same suit twice. His son has even joined the Pensioners, and is about to establish the ‘Pensioners Youth”. Every party has its youth, so why shouldn’t the pensioners have one too?

Neither Palma nor Krkobabic comment-

ed on Mrkonjić’s profanities. They do not care about such hysterical outbursts. Serbs are like that, mate! Taking care of that is the job of Mrkonjić’s boss, Ivica Dačić. However, the Socialists’ president also failed to comment. He let that horrible substance, which the Serbian builder offered as an authentic Serbian speciality, settle down and then move on… to fresh negotiations, what else?

The Socialists’ negotiations with the all but resigned Koštunica and his DSS party are surely over. Even though Koštunica is trying to engage the final remnants of his Messiah’s capacities, it isn’t working. Even the outgoing PM’s former close associate and Cabinet Minister, Milan Parivodic, has publicly stated that DSS’s place is not beside the Radicals, However, who could he convince when it’s obvious to all that Radical leader Vojislav Šešelj is Koštunica’s first and true love.

The Socialists are enjoying their role of ‘unavoidable partner’. They really are the bride

NEGOTIATIONS

MILOŠEVIĆ’S POLICY

EMOTIONS

The Socialists’ negotiations with the all but resigned Koštunica and his DSS party are surely over. Even though Koštunica is trying to engage the final remnants of his Messiah’s capacities, it isn’t working.

Dačić has noted about Kosovo on several occasions that“everybody is using Milošević’s policy now”. He never repeated this original wisdom later. But the echo is still there, as a reminder of the Socialists’ possible democratic evolution.

Politics in Serbia is a matter of emotions and not sense. Sense in politics is the sporadic consequence of pressure and force.

Discomfort will remain on both sides as a reminder of injustices that can never be corrected.

for every occasion; the girl with a long list of shortcomings who has suddenly been given her chance in a lifetime. They are flirting with everybody who has anything to offer, and are in the impossible junction between Milošević’s tradition and the tempting exit from that festering tomb.

Some of them would really like to keep that comic strip version of the impossible crossroads. Such hermaphroditic behaviour is probably unfeasible in the long term, even though it would be possible to smuggle something, at least in the symbolic sense.

If Dačić renounced everything from the party’s past, he would lose the hardest traditionalists of the party, for whom there is no other truth apart from that of their dead leader.

If he were to stay there, as if in a museum of static artefacts, all ideas and energy would certainly die. Still in his youth, he would turn into a political mummy. And it is because of that that this is the time to seek fresh perspectives.

Mrkonjić, a man blindly infatuated by the vision of his late leader’s charisma, is the unpleasant, hard, corroded connection with that past time.

Dačić, who was the party spokesman during Milošević’s era, still does not have the authority of a real leader, nor has he the heavy mortgage of Miloševićism is on his back. At that time he was the ‘kitchen assistant’, the average imitator of the all-mighty lord, but he was the first one who later renounced his fanatical admirers from the Sloboda (Freedom) Association, and chased them away to wait next to Milošević’s grave.

Dačić might have finally divorced himself from the huge burden of the worst inheritance, but he cannot say so openly. He would not survive in front of blind party orthodoxy. He has changed his hairstyle; he no longer kisses the dead lord. Instead of the look of the ‘young, handsome speaker with the bristling hair’, as the poet flatterer wrote about Milošević, Dačić cut his hair very short, with a slightly emphasised fringe. He is no longer Sloba’s clone, but somebody completely different, somebody who does not throw the past into the mud but who is looking for a better path for his party – considering there couldn’t be a worse one.

Though that is the visual message of the symbolic split, vulgar experiments in public, such as the Mrkonjić interview in Kurir, are still possible. Dačić cannot do anything about that. He cannot reprimand Mrkonjić, because he would probably only curse himself. If he did that to Europe and The Hague, why wouldn’t he do that to little Ivica; what is there to stop him?

Powers of Persuasion For his part, President Boris Tadić has given his all to persuade the Socialists over to his side.

Of course, he was counting on Koštunica’s idea – had there been one – being worn out. Dačić’s negotiators saw immediately that there was no CorD / July 2008 21

POLITICS

idea.

It is difficult to survive in a vision which consists of only refusals, conflicts and rage.

As noted, Palma immediately turned his back on a bad business move as soon as DSS’s ‘expert group’ analysis claiming the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement is unconstitutional was published.

As an aside, it is worth noting that the text of DSS’s analysis is a tough, confusing, boring, unconvincing text. It’s as though Kafka authored it during his deepest mental derangement. It’s a miracle that Palma was able to take time out of his constant engagement in the construction of Jagodina to it read all. Maybe he didn’t; maybe not all of it.

Regardless, Palma did understand that those ‘legal experts’ wrote a text which literally leads Serbia into isolation, i.e. those who are apparently defending Serbia from the European pestilence are working directly against the country.

Palma understood that as wasting time with stupidly ambitious people.

Therefore, Tadić – authorised to negotiate the new government on behalf of his Democratic Party, DS, - at least had some positive signals. Palma was the pioneer of the change in the Socialist’s orientation. Somebody from Koštunica’s camp cried out that ‘those’, i.e. the Socialists, “were making fools out of them all the time”. It is actually unknown who was making a fool out of whom and who was already a fool, because the whole issue is not over yet. In fact, it might have just started.

The natural and unnatural flirting started on election night. It turned out that politics is the skill of the impossible, at least in Serbia. All alliances, which were not even dreamed about, are possible. Still, those possibilities are a ques-

tion of compromise, or a question of how much the Socialists can be ‘domesticated’ and how far Tadić can take the Democrats towards the Socialists without crossing the line drawn between pre and post 5th October policies.

Dačić has noted about Kosovo on several occasions that “everybody is using Milošević’s policy now”. He never repeated this original wisdom later, at least not in public. But the echo is still there, as a reminder of the Socialists’ possible democratic evolution.

Koštunica stormily went to the past, and for Dačić there are hopes indeed. His attempts to rid himself of his image as a Milošević lackey are still unconvincing, but they do exist. He has to gradually get rid of the pals who reduce his party to a crowd of drunken, vulgar morons.

Tadić probably suspects that this kind of transformation is possible, but not now and not that fast; not with Mrkonjić, if this man eventually finishes with his civil development.

Indecent Demands Things would run much more smoothly if the Socialists ceased overestimate themselves and stopped making ‘indecent demands’, primarily related to The Hague Tribunal.

It is unclear how Tadić will reconcile the anti-Hague odium of his future partners with the obligations they will have to fulfil. What probably follows is a tacit agreement according to which the legislative bodies will carry on doing their jobs and the political leaders will restrain from making comments.

Tadić recently made a ridiculous parallel between the Socialists and Democrats by noting that both parties had suffered the loss of their beloved

The leader of the Pensioners party, Jovan Krkobabic.

22 CorD / July 2008

leaders. Such a comparison may appear impossible at first glance, but in partnerships of power everything can be seen as supportive of the supreme goal. Milošević is dead; he is the lord of a utopia which was (supposedly) buried along with him under that linden tree in Pozarevac. His fanatical admirers of unfeasible enthusiasm grieve, or at least show grief for the leader who brought us all to the edge of an abyss.

Djindjić was murdered a martyr, but his best ideas will only blossom once those who killed

him disappear. That evolution is developing with great difficulty in Serbia, and Tadić’s comment about ‘reconciling those who are dead’ as the possibly mutual acceptance of the followers of the man ‘who was kidnapped and transferred to The Hague’ and the modern assassinated leader, who approved the arrest of Milošević.

Almost none of this is easy to achieve without the painful reminder of ugly scars. Politics in Serbia is a matter of emotions and not sense.

Sense in politics is the sporadic consequence of pressure and force. Discomfort will remain on both sides as a reminder of injustices that can never be corrected. However, if the Socialists demand the full rehabilitation of their former leader we could see the symbolic return of the creator of the most tragic national defeats. Such an outrageous demand couldn’t be made immediately, but in it could in phases.

Let us not forget Marko Milošević, son of the former lord of Serbia. Sometime ago he was the ‘governor’ of Pozarevac; the town’s judge, jury and Lord High Executioner. He did not come to power through nepotistic channels, but rather “by carrying crates in order to feed his small family!” That is what his mother, refugee comrade Mirjana Marković, claims.

Milošević’s son wielded a gun and a chainsaw as he patrolled Pozarevac, seeking to ‘calm’ Otpor [Resistance] members. Several of them sustained serious beating and humiliating torture organised by the most important son in Serbia, Nika Ceausescu, as he used to be called. However, several weeks ago Milošević Jnr. was declared innocent, despite having yet to face serious charges.

Suddenly he is as innocent as a monk.

One of the heroes of the story, Milutin Mrkonjić, claims that all this is simply the “political persecution” of the Milošević family.

On the night Milošević was arrested, the daughter of the famous couple, Marija, shot at the police. However, she was never sentenced for that. The Serbian Calamity Jane lives peacefully in Montenegro, not caring about the stormy history of her special family.

Yes, all this can be the subject of deals, as we can hear, because the “end of the persecution of Milošević’s family” would result in the perse-

23 CorD / July 2008

POLITICS

cution of Boris Tadić himself.

Amnesty and absolution are signs of supreme altruism, but the return of the spirit of Mira Marković, Bambiland and Marko with crates and an electric saw would mean that we did many things in vain; that we swallowed tear gas on 5th October 2000 for nothing.

I do not believe that Boris Tadić could accept such odd demands. Nor that the Socialists would go over the clearly drawn line. But, who knows?

After all, the promotion of Mira Marković’s latest literary work was held in Belgrade recently and her admirers were full of praise. Somebody even went so far as to say that “Serbia needs the spirit of Mira Marković”. Uh, God forbid! We had that once, right when we were on the very brink of losing our sense of civilisation.

I do not believe in the renewal of such a spirit. The body could be returned, on the basis of the arrest warrant that the Russians have been ignoring for years, but that is part of their brotherhood policy and assistance to its smaller Orthodox relatives; the eternal error of senseless love.

Compromises & Concessions It might be worth discussing the motives for concessions. Whatever bride the SPS is, this party has somehow managed to keep hold of its much loved vices to this day, whilst even adding some more.

I think that in the potential coalition relations, the Socialists will have to struggle for grace from the democratic hemisphere. Not to beg, of course, but to ask for help to get rid of that difficult and universally unpleasant inheritance of their fertile destructive history.

The trump card for the negotiations is not in their hands, regardless of the baggage, dowry and scope of this marriage. Quite simply, they need to atone, and Serbia should not even think about the revival of their best and the nation’s worst years.

Regardless of the virus they carry with them, the Socialists, together with Palma and Krkobabić, are necessary for the establishment of a new parliamentary majority and subsequent ratification of the SAA, which upsets Koštunica’s deathly policy.

Considering Koštunica, we could ponder why he transformed to such an extent that he ended up deserting even himself and his basic political principles. The fact that he deserted them is clear to his strange encirclement, which is kept together only by the belief that their Voja, regardless of what happens, will always get into power. That is clear to Palma too, it cannot be clearer. And the political collapse of Vojislav Koštunica starts from that point.

Tadić was slightly late in splitting up with Koštunica. Was he also in a rush in his desire for an alliance with Dačić?

Here it is: Koštunica stormily went to the past, and for Dačić there are hopes indeed.

His attempts to rid himself of his image as a Milošević lackey are still unconvincing, but they do exist. He has to gradually get rid of the 24 CorD / July 2008

pals who reduce his party to a crowd of drunken, vulgar morons.

And finally, he needs democracy more than democracy needs him. Therefore, nothing that used to be part of Dačić’s political adolescence can return to Serbia.

Recently, Palma held talks with the British Ambassador and even took him to his Jagodina

He got rid of the snake skin of Arkan’s times, and hung it on some tree near the Morava River. “Everything is in investments,” says Palma. “You don’t fill up a tractor with patriotism”.

From this unbelievable story we can feel success for Tadić’s coalition. I already see the biggest Serbian poets and

Let us not forget Marko Milošević, son of the former lord of Serbia. Sometime ago he was the ‘governor’ of Pozarevac; the town’s judge, jury and Lord High Executioner. He did not come to power through nepotistic channels, but rather “by carrying crates in order to feed his small family!” That is what his mother, refugee comrade Mirjana Marković, claims. aqua park. Meanwhile, Krkobabić refused Koštunica’s demand to schedule an extraordinary parliamentary session, insisting that there was no need to schedule the session when everything is written in the Constitution and it is known to whom Kosovo belongs.

The fact that the Constitution was passed as though it were a secret document, without public debate, is a different issue.

Mrkonjić might have read the Constitution, but he did not enrich his vocabulary on that document. Rather, he relies on oral tradition.

Palma is the leader who leads to Europe.

biggest Serbian film directors leaving behind their life in bitchy politics in order to kill time playing dominoes. And in that game you can’t help but know when you lose. If Tadić calls them, all’s well, but if he doesn’t … it’s double blank – the sign of love and its end.

LEISURE & LIFESTYLE

CorD / May 2008 25

INTERVIEW

Interview with Ali Asghar Soltanie the Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA

Nuclear Programme for Civilian Purposes 26 CorD / July 2008

BY VLADAN ALIMPIJEVIĆ

As a part of a diplomatic campaign in Belgrade, the Iranian Ambassador to Vienna’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), H. E. Ali Asghar Soltanie came to Belgrade in June.

CorD used this opportunity to conduct an interview.

I

ran was in a great diplomatic offensive this trying to change who is in charge. Do you June. After the International Atomic Energy think that wherever you have oil, you have Agency (IAEA) from Vienna submitted problems? a positive report, the Government in Teheran Yes, I agree with you that the United States has been insisting on further developing its nu- unilateral aggressive policy has created a lot clear programme. Official Washington finds of problems around the world. I understand it hard to believe that this programme is go- that they are trying to keep their superioring to be used for peaceful purposes. In June, ity and their hegemony. But especially within the European Union sent its delegation, led by the context of their war in Iraq, it is clear that Javier Solana, to Iran in order to preserve good there were no WMDs and there was no pretrade relations with the country. Iran is a large text to start five years of bloodshed. Most of global oil producer and Europe has a more the world has come to the conclusion that the flexible approach to the matter.

Americans were not telling the truth, that there H.E. Soltanie is an experienced diplomat was a hidden agenda for other matters because and a physician, and one of the key figures the Iraq war was for other purposes. To look in the Iranian atomic programme. At the beg- at it in another way: American policy actually gining of the interview, Ambassador Soltanie supported Saddam for years in his war against points out that development of nuclear tech- Iran. We are proud that for the last 30 years we nology is crucial to the development of over- have been vocal in resisting this kind of agall economic possibilities of the country. He gression and oppression. adds that Iran can make a nuclear bomb, but not as many as We condemn terrorism in any country world super-powers are able to.

because we suffered it. Now we condemn Let me ask you a ques- the Americans for their invasion and their tion, because even if Serbia aggressive strategies, which are killing is dealing with a lot of local, innocent people too. domestic problems, from time to time we have to think about the world. And one of the most worrying situations in the world is the one between the United States and Iran. Do the US always need to have an enemy?

Yes, in order to continue their unilateral policy and huge military investment, that is part of their policy. Unfortunately, it continues to create problems around the world.

On the other hand, American actions are understandable. I mean it’s a war for power, energy, and who is going to control that energy. And not just in the Middle East, look at Equatorial Guinea, for example. It is a very poor country with lots of reserves of oil and someone is always

TERRORISM

URANIUM

ZIONISM

Unfortunately Muslims have been linked to a lot of terrorist activity. The life of a Muslim is now a symbol of terrorism.

There are a lot of occurrences of terrorism that are not linked to Muslims but these stories are never highlighted.

Iran has been able, even during the sanctions from the United States, and without the help of other countries, to master the process of uranium enrichment technology, which has been confirmed by the top experts of the IAEA.

Nazism, Apartheid, and Zionism, these are all inhuman mentalities.

We never support these happenings in other countries because it is against our principles.We halted relations with those who support these ideas,

America officially considers Iran to be a part of the Axis of Evil. Is America Iran’s greatest enemy?

We do not have any problem with the people of the U.S., but we have no doubt that the American administration is following a very dangerous policy for global security. If the American people really thought about the last 8 years of this presidency, they would see that they have not been able to take any steps towards democracy or stability in the Middle East. Through their continuous mistakes they have actually increased the potential for terrorism. Through military intervention, they have opened a new dangerous, dirty chapter in the bloodshed of the region. In fact, I can say what happened in Iraq is like a new British colonialism which is U.S. unilateralism under the umbrella of U.N. multilateralism. They tried to occupy the lands, which was the same mentality as colonialism, but with the U.S. unilateral aggressive policy. At the same time, in order to decrease some of the impact, they tried to get the U.N. involved in order to show that this goes with the approval of the United Nations and with the international community. It was not correct. The majority of the United Nations, such as the nonaligned movement, have continuously condemned the United States policy of aggression. The Americans and the CorD / July 2008 27

INTERVIEW

western media have always tried to prevent the public from knowing all the facts. However, I’m optimistic because honest journalists have reflected the desires of the people. If you had a poll of different countries around the world, not the governments necessarily, but the people in the streets, they would tell you how much they hate this kind of administration that is ruling the U.S. and who are creating problems in different parts of the world.

Other parts of the world are also scared of terrorism. Why do many of them link it to parts of the world such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran?

Unfortunately Muslims have been linked to a lot of terrorist activity. The life of a Muslim is now a symbol of terrorism. There are a lot of occurrences of terrorism that are not linked to Muslims but these stories are never highlighted. From our ideological point of view, Islam and Muslims are condemning all types of this behavior, no matter where it comes from. All terrorism should be condemned.

The Western media has poisoned the people of Iran and they have forgotten what happened in this country after the revolution. Our country too has been a victim of terrorism. Our top 70 people or so, intellectuals, government officials and the like were turned to ashes by terrorists who were supported by the United States as well as by Europe. Our President and Prime Minster have also been turned to ashes by terrorist groups. So you see Iran has also been a victim of terrorism. Another issue is that the Americans and Europeans do not separate between people who are freedom fighters for their country and those who are killing innocent people.

That being said, does that mean if someone linked to terrorist activity were caught in Iran, they would be tried for terrorism?

Iranian people were the first to be massacred in Afghanistan, this was before 9/11. We were victims of the Taliban when America was supporting them. We do not support terrorism.

But now the situation has changed now that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have become the enemy of your enemy.

It’s good that you raised this issue. We have some principles in our constitution that are more important than anything. We would not compromise on our principles. When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan we were at the same time at war with Iraq. Our land was partly occupied and many people were killed every day. Some people were giving advice to our top officials saying, “Why are you condemning the Soviet Union for occupying Afghanistan? This has nothing to do with Iran, just don’t condemn or support the Soviet Union and you will win the war with Saddam, he is your first enemy.” But the supreme leader 28 CorD / July 2008

they are misleading the people. If the making of a nuclear weapon were so easy then they would be in every corner of the world. And, Iran as a responsible country has strict control of all of the nuclear material within its borders. Any export or import of nuclear material is strictly monitored, every gram is accounted for. All of this is reported to and controlled by the atomic energy authorities.

of Iran said, “No, this is against our principles.

We will not support the occupation of another country, including Afghanistan, and the murdering of innocent people.” We condemn terrorism in any country because we suffered it.

Now we condemn the Americans for their invasion and their aggressive strategies, which are killing innocent people too.

I mention this because just a week ago a story came out that linked Iran as a possible production spot for pocket nuclear bomb technology. It is believed that this device can be used by terrorists. Have you seen this story?

This information has no factual basis and

India, Pakistan, and North Korea all of whom have nuclear programs initially said that they were developing this technology for peaceful means. All three of these countries now belong to the exclusive club of nuclear powers. Could this be the case in Iran?

I want to preface with saying that I am a nuclear physicist who has been working in the field for the past 35 years. I understand this area very well.

First, nuclear power and energy are the highest culmination of all areas in engineering and science. This means that, if a country like Iran uses this energy in a peaceful way, such as in medicine and energy production we need to use the top people from every scientific and engineering discipline to assure that this system will work accurately and in a safe manner. In this way the country can improve its standard in different disciplines, which in turn means that Iran will progress from developing country to developed country. This is more important for our country than a nuclear weapon.

Second, Iran has been able, even during the sanctions from the United States, and without the help of other countries, to master the process of uranium enrichment technology, which has been confirmed by the top experts of the IAEA. This has given confidence to Iranian scientists, students and future generations. This is again more important than nu-

IRAN AND ISRAEL Does this “new” world include the independent state of Israel?

The Supreme Leader of Iran has said that if the people in the occupied area, no matter if they are Jews, Christians, Muslims, or Palestinians, all these people who are human beings, if they come together and have a democratic referendum for one state we will support them because they chose the right government. They all have the same rights as each other and we will support them.

The question that was distorted through the media was the conference held on a world without Zionism. Iranian people, like many peace loving people of the world, are against aggression and discrimination, occupation, Nazism, Apartheid, and Zionism, these are all inhuman mentalities. We never support these happenings in other countries because it is against our principles. We halted relations with those who support these ideas, such as the Zionist regime of Israel and the Apartheid regime of South Africa, because this mentality is inhuman.

For example, as soon as Apartheid was removed we had a great relationship with South Africa. We hope for stability and peace for all people who live in Israel. We have many Jews that have lived in Iran, and Iran is a good example of a country where many religions co-exist. We have had Jews, Christians, and Muslims living together for thousands of years.

LEISURE & LIFESTYLE

clear technology.

Finally, nuclear development creates a great vulnerability for a country like Iran. Why? Because as soon as we have developed them then quantity will play a role. How many warheads do we have compared to the thousands of warheads of the United States? These kinds of comparisons are a mistake, because obviously you cannot be balanced. Also, because of the principles in our religious doctrine, we are against weapons of mass destruction.

However, we have to have a powerful conventional military, because if somebody wants to attack we have to defend ourselves.

We do not want to harm innocent people and I can give you two examples to support this. We could have used a chemical bomb on Saddam but we chose not to because of the potential loss of innocent life. Also, during the war, we warned the areas we were about to attack. This is extremely risky for us but we still did it so that innocent people could get away.

According to the Vienna Convention and recent reports, America does not even trust the analysis of Mr. El Baradei of the IAEA on the condition of Iran’s nuclear capability.

Well, you are right. Americans are trying to

show the whole world that we are up for negotiation. But one thing we have always said is that Iran cannot accept negotiations with a precondition. It is humiliating for any nation to sit at the negotiating table with a precondition because we think that we should all be on equal footing. We are a civilized, open-minded

We could have used a chemical bomb on Saddam but we chose not to because of the potential loss of innocent life. Also, during the war, we warned the areas we were about to attack. put pressure on the IAEA and they are trying to find a way to dictate the situation. Americans are making a big mistake. They are treating the IAEA like the United Nations Security Council. But, the IAEA has an equal vote and equal rights system. American is becoming more and more isolated in Vienna and the hundred countries belonging to the non-aligned movement are increasingly critical of America and in support of Iran. In the last report Mr. El Baradei has criticized the impediments and obstacles the United States has put in the way of the secretariat in regards to Iran.

nation with a thousand years of civilization.

What would be a better situation? If they want to prove their desire for a peaceful solution they have to come to the negotiating table with no preconditions. They insist that Iran should suspend but this is impractical. It means that they do not have the political desire for a peaceful solution. The reason is simple; suspension does not exist in any inter-

national documents as a statute of IAEA or NBT or as an addition of Portoco. We voluntarily suspended our program for two and a half years and all questions or problems have been answered by IAEA. They found that Iran’s assertions were consistent with the agencies findings. This means that for the last five years, whatever America has said about Iran has been false. They were lying to the whole world. Therefore, we believe that if the suspension has lost its technical, political and legal merit they are wasting their time talking about it. Everything is under the 24-hour surveillance of the agency. And even signed an agreement to give the IAEA 100 percent control over surveillance of our operations. We believe in transparency, therefore there is no reason to ask us for suspension.

But for all other issues, we are willing to sit down and discuss them at the negotiating table. This applies all countries, including the United States.

Is it easier to Iran to talk with the European Union than the United States?

I can say that this has been our policy. This is why we are continuously working with the IAEA. We have also allowed any other countries that have questions to sit at the negotiating table and we will address them, because we are transparent. Unfortunately there have been confidence issues with the EU negotiators because they were not keeping their promise for a short time suspension. Instead it continued for two and a half years and finally involved the United Nations Security Council.

Now there are six countries involved and they have announced that they want to start negotiations and they have given a package and of course Iran gave a package first in order to CorD / July 2008 29

REGION

From History of Relations between Montenegro and Serbia

Battle for Kosovo

BY ILIJA DESPOTOVIC The Serbian Ambassador to Montenegro Zoran Lutovac definitely doesn’t have the feeling of full diplomatic status the way most of his colleagues in Podgorica do. Besides not needing translation in his talks with native interlocutors, Lutovac is serving in the country of his ancestors on his father’s side.

This spring he visited the village Lutovo near Podgorica, from where the Lutovac family originates. That’s where the grandfather of the current Serbian Ambassador to Montenegro was born.

The position of the Montenegrin Ambassador in Belgrade is similar. Mrs. Anka Vojvodic was born in the capital of Serbia because her father held a high position in the SFRY. Still, Lutovac is performing his duty according to all the rules of the diplomatic service. In the several months since he came to Podgorica he visited all the Montenegrin officials, both those in power and in opposition.

He’s already had several appearances in the media. Lutovac still doesn’t have an official residence. He is temporarily located in Hotel ‘Podgorica.’ Serbia announced earlier that it would be constructing a new building for the 30 CorD / July 2008

needs of its embassy in Montenegro. The city authorities in Podgorica said that they were ready to provide the most suitable location.

Lutovac, however, has already expressed an interest for Serbia to be given the building of its former embassy in Cetinje. It is not certain whether the seat of the embassy will be in the former Montenegrin capital, which even now, according to the Constitution, has that status, but only honorary. The Ambassador said that Montenegro had no business in returning that building to Serbia. ‘It is ours,’ Lukovac said. Two more of his statements have attracted attention – that his task is to build the best possible rela-

tions between Serbia and Montenegro, and when asked what he liked the most about Montenegro, he answered that it was the fact that a large number of people speak nicely of Serbia. Like every other diplomat, he avoided the answer to what he didn’t like about Montenegro.

Because of the circumstances in connection with the status of Kosovo, the Serbian Ambassador in Podgorica is, in a way, still only ‘temporarily employed,’ because Serbia is still waiting to see what position Montenegro will take as to Pristina’s declared independence. There’s no doubt that Lukovac would be immediately withdrawn if Podgorica rec-

WITHDRAWL

TERMINATION

KARADJORDJEVICS

Serbia is still waiting to see what position Montenegro will take as to Pristina’s declared independence.

There’s no doubt that Lukovac would be immediately withdrawn if Podgorica recognized the independence of Pristina.

The diplomatic relations between Cetinje and Belgrade were terminated precisely 90 years ago, near the end of 1918, by the decision of the Serbian Government which recognized the decisions of the “Podgorica Assembly” held that year.

The authorities in Montenegro, however, are absolutely denying the right of the Karadjordjevics to any kind of property in that country.They think that the Karadjordjevic family missed the chance to claim their rights

ognized the independence of Pristina. He himself announced it as well, and it is not easy to surmise how long it would last and how the diplomatic relationship between Montenegro and Serbia would develop. The chief task of the Serbian Ambassador to Montenegro right now, it seems, is to feel the ‘Kosovo’ pulse of Podgorica.

Even in the history of the diplomatic relations between Belgrade and Cetinje, there have often been twists. The first formal step towards establishing diplomatic relations between Montenegro and Serbia was taken almost 130 years ago. The Serbian ruler Milan Obrenovic sent his emissary, colonel Andjelkovic, to Cetinje in 1879 with a personal letter from the Prince, which suggested that the two countries exchange ambassadors. After that, in 1896, there was a visit by Prince Nikola Petrovic to Belgrade.

It was the first official meeting of the rulers of the two countries. A year later, King Aleksandar Obrenovic returned the visit to Prince Nikola.

Formally, the diplomatic relationship was established in 1897. Exactly 111 years ago, Serbian parliament member General Jevrem Velimirovic handed his letter of credence to Prince Nikola. He only remained for a few months on his diplomatic duty in Cetinje.

He was replaced by Colonel Aleksandar Masin. Later Serbian representatives on Cetinje were Colonel Vasilije Antonic, Milos Vasic, Jovan Jovanovic, Todor Petkovic, Mihailo Gavrilovic, Ljuba Mihailovic, and the last Serbian ambassador to the Court of Montenegro was Tihomir Popovic. King Nikola was in exile at the time, where he had to go, formally, based on the decisions of the so called Podgorica Assembly which voted in favour of Montenegro being annexed by Serbia and the dethroning of the Petrovic dynasty, but, as the historians say, also because of the pressure from Serbia which had a decisive influence on the political situation in Montenegro at the end of the First World War. The diplomatic relations between Cetinje and Belgrade were terminated precisely 90 years ago, near the end of 1918, by the decision of the Serbian Government which recognized the decisions of the “Podgorica Assembly” held that year. Considering the blood relations between the Montenegrin and Serbian dynasties at the time, there were also unusual situations. When he was in Paris in 1919, Serbian Prince, later King of Yugoslavia, Aleksandar Karadjordjevic expressed the wish to visit Montenegrin King Nikola who was at the time located near Paris. Karadjordjevic wanted to visit his grandfather on his mother’s side privately.

The King refused and demanded an official meeting. The Serbian Prince refused it. King Nikola was trying to preserve the appearance of a still independent Montenegro, while the

H.E. Zoran Lutovac, Serbian Ambassador to Montenegro Serbian Prince wanted precisely the opposite – to let it be known that by refusing to meet officially, Serbia no longer considered Montenegro a sovereign state.

King Aleksandar Karadjordjevic was born in Cetinje. His father, King Petar, married Zorka, a daughter of Prince Nikola, in

with scorn towards the Court in Cetinje.

Montenegrin King Nikola experienced the greatest unpleasantness from his grandson, King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, when he forbade him to return to the country. King Nikola died in exile, almost in poverty, in 1921. He was buried in San Remo where his bones rested until 1989 when they were transferred to Cetinje. Clearly, blood relations didn’t mean much in the diplomatic relationship between Montenegro and Serbia.

- If the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg decides that the Serbian Royal Family’s property in Montenegro be returned, the Government of Montenegro has no intention of returning the real-estate properties, but will instead pay compensation – said Nebojsa Popovic, Assistant Minister of Tourism in the Government of Montenegro.

The heirs of the Karadjordjevic dynasty and their legal representatives have announced that, unless their property is returned, they would demand financial compensation. As their lawyer Djordje Djuric has confirmed many times, they have long since spoken to authorized state bodies and commissions for the return of dispossessed property in all the places in Montenegro where they think their properties are, but they haven’t received any response to this day. The authorities in Montenegro, however, are absolutely denying the right of

Formally, the diplomatic relationship between Serbia and Montenegro was established in 1897. Exactly 111 years ago 1883. Petar Karadjordjevic was in exile then.

He was exiled by the Obrenovics. His father-in-law, Prince Nikola, gave him a house in Cetinje. Karadjordjevic was treated with hospitality in every way in Cetinje, but, according to the account from the Montenegrin Minister of Foreign Affairs Gavro Vukovic, which he stated in his ‘Memoirs,’ the sonin-law didn’t return the kindness of his father-in-law - he behaved arrogantly, and even

the Karadjordjevics to any kind of property in that country. They think that the Karadjordjevic family missed the chance to claim their rights while the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro existed.

According to a recent estimate, the Milocer Complex alone, which the lawyers of the Karadjordjevic family claim was bought and built with the money from the royal treasury, is worth €5.6 million.

CorD / July 2008 31

Interview

Branislav Bugarski, director of Vojvodina Investment Promotion – VIP

Historical Investment Opportunity During 2007, the VIP Fund participated in 33 events in 11 European countries, mostly in Italy, Slovenia and Austria.

Last year was marked by the arrival of a large number of foreign investors to Vojvodina, who invested significant amounts financially and employed a large number of workers. In light of this, CorD sat down to an interview with Branislav Bugarski, director of Vojvodina Investment Promotion – VIP.

By Tatjana Ostojic Photo Katarina Lazukic

Incubators

Competitors

Projects

In cooperation with the Secretariat for Private Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium Companies, we are the founders of three “business incubators” in Vojvodina: Zrenjanin, Subotica and Senta.

12 companies are operating inVojvodina.

Vojvodina has competitive advantages and we are certain that we can surpass the image of our neighbours Romania and Slovakia.

It is very important to have a worker who, for an acceptable price, and we have.

At the moment we are working out contracts with seven to eight large European, even world companies. However, it is unethical in our business to say which companies these are before the contracts are closed.

32 CorD / July 2008

n When did VIP start operating? r The German organization for technical cooperation GTZ and the government of the province did a SWOT analysis and a programme for the economic development of the province of Vojvodina was drawn up based on the results. The focus of the programme was the development of small and medium sized companies, energy efficiency, attracting and promoting investments and finally the development of agriculture.

Based on these priorities, 14 steps were set out, which were originally supposed to be implemented in 2004 and completed by 2007, and which should contribute to the social and economic development of AP Vojvodina. Then the realization of the programme started and VIP was formally founded on 13 August 2004, while the first team was formed on 1 December 2004. We can say that we’ve been in existence for only 3 and a half years, because time is an important factor in this business. It takes a lot of time and effort to make projects into a reality. Since this project started so successfully, the provincial parliament decided in February 2007 that it be extended until 2009. I think that was a good signal and a good direction, because it means that the provincial government recognized that this programme is getting results, and that we have potential and a future. VIP started giving the first results in 2006, and the more important ones in 2007 and we’re hoping that this year we will surpass these, and feel we’re on track with this goal.

n What were the biggest results in the past year? r The investments that we arranged in 2007 started to bear fruit in part last year and in part in 2008. Our biggest project, which we accomplished last year, is a contract with the German company Draxlmaier in Zrenjanin, which employed its first workers at the end of March, and the trial production started on 1 April this year. When they opened their facility on 9 May, they had 350 employees, and by the end of this year they’ll employ 1,000 people. That was the original plan.

But because of the service and cooperation from VIP, the provincial government, and all in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations, the National Employment Service, the Customs Administration and the Ministry of Finance, they promised publicly that they would employ 2,000 people by the end of next year. n How does VIP operate? Do you contact companies or do investors look you up? r Both. We can see the way it works in real life in the example of the company Draxlamier. Besides Vojvodina, Slovakia was also interested in getting this company to invest in their country. During the negotiations, Slovakia offered a bit more in terms of subsidies from the state. At the time, Serbia didn’t have the ability to offer subsidies.

Even though we didn’t win the first race, we didn’t give up on that client, and they became increasingly aware of how much we have to offer. We succeeded in renewing the negotiations, and in December last year we got a one hundred percent decision that the production will be in Zrenjanin. n It is often pointed out that we have skilled and cheap labour and that it is one of our comparative advantages. r It is very important to have a worker who, for an acceptable price, is capable of

to that? r Sometimes I agree that the process isn’t fast enough, but to be honest, it’s not much different in some other countries that have long since been members of the European Union. The point is in defining our goal. If the goal is to attract as many investors as possible, we must be significantly better on the market than the surrounding countries.

If we know that we have potential we can definitely become more competitive, by speeding up processes, like the ‘one stop shop’ where one can do everything in one place, and in this way we can make our so-

The beginning is the presentation and promotion of Vojvodina abroad.The second step is cooperation with investors.The third step is cooperation with investors who are already here producing a certain number of units within a certain time limit and of a certain quality. It’s exactly what we’re in a position to offer and it’s what every investor has told us in when they speak to us. At the same time they say how pleased they are with the workers’ willingness to undergo further training, their flexibility and their morale.

No foreign investor has complained to us about labour. n The investors complain about slow administration and extensive paperwork needed for a job. How do you respond

cial and economic development faster. VIP developed a certain type of operation, and certain types of solutions that suit foreign investors. We have excellent cooperation with all the municipalities in AP Vojvodina, as well as with the provincial government and public companies and, of course, with the ministries which are under republic jurisdiction. Thanks to that cooperation, we solve any eventual problems together with the foreign investor and speed up the procedure wherever necessary. n If an investor came on his own, can he

still get VIP assistance? r Of course. Here’s what the activities of VIP look like: the beginning is the presentation and promotion of Vojvodina abroad.

The second step is cooperation with investors. The third step is cooperation with investors who are already here. The fourth is cooperation with the authorities in AP Vojvodina, where we give practical advice, that is to say, give ideas on what can be improved or sped up, especially where issues have been raised by foreign. This was the reason behind our initiative for the development of further training programmes. We will do this in three areas: programming in architecture and construction, followed by programming and work on CNC machines and further training in production process automation. n What have the foreign investors pointed to that could be improved on the investment side? r Customs collection on certain products is a good example. It’s a problem not because there are bad intentions on the part of the bodies that enforce these laws, but because of the regulations themselves. VIP can’t solve that problem, but we can lobby for a new law on customs to be enacted as soon as possible. That law will increase our competitiveness and facilitate business operations for the investors that are already here.

Misunderstandings or problems mostly CorD / July 2008 33

Interview

happen because of a lack of communication. Every time we approached a project by first visiting all the government bodies and presenting the project to them in full we never had any problems. When adequate communication between partners exists, there are no problems. n Investors say that there have been some conflicts of between what they had agreed upon with the local government

trailers for car transport, and that production is solely for the Russian market. Investors in Vojvodina can accomplish three goals.

First, they can cover the southeast Europe market from Vojvodina, as they can reach so many places by road in about 24 hours. The second option is for them to supply already existing clients in Europe from Vojvodina, and the third is to supply the Russian market with their production in Vojvodina. There’s a lot of opportunity there.

In the medium-term aspect, we believe tourism will become very profitable, especially if we take into consideration the potential of the Danube river and what was valid at the level of the Republic. What is your experience? r We don’t have those problems because another of the benefits offered by VIP is the constant presence of one of our representatives with the investor. When he or she goes to the republic or provincial government or to the local government to negotiate terms we are there with them to make sure it runs smoothly. We put them all at the same table.

Our recommendation is, of course, to use the services of VIP, or SIEPA for the rest of Serbia. Our role is to make investment and starting a business easier for the client. n What were the largest investments in Vojvodina in the past year? r Two companies that we brought, Draxlmaier and Bauerhin, which will create 2,500 jobs in Vojvodina in the first phase, are definitely the most important. Both companies are a part of the car industry. There’s also the Lohr company investment in Backa Topola.

It’s a French company that makes truck 34 CorD / July 2008

n Are those the main reasons why investors should opt for Vojvodina? r Of course there are more reasons, most of which are still not familiar enough to the European business community. Vojvodina and Serbia still haven’t fully appeared on the radar screen of European investors. This is a situation that we hope to rectify in the near future. n What are the branches of industry in which Vojvodina expects foreign investors?

r Definitely the agricultural and food industry, and also the metal industry, the machine industry, the car industry. There’s a lot to be considered in the information and telecommunications industries, too, as well as renewable energy sources. Besides that there’s the business services sector, and by this we mean call centres, technical support centres, service centres, engineering bureaus, programming centres etc. In the medium-term aspect, we believe tourism will become very profitable, especially if we take into consideration the potential of the Danube river. Besides the Danube, there’s also spa tourism, and events like the EXIT festival. n What more should Vojvodina do to increase the number of investors? r Two basic things: infrastructure development and education. Those are the two fundamental prerequisites, as well as investing in marketing. What is very important is to define the municipality’s relationship with the rest of Serbia as a whole, for example if there are subsidies on the level of the Republic of Serbia, would they stand for the whole Republic, or should Vojvodina create its own subsidies.

It’s a matter of a political decision, which will definitely be made in time. n

Novi Sad Needs an Airport Novi Sad is a regional centre, but I’m convinced that beside finances and trade Novi Sad needs a metal and machine industry, especially considering that Vojvodina has a strong university. Since it’s a financial and business centre, infrastructural development is necessary, and what this city definitely needs is a small airport, like the one in Timisoara for example. This would, of course, speed up the flow of people, services, ideas and creativity.

35 CorD / July 2008

INTERVIEW

Petr Nemec, CEO PharmaSwiss

Fast Developing Market “We expect the Serbian market to continue to be receptive to “value for money” in the exciting new medicines that PharmaSwiss is bringing to Serbian patients. We believe that our advantage of offering both unique new medicines, together with high quality generic products, is the right strategy.”

BY TATJANA OSTOJIĆ PHOTO: ČASLAV VUKOJIČIĆ “PharmaSwiss today has around 550 employees in Central and Eastern Europe. Serbia is quite important to us, as we have 250 employees here. Serbia was one of the first markets we entered when the company was founded in 2000, so you can say we are devoted fans of the country and like doing business here. Three years ago we invested in a top-class EU GMP manufacturing facility in Belgrade.

Partially due to this investment, but mostly due to our Serbian organization’s great success in the marketplace, we became a company with a substantial Serbian presence.

36 CorD / July 2008

I think about 40% of our sales turnover is in Serbia. This year, we expect to generate business of about 70 million Euros here, which is not insignificant. PharmaSwiss is a specialist pharma company and the partner of choice for several multinational companies seeking simplification and an economy of scale. At the same time we license in products, manufacture, and distribute them to our clients. In Serbia we have partnered with close to 15 companies. I truly believe that they would not have achieved the same level of success, if they operated under the model “we have to be everywhere ourselves”, said Petr Nemec, CEO PharmaSwiss for CorD magazine.

What do your operations in Serbia entail?

Two years ago we opened a beautiful manufacturing and logistics facility here. A year ago, we had the Austrian drug agency come and validate for EU GMP so that we can use it for exporting into EU markets. The reason we chose Serbia to be the regional hub is because we saw a geographical opportunity, a quickly developing market where high quality will be recognized and appreciated.

Our company has a strong entrepreneurial culture that has taken us from 6 million euros with 20 employee when we were founded eight years ago, to about 175 million Euros sales under our management and 550 employees today. The average age of employees in our company is close to 35 years. Top management is in their forties so we feel we are well configured to continue growing.

Are you planning to expand your operations in Serbia by building a new factory?

No, we have enough space in our facility.

We are doubling our capacity this summer in the existing facility. For a three-year horizon, we should be fine with this capacity. If we de-

cide the dynamics are different, we would probably have to do a greenfield site.

What do you think about the competitiveness of the Serbian pharmaceutical market?

In Serbia as everywhere else, there is tough competition. The market has benefited over the past several years from regulation, applying international criteria ( NICE recommendations ) that are very tough for the pharmaceutical industry. This was needed here because of the limited ability to finance spending on the expensive new medicines. To have some perspective I believe the Serbian medicine per capita spending is about 55 euro per year, Croatia is above 100 euro and Slovenia is more than 200 euro per head, while the EU average is above 300 Euros. As the country gets more wealthy, it will be able to spend more on modern treatments.

How has your business been doing in Serbia over the last three years?

In the last three years our Serbian business has more than doubled in size. We are very happy with our performance here....I think for us, the key to success has been to empower our local management. It makes no sense to parachute in ex-patriate knowledge and have ex-patriate leadership, without developing and utilizing a local solution.

We have a reverse approach - our Serbian managers have been exported to our headquarters in Prague to manage regional operations.

Do you expect any other companies to come to Serbia?

In pharmaceuticals, with economies of scale, there is no need these days to manufacture in a particular country unless you have a strategic reason to do so. For me, the major pharmaceutical companies have no such vision in place and it does not make sense for them to come to Serbia to produce. Toll manufacturing by Serbian producers for multinationals is a different proposition – it will continue.

Can you export drugs to Russia without extra taxes?

I am not an expert on the Serbian – Russian tax arrangements, but from what I understand If you produce domestically, yes, for a limited group of medicines.

How do you feel about competition with Asian drug companies?

There are the reputable manufacturers in

STAFF I see us as a people development company. We promote people internally, and always prefer to fill positions with existing employees. I’m delighted to see our best people go from the Serbian market, and be promoted to help manage our East European operations. If you ask about PharmaSwiss in the marketplace, I think that you will hear some very interesting comments about the atmosphere in the company, about the motivation of our team, about how we strive for quality in everything we do. And that is because we genuine like what we are doing, and we make it fun.

Keeping that spirit of fun, I think is key, as it motivates us to do well, repeatedly, every day.

Asia and India who have excellent quality confirmed by the FDA in the USA, and by the EMEA in the EU. I’m not worried about these manufacturers because they don’t cut any corners and they have the same cost basis as any one else. The second are the low cost manufactures, who for many of their medicines do not have this quality confirmation. I think patients should be worried about those companies’ medicines. The Serbian Healthcare authorities are so far applying strict EU standards and keeping those medicines out of Serbia.

How long have you worked here in Serbia?

I have been coming into the country since 1992, but I actually split my time between Belgrade, Prague, and London. I consider Belgrade my second home town.

How has the Serbian market changed since 1992?

If you look at methodology of doing business and legal regulations, there was a tremendous gap until 2000 - 2002. Since then syste-

EMPLOYEES

MEDICINE

INNOVATIONS

The average age of employees in our company is close to 35 years. Top management is in their forties so we feel we are well configured to continue growing.

Serbian medicine per capita spending is about 55 euro per year, Croatia is above 100 euro and Slovenia is more than 200 euro per head, while the EU average is above 300 Euros.

Well, there have been a lot of medical innovations and great new medicines since 1992. There are a lot of treatment patterns here in Serbia that we don’t see anywhere else.

mization has gone through, and doing business became predictable. The criteria are reasonably set, processes are in place, it is not a “let me surprise you” approach. There is communication between the industry and both clients and the authorities. That would be the biggest change, and it’s a productive and positive one.

What products have changed since 1992?

Well, there have been a lot of medical innovations and great new medicines since 1992.

There are a lot of treatment patterns here in Serbia that we don’t see anywhere else. This is due to the sanctions in the 90s and to the launching of new products only after 2000. I’m not suggesting those patterns are bad, or they don’t work, what I’m saying is that they are different than in some of the neighboring countries.

What are your plans for this market?

Our plans are to double our production capacity at our Belgrade factory over the summer.

That underlines both our commitment to Serbia and our expectation of success -- success both in the domestic market and as a source of manufacturing for our other markets. We expect the Serbian market to continue to be responsive to balanced propositions for the management of disease, and believe that our advantage of offering unique solutions and products, together with high quality branded generic products, is the right strategy for success. We expect to enter a couple of new categories, which will be new therapeutic areas for us. We look at our presence in Serbia with optimism.

CorD / July 2008 37

SPORT

Olympic Games in Beijing

One World, One Dream

The most expensive Olympic Games in history will be held from 8 to 24 August in Beijing.

–The Chinese government has spent 40 billion dollars to present its city in a new light to the world. – However Human rights violations, the situation inTibet, the host’s role in the Sudan crisis, and stifling pollution are still the negative connotations of the 29th Olympics.

BY VOJA NEDELJKOVIĆ FOTO FONET n the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 at eight o’clock, eight minutes and eight seconds (PM) the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing will be officially opened. The true organizer of these Games, the Chinese Communist Party, was explicit in choosing this moment – eight is a lucky number in China. A bit superstitious for a country which has done away with religion and myths, perhaps, but for China it’s an opportunity to show that the games are not the usual communist creation. Comparing these Olympics with those in Berlin in 1936 is an insult to the hosts, as they have already pointed out numerous of times. Still, it’s possible to draw parallels.

There have been reforms in the country, most notable among these economic ones, and China

The Chinese communist government was indeed more than efficient in constructing the sports arenas where more than 10,500 contestants will compete in 302 disciplines and 28 sports. All 37 venues bar one were completed by the end of last year. The construction of these magnificent futuristic facilities swallowed up only a part of the budget of an amazing 40 billion dollars. Most of it went to constructing a new metro and a collection of skyscrapers so that Beijing could greet guests from around the world in a new light.

Unfortunately for the organizers, all of this wasn’t enough to divert attention away from Tibet, the very poor level of human rights and stifling pollution in the Chinese capital.

Smog is the greatest problem, and Rogge has already announced, carefully of course, that some events will be postponed if the pol-

O

38 CorD / July 2008

wants to show the world that it has grown into a powerful force in every respect. When human rights violations and the situation in Tibet are factored into this equation, only the Olympic Games held in Germany just before the Second World War have caused so much controversy and cries for a boycott. This clearly hasn’t been lost on the Chinese government, and the slogan of the Games - ‘One world, one dream’ – has clearly been chosen to emphasizes China’s readiness to join the global village, and to show that the time of isolation and suspicion regarding foreigners is far behind it.

“From what I’ve seen so far, the preparations for Beijing 2008 are impressive in every way,” said the president of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge during his last visit to the host country. “I don’t think we’ve ever had preparations of this level.”

lution level was too high. The chief problem is how to deal with the disciplines which last for long periods of time and where endurance is the main virtue, like the marathon, triathlon and the road cycling race. The organizers said afterwards that the timetable was set a long time ago and that it would be difficult to change it, and that Rogge’s comments simply meant that they should make more of an effort to solve the environmental problems.

Regardless of the fact that billions have been spent to move refineries and steel mills out of the city, the situation in the Chinese capital is difficult and the visibility is sometimes less than 200 meters because of smog. To ensure that clean air during the 17 days that the Olympic Games will last, almost a third of 3.3 million vehicles in this city will be removed from the streets (such an order from the government would probably not be possible in Western democracy), and most of the factories are already closed. The Chinese will also try, for the first time in history, to control weather.

The organizer is guaranteeing, they claim, 17 sunny days with the use of special cloud dispersing rockets. The organizer has also made an effort to change the image of the population, which is especially important when 550,000 tourists, 22,000 accredited and 10,000 non-accredited journalists are coming to the city. Old habits, like spitting on the street, jumping the queue when shopping or when in a bank, as well as disposing of garbage outside of designated places must be eradicated and very aggressive government campaigns have taken care of that. All taxi drivers, as well as 560,000 volunteers have been made to learn the basics of English. The great crowd expected at the beginning of August has upped the prices of hotel accommodation even up to ten times more than what they were before the Games.

The Chinese officials are also warning their citizens to honour the basic principles of fair play.

“It is natural for the Chinese people to hope and wish for their athletes to win as many medals as possible since we are the hosts,” said the vice-president of the Organizational Committee, Wei Wang. “But, we are also trying to explain to our fans that we can be winners, but also polite losers.”

The problem of security is unfortunately far

from being solved. Unlike Athens four years ago, the chief threat is fortunately not AlQaeda. Still, a multitude of protests is expected that will want to emphasize poor rights for workers in the country, as well as the Chinese role in the Sudan crisis. The Tibetans, who are already asking for autonomy, have already organized a series of protests throughout the world, and it is assumed that Taiwan will also ask for formal independence for their island. Some nongovernmental organizations

Of course, this is not 1980 or 1984 when the countries of the Warsaw pact and NATO instigated a mutual boycott. In this age of market economy, where the Olympic Games have become much more than sport and where a country’s strength is demonstrated through the success of its contestants, nobody can profit from not showing up in Beijing. Some governments proposed an in-between solution; to stay out of the opening ceremony and the parade of the athletes, but they will definitely take part in

To ensure that clean air during the 17 days that the Olympic Games will last, almost a third of the 3.3 million vehicles in this city will be removed from the streets and most of the factories are already closed. are also concerned that, according to their data, more than 1.5 million citizens of Beijing were moved out of their homes to make room for the new facilities. The government in Beijing admitted that it was true, but that the number of the dislocated is only a little over 6,000.

The Western countries which unofficially support the demands of these groups have long since been under pressure from the NGO sector, which is asking for a boycott of the Games.

SLOGAN

TOURISTS

TIBET

The slogan of the Games - ‘One world, one dream’ – has clearly been chosen to emphasizes China’s readiness to join the global village, and to show that the time of isolation and suspicion toward foreigners is far behind it.

The organizer has also made an effort to change the image of the population, which is especially important when 550,000 tourists, 22,000 accredited and 10,000 non-accredited journalists are coming to the city.

The problem of security is unfortunately far from being solved.

Unlike Athens four years ago, the chief threat is fortunately not Al-Qaeda.The Tibetans, have already organized a series of protests throughout the world.

perhaps the most important Olympic Games in history. The athletes were also given the choice to decide for themselves whether they want to ‘skip’ these Games, but few have made that decision, because of the four years of preparations they have made for them. As in the case of our Milorad Cavic a few months ago, none of the athletes will be able to express their political beliefs while they’re in Beijing, and some Olympic Committees, like the British one for example, asked their athletes to sign a statement that they would not ‘comment on some politically sensitive subjects.’ Since they’re a democratic country, they explained that it was not a form of censorship, but that they were following the Olympic slogan that ‘no type of demonstration of political, religious or racial propaganda is allowed in the Olympic arenas.’

“All great accomplishments are accompanied by great challenges,” the other vice-president Jiang Xiaoyu thinks. “The Olympic Games in Beijing are a great opportunity for us, but we still have great challenges to confront.”

CorD / July 2008 39

INTERVIEW

WITNESS OF AND PARTICIPANT IN 12 OLYMPICS: BORISLAV STANKOVIĆ

From Clay to Phelps Honorary Secretary General of the FIBA and the International Olympic Committee Borislav Stanković tells “CorD” about his 12 Olympics (Rome 1960 – Athens 2004), and announces his 13th in Beijing • Stanković has had a front seat to many historic moments, such as the basketball match USSR – USA 51:50, in 1972 in Munich

BY: ALEKSANDAR MILETIĆ PHOTO: STARSPORT, EUROLEAGUE

H

onorary Secretary General of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Borislav Stanković is eagerly awaiting the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing (August 8th24th). He has 12 consecutive Olympics behind him, starting with Rome in 1960, where he witnessed many historic moments, and at times even played a leading role, for example when someone needed to open the door for NBA professionals.

He went to his first Games in Rome with the Yugoslav basketball representation that managed to qualify for this event while in Bologna some ten days before the start of the Olympic tournament. For the Yugoslav team, competing in the Italian capital was their first break on the Olympic and world scene, and their sixth place achievement was considered a big success. It would turn out that both Stanković and the Yugoslav basketball players would be linked to the Olympic Games for a long time, and that he is still a part of the Games, while the Yugoslav (now Serbian) representation failed to qualify for the event for the first time since Rome, if we disregard the Barcelona Olympics in Barcelona when the team could not participate because of United Nations sanctions.

“I went to my first Games in Rome as a technical coordinator for the team.

Professor Aca Nikolić was the coach, and I was by his side. Our main players were Daneu and Korać. We managed to defeat teams that were considered favorites in matches against us, like France and Bulgaria, and to win sixth place, which was 40 CorD / July 2008

a big success,” says Stanković (83). “As for nastic champion Miroslav Cerar and US other events in Rome, I remember amaz- swimmer Don Scholander, who won four ing races at the athletic competitions. I ad- gold medals as the heroes of these Games. mired Wilma Rudolph and Armin Harry, He says he will also never forget the kindnot to forget Cassius Clay who dominated ness of the Japanese people. with his appearance and boxing style. The “The 1968 Games in Mexico were Americans had a brilliant basketball team, marked by demonstrations, riots, student their best amateur team of all times, with deaths, and then the “black gloves” and proJerry West and Oscar Robertson. As for tests from African-American sprinters. The football, Yugoslavia won the gold.”

Games began in a difficult atmosphere, but At these Olympics he was elect- later on everything sort of fell into place,” ed Assistant to FIBA Secretary General continues Stanković while showing us a William Jones, who designated him as his successor, “The famous three seconds from the 1972 though Stanković already had Games in Munich are one of the most his place in theFIBA. (Three intriguing matters in Olympic history. I years earlier he had been chowas at the scorer’s table next to Jones, and sen to be part of the European I still insist that he was right.”

Cup Commission.)

The 1964 Olympics in Tokyo brought new excitement, encounters with a new culture, admi- large historic autographed photograph givration for new champions, new acquaint- en to him by Bob Beamon, who is “frozen” ances…His only regret in these Games in the photograph in a fantastic 8.90 meter was that the Yugoslav basketball team did long flight. “When we heard that Beamon not manage to beat Brazil in the key game flew that far in the long jump, we couldn’t (winning meant continuing the race for the believe it. Artur Takač, who was supermedal), and he also remembers that the visor of the athletic competition and witweather was not very good. (“It was driz- nessed Beamon’s flight close up, captivatzling all the time.”) He singles out gym- ed us with the story of the spectacular act. I

DREAM TEAM

BEIJING

8,90 M

“It was the first and only real ‘Dream Team,’ with Michael Jordan,Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and other stars, led by Chuck Daly.

They came to Barcelona as the biggest attraction, and everyone knew who would be the winner.

Beijing Olympics will be fantastic, because they’re being held in a country that is at the pinnacle of its economic development and that wants to present itself in the best possible way.

“When we heard that Beamon flew that far in the long jump, we couldn’t believe it.Artur Takač, who was supervisor of the athletic competition and witnessed Beamon’s flight close up

Jordi Bertomeu, executive director of the Euroleague and Borislav Stanković was, as always, mostly interested in basketball, and the silver medal our team won was a huge success. Cvetković’s shooting decided the outcome of the famous semi-final match with the Soviet Union.”

The FIBA Congress in Mexico City confirmed Stanković as Deputy Secretary General. He only had to finish the coaching obligations he had with the Italian Oransoda team (Cantu), Italy’s national champion that year. On September 1st 1969 he joined the FIBA office in Munich. He, and especially William Jones, cared very deeply about the 1972 Games in Munich, because it was “their town,” so it was all the harder to deal with the attack of “Black September” and the murder of 11 Israeli athletes. One of the most dramatic sport events in the history of the Olympics was the final basketball match between USSR and USA with a final result 51:50; the Americans first celebrated, and then because of a mistake by the scorer’s table the clock was reset and three seconds remained, so Edeshko passed the ball over the entire court to Alexander Belov who scored the winning basket for his team at the sound of the siren.

“Those famous three seconds are one of the most intriguing matters in Olympic history,” says Stanković. “I was at the scorer’s table next to Jones, and I still insist that he

was right. The rules of the game were respected, which means that the victory of the Soviet Union is as clean as a whistle.

I attended the meeting of the complaints commission, which lasted from 9 pm to 5 am, and the US complaint was rejected 3:2.

The hero of these Games was Mark Spitz with seven gold medals. I didn’t see him live, because it was impossible to get into the swimming hall, and I also had a lot of obligations at the basketball tournament.”

Then came 1976 and a trip to Montreal (Canada). These Games were perhaps the most important for Stanković because he had been elected Secretary General of the FIBA, replacing William Jones

who had performed that duty for 44 full years since the founding of the FIBA in 1932. Stanković, who served as Secretary General until the World Championship in Indianapolis in 2002, confirms that his appointment in Montreal was a big day for him, and that it was the finalization of Jones’s plan that had started in Rome in 1960, when he firmly decided who his successor would be when the time comes.

After the boycott of 28 African countries in Montreal came the boycott of the Games in Moscow in 1980, this time on the initiative of US president Jimmy Carter.

“The Games were incomplete, but the boycotting countries and their athletes lost

THE LATEST IOC MEMBER FROM SERBIA Borislav Stanković is one of the six members of the International Olympic Committee from Serbia (Yugoslavia). Here are the others and when they were members of the IOC:

Gen. Svetomir Đukić 1912-1948 Dr. Franjo Bučar 1920-1946 Ing. Stanko Bloudek 1948-1959 Ing. Boris Bakrač 1960-1986 Slobodan Filipović 1987-1995 Borislav Stanković 1988-2005 CorD / July 2008 41

INTERVIEW

Mentor and protege: Borislav Stanković and Želimir Obradović out the most,” says Stanković, who lead the FIBA Congress for the first time in Moscow. He singles out the most unforgettable moments from the Russian capital – the journey of Yugoslav basketball players to their first and only Olympic gold, the athletic duel between middle distance runners Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, the continuing domination of the boxing giant from Cuba Teofil Stevenson.

The 1984 Games in Los Angeles were an opportunity for the Soviet Union and their allies to retaliate with a boycott, but this did not stop the US from making a profit, and Stanković says, “Those were the first Games where the organizer made a clean profit, which amounted to 200 million dollars. It was an example of how one can profit from the Games. As for the stars, the Games were focused on Carl Lewis who won four gold medals, repeating Jesse Owens’ accomplishment from 1936.

These were the most successful Games for Yugoslavia. We won 18 medals, seven gold, seven bronze, and four silver medals. The basketball team won the bronze medal, Spain won the silver, and the gold went to the US team that was led from the bench by Bobby Knight and on the field by Michael Jordan, along with Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin.”

The 1988 Games in Seoul gave the world the fastest woman on the planet, Florence Griffith-Joyner, and the tragedy of Ben Johnson who was disqualified 42 CorD / May 2008

for doping. Stanković also reminds us of the string of gold of the German swimmer Kristin Otto won (six medals), the return of tennis to the Olympic Games after 64 years, and the triumph of Steffi Graf, as well as the second defeat of the US basketball players in the history of the Games.

“For the first time, the US team didn’t qualify for the finals. They won the bronze medal. The Soviets were first, and we came second. The Americans finally realized that they cannot win with college players anymore.”

Between the Games in Seoul in 1988 and in Barcelona in 1992 in cooperation

as an active member of USA Basketball, which was the main condition for granting permission to NBA players.

“It was the first and only real ‘Dream Team,’ with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and other stars, led

by Chuck Daly. They came to Barcelona as the biggest attraction, and everyone knew beforehand who would be the winner. There is even an anecdote that players from some other representations asked them for autographs, and to have their photos taken with them.”

At the centennial of the founding of

“I’m certain that the Beijing Olympics will be fantastic, because they’re being held in a country that is at the pinnacle of its economic development and that wants to present itself in the best possible way.” with NBA Commissioner David Stern, Borislav Stanković prepared the field for the inclusion of basketball professionals in the Olympics, which was a historic feat.

He met Stern at a McDonald’s tournament in 1985 in Milan, and told him what he thought of the “fake amateurism,” an idea which Stern liked. At the FIBA both the Russians and the Americans initially voted against Stanković’s idea that NBA players could play at the Olympics, but after some diplomatic efforts, the NBA was admitted

the Modern Olympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta, the Games once again joined Borislav Stanković and Cassius Clay (this time as Muhammad Ali) who was a special guest at the basketball final between the USA and Yugoslavia.

“Those Games were very well organized and profitable, but without spirit.

Everything was based on economic logic, which gave results in that field, because the income was 1.8 billion dollars. As for the attendance, it was the most successful bas-

ketball tournament, watched by more than a million viewers.

As for the 2000 Games in Sydney, Stanković says that those were perhaps the best organized Olympics, and that the Australian people were so cordial that it felt like every guest was welcome. After a long period of time, the Yugoslav basketball representation was disappointing (sixth place), while the volleyball team achieved historic success (gold). Stanković reminds us that a record 199 countries participated in the Sydney Games, including both Koreas for the first time.

Four years ago in Athens, he felt right at home. “My love affair with Athens started in 1953 when I played a tournament there with Partizan. Forty years later I bought an apartment in Athens, where I go often and regularly summer with my family. My granddaughters were volunteers at the 2004 Games. As for the general impression of these Olympics, I can say that these Games had spirit; you could feel the love for sports. I liked the assessment of the IOC President Jacques Rogue who said that the Games were organized like the famous Greek dance Sirtaki: they started slowly, and ended frenetically. The hero of the Athens’ Games was US swimmer Michael Phelps with six gold and two bronze medals. One of the biggest disappointments was the basketball representation from Serbia and Montenegro (next to last in 11th place).

The Serbian basketball crisis has continued, so the representation will not participate in this summer’s 29th Games in Beijing.

“This will be the first time since 1960 that our basketball team will not take part in the Olympics, not counting the Games in Barcelona because of United Nations sanctions. I think that it’s also not likely that Croatia and Slovenia will qualify, so there will probably be no one from the former Yugoslavia. Still, Croatia participated in the Barcelona Games. I’m certain that the Beijing Olympics will be fantastic, because they’re being held in a country that is at the pinnacle of its economic development and that wants to present itself in the best possible way. Over a billion Chinese citizens are involved in the organization, not to mention the Government and other state structures.

For a while after the demonstrations in Tibet, some people announced a boycott of the Beijing Games.

“This is only a sign that western countries fear that China might present itself too well. China still isn‘t a superpower, but after it successfully organizes the Olympics it might become one. I don’t think there will be a boycott, but as for small incidents like in the past – not participating in the opening, not participating in the closing, or maybe demonstrations of spectators or some other groups who are not participants – that

is possible. However, I am sure that the Chinese will have everything under control. Personally I don’t believe in boycotts because there were some negative experiences with boycotting, which never yielded any results, and only harmed the athletes and countries that were boycotting.”

As for his expectations from the basketball tournament at his 13th Olympic Games, Stanković says, “The Americans are taking the Olympics very, very seriously. They already started creating their team at the World Championship in Tokyo in 2006.

They didn’t succeed as well as they expect-

ed, but they scored well. That team, with the same management and led by Colangelo with Krzyzewski as head coach will be very strong at the Olympics, and they will certainly be the favorite. As for Serbian basketball, it is at a new beginning. Our Association is trying to reorganize the national team. We have a lot of good young players who have won gold medals in their age groups, but it’s hard to find a big star among them, someone like Kukoč, Đorđević, and others. But there are a lot of good players, and with time some of them will certainly become the stars we so desperately need. n 43 CorD / July 2008

SPORT

Developments in the Serbian Rugby League

League Marches On The Serbian rugby league scene has been dominated by the boys from Dorcol for seasons, but perhaps some motivated leadership, coupled with some corporate sponsorship, could see the legendary Red Star club rise from the ashes to challenge the unstoppable Spiders from the Danube-side suburb.

44 CorD / July 2008

BY BOB HOLT

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ound five of the 2008 Serbian National Rugby League Championships is about to kickoff. This season sees five teams competing in the league on a home & away basis - with RC Red Star, the all-conquering Dorcol Spiders, Nis-based Palilulac Hammers and Novi Sad’s Podbara joined this season by the Belgrade University XIII.

The season’s finale will see the top two teams compete in a Grand Final at the end of the regular season, with the winners crowned champions of Serbia.

There are few who would bet against the Dorcol Spiders running away with the title yet again this season, but perhaps Dorcol’s days of domination are numbered – with the realization of a rugby league ‘old firm’ style derby between Red Star and Partizan providing the motivation for the ambitious team leading the

RUGBY LEAGUE IN SERBIA Rugby league was introduced to Serbia back in 1953, by the then Secretary of the Yugoslavian Sport Association, Dragan Maršićević, and the first league match in Serbia was held in Belgrade that year between French students and Selection Provence. The match was part of an attempt by the French Rugby XIII Federation to stimulate interest in the sport in Serbia. Rugby League ceased to exist in Serbia and Yugoslavia in 1964, after it was decided that all clubs would switch codes and to start to practice the 15-man ‘union’ game. It was only in 2001 that rugby league officially returned to Serbia, with the formation of the Serbian Rugby League Federation.

revival of RC Red Star.

“Our goal is to play a regular derby fixture with Partizan,” says RC Red Star’s Milos Kucancanin. “They [Partizan] currently play 15-a-side (union), but I want to help make a new Partizan rugby league team too. The idea, ultimately, is for Red Star to attract the best players from around

the country and even abroad.”

RC Red Star was resurrected in 2006 after a gap of 47 years (Red Star’s rugby league team ceased to be in 1959, when it was purportedly forced to switch to the rugby union code by order of the government).

It may only be a short history, but Red Star’s Zeljko Stojsavljevic thinks it’s perhaps just the beginning of a history waiting to be written: “The idea of rehabilitating Red Star was present for a long time in the rugby circles of Serbia. Red Star’s rugby league revival is “a necessary condition for the development and further popularisation of rugby as a sport in our country.”

Since its re-establishment, Red Star has put together a developing open-age team, while the club’s cadets won the national championships and the Red Star ‘pioneer’ team came third in the domestic league.

Perhaps the time has come for the boys from Dorcol to be given a challenge by one of the biggest sporting clubs in the Balkans. One Dorcol regular doesn’t think so.

“It won’t happen soon” says secondrow forward Vladimir Djuricanin, of the dominant Dorcol Spiders.

Djuricanin thinks that Red Star will need plenty of time to evolve before they can prove to be a stern test for the Spiders: “Red Star has a ‘team’, but they’re still in the early development phase; they’ve only existed for a year. As for Partizan, they only play union. I don’t know the reason why they don’t play league.

“Dorcol dominates because it has a well-planned programme. We have juniors and seniors, a stable financial situation in Serbia, a good team, and even two or three players who could play in New

CORPORATE SUPPORT Harrisons were Platinum Sponsors of the Robert Burns Charity Ceilidh, held on 2nd February 2008 and hosted by HM British Ambassador Stephen Wordsworth and Mrs. Nichole Wordsworth. The substantial amount of money raised at the event will be used for Save the Children’s work in Serbia, to improve the service of children with disabilities and the development of specialised foster care in particular.

Zealand or Australia.”

The prospects of Red Star being ready to put Dorcol to the proverbial sword anytime soon remain slim (Red Star were recently hammered 66-18 by the Dorcol Spiders), but the overall prospects for the development of rugby league in Serbia remain high.

And both the prospects of Red Star and the League code in general are undoubtedly enhanced by the corporate support of Harrisons Solicitors, the International Law Firm for the Balkans.

Last year, to assist in both the development of Rugby League in Serbia and to promote bilateral relations with Great Britain, Harrisons organized a Rugby League Challenge Trophy played between teams from England and Serbia, and this year Harrisons have further expanded their Corporate and Social Responsibility activities by becoming the sponsors of Red Star Rugby Club.

Mark Harrison, the Founder of Harrisons, commented: “We are delighted to be helping a growing sport in Serbia, in particular because it has origins and links to my original home, the North of England. Likewise, we are proud to be associated with Red Star, a name synonymous with the highest professionalism in sport, and a name known throughout the world for sporting excellence.

“It is my hope that one day Serbia will be playing Great Britain on the international stage at Rugby. Unfortunately, as my son is only three, it will be a little while yet before I can introduce him to the game!”

Harrison further commented “We take our responsibility to the Serbian community very seriously, and in addition to Sport, are very much involved in improving healthcare and in particular charities involving children”.

Red Star may only have recorded one win from four so far this season, but with an ambitious, driven young management, and the solid corporate backing of Harrisons Solicitors, we can expect this famous old club to soon start taking strides towards dominating yet one more sport in Serbia.

CorD / July 2008 45

B2B EFG: Personal service for all clients

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urobank EFG has significantly improved this year its corporate banking service and provided clients with a service adjusted to their needs, which includes corporate lending, trade and project finance, real estates, leasing and cash management. Eurobank EFG established more than eight specialized Business Centres in six different cities Serbia wide (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar and Subotica).

- We significantly expanded our specialized corporate banking network in Serbia

in 2008, with the aim of making our tailormade corporate banking solutions more available to the majority of the Serbian medium-sized and large enterprises. By the end of July 2008, Šabac will be covered with our Business Centre, and within the year, Čačak, as well. – Mr Antonis Chatzistamatiou, Head of Corporate Banking Division of Eurobank EFG, said.

The enhancing corporate banking network of Eurobank EFG, together with the 119 retail branches all over Serbia, will further assists the Bank’s clients in their day to day banking operations.

- All our corporate clients will be able to get a personalized service, as they have at their disposal a dedicated expert at the nearest Business Centre. A dedicated expert represents a client’s direct liaison with the specialized divisions and departments within the Bank and affiliated Eurobank EFG companies: EFG Leasing, brokerage EFG Securities (ex Prospera), Cards Company EFG Retail Services, real estate Management Company EFG Property Services and EFG Business Services, which manages payrolls. Our clients will be connected with affiliated companies not only in Serbia, but inside the South East and Central European region, as well – added Mr. Chatzistamatiou.

Eurobank EFG is among top two banks on the Greek Corporate market and among the top five in Bulgaria and Romania. In addition, it operates exclusive corporate banking networks in Ukraine, Poland,

Cyprus and Turkey. Eurobank EFG can, therefore, effectively serve corporate clients’ interests in the eight largest markets of the Central and South Eastern European region.

SUPER ACTION OF PIRAEUS BANK

iraeus Bank A.D. Beograd has launched a “Super Action” to enable interestfree balance transfer from cards issued by other banks that will last for 3 months from the balance transfer date. This benefit will be available to all citizens who apply for one of the new Piraeus Revolving Cards any time between June 1 and August 31, 2008.

During the Super Action, the same promotional conditions for balance transfers from cards issued by other banks shall be applied to the existing Piraeus card holders.

The Super Action is a unique offer from Piraeus Bank, offering a whole holiday season of interest-free payments, minimum monthly repayments and funds up to an approved limit available 24/7.

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THE AUDI SHOWROOM

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t the beginning of June, ten of the top Serbian fine artists of the twentieth century exhibited their unique works in a unique location – the Audi showroom at Porsche Beograd Ada. Oto Logo, Olja Ivanjicki, Branko Miljuš, Miloš Šobajić, Danica Basta, Mihailo Đoković Tikalo, Milan Marinković Cile, Jelena Trpković, Dragan Radenović and Braca Đurković worked together for the first time to guide the public through their interpretations of shape, movement, inner truth, creativity and existence.

Audi supports creators who follow their own vision, who create out of curiosity and who can present new ways of looking at life. We want to give support to creativity, whether in the field of fine art or in the production of quality automobiles focussed on technological innovation and design – said Mr Slobodan Pešić, Audi brand manager at the opening of this exhibition.

Members of the diplomatic corps, successful domestic and foreign businessmen, as well as many other famous art lovers

46 CorD / July 2008

were present at this one time only event. All guests at the exhibition had the opportunity to find out more about every artist through a specially prepared, which besides the biographies also contained photographs of their works and details on how to purchase the exhibited works.

leisure & lifestyle

In addition to these attractive conditions, Piraeus cards offer many other additional services as well, such as participation in a lottery game. Every purchase over a specified amount automatically makes the card holder a potential winner of one of many attractive prizes, including trips to the Beijing Olympic Games or the semi-finals of the European Football Championship. refinancing Debts with the MasterCard Installment Card

Volvo Cars Diplomatic Sales n the 16th of June members of the diplomatic corps and guests from electronic and print media and political and public life were invited to the Swedish residence to celebrate Sweden’s national day, and the beginning of a new cooperation between Volvo’s sales for diplomats and Grand Motors, the exclusive representative of Volvo in Serbia.

Grand Motors is the only company outside the European Union to conclude such negotiations with Volvo’s Diplomatic Sales, which enables diplomatic missions and diplomats to order and transport cars under preferential terms. Benefits include a simplified order and delivery system, special prices, a wider choice of special features, and a greater degree of personalisation for each client.

Early in March 2007, Grand Motors became the exclusive distributor of Volvo vehicles in Serbia. After an impressive first year, the company’s sales in 2008 could be even more so, with predicted sales this year of between 160 and 180 cars.

Volvo began marketing itself to diplomats and VIP customers in the mid fifties.

Along with diplomatic missions and diplomats, their customers included international organisations, representatives of peace missions, expatriates and tourists from America and Canada wanting to take their vehicles to Europe.

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aiffisen Bank has introduced a new scheme available to Serbian citizens for managing their personal finances – the refinancing of existing debts based on cash and consumer loans, as well as outstanding debts on credit cards via a new payment card, the MasterCard Installment credit card.

Cash loans are refinanced with a lower interest rate and the same number of installments that remain for the repayment of the existing loan. Also, by using a MasterCard, the initial deposit placed for the loan will be released. Any loan that is refinanced with the MasterCard Installment credit card will be divided into an equal number of dinar installments. With every installment paid, the user increases his available balance on the card and has the possibility of again using the card for purchasing goods and services as well as for the withdrawal of cash.

Smeca: The World is Facing Illiquidity

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meca representatives participated in the spring meeting of the Prague Club of Bern Union, held in Jordan on the Dead Sea coast.

Top of the agenda were questions over the Basel II Framework, which promotes a more forward-looking approach to capital supervision and the influence of new regulations, encouraging banks to identify the risks they may face today and in the future with regard to export agencies’ operations.

Forecasts are that the world is facing a period of increase in the number of illiquid companies on some markets, which may lead to so-called credit crunch changes on other markets across the world, causing a growth in the number of illiquid companies of 7% upon the previous year.

CorD / July 2008 47

B2B DUKAT TAKES OVER A MACEDONIAN DAIRY

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roatian firm Dukat has taken over the second largest Macedonian dairy, Ideal Sipka from Bitola, the market leader in Macedonia in cheese production. Dukat is now the main holding of the French Lactalis group in south east Europe. Lactalis’s takeover of the Romanian LaDorna is still in process and it will later also be run by the company from Zagreb.

CEFTA COUNTRIES SURPLUS

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n the first four months of 2008 Serbia recorded a $515.9 million surplus in trade with the CEFTA countries, mostly as a result of the export of agricultural products. According to the data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Serbian export to the countries of the CEFTA agreement from January to April was worth 1.1 billion dollars, while the value of imports was put at $577.3 million. Compared to the share in the overall export from Serbia, which was 32.2% last year, the CEFTA market is second most important for the country. The rise in exports to that market in 2007 is considerably larger than the growth of total Serbian imports – 33.4% compared to 26.1%. Around 22% of Serbian exporters are planning to increase their exports to include the CEFTA region, as stated in the Strategy for Serbian Export Stimulation 2008-2011.

Source: Tanjug JAT TENDER SOON

time binding offers will be submitted,’ Dinkic said and added that 51 percent of the JAT capital will offered in the tender, with the possibility of the state selling up to 75 percent of the capital through negotiations with the first ranked bidder, but only if the bidder is from the EU. He added that there is a condition that JAT would retain the status of the national airline company after the privatization and that the Serbian flag would remain on the aircraft, while the state would have members on the management board within the company.

Source: B92 HEINEKEN AND EFES MERGED

inister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic said that the tender invitation for the privatization of the company JAT Airways will be issued around 15 July. ‘The JAT tender will be open until September, by which

48 CorD / July 2008

SLOVENIAN ‘MERKUR’ MOVES INTO SARAJEVO

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eer producers Heineken and Efes merged their operations in Serbia at the end of June. All local brands were preserved. Both companies received authorization to merge, with the shareholder contract signed on the 10th of June. As a result, the operations of the Efes breweries Weifert and ‘Zajecar,’ Heineken’s ‘Brauerei MB,’ (the former Pivara ‘Rodic’) and the trade company Heineken Import will become one. Heineken will be running the new company in which it will have a share of 72 percent, while Efes will have 28 percent. ‘With a 15 percent market share, our unique operation will hold a strong third position on the Serbian market. We believe that with our combined strength we will be able to accomplish a stronger and faster growth than would have been possible through individual operation,’ said the public relations manager of Efes Ivana Jovanoski. Heineken and Efes are also joining their operations on the markets of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Source: Beta SERBIA, A COUNTRY WITH A MEDIUM DEBT

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quarter of this year and is now €6.04 billion with a 33.6 percent share in the total foreign debt of Serbia. Long-term debt is €16.89 billion, 94 percent of the total debt, and its share at the end of 2007 was 92.5 percent. Short-term debt was €1.07 billion on 31 March, or six percent. The foreign currency reserves are 8.9 times bigger than the short-term debt, which means that Serbia is capable of meeting its short-term obligations and that the structure of the debt is favorable from the point of country’s liquidity, according to a statement by the National Bank of Serbia.

Source: Beta

erbian foreign debt reached €17.96 billion at the end of March this year, which is 0.9% more than at the end of 2007, the National Bank of Serbia stated. According to the World Bank criteria, Serbia is a country with a medium debt, with foreign debt amounting to 58.5 percent of the GDP, and debt payments in the first quarter are worth 20.9 percent of import. The debt of the country and the banks dropped in the first three months of 2008, while the debt of companies grew by 10.4 percent. The external debt of the public sector dropped by 1.6 percent in the fist

he Slovenian company ‘Merkur’ has opened a 14,000 square meter shopping mall in Sarajevo - the company’s largest retail outlet. As the business websites in the region report, the total investment in this part of Sarajevo is worth €25 million, and the mall employs 100 workers. ’Merkur’ is planning expand its wholesale network in B&H in the coming years by opening three regional centres in Banjaluka, Tuzla and Mostar. The goal is to reach a turnover of 155 million euros in B&H by 2013 and to have around 700 employees.

Source: Beta CONTRACT WITH FIAT

BY MID JULY

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inister of Economy Mladjan Dinkic says that the contract on joint investment by Zastava from Kragujevac and the Italian firm Fiat will probably be signed in the middle of July. He said that the realization of the contract would start right after that and that it would be completed in September or October 2008 and he added that after the signing of the contract, a delegation from Serbia would travel to Turin to meet with the Fiat representatives. The Italian company Fiat and Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning strategic cooperation and joint investments in the Zastava car factory in Kragujevac. The memorandum envisages the foundation of a joint company in which Fiat would have 70 percent ownership, and Serbia 30 percent. In the first phase,

which will last two years, the planned Fiat investment is 700 million euros, as it was announced at the time, and Serbia should provide one hundred million euros for the joint investment with the Italians in the period from 2008 to 2011.

Source: Beta 35.2 PERCENT OF VRUJCI CAPITAL ON SALE

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he Serbian Privatization Agency will offer a 35.2 percent package of shares of the company Vrujci at the starting price of RSD85.7 million at an auction on 11 July.

This company owns the Vrujci hotel, Misic restaurant, tennis and basketball courts, a football pitch and three swimming pools, and the estimated value of the property being privatized is RSD357.2 million. The deadline for submitting the applications is 3 July this year, and the deposit for participating in the auction is RSD42.9 million.

Source: Beta

RUSSIA OFFERING LOANS TO SERBIA

CLATES THE ONLY OWNER OF KNJAZ MILOS

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eputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance in the Russian Government Alexei Kudrin expressed the willingness of Russia to offer favourable loans to Serbia.

‘Kudrin made the offer for the first time and said that Russia was ready, if Serbia was ready, to offer very favourable loan package, the terms of which include our assisting Russian companies in exchange for very favourable financial terms,’ said Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic after a meeting of a Serbian government delegation with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister.

Djelic added that ‘the proposal is for Serbia to ratify the energy agreement by summer, and that the Russian Government confirm our free trade regime, also by summer.’ With such a free trade arrangement between Serbia and Russia, Serbia would become much more attractive to foreign investors. ’ When it comes to the repair of ‘HE Djerdap,’ where there’s been disagreement about the price of the work between EPS and the Russian partner, the company ‘Silovije masini,’ Djelic said that Kudrin ‘promised to ‘put pressure’ on the Russian partner to be more constructive in negotiations’ so that the repair, which should have started as far back as last year, ‘would finally be a reality.’

Source: Tanjug

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he Dutch company Clates Holding has become the sole owner of the mineral water and juice factory Knjaz Milos from Arandjelovac. Clates, which is connected with the Danube Foods Group of which the company from Arandjelovac is a part, had already owned 68.53 percent of the Knjaz Milos shares, and so in order to rationalize and simplify the company’s operation, a ‘repackaging of the ownership’ was conducted, said the corporate business director of the Danube Foods Group Rade Pribicevic. Knjaz Milos is planning to sell 109.4 million liters of water in the first six months of 2008 and achieve a net income of RSD3.41 billion. The planned net profit up until June 2008 is RSD61.74 million. The company recorded a profit of RSD93.37 million in 2007 and it covers 50 percent of the market which produced 6.3 hectoliters of water in 2007.

Source: Beta

CorD / July 2008 49

INTERVIEW

Judita Reichenberg, UNICEF Representative for Serbia

Investment in Children is Crucial “From the document “Concluding Observations and Recommendations to the Government of Serbia,” it is clear that Serbia has made progress with the implementation of children’s rights. However, there are still many areas with gaps and the government really has to accelerate its efforts.”

50 CorD / July 2008

BY TATJANA OSTOJIĆ PHOTO ČASLAV MILOJKOVIĆ

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moved to Belgrade seven months ago, but I’ve been to Serbia many times before. I feel privileged to come back, to lead UNICEF in Serbia.

I am excited to work for children and help make the society and country fit for all children,” said Judita Reichenberg, UNICEF Representative for Serbia, for CorD magazine.

When did you start working for UNICEF? I started working for UNICEF when I was in Mexico. After that, I went with UNICEF to Latin America, Mexico, Guatemala, and the USA in New York at the UNICEF Headquarters. Then that I moved back to Europe after not having been there for about 15 years, during which time so many things had changed.

I started work in Geneva at the UNICEF Regional Office, which is responsible for 21 countries in Eastern Europe and

Central Asia. I was the senior advisor on child protection issues from the regional perspective. During that time, in the early 2000s, I came back to Belgrade and provided technical advice and engaged in dialogue with the UNICEF country office, UNICEF partners, NGOs, and the Government. There was such vibrancy at the beginning of the 2000s in Serbia.

that children have opportunities for play and recreation, for just being children. I think that is what people in Serbia are also aspiring to make happen.

Is it different in Serbia now compared to 2000?

I think there is more optimism. There

How was the situation for children in 2000 when you first came back to Serbia?

When it comes to children, the concerns we have at UNICEF are present in Serbia. It is unacceptable that there is still child poverty in a country like Serbia and that it impacts so many children.

is more envisioning the possibilities for the future, and that is especially important when we talk about children. For a child, there is a rather small window of opportunity he/she can use, and that window closes after a certain time. So at the beginning it is especially important to invest in young children; that’s when potential is developing and when socialization happens. We must ensure that they have access to health care, good education, and an environment that is safe and stimulating. We need to ensure

We can say that almost one in every five or six children in Serbia is poor.

There is also a concern for social exclusion. Social exclusion can be based on ethnicity, citizenship, disability, and remoteness. The way children are treated is also a concern in regard to violence; this includes violence against children and among children.

These issues I have highlighted are ones that need attention. At the same time, I want to stress that, from our perspective, it is refreshing to see that these

issues are a shared concern. Serbia has created initiatives concerning parts of or the entirety of the problems that I just mentioned.

The poverty reduction strategy, which is slowly developing into a sustainable development strategy, has identified children as a highly vulnerable group.

Serbia can be proud that their effort to reduce poverty has been quite successful, but has not been done with a sufficient impact on children, and we can see that more specific programs and strategies are needed.

One good example is with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, which has decided to focus on reform of the childcare system. This is important because the majority of children placed in residential institutions are children with disabilities. This issue symbolizes social exclusion and social isolation. The commitment of the Ministry of Social Welfare is to focus on the childcare system with a clear aim to eventually ensure that every child, regardless of their condition, has the opportunity to grow up in a family environment in his or her own community. I also want to mention that among the excluded are young people, specifically adolescents who have not finished their education. It is not a coincidence, for example, that unemployment among young people in Serbia is very high. It is important to have the opportunity for training and the capacity development that leads to productive employment. Adolescents who do not have these resources fall into the category of exclusion. I am happy that the Ministry of Youth and Sports has taken this to heart. They have been able to develop a very sound national strategy for youth. It is going to cost and they are going to have to mobilize other sectors. They cannot do it on their own, but with partners it is possible. It is also good to mention that there is more support in Serbia for local development in the small, least developed municipalities. Life happens at the local level and I am happy that the word is out.

UNICEF PARTNERS

TEST FOR PARENTS

Serbia can provide huge opportunities because it is on the crossroads and deciding on a developmental direction.

Serbia is consolidating a national project towards European integration. That’s an admirable and positive move.

Within this environment, the corporate sector is increasingly showing a sense of social responsibility. There are many small companies interested in working with us and supporting projects we believe are important. One example is the School Without Violence program, which is completely financed by the Serbian people.This sense of social responsibility isn’t just from small companies.

When I was a child, I didn’t realize that the most important thing is to help children grow up into caring, loving, responsible adults. I remember when my daughter was 15 and said, “I wonder how this world full of adults actually manages to function. You have to study and work to pass the test so you are given the license to operate your car, but who gave you the license to be a parent? Adults, you are so irresponsible with the very job that is the most important in your life.” She said to me, “Mom, there is a lot to be done, you better work fast.”

CorD / July 2008 51

INTERVIEW

How is UNICEF involved in these aspects?

UNICEF together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is working on the reform of the childcare system. We have just recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the ministry, which is a framework for our joint, cooperative work on the reform. This focuses especially on the development of services for at-risk families, families with children with disabilities, on de-institutionalization, on increasing responsibility of professionals within the system on the way they treat children, on helping to better plan the services in consistency and convergence and synergy of services at the local level. Another example is our involvement with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in developing an action plan.

UNICEF provided technical assistance in developing a strategy for youth, providing the methodology for articulation of indicators, for costs, for the key elements, and also linking our work for disadvantaged youth directly to the strategy that the Ministry has adopted.

How does UNICEF work on the local level?

We are very much involved in a number of municipalities at the local level where we are helping the local government. Our engagement is in helping districts develop local plans of action for children. At the national level there is a plan of action for children, it’s a kind of strategic framework rooted in the implementation and protection of the rights of the child. At the local level, those plans are specifically articulated to first assess what the situation is, identifying which are the most vulnerable children and which children are excluded, which children are not participating in education and have no access to health services, and those who are left on the side.

What are your plans for the future?

We want to accelerate the pace of helping the municipalities become fit for children and to create a suitable environment for them. Instead of taking it one municipality at a time, we are learning to package a set of standards and offer these, along with tools, instruments, methodology, and good advice as to how this work could be done in the municipalities. One of these standards is that every school must be a school without violence. Another standard is that no child from this municipality should be placed in an institution but should instead be cared for in a family environment, which can include being in the biological family with support or a foster family. A third standard is that all children, including Roma and 52 CorD / July 2008

gle most important investment a country can make. It cannot just be investment in infrastructure, there has to be investment in the people, especially young people, because this kind of investment actually has the highest return compared to any other investment.

Serbia has either signed or ratified the most important international instruments that are related to human rights and the rights of the child. children with disabilities, are included in the educational system.

How long do you expect these changes to take?

I think there are ways of motivating the local governments to pay attention to their local development plans for children. If we make this proposal attractive, the local government will be interested in taking steps because we have already seen this on the local level. In all of us there is a spirit of competition and it is good to compete for something good. In Serbia, children represent less than 20% of the population, meaning they are precious.

This also means that we have the utmost responsibility to do everything that we can for the children who are already here and for future children, in other words for the family. Otherwise, how can our country move forward? This is the sin-

How does Serbia compare to the rest of Europe in regard to children’s rights and development?

The government just had a discussion on the 27th of May in Geneva, with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, about progress the country is making towards the fulfillment and protection of children’s rights. The Committee is issuing a document, which is called “Concluding Observations and Recommendations to the Government of Serbia.” From this document it is clear that Serbia has made progress in the implementation of children’s rights. But there are still many areas with gaps and the government really has to accelerate its efforts.

Serbia has either signed or ratified the most important international instruments that are related to human rights and the rights of the child. And it has also gone a step further in integrating and incorporating these important provisions into its own legislation. Even the constitution of Serbia includes provisions for the rights of children directly. However, not all of them are put into practice - that takes time.

So the Committee on the Rights of the Child never compares any country.

They focus on a country’s unique situation and try to find out the best way to improve the situation in that particular sector. For example, if we look at child mortality, Serbia fares quite well on the national level. It is not the best in Europe - Sweden and the Netherlands have a lower level, but still the numbers look good in Serbia. These numbers however, do not take into account populations that are excluded from services and opportunities, such as Roma children. When those populations are taken into account, Serbia’s infant mortality rate goes up.

AFTER WORK I love Belgrade. I love walking, I love the vibrancy of the city, but I also love the green areas. Kalemegdan is my point to walk around. I also walk to Ada by the river. And when I really want to treat myself I go to a little wellness center that is in Krunska Street. And if you are asking about Serbia, I’ve had some opportunities to travel, to the north, to Vojvodina, and to the south. Each part is a very different world. They have in common the hospitality, the openness, the appreciation of friendship, people gathering, drinking coffee, and discussing politics. I’m very impressed with the small municipalities and how people in that local level, quite far from the center, are committed to improving conditions for their children and how they will do anything possible to convince and mobilize others.

LEISURE & LIFESTYLE

CorD / May 2008 27

faces & places

Every June, the British Embassy in Belgrade, marks the birthday of Her Royal Highness, the Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty’s ’official birthday’is celebrated as the most imporant national holiday in Great Britain.

A reception apropos the Russian Federation’s National Day in the Russian Embassy, on June 11th: Ambassador Alexander Konuzin greets Vojislav Koštunica.

Apropos the National Day, the Portugese Ambassador to Serbia, Paulo Tiago Jeronimo da Silva held an official reception at the Embassy, on June 10th.

54 CorD / June 2008

At the official ceremony held on June 4th, the Greek Ambassador to Serbia, Mr. Christos Panagopoulos, handed over honorary diplomas and medals from the Greek President, Mr. Caorolos Papoulias, to the State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Dušan Spasojević, as well as to other officials from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Internal Affairs, firemen, pilots and technicians, as a sign of gratitude for their engagement in putting out devastating fires in Greece last August.

Further from the National Day of Sweden, a new campaign by Volvo Cars – Diplomat Sales, was presented in Belgrade. His Excellency, Sweden Ambassador to Serbia, Mr. Krister Bringeus hosted the reception with His and Hers Royal Highnesses, Prince Aleksandar and Princess Catherine among guests.

Petar Lončar and Zoran Zubić from the Belgrade Flying Club JAT, break the time record in flying a paraglider.

CorD / July 2008 55

faces & places

Former Serbian Justice Minister, Vladan Batić promotes his book of political essays and debates on June, 19th: Vladan Batić and Bruno Vekarić.

On June 13th, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra marked its 85th Anniversary by the Children Philharmonic Orchestra holding a concert.

The Swiss Ambassador to Serbia, Wilhelm Meier, visitied the headquarters of the Media Association in mid-June. Editors-in-Chief and directors of media companies, members of the Association, played hosts to Mr. Meier who used this opportunity to provide more detailed information to those present on bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as economic cooperation.

In June, the city of Belgrade was host to the conference organized by the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), entitled ’Media, Marketing, Business’

56 CorD / June 2008

Opening of the first Srbijafest: 64 municipalities from Serbia present their rural potentitals in Belgrade.

The Greek Ambassador hosted a charity fashion show of the most popular Greek designer, Konstantinos Zigarous.The organizers were the fashion agency Fabrika.

On May 29th, ACB Company ( Airport City Belgrade )was given the award for the best design of business premises in the region for 2007, by EuropaProperty. The sculpture by Marko Kratohvil was revealed on the occassion. The artist with ACB’s Director General, Mr. Gilli Dekel.

The National Alliance for Local and Economic Development (NALED) was the host of a luncheon apropos presentation of the project entitled ’From the Maze’, which goal is to eliminate surplus and outdated administration procedures in order to facilitate better business operations.

The Programme was presented by the member of NALED’s Managing Board, Mr.Toplica Spasojević.

CorD / June 2008 57

SPORT

Tennis World Force

New Face of Serbia After the Australian Open Championship in Melbourne, people talked about Serbia as the land of tennis, and after Roland Garros and the triumph of Ana Ivanović, they talk about tennis as a Serbian sport.

BY VOJA NEDELJKOVIĆ PHOTO FONET

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First on the WTA list: Ana Ivanović 58 CorD / July 2008

uring the past weekend, the most important world media – CNN, BBC, Euronews, were once again filled with headlines such as “Serb and Volley”, “Roland Garrosovic”, “Serbian Giants”, “Serbian Domination”. The first time this happened was at the end of January, when a quartet of young people from Belgrade: Novak Đoković, Ana Ivanović, Jelena Janković, and Janko Tipsarević, became the main attraction of the Australian Open Tennis Championship, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments to be held each year, where 128 best players of the world compete in both categories, and where the first prize is 1,370,000 dollars. Đoković won the trophy, wining the semi-final against the up until recently unbeatable world number one Roger Federer. Ivanović threw in the towel in the final against Russian Maria Sharapova, who previously won the semi-final against a weak Jelena Janković burdened with injuries.

At the beginning of June they achieved similar results and proved that their success was not a coincidence, and that they’ve come to the top of world tennis to stay. Ana Ivanović became the “queen” of the second Grand Slam tournament Roland Garros, and the world number one in the same day; Novak Đoković and Jelena Janković made it to the semi-finals; and in the doubles category we had a double finalist – Nenad Zimonjić, a semi-finalist – Dušan Vemić, and two quarterfinalists – Janko Tipsarević and Viktor Troicki.

These young, beautiful, and educated people came from a small country which has been, at least in the past 20 years, known for war, sanctions and the Hague Tribunal. Tennis players who made their first steps with a tennis racket and ball under the threat of bomb attacks, to a soundtrack of sirens in empty swimming pools, while their peers trained in grand tennis camps in Florida or some other exotic location. It was love at first sight between them and the world public. For a long time they have been reputed to be “True Ambassadors of Serbia to the

Second on the WTA list: Jelena Janković

Thrd on the ATP list: Novak Đoković

World”, a title that has often been used in our country. And in that sense, Roland Garros was a step further for them. Tennis experts and reporters from around the world are now coming to Belgrade in waves; the former are coming to learn something, the latter to try and explain this phenomenon, but also to see the famous swimming pool in which the first player of the world used to train, which might become a tourist attraction some day. Without the intention of diminishing the successes of previous “ambassadors”, the glory of our tennis players has much greater power. Ana Ivanović is now first on the world ranking list, Jelena Janković is second, and Novak Đoković is third.

The craze for the “Serbian Sensations”, as they are popularly called, has come so far that, for example, Jelena Janković has several fan clubs in the far-away Philippines, that are “at war” competing for the title of the most loyal admirer of our tennis player. Thanks to a concurrence of circumstances (the retirement of the revered Justine Henin), but also because of the great matches in the first half of the year, the first one to fulfill the promise of becoming the best player in the world, was Ana Ivanović. She fell in love with “the white sport” while watching Monika Seleš win the Roland Garros tournament. As a five year old, she literally forced her parents to enroll her into tennis school by memorizing the phone number of a school advertised on TV. She soon got her first racket, which was maybe a few centimeters shorter than her, and started training right away at the “25. maj” sports centre in Dorćol. During winters she trained in a dried out Olympic pool in the “11. april” sports center, and when she stated that in an interview with the

She also shot a commercial for Sony Ericsson, the general sponsor of the WTA. Even then she had an exclusive contract with Adidas, who feel that in the future the world of tennis and marketing will be faced with a battle between the two most beautiful and most successful female tennis players Ana Ivanović and Maria Sharapova, who represents their main competitor Nike. At the beginning of this year she replaced her Wilson racket with a new one, made by the Japanese Yonex company, after signing another record-breaking colossal contract. The company owners decided to go for Ana because she was a tennis player who would, according to them, be number one someday, because of her good manners, her hu-

New York Times the world public was shocked, and ever since that swimming pool has become the symbol of success of “Tennis Serbia” (even though only Ana trained there).

Maybe her success would have been restricted to a local level to this day, if in 2002 she hadn’t met Swiss businessman Dan Holzman, co-owner of a successful company for the production of vitamins in Basel. Holzman’s personal tennis instructor, a Serb from Basel, told him about the talent and potential of the 14 year old Ivanović. He was intrigued, he decided to met her, and when she answered his question “what do you want from life”, with “to become the best tennis player in the world”, he agreed to take the

At the beginning of this year Ana Ivanović replaced her Wilson racket with a new one, made by the Japanese Yonex company. As soon as she reached the top of the WTA list, Yonex paid her and additional bonus of 10 million dollars biggest business risk in his career. He gave her an interest-free loan in the amount of 500.000 dollars for training, travel, and tournaments, as well as accommodation in his city with the best conditions for progress. The first match that the Swiss attended, Ana lost. After the match she locked herself in the locker room and cried for four hours, because she thought that he would, being disappointed, end his cooperation with her.

She was convinced that she had missed her last opportunity to achieve her main life goal. This convinced Holzman that he had made the right decision, and even today he claims that it was the best business move in his life.

NEW GENERATION

FUN CLUBS

THE PHENOMENON

These young, and educated people came from a small country which has been, at least in the past 20 years, known for war, sanctions and the Hague Tribunal.

Jelena Janković has several fan clubs in the far-away Philippines, that are “at war” competing for the title of the most loyal admirer of our tennis player.

Tennis experts and reporters from the world are now coming to Belgrade in waves: To learn something, and to try to explain this phenomenon.

manitarian work (she is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador actively involved in the “School without Violence” campaign), her beauty, her healthy life-style, and because of her love for sushi. As soon as she reached the top of the WTA list, Yonex paid her and additional bonus of 10 million dollars. Even with all this, Ana still isn’t used to so much popularity. She is a big fan of the movies, especially the TV show “24” which stars her favorite actor Kiefer Sutherland. At a reception in London last year she accidentally ran into him, but she was so scared and confused that in the end she didn’t even approach him, even though she desperately wanted to get an autograph.

In 2007 at Roland Garros when she was awarded the plate intended for the runner up in the battle for the trophy, she accepted it with a smile, delighted with her greatest success. However, after the final in Melbourne she acted like she had lost something she is entitled to. She learned a lot from her previous two losses, and won this Roland Garros.

And the next time she meets Kiefer Sutherland, perhaps he will be the one plucking up the courage to ask for her autograph.

CorD / July 2008 59

Interview

Srđan Valjarević, writer

A Man in no Rush “My life does not have a topic, and I don’t believe in books in which some topics are over-developed or exaggerated.”

By Sonja Ćirić Photo Stanislav Milojković Srđan Valjarević is an interesting character, and not only because of his status as an award-winning writer. Apart from biographical facts, he is a mysterious figure, which is exactly how he wants it.

What is known about him is that he is 40 years old, he completed a vocational school for lathe operating, then he worked as a house painter in Berlin. After that he graduated from a high school for design in Belgrade, then he worked in a machinist’s workshop. He waited tables on the island of Korčula in Croatia, and also worked in an engineering blueprint copy shop, among other things. And we shouldn’t forget football – experts and scouts saw him as a promising player. And there’s also boxing, just for fun, after a football match.

All this time he also wrote. He wrote novels “List na korici hleba” (Leaf on a Bread Crust), “Ljudi za stolom” (People at the 60 CorD / July 2008

Table) “Dnevnik duge zime” (Diary of a Long Winter), and “Komo” (Como), books of poetry “Džo Frejzer i 49 pesama” (Joe Freizer and 49 poems), and “Džo Frejzer i 49 (+ 24) pesama” (Joe Freizer and 49 (+ 24) poems), and prose “Zimski dnevnik” (Winter Diary).

For the “Dnevnik duge zime” novel he received the “Biljana Jovanović” award, and the international jury of the Eastern European literary award (whose founders and financiers include Bank Austria Creditenstalt, the “Kulturkontakt” organization from Vienna, and the “Wieser” publishing house) named the novel one of the ten best literary works in Eastern Europe. This February he was given the National Library of Serbia award for best book, his novel “Komo”, chosen from the most popular books in the network of public libraries in Serbia. His works are among the bestsellers in Serbia. However, regardless of all the popularity and successes, Srđan Valjarević doesn’t act like a star. n Where have you been, what have you

been doing? If I’m not mistaken, before the news on the National Library of Serbia award, the last time we read about you was in January 2007 when you were shortlisted for the NIN award. How do you manage to keep away from the curiosity of the public? r I’m here, in Belgrade, peacefully living, working, strolling, reading, sleeping; all is well. That goes for the public as well, I did my share of the work as much as I could take.

I suppose it probably increased the sales of my books, I needed money. I also received some awards which increased my budget, and now I can admit that all that is still quite torturous for me, but at least I earned something writing. And that is enough. Everything else that includes the mentioned public, that has nothing to do with my life. n When will you publish a new book?

This is probably one of the questions you consider inappropriate, but you must understand that it is natural to ask so long has passed since the publishing of your last novel, Komo? r I don’t have any plans when it comes

to publishing, I don’t make any deals and I don’t think about it. I write as much as I can, I don’t know if it’s fast or slow, a little or a lot. I write all the time, and I don’t do anything else. I might be at the end of something, and I might not be, I don’t know. But that still doesn’t mean that I have to publish everything right away. I’m not in a rush.

When I realize a manuscript is finished, it’s over, I give it to the publisher and my work is done. n When we were arranging this interview, you mentioned repairmen, who are renovating your apartment. Where do you feel better, in everyday reality or the reality you write about? r Well, I am that repairman. And I am the same as other repairmen, I’m temperamental, sometimes I don’t feel like working so I leave the fixtures and cistern repair for tomorrow. And even when I wait for other repairmen, for jobs that I don’t know how to do or when I’m not sure about my skill, at least I know very well how things work with repairmen, so I peacefully wait for them.

And since writing is also part of my everyday life, I have something to do while I’m waiting. So it seems that I feel fine in this reality, if I even know what it is. n You said that writing is your pleasure.

Why? Writing helped you go through, and in the end defeat your illness; did this process and its consequences make you a believer in the written word? r Writing definitely helped me heal faster and return to a more normal and peaceful life, and afterwards was a great change for me. And I just kept going, I had my music and words, and that was enough to keep me well, to make me feel better, and to continue working on it. That is pleasure, in the end.

Rumor has it that you write every day, and that this obligation that you made for yourself is the only restriction in your casual way of life. Sometimes it’s difficult, often it’s strenuous and senseless, to sit like that all the time, closed for hours; but then it suddenly becomes magnificent, and that is unpredictable. And those unpredictable things that happen while you’re doing something, in art, as in writing, as in life, are stronger and more exciting than the difficulties of it all.

Awards “I also received some awards which increased my budget, and now I can admit that all that is still quite torturous for me, but at least I earned something writing. And that is enough.”

n

exciting one. It’s the only story I know. n What is your goal when you write? To appeal to people? To be liked? Or to establish contact with the unknown? r If I’m excited while I write, and the excitement doesn’t let go, then I achieve my goal several times over during the writing process. n How do you make a hit? r The man who knew all about that died recently, Bo Diddley. He caught his beat, three guitar chords, and broke out into song singing “Hey Bo Diddley!” That’s Walt Whitman in poetry. That’s how you make a hit that has meaning, and that’s how you celebrate life and simplicity. And it’s the only thing I find exciting in art. Everything else comes down to calculations, production, the torture of ambition and careers, and that’s on the other side of what I’m interested in and what I find exciting; so it’s all just a big hassle.

Your books are confessional, you write them in the first-person. Usually your contemporaries refuse to admit, at any cost, that their books contain parts of their lives. You, on the other hand, make no such attempts. You’ve even chosen the form of a diary for your novels, in order to highlight the confessional aspect of the stories. Is it because you believe that openness is the most advantageous mean

n You write beautifully about Belgrade.

You haven’t even tried to replace it with a foreign city, even though, considering your notable international awards and translations of your books, that probably wouldn’t be impossible. What is Belgrade to you? Is your experience of Belgrade influenced by the occasional change of the state of affairs? r My experience of Belgrade is not influenced by the conditions it was exposed to in the past, or now, more or less like any other

I write all the time, and I don’t do anything else. I might be at the end of something, and I might not be, I don’t know. to achieve your goal? r I can only write about what I know well, and the way I see things. And that’s the way I see them, every person and every story is at the same time humorous and difficult, and so is life; it has its comic side, and the other, the tragic one. And in this world as it is, the biggest human tragedy, people can only be funny and ludicrous in the way they do things and the things they do. And of course I see myself at the head of all the funny people, and that is the easiest way for me, but also the most

Konjarnik

Many talents

I love Konjarnik, and I love Zvezdara and the Boulevard; that’s where I spent my childhood and youth, and when I go there I’m at peace.

I know everything, or at least I’m familiar with it.

- I write for a living.Yes, I played football, and yes, I worked as a machinist, and an auto body mechanic, and a house painter, and a waiter, but whether or not that was who I was, or what I was like, I have no idea.

city. These conditions can influence my life, but if I say that I’m fed up with my life, that doesn’t mean that I’m fed up with this, one, city. Or vice versa, if I say that I’m fed up with Belgrade, then it’s certain that I’m fed up with my life. I don’t have any particular reason to leave Belgrade, I’m fine here; but there’ are also no particular reasons that would prevent me from leaving to live at another place, and it doesn’t even have to be a city. But I love Belgrade, that’s for sure; I love some of its parts or neighborhoods. I love Konjarnik, and I love Zvezdara and the Boulevard; that’s where I spent my childhood and youth, and when I go there I’m at peace. I know everything, or at least I’m familiar with it. n You don’t write explicitly about current affairs and erotica, but both these topics are clearly present in your books.

Please comment. r My life does not have a topic, and I don’t believe in books in which some topics are over-developed or exaggerated. I don’t beCorD / July 2008 61

Interview

lieve those artists or writers either. If some of that finds its way into what I write, it’s because something happened in such and such a way, so I had to say that. These two things that you mentioned, they’re basically completely opposite: current affairs are passing and they hold no importance for life; they’re insignificant, and especially the people who live that kind of life, and who deal with those things, and who inhabit that world; on the other hand, erotica is constant and omnipresent, eternally - there would be no writing or art without erotica and that is why I don’t write about it as a topic. The whole process of writing is erotica. Giving. Receiving.

Writing and reading. Music and pleasure. n If you received another foreign stipend would you spend it on a computer this time?

You spent the previous one, the Rockefeller stipend, enjoying yourself – like you later described in your novel “Komo”. r I don’t know, really; but I do think that it would be different in many ways than that time, about ten years ago, when I received a stipend for Komo. I would certainly do something, but I don’t know what. I would write something, that’s certain. Maybe not a lot, but I would still write. n Apart from being a popular writer, the public knows you as a man who used to be a football player, a boxer, an auto body mechanic, a waiter, a columnist of “Danas”, a man who knew how to enjoy a good drink, who was named one of the most eligible bachelors in town… Could we say that it’s the American dream of success? r I don’t know, I never thought about it that way and in those terms, success and failure.

For me, things are the way they are now, I don’t complain - I live from writing and that’s enough. And all those other things, what was I really? Yes, I played football, and yes, I worked as a machinist, and an auto body mechanic, and a house painter, and a waiter, but whether or not that was who I was, or what I was like, I have no idea. As for boxing, I know I was never a boxer. For a while I used to train, but it was purely for fun and youthful time killing - it didn’t last long and it didn’t end well. I have

A settled man:Valjarevic is content to continue his writing in Belgrade ally did do those other jobs, and I was paid for them, and that does make a difference.

It was the way I made a living, and the way I lived, but if you ask whether I was good at it, or if it felt good, the answer is no, so

- I write for a living.Yes, I played football, and yes, I worked as a machinist, and an auto body mechanic, and a house painter, and a waiter, but whether or not that was who I was, or what I was like, I have no idea. a nose deviation and my right nostril has been congested for more than twenty years.

I was a kid back then, and on my second or third match another kid beat me up so badly that the idea of doing that for fun was knocked out of my mind for good. I can’t say I was a boxer. On the other hand, I re62 CorD / July 2008

I can’t say that it’s who I was, it was only what I did. And I had to do something. Now it’s like this, and now it is better. n Summer is coming. Will you travel?

Maybe to some exotic place like Lapland, where you once went? What is your defi-

nition of traveling? r I’m not sure I can define it. I traveled enough. Now I can also go backwards, and I can do that in my room. And I still need a good reason to leave it. I use to be able to pack in an hour and without much thinking go somewhere, change my environment for a while. Now I do need a reason to do something. The same goes for traveling. I need a reason: I went to Lapland because I started walking again, and that was my plan, to go as far as possible when I start walking, and to celebrate with my friends who own a house there. That reason was good enough for me. I’m not very interested in “destinations”; you travel your entire life, and I travel a bit every day. Sometimes I don’t know where exactly I’m returning to, even from such travels. n

63 CorD / July 2008

CULTURE CALENDAR ANNUAL EVENTS BELGRADE SUMMER FESTIVAL – BELEF 08

Belgrade summer festival is an international multimedia festival, founded by the City of Belgrade, whose executive producer is BELEF – center.

Festival is held in July and August and is taking place on the common location in a public city space.

Program includes theatre, music and visual art.

Belgrade Beer Fest

Kalemegdan Near Nebojsa Tower 20-24. avgust 2008.

CLASSICAL MUSIC 5. INTERNATIONAL CELLO FEST

July 3 – 9, 2008

Thursday, July 3 at 20.00, Kolarac Hall BELGRADE STRING DUŠAN SKOVRAN Conductor: BILJANA RADOVANOVIĆ Cellists: MONIKA LESKOVAR, LEONID GOROKHOV Sollima: Tre Raga Song Rossini: Une larme Maw: Sonata Notturna for cello and string orchestra Friday, July 4 at 19.30, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall KSENIJA JANKOVIĆ, cello NENAD LEČIĆ, piano J.S. Bach: Sonata in G minor BWV 1029 F. Mendelssohn: Sonata in D major Op.58 D. Radić: Aria and Rondo Friday, July 4 at 21.00, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall Belgrade Philharmonic Hall 64 CorD / July 2008

Cello Duo MONIKA LESKOVAR and GIOVANNI SOLLIMA Marais: Suite in D minor from Pièces de violes, Deuxième livre (1701) Sollima: The Interpretation of Dreams (2006) Saturday, July 5 at 19.30, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall DRAGAN DJORDJEVIĆ, cello DUŠAN EGERIĆ, piano J. S. Bach: Suite No.3 in C major, BWV 1009 Beethoven: 7 Variations on Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen from Mozart’s Die Zauberflote, WoO 46 Schubert: Sonata in A Minor DK 821 Arpeggione Chopin: Polonaise brilliante, op.3 Saturday, July 5 at 21.00, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall LEONID GOROKHOV, cello CAROLINE PALMER, piano J. S. Bach - Suite No.2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 Schubert: Sonata in A minor (transcribed for cello and piano by L. Gorokhov from Violin Sonata) Brahms: Sonata in De major, op.78 (transcribed for cello and piano by P. Klengel from Violin Sonata in G major) Sunday, July 6 at 19.30, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall SRDJAN SRETENOVIĆ, cello NEDA HOFMAN, piano Plugged J. S. Bach: Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007 D. Scarlatti: Piano Sonata in B minor, No.33 and in D minor No.366 (arr. for cello: S. Sretenović) Film music Morricone: Love theme Lai: A man and a woman Williams: Theme from “ Jaws” Bacharach: Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head Kander: Maybe this time (arr. for cello and piano: S. Hofman) Piazzolla: Four tangos Sunday, July 6 at 21.00, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall MARK KOSOWER, cello JEE -WON OH, piano J. S. Bach: Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011 Poulenc: Sonata for cello and piano

(1948) Ginastera - Sonata for cello and piano op. 49 (1979) Monday, July, 7 at 19.30 Belgrade Philharmonic Hall DUŠAN STOJANOVIĆ, cello RADMILA STOJANOVIĆ, piano D. Despić: Siciliana M. Milojević: Two Songs (Nymph, Christmas Song arr. by D. Stojanović) Legend about Jefimija I. Jevtić: Via Dolorosa, Mélodies Interrompues (1979)

M. Mihajlović: Bagatelles No. 3 and No. 4 I. Bajić: Dreams, Rogue (arr. by T. Hartig) Monday, July 7 at 21.00, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall NEMANJA STANKOVIĆ, cello J. S. Bach: Suite No.4 in E flat major, BWV 1010 Monday, July 7 at 21.30, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall SANDRA BELIĆ, cello VLADIMIR GLIGORIĆ, piano K. Babić: Dilemmas from Homolje Stravinski: Suite Italienne, Russian Song Bloch: From Jewish Life Sarasate: Gipsy Airs De Falla: Suite Populaire Espagnole (transcribed by M. Maréchal) Milhaud: Brazilian Nostalgias Tuesday, July 8 at 19.30, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall ALEKSANDAR LATKOVIĆ CELLO ENSEMBLE Emil Bekir, Raphael Bell, Natalie Caron, Milutin Mladenović Pablo de Naveran, Igor Perazić, Konstantin Pfiz, Gost: Sara Jovanović J. S. Bach: Sute No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 I. Poparić: Song and Dance

14. festival of spiritual music Choirs Among frescoes

Sollima: Violoncelles, vibrez D. Radić: Palimpsest Hosseini: Four for Four M. Stojadinović-Milić: Eol (commissioned by Cello Fest) Dvořak: Rondo Tuesday, July 8 at 21.00, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall MICHEL STRAUSS, cello LIDIJA BIZJAK, piano Hersant: Les ombres de Giverny Debussy: Sonata Rachmaninov: Sonata Wednesday, July 9. jul at 20.00 Kolarac Hall ST. GEORGE STRINGS Cellists: DRAGAN DJORDJEVIĆ MARK KOSOWER MICHEL STRAUSS SANDRA BELIĆ Fauré: Elégie Popper: Hungarian Rhapsody op. 68 Monn: Cello Concerto in G minor Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D. 821, Arpeggione Mainardi: Elegie

1. July-17. July Atrium and Hall of Belgrade national museum Trg republike 1a

BRITISH COUNCIL SUMMER SCHOOL Omorika Hotel Tara

POP, ROCK, ETHNO, JAZZ SUMMERTIME FESTIVAL SAVA CENTER

1st to 8th July 2008 Summer School for Teachers of Military English Participants: Military Garrison teachers in Serbia plus invited international participants.

Facilitators: Zorica Trbulin, Dana Zelenovic (Serbia) Phil Dexter (PEP Manager, Libya), James SutherlandSmith (PEP Manager Serbia and Montenegro) Sponsors: Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and UK The purpose of the summer school is to provide teachers of Military English with skills in Task-Based Learning (TBL) where the focus of teaching is to produce military learners of English able to operate in the four main skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The overarching objective driving the course is the need for international military forces to be ‘interoperable’ with the language of international cooperation, which is English.

arly two dozen recordings in these various styles have received numerous accolades, with his most recent CD, the Grammynominated Braggtown, acknowledged as his quartet’s greatest recorded achievement to date. Marsalis’ previous disc, Eternal, also received a Grammy nomination as well as virtually universal inclusion in lists and polls for the best jazz recording of 2004.

Marsalis’ playing on the DVD Coltrane’s `A Love Supreme’ Live in Amsterdam also received a Grammy nomination for best instrumental jazz solo, while the disc received awards for music and video excellence from the DVD Association.

Ticket price: 1000, 1200, 1500 CSD 5. July 2008. 21.00 Great Hall » Summertime festival Marcus Miller Band

1. July 2008. at 21.00

Teresa Salgueiro & Septeto Joao Cristal

Opening of the Summertime festival with a Bossa Nova project.

Teresa Salgueiro, the vocal and the symbol of the cult portugal group „Madredeus” that has started her solo career, presents her solistic project “Voce e eu” with the Brazilian ensemble Septeto Joao Crista.

Ticket price: 1200,1500, 1800 CSD 4. July 2008. 21.00 Great Hall » Summertime festival Bradford Marsalis Quartet The three-time Grammy winner and known worldwide, the saxophone player Brandford Marsalis is presenting his new album.

The New Orleans native was born into one of the city’s most distinguished musical families, which includes patriarch/ pianist/educator Ellis and Branford’s siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. His ne-

One of the best bass guitar players for the first time in Belgrade.

Marcus Miller, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album of 2001, was born in Brooklyn in 1959 and raised in Jamaica, New York. By the age of thirteen he was already proficient on the clarinet, piano, and bass guitar and had begun composing music. The bass guitar, however, was his love and by the age of fifteen, he was working regularly in New York City with various bands.

Ticekt price: 1200, 1500, 1800 CSD 6. July 2008. 21.00 Sava Centre garden Ian Siegal Band & Erja Lyytinen band Blues night

In the past few years, Erja Lyytinen has taken the international music scene by storm. She’s a young, talented singer/songwriter and exceptional guitarist who plays everything from dobro to slide guitar.

Erja’s second album Wildflower (Bluelight Records), which she also coproduced, was officially released in June 2003 at one of Finland’s biggest festivals, Puistoblues.

Ticket price: 1000 CSD 7. July 2008. 21.00 Sava Center, Great Hall THE NIGEL KENNEDY QUINTET

Nigel Kennedy is promoting his jazz project NKQ and the album “The Blue Note Sessions”.

For over twenty-five years, Nigel Kennedy has been acknowledged as one of the world’s leading violin virtuosos and is, without doubt, one of the most important violinists Britain has ever produced.

His virtuosic technique, unique talent and mass appeal have brought fresh perspectives to both the classical and contemporary repertoire. He is the best selling classical violinist of all time.

CorD / July 2008 65

culture calendar

During his career Nigel Kennedy has undertaken countless international tours, performing with the world’s major orchestras and conductors, from Europe to the United States to Australia. An exclusive and major EMI artist since the very start of his career, Nigel Kennedy’s multi-award-winning discography is extensive.

His passion for jazz resulted in the album “Blue Note Sessions” made under the eye of Grammy award winning producer Jay Newland featuring a band of jazz giants such as Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette amongst others. Released in 2006 on the legendary Blue Note Label, Kennedy was the first ever EMI Classics violinist to be invited to join the label.

Ticket price: 1200, 1500, 1800, 2000 CSD Belgrade Arena TUBORG GREEN FEST

2. July at 18 30 Tuborg Green Fest, a one-day music festival organized by State of Exit, Live Nation and Tuborg, will take place at Belgrade Arena on Wednesday, July 2nd 2008. This second Tuborg Green Fest will present one of the most popular British bands at present, Franz Ferdinand, Latin American West Coast hip-hop legends, Cypress Hill, and The Raveonettes, currently the leading Danish rock band.

The promotional sale of the tickets at 1290 dinars begins on Monday, March 24th at www.exitfest.org. The number of these tickets is limited, and the price in general sale will be higher by about 40%.

Franz Ferdinand

66 CorD / July 2008

Signed up for just three other festivals besides Exit, Franz Ferdinand have been rehearsing and working on their new album, expected in October this year.

Their third studio album is still a mystery. Rumour has it that it might be called ` Favourite Lie` and that the first single might be ` What She Came For` , and since Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy and Paul Thomson have apperently been under the influence of Afrobeat, it is impossible to predict anything with certainty.

This most popular British and one of the world`s leading indie-rock groups today has already earned its place in the history of world pop music, since they had their first great success with maxi-single `Darts of Pleasure` only two years after they were formed in 2001.

Initially they got together with an idea to make music girls will like and dance to.

Having in mind that they were influenced by the arty bands of the New Wave era of the 70ies, such as the dark and uncommunicative ` Joy Division` or the innovative ` Gang of Four`, it is a true enigma how they have succedeed in their intentions. Perhaps it is partly due to their original idea to sound like Donna Summer or Prince.

Cypress Hill

This is deffinitely one of those bands that has a huge fan base wherever they appear. It is no secret that they always create a sizzling atmosphere, whether they have a new album or not (one is supposed to come out this year, still unnamed) and wheter they are given negative reviews. Last year B-Real, Sen Dog, DJ Muggs and Eric Bobo performed as part of Rock the Bells Tour with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas and Rage Against Machine.

Serbian fans had an opportunity to see them at the fourth Exit, the concert having been one of the best and most crowded parties at the festival. ` Serbia, you REALLY know how to party!` shouted B-Real expressing the band`s thrill.

The Raveonettes

The Raveonettes have always managed to stretch limits and surprise audiences as well as critics. This is why each album of theirs has had heavy media attention in all important music magazines. The Rolling Stone, NME, Q Magazine and others eagerly await anything this most prominent Danish band does, and label them without exception as a rock refreshment which has become a trademark of the North European scene. An authentic, somewhat dark sound with nostalgic tributes to simple and ` clean` tones of the 60s and 70s rock, together with intensive guitar sound and lyrics full of crude emotions freed of any mainstre-

am restraints, constitute the basis for the sound of The Raveonettes.

Organizer: State Of Exit, Live Nation и Tuborg Belgrade arena RETURN TO FOREVER

06. 07 at 21 00

Jazz attraction RETURN TO FOREVER to be held on July 6th in Sava center during Summertime festival.

After a touring absence of more than 25 years, the potent jazz-rock flagship quartet edition of Return to Forever returns in 2008. This highly anticipated reunion will see the group’s classic lineup-Corea on keyboards, Al Di Meola on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass and Lenny White on drumsembark on an expansive summer tour with dates in Europe and the United States.

RETURN TO FOREVER launched in 1972 with its self-titled debut featuring a quintet that Corea assembled, comprising Joe Farrell on flute and saxophone, Airto Moreira on drums and percussion, Flora Purim on vocals, and Stanley Clarke on bass-the only RTF member who served in all three editions of the band. With a Brazilian tinge imbued in the fusion, the first album featured such noteworthy tracks as “Sometime Ago,” “Crystal Silence” and “La Fiesta.” Later that year, the same RTF lineup delivered its followup, Light As a Feather, renowned as one of the band’s best recordings. Tunes included such Corea classics as “Spain,” “500 Miles High” and “Captain Marvel.”

BELGRADE ARENA Lenny Kravitz

24.07. at 21 00

American musician Lenny Kravitz will hold a concert in Belgrade Arena on 24th July 2008.

A singer-songwriter, producer and arranger, Lenny Kravitz started his career in 1989, and has since then recorded eight albums, five of which have become platinum.

The release of his ninth album titled It is time for a Love Revolution is expected this year. Two singles from this album, Bring It On and I`ll Be Waiting, have been out since October 2007.

His music is difficult to place in any genre, because it incorporates the influences of hard rock, soul, funk, reagga and psychedelic, though each of his albums puts one of those elements into the forefront.

Tickets: from 2000 to 3500 dinars, VIP Boxes: 12000 dinars.

SUMMER FILM PREMIERES THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN

KUNG FU PANDA

Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common Made Of Honor

From 14. August Directed by ::Paul Weiland Starring Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan Get Smart

In Cinemas from 3. July Directed by John Stevenson, Mark Osborne Voices Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane Wanted

From 10. July Directed by Timur Bekmambetov Starring- Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy,

From 28. August Režija: Peter Segal Uloge: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Terence Stamp, Alan Arkin...

ART EXHIBITIONS MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS

Until 10. July Photographs by Aino Kanisto (Finland) Organisation- Museum of Applied Arts with cooperation with Finnish Fund For Art Exchange, Helsinki, Finland

In cinemas from 26. June Directed by Andrew Adamson Starring: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley,Anna Popplewell, Liam Neeson, Predrag Bjelac Hancock

From 3. july Directed by Peter Berg Starring- Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman Meet Dave

From 17. jul Directed by Brian Robbins Starring- Eddie Murphy, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms, Elizabeth Banks, Judah Friedlander, Pat Kilbane The Dark Knight

From 24. July

Directed by Cristopher Nolan Starring- Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall CorD / July 2008 67

REGION

Notes from the BIG PLUM

Serbian Ethno Olympics 2008 Not going to the “real” Olympics in China? No matter.

Every year, not just every FOUR years, Serbia offers you the opportunity to attend its very own ethno-olympics (etno-olimpijade; my term) held all over the country pretty much all year long.

BY PAT ANDJELKOVIĆ

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hether you’re in Serbia a short while or you’re here for the long haul, with a little planning and searching you’ll be able to attend many events at much less cost than a ticket to Beijing. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to find out just when something’s going on, for dates are often moved up or back without warning. You can Google for info in English with limited success, and in Serbian with only slightly more. I also tried the National Tourist Organization of Serbia at http://www. serbia-tourism.org/index_e.php, but unless you have more success than I’ve had, you’ll have to dig deep to find any information, and even then it’s scarce. I sent them an email suggesting they put a list of local activities on their site, but no answer. So let’s bombard them with emails, and perhaps they will.

Otherwise, check some of Belgrade’s ‘what’s going on’ publications in English, or ask a Serb who may know or else know some68 CorD / July 2008

one who does, or that person will ask someone else and get back to you. That’s how it goes here. The up side is that when you do find out when something is going on, you’ll probably be the only foreigner there, and and the villagers will be so flattered that you’ll be treated like royalty.

In any case, if you’re tired of the usual honey and handicraft festivals that you run into in nearly every Serbian city you travel through, you’ll be pleased to know there’s much more out there if you can find it. Serbs are always ready for a good time, especially if it includes eating, drinking, and dancing, and even if an event isn’t dedicated to one of those, they’ll make sure all that’s available anyway.

What follows is only a smathering of the Serbian Olympics, in no particular order. For most, I haven’t given specific dates, so happy hunting.

Recently the folks in the small village of Balta Berilovac near Stara Planina on the Serbian/Bulgarian border organized a shep-

herds’ jubilee, which included preparation of ‘belmuž,’ a local speciality made of young white cheese cooked with corn flour. Sounds simple, but stirring it takes hours and hours.

The villagers, all decked out in their typical costumes, greet guests and locals inside tents where tables groan under the weight of other ethno-specialities such as ‘mačun’, made of corn, dried peppers, nuts, and herbs made according to a jealously-guarded 15th-century secret recipe. Beg and plead, but you won’t get it.

Speaking of cheese, Serbia can’t boast over 300 different kinds of cheese like France, but a ‘sirijada,’ or cheese olympics, is held on Zlatibor, a region known for its cheeses. Here you can sample and buy various types of local cheeses, which vary in age, consistency, and of course taste. Zlatibor also a festival devoted to its other famous specialties, such as smoked mutton, bacon, and sausage, and every year the nearby town of Užice holds a “pršutijada,” or smoked ham festival.

Last month’s Plum was devoted to ‘boza’ and burek, and while there is no ‘bozijada,’ there is a ‘buregdžijada’ in the city of Niš. Last year a 100-kilo, 2-meter wide burek was baked and subsequently devoured by hungry attendees, free of charge. To assemble this giant burek, 50 kilos of flour, 20 kilos

each of lard and cheese, and 10 liters or water were used.

On Easter Monday in Ogladjenovac, a small village near Šabac, locals take part in an egg-tapping competition, or ‘tucijada.’ On Easter the Serbian custom is to choose an egg, hold it in your fist with one end exposed and tap another person’s egg. One will most likely crack, at which time the eggs are turned around and tapped again. Someone usually ends up with an unscathed egg, and continues tapping. You might get away with it at home, but there’s no cheating allowed in the competition —only hen’s eggs are used. Before tapping, the parish priest blesses all present, the tapping begins, and the lucky winner receives a TV and bags of chicken feed. (I imagine you could donate your chicken feed to a local farmer if you win.)

The towns of Srbobran and Kačerovo usually hold their respective ‘kobasicijada’ and ‘slaninijada’ (sausage and bacon festivals) in February. The former is one of the largest and most popular festivals in Serbia, attended by tens of thousands of people. In 2004, it was held during a fasting period, and the organizers were officially denounced by the Serbian Orthodox church.

Also taking place in February are Mokrin’s (near Kikinda) goose fights, or ‘gusanijada.’

This event, and you can bring the kids, for there’s no blood and gore (unless you take them beforehand to watch the slaughter of the unfortunate geese that are to be later eaten) is fun to watch. The preceding year’s champion gander, flanked by cheerleading geese, is ushered along the town’s main street, where he will eventually run into a challenging gander and his crew. After a lot of flapping and honking from all the fowl, one gander always manages to pinch his opponent into submission, and he meekly wanders off in disgrace.

The geese go back to the barnyard, and spectators head for the restaurants or bars, where they will devour goose specialties and lots of local brandy. There’s also another ‘gusijada’

in Bačka Topola, which includes a featherplucking contest.

Speaking of brandy, an ‘alkoholijada’ takes place near Belgrade in Miljakovac and Resnik. This spirited annual event began in 1999 during the NATO bombing with the motto, ‘Brandy against bombs.’ Of particular interest is that you can find people here from all walks of life, cheerfully downing shots together. It’s not only a drinking even, for you can see how plum brandy is made, too. Naturally, there’s a drinking competition during which participants inebriate themselves from funnels, tubes, pots, bottles, and just plain glasses. When night falls, the “Walk of the Thirsty” begins, as those particpants

and artistic events, taste culinary regional specialities, and naturally listen to the brass band competions. There’s something to do ‘round the clock, and fun isn’t a strong enough word to describe the ambience, where people of all ages mix, eat, sing, and dance on the tables.

Check out www.guca.co.yu/eng for information in English.

Perhaps the most unusual event is the ‘mudijada,’ or Testicle Cooking Championship, which took place this year in June near Gornji Milanovac. (Sorry you missed it, but there’s always next year!) Cooks from all over the world are invited to come and prepare tasty testicle dishes. In 2007, several Australian chefs announced their intention to compete,

Speaking of cheese, Serbia can’t boast over 300 different kinds of cheese like France, but a ‘sirijada,’ or cheese olympics, is held on Zlatibor, a region known for its cheeses. Here you can sample and buy various types of local cheeses, which vary in age, consistency, and of course taste still standing trudge through the Miljakovac woods to Resnik, where the party continues until they saunter off to Resnik Lake, where they fall into a deep slumber. The last one up in the morning is the winner.

One festival you really mustn’t miss is the Guča brass band competition, and I can give you this year’s date: August 6-10. Guča, a small town of 2,022, receives an influx of several hundred thousand people (no kidding) every year, who either camp or stay with locals. Access through the area’s winding roads is not easy, but well worth the effort. (JAT is rumored to be planning a helioport.) You’ll see a village wedding, a most beautiful costume contest, a ‘proposing a toast’ competition, sports, cultural,

but at the last minute didn’t have the balls to come. Despite what you may think, this competition is not as raunchy as others held worldwide. Go to: http://www.ballcup.com/ home.html And so it goes. Serbia offers ‘olimpijade’ for bicycling, horse-and-carriage riding, goulash, strudel, and cake-making, as well as cook-offs for cabbage, bean, plum dishes, and fish soup. Plenty of opportunities to gain a few pounds, make some friends, and dance it all off.

CorD / July 2008 69

CULTURE

Novi Sad: Cinema City Festival

When City Becomes Cinema I used to sit all day long at FEST. Because of the winter, I didn’t mind spending time inside.Today, FEST has a really strong rival in Novi Sad’s Cinema City, with its diverse film programme and associated activities, as well as its really good atmosphere.

BY SANJA STOJANOVIĆ

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even cinemas, two of which are openair, 135 movies from different continents, 14 programme selections, with three of them giving out awards, directors, actors, producers, journalists, students and film lovers are what make the Cinema City Festival. In the period from the 14th to the 21st of June the whole of Novi Sad is turned into one big cinema. The Film and New Media Festival (which is held at five locations with various film and art exhibitions, performances and workshops in the field of new media),

70 CorD / July 2008

as well as accompanying events, are organized by the renowned EXIT Festival crew.

And we all know that if something has EXIT’s backing, then the aim is to bring us even closer to Europe, as well as bring the world to us. Cinema City has the potential to become the central film festival in Serbia.

The visitors had a chance to hear Lance Hammer, the recipient of the Best Director Award at this year’s Sundance Festival, as well as the Grand Prix Ibis Award at the Cinema City Festival. He held a workshop together with the recipient of the Best National Film Award at the Cinema City Festival, Stefan

Arsenijević. Although the US movie industry has a global domination, festivals provide a very important opportunity to present what is happening in the film cultures of the rest of the world.

The selection of movies called ’Up to 10,000 Bucks’ encompasses all movies whose budget was under $10,000. The film that won was ’Lullaby for a Boy’, directed by Miloš Pušić and adapted from the Aleksandar Tišma story.

In the category ’National Class’, the awards for Best Director and Best Leading Actor went to Dejan Zečević and Nikola Kojo, respectively, for their work on the movie ’The Fourth Man“, while the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actress went to Nebojša Rončević and Ana Franić for “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”.

Stefan Arsenijević’s ’Love and Other Crimes’, which had its premiere at the festival, was awarded with the Best National Film. The

movie covers the happenings of a single day, from morning till evening, and poses questions about staying and leaving in relationships, marriages, loves, and one’s country. How can you leave without looking back? Can a person start all over again? Can you forget the past?

Some object to a movie not having a happy ending. During shooting, Arsenijević was advised to change the ending, but he did not want to give up on his artistic vision. He blew me away with his movie (A)torzija. However, his first feature film was not such an attention grabber (and the problem is not in the ending), but as Dutch film critic and a member of the Festival’s International Jury Peter Van Bueren said, Arsenijević deserved the award, despite his film showing some weaknesses, since festivals needed to promote young directors, and Arsenijević was definitely one to look out for.

Among the Serbian movies, my favourite was ’Paper Prince’. The movie is full of beautiful colours, warmth, has an interesting plot, excellent dialogues and clever characters.

The movie talks about children, but it is not a children’s movie. It was given the award at the festival in Rome for the Best Directorial Debut, together with the film “Agi and Ema”.

The film is a perfect example how our country can present itself in a different light through the characters of Agi and Ema, although this time around, Ema is not played by Milena Dravić. The film is as much local as it is universal. Despite the fact that the budget was pretty modest, it managed to break out of the borders of poverty stricken Serbia.

Balkan Buster presents a review of regional film production.

A Croatian film by Vinko Brešan, ‘ Will Not End Here’, opened the Festival. Special attention was given to music films in the selection called ‘Planet Rock’, which is quite understandable since EXIT put this festival together. A rock film and video clip veteran, Julian Temple presented two documentaries.

A film called ‘Filth and Anger’ was shown as an introduction to Sex Pistols’ performance at the EXIT Festival. Temple’s latest addition to the musical film genre is a documentary about the Glastonbury Festival which is also the title of the film.

Several movies from the EXIT Point selection have been awarded. The Festival’s Grand Prix Award went to Lance Hammer’s ‘Ballast’, a story from rural America, where the lives of three main characters are completely changed

when a man commits a suicide. Due to its grim subject matter, the audience hardly gave this movie a standing ovation. The award for Special Contribution to Contemporary Film Expression went to Olaf de Fleur Johannsson for his movie ‘The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela’, a true story of a transsexual from the Philippines called Raquela who comes to Europe chasing after her dreams.

The jury of FIPRESCI’s Serbian branch made a unanimous decision to award the Swedish horror drama ‘Let the Right One In’ for its contribution in expanding the genre and successfully overcoming the distinction be-

or at least a happy ending. Madonna, with her directorial debut, gave me all of that. With our without Guy Ritchie’s help, she made an hour and a half of good quality fun, interesting characters, with the main one being the leade singer of the band Gogol Bordello, which will perform at this year’s EXIT. ’Filth and Wisdom’ is a movie that shows that there is happiness even after the end, and that the only thing you need to do is to think positive and smile.

Hollywood has formulas for how to make the masses happy. Hollywood gives us a predictable and expected ending. It is hard to find something new and magical. It is even hard-

Among the Serbian movies, my favourite was ’Paper Prince’.The movie is full of beautiful colours, warmth, has an interesting plot, excellent dialogues and clever characters.The movie talks about children, but it is not a children’s movie tween the genre and artistic movies. The jury of Serbian FIPRESCI gave the Best Overall Movie Award to ‘Art of Negative Thinking’, directed by Norway’s Bard Breien, who in a very humorous but serious way portrays people with special needs.

This was the first time that I have stayed in Novi Sad for a long period and the first time that I didn’t miss Belgrade. Still, after watching movie after movie for a week, which were often covering difficult and dark subjects, I started missing the mainstream Hollywood. I wanted to laugh a little, I wanted to see some hope

JOY DIVISION Joy Division are the focus of two movies. One of them is a documentary, while the other one is a feature film called ‘Control’ which has already won several awards. ‘I’m Not There’ provides an interesting portrayal of Bob Dylan’s life. Seven different actors play Dylan in a postmodern spirit with fragmented personalities. The late Heath Ledger played Dylan as the star, with a special performance given by the decidedly feminine Cate Blanchett who is oddly convincing in her role as a man.

er to present it in a poignant way. Only a few manage to achieve wondrous visions which communicate the author’s story to the world, while others, in trying to tell big stories with very little money, are lost when faced with Hollywood production. But Hollywood, with all its millions and special effects, is losing a more important battle – one with pure emotions. It’s these little stories that dig deep into the personal, and touch the universal. My personal Grand Prix goes to Majid Majidi, whose movie “Children of Heaven“, is one of the best ever made. After seeing his new movie, “The Song of Sparrows”, I don’t miss Hollywood any more. Even Hollywood, when it sells naked bodies, knows that love is above sex, and money cannot buy happiness. Both Carrie and Samantha, two financially independent women who are promoting New York, sex (out of love for a person or just sex for the sake of sex) and the designer clothes they wear, know that these material things don’t bring happiness.

Love is the only timeless thing which can save us from the poisons of the world.

CorD / July 2008 71

CULTURE KEN LOACH AND GORAN PASKALJEVIC – LAUREATES OF THE PALIC FILM FESTIVAL

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ritish director Kenneth Loach and Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic received the prestigious Aleksandar Lifka award which the European Film Festival Palic gives for contributions to European cinematography. The award will be given on the 19th of July at the official opening of the 15th Palic Festival.

Loach is one of those rare film directors who truly believe that art can change the world. In his movies, he has touched on many current social issues – the workers’ movement, the homeless, underage workers, and the treatment of illegal immigrants, among others. Loach is a director who disturbs and warns, and empathy and understanding for the modern man and his existence are a central theme of his films.

Born in 1936, Loach has been directing for the theatre and TV since 1963. His more famous titles include ‘Cathy Come Home’ (1964), a documentary drama which influenced a change in the English homeless law, ‘Kes’ (1969), ‘Looks and Smiles’ (1981), ‘Hidden Agenda,’ for which he won a special award from the jury in Cannes in 1990, ‘Riff-Raff’ (Felix Award for the best European film in 1992), ‘Raining Stones’ (special award from the jury in Cannes), ‘Land and Freedom’ (1995, International Federation of Film Critics Award –FIPRESCI) and ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ (2006).

Goran Paskaljevic, one of the most prominent Serbian film directors, was born on the 22nd of April, 1947, in Belgrade.

He got his degree in film directing from the Academy in Prague (Czechoslovakia) and directed several documentaries and TV dramas before first his first feature film – ‘Cuvar plaze u zimskom periodu’ (1976).

With the films ‘Varljivo leto 68’ and ‘Cuvar plaze u zimskom periodu,’ Goran Paskaljevic captured the emotion and the zeitgeist of his generation, just like Federico Fellini or Peter Bogdanovich did for theirs Paskaljevic received many prestigious awards, including a FIPRESCI for ‘Bure baruta’ (1998), ‘San zimske noci’ (2004) and ‘Optimisti’ (2006), as well as an OCCI – the critics award in San Sebastian in 1990 - for the film ‘Vreme cuda.’

Goran Paskaljevic is the first director who received the Bernhard Wicki Film Award – a film award for humanism in his works – in Munich in 2002. He was decorated with the highest accolade awarded

by France, the Medal of Art and Literature, with the rank of an officer, ‘for a high quality of artistic creativity,’ and he had a retrospective at the beginning of this year

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at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

The Palic Festival award ‘Aleksandar Lifka’ was named after one of the most important European figures for the promotion of motion pictures in Serbia in the first half of the 20th century.

The Palic Film Festival will be held from 19th to 25th of July at several locations in the beautiful surroundings of the Palic Lake, as well as in Subotica. This year’s slogan for the festival is ‘Feel, Reflex, Relax.’

Films from the official, competitive, selection will be screened, but also those from the selections: Parallels and Collisions, Young European Authors, Tribute to the Winners of the Aleksandar Lifka Award, New Israeli Film, New Hungarian Film, Children’s Film and Ecological Film.

Concerts of cult underground bands and numerous parties have been announced within the programme Young European Authors.

WALLS IN THE STREET

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he Belgrade Museum of Modern Art (MSUB), which is currently being refurbished, organized an exhibition which was held on the 20th of June at several galleries and open-air spaces in the city. The Exhibition, ‘Zidovi na ulici’ (Walls in the Street), in which recognized artists from around the world took part and were invited to re-examine the wall as one of the basic tenets of production and representation in the visual arts, will be open until the 1st of August.

The project ‘Zidovi na ulici’ was organized in cooperation with the Siemens Arts Programme and it goes beyond the standard museum presentation by using the exhibition potential of public spaces, as well as several galleries in the city centre.

The exhibition is open at the Salon of the MSUB, the Centre for Cultural Decontamination, the National Gallery, in the park in front of MSUB, on the roof of the former ‘Beobanka’ building in Zeleni Venac and in the window of the former ‘Beograd’ department store in Knez Mihailova Street.

The following artists will be showing their works: Mike Bouchet, Uros Djuric, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Mathilde ter Heijne, Rita McBride, Josephine Meckseper, Sarah Morris, Dusan Otasevic, Nesa Paripovic, Dan Perjovschi, Robin Rhode, Michael Sailstorfer, Annika Ström, Milica Tomic, Lawrence Weiner, Amelie von Wulffen and Heimo Zobernig.

The curators of the exhibition are Thomas Trummer from the Siemens Arts Programme, artist Marko Lulic and the director of MSUB Branislava Andjelkovic.

Siemens Arts Programme was started in 1987 in order to develop specific cultural content for the needs of that company. At the beginning of the nineties it developed into a diverse international programme which stimulated and supported modern art and culture. From this an independent institution was formed which surpassed the governing models of sponsorship in culture by initiating and implementing cooperative projects within the field of modern art and culture.

HORROR OVER PANČEVO

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he living dead roam the streets of Pancevo in “Zona Mrtvih” (Zone of the Dead), Serbia’s first domestic horror film. By the beginning of October, Serbia’s first zombie horror film, “Zone of the Dead”, will be ready to shuffle onto the screens of the film festivals across Europe.

Shooting for the film started in mid-May, with a release date set for this month. Produced as a joint project between five companies – Trees Pictures, ABS Productions, Talking Wolf Productions, Pink Film International and Viktorija Film – the plan is to export the film to festivals all around Europe this summer. With a largely foreign cast, the hope is to sell the film to distributors from other countries.

The premise of the film is typical of the zombie genre. After a mistake during a military exercise in Pancevo, a deadly, biochemical weapon is released into the air. Those infected are transformed into mindless, bloodthirsty zombies, hungry for the flesh of the living. The story centres around a small group of survivors, including a prisoner being transported by Interpol agents and a foreign journalist, desperately trying to escape the city in the wake of the disaster.

‘MICA POPOVIC’ AWARD

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he actress and theatre icon Mira Stupica was awarded Mica Popovic award on 12 June in the ‘Haos’ gallery.

The award is given by the Mica Popovic Fund for Promotion of Creativity. The director and writer Vida Ognjenovic, up until recently the president of the Fund, handed the statue and the plaque, along

Pancevo was chosen as the location for this film because of its terrible, real-life air pollution. Star of the film Ken Foree, an American actor with past roles in TV series like the X-Files and film credits including Halloween, says that this pollution and the industrial look and feel of the city make it a perfect place to set a zombie story.

Zone of the Dead is due out this month.

with a cheque, to the winner.

Mira Stupica said that this was a tremendous award for her because it bore the name of a great writer, director, painter and a magnificent, warm man whom she knew personally. On receiving the award, Stupica said that she had the opportunity to meet Popovic after the Second World War and to act in two of the films he directed, ‘Roj’ and ‘Delije.’

Established in 1998 to commemorate the contributions Popovic made to Serbian culture, the award is given each year on the day of Popovic’s birth, the 12th of June.

‘Besides his hometown Loznica, where ‘Legacy of Vera and Mica’ stands and where he’s given due attention every year, this award always gathers people who are of similar mindsets to Mica’s - people who inclined to think differently, to be transgressors in creative freedom, in their fight for a more civilized society and particularly valuable artistic achievements,’ Borka Bozovic said.

GRIFON AWARD GIVEN he Grifon Award for the best graphic design in Serbia, Montenegro and Republika Srpska in the past two years was given to Igor Orsolic for the show ‘Yellow Cab’ in the film, video and TV graphics category. Orsolic, the B92 art director, was given the award in the Graficki kolektiv gallery on the 9th of June at the opening of the ‘Grifon 2008’ exhibition.

The works that were chosen in the competition for the best graphic design in 2006 and 2007 were also presented at the exhibition.

Awards were also given to Vedran Erakovic in the typographic font category, Jovan Trkulja in the category ‘Books and Other Publications’ and to the studio Pure – Mane Radmanovic and Nebojsa Cvetkovic – in the category ‘Promotional Material and Securities.’

The jury was made up of art directors Branko Basarovski and Kosta Glusica, art historian Dejan Sretenovic, representative of Quadra Graphic Milan Stevanovic and graphic designer Isidora Nikolic who won an award at the previous competition for his work ‘Nevidljivi Gradovi’ (‘Invisible Cities’).

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art

Museum of Yugoslav History

The exhibition “Svet od srebra” (World of Silver) in the Museum of Yugoslav History is a display of luxury objects made from silver, which were received as valuable gifts by Josip Broz Tito. Among more than 200 exhibits there are gifts from the US Presidents John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, from Jordanian King Hussein, Greek Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, the President of NDR of Korea Kim Il Sung and many other prominent public figures from the second half of the 20th century. by Žarka Radoja

T

he World of Silver exhibition was opened at the end of May, the pieces are on display to the public until September. This exhibition is just a small part of the collection of the Yugoslav History Museum, which has around 112,000 exhibits classified into 23 different collections, the majority of which were received as gifts by Tito during his presi-

74 CorD / July 2008

dency of Yugoslavia.

The exhibition custodian, Ana Panić, says that the artefacts are by and large modern pieces, but that they still have historic, aesthetic and artistic value.

“We have opened many such exhibitions, displaying what we call “utility artefacts” (goblet, cups, trays, bowls, cutlery, pitchers, jewellery boxes and boxes for cosmetics, writing kits and smoking

equipment) manufactured in workshops of some of the most famous companies in the world, including Tiffany & Co, Bvlgari, Asprey, Reed & Barton and Hermes, to the most ornate tea sets from the far east items of exquisite beauty made of 99 % silver” explains Panić.

One of the most valuable pieces in the collection, “Ratnik” (the Warrior), is made from silver so pure, Panić says, that it never

tarnishes or has to be cleaned. It was manufactured by the famous house “Asprey” in London, after being asked to do so by King Hussein from Jordan. John F. Kennedy’s gift is also in the collection, which Tito received in October 1963, one month before the president’s assassination. Panić says that watching the people who visit the exhibition, you can see that for some of them these pieces stir up many old memories.

In the collection there are many pieces without any kind of identifying markings, so it is very difficult to trace their origins.

There are even a handful of mystery pieces whose donors are unknown.

The Head of Museum Activity Department of the Yugoslav History Museum, Archaeologist Momo Cvijović, who was also a custodian at this exhibition, says there are only a small number of documents regarding who gave what and when.

“The strangest thing for us was that for the majority of these presents really very little is known. Tito received them personally, without the presence of photographers and journalists. Those presents were of personal nature and it was considered almost rude to exploit those things in media. Not even Tito’s photographer Veljko Velašević was given permission to photograph the gift giving. We asked him why it was like that, and he told us that it was an intimate act. It’s one of the few things that wasn’t documented; what Tito said and how he reacted when he received those gifts.” says Cvijović.

Some other gifts were archived, however, and records were kept. From 1953 onward we have a pretty clear picture of what Tito received and what he gave, but in the years before, when he didn’t leave, there is little information, although says Cvijović, the history of those gifts would be the most interesting.

“Tito visited 73 countries in his life, and here are presented gifts from over 40 countries. Therefore we called the exhibition “Svet od srebra” (World of Silver), explains Cvijović.

The oldest silver gift found in the

The president of Bulgaria gave Tito a flask that caused turmoil when custodians prepared it for exhibition. According to the custodians, the aroma lingered in the depot for days. Tito also received from the French president a portable travel case for drinks, and with it a bottle of Champagne from 1868, with a special dedication written on the label by a calligrapher.

Museum archive was silver table box for cigarettes, engraved with a dedication from the Anti-Fascist Front of Croatian Women in 1945.

Among the other items on display are a silver tea set decorated with jade, a gift from the Korean President Kim Il Sung, accompanied with a letter to Tito. In the letter, according to Cvijović, Kim Il Sung writes that in Korea one of the traditional ways to show honour and respect is to serve somebody tea from a silver tea set. A tea set from Morocco comes with similar instructions: “three cups of tea should be drunk: the first is bitter as life, the second sweet as love, and the third as smooth as death”.

The exhibition also features a recreation of Tito’s dining room. At the entrance, the Latin expression “tarde venientibus ossa” has been engraved, which translated means “whoever is late shall have the bones”.

Moma Cvijović says that above each room in his residence Tito had a Latin proverb engraved. Working from photographs, the dining room has be reconstructed as far as possible with all the original furniture and decoration.

The president of Bulgaria gave Tito a flask that caused turmoil when custodians prepared it for exhibition. Ana Panić opened it and the whole depot filled with the strong smell of a fine spirit that had been closed there for decades. According to the custodians, the aroma lingered in the depot for days.

Tito also received from the French president a portable travel case for drinks, and with it a bottle of Champagne from 1868, with a special dedication written on the label by a calligrapher. n

Stalin’s sabre and moon rocks “Stories are told about that sabre. People used to say that as soon as Milošević moved into his residence, his son Marko took this precious artefact and sold it.

For months we told journalists that it had been put in the treasury. When this chaos was resolved, we placed it on display. “No one even noticed it”, says Cvijović.

The collection also includes several moon rocks brought for Tito by three of the American astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission in June 1969.

CorD / July 2008 75

CULTURE

The Best Festival on the Continent

Escape to Exit Today, EXIT is an escape for many foreign visitors who briefly abandon their usual order of things, normalcy, and routine and swap it for Balkan ‘casualness’ on both sides of the fortress on the Danube River bank.

BY SANJA STOJANOVIĆ

T

he Balkans is more of a concept than a region. The connotations are frequently negative. Serbia – the most notorious country of all. The reason – Slobodan Milošević.

Various creative ways of fighting against his regime were devised, with Exit being one of them. It was one of the methods of cultural fight against confinement. Serbia – isolated, defiant, backward. And then, a rebellion in the form of a music festival appears as the light at the end of tunnel, the first sign of hope and belief in a better, democratic future. State of Exit. New country.

New state of mind. Escape. A way out…

The Festival was set up by a group of students from the University of Novi Sad in an

76 CorD / July 2008

attempt to offer the youth of Serbia some kind of event and resuscitate culture and entertainment in Novi Sad. They were looking for a way out of a bad situation that had enveloped the country. EXIT 00 Noise Summer Fest 2000 was one of the biggest cultural and social projects in the country to be seen in years.

EXIT is the biggest music event in SouthEast Europe, with over six hundred performers on 25 stages connected by the mystical paths and bridges of the Petrovaradin Fortress.

In addition, EXIT was declared the best European music festival at an award ceremony in London in 2007. For the first time, this award was given out in 2007 at an event called the UK Festival Awards, in collaboration with Yourope, the association of the 40 biggest music festivals in Europe.

Known for its diversity, EXIT has played

host to many important names from all musical genres. EXIT is proud of cooperating with many distinguished musicians who have performed at the festival so far, including Iggy Pop, who prompted the audience to join him on the stage, Basement Jaxx, the fantastic Billy Idol, Franz Ferdinand, Fatboy Slim, Morrissey, Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Robert Plant, Snoop Dogg, Moloko, The Cardigans, The Cult... What is in store this year, aside from the standard relaxed atmosphere? Which important musical artists will find their way to this year’s list of performers?

Nothing fancy, only rock and roll. This is how Juliette and the Licks present themselves.

Although their concerts have been announced in our country several times before, they are finally going to perform at EXIT’s Main Stage, on Saturday, July 12th. Juliette Lewis is known for her roles in Kalifornia, Natural Born Killers, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Room to Rent (where we can see her as Marylin Monroe), and now, we will have a chance to see her live and check out why she shook up the global rock scene so much. Juliette and the Licks had their first noticable musical breakthrough peforming in the Viper Room Club, known in equal part for its owner, Johnny Depp, as well as for the tragic death of actor River Phoenix, which happened inside. The band also played with The

Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Motörhead. The time has come to feel their energy on stage.

Lovers of punk, metal, and r’n’b also have something to look forward to. Of course, fans of dance/trance/techno and house music will also be happy since EXIT’s Dance Arena is one of the best in Europe. 20,000 people dance without stopping even when the Sun comes up from behind the Fortress’ walls.

EXIT 00 arose from defiance, on the lawn stretching between the Faculty of Philosophy and the Danube River. This festival broke the mental barriers in the heads of citizens of Novi Sad, as well as those who came to Novi Sad to witness how the people here were fighting for democracy and normal life. During the programme of 100 days, free concerts, shows,

parties, discussions and movie premieres were not only attended by young people from Novi Sad, but also people from neighbouring regions and other cities. With the greatest Serbian bands playing, graffiti springing up everywhere, theatre plays, performances, discussions, movie projections and other similar activies, Milošević’s regime was counting its last days. EXIT 01 and 02 lasted for nine days, and every day, close to 30,000 people assembled at the Petrovaradin Fortress. In 2003, it was decided for EXIT to last for four days.

The number of people visiting EXIT grows year after year, and only last year it reached a figure of 50,000 in just one day. Young people are coming for all around the country, Europe and the world.

Even today the Festival is trying to main-

NIGHTWISH

N*E*R*D

MINISTRY

Nightwish, one of the most popular bands, will peform at the beginning of EXIT 08, on July 10th.

This is not the first time that Nightwish have performed in Serbia, and the audience is eager to see them again.

Pharell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley, the trio behind N*E*R*D, one of the biggest names in the contemporary US music scene, will play on the first day of EXIT, July 10, on the Main Stage.

Ministry, the band which through 11 albums have defined a musical genre and who have for 20 years been collecting fans of furious guitar sound around a single musical vision, will perform at EXIT, on July 13th.

tain its social commitment. The proof that you cannot keep art and politics apart can be seen in the fact that Bjork’s performance was cancelled after dedicating her song “Declare Independence” to Kosovo.

Can art change the image that people have of us? Socially committed cultural activities are the way of getting closer to Europe. However, do foreign guests, who are coming in bigger numbers each year (last year, there were more guests from abroad than from Serbia), come to taste Europe or for a slice of raw Balkans?

Belgrade is often mentioned today as the New York of the Balkans, a capital city that people should come to because of the entertainment and nightlife. Novi Sad is famous for its festival which has received so many international awards. Everything is easy going in Novi Sad. Cars and pedestrians take their time.

Even the visitors to the Petrovaradin Fortress are not in much rush to get to a certain stage, because they know that there is enough room for everyone. Perhaps not in the front row, but even with 50,000 people at Petrovaradin last year there was still room for everyone. In additon to an excellent music programme, EXIT is visited for its atmosphere at the Fortress and the city’s positive energy. This is what brings them back to Novi Sad year after year, as well as the stellar line-up of musicians.

CorD / July 2008 77

INTERVIEW

Svetilsav Bata Prelić, Director

Homage to lost generations BY: ŽARKA RADOJA PHOTO: STANISLAV MILOJKOVIĆ

B

y the end of eighties he was making films that would achieve cult status in Serbian and Ex-SFRY cinematography. And then he stopped. Audiences waited for 18 years to see a new film by Svetislav Bata Prelić, and now, finally, it’s here. Two decades after “Šećerna vodica” (Sugar Water) and “Poltron” (Poltroon), 2008 sees the premiere of “Biro za izgubljene things” (Bureau for lost things) at the Novi Sad film festival Cinema City. Before setting off for a summer of European film festival screenings, Bata Prelić spoke to CorD about his 18 years away from behind the camera, his views on the current cinema culture in Serbia and what has changed during his long absence from the big screen.

At the beginning of the 90’s you made 78 CorD / July 2008

the comedy “Poltron”, and then you disappeared. Where has Bata Prelić been for 18 years?

I made Poltron in 1990, and then due to certain social circumstances which I couldn’t understand, I retreated. During the 90’s in the Ex-SFRY there was no place for my creations, nor did I have the inspiration to shoot anything. I just tried to survive and turned to my old job, marketing. I am one of the marketing pioneers here, and I had big clients whom I succeeded in retaining even during the war. Making films just wasn’t a viable way to make a living.

When did you decide to return to film?

From 1984 to 1990 I made four feature films, which at the time was a record. I was in full swing, ready to work on the fifth film, and then the war started. That should have been a serious film, different from everything else I did, because I made my career in com-

During the 90’s in the ExSFRY there was no place for my creations, nor did I have the inspiration to shoot anything. I was provoked by the fact that there is a continuity of destruction among the current generation of young people and I have dedicated my new film to them.

edy. In 1990 I was preparing for a serious film, which I finally succeeded in making after 18 years. The reasons are well known: the time of atrocities had started, and that wasn’t an environment I could work in. The foremost question was how to survive, so I had to balance that against new opportunities to make my film. Of the two such opportunities, one was very provocative and interesting, in combination with the Russians, but, as usually happens, it slipped away. The second time I had the possibility to make my film was just before the October 5th revolution.

I started shooting, worked on the plot with the writer Momo Kapor, but that project also

fell through. After 2000 I started to look for scripts, but tragically at around this time my wife died. I tried to find my peace, my shelter, and I knew that for me, making a film would be the best way just to keep functioning. I packed my things and travelled to Teheran, where I sat down with a friend and wrote a script. I wrote a story that is a tribute to our whole generation, but is connected with the generation which is today of the same age we were when the war started.

Critics were much divided regarding that film. They either disliked it completely, or were thrilled. Are you satisfied with the end result?

I have never taken criticism seriously, because realistically that job is done by superficial people. The modern critic’s profession and credibility has been completely devalued by a lack of training and professionalism, and generally speaking I think that for a film the audience and the makers are the supreme judges. I like to think Bureau for Lost Things will become a cult film like Sugar Water.

The biggest compliment for me was when after the premiere American producer Mike Downey asked me how much the film had cost to make, with his guess being around 1 or 1.5 million. In reality it was 10 times cheaper, but I am very satisfied with how polished it looks given that budget.

Critic Borislav Jelić wrote that time spent outside the mainstream of the Serbian film industry has made you “serious”. How serious have you really become with regard to your creations?

I don’t know how much the creative process can change in a man. You either have or don’t have to say something. During all these years, I have only changed my wife - everything else is the same. I don’t lack inspiration, it is always present, but being a film director in Serbia has some practical limitations. I would make 200 films if I could - I can find inspiration and a story in everything - but film is an expensive amusement. A man must adapt and feel what it takes to make a film. I am surrounded by writers, the best of them are my friends and I know their way of life.

Whenever they have inspiration they sit and write, but in order to shoot a film we directors have to make arrangements two years in ad-

THE BEST According to Prelić, the best ever Serbian film makers are the unforgettable Živojin Pavlović, then Puriša Đorđević and Šijan, Makavejev. In global terms, he finds so many people who have changed the face of cinema, like Tarkovsky.

I LIVE WITH PEOPLE FROM STONE AGE - Belgrade is a miracle. Quite apart from being our home, it has passed through the atrocities of war and dark times, but is now returning to normal. Belgrade is beautiful in summer and has its atmosphere, but unfortunately there is a huge number of people who are completely “unurbanized”. I was born here and so often I’m shocked when I see how much vandalism is there in the streets.

vance. In the meantime, you lose some of the It’s like a fresh start, with the hope that buzz and inspiration, and it’s never a guaran- through festivals and that whole ritual I can tee that the project will ever make it to the keep that energy and put it to work on my screen. Film directors bat various ideas about, next film. We have already received many but only about 5% of them ever see the box invitations to festivals - some called us based office. With my last film, I discovered a valve on the script alone. In Novi Sad we opened in myself. Writing a script or a story is like some kind of dis- During all these years, I have only changed charge for me. When you write my wife - everything else is the same. you have to put something on paper, you keep your inspiration, and even if the film is not made, you’re on June 15th, but we still have Sopot in left with something tangible, something that front of us, and all the domestic festivals, the Croatian festival in Motovun, a festival in you can keep and preserve.

Sarajevo, Athens, and Milan...That gives me How do you feel after a premiere and the energy to keep working. the first impressions of the audience?

You have picked younger, mostly unCINEMAS known group of actors, led by seasoned TEHERAN colleague Miodrag Krivokapić. Why? I tried to find my peace, In Serbia films are The story of the film is all about one my shelter, and I knew watched in pits. generation which was aged about 15 or 16 that for me, making Looking at the when atrocities started in the 90’s. They ena film would be the creative part of tered puberty, and then, when naturally each best way just to keep cinematography in the young person is full of enthusiasm, faith and functioning. I packed last couple of years, love, they were forced to grow up in an enmy things and travelled there are young film toTeheran, where I sat vironment which was completely devoid of makers with a great down with a friend and those qualities. Everything was frustrating, potential. wrote a script. although we all suffered heavily, they were CorD / July 2008 79

INTERVIEW

these are mere drops in the ocean.

the worst affected. It’s as though someone stole that youthful energy from them. It is gruesome and terribly sad to see such apathy and disillusionment in such young people. It was moving for me to see this legacy of destruction. When we were young there was a series of obstacles for the energy we wanted to express, but few opportunities. I made my first film when I was 39, and here I was called a young author. In Serbia young people are treated like retards. Looking at that young generation, I remembered how many obstacles we had, and so many people failed trying to find their creative position in that.

That’s what I wanted my story to be about.

I succeeded in saying in the film that there is a phenomenon of lost generations; that these patterns are passed on from generation to generation and repeat themselves. So I took young, lesser known actors, and I am very satisfied with how they played their roles. It was a conscious decision – I wanted the film to have the feel almost of a documentary.

You have also tried your hand at television with series for RTS like “Varošarija”.

Where is the Serbian TV film industry today?

I never loved television - I’m a hard core film maker. We grew up in a really good time for production. In Avala film, in Košutnjak, we made so many co-productions with guests and experts from the all over the world, and the result was a generation of highly professional domestic film makers. We all learned there, and it was unique in its operation. There was no lax “we’ll do it tomorrow” attitude which so characteristic of Serbs, and at Avala at that time it was unthinkable to see someone just sitting around doing nothing. Those who didn’t fit into that mindset or couldn’t work under that pressure left for television, because there they could do nothing - everything was on a lower level. For all those reasons I’ve worked very little on TV. TV films just aren’t regarded as a creative forum for the expres80 CorD / July 2008

sion of ideas. They are made to a lower standard – one which is practically non-existent.

We have TV dramas, but not films, and that is the reason why I turned to big screen.

However, if you look at creative side of cinematography in the last couple of years, there are young film makers with great potential. It’s just that all the other elements are so bad, worse than they were.

Poor financing and the poor relationship of our society with film is a consequence of ruined basic structures. Maybe you’ve made a good film, but no one will see it because no one goes to cinema. Maybe it’s a cult film, but it makes no money or impact because kids buy and sell pirate copies on CD. My colleague Milorad Milinković made a film “Čitulja za Eskobara” (Obituary for Escobar), which was produced by Pink - the strongest production house in the country. The film was constantly advertised, but the audience that watched it didn’t exceed 30,000 people. In order to have a cult film you must have cult audience that goes to cinemas.

Where does Bata Prelić see himself in the next couple of years?

I want to do so many things. I hope that I will get the chance to make something in which I can concentrate all my inspirations;

How do you like the films of produced by the younger generation? A few have even become cult films, with big audience...

It has finally started. Things When we were young there was a series are moving, at least on the creative side. But the basic struc- of obstacles for the energy we wanted to ture is still a disaster. There are express, but few opportunities. I made my almost no cinemas, and where first film when I was 39, and here I was there are, attendance is poor. called a young author.

Piracy is blooming. Once the supports have started to rot, it becomes very difficult to return and bring a film where I could really explore my narsuch an industry back to an acceptable stand- row attitude to the world. I hope that I’ll get ard. In the rest of the world, people go to the to make another two or three films. I’m talkcinema. It’s a ritual, an event. In Serbia films ing like I’m a young person, but like women, are watched in pits. There are a couple of ex- film is something that is revitalising. It drains ceptions made by private entrepreneurs, but your energy, but also rejuvenates.

ABOUT SONJA SAVIĆ AND “SERBIAN GRAFFITI” Sonja Savić has truly entered the history of Yugoslav film with “Šećerna Vodica” (Sugar Water), not because that film is popular even today, but because she is the only Yugoslav actress who won absolutely all the awards for the role of Dečka.

Svetislav Prelić says that at the beginning she didn’t believe in that film at all.

- She picked up every award from Đerdap to Đevđelija. Sonja thought that this film was trash, because she was young and full of artistic ambitions. She was never much interested in comedy. When we were alone during shooting, we spoke about philosophy. Soon afterwards we made another film, “Majstor i šampita” and after that I hardly saw her. I know her interests, I think she could have made an excellent career as an actress, but she didn’t want that. Her team made the music for the film and even today this is our favourite music. They were all very talented people, but failed to impose themselves. I found by chance on Internet a text from some music journal for young people, in which a journalist was praising the music in “Šećerna vodica”, and that it is unbelievable that a film with such a score hasn’t attracted additional musical attention. The journalist compares it with the cult film “American Graffiti” saying that for him “Vodica” was Serbia’s equivalent. That is true, the music in that film was cult, and is still so today.

SCIENCE

The next step in evolution

Better Than Well Our Genetic Future BY: RICHARD WORDSWORTH

T

o a person living at the turn of the last century, the achievements we have made in the past 100 years would probably seem like science fiction.

That we would find a type of mold growing on a cave wall which would prove to be one of the greatest advances in fighting infection would have seemed bizarre, but today we have penicillin. Being able to cross the world in supersonic jets in a matter of hours would be almost inconceivable, and the idea of being able to simulate such travelling for practical purposes in fractions of a second with our mobile phones, laptops and communications satellites would be

82 CorD / July 2008

laughable. And yet here we are.

When we consider the technological leaps and bounds made in the past, we see a trend. Everything, from our flint-tipped spears to the first tribal settlements, from the birth of agriculture to our saddling of horses, from the discovery of penicillin to the creation of the internet - every technological advance we have made so far in our relatively brief time in existence has been aimed at exerting further control over the world around us. We have used technology tirelessly to create a world which is ever more hospitable to human life, tailoring the earth to our needs and the needs of our children.

Which is what makes the geneticist’s promise so interesting. Forget about the op-

posing sides of the genetic argument, the scientists on the one hand offering what today would seem like super powers in tablet form, and the sceptics who worry that genetic modification will turn their babies green and make them grow two heads. For the first time ever, science is being used to adapt us to the world, rather than the other way around.

The promise of genetics isn’t solely to protect us from the everyday perils like disease, although no doubt that’s a big part of it, but rather to change our bodies and minds into beings better suited to making the very most out of our world. Rather than just fighting the strengths of disease, genetics tackles the limitations of being human. It is more than a scientific u-turn - by the beginning of the

next century, scientists may be singling this development out as the start of the new and most important era in not just human history, but human evolution.

Imagine that the human body is a bit like a computer programme. Both have specific functions to perform in a specific way, both have things that they are very good at doing, and a great number of things that they are very bad at doing, or cannot do at all.

Crucially, their ability to do or not to do something is dependent on lines of code, in the case of a computer its programming language, and in the case of a human being its genes. In the same way that a computer programme will not do something that it is not specifically told to in one of its lines of code, a human body won’t have a trait that isn’t accounted for by a gene somewhere.

And we’re not just talking about physically basic ideas like eye or hair colour. We’re talking about everything that makes you you. Intelligence is a trait. Your body’s ability to store and burn fat is a trait. Everything, right down to our individual personalities, is controlled by our genes - nothing happens “by chance”. This is the level which genetic engineering works at, and if you believe the hype, there isn’t anything that won’t at some point in the near future be beyond our ability to change and control.

For the researchers and scientists involved in the field, the basic process behind genetic modification is deceptively simple.

The DNA, the genetic instructions on how you are built, is stored in the very centre of your body’s cells, in the nucleus. The goal of genetic modification is either to insert new DNA into the nucleus and leave it to float around, or to splice replacement pieces of DNA into the original collection, like changing the ingredients in a food recipe.

When you tack on an extra piece of DNA, it still gets “read” along with the rest of the DNA in the cell, but when the cell reproduces by dividing the new piece of material doesn’t get copied into the two resulting new cells. This causes whatever effect the new piece of DNA was having to fade away, creating a temporary effect on the person’s life. Splicing DNA directly into the original DNA creates a permanent change in the person. Trying to process ideas like this, which work at such a tiny scale, is a fairly daunt-

No fear - experiments in genetically altered personality have already been successful in mice. ing task for people with no prior interest in cellular biology, but the upshot is this: using this kind of manipulation we will have the possibility to change any aspect of ourselves, physical or mental, that we choose, and even better we can try the changes out first before we make a decision about wheth-

ful recovery periods. By comparison, the insertion of a single altered piece of genetic code into the human genome would in many cases produce better and longer lasting effects, with no pain, without having to pay exorbitant fees for consults, the surgery itself or follow up appointments. All said and

“Having a population that lived until 120 would provide a huge boost to global economies and living standards.” er or not we want to keep them.

So what kind of changes are we talking about? What, at a genetic level, is going under the knife first? Physical enhancement seems an obvious place to start, with obvious benefits manifesting visibly at high speed. This field of “miracle cures” will also probably see the highest initial demand.

In 2007, the plastic surgery industry in the US alone was worth an estimated 13 billion dollars, with surgical procedures making up about 8 and a half billion. The procedures are, individually, shockingly expensive, in many cases with lengthy and pain-

REVOLUTION

CURING CANCER

RENAISSANCE

For the first time ever, science is being used to adapt us to the world, rather than the other way around, allowing us to make the very most of our environment.

Genes which cause genetic defects like cancer, Huntington’s disease, sickle cell anaemia and other such conditions could be removed and replaced with healthier, more resilient alternatives.

Imagine going to the cinema to watch a film that was shown in infrared, or seeing a play in sonar. A whole new world of artistic possibilities would be opened up to us.

done, the most optimistic predictions by experts like Ramez Naam (whose book “More Than Human - Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement” formed the basis of much of this article) puts the final cost of such treatments, after competition has driven down prices, to be no more than we currently pay for aspirin.

Genes which control metabolism and the regulation of the body’s fat stores would replace liposuction and even exercise regimes.

The whole culture of self improvement as we know it would be completely turned on its head.

Furthermore, genetic modification in humans offers advances far beyond the reach of current cosmetic surgeons. Human beings are born with five senses, but there is no reason to assume these are the only ones we could possess. Using the genetic makeup of other animals as a model, there is no logical reason we shouldn’t develop treatments to allow us to see in infrared, like snakes, or with sonar like bats, in addition to our normal eyesight. Many animals have a sense of magnetic orientation which allows them to CorD / July 2008 83

SCIENCE

A graphical representation of DNA: The building blocks of the human rganism navigate fantastic distances accurately, as evidenced in animal migration. Even forms of telepathy may not be outside the bounds of possibility.

Genetic modification will also offer us the abilities to boost senses we already have. The difference in eyesight between say a human and an eagle is a genetic difference, solely down to a presence of particular genes in eagles and a corresponding absence in us. The evolutionary process is useful for development of a species in that only the traits of the strongest individuals are passed on to the next generation, but that isn’t the same as saying that the survivors of Darwin’s law will be the best they could 84 CorD / July 2008

possibly be. Humans have long since passed the stage where all they want to do is survive - humanity wants to survive comfortably.

The cosmetic applications of genetic en-

such as increases in memory or even intelligence are technically similar to increases in muscle mass or skin tone, being similarly controlled by individual genes. Changing genes that regulate the happiness-inducing

No more rowing machines. No more jogging.The genes that control muscle growth could be altered to develop new tissue while we sit at home in front of the TV, or while we’re at work. gineering are near endless. Pills to control hair colour. Injections that affect melanin production, giving us instant, natural sun tans. But more exciting still are the implications for our brains. Mental enhancements,

chemical dopamine could provide cures for depression, and further research suggests that in the not-so-far-future even our personalities will not be unchangeable.

It may seem counterintuitive that things

that seem so different to us like physical beauty and mental ability be so similar on a genetic level, and that the method of changing them be practically the same.

But if we go further down the genetic road we find even more interesting possibilities.

At the very forefront of both the scientific and ethical debate on genetic modification in humans is the question of human lifespan.

Genes which cause genetic defects like cancer, Huntington’s disease, sickle cell anaemia and other such conditions could be removed and replaced with healthier, more resilient alternatives. Better protection of the DNA inside our cells from natural wear and tear will reduce the damage we suffer from free radicals, heat and UV radiation. Already in mice and chimps, genetic altering of a gene responsible for the body’s processing of food has shown increases in lifespan of up to 50% - the equivalent of the average westerner living to 110. Until human trials begin, these developments will still remain theoretical and highly controversial, but just to be able to consider the possibility of beating death in the same way that we consider electric lighting and the internal combustion engine is an incredibly exciting development.

New DNA is inserted into the centre of a cell the Jews, or even a scenario where enhanced humans view their natural counterparts as so beneath them as to be afforded barely the rights we afford cattle today.

Such people do undermine their case when they start predicting future cannibalistic dystopias, but it is useful to have a cautionary voice amidst the overwhelmingly optimistic predictions of the scientists.

Certainly biological enhancement that deals with the very building blocks of our species raises new and difficult questions. Once we have the ability to genetically alter our personalities, what, if anything, happens to our idea of personal identity? It’s difficult to think of a level of society that would be un-

How will this technology be made available to everyone? What will the implications be to our security if bioenhancement advances faster than our ability to maintain order?

Genetic engineering is revolutionary field of modern medicine, almost limitless in its scope to change and better our lives.

But not everyone shares in this enthusiasm.

Some sceptics warn that such rapid increases in human ability will further increase the gap between first world and developing nations who may not be able to afford the treatments. Creating an elite of biologically augmented people could spark a new and hitherto unseen strain of discrimination, with strong resentment between genetically enhanced humans and those who choose to stay biologically natural. At the most extreme end of the spectrum, some so called bioethicists foresee acts of hateful discrimination reminiscent of Hitler’s treatment of

affected by such human development, and the implications for certain demographics, particularly religious groups, could be pretty complicated.

The choice that society will be forced to make in the near future is whether or not these possible disadvantages outweigh the benefits. Imagine the society in which techniques to extend human life have been perfected, and where the average lifespan is now closer to 120 in developed countries.

Furthermore, imagine that we have perfected what geneticists refer to as “morbidity compression”, meaning that the vast majority of this 120 year life is spent at a physically and mentally healthy level, a level at which the person in question can still be of

value to society, rather than being trapped in the slow physical and mental decline of old age.

Having a population who lived 40% longer than they should would provide a huge boost to the economy, and therefore to the living standards of the citizens concerned.

Furthermore, citizens who lived healthy and active lives through genetic engineering would save society billions of dollars per year in healthcare treatments. In the US, about half of the money spent on healthcare in the whole population is spent on the over65s, despite their making up only 13% of the population. With a retirement age of 65, and a rapidly aging population, by 2030 one in every seven dollars earned in the US will be spent on pension plans and programmes to help the elderly, a figure which will only get worse. Without increasing taxes or cutting benefits dramatically, this will cause massive economic problems for developed countries in the 21st century. Research into life extension therapies provides the perfect answer.

The implications for human culture are almost as interesting as those for its health.

It is difficult to predict what kind of art could be produced by an enhanced society.

What kind of music could be created by a society with double the hearing ability of today? What kind of painting or films could be produced by a society with enhanced vision? We take for granted that when we look at a painting or a television screen or a theatre stage that we use our eyes to judge distance, perspective and colour, and these things are so integral to our appreciation of these art forms that we consider art which doesn’t make use of them novel (as in the case of black and white films, for instance).

But imagine going to the cinema to watch a film that was shown in infrared, or watching a play in sonar. A whole new world of artistic possibility would be opened to us.

With genetic engineering still in the testing stages, it may be a while before we start seeing the kind of changes in society described above. As with any new medical treatment, the process of development, animal testing, human trials and finally mass production for public consumption is lengthy and errs hard on the side of caution, and rightly so. But on the other hand, a technology with such massive potential, and I’m talking about financial as well as human potential, can’t be confined to the laboratories and testing facilities indefinitely. It sounds like science fiction, but if the scientists and their results with animals are to be believed, this is technology that we will see blossoming in our society not only within our lifetimes, but in the next quarter century. For better or worse, the majority of us are going to live through the next great advance in human evolution.

CorD / July 2008 85

SOCIETY

Psychics or scam-artists The image of the fairground fortune teller is familiar to everyone, but cold reading practitioners claim there’s nothing spiritual about them.

Enter the Psychic A man dressed in a clown suit walks down a busy London street, and sits down with a man and a woman at a roadside cafe.The couple looks baffled and nervous, and then, in a mournful and slow voice, the clown starts to speak.

BY: RICHARD WORDSWORTH

A

man dressed in a clown suit walks down a busy London street, and sits down with a man and a woman at a roadside cafe. The couple looks baffled and nervous, and then, in a mournful and slow voice, the clown starts to speak.

“I like to see things from people from when they are younger, memories and such things.

People’s past” says the clown.

They stare at him incredulously.

“When you were younger,” the clown says to the man, “you were much thinner.”

86 CorD / July 2008

“Yeah.”

“There’s a memory from when you were young where you are hurting or suffering, trying to escape from something. It is summery, and there is grass and other children. You are having lots of fun, and then you panic because something bad is happening. You are in water, here somewhere in London, in the north of London. You panic because you are drowning in the water. Is this true?”

The man stares at him. “It’s true.”

You are very small, maybe six or seven.

And you are with your brother?”

From behind his hand, raised in shock, the

man replies: “My dad.”

Everybody has had or knows someone who has had a psychic reading of some kind, and everybody has an opinion on the subject.

Almost everyone has had some kind of experience that they can’t explain - in which they have known something that they, in their eyes, couldn’t have known. Knowing who is calling when the phone rings before they’ve answered, knowing what song was coming next on the radio without being told. These moments can be explained as mere coincidence, or as the workings of supernatural or psychic forces. Either way, they make for a compelling topic of discussion.

The exchange above with the clown really happened. The video is freely available on YouTube. But despite the apparent accuracy of this impromptu reading, and the shock and awe of the man being “read”, the man in the clown

suit is not, and in fact does not claim to be, a psychic. His name is Derren Brown, and he is Britain’s most popular exponent of a technique called “cold reading”.

To the untrained eye, the results of a skilled cold reading can only be explained as psychic or paranormal. A complete stranger who can tell you with pin point accuracy facts about your past, present and future, about your personality, about your hopes and fears seems inexplicable to the rational mind. For people of a naturally sceptical disposition it can be very unnerving. Fortunately for such people, and I include myself in that bracket, the technique is a scam.

As part of my research for this article, I picked up a book by another of Britain’s most highly thought of cold readers, Ian Rowland.

Rowland has made his reputation and his living by imitating the techniques of so-called psychics, and using these techniques in equal measure to entertain and to debunk. Both Ian Rowland and Derren Brown share an adamant belief that psychic abilities, in whatever form, are pure fantasy. [start glosa] “It’s not a case of psychic abilities being ‘unlikely’” says Rowland. “The plain truth is that there is not a single documented instance of anyone, anywhere, being able to demonstrate, under controlled conditions, that they have psychic ability. [end glosa] That’s just the way it is. Do these people actually have psychic power? The answer is, no, they don’t.”

The technique of gathering information about a person in this way is called cold reading, a complex process of telling people truths about themselves using high probability guesses based on their appearance, their responses, and the law of averages. When put so simply it’s hard to see how people would fall for it, but take a look again at the transcript of the clown interaction at the beginning of the article. What is the clown really saying? First, consider the set up - a colourful costume, a mysterious voice, and a claim that he likes to “see things” from when people are younger. It’s intriguing, and his character seems congruent with his claims to paranormal ability. Then he follows with a statement about the man being thinner when he was younger. It’s possible this could be incorrect, but unlikely - most people who look athletic and like to take care of their

bodies now were probably thinner when they were younger - that’s just how the body grows.

Similarly, every one has memories of hurting and suffering from when they were younger, and trying to escape from something could bring back memories of anything from drowning in a pond to playing games of tag. The man could even have felt that he was trying to escape from the pressure of school or the expectations of his parents. It’s a seemingly precise

can be judged pretty accurately from factors like accent and ethnicity. Having established that this is a memory from when he was young, it’s a safe bet also that he was being supervised by another family member. He chooses incorrectly, but the effect of guessing the presence of another male relative is still very impressive.

It’s at about this point that the fairground “psychic” would ask you for your money.

The full techniques of the experienced cold

The technique of gathering information about a person in this way is called cold reading, a complex process of telling people truths about themselves using high probability guesses based on their appearance, their responses, and the law of averages. statement that actually has, in one way or another, a very high chance of being correct.

Picking up on drowning in water seems impressive, too, but look at the build up. Grass and other children, and you are having fun.

This could be a pond in a park, or an outdoor swimming pool, or a canal, and who hasn’t at some stage as a child had a bad experience with water? Pinpointing the event to north London seems impressive, as theoretically the man could have been from anywhere, such things

INEXPLICABLE

DELUDED

UNIVERSAL

To the untrained eye, the results of a skilled cold reading can only be explained as psychic or paranormal. A complete stranger who can tell you with pin point accuracy facts about your life seems inexplicable to the rational mind.

“Some psychics know that they are just con artists, while others are thoroughly deluded about their own ‘powers’” says Rowland.

“It’s an attractive delusion.Who wouldn’t want to have some special, gifted insight into people, life and the future?”

“There is no connection at all between being taken in by cold reading and lacking intelligence. I’ve performed for scientists, mathematicians and other very bright people.

They don’t stand a chance of figuring out how I do what I do, simply because this is my specialised field.”

reader are too lengthy to cover in one article, but watching performances by Brown and Rowland, who freely admit that they have no psychic talent whatsoever, makes for great entertainment. Some people are a lot more unscrupulous. In the US, some less-than-honest cold reading practitioners are elevated to super star status. People like John Edward.

I first heard of John Edward about two years ago, while watching an episode of South Park called “The Biggest Douche in the Universe”, in which he was the star. Edward is, according to his website, an “international psychic medium, [who] uses his unique abilities to connect people with loved ones who have passed on.”

He also writes books, goes on talk shows, performs live and televised “readings” all over the world, and makes boatloads of cash. The difference between him and the clown? He’s actually serious.

One of the most biggest problems with the “psychic” industry is that it is extremely difficult to judge impartially, because none of the people involved are impartial. Audience members who attend shows like Edward’s (and who CorD / July 2008 87

INTERVIEW

are prepared to fork out up to $175 for basic tickets) seem less likely to be the kind of people looking for an evening’s entertainment and more likely looking for some kind of closure in the wake of a tragedy. It is easy to trick people who want to be tricked, who come to a show desperately hoping to find some connection with someone who has passed on, and as a result there is no shortage of people who are willing to praise mediums like Edward for their accurate moments and gloss over their mistakes.

But more worrying still is the trend among psychics to genuinely believe in what they’re doing. “Some psychics know that they are just con artists, while others are thoroughly deluded about their own ‘powers’” says Rowland.

“It’s an attractive delusion. Who wouldn’t want to have some special, gifted insight into people, life and the future? Who wouldn’t like to have some sort of distinctive power that means they can get paid just for talking to people? It’s a very appealing idea.”

Edward was so confident in his supposed abilities that he saw nothing wrong in filming a post 9/11 special, in which it was planned he would communicate with World Trade Centre victims who had lost their lives in the attacks.

Happily, the deluge of outraged phone calls to the production office ensured the show was cancelled before it was completed, but the confidence to even suggest something which would be so predictably regarded by so many as horrifically insensitive makes the idea that Edward believes that he really is a psychic extremely plausible. Rowland is in agreement on this. “The fact that some people can delude themselves into thinking they are psychic should come as no surprise. People can delude themselves about anything”.

How should we feel about these frauds who, as Rowland puts it, are “no more psychic than a house brick”? On the one hand, what they sell you is a lie, and the idea of giving money to a person for a service that they

The image of the fairground fortune teller is familiar to everyone, but cold reading practitioners claim there’s nothing spiritual about them. do not deliver should rightly make us angry.

There is an exhaustive number of jokes and stand up routines about business managers and salespeople who use meaningless jargon to sell people services that sound better than they are, and on the face of it, this doesn’t sound very different to what a fake psychic does - buttering people up and telling them impressive sounding lies for money. So why aren’t these charlatans being strung up by their heels at fairgrounds across the world?

Well, a large part of it is to do with the underground status of cold reading itself - even large bookshops don’t stock titles on it. The other part is that the technique is so effective that the number of people able to spot a skilled cold reader is tiny.

“There is no connection at all between being taken in by cold reading and lacking intelligence. It’s possible to be very smart and intel-

VOLVO AND TAX RETURN Whatever your stane on cold reading, there’s one comfort everyone can take from it, and that is its proof of how similar people are. One of the many tricks discussed in Rowland’s book “The full facts book of Cold Reading” is called the Barnum Statement a sentence which sounds insightful and pertinent but in reality is a truth which applies to most people. An example would be a statement like “deep down, you have a strong need for people to like and respect you”. Not very impressive on its own, but you can see how statements like this could be weaved into a psychic reading to enhance its effect. In spite of the possible negative applications, it is at least comforting that most people at the core have the same feelings and insecurities as each other. Rowland demonstrated this in one of his own performances on British television.

“The BBC asked me to pose as an astrologer for a TV documentary. I was introduced to two women who were not only complete strangers but also completely different in every way – age, nationality, temperament, appearance, marital status and so on. I gave them both what they thought was an astrology reading. Afterwards, one said I was “99.5%” accurate, and the other said I was “90%” accurate. I was very happy with this result, all the more so because, unknown to them, I had actually presented them both with the exact same reading 88 CorD / July 2008

ligent indeed, and still succumb to the charm of the psychic circus. I’ve performed for scientists, mathematicians and other very bright people. They don’t stand a chance of figuring out how I do what I do, simply because this is my specialised field. It’s part of my job to know how to do things that people can’t figure out and can’t understand,” explains Rowland.

Happily, and perhaps more interestingly, the system has many more applications than scamming and entertaining. Rowland makes the bulk of his income teaching people in people-oriented professions to use cold reading to create better rapport with people they have to deal with. “A surgeon uses a knife to heal people. A bad guy uses a knife to attack people and steal their money. Cold reading is like a knife or any other tool – it can be used for good things or not so good things. Most of the people who buy my book, or come to my masterclass, have nothing to do with giving psychic readings. They know that cold reading has lots of useful applications in their personal, social and professional life. Of course, you can use this ability for harmful purposes, such as gaining someone’s trust in order to con them out of their money, but it can also be used in very positive ways.” Certainly convincing people that you have great knowledge of a subject or a great deal of empathy would be an important and rare skill to have in a job interview, but the situations in which cold reading could be used are near limitless - imagine its positive applications in a courtroom hearing or in a criminal interrogation.

For more information on cold reading, or to purchase Rowland’s book “The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading”, visit his website at http://www.ianrowland.com

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A simple but luxurious design of the Moderato that provides you with cool comfort using the benefit of innovative technology. Samsung makes you feel like you’re living in the lap of luxury. key specifications Good Sleep’s Catechin Filter Silver Coated Evaporator Deodorizing Filter UTR Plus (Optional)

MB Imagine stylish air conditioner Price: 646 eur Using the innovative auto roof shutter system, this unique air conditioner automatically seals off to prevent dirt infiltration when not in operation.

Samsung MB stylish air conditioner provides you with the excellent harmony of beauty, technology and wellness. And with the good sleep’s Mode, you can experience a pleasant and comfortable sleep to enjoy a brand new day ahead. key specifications Auto Roof Shutter DNA Filter MPI (Micro Plasma Ion) Good Sleep’s Silver Coated Evaporator Deodorizing Filter S-Inverter (Optional)

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90 CorD / July 2008

LCD-A series Imagine aesthetic performance Price: 32’’ - 1255 eur and 40’’ - 1780 eur This model you can reach in next dimensions: 19’’, 22’’, 32’’, 37’’, 40’’, 46’’, and 52’’.With the intention of setting a new standard in design, Samsung injected a unique, environmentally friendly dual technology and created the stunning Crystal design of A series of LCD TVs. Because it is not paint based, this innovative system has led to more natural, emotionally inspiring designs that connect true craftsmanship and modern design. The originality and feel of the Crystal design motif makes a truly unique TV that owes its inspiration to the beauty of blown glass art. key specifications Resolution: 1920x1080 Full HD Ultra Clean panel (40’’, 46’’ 52’’) LCD 100 Hz Dynamic contrast: 50.000:1 (40’’, 46’’, 52’’) Teletext: Mega TXT level 2.5 Digital tuner iDTV type P2 Price: xxx eur Calm judgment and advanced driving techniques are essential for operating the P2 properly.

The P2 is clever and intuitive. The experience of immersing yourself in a 3” wide screen with a ratio of 16:9 is only possible with the P2. Bluetooth 2.0 supports 2 headsets, and DNSe2.0TM delivers Personal Theater into your hands. You can use Bluetooth even while watching a movie.

Samsung’s MP3 Players have always evolved with time. Samsung players are designed to meet the demands for small size, ease of use, sound quality and choice of color, which are just what you need to enjoy your Player to the fullest. Samsung MP3 Player can enhance your image, since it offers the latest innovation in multimedia and sound technology. The year 2007 will be a particularly significant year for MP3 mania. Because you can experience the true meaning of “reproduction” in music. key specifications 9.9mm slim intuitive Ui, EmoTureTM 3” 16.9 WQVGA resolution wide screen Storage 2GB/ 4GB/8GB Format WMV / MPEG4 / JPEG / MP3 /WMA Display 3” 16:9 wide touch screen Playback Time 35Hrs Music / 5Hrs Movie Other FM Radio, Bluetooth Color Black/White/Wine Red T10 Imagine Stylize your music in 5 colors Price: xxx eur Providing you with everything you need in a slim & portable design.

The T10 is, simply put, a very smart Player that is also stylish to use. The T10 is not just a device; it is a multimedia MP3 player with stylish design. You can choose from a selection of black, purple, red, lime yellow and white. Light and slim with a comfortable grip that enables you to view 2.0” QVGA (30fps) Video. A fun character animation GUI allows you to enjoy the Player without ever getting bored. key specifications Storage 2GB/ 4GB/8GB Format WMV /MPEG4 / JPEG / MP3 / WMA /TXT Display 2” QVGA(320x240) TFT LCD Playback 30Hrs Music/4 Hrs Movie Other FM Radio / FM Rec. / Voice Rec. / Text / Bluetooth

CorD / July 2008 91

TECHNO Talk HT-BD2 Imagine home theatre solution with blu-ray Price: 975 eur The concept of the perfect home-theater-in-a-box is born. Samsung HT-BD2 is the first unit that provides you audio-video experience at the highest top level. Besides it supports the new Blu-ray format, HT-BD2 promises richer and stronger sound.

Consumers can now enjoy the Full HD 1080p cinematic video quality with an immersive audio experience that takes watching movies to a whole new level. The top audio presentation is reached with 7.1 channel HD reciverspeaker system which supports Dolby TruHD and dts-HD Master Audio format. A fully powered subwoofer with output power of 1100 W keeps movie and audio fans satisfied; as intuitive functions brings it extremly easy to use. Disc player is dominant with its 24-frame playback, 1080p out, HDMI 1.3 and the reproducting of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and DTS-HD. With its slick, piano black design and blue backlight LED accents, BD2 augments both the audio presence and visual aesthetics of home theatre. Once again, Samsung has won CES price for the inovation and design. key specifications Total Power : 1100 Wireless ready Full HD support HDMI with Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC) 7.1 Dolby Digital Blue LED backlight HT-X250 Imagine 5.1 Channel Lifestyle Home Theatre System Price: xxx eur The HT-X250 home entertainment systems offer not only superb sound and industry-leading features, but a new gorgeous design that perfectly complements Samsung’s eye-catching flat-panel televisions. These latest home entertainment systems incorporate an integrated DVD player/receiver to create a fully integrated digital multimedia entertainment center. USB Host Play function enables various multimedia files to be played without the need for a PC, including DivX, MP3, DVD Audio, JPEGs. key specifications The dual setting provides you with the flexibility to configure your TV to the way suits you best.This also enables display rotated automatically to its position.

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HT-A100 Imagine Bluetooth home theater surround sound system Price: xxx eur This SAMSUNG home theater system is available in a stylish, unique new look. This 2.1 channel lifestyle home theater also comes with a DVD player, which will up-convert your standard DVDs to amazing 1080p high definition. Plus, the HT-A100T connects to all of your Bluetooth-enabled devices. Now you can listen to your music from your Bluetooth-enabled handheld whenever you want without wires. Get the total home theater experience with the SAMSUNG HT-A100T. key specifications Total Power : 300 CD/CD-R/CD-RW :Yes DVD/DVD±R/DVD±RW :Yes HDMI Inputs : No

92 CorD / July 2008

BD-P1500 Imagine design inspired by classical beauty Price: 295 eur One of the newest invention of Samsung is now available in the face of Blu-ray DVD player P1500. Perfect image and cinema sound quality are just few things upon which BD-P1500 is recognize by. This classically designed device supports 1080p Full HD playback as well as Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD HR which uses to reproduce the best quality sound and picture over 7.1 sound system stereo. key specifications Supports MP3, WMA,VCD, SVCD, JPEG, MPEG4, DivX HDMI Optical and Coaxial digital audio outputs Component video output DVD-FP580 Imagine design inspired by nature Price: 59 eur The ultimate in class of DVD players, FP580 transforms your apprehension of perfect image. From the trend-setting black to its pebble design, Samsung has once again set the standard that only others can hope to imitate. Inspired by pebble in nature, DVD-FP580 reveals the elegance of unique design with cutting-edge technology.

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HOW TO...

…Get food delivered day and night?

Fancy some take-away food, but not sure where and what you can get? Check out the website www.donesi.com. This innovative site, available in both English and Serbian, lists restaurants by type of cuisine and provides details of the menu on offer, including prices, location, delivery zone and working hours.

CROSSWORD

Solve this crossword puzzle and test your Serbian – the clues may be in English, but the answers should be entered in Serbian

1

…Go skating?

If you find your desire for skating frustrated by the salt and grit laying on Belgrade streets this winter, why not visit one of Belgrade’s skating rinks and enjoy warming refreshments while you skate the day away? Belgrade’s Olympic-sized skating rink at ‘Hala Pionir’ is open to the public year-round, and also stages ice hockey events and figure skating competitions. During the winter months, the fresh air skating experience is provided at the romantic setting of Kalimegdan fortress. Situated beside the basketball and tennis courts, Kalimegdan’s skating rink is open throughout the winter months and offers skating to music, as well as a snack bar.

…Visit the Royal residence?

Ever wondered how the royals live? Now you can see for yourself. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Aleksander Karadjordjevic and family welcome visitors to Belgrade’s Royal Palace for tours and to view the artistic treasures of the residence. Those wishing to visit need merely contact the Palace Information and Press Department on 011 3064 000. Find out more information at www.royalfamily.org.

…Hire a limousine?

Luxury transportation is available from Limousine Service. With their luxurious, stylish and glamorous vehicles, Limousine Service will ensure an unforgettable ride for those choosing to hire one of their cars. Make reservations by email, fax or phone. First-time riders should visit the centre in person with valid ID. Subsequent trips can be booked 48-hours in advance over the phone or via email. Contact Limousine Service on 063 1235555 or visit them online at www.limoservis.co.yu.

…Get emergency car repairs or roadside assistance?

If your car breaks down while you are driving in the city, or even in the countryside, you are best advised to contact the ’International Touring and Information Centre of the Automobile Association of Serbia & Montenegro’. If you happen to be a member of this organisation, or similar affiliated foreign organisations, you can receive special terms. All relevant information can be obtained 24-hours-a-day by calling 9800 or 24 19 555, or via the website at www.amsj.co.yu.

…Find an English-speaking dentist?

Sick of being unable to explain just how much your tooth hurts to your Serbian dentist? Why not try out the services of dentist Katarina Gačić, a fluent English speaker. Contact Katarina on 064 3390527 or via email on katarina_gacic@hotmail.com.

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 HORIZONTAL: 1. Shepherd’s song, 2. Castle near Madrid, 3.

Dark, gloom– French film actress, Anuk, 4. Hours – Mark for volt – Athletic club (abbr.), 5. One digit number– Scottish poem, Robert, 6. The fourth and the first vowel – Name of TV writer Pavić, 7. Mark for ton – Name of Serbian poet and diplomat Rakić – Symbol for nitrogen, 8. Citizen of a state in Asia, Persian– Personal income (abbr.), 9.

Rare gas – Empty stroke of an engine, 10. Symbol for astatine – Mark for queen in chess – Ancient Greek singers with guitars, 11. Music for playing in couples – Male name, 12. Woman’s name (the first woman astronaut Terješkova!), 13. Place in Serbia, in Moravica river valley.

…Make yourself understood?

98 CorD / July 2008

VERTICAL: 1. Three digit number, 2. Capital city of Eritrea province, Ethiopia – Rite, ceremony, 3. Iran nomad tribes – Final move in chess – Exclamation in bull-fight, 4. Name of American actor Curtis – Church synod – Swedish composer, Gunar, 5. Youth Voluntary Mass (abbr.) – Russian singer, winner of „Eurovision“ 2008, Dima – Right tribute of Danube in Austria, 6. Automobile-mark for Rimini – Decoration made of flowers, of round shape – Name of American musician, Shaw, 7. Nurses, wet nurses – Japanese money – Name of Croatian politician Rauh, 8.

Straits between England and France, English Channel – Land left uncultivated for a long time, 9. Rhyme, 12-syllable verse.

SOLUTION: pastorale, Escorial, darkness, Aimee, hours, v, ac, three, Burns, oa, Siniša, t, Milan, n, Iranian, pi, niton, stand-by, at, q, aedi, duet, Ervin, Valentina, Aleksinac.

Find yourself frustrated by your inability to say simple things in Serbian? Here at CorD we are endeavouring to make your stay in the region a tad less alien by providing a few simple phrases that will help you make yourself understood: Î Is this your responsibility? Î Da li je ovo vaša odgovornost? Î Where was this manufactured? Î Gde je ovo proizvedeno? Î Is there a hotel in this town? Î Da li postoji hotel u ovom gradu? Î I would like to buy some milk and cheese? Î Želeo bih da kupim mleko i sir? Î When does the train to Zagreb depart? Î Kada polazi voz za Zagreb? Î Serbia has great nightlife, if you know where to look Î Srbija ima dobar noćni provod, ako znate gde da ga potražite

HOW TO...

…Get food delivered day and night?

Fancy some take-away food, but not sure where and what you can get? Check out the website www.donesi.com. This innovative site, available in both English and Serbian, lists restaurants by type of cuisine and provides details of the menu on offer, including prices, location, delivery zone and working hours.

CROSSWORD

Solve this crossword puzzle and test your Serbian – the clues may be in English, but the answers should be entered in Serbian

…Go skating?

If you find your desire for skating frustrated by the salt and grit laying on Belgrade streets this winter, why not visit one of Belgrade’s skating rinks and enjoy warming refreshments while you skate the day away? Belgrade’s Olympic-sized skating rink at ‘Hala Pionir’ is open to the public year-round, and also stages ice hockey events and figure skating competitions. During the winter months, the fresh air skating experience is provided at the romantic setting of Kalimegdan fortress. Situated beside the basketball and tennis courts, Kalimegdan’s skating rink is open throughout the winter months and offers skating to music, as well as a snack bar.

…Visit the Royal residence?

Ever wondered how the royals live? Now you can see for yourself. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Aleksander Karadjordjevic and family welcome visitors to Belgrade’s Royal Palace for tours and to view the artistic treasures of the residence. Those wishing to visit need merely contact the Palace Information and Press Department on 011 3064 000. Find out more information at www.royalfamily.org.

…Hire a limousine?

Luxury transportation is available from Limousine Service. With their luxurious, stylish and glamorous vehicles, Limousine Service will ensure an unforgettable ride for those choosing to hire one of their cars. Make reservations by email, fax or phone. First-time riders should visit the centre in person with valid ID. Subsequent trips can be booked 48-hours in advance over the phone or via email. Contact Limousine Service on 063 1235555 or visit them online at www.limoservis.co.yu.

…Get emergency car repairs or roadside assistance?

If your car breaks down while you are driving in the city, or even in the countryside, you are best advised to contact the ’International Touring and Information Centre of the Automobile Association of Serbia & Montenegro’. If you happen to be a member of this organisation, or similar affiliated foreign organisations, you can receive special terms. All relevant information can be obtained 24-hours-a-day by calling 9800 or 24 19 555, or via the website at www.amsj.co.yu.

…Find an English-speaking dentist?

Sick of being unable to explain just how much your tooth hurts to your Serbian dentist? Why not try out the services of dentist Katarina Gačić, a fluent English speaker. Contact Katarina on 064 3390527 or via email on katarina_gacic@hotmail.com.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 HORIZONTAL: 1. Shepherd’s song, 2. Castle near Madrid, 3.

Dark, gloom– French film actress, Anuk, 4. Hours – Mark for volt – Athletic club (abbr.), 5. One digit number– Scottish poem, Robert, 6. The fourth and the first vowel – Name of TV writer Pavić, 7. Mark for ton – Name of Serbian poet and diplomat Rakić – Symbol for nitrogen, 8. Citizen of a state in Asia, Persian– Personal income (abbr.), 9.

Rare gas – Empty stroke of an engine, 10. Symbol for astatine – Mark for queen in chess – Ancient Greek singers with guitars, 11. Music for playing in couples – Male name, 12. Woman’s name (the first woman astronaut Terješkova!), 13. Place in Serbia, in Moravica river valley.

…Make yourself understood?

98 CorD / July 2008

VERTICAL: 1. Three digit number, 2. Capital city of Eritrea province, Ethiopia – Rite, ceremony, 3. Iran nomad tribes – Final move in chess – Exclamation in bull-fight, 4. Name of American actor Curtis – Church synod – Swedish composer, Gunar, 5. Youth Voluntary Mass (abbr.) – Russian singer, winner of „Eurovision“ 2008, Dima – Right tribute of Danube in Austria, 6. Automobile-mark for Rimini – Decoration made of flowers, of round shape – Name of American musician, Shaw, 7. Nurses, wet nurses – Japanese money – Name of Croatian politician Rauh, 8.

Straits between England and France, English Channel – Land left uncultivated for a long time, 9. Rhyme, 12-syllable verse.

SOLUTION: pastorale, Escorial, darkness, Aimee, hours, v, ac, three, Burns, oa, Siniša, t, Milan, n, Iranian, pi, niton, stand-by, at, q, aedi, duet, Ervin, Valentina, Aleksinac.

Find yourself frustrated by your inability to say simple things in Serbian? Here at CorD we are endeavouring to make your stay in the region a tad less alien by providing a few simple phrases that will help you make yourself understood: è Is this your responsibility? èD a li je ovo vaša odgovornost? è Where was this manufactured? èG de je ovo proizvedeno? è Is there a hotel in this town? èD a li postoji hotel u ovom gradu? è I would like to buy some milk and cheese? èŽ eleo bih da kupim mleko i sir? è When does the train to Zagreb depart? èK ada polazi voz za Zagreb? è Serbia has great nightlife, if you know where to look è Srbija ima dobar noćni provod, ako znate gde da ga potražite