The European Courier | Op-eds

Letter to UK Secretary of Foreign Affairs

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:10:56 +0000

HE David Wright Miliband,

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,

London, United Kingdom

Dear Mr. Minister:

The decision of the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland to detain Dr. Ejub Ganic on the basis of an extradition request and at the behest of the authorities of the Government of Serbia raises concerns regarding your Ministry’s [...]

Job Not Complete at The Hague Tribunal?

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:44:38 +0000

Muhamed Sacirbey

How to judge the success of The Hague Tribunal, (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), in accomplishing its mandate, but it would impossible to make such an assessment until the job is fully completed? The Tribunal (or “ICTY’) may be extinguished before the mandate is complete and leave a rather incomplete, perhaps by [...]

A Woman Will Sacrifice For Her Husband

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:29:39 +0000

Sebastian Aulich

The presidential campaign in Poland is unofficially underway. Although the election is in the fall this year (no official date yet known) there are already several candidates who officially kicked off their campaigns.

The SLD party (Democratic Left Alliance), Poland’s post-communists (or social-democrats, if one prefers), nominated Jerzy Szmajdzinski as their presidential candidate. Mr. [...]

A Month to Forget for the Democrats

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:28:20 +0000

Democrats' logo

January was not a good month for Democrats. At the start of the month, Congressional Democrats were in the final stages of ironing out differences in a sweeping health insurance reform bill, a party priority for decades. Then the party lost a special Senate election in the reliably blue state of Massachusetts – [...]

Should Bosnia Reconsider Troop Deployment to Afghanistan?

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:20:22 +0000

Muhamed Sacirbey

Should Bosnia Reconsider its Troop Deployment to NATO Coalition in Afghanistan If Bosnia & Herzegovina is not offered NATO Membership Action Plan, (MAP)?

Bosnia & Herzegovina (”BiH”) has offered a substantial military commitment of troops to the NATO coalition effort in Afghanistan. However, just as BiH is readying the deployment, the US State Department and [...]

Haiti and United Nations: Sharing Tragedy

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:56:02 +0000

Haiti Earthquake

The earth may continue to shake under Haiti, at least 40 aftershocks since the 7.0 Richter that still has to yield or for that matter identify most of its victims. The longer term consequences will be as momentous for the survivors in Haiti and the global community, particularly the United Nations. Perhaps it [...]

Defining Today’s Global Capitalism: Free or Predatory Markets?

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:53:57 +0000

Muhamed Sacirbey

Along with mercantilism globally, is predation within financial markets ever more the defining characteristic?

Even the predators can become potential prey in today’s financial, currency and commodity, markets. Thus, predatory behavior can also be defensively driven. Market participants perhaps may believe that they are acting in a preemptive nature to avoid becoming the prey, [...]

A verdict against Dayton Peace Accords

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:28:43 +0000

European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights issues ruling on discriminatory character of Bosnia & Herzegovina Constitution drafted as part of US & EU led Dayton talks. Will BiH adopt new constitution and on which basis and by what process?

An Awkward Moment

An awkward moment, to say the least, for [...]

“Arbeit Macht Frei” in Darfur

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:25:43 +0000

Angelina Jolie in Darfur

Not so recently ago, on December 10, Angelina Jolie published an interesting op-ed in Newsweek criticizing President Barack Obama for his inaction in Darfur. During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama publicly promised to take decisive measures to stop this genocide, lend logistical support for international troops and never abandon people, who [...]

Srebrenica through the ICTY’s eyes

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:18:53 +0000

Florence Hartmann

Since Karadzic was transferred to The Hague Tribunal in July 2008 to stand a trial for the genocide and war crimes, some knotty questions emerged. Two months after his transfer, the Prosecution’s Office issued a new indictment against the long time fugitive. The indictment of September 2008 says, in its paragraph 20, that [...]