"Reflection on September 11,2001"

and 

"The Meaning of the 4th of July in America"

Alpha & Omega Production company presents TV documentary world premiere:
"Reflection on September 11, 2001". and "The Meaning of the 4th of July in America"
Produced & directed by Croatian from Evanston, Zvonimir B. Ranogajec (BrankoRano) September 11, 2002 at 8:00p.m. -on Evanston TV channel 6.

Don't miss the television premiere of "The Making and Meaning of We Are Family" on TRIO on September 11th. Directed by Danny Schechter for GlobalVision and produced by Tommy Boy Films, "We Are Family" is the moving account of over 200 celebrities coming together to re-record the famed song of the same name to promote tolerance and the idea of a global family. See it at 9:30pm, 11:30pm or 1:30am.

Music by Nenad Bach

Op-ed

I donated my time and music for this film in an effort tosupport ones who hurt the most. In the film, beside singing the tune and scoringit, I was interviewed where I compared suffering of Croatia with New York's one.Let me know how did you like this film, directed by Danny Schechter, andproduced by Tom Silverman. Legendary Nile Rodgers conducted the whole event,besides writing the tune We Are Family. I want to mention that both Tom andDanny were very much involved in the 90's when Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovinawere burning. These are  my personal heroes who stood against obvious lethargywhen our country was in need for desperate help.

Nenad

TRIO on the satellite is channel 315 (look for your local listings)

TRIO PRESENTS "THE MOTH: 9/11 STORIES" AND "THE MAKING AND MEANING OF 'WE ARE FAMILY'"

Two-Hour Commercial-Free Block To Air On 9/11

New York, N.Y. - August 22, 2002 - On Wednesday, September 11, popular arts channel TRIO will present a two-hour commercial-free block of programming beginning at 9:00 PM, ET/6:00 PM PT, that honors this national day of mourning, it was announced by Lauren Zalaznick, President, TRIO.

"Since 9/11, Americans have come together in various ways to heal from this national tragedy. TRIO's 9/11 programs exemplify how different aspects of the arts are a natural and necessary extension of the healing process. Story sharing and music are universal outlets for bringing together people from all stations of life," said Ms. Zalaznick.

Two original specials will be featured: the original special "The Moth: 9/11 Stories" and the world premiere of "The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'":

"The Moth: 9/11 Stories"

"The Moth: 9/11 Stories", hosted by actor/director Griffin Dunne, is a 30-minute special that serves as a preview to TRIO's new one-hour original storytelling series called "The Moth". The special will highlight the emotionally charged 9/11 stories shared by NYC firefighter Keith Young and New York-based comedienne Reno. These stories will be featured in TRIO's premiere episode of "The Moth" entitled "Carpe Diem: Seize The Day," which will debut in fourth quarter '02.

Taped on location in clubs around New York City, "The Moth" live show has been hailed as "...New York's hottest, hippest literary ticket". Each of the eight episodes features a different host and series of storytellers. Each Moth episode covers one specific theme in a variety of raw, emotional, unpredictable and comical stories told by an outrageously eclectic group of personalities - featuring famous authors, directors, housewives, and athletes. "The Moth" presents the art of storytelling based on themes from "Carpe Diem: Seize The Day" to "Rock 'n Roll Saved my Life".

"The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'"

This 81-minute documentary captures the passionate efforts of legendary music producer/songwriter Nile Rodgers as he brings together 200 musicians, actors, and sports figures for the all-star charity recording of the 1979 disco hit "We Are Family."

Eleven days after September 11th, 2001, Rodgers (who wrote and produced with his late partner Bernard Edwards the original recording of "We Are Family") reached out to artists, athletes, celebrities, police officers, emergency workers and victims' families in New York City and Los Angeles to re-record the classic hit song "We Are Family" in a dramatic call for tolerance and healing. Spike Lee directed the music video that was produced during this recording session. Against the backdrop of 9/11, "The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'" is a feature length documentary special with a call for multi-cultural unity and global understanding, at a time when much of the mass media only focused on the aftermath of the tragedy and the fears of most Americans. 

Directed by Danny Schechter, the program features members of Sister Sledge, the pop-gospel group that recorded the original hit version of the song 23 years ago, Nile Rodgers, Chic, Diana Ross, Little Steven Van Zandt, Spike Lee, Luther Vandross, Matthew Modine, Rosie Perez, Eartha Kitt, Patti LaBelle, Macaulay Culkin, John McEnroe, Nenad Bach, Jackson Browne, Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, David Hasselhoff, Rahat Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan and many other prominent artists, actors, athletes, and celebrities. 

TRIO is an entertainment cable television channel reflecting all of the popular arts: music, fashion, film, stage and pop culture in its programming. TRIO is available to over 15.5 million households via digital cable and satellite services.

TRIO is a program service of Universal Television Group, a division of Vivendi UNIVERSAL Entertainment (VUE) (www.universalstudios.com), the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.

An exotically beautiful and gifted young jazz singer from Croatia

DANIELLA 

“…every Sunday night for the past few months, an exotically beautiful and gifted young jazz singer from Croatia has been holding court...” D.Drake/Playbill, NY 

“…performance of this young and talented singer was the culmination…Daniella’s fantastic vocal abilities and skills to interact with the public make her special indeed…” R. Gorov/Novi List, Croatia 

“…Daniella has natural vocal talent…Her unique style of jazz interpretation sets her apart from many struggling artists…” R.VanIstendal/Euphoria Park Studios, NJ 

“…we need more people like Daniella…to catch the wave and discover the treasure before it all fades from memory...” Dr.N.E.Harrison 

Born in Croatia, Daniella is now living and performing in New York City as a Jazz Singer. Her influences include Sarah Vaughan, Carmen Mc Rae, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day, Sheila Jordan, Louis Armstrong, Billy Eckstine, Johnny Hartman, and the entire lineage of jazz singers and instrumentalists. Long before she could even understand or speak English, six years old Daniella would swing along with Satchmo and Ella and other jazz greats every Friday night in front of her TV set. Later at the age of 17, while she was already singing with r’n’r bands, her interest in Jazz grew and she wrote “The Jazz Music” as her High School Graduation Thesis. After exploring the blues form, Jazz was the following step on her musical path where ,she says, she found freedom to express herself. In this field of joy, as she usually describes jazz, Daniella has been developing her vocal “chops”, and growing both as a singer and a persona. Daniella’s unique improvisation skills and fine-tuned ear allow her to expand the vocalist's role beyond just interpreting a song into the realm of instrumental improvisation. A decision to move to New York City represents her strong desire to become a recognized part of the jazz scene. Daniella studied with Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton, attended Berklee Summer School in Italy (Donna McElroy’s class) and recently completed The Vocal Performance Class at The New School. She sang with Bosko Petrovic, Ratko Divjak, Elvis Stanic, Domagoy Ralasic, Miles Griffith, Lee Andrew Davidson, Miles Jaye and and many others. 

Daniella appears every Sunday with guitarist Dan Adler, 7 - 11pm (no cover charge) at: Tagine Dining Gallery located at 537 9th Avenue 40th St. Tel:212-564-7191.Web: www.tajine-nyc.com   

Contact info: phone: (917) 293-7795, e-mail: daniella_jazz@hotmail.com, web site: http://soundclick.com/bands/daniella  

Dear All,

Last year we had three Croatian Tables. I know this is the last moment, butwhoever is interested, ($500 per plate and yes, the price is little bit high,but for the right cause), PLEASE email me as soon as possible. We HAVE to bepresent. I desire that CROATIA becomes the firstcountry in the world to be free of landmines.And this is not a pipe dream. It is feasible and possible in 5-10 years. Let'shelp and support people who have been so generous to us.

Best, svako dobro,

Nenad Bach

tel: (914) 479-1009  

or email: Nenad@NenadBach.com

Letters@CroatianWorld.net 

Open Hearts. Clear Mines. 
Second Annual Los Angeles Benefit Gala 

18 September 2002 

Open Hearts. Clear Mines.

Adopt-A-Minefield and Goodwill Ambassadors
Heather Mills McCartney & Paul McCartney
invite you to open your hearts and join us
as steward of the earth to clear minefields, save lives,
and return land to productive use.

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Century Plaza Hotel
2025 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA
6:30 pm Cocktails
7:30 pm Dinner

Special Performances 
Paul McCartney & Brian Wilson

Master of Ceremonies
Jay Leno

Business Attire
For more information, please contact
Levy, Pazanti & Associates
310.201.5033

Pregled kinematografijehrvatskih redateljau Italiji

OBAVJEST ZA TISAK 


Hrvatsko  Talijanska udruga, kulturno  dragovoljno drustvo, promice u Italiji sto sire i 
uzajamno upoznavanje prijateljstvo i suradnju izmedu Italije i Hrvatske. Bavi se i odkrivanjem 
uzajamnog kulturnog, povjesnog i umjetnickog blaga.

U tu svrhu, uz pokroviteljstvo Saveza hrvatskih zajednica u Itakliji, prikazat cemo u premijeri 
pregled kinematografije mladi hrvatskih rezisera.

U Rimu, u kinodvorani ROXYPARIOLI, ulica Luigi Luciani 52/A, bit ce prikazano 6 filmova na 
originalnom jeziku, uz talijanske nadpise: 

ˇ 24.09.02 u 20,30 i 22,30 :  Marasal   Vinka Bresana (1999)
ˇ 01.10.02 u 20,30  22,30:  Tri muskarca Melite Zganjer Snjezane Tribuson(1997)
ˇ 08.10.02 u 20,30  22,30:  Isprani Zrinka Ogreste (1995)
ˇ 15.10.02 u 20,30  22,30:  Holding Tomislava Radica (2000)
ˇ 22.10.02 u 20,30  22,30:  Rusko meso Lukas Nole (1996)
ˇ 29.10.02 u 20,30  22,30:  Blagajnica hoce ici na more Dalibora Matanica(2000)

Ulaznica Ź 5
Za informacije: tel. 06/4191700 - 06/6627951 

www.romacivica.net/croata    
e-mail : croata@romacivica.net 
Predsjednik
Luka Krilic

Hague Project Manager 

IWPR is looking to recruit a Project Manager to manage our office in The
Hague, reporting from the International Tribunal for former Yugoslavia and
the International Criminal Court. Full details are available at:
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?top_opportunities.html 

Wednesday, September 4, 2002 

Opportunities
Working with IWPR to support regional reporting and media development. 
Title: Hague Project Manager 
Reports to: Balkans Project Manager
Salary: Subject to Skills & Experience
Per Diem allowance:Euros 780 PCM 
Limits of authority: Working within IWPR training and editorial policies and systems 
Based: The Hague, Netherlands 
Terms: Full-time (initial 3-month contract) 

FUNCTION: 

To manage IWPR office in The Hague, reporting from the International Tribunal for former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court. All material will be published as part of IWPR's leading online publication Tribunal Update.

MAIN DUTIES:

To continue to work in close collaboration with Mirko Klarin and the SENSE agency on IWPR's Tribunal output.

Working closely with the Balkan Project Manager and IWPR's Executive Director to increase the output, impact and outreach of IWPR tribunal project.

To follow all trials at the ICTY in cooperation with the Sense Agency. To take material on the tribunal provided by SENSE and from this material produce/write a weekly report/analysis of each trial/case (approx. 600 words each) to be published online as part of IWPR's Tribunal Update.

To produce occasional analyses of institutional workings of the tribunal.
To coordinate IWPR's ICTY output in cooperation with two Sense agency staff who may contribute their own trial reports/analysis for Tribunal Update.


To report on important developments at the newly established ICC.


To commission/edit/produce two war crimes - related pieces from former Yugoslavia.


To file a timely comprehensive monthly report against goals on all regional project activities including training/editorial outputs, workshops, seminars, travel, logistical and managerial issues, outreach and funding opportunities and dissemination, republication.


To file accompanying financial reports and requests for transfers.


To monitor courtside developments in the subject field of the project and communicate them to the London-based Project Co-ordinator, in order to determine commissioning of reports. To oversee the commissioning and quality of these articles.


Working with tribunal experts and journalists covering the Tribunal to commission occasional pieces from outside experts and to work towards a gradual increase the number of contributors to the tribunal update.


To foster and maintain good communicative links with the print-based media community -from senior editors down to junior reporters.


To promote IWPR and this project to international organisations where relevant, including potential funders.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:

Solid knowledge of the workings of ICTY and ICC.
Preferred 
Excellent knowledge of current and former Yugoslav politics.
Preferred 
Experience in reporting on war crimes issues.
Preferred 
To produce occasional analyses of institutional workings of the tribunal.
Essential 
Excellent Anglo-Saxon writing skills. Essential 
Strong Demonstrable background in print journalism. Essential 
Knowledge of Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian language.
Preferred 
Computer literate.
Essential 
HTML & Web posting skills. Preferred 

CV should be copied to Alan Davies: alan@iwpr.net and Duncan Furey duncan@iwpr.net. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internships (London) 

IWPR is offering three internships in our London office.

Intern, Training

The intern will assist in the development of IWPR's journalism training curricula for several of the 22 countries in which we currently work. Under the direction of IWPR's Training Coordinator, the intern will undertake research, update both printed and online training materials, liaise with trainers in the field, and maintain databases of trainees and materials.

The ideal candidate will be a post-graduate student of journalism, media or education, already residing in or near London. Strong computer skills - especially PowerPoint, Word, and the Internet - are essential. The volunteer position is part-time for three months, ideally three days per week. IWPR is able to help with inner London transport costs and small lunch stipend.

This internship is an excellent opportunity to gain practical experience in media development in crisis areas.

To apply send a brief CV to Andrew Stroehlein, Training Coordinator: andrew@iwpr.net 

Intern, Monitoring

The intern will assist in the monitoring of IWPR's activities throughout the 22 countries in which we currently work. The intern will create and update both printed and online materials related to IWPR's work in journalism training, media development, human rights and public fora.

The ideal candidate will possess strong computer skills; knowledge of Excel, Word, HTML and basic photo editing are all essential.

The volunteer position is part-time for three months, ideally three days per week. IWPR is able to help with inner London transport costs and small lunch stipend.

This internship is an excellent opportunity to gain practical experience in media development in crisis areas.

To apply send a brief CV to Anna McTaggart, Monitoring Coordinator: anna@iwpr.net 

Intern, Website Update

The intern will assist in creating and updating of different sections of the website and working on increasing the site traffic.

Strong computer skills with good knowledge of HTML are essential.

The volunteer position is part-time for minimum of three months, two or three days per week. IWPR is able to help with inner London transport costs and small lunch stipend.

To apply send a brief CV to Srdan Pajic, IWPR Web Designer: srdan@iwpr.net  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Short & long-term print trainers (Afghanistan) 
IWPR is looking to recruit senior print trainers to work on our Kabul-based projects to support the development of Afghan media professionalism. Successful applicants will have extensive editorial and field reporting experience, as well as a demonstrable ability to teach and conduct training programmes. Familiarity with basic office management and the capacity to run a small team of Afghan editors and translators is essential. 

IWPR is currently working in Kabul and engaged in a long-term partnership with Media Action International of Geneva, in support of both journalists working across the state and independent media as well as the faculty of Journalism at Kabul University. Our training aims to produce real-time stories on the political and recovery process for dissemination to both the local and international community. 

Timing: Rolling hires. Placements will last from three to six months. 

Salary: dependent on experience 

Main duties of trainers: 

commission articles, arrange translations and edit articles under the guidance of IWPR's Afghan Programme Coordinator in London; 
provide one-on-one training and feedback to journalists through the editorial process;

conduct training workshops and seminars on topics related to journalism and the media; 
manage the local editing and translation process; 
assist in the development of training curricula for local institutions; 
keep accurate records of all training meetings, editorial assistance and other work, providing weekly reports to the London office; 
disseminate published materials to the local press; 
manage the local office, meet reporting deadlines and oversee local budgets. 
A full terms of reference will be provided to short-listed candidates. 

To apply send a brief CV to Training Coordinator Andrew Stroehlein: andrew@iwpr.net  

Reporting 

IWPR constantly seeks regional contributors to its award-winning Internet reporting services. Our authors are journalists and analysts with substantial expertise in the regions featured in IWPR's output. They provide detailed reporting and balanced analysis in a clear and concise format. We place a special emphasis on working with contributors from the regions we cover, from whom we encourage enquiries. An ability to write well is imperative; an ability to write in English is preferred but not essential. 

If you are a regional journalist or analyst interested in contributing to IWPR, send a short letter of enquiry to the Editor outlining your story idea(s) and providing a brief personal background. We do our best to respond to all enquiries but, due to the volume of mail we receive, regret that we may not be able to do so in all instances. 

Research, Training & Special Projects 

IWPR has a limited capacity to support research projects, training activities and special projects. We emphasise that we are NOT able to help launch new newspapers, magazines and television stations, secure major grants for book projects or perform other miracles. But in some circumstances we may be able to provide assistance or direct collaboration for special projects. We are pleased to receive enquiries and especially keen to hear from regional and international journalists and editors looking to collaborate on joint cross-border and investigative projects. IWPR can also establish links for international journalists seeking to collaborate with regional journalists, or assist those wishing to provide editorial and training support. 

For enquiries regarding research and training or other special projects, please send a short letter to the Programmes Director outlining your project idea(s) and providing a brief personal background. Please do accept our apologies in advance if we are unable to respond to your enquiry. 

Syndication 

IWPR publications are available for syndication in regional and international press. Special commissions for specific articles or dedicated research may also be possible. Please contact the Managing Editor. 

Equal Opportunities 

IWPR is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications regardless of sex, race, religion or sexual orientation. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IWPR In The Media 

"Good war reporting will always find an outlet. The invaluable work of IWPR is already charting the way forward."
Robin Lustig 

"IWPR is one of the best places to read original-source reports from strife-ridden, undercovered regions." 
"IWPR is a beacon to our new industry."
IWPR "features reports... on events that don't make it into the main-stream press until it's too tragically late. This site is a Nobel Prize waiting to happen." 
James Wolcott 
IWPR journalist Miroslav Filipovic named European Internet Journalist of the Year.
"IWPR has been at the vanguard of covering the Kosovo crisis."
"(IWPR provides) outstanding coverage ... by reporters on the ground."
IWPR is "providing a wealth of information that goes way beyond that on offer from most mainstream news services."


IWPR's "news site ... an intelligent collection of breaking reportage (with) standout reporting and analysis." 

IWPR "provide(s) excellent analysis and background coverage of conflict from reporters in trouble spots." 

IWPR "coverage of events in Chechnya has been first class." 

IWPR's site "is up-to-date, rich in information, and easy to use. If you are looking for detailed analysis and commentary on events in the Balkans and the Caucasus region from local reporters, this site is for you." 


IWPR " uses the power of the internet to give voice to people who live in conflict zones." 

Š Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130 Fax: +44 (0)20 7713 7140

The opinions expressed in IWPR Online are those of the authors and do not
necessarily represent those of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. 

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UNIntervention inVUKOVAR too late

VUKOVAR, Croatia — The exquisite old baroque Danubian city of Vukovar seemed almost too perfect for the neighborhood.
It developed centuries ago in a very unusual and delicate manner for a small city in the Balkans, when traders from the north of Europe plied the Danube River southward, carrying not only goods to trade on these unknown peripheries of Europe but carrying the refined music of "Europe," its arts and architecture to the "wild" southern Serbs. Vukovar was an outpost — a plains' Salzburg, a little Prague, a faraway Tallinn. Even two centuries ago, its exquisite Baroque streets were lined with the best shops, with an impressive opera house and with a legendary hotel acclaimed across a Europe that always sniffed at "the Balkans."
In fact, Vukovar was too perfect for the Balkans — and when the Serbs turned away from the other cities they had left in ruins after the first four months of the war they began in June 1991, they turned on this lovely Croatian Roman Catholic city with a special destructive vehemence.
It was the same vengeance they would wreak on Bosnian Muslim Sarajevo, another Balkans jewel that, to them, didn't "belong." It was the special vengeance of the mountain people of the Dinaric Alps, united under Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic against the cultured and tolerant "European" elites of the valleys and plains.
Later, historians would define Vukovar that terrible fall as "Croatia's Stalingrad." The pattern of attack on the Danubian prize was the common one that the Serbs had been employing in their march across Bosnia and Croatia and their unsuccessful attempt to take Slovenia at the beginning of the war.
The Yugoslav army provided the heavy weapons and infantry support to local Serb paramilitaries and the local Serbs, almost all of whom immediately turned on their neighbors in what they now grotesquely called "self-cleaning." 
The horrors seemed to grow as the Serbs took town after town, with no resistance from the unarmed and terrified local populations — and surely with hardly an outcry from the world, whose representative spokesmen were flocking sheepishly to conference after conference, begging the Serbs to tell them what they really wanted in order to stop fighting — and saying over and over in world forums that the Serb forces were too strong for them to fight. 
In Vukovar, the Serbs offered safe transit to hundreds of Croats who had, in their terror, taken refuge in a hospital. When on Nov. 9, 1991, the Yugoslav army entered the hospital (after promising U.N. representatives that they would not) and the Croats emerged, almost all were murdered or taken away to be executed in quonset huts that still stand today.
But this is a story about another fall day in Vukovar, this one eight years later in 1999. This story carries the entire saga of international governance still a step further, to the morning after and to what happens to an already victimized people once the war is over and they supposedly had been "saved."
That beautiful fall day, a small group of foreign journalists had been driven by bus to the former museum building of Vukovar, courtesy of the office of the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman.
Five local officials, four men and one woman, sat at a long table in a lovely salon of the museum, which was itself filled with photos of the diabolical destruction of the town that lay in the snow just outside the windows. 
"In 1997, the Croatian government adopted a national reconciliation program," began Vladimir Stengl, a handsome, grey-haired man with a perpetually sorrowful look who was Vukovar's Croatian mayor, "and its main task is to establish trust and confidence."
But soon the journalists' questions turned to talk of justice for the thousands of victims there, many of them still buried in undiscovered mass graves; and at this point, the mayor added sadly, "Unfortunately, the butchers of Vukovar are walking free on the streets of Yugoslavia — [Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko] Mladic, [Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan] Karadjic — because they are out of our control and the international community is unable to arrest them."
The leading Serb official at the table, Milos Voinovich, a little man with darting black eyes, immediately and coldly objected to the discourse. He did not want any words like "butchers" or "war criminals" to be used.
"I am a lawyer," he proclaimed to the group, "a member of the judiciary. That is why I avoid using such words. This must be proven by a court."
Since in the ferocity of the siege, more explosive devices fell on Vukovar in three months than during the entire Second World War — and since so many of the defenders of the historic city were young boys and girls, who fought as young people do, heroically — most of the city lay by then in shards and pieces. But one plot of land was spanking clean and neat: the Serb cemetery built by the attackers for their fallen. The monuments of marble graves have atop them, in stone, the hats of the hated World War II Serb Chetnik fighters.
But despite the Serb destruction and despite the fact that the Serbs blew up a group of Croat houses to build the cemetery, the Croats, who won the area back in 1995, were not permitted to remove the monuments.
In that same spirit, the Serbs changed the name of one of Vukovar's lovely old avenues from the name of a Croatian leader to the name of his assassin. That could not be changed, either, because the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe declared it could not. The OSCE had immediately decreed that nothing should be changed for at least five years because it would hurt the Serbs' pride and might damage the reconciliation process they so insisted upon.
Later, back in Zagreb, I discovered that one of the reasons for the considerable tension that bleak day in the museum was because the Serb official so offended by talk of "war criminals" was indeed a lawyer. In fact, he was the head of the Supreme Court in Vukovar, and it was he, during the siege, who was first in charge of choosing those to be taken to concentration camps and those to be killed.
The international organizations would not even allow the Croats to look for the lost bodies of those still-missing young men and women — that would set back the process of "reconciliation" because telling the truth about the war would "remind the Serbs of the war" and make them more recalcitrant about "reconciling."
"Two thousand people killed in Vukovar," a top aide to President Tudjman said afterwards, sadly, voicing typically what many Croats felt, "and you are faced with huge emotions growing up from the graves. And nobody's punished. How can I reconcile people when we do not have the satisfaction that somebody is punished for it all?"
But this new free-floating international mentality prided itself on being, above all, "non-judgmental," talking constantly of "reconciliation" instead of "justice," as though reconciliation were as simple as saying that everybody is guilty, so let's just get on with it and have the right thoughts.
Thoughtful psychological analysts like Prof. Slavin Letica, the respected Croatian writer and intellectual, argued that these supposedly well-meaning foreigners, who were by then setting down the principles for international governance in foreign crises from Croatia to Indonesia to Rwanda, with their alphabet soup of organizations, had become "post-national" human beings, "ciphers with no emotions."
To them, he went on, "people who still have emotions and who still talk in terms of right and wrong, good and evil, nation and patriotism" are "tribal."
"Emotions and patriotism are [seen as] retrograde," he said. "Borders like these historically fearsome ones in the Balkans are unfashionable and simply must be changed, attitudes must be purified. These are the men and women of a borderless world." 
I personally remember, in 1992 in Zagreb, being told by the deputy Croatian defense minister, "If you take away a people's right to defend themselves, then you're morally responsible to defend them." But the international governance world did not feel this way, and neither did the European and American militaries, even though even the U.N. Charter's Article 51 guarantees every people the right to defend itself. 
Yet when the rebuilt and reinvigorated Croatian army struck out in the summer of 1995, stunning the world by retaking the Serb-occupied Krajina and then heading toward the north to retake East Slavonia, the first response from the United Nations and from virtually all the Western world capitals was that they could simply never do it.
The Clinton administration, which had predicted the Krajina would not fall, stopped Croat forces from taking East Slavonia, which most probably would have successfully ended the war.
"With hindsight," the author and historian William Shawcross writes, "Vukovar can be seen as the last moment at which NATO forces might have intervened to stop the fighting and to halt Yugoslavia's fall into the abyss. But — there was no political will to undertake such difficult action. Instead the paths of diplomacy and humanitarianism were followed."
Back to World

Georgie Anne Geyer 
The Washington Times 
All site contents copyright Š 2002 News World Communications, Inc.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020811-24444994.htm 

Re: G.A.Geyer Washington Times article

UN Interventionin CROATIAtoo late

Ms. Georgie Anne Geyer
c/o Universal Press Syndicate 
4520 Main St. 
Kansas City, MO. 64112
Aug. 18, 2002
Dear Ms. Geyer:

I want to thank you for your excellent and insightful article about Vukovar in the Washington Times of 8/11/02. You are one of the rare journalists who report not just the "here and now" but search deeper into the history of an area to understand the origins of certain events. 

The fall of Vukovar was indeed "Croatia's Stalingrad". Yet, as you pointed out, Croatians are supposed to reconcile with the Serbs who so recently destroyed the city and cold-bloodedly murdered hundreds of the Croatian population, while sending the rest - the majority of the town's citizens - walking over minefields, with just clothes on their backs, to become refugees in their own country. 

I am glad you mentioned the injustice of the OSCE which was not allowing Croatians to mention the Serbs' many Croatian victims and their mass graves, as well as not permitting the removal of the name of a street that Serbs named after an assassin, because "it would hurt the Serbs' pride"! What about Croatians' pride? After all, we are talking about a city in Croatia, not Serbia! While this occurred in 1997, sadly not much has changed since. The Western Powers demand of Croatia to allow the return of all the Croatian Serbs, no matter what atrocities they might have committed. Yet there is no reciprocal agreement for the return of Bosnian Croats to their homes in Serb-held Bosnia. Why are these demands made on Croatia, yet for instance no one has suggested, much less demanded, that the Czechs allow the return of the Sudeten Germans who were forced out of Czechoslovakia over 50 years ago! 

The U.S. and especially the EU are demanding "reconciliation" if Croatia wishes to become sometimes in the future ( no date has been even set) a full member of the EU. Worse, the EU has now established a new approach, the so-called SAA, the "Stabilization and Association Agreement", which includes all former Republics of Yugoslavia, but without Slovenia, adding instead Albania. In other words, the EU wants to cobble together people who fought a bitter war to be separated. They arbitrarily decided to leave out Slovenia, adding instead Albania, a very backward country of the Balkans, to be part of the SAA with Croatia, a country which has been historically considered Central European, as are Austria and Hungary, and not part of the Balkans.

Obviously such distinctions do not matter to the Big Powers precisely because they have the power to decide where in their opinion any country should be placed. The Croatian Government is so eager to join the EU that it obeys every EU whim, even when it is detrimental to Croatia. The country is being impoverished by various demands placed on it by the IMF and others, which it simply cannot meet without deep cuts in the social structures. 

These internationalists like to talk about nationalism being passe, yet show me one Frenchman, German or American who would consider himself a citizen of the world before being a national of his own country and being proud of it. The question is: why should that be denied to smaller countries in the name of "Globalism"? 
Please keep writing your insightful observations and hopefully someone in the Western governments will see the light! Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Hilda M. Foley

National Federation of Croatian Americans
13272 Orange Knoll Dr.
Santa Ana, Ca. 92705

We LaughToo Little

The paradox of our time in history is that we
have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider
freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more,
but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less. We have
bigger houses and smaller families, more
conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees
but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment,
more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but
less wellness. 


We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too
recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get
too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read
too little, watch TV too much, and pray too
seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but
reduced our values. We talk too much, love too
seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make
a living, but not a life. We've added years to life
not life to years. 


We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new
neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner
space. We've done larger things, but not better
things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the
soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our
prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan
more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush,
but not to wait. We build more computers to hold
more information, to produce more copies than ever,
but we communicate less and less. 


These are the times of fast foods and slow
digestion, big men and small character, steep
profits and shallow relationships. These are the
days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier
houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick
trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one
night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do
everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a
time when there is much in the showroom window and
nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can
bring this letter to you, and a time when you can
choose either to share this insight, or to just hit
delete. 


Remember, spend some time with your loved
ones, because they are not going to be around
forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who
looks up to you in awe, because that little person
soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to
give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that
is the only treasure you can give with your heart
and it doesn't cost a cent. 


Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner
and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss
and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from
deep inside of you. remember to hold hands and
cherish the moment for someday that person will not
be there again. Give time to love, give time to
speak and give time to share the precious thoughts
in your mind. 


Don't go through life; grow through life.

(by G. Carlin)

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to the Third European-American School in Forensic Genetics and Mayo Clinic 
Course in Advanced Molecular and Cellular Medicine, September 1- 5, 2003, Zagreb, Croatia. 

Information on the conference can be found find at:

www.european-americangeneticsmeetings.org       

The school will provide an opportunity for the exchange of the latest information and technology 
in clinical and forensic genetics as well as cutting-edge advances in cellular and molecular 
medicine. 

The First Course was held in Split in 1997 and the Second Course was held in Dubrovnik in 2001 
were highly successful with the cumulative attendance of more than 800 delegates from 62 
countries.

The Third Course to be held in Zagreb in 2003 will feature plenary lectures by leaders in the field 
and poster presentations of scientific abstracts by attendants. This time the programs in forensic 
medicine and in cellular and molecular medicine will run in parallel with the introductory and 
closing sessions held jointly. The Cellular and Molecular Medicine program will be co-organized 
with the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. Special workshops on PCR-Based Detection 
Instruments and Chemistry will be offered by our sponsors to provide hands-on training. 

The social program will include a welcome reception for all participants at the Mimara Museum, 
with its collection of art dating from prehistoric times to the 20th century. A one-day tour after 
the course will include the visit to the famed Plitvice Lakes National Park, a magical world of 
lakes, forests and waterfalls, which is under UNESCO protection. 

The Croatian capital of Zagreb has nine hundred years of documented history with abundant 
indication of the many civilizations and cultures that influenced the region. Today it is a city of 
distinct Central European flavor. Wherever you find yourself in Zagreb you will be surrounded 
by its historic buildings, concert halls, parks, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and shops. 

We look forward to sharing this unique scientific and social experience with you.

Sincerely yours,

Moses S. Schanfield, Ph.D. 
Dragan Primorac, M.D., Ph.D.
dragan.primorac@st.tel.hr