Nationalist Serb, Bosniak Leaders Both Claim Victory In Today's Bosnia Presidential Vote

Reuters: Nationalist Serb, Bosniak leaders win Bosnia's presidential vote

Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and Sefik Dzaferovic, the candidate of the largest Muslim Bosniak party, have won the Serb and Bosniak seats in Bosnia’s triumverate presidency, the election commission said early Monday.

Moderate Croat Zeljko Komsic, who already served two terms in the presidency, won the Croat seat with 49.5 percent of the vote, winning over nationalist Dragan Covic from the largest Croat party, HDZ.

Dodik secured 55 percent of the vote and Dzaferovic 38 percent, based on about 42 percent of counted ballots, election commission President Branko Petric said at a news conference.

The turnout was 53.3 percent of voters, Petric said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: So much for the reconciliation process.

More News On Today's Bosnia's Presidential Vote

The Latest: Muslim candidate in Bosnia urges EU integration -- FOX News/AP
Pro-Russian Serb leader wins seat in Bosnia’s presidency -- AP
Bosnia-Herzegovina election: Pro-Russian Serb leader claims victory -- DW
Three winners in election to Presidium of Bosnia and Herzegovina become known -- TASS
Bosnian Serb Milorad Dodik Wins Seat in Bosnia’s Presidency -- Sputnik
Bosnia polls close in 'divisive' election -- BBC
Serb nationalist wins seat in Bosnia's presidency, says party -- Al Jazeera
Bosnians vote in elections amid increasing ethnic tensions -- Al Jazeera

Bosnia-Herzegovina Heads To Polls On Sunday

YaniSafak: Bosnia-Herzegovina heads to polls on Sunday

67 political parties, 34 independent candidates, 34 alliances to run in general election

Voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina will choose a new government in the general election on Sunday.

Bosnia's government structure is one of the most intricate political systems in the world.

A total of 3.35 million Bosnians are eligible to cast ballots in the election.

The vote will be held across the country at 5,794 polling stations. Three-hundred-and-fourteen mobile teams will reach 10,000 citizens unable to step out to vote.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: 67 political parties, 34 independent candidates, 34 alliances .... yeah .... nothing is easy in this country.

More News On Tomorrow' Election In Bosnia-Herzegovina

Protests overshadow party rallies ahead of Bosnia vote -- Reuters
Bosnia-Herzegovina gears up for vote amid political frustration -- Andrew MacDowall, The Guardian
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Can fresh elections save a divided state? -- Dragoslav Dedovic, DW
Bosnia’s Election Exacerbates Old Divisions, to Russia’s Satisfaction -- The New York Times
Divide And Rule? Complex Ethnic Problems Dominate Bosnian Campaign -- RFE
Complacent Europe not ready for another Balkan meltdown -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian

Bosnian War Criminal Dies After Drinking Poison In UN Court

Daily Mail: Bosnian war chief DIES after drinking bottle of POISON and yelling 'I'm not a war criminal' after his 20-year prison sentence for campaign against Muslims is upheld at The Hague

* Slobodan Praljak appeared at The Hague to appeal 20-year war crime sentence
* As judge upheld the punishment, he pulled a vial of dark liquid from his pocket
* Praljak shouted 'I am not a war criminal!' before downing the mystery substance
* The courtroom was quickly closed and ambulances rushed to the scene
* Croatian Prime Minister has since confirmed that Praljak died

A Bosnian-Croat war chief has died after downing poison during his war crimes trial at The Hague, the Croatian Prime Minister has confirmed.

Slobodan Praljak yelled, 'I am not a war criminal!' and drank a dark liquid from a small bottle seconds after losing his appeal against a 20-year prison sentence at the International Criminal Tribunal, in the Netherlands.

'I just drank poison,' he added. 'I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction.'

Read more ....

More News On Bosnian War Criminal Slobodan Praljak Dies After Drinking Poison In UN Court

The Latest: UN court says war criminal drank liquid, died -- AP
War crimes convict reportedly dies after poison claim -- AP
Bosnian-Croat war crimes convict dies after taking 'poison' in court: TV -- Reuters
Praljak trial: Bosnian Croat war criminal 'takes poison' in court -- BBC
Bosnian war criminal dies after swallowing poison in court -- CNN
Bosnian Croat war criminal dies after drinking poison in UN courtroom -- The Guardian
Bosnian Croat war general dies after drinking poison during trial in The Hague -- ABC News Online
Slobodan Praljak reported dead after drinking poison -- Al Jazeera

Has The Islamic State Set Up Training Camps In Bosnia?

The ISIS stronghold at Osve

Mirror: ISIS set up stronghold in the heart of Europe as terrorists secretly buy land near an isolated village

Security services think the area in Bosnia is used for ISIS training camps and could be a base for devastating terror attacks on the West

Islamic State have established a stronghold in mainland Europe, a Sunday Mirror investigation reveals.

Terrorists are secretly buying land in an isolated village, surrounded by deep woodland.

Security services think the area in Bosnia is used for ISIS training camps and could be a base for devastating terror attacks on the West.

Crucially, the location gives IS a key strategic position due to its proximity to the Mediterranean which is used by extremists from Syria, Iraq and North Africa.

At least 12 ISIS fighters trained in the village of Osve have left for Syria in recent months and five are reported to be dead.

Terror expert Dzevad Galijasevic said: “From this village a large number of people went to Syria and are going constantly.

WNU Editor: Red flags on the Islamic State using Bosnia were raised last month .... Balkans Track ISIS Fighters Flowing Through Turkey, Overwhelmed By Lax Border Control (IBTimes). The reason why Bosnia is important to the Islamic State is explained by the following Guardian post .... Isis targets vulnerable Bosnia for recruitment and attack (The Guardian).

Bosnia-Hercegovina Rocked By Third Day Of Violent Anti-Government Unrest

Violent Protests Break Out In Bosnia-Hercegovina -- BBC

Demonstrators in Bosnia-Hercegovina have set fire to government buildings as violent protests continue across the country for a third day.

Police have used rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters in the capital Sarajevo and the northern town of Tuzla.

Black smoke could be seen gushing from the presidency building in Sarajevo.

The protesters are unhappy about economic and political progress in the Balkan country.

About 40% of Bosnians are unemployed. The unrest is the worst since the end of the Bosnian war.

Read more ....

More News On Bosnia-Hercegovina Being Rocked By A Third Day Of Violent Anti-Government Unrest

Sarajevo police use stun grenades, rubber bullets as countrywide riots paralyze Bosnia -- RT
Bosnia rocked by third day of anti-government unrest -- Reuters
Violent anti-government protests spreading throughout Bosnia -- FOX News/AP
Protesters Set Fire to Govt Buildings in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica -- Novinite
Bosnian Protesters Torch Government Buildings In Sarajevo, Tuzla -- Radio Free Europe
Bosnian Workers Torch Government Building as Clashes Hurt Dozens -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Bosnian protesters storm government buildings -- Sydney Morning Herald
Bosnia-Herzegovina hit by wave of violent protests -- The Guardian
Bosnia rocked by third day of anti-government unrest -- Euronews
Presidency building under fire as Bosnia protests continue -- Deutsche Welle

Old Troubles Threaten Again in Bosnia

Bosnia: A Bosnian Muslim woman weeps near the body of a relative at a mass funeral for Bosnian Muslims and Catholics killed during Bosnian war held at Rizvanovici village, near Prijedor, Bosnia. According to the new study, 176,000 Bosnian lives were likely lost to war between 1955 and 2002. (AP Photo)

From The Washington Post:

14 Years After War, Leaders Suggest U.S. Should Step In to Rewrite Treaty.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- Fourteen years after the United States and NATO intervened to stop war and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, the old divisions and hatreds are again gripping this Balkan country.

In June, the international envoy who oversees the rebuilding of Bosnia invoked emergency powers that he said were necessary to hold the country together. Although U.S. and European officials have been trying to get Bosnia to stand on its own feet for years, many Bosnian leaders say the only thing that can permanently fix their gridlocked government is for Washington to intervene -- again -- and rewrite the treaty that ended the war in 1995.

Read more ....

My Comment: A day in which shooting and killings are not done in Bosnia is .... from my point of view .... a good day. But the ethnic and religious differences are very deep, and this cannot pas away so easily. Coupled this with its history .... I have every reason to be skeptical.

Bosnia must be perceived as a 50 year project (at a minimum), in which the Europeans must be prepared to commit resources and (more importantly) military forces to keep the peace. Do they have the will to do this .... that is something that I do not know.

Should they do it .... the answer is yes. The Americans can facilitate the talks and commitment of resources, but it is the Europeans themselves who must step up to the plate. Failure to keep the peace can easily result in all out war in this part of Europe .... a scenario that will again kill hundreds of thousands and dislocate millions.

Bosnian Serbs Threatening Independence

Image from The U.S. Department of State

Tensions Rise in Fragile Bosnia as Country’s Serbs Threaten to Seek Independence -- New York Times

PRAGUE — Bosnian Serb leaders have threatened to pull out of state institutions and are pressing anew for independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina, threatening to throw the fragile, multiethnic country into political crisis once again.

Analysts and observers of the region said the situation could unravel the United States-brokered Dayton accords of 1995, which ended a savage war that killed more than 100,000 people, most of them Muslims, between 1992 and 1995. The pact divided Bosnia and Herzegovina into a Muslim-Croat Federation and a Serb Republic, presided over by a decentralized political system that reinforced rather than healed ethnic divisions.

Read more ....

More News On Bosnia

Bosnia faces social unrest, political crisis looms -- Reuters
Russia to advance peace, stability in Bosnia, Herzegovina - Medvedev -- Itar-Tass
Vesna Peric Zimonjic: Hunt for Ratko Mladic, the Butcher of Bosnia, goes on -- The Independent
Serbia probes 1992 attack on army in Sarajevo -- International Herald Tribune
Serbia seeks arrest of former Muslim and Croat leaders in Bosnia -- The Earth Times

Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia’s Secular Cast

A billboard for a clothing store near a mosque in Sarajevo. Islam is making a comeback in Bosnia, where religious and national identities have long been fused. Johan Spanner for The New York Times

From The New York Times:

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Thirteen years after a war in which 100,000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, Bosnia is undergoing an Islamic revival.

More than half a dozen new madrasas, or religious high schools, have been built in recent years, while dozens of mosques have sprouted, including the King Fahd, a sprawling $28 million complex with a sports and cultural center.

Before the war, fully covered women and men with long beards were almost unheard of. Today, they are common.

Many here welcome the Muslim revival as a healthy assertion of identity in a multiethnic country where Muslims make up close to half the population.

Read more ....

Bosnia Lacks Cash To Purge Killer Mines

From Yahoo News/AP:

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Muriz Jukic keeps reliving the day last winter when his tractor hit a land mine, unleashing shrapnel that tore one of his eyes from its socket and left him stumbling and screaming.

"I dream about that flash and I wake up soaked in sweat," says Jukic, 43, who was injured while gathering firewood near his home in the northeastern Bosnia village of Vitinica.

Read more ....

Europe Needs A Wake-Up Call. Bosnia Is On The Edge Again

From The Guardian:

As the arrest of Radovan Karadzic is celebrated, we ignore warnings that the politics of his country are increasingly fractured

There is a terrible irony unfolding in Bosnia. Radovan Karadzic is at last on his way to the Hague. But the division of Bosnia that was his dream is now more likely than at any time since he became a fugitive.

I flew into Sarajevo the day after Karadzic was arrested, expecting to find a city in celebration because the architect of their four-year torment from the Serb guns, which killed 10,000 in the Sarajevo siege, was behind bars. But, after a brief flurry of jubilation, the mood is sombre. For people know that, after 10 years of progress which made Bosnia the world's most successful exercise in post-conflict reconstruction, there is a real threat of Bosnia breaking up again.

Read more ....

My Comment: The scars will take at least 100 years to heal, and there will still be bitterness. Karadzic is just a symbol of the problem that is Bosnia. Because of this dark history .... I can easily predict that in the future Bosnia will be a fractured state.

A Dark Corner of Europe, Part II

Sarajevo war cemetery, photo copyright New York Times

From Middle East Journal:

“The Balkans produce more history than they can consume.” – Winston Churchill

“Sarajevans will not be counting the dead. They will be counting the living.” – Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader, war criminal, fugitive

Sarajevo can be startling for first-time visitors. Shattered buildings, walls riddled with bullet holes, and mass graveyards are shocking things to see in a European capital in the 21st Century. The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was more violent than the others in the former Yugoslavia, and it shows. If I believed in ghosts I'd say Sarajevo must be one haunted place. At the same time, the reconstruction and cleanup work is impressive. The destruction gave me a jolt, but at the same time I was slightly surprised I didn't see more of it.

Read more ....

Previous: A Dark Corner Of Europe, Part I

My Comment: I just love these long and detailed reports from Michael Totten. He makes you feel that you are there with him, seeing everything that is happening through his eyes. It is unbelievable that reporters like him or Michael Yon have not won Pulitzers.

This column is another must read from him. Bosnia occupied so much of our lives in the nineties, one can only hope that the anger and pain which that conflict unleashed will be gone 75 years from now.