The CroatianAcademy of America 

50thANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Saturday, May 17,  2003

TheCroatian Academy of America will celebrate its 50^th anniversary inNew York City, Saturday, May 17,2003.  Theevent will take place in The New York Hilton Hotel, 1335 Avenue of the Americas(between 53^rd and 54^th Streets). This is the same hotel in which numerous Academy assemblies and meetingshave been held over past decades, including the memorable 40^thanniversary celebration in 1993 and several important encounters. 

TheKeynote speaker and guest of honor will be Dr. Jasna Helena Mencer, Rector ofthe University of Zagreb who will address the audience in English. The program also includes a recital by Krunoslav Cigoj.  

Thegala dinner will start at 7 pm.  Reservationsshould be made before May 10. 

Op-ed

CROWN will support The Croatian Academy of America and it'sfiftieth anniversary. Continuity wins. Congratulations. Please come and supportthis organization as well as our continuous presence in the American society.

Saturday May 17th. Be there !

Nenad Bach

ER Continues Croatia Storyline

The NBC television series, "ER", will continue with a storyline for Dr. Luka Kovac which involves coming to the aid of a 9-year-old boy from Croatia. In the previous episode shown on April 3, Luka received a call from Zagreb, from an old medical school classmate, Gordana. There is a small boy in serious need of surgery which cannot be done where he is. Gordana asked for Luka's help in bringing the boy to America for the surgery and in helping to find a way to defray the expenses. This storyline will continue in episodes 19 and 20, to be shown April 24 and May 1, respectively.

PISMA MOJOJ HRVATSKOJ
Croatian Immigration Poetry

Dear All,

My appologies to those who do not speak Croatian. This notice and the event are in Croatian... 

DANAS 6Travnja 2003

Op-ed

Croatian Immigration Poetry
nb

Hrvatska Katolicka Zupa Sv. Cirila i Metoda
Hrvatska Katolicka Misija Astorija
i Hrvatska Kultura Cetvrtkom

pozivaju sve ljubitelje poezije na

PRETSTAVLJANJE DRUGE ZBIRKE PJESAMA HRVATSKE ISELJENICKE LIRIKE
"PISMA MOJOJ HRVATSKOJ"

Koja ce se odrzati
6.travnja, 2003 u 13:30 sati
u dvorani iza Crkve Svetog Cirila i Metoda
502 West 41st Street
New York City, New York, USA

Zabavimo se na jedan drugaciji nacin, uz poetsku rijec i domacu besidu, na dragom nam hrvatskom jeziku.

Svojim prisustvom uvelicat ce te ovaj kulturni skup.

Dissertation Research in Croatian Diaspora Communities 

My name is Michael Popovic. I am of half-Croatian and half-German decent born 
in Munich, Germany. Over the years, I have maintained close contact with my 
Croatian family, visiting Croatia virtually every year. In 1998, I emigrated to 
the United States to pursue a doctorate in International Political Economy at 
Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. My research focus is the Croatian 
Diaspora in the United States and Germany. I research and analyze migrational 
patterns; ties between Diaspora members and the homeland; social dynamics 
within Diaspora communities; and economic implications of Diaspora homeland 
interactions. In researching for my dissertation, I have interviewed over 70 
Croatian Diaspora members in Munich, Germany; Detroit, Michigan; and most 
recently St. Louis, Missouri. A number of Croatians in these communities have 
provided me with much valuable information. Without these individuals, I would 
have not been able to conduct my research. I hope this invaluable assistance 
will continue, as I enter the last phase of my studies before completing my 
dissertation at the end of this year. I am now seeking to interview Croats that 
have either already invested in Croatia or are in the process of doing so. This 
can be smaller investments, e.g. an apartment in Zagreb or a house or property 
at the coast; or larger investments, e.g. a company, a hotel, a winery or 
property. These investors can be from all over the United States. I am spending 
the week of April 7 in New York City, and would like to meet with Croatians in 
the area to discuss the investment process and why they decided to invest. I 
would greatly appreciate it if Croatians in New York City would contact me via 
email or telephone to speak about this before my departure on April 14th. 
Please contact me either via email at mjpopovi@artsci.wustl.edu or leave a 
message on my St. Louis answering machine at (314) 726-9976. I would be more 
than happy to return the call and set up a meeting. Please don’t hesitate to 
contact me if you don’t live in New York, as I’d be happy to interview you over 
the phone at your earliest convenience.

Bok, 

Michael 

mjpopovi@artsci.wustl.edu 
(314)726-9976

 Max Primorac's article on JNA in Herald Tribune

Will the armed forces take over Serbia?
Max Primorac
Friday, April 4, 2003

After Djindjic

ZAGREB, Croatia  After the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic,Serbia's fragmented democratic forces must deal with the loss of a possibly irreplaceable reformer while staving off the chaos that oftenfills such power vacuums. Looming ominously in the background, meanwhile,is a possibility that international and Yugoslav officials are failing to confront adequately - a de facto military takeover.

The Yugoslav National Army, or JNA, is not only the strongest institution in the country, but also the one that Djindjic had the least success reforming. Deeply compromised by its close association with and support of former President Slobodan Milosevic, it is thoroughly penetrated by powerful crime syndicates.

No other institution is in a better position to benefit from the vacuum left in the wake of Djindjic's departure. Serbia's neighbors are holding their breath - and for goodreason. Any move by Serbia's military-criminal complex to reassert its control over politics would undo the international community's efforts to bring peace, stability and democracy to the former Yugoslavia.

It is difficult to determine where Serbia's criminal underworld ends and where its security and intelligence services begin. Although Djindjic's administration undertook significant reforms on several fronts, the security apparatus remained beyond civilian control. In fact, a leading suspect in Djindjic's murder is a Milosevic-era special forces commander and crime boss wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia for war crimes committed in Bosnia.

A report by the International Crisis Group documents how Belgrade has soldmore than $1 billion worth of illicit arms to Baghdad and other rogue regimes since Milosevic's ouster, pointing to the "power of Communist-era networks linking military, industrial and criminal elites, and the unwillingness or inability ofcivilian political leaders to control the security sector."

Several factors might lead the JNA to decide that it is in its best interests to stage a coup or, more likely, arrange for a de facto takeover by proxy.

First, military leaders understand that full cooperation with the war crimes tribunal remains a precondition for desperately needed Western aid. This means sending their colleagues or themselves to jail - an obvious non-starter. The tribunal has accused the JNA of harboring several indicted Serbian officers. Djindjic'sassassination sends a clear message to his successors about what they riskshould they dare consider extraditing these suspects. The military may simply conclude that its interests are best served by taking power.

Second, the JNA has seen its privileges and budget shrink as the countryfor which it was created to defend, Yugoslavia, has vanished. The illicit trade in arms, drugs, contraband and women, and the crime syndicates that broker it, has helped stem the financial decline. Reform threatens this illicit network.

Third, there remains strong populist support for a greater Serbia, stokedby the stifling economic hardship that has accompanied tough reforms. Despite the warnings of many in the region, the West has never fully appreciated the continued popularity of Milosevic's imperial designs. In December's presidential elections,the extremist candidate Vojislav Seselj - now in a Hague jail awaiting prosecution - won more than a third of the popular vote, an alarming sign that radical nationalism still grips the Serbian political psyche.

This danger extends beyond the radical nationalists. Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic has taken a hard-line position over Kosovo, advocating its territorial partition and demanding that Serbian security forces be allowed to reenter the province. At the same time Serbs in Kosovo have called for the creation of their own statelet.

These developments chillingly echo the terrible events of 1991-1992, when Serb nationalist demands for separate states were preludes to war in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The recent decision by Belgrade to establish a major new security base in Albanian-populated southern Serbia, near the border with Kosovo, is sure to inflame already tense Serbian-Albanian relations.

Events in Belgrade are generating considerable concern in Bosnia about continued Serbian irredentist designs over half its territory. Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb republic, is already dominated by a security-criminal apparatus similar to that emerging in Serbia.

Bosnia can take little comfort from the fact that Vojislav Kostunica, until recently president of Yugoslavia and Djindjic's main political antagonist, is now Serbia's most popular political figure, given his electoral campaign statement that Republika Srpska is only "temporarily" separated from Serbia. In fact, Kostunica's strident anti-Hague and anti-U.S. stances make him a convenient proxy candidate for the military.

With Djindjic's death, the post-Dayton peace architecture may begin to unravel. Despite billions of dollars in foreign aid, the international community finds itself facing the very real possibility that the Balkans will once again become a flashpoint.

The writer is president of the Center for Civil Society in Southeastern Europe and executive director of the Institute of World Affairs regional office in Zagreb.

Copyright C 2003 The International Herald Tribune

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/92071.html

 Siege of Dubrovnik

"This was the first time in its history that Dubrovnik had had to dependon arms to defend its freedom," he said. "In the past, it had alwaysrelied on diplomacy, trade, or even payments of money to maintain itsfreedom."
COURTSIDE: MILOSEVIC TRIAL

By Judith Armatta in the The Hague

The Croatian general who defended the city of Dubrovnik said last week hewas hampered because his former president, Franjo Tudjman, had made a dealWith Slobodan Milosevic to exempt the city from war, and no plans fordefence had been made.

General Nojko Marinovic was made commander of the beautiful port city in1991, after resigning from the Yugoslav People's Army, JNA, in September1991.

"I was really shocked at how disorganised and unprepared they were foranything that might happen," he said in a statement read out in theMilosevic trial. "I quickly formed the opinion that there was no effectivedefense plan for Dubrovnik."

While the general gathered what forces, equipment and weapons he could,and devised a strategy to defend southern Dalmatia, he was hampered in hisefforts to defend Dubrovnik by an earlier order by Tudjman.

In a meeting between Tudjman, Milosevic and the then federal defenceminister Veljko Kadijevic, the latter assured the late Croatian presidentthat the JNA would not attack Dubrovnik, Marinovic said.

The witness said Tudjman had clearly taken this to heart, as he onlypermitted him 670 troops to defend not just the city but the entireregion - with just 150 for Dubrovnik itself.

Facing him, he said, were 5,000-7000 JNA troops with far better equipment.

But he said Serb propaganda played a part in frightening the attackers,who believed their own TV reports that thousands of troops includingforeign mercenaries were waiting for them.

"Their own propaganda boomeranged on them," said Marinovic. "They becameextremely cautious as they moved closer and closer to the city."

Even so, he was angry when shells rained down on the historic city, aUnited Nations heritage site.

"It is hard for me to say why they shelled the Old Town. They (the Serbforces) felt like no one in Dubrovnik would fight - that these were hotelworkers, waiters, tour guides etc who had no stomach for warfare."

Despite the city's formidable walls, it had never had to battle for itsfreedom.

"This was the first time in its history that Dubrovnik had had to dependon arms to defend its freedom," he said. "In the past, it had alwaysrelied on diplomacy, trade, or even payments of money to maintain itsfreedom."

Marinovic stated that Croatian forces were not stationed in and did notfire from the Old Town. "I can say with certainty that we never fired fromthe Old Town, never conducted any military operations there," he said.

And he dismissed claims that the shelling of the Old Town was a fiction,created by the Croats by burning old tyres.

"For anyone who entertains such ideas, I would suggest that they watch thevideotapes of JNA missiles hitting the Old Town," he said.

He said the Serb commander, General Pavle Strugar, must have known whatwas happening to the city.

"There is no way that they could have not known what was happening, northat they could have failed to report it up to the General Staff. Thesebattles were too important and the JNA just did not work like that."

Marinovic said that by the time of the siege, the army was cooperatingwith civilian politicians in ways which "would have been unthinkable inthe old JNA".

In support, he quoted an intercepted conversation between BozidarVucurevic, mayor of Trebinje, and Major Bogdan Kovac, Commander of the JNA472nd brigade, where Vucurevic appeared to reprimand the major:

"What's wrong, I don't hear you killing those beasts down there?" Kovacanswered, "Don't worry, we will do it."

Before the JNA pulled out of the region, Mayor Vucurevic was overheard inanother conversation, telling Admiral Miodrag Jokic, to make sure theairport at Cilipi was mined. Jokic assured him it had already been done.

The general also referred to videotapes showing civilian politicians, aswell as most of the high ranking officers, visiting the front, includingMomir Bulatovic and Milo Djukanovic, then president and prime minister ofMontenegro respectively, who brought lambs for the Montenegrin troops inZvekovica.

Marinovic's statement will be used by prosecutors to show that the siege,which was condemned around the world, could not have been done withoutbeing planned at the highest level.

His testimony will also be used to convince judges there was no militaryjustification for the three-month siege.

His statement could be added to those of other witnesses, who havetestified that Milosevic had effective control over the joint Yugoslavpresidency at the time of the Dubrovnik campaign ? the presidency whichwas the supreme authority in control of the army who's shells battered thecity.

Cross-examination of Marinovic was delayed by Milosevic's second week ofillness.

Judith Armatta reports for the Coalition for International Justice.

www.cij.org

Croatian island re-discovers its history - and takes up cricket

By Ivo Scepanovic in Vis, Croatia
(Filed: 23/03/2003) 

The discovery of a letter from a British naval captain to his mother during the Napoleonic wars has inspired the inhabitants of a remote Adriatic island to take up cricket - despite the fact that the nearest team to play against is 200 miles away.


The William Hoste Cricket Club, named after the hero of Lord Nelson's navy who regularly dropped anchor off the Croatian island of Vis almost 200 years ago, has won a grant from the European Cricket Council and is now creating a proper cricket field.

The sport has so captured the 3,000 islanders' imagination that impromptu cricket matches have become a common sight in clearings among the palm trees beside the beaches.

Capt Sir William Hoste earned his place in British naval legend after defeating the French near Vis in 1811, during the Napoleonic wars. Outgunned by a fleet with three times as many ships, he still managed to rout the enemy and hoisted a triumphant signal: "Remember Nelson."

As British naval commander of the Adriatic station for the previous three years, he encouraged his seamen to play cricket to stave off boredom, and founded a club on Vis - then known as Lissa.

In a letter home he extolled the island's virtues as a cricketing venue, with year-long sunshine and perfect conditions for the sport.

"We have established a cricket club and when we anchor for a few hours it passes away the time quite wonderfully," he wrote, adding praise for the islanders who had taken to joining in the sport.

His hopes that cricket would continue to be played after he left the island came to nothing - until two years ago when a resident of Vis discovered his letter in the book Remember Nelson: Life of Captain Sir William Hoste by Nelson's biographer Tom Pocock.

The islander showed it to his neighbour, Oliver Roki, 31, a winegrower, who was fascinated by the passion for the game which the letter evoked and decided with some friends to try to rekindle Hoste's dream.

Mr Roki said: "I was inspired by the passion for a sport I had never heard of in connection with our island, and together with other people here we looked into what cricket involved. We'd never played it, but now it is talked about by everyone. Sir William Hoste's letter struck a chord and it just went from there."

So great was their enthusiasm that the European Cricket Council awarded the new club a Ł7,000 grant for equipment and paid for a coach from Manchester, David Gelling, to work with the players until early this year.

When it is complete, the pitch will be the second in Croatia - there is a club in the capital, Zagreb - but until then wickets have to be improvised.

Mr Roki said: "We are all desperate to make our club a success. People here have taken to the game with a passion I find incredible. Even local fishermen come ashore, leaving their boats for hours at a time to play a game.

"We're kings of improvisation. We play it everywhere - among the palm trees, on small uninhabited nearby islands, everywhere."

Sinisa Vodopija, a geography teacher at the local high school and another of the club's founders, said: "We'll develop this sport on the island step by step but being a nation with a talent for sports I'm sure we'll give Sir William Hoste something to be proud of in the future."

The club still needs to raise €30,000 (Ł20,000) to build its cricket field. The plan is to complete the project by the summer so that the club can challenge Zagreb to decide the Croatian national championship.

When the pitch is ready Mr Roki hopes that his club may lure cricket-loving visitors from Britain who want to play in winter.

Toni Luksic, a coffee shop owner and a keen player, added: "In Vis you can play cricket for the entire year. We think British people could come and enjoy playing in the sun even in January and February."

He said locals were dreaming of playing - and defeating - a visiting British cricket team. He said: "For all of us - the fishermen, waiters, cooks and wine producers - it means something to have realised the dream of William Hoste. When a British team comes here, that will be the best, because then we will really have made it."

Š Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003. 

http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/23/wcrick23.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/03/23/ixworld.html 

Underdog Croatia faces Spain in Davis Cup

Posted: Thursday April 03, 2003 11:33 AM

LONDON (AP) -- Croatia is counting on hard-serving Ivan Ljubicic to repeat his Davis Cup heroics all over all again. 

Two months after almost single-handedly beating the United States, Ljubicic is away from home in Spain, on the opposition's favorite clay surface and against three of the world's top ten players in Croatia's Davis Cup quarterfinal. 

The Spaniards are so strong, reigning French Open champion Albert Costa can only get a game in the doubles. 

Meanwhile, the underdog Croats are without injured former Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic and Ljubicic is the team's highest ranked player at 53. 

"Our players are clearly superior. More solid," Spanish coach Jordi Arrese said. 

Ljubicic won both his singles and the doubles with Ivanisevic in February over an undermanned U.S. Davis Cup team. 

Friday, he plays world No. 4 Carlos Moya in second singles, on Sunday it's world No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero. 

In between, he pairs up with Lovro Zovko for the doubles against Costa and Alex Corretja at the Valencia Tennis Club. Mario Ancic opens against Ferrero on Friday and plays Moya on Sunday. 

Ljubicic has targeted Moya as his best opportunity. 

"I think I do have a chance in that one," Ljubicic said. "He might not have had enough time to prepare himself on clay and I have beaten him three times before. Those matches were all difficult, though, and this one is on clay so I'm expecting it to be even tougher." 

Ferrero is 8-2 in Davis Cup play in Spain, Moya is 9-1 and even Costa is 6-3 when playing singles. 

"You cannot think you're going to have an easy time, not when I lost to Ljubicic three times" already, Moya said. "He's a difficult player to beat. He has a good serve. He's very fast." 

It's the first time the two countries have played each other in Davis Cup. 

Defending champion Russia will only have Marat Safin fit for doubles against Argentina in Buenos Aires. Russia's top player aggravated an ankle injury in practice on the outdoor clay of the River Plate Club on Monday. 

He was drawn Thursday with Yevgeny Kafelnikov to play doubles against David Nalbandian and Lucas Arnold. 

Safin is replaced in singles play by Nikolai Davydenko, who will face last year's Wimbledon runnerup Nalbandian in Friday's opening match. The second singles match pits Kafelnikov against Gaston Gaudio. 

In Sunday's reverse singles, it's Kafelnikov vs. Nalbandian and Davydenko vs. Gaudio. 

Russia beat France in last year's Davis Cup finals for its first title. The Russians dispatched Argentina in the semifinals in Moscow. 

In Malmoe, Sweden will again rely on veteran Jonas Bjorkman against a strong Australian side on the indoor hardcourts of the Baltiska Hallen stadium. 

Bjorkman opens the tie against former U.S. Open runnerup Mark Philippoussis on Friday, then teams up with Thomas Enqvist for the doubles before playing world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in Sunday's reverse singles. 

Enqvist is also playing all three days. With wins this year over Andre Agassi and Gustavo Kuerten, he plays Hewitt on Friday and Philippoussis on Sunday. 

Australian captain John Fitzgerald picked Bjorkman's regular partner, Todd Woodbridge, and Wayne Arthurs for the doubles. 

This is the ninth meeting between two of the most successful Davis Cup nations with Australia holding a 6-2 advantage. They last played in September 2001, with the Aussies winning a hard-fought semifinal in Sydney to reach its 46th final. 

In Toulouse, France is confident of extending its 9-1 Davis Cup record over Switzerland on the indoor hardcourts of the Le Zenith Stadium, but must overcome Roger Federer's speed and power. 

Federer, ranked fifth in the world, will play Nicolas Escude on Friday and Sebastien Grosjean on Sunday. He joins Marc Rosset for Saturday's doubles against Michael Llodra and Grosjean. 

"Federer hits the ball with phenomenal speed and timing," France captain Guy Forget said. "His power is incredible. This is a player we must be very wary of." 

Switzerland's other singles player is George Bastl, who last year beat Pete Sampras in the second round of Wimbledon. He plays Grosjean in Friday's opener and Escude in reverse singles. 

France's last Davis Cup win over the Swiss side came in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 2001 -- a tense 3-2 victory that was decided when Nicolas Escude won the final set of the final match. 

Rosset is the Switzerland captain but steps in to play his 57th Davis Cup tie because of an injury to Michel Kratochvil. 

Copyright Š 2003 CNN/Sports Illustrated.