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Delegates at the U.N. General Assembly applauded enthusiastically on Monday as the Palestinian representative to the world body for the first time cast a vote on behalf of the “State of Palestine.” The vote itself—for a judge to serve on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)—was a relatively minor one, but Palestinian delegate Riyad Mansour called it symbolically significant. … The modern-day State of Israel came into being as a result of a U.N. resolution in 1947, which partitioned the then-British mandated territory into a Jewish and an Arab state. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish...

Two decades after Serb soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in a campaign of ethnic killings in Bosnia, forensic scientists are digging up what could turn out to be the largest mass grave from the 1992-95 war.

Serbia's president says he won't take part in a Balkan initiative with Turkey in protest over reported remarks by Turkey's prime minister in Kosovo. Serbian media have quoted Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan as saying in Kosovo on Oct. 23 that "Turkey is Kosovo and Kosovo is Turkey." The comment has been widely criticized in Serbia which is sensitive to past Ottoman rule in the Balkans and to any acknowledgement of Kosovo's independence. Kosovo is a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, a move rejected by Belgrade. President Tomislav Nikolic on Oct. 26 sought an apology for the "scandal," saying...

German soldiers cross into Belgium in August 1914 Photo: RA/Lebrecht Music & Arts Like one of Field Marshal Haig’s family whiskies, Max Hastings is a dram that steadily improves with age. His own trenchant views on war, and caustic opinions of the commanders who ran them, tended to obtrude too obviously in his early works, suggesting that if only he had been present at key military conferences costly errors would have been avoided. However, Hastings’s recent massive volumes on his specialist subject, the Second World War, have shown why his position as Britain’s leading military historian is now unassailable. They...

The government of George Bush Sr's planned bombing of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia and Montenegro , according to a secret CIA document from which the recently declassified "top secret " BELGRADE - thoroughly prepared plan. The government of George Bush the Elder early in 1993. had planned the bombing of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia and Montenegro , according to secret documents from the CIA which was recently declassified "top secret " . Bombing campaign was the official name of the "Plan Three " , and included the air attacks on military and industrial targets and the institutions of...

(Reuters) - Serbia's government banned gay activists from marching in Belgrade for the third year running on Friday, citing a threat to public safety from right-wing hooligans but risking EU condemnation before the expected start of accession talks. The last Gay Pride march in 2010 triggered a day of rioting by right-wing nationalists in the capital, Belgrade. Western ambassadors had heaped pressure on Serbia to allow this year's event to go ahead on Saturday, as a litmus test of the Balkan country's commitment to tolerance and diversity. The EU is due to launch membership talks in January. But after a...

Serbia’s prime minister says a gay pride march scheduled in Belgrade on Saturday has been banned because of threats by right-wing groups against the participants. … Two other scheduled gay pride marches in 2011 and 2012 had also been banned by authorities. …

The DF-21D is China’s answer to America’s carriers, with an unusual origin in the Kosovo War In 1999, the U.S. was engaged in an air and missile war with Serbia. As NATO bombs exploded around Belgrade — part of a campaign to force an end to the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians by Serb forces — several U.S. missiles slammed into the Chinese embassy. It was the most controversial U.S. action of the war. China’s leaders were outraged, but could do little in response. The result? The bombing became a pivotal moment in the decision to pursue a sophisticated weapons project: a ballistic missile...

European banks would leave London “in very short order” if Britain voted to exit the European Union, a senior Goldman Sachs executive said in a newspaper interview published on Monday. Michael Sherwood, a vice-chairman at the bank, said the prospect of a British withdrawal was a real worry given Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans to hold a referendum on the subject if re-elected in 2015. … Goldman’s Sherwood predicted European banks would quickly relocate if Britain did sever its EU ties. “Forget what we would do. Every European firm would be gone in very short order,” he was quoted as...

Wielding hammers, Croatian war veterans have torn down signs written in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet that were put up on official buildings to boost minority rights in the new EU nation. … Vukovar has a sizable Serb minority and having official signs in both the Croatian Latin alphabet and Serbian Cyrillic are in line with the country’s law on minority rights. …

Monument to the Battle of Tser victory of 1914 in Serbia. Author of photo unknown at this time. Aleksandra's Note: The following comments were posted on Free Republic by “Blogger DTA on the Free Republic forum”. The points DTA makes are well worth noting as we near the Centennial of the Great War.Sincerely,Aleksandra Rebic*****"Austro-Hungarian POWs brought typhus fever to Serbia. By the end of 1914, 200,000 Serbs were dead. The typhus fever tragedy continued into 1915. It was Austro-Hungarian WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] of the time. "The Battle of Tser was the first Allied victory in WW1. It is...

Plan suggests more public spaces for inter-ethnic minglingThe Obama administration intends to leverage U.S. leadership in lowering racial tensions in the U.S. by making such ethnic-peacemaking expertise available globally. Obama’s most recent endeavor specifically wants to “increase constructive inter-ethnic cooperation and interaction” among people in the Balkans region of southeastern Europe. Although this approximately $15 million U.S. Agency for International Development venture arguably could benefit the minority Christian Serb population, its scope is notably miniscule in contrast to other ethnic and tribal peacemaking initiatives around the globe, particularly in Africa. In and around Nigeria, for example, USAID is engaged in...

The Tekeriš memorial (BetaMUP) The Serbian army won the battle - the first Allied victory over the Central Powers in the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian army launched its attack on Serbia from Bosnia-Herzegovina on August 12, 1914 and went on to take the town of Šabac, but the Serbian forces made a strong stand at Mt. Cer, 35 kilometers from the city. The first big confrontation occurred in the night between August 15 and 16 near the village of Tekeriš, and the two armies continued to fight through August 20 along a 50-kilometer-wide front. The Austro-Hungarian forces, commanded by...

THE IMPOSSIBLE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ULTIMATUM TO SERBIA IN 1914Aleksandra's Note: What follows is the impossible ultimatum presented to the Serbian government by Austria-Hungary on July 23, 1914, just over 3 weeks after the June 28th assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Fair historians have assessed this ultimatum as being both unreasonable and, more importantly, clearly intended to set Serbia up to fail to meet the demands, thus giving the green light for the war against the Serbs the Empire had been planning all along. All dates indicated are according to the current [Gregorian] calendar. The "old calendar" [Julian] date...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Bosnian immigrant accused of lying to U.S. immigration authorities by denying involvement in war crimes during the conflict in Bosnia two decades ago pleaded not guilty on Friday. Prosecutors allege Edin Sakoc, who has been living in Burlington, the state's largest city, was involved in war crimes against a civilian Bosnian Serb family in 1992. An indictment says he raped a Serb woman and aided in the killing of the two elderly people she was caring for and the burning of the house they were staying in. ... Vermont has a sizable Bosnian community. Between 1993...

Graffiti portrait of Russian Emperor Nicholas II on Ulitsa (Street) Tsara Nikolaja II in the Vrachar district of Belgrade, Serbia. Artist unknown. Aleksandra's Note:On this day, July 17, in 1918, the Communists murdered Russian Tsar Nicholas II Romanov and his family. Tsar Nicholas II did not live to see the end of the First World War or Serbia's glorious victory in that war.Sincerely,Aleksandra Rebic**** By Paul Gilbert: A rare historical figure is the subject of a graffiti drawing in Belgrade, Serbia. An enormous image of Emperor Nicholas II can now be found on Ulitsa Tsara Nikolaja II, in the Vrachapy...

Battle of Kosovo 1389 / Adam Stefanovic, 1870-1871 Niti cemo se pokoriti, niti ukloniti!(We shall neither submit, nor yield!)...For Serbs, scattered over the central, northern, and western Balkans, living in 2 independent Serbian states born through revolutions and wars during the 19th century, as well as subjected to the Ottoman and Habsburg rule, Vidovdan embodied their "historical memory." ...Generations of Serbs and historians divided the national past into 2 periods: before and after the Kosovo Battle. Later, following the birth and ascendancy of the modern Serbian state in the 19th and 20th centuries, 3 kinds of traditions emerged: the old...

The Remains of Saint Lazar at Ravanica Monastery Saint Lazar the Great Martyr of KosovoPrince Lazar was born in 1329 in Prilepac to the aristocrat family Hrebeljanovic. His father Pribac was a Logotet-secretary doing very confidential work for King Dusan the Powerful in the royal palace. Young Lazar was raised in the palace, and was respected by the King who entrusted him with the rule of two parts of his kingdom: Srem and Macva. Lazar married Milica the daughter of an important aristocrat named Vratko also known as Yug Bogdan - a very wise and honorable man from the Nemanjic...

Next story »   Today in Military History: June 23, 1389The dating of this battle is somewhat disputed. Under the old Julian calendar used by the Serbians in 1389, this fight took place on June 15, St. Vitus' Day. Modern Serbians celebrate this battle on June 28. However, when converting dates to their Gregorian calendar counterparts, the date for this battle is actually June 23.One of the problems with profiling this particular conflict is the lack of contemporary reporting. The Serbians have several later chronicles about the battle, some of which read like historical revisionism. The Turks had the same...

Aleksandra's Note: On October 25, 2010, Lt. Col. Milton Friend (USAF, ret.) and his wife Shirley embarked on a very important trip overseas to Serbia. It would turn out to be the trip of a lifetime and the first time Milton Friend was returning to Serbia since World War Two! The main objective of the visit to Serbia was for Halyard Mission veteran Lt. Col. Milton Friend to testify at the October 29th hearing in Belgrade regarding the Rehabilitation of General Draza Mihailovich. Following this note you will find a photo essay courtesy of Milton and Shirley Friend of this...