ASHDOWN'S EDUCATION MANIFESTO

VIEWPOINT FROM LONDON

by Brian Gallagher

The Croatian Herald, Australia No. 987 - 10th October 2003

Paddy Ashdown's manifesto commitments and his writings
whilst he was leader of the Liberal Democrats in the
United Kingdom shed a lot of light on his policies in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. In particular, the details on
education are of great importance, as that is a major
issue right now in BiH, especially for the Croats. And
Ashdown's views are very close to the Croats.

In BiH, reform of education is being debated by
parliament. There is a push by the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to place
education on the entity level away from the local
level. In the Muslim-Croat Federation this would mean
control passing to the education ministry in Sarajevo.

Croats are very concerned about this; not unreasonably
they wish their children to be taught in their own
language and about Croat culture, which they are able
to do now at local level. They believe this may be
compromised if it is placed at entity level; the
Croats are significantly outnumbered in the Federation
by the Bosniaks.

If a solution is not found, then Paddy Ashdown may
impose one. If one considers his political track
record then in theory his solution would be something
Croats find agreeable.

In an interview for the Guardian last year, Ashdown
stated that he is implementing the 1992 Liberal
Democrat manifesto in BiH.

So it seems that Ashdown is drawing on his party
policies as leader in running BiH. The 1992 election
manifesto is very clear on education: Under "Putting
education at the heart of the community" they discuss
the independence of schools and colleges and their
pioneering local management. They want education
within a "democratically accountable framework of
local education authorities". Local education
authorities in the UK roughly translates into cantons
in BiH, rather than the entities.

The manifesto also says that education is an area that
"should be devolved from Whitehall (central
government) and brought nearer to the people they most
affect."

For Ashdown's 1997 manifesto - which I personally
campaigned for - previous ideas are built upon, with
more power to be given to schools. The "valuable role"
of church schools is recognized, and where there is
substantial community support, the major faiths can
establish publicly funded voluntary schools.

Furthermore, the role of national culture and language
is also regarded as important. The 1997 Scottish
Liberal Democrat manifesto under "A new deal for
Gaelic and Scots culture", states they "will support
and maintain the diversity of Scotland's linguistic
and cultural traditions." Specifically they will
support and develop the provision of Gaelic in
education and that they will "Promote a greater
emphasis on Scottish culture in the mainstream
curriculum".

It is obvious from all this that Ashdown's commitments
as party leader were to local control of school and a
strong recognition and support of religion, language
and culture. The positive implications for Croats are
clear.

In 1994 Ashdown wrote a book entitled 'Beyond
Westminster - Finding Hope in Britain'. Essentially he
traveled across the United Kingdom, including
deprived areas, spending time with the diverse people
of the country.

In East London, he speaks approvingly of Saturday
schools run by and for ethnic minorities which "teach
their religion, preserve their language and culture
and supplement mainstream education". Croats of course
are a constituent people, not an ethnic minority. They
expect mainstream schools to do their job rather than
having to organize separate schooling themselves. And
East London is extraordinarily multi-cultural in
contrast to BiH. The situations are very different.

But the critical point here is that Ashdown supports
the preservation of people's language, culture and
religions.

In Beyond Westminster's conclusion Ashdown declares
his belief in local communities and people providing
solutions - not centralized government.

In total, it is very clear that Paddy Ashdown's
manifesto commitments as Liberal Democrat leader and
his own words lean towards local control of education,
an appreciation of religion in schools and supporting
the development of local language and culture. This
certainly would benefit Croats - but it also benefits
Serbs and Bosniaks as well. No one group should be
able to dominate another in any field in BiH under the
guise of unity - Serb domination in former Yugoslavia
was hardly a good idea.

Croats should set about reminding Paddy Ashdown of his
manifesto commitments - and use them right now in
support of their case for their schoolchildren and
students to be taught in their own language and about
their own culture.

If Ashdown has to impose a solution, it will be
interesting to see what he does; I am sure many
observers in Britain will be keen to see if he sticks
to his principles.

Š Brian Gallagher

My 'Viewpoint from London' column appears fortnightly
in the Australian 'Croatian Herald' and thereafter at
www.croatiafocus.com

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SHOULD BE HELD TO ACCOUNT

VIEWPOINT FROM LONDON

by Brian Gallagher

The Croatian Herald, Australia No. 985 - 26th
September 2003

The New York based human rights group Human Rights
Watch (HRW) has released a report recently entitled
"Broken Promises: Impediments to Refugee return to
Croatia". This report criticises the Croatian
government over its record over Serb refugee return.
The report is seriously flawed. It portrays an image
of Croat antipathy towards Serbs being based on purely
ethnic grounds, as opposed to the more rational
grounds of mass murder of thousands of Croats by the
Serbs during the war. Furthermore, it uses a former
Serb occupation official in Croatia and Greater Serbia
enthusiast - the notorious Savo Strbac - as a
"credible" source.

The HRW report plays down the crimes of the Serbs and
in particular the 'Republika Srpska Krajina' ('RSK'),
the Serb occupation structure in Croatia. Moral
equivalency between aggressor and victim runs
throughout the report. It implies that discrimination
against Serbs is due simply to their ethnicity -
something that no-one can justify. HRW emphasises this
by referring to a poll which states that over 80% of
Croats have no objection to marrying Italians and
Hungarians, but only 54% to Serbs. However, if there
is antipathy towards the Serbs, it is due to their
criminal behaviour during the war, not merely their
ethnicity.

The Serbs invaded, occupied and ethnically cleansed
one third of Croatia. This involved the mass slaughter
of up to 20, 000 Croats, ethnic cleansing of hundreds
of thousands, the destruction of Vukovar and many
villages, bombardment of Dubrovnik, Zadar, Osijek and
other cities. Many Croatian Serbs participated in all
this. Those are the reasons why Croats have no great
love for the Serbs. This is not to justify
discrimination. But it does mitigate and provides a
more rational reason for dislike of Serbs than simple
bigotry. Indeed, that marriage poll shows over 50% of
Croats not objecting to marrying Serbs. Given the
circumstances, that demonstrates Croat tolerance, not
bigotry.

The report even fails to mention that the Serbs fled
Croatia under the orders of the 'RSK' leadership -
which they have admitted - in a well prepared process
in order to settle in areas of Kosovo and
Bosnia-Herzegovina that had been cleansed of
non-Serbs. Such an omission conveniently gives the
wrong impression that Croats ethnically cleansed them.


Serbian crimes are played down to prevent the Croats
being portrayed as victims; in light of the full
circumstances few would agree to the pressure HRW
demands the international community put on Croatia.
HRW's shameful omission of such information distorts
the entire report, and one can only conclude it was
politically motivated to help the international
community have a stick to beat Croatia with.

HRW are clearly unsympathetic to Croat suffering. They
insensitively demand the Croatian government "build a
public atmosphere in which the populace would welcome
return of Croatian Serbs". What they mean is that
Croats should simply forget about the horrors of
Vukovar etc. Many in the international community will
be delighted with HRW's crass comment - after all,
many of them backed the Serbs during the war.

Shockingly, the report also uses information from Savo
Strbac and his Veritas organisation, of whom I have
written before. In a footnote, we are informed that
the information Strbac provides appears 'credible'. We
are told however, that the Croatian press considers
Strbac to be biased. Strangely, HRW fails to inform us
why. I am delighted to reveal what HRW don't want its
readers to know.

Mr Strbac is a Greater Serbia enthusiast. He was an
occupation official in the the 'RSK'. The 'RSK' was
part of the "joint criminal enterprise" - as defined
in the Hague Milosevic Croatian indictment - to
cleanse "Croat and other non-Serb population from
approximately one third of the territory of the
Republic of Croatia".

Strbac made his views well known during the occupation
of Croatia. As 'government secretary' of the 'RSK' he
told Agence France Presse in 1995 that "Our final goal
is union with other Serbs (in Bosnia and the Republic
of Serbia)". Strbac's views have not changed;
reportedly he still wants to restore the criminal
enterprise of 'RSK' - presumably cleansed of its Croat
population. Don't take my word for it. Have a look at
the Veritas website at www.veritas.org.yu. The first
thing you see is Greater Serbia imagery.

It gets worse. It emerged during the Milosevic trial -
29 October 2002 - that Strbac was the head of a Serb
bodies commission that exchanged bodies with a Bosnian
counterpart. Horrifyingly, this involved one exchange
which included six people murdered specifically for
this purpose. This incident is also related in the
May/June 2003 edition of the respected US journal
Foreign Affairs in an article by Gary J Bass. HRW
should be aware of it - they are quoted in the piece.

It is disturbing to note also, that Strbac is a top
adviser to the Hague Prosecutor - thus compromising
all their investigations into Croat crimes in Croatia.

It beggars belief that such a man could be considered
a reliable source. Surely Strbac is not the kind of
individual any human rights group should take
seriously?

Mr John Kraljic, President of the National Federation
of Croatian Americans, wrote to HRW regarding Mr
Strbac's role in the report. HRW remarked on Mr
Kraljic's comments in an email to a concerned member
of the public. Incredibly, they state that even if
everything Mr Kraljic wrote was true it does not
matter because Strbac's information was "accurate" -
apparently because it coincides with OSCE figures and
anyway he is only mentioned in 8 footnotes out of 333.

It does not seem to occur to HRW that the use of
Strbac casts a shadow over the entire report. One
wonders about the other sources they use. Furthermore,
Strbac's views and background are well known in
Croatia. What does that say about the biases of those
compiling the report?

Another source they use is the 'satirical' magazine
Feral Tribune. This magazine insults people they
dislike as 'Shit of the Week'. They also have
'Championshit' and 'Shit of the year'. This is a
credible source? And isn't that sort of language like
the 'hate speech' human rights groups are supposed to
oppose?

So what do we have in all? A report that implies some
Croats antipathy towards Serbs is based purely on
ethnicity rather than Serbian war crimes, and whose
sources include a Greater Serbia enthusiast and a
magazine which labels people 'Shit of the Week'. Not
very good, is it?

Lets be clear: Serbs should be treated lawfully and
properly, just like anyone else. But this report is a
disgrace. Croat associations around the world - and
all those concerned with human rights - should protest
this report to their elected representatives, NGO's
and the media. HRW are demanding others be held to
account.

Let us hold them to account. And whilst we do, lets a
spare a thought for those people allegedly murdered to
make up that bodies exchange. Who is seeking justice
for them? Not Human Rights Watch, that's for sure.

Š Brian Gallagher

Croatia claims new big breakfast record

Croatian Guinness Book of World Records

19 Oct 2003 13:45:54 GMT

ZAGREB, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Some 38,000 Croatians ate corn mush, yoghurt and an
apple on Sunday in a big breakfast attempt to enter the record books for the most
people sitting down to their first meal of the day at one time.


At least 38,665 people took part in the breakfast that was staged
simultaneously on more than 200 locations in a dozen Croatian cities, organizers said.

The current breakfast record in the Guinness Book of World Records was set on
October 13, 2001 in Taiwan when 23,291 people consumed 5,670 liters of milk
and 1,920 kilograms of bread.

"According to the first preliminary results, at least 38,665 participated in
this action," said Lidija Tomljenovic on behalf of the main organizer, the
Zagreb School for Public Health.

The official results will be known in two days, she added.

The "Biggest Breakfast-Croatian Breakfast" lasted an hour on Sunday morning
and participants had to consume corn mush, a yoghurt and an apple. Only those
who ate full breakfast could be registered for the record.

"Our aim was to set a record to make people happy. But what matters more is
for people to realize how important it is to eat healthy food and never to skip
a breakfast," organizer Stipe Oreskovic told Reuters.

Organizers said they would now send all necessary documentation and witness
reports to the Guinness Book of Records headquarters in London for confirmation
of the results.


ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Thousands of Croats took part Sunday in a mass, nationwide breakfast in hopes of breaking a Guinness world record held by Taiwan.

Croatian officials said 38,660 Croats ate polenta, yogurt and apple during an hourlong breakfast than began at 9 a.m. in 11 cities -- more than 15,000 more than in Taiwan in 2001. The authorities of the Guinness Book of Records have yet to issue a ruling.

"We have to promote our country any way we can," said 49-year-old Olga Caldarevic, who ate with her husband and two children in a tent set up at the Zagreb's main square. "Besides, it's good food."

Croatia, an agricultural and tourist country of 4.5 million people, also aimed to promote healthy and local foods and to stress the importance of breakfast for a healthy lifestyle, said Stipe Oreskovic, the head of the state-run institution for promotion of health which organized the event.

Private sponsors and local governments paid for the event, estimated to cost up to 4 million kuna ($615,000.)

We Won the War (op-ed)

"It is high time for the "all sides equally guilty" refrain, the lie
so dear to the heart of the West and the ICTY, to be finally thrown into
history's trash bin where it belongs."

This letter is also being faxed to Secretary of State Colin Powell, NSA
Condoleezza Rice, Senators Biden, Lugar, Leahy, Boxer, Feinstein, McCain,
Kerry, Feingold and Representatives Cox and Radanovich. Please send
letters to your own Senators and Congressmen as well as Pres.Bush and
Sec. Powell.

President George W. Bush
Oct. 16, 2003
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Bush:

It is appalling to read that the U.S. Administration has offered 5
million for the information and/or capture of Croatia's General
Gotovina, who is indicted by the ICTY for "command responsibility". If
command responsibility is the criteria for indictments of armed forces
officers, then American officers should be equally open to indictments
when their troops, without their command or knowledge commit war crimes.
Such indictments are of course wrong and the fear of them is precisely
the reason why this Administration refuses to sign on to the
International War Crimes Court. Commanders should not be made responsible
for their individual soldiers' or troops' war crimes.

Nevertheless, your Administration demands the extradition of Croatia's
General Gotovina, while at the same time badgering Croatia to wave any
U.S. forces' culpability in commitment of war crimes. It is an outrageous
double standard - made even more grievous by offering money for the
capture of an honorable general, innocent of the crimes he is charged
with, and equating him with the likes of Osana bin Laden, Hussein and the
Serb war criminals and mass murderers general Mladic and Karadzic.

It would behoove the Administration to remember that it was Croatia and
General Gotovina's leadership during the liberation of Serb-held Croatian
territory that also led to the defeat of the Bosnian Serbs in a large
part of Bosnia, even though the West assumed that Bosnia was a lost
cause. That defeat forced Serbia's Milosevic to come to the peace
negotiations in Dayton which finally ended four years of war. It took
Croatia to stop a war that none of the Western Powers were willing to
stop. It is high time for the "all sides equally guilty" refrain, the lie
so dear to the heart of the West and the ICTY, to be finally thrown into
history's trash bin where it belongs.

Sincerely,

Hilda M. Foley
American Croatian Association
13272 Orange Knoll
Santa Ana, CA 92705-2258

To Leave or not to Leave ?

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor,
With debate in this country now raging about the scope and duration of the current US military mission in Iraq, it is prescient to examine our recent role in Bosnia ("Troops May Leave Bosnia In '04, Commander Says" World News,Oct 11). Thomas Ricks notes that the US military commander for Europe, Marine Gen. James Jones, recently stated that "we're seeing in Bosnia a real potential for ending the military mission there and transitioning to...(a solely civilian presence)".
But, with the Pentagon now declaring de-facto "success" in Bosnia, one must wonder what about future benchmarks for success in Iraq. After eight years in Bosnia post Dayton, while there is no longer war, there is also no permanent foundation for peace and stability. The major cause is that Bosnia is still a divided country today, ruled like a military "pro-consul" by the Office of the High Representative.
The Bosnian Serbs, via their "Republika Serpska - RS" mini-state, tightly control 49% of the entire country (even though they made up only 31% of the population before the war started). According to the UN, the RS continues to harbor the top two most-wanted war criminals, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic and continues to discourage minority refugee returns. The RS still maintains it's own, independent army, beyond the control of the central government. Adding to this unstable environment is rife corruption and an approximately 40% unemployment rate. Given these factors, it is hard to imagine how the Pentagon can now declare success and pull out. If these benchmarks are any guide, this does not bode well for the future of Iraq.

Sincerely yours,
Anthony Margan

Moj Posao - Jobs in Croatia

Continued growth for Moj-Posao.net
21/10/2003

MojPosao – your guide through Croatian job market.

After 3 years of existence MojPosao has entered Internet ’maturity’. Since October 18th, 2000 when it first appeared on the Internet, with continuous growth and development MojPosao (‘MyJob’, www.Moj-Posao.net ) has become the place where Croatian job market happens, and it has completely changed the variety of Croatian labor market.

During the past three years there were 25,000 job postings published on MojPosao website; it is estimated that 10,000-12,000 people were employed through these job postings.

On a weekday, MojPosao visits from 8,000 to 10,000 Daily Unique Visitors; 2.5 million web pages are viewed monthly. According to the independent statistics Alexa, MojPosao is placed among the biggest Croatian web sites, as well as among top 10 international non-English speaking job sites (www.topjobsites.com) in terms of traffic and popularity. Recently available in English too, it has become one of the top choices among many international employers.

Today MojPosao has over 3,500 registered employers – registered users, among which are most of the leading Croatian companies and institutions, but also a majority of dynamic small and medium enterprises. A great number of them use MojPosao as a solution for their recruitment needs. With 200-300 job postings published weekly, MojPosao is the leading job search website in Croatia.

Besides job positions, MojPosao offers employees free answers to questions from legislature’s standpoint related to employment process, advices on job market positioning, wide selection of education and specialization courses, etc.

Because of its contribution to employment, MojPosao was awarded a Prime Minister’s web award in 2002, the most prestigious Internet award in Croatia. MojPosao also won all other significant Internet awards in Croatia: the best web site according to Vidi Top 100 200 readers’ choice, Bug Top 50 2001, and was recently nominated for World summit award 2003.

www.Moj-Posao.net

onrec.com news
Source: http://www.onrec.com/content2/news.asp?ID=3140

Kako nastaje uspjesna drzava – Algoritam kapitala

Postovani!

Molimo Vas da na stranici koju uredjujete objavite najavu promocije knjige
“Kako nastaje uspjesna drzava – Algoritam kapitala”, autora Vladimira
Vugrina i Snjezane Dubak-Braskic, koja ce se odrzati u petak, 17.10.2003.
godine u Sveucilisnoj i nacionalnoj knjiznici u Zagrebu, Hrvatske bratske
zajednice bb, s pocetkom u 11 sati prije podne po hrvatskom vremenu.
Promocija knjige bit ce izravno prenosena putem Interneta na web-adresi
mms://tv.carnet.hr/nsk
Knjiga sadrzi saznanja o jedinstvenom rjesenju svih zarisnih problema
hrvatskog gospodarstva. Svojom originalnoscu sokantno potresa danasnju
ekonomsku znanost, a nacelima na kojima je zasnovana u poslovanje vraca
davno zaboravljenu moralnost.
Vugrin vlastitom troskovnom kamatom – viskom vrijednosti kao troskom
poslovanja, novim posebnim konceptom dodane vrijednosti, priznavanjem
goodwilla kao najkvalitetnije imovine, uvodjenjem OPO-a (Obvezne premije
osiguranja) za sve zaposlenike, stavljanjem naglaska na knjizni novac,
ulaganjem PDV-a u pravne osobe i izvozne poslove, te kontnim planom
prirodnog dvojnog knjigovodstva algoritma kapitala, transponira postojece
efekte gospodarstva u konstruktivnu reakciju koja pokrece gospodarske
snage, u cilju akcije vracanja moralnih normi ponasanja, te na taj nacin
postize sveopcu ravnotezu, kao osnovu mira, sigurnosti i prosperiteta
potrebnu za realizaciju stabilizacije i perspektivu blagostanja u
buducnosti.
Algoritam kapitala nalaze osnivanje eskontne banke pri Hrvatskoj narodnoj
banci, uvodi koncept glavnice poduzeca kao sadasnje vrijednosti buduceg
poduzetnickog posla, utvrdjene projektiranim profitom podijeljenim
eskontnom stopom (6%) te uvodi unutarnji poslovni zajam poduzeca
(menadjerski kredit) koji omogucava privatizaciju poduzeca reorganizacijom
poduzeca u korist menadjera (poslovodja) na nizoj razini koji vladaju
tehnologijom i savladavaju svakodnevne aktualne konkretne probleme, sto
zajamcuje pozitivne poslovne rezultate u stvaranju novih vrijednosti i
uspjesnu brzu privatizaciju.
Promocija navedene knjige jedinstvena je prilika da, uz pomoc suvremene
informaticke tehnologije, na jednom mjestu okupimo, motiviramo i upoznamo
s prirodnim knjigovodstvom strucnjake iz razlicitih podrucja, poduzetnike,
nezaposlene, povratnike i ostale zainteresirane osobe te da se svi
zajedno, pomocu timova i mreza timova, samoorganiziramo i damo svoj
doprinos u primjeni prirodnog dvojnog knjigovodstva poduzeca u hrvatskoj
ekonomiji. Nadamo se da cete pratiti promociju putem Interneta te da cete
poslati svoje prijedloge, kritike i pitanja na e-mail adresu
osijek@efos.hr
S postovanjem,

 

                                                                                                    prof.
                                                                                                    dr.
                                                                                                   sc.
                                                                                                   Ante
                                                                                                   Lauc

Looking for Croatians from Ellis Island time.

Hi, my name is Michele Nevenka Larimer and I am a junior at Rutgers
University and also a volunteer at Ellis Island in the oral history
archives of the library. I am currently transcribing the interviews of
Croatians who came through Ellis Island, however there are only a
handful and I would like to change that. I have all the contact
information which i could drop off and was wondering if maybe there was
a way to put a little add in a church newsletter or to post things in
the church hall or at events for people to either come to Ellis Island
or the staff to come to them if they live not too far to interview
them. I just thought it would be nice to include the stories of more
Croatians in the oral history program, as well as potentially in the
exhibits. I was given your email addresses through the church, so I
thought I would email if there was anyway you think you might be able
to help. Anyway, if you know how I can do this or you can help, I
would really appreciate it. I can be contacted through this email or
my cell phone is (201) 315-2750. Thank you, for your time. Sincerely,
Michele Nevenka Larimer

mlarimer@eden.rutgers.edu

Hrvatski strucnjak u Global Content Žiriju

Postovani gospodine Bach,

S velikim zadovoljstvom Vam dostavljam press release koji su organizatori Nagrade Svjetskog Summita 2003 pripremili povodom zasjedanja Velikog Zirija u Dubaiu. Tekst dostavljam u nastavku poruke, kao i u privitku.

U nadi da cete ovaj press release objaviti, srdacno Vas pozdravljam,

Natalija Gojkovic
Internet Institut [ITI]
natalija.gojkovic@hr-gateway.org 

t. +385.1.488.99.95
f. +385.1.488.99.98
c.+385.91.581.98.51


Nova potvrda Hrvatski strucnjak u Global Content Žiriju
Dubai Internet City ugošcuje Veliki Žiri Nagrade Svjetskog Summita 2003 za izbor najboljeg svjetskog e-contenta i kreativnosti

Krešimiru Lugaricu, predsjedniku Internet Instituta dopala je izuzetna cast postati jednim od medunarodnih sudaca Velikog Žirija Nagrade Svjetskog Summita 2003 (WSA 2003).

„Pokazati ono što vec postoji.” To je cilj Nagrade Svjetskog Summita – jedinstvene globalne inicijative za predstavljanje razvoja informacijskog društva kroz fokusiranje na inovativni sadržaj i aplikacije.

Gospodin Lugaric je jedan od 36 eminentnih strucnjaka za podrucja multimedia i informacijskih tehnologija iz cijelog svijeta, koji se sastaju u Dubaiu (UAE) od 17-og do 22-og listopada radi evaluacije preko 800 proizvoda u 8 WSA kategorija: e-ucenje, e-kultura, e-znanost, e-vlada, e-zdravlje, e-poslovanje, e-zabava i e-ukljucenost.

WSA Vijece direktora nominiralo je gospodina Lugarica iz široke mreže medunarodnih multimedia strucnjaka koji su podržali WSA kroz selekciju najboljih proizvoda iz 136 zemalja ucesnica.

Finalisti izabrani od strane gospodina Lugarica i WSA Velikog Žirija biti ce predstavljeni u okviru UN-ovog Svjetskog Summita o informacijskim društvima (WSIS) 2003 u Genevi.

The World Summit Award – Nagrada Svjetskog Summita

Nagrada Svjetskog Summita je službeni event prve konferencije vlada koja se bavi globalnim informacijskih društvom. Njezin je cilj predstaviti konkretna ostvarenja informacijskog društva selekcijom najboljeg e-sadržaja i inovativnih aplikacija, te njihovo predstavljanje i promocija u svjetskim okvirima.

Vodeci su politicari kao što su gospodin Romano Prodi, predsjednik Europske Komisije, gospodin Wolfgang Schüssel, federalni kancelar Austrije, gospodin Ion Iliescu, predsjednik Rumunjske i gospodin Abdoulaye Wade, predsjednik Republike Senegal, odali priznanje WSA svojim visokim pokroviteljstvom.

Više informacija o WSA kao na http://www.wsis-award.org .

Krešimir Lugaric, predsjednik i CEO Internet Instituta

Krešimir Lugaric je zaljubljen u informacijske tehnologije i profesionalno i privatno više od deset godina. Veza je zapocela kad je sastavio svoje prvo racunalo, nastavila se kroz aktivnosti BBS-a i vlastiti uspješni web development studio i doživjela vrhunac osnivanjem Internet Instituta sredinom 2001. U okviru aktivnosti i implementacije projekata Instituta, pored upravljanja i planiranja, Krešimir se takoder aktivno bavi svojom drugom ljubavi – designom.

Fotografiju gosp. Lugarica u visokoj rezoluciji možete ucitati na adresi

http://www.europrix.org/wsis-award/content/jury/press.htm  .

Pope John Paul Toasts the World With Croatian Wine

October 18, 2003
Pope Says Will Stay 'As Long as God Wants'
By REUTERS

Filed at 9:24 a.m. ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An emotional Pope John Paul said on Saturday he
intended to stay on as head of the Roman Catholic church ``as long as
God wants'' and said he and Church leaders should proclaim their faith
to their ``dying breath.''

The pope made his comments to cardinals and bishops from around the
world at the close of a four-day seminar on his pontificate, which
marked its 25th anniversary on Thursday.

``I ask you to continue to pray for me so that I faithfully carry out my
service to the Church for as long as God wants,'' he said, speaking in
slow Italian.

As has become custom, a senior aide read most of his address to the
group, gathered in the Vatican's audience hall. The pope, who suffers
from Parkinson's disease, has asked aides to help him read his speeches
in order to conserve his strength.

``Our main commitment...is to never shrink from the courage to proclaim
the gospel, even until our dying breath,'' he said in a part of the
speech read for him.

A swift deterioration in his visible condition has again fueled
speculation that he might choose to resign instead of ruling for life as
most of his predecessors have done.

The last pope to resign willingly was Celestine V, who stepped down in
1294. Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 when there was more than
one pope reigning at the same time.

Saturday's comment was similar to one the pope made on Thursday, the day
of the anniversary, when he said God wanted him to continue leading the
Catholic Church despite his frailty.

The pontiff, who appeared in relatively good form but with moist eyes
that betrayed his emotion, also urged the prelates to lead simple lives.

``Our work will be more incisive when we know how to highlight the face
of the Church that loves the poor, that is simple, that takes the side
of the weakest in society,'' he said.

He said Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whom he will put closer to sainthood
on Sunday, was ``an emblematic example'' of how the Church should be. As
the pope spoke, preparations were starting in St Peter's Square for
Sunday's beatification of India's revered ``Saint of the Gutters.''

The anniversary festivities reach their climax on October 21 when the
pope elevates 31 prelates to the College of Cardinals -- the elite group
that will choose his successor after he dies.

The pope and the prelates then retired for a sumptuous lunch with a menu
that included shrimp mousse, duck a l'orange with porcini mushrooms and
white truffles.

In the Vatican press room, a nationalistic cry of horror went up among
Italian journalists when a spokesman announced that the wine at the
lunch was from Croatia.