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  • Gocka
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2012
    • 2306

    Originally posted by Carlin15 View Post
    It appears that almost the entire leadership of SDSM, all vice-presidents, secretaries ... have been dismissed.

    The initial unofficial information is that the six vice-presidents of SDSM have been dismissed, along with the party's general secretary.

    Former vice-presidents of the party were Frosina Remenski, Muhamed Zekiri, Petre Shilegov, Damjan Mancevski, Oliver Spasovski and Blagoj Bocvarski.

    URLs:
    Централниот одбор на СДСМ ги разреши денеска сите 6 потпретседатели на партијата, заедно со генералниот секретар, Александар Кирацовски, кој е заменет од Љупчо Николовски, актуелниот министер за земјоделство.



    СДСМ го смени речиси целото раководство, оставки на 6-те потпретседатели а разрешен е и генералниот секретар Кирацовски

    Централниот одбор на СДСМ ги разреши денеска сите 6 потпретседатели на партијата, заедно со генералниот секретар, Александар Кирацовски, кој е заменет од Љупчо Николовски, актуелниот министер за земјоделство.

    Досегашни потпретседатели на партијата беа Фросина Ременски, Мухамед Зекири, Петре Шилегов, Дамјан Манчевски, Оливер Спасовски и Благој Бочварски. Сите тие поднеле оставки на своите функции.

    За министерски смени вечерва не се разговарало и најавената реконструкција на владата ќе биде тема на нов состанок, откако претходно ќе се расправа на Извршниот одбор на СДСМ, пред се затоа што во игра е и замена на ресори меѓу коалициските партнери во владата.
    This looks familiar.

    Comment

    • Carlin
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2011
      • 3332

      Serbia puts its troops on full alert Tuesday after heavily armed Kosovo police entered Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, firing tear gas and arresting about two dozen people in what they called an anti-organized crime operation.

      Serbian jets apparently flew over Novi Pazar in direction of Kosovo while a column of military vehicles and armed personnel left the barracks in Kraljevo.

      Comment

      • VMRO
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2008
        • 1462

        Originally posted by Carlin15 View Post
        Serbia puts its troops on full alert Tuesday after heavily armed Kosovo police entered Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, firing tear gas and arresting about two dozen people in what they called an anti-organized crime operation.

        Serbian jets apparently flew over Novi Pazar in direction of Kosovo while a column of military vehicles and armed personnel left the barracks in Kraljevo.
        Sounds like hot air to me just to ease the Serbs as if he is outraged.

        Before this occurred Vucic said the following in Serb Parliament.




        Accept reality, Serbia does not control Kosovo: Vucic

        Ivana Sekularac, Aleksandar Vasovic


        BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia needs to accept that it has lost control over Kosovo, its former southern province, and it must seek a compromise to normalize ties with Pristina, President Aleksandar Vucic told parliament in unusually blunt terms on Monday.


        Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic speaks in the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade, Serbia, May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
        Majority-Albanian Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after NATO air strikes wrested control of the territory away from Belgrade, ending a brutal counter-insurgency by Serbian security forces.

        But Serbia, which under its constitution considers Kosovo an integral part of its territory, has been blocking Kosovo from membership of international institutions including Interpol and UNESCO. It also still provides financial aid to Serbs in Kosovo.

        For years, Kosovo’s independence has been a taboo topic in Serbia because most Serbs regard it as the cradle of their nation and of the Orthodox Christian faith.



        But Vucic spoke plainly on Monday.

        “We need to recognize that we have been defeated.. We lost the territory,” Vucic told parliament during a special session dedicated to Kosovo.

        “I did not opt to continue with lies and deceit. I have told everyone: There is no Serbian (visible) authority in Kosovo except in hospitals and schools,” he said.

        Serbia and Kosovo agreed to an EU-sponsored dialogue in 2013 to resolve all outstanding issues between them, which was key for both countries to progress towards membership in the European Union. But little progress has been achieved since then.



        Their talks became deadlocked last November when Pristina introduced a 100% tax on all goods imported from Serbia. That move is expected to curb economic growth in Serbia slightly, as its exports to Kosovo amount to 500 million euros a year. Nevertheless, the IMF expects Serbia’s economy to grow 3.5% this year.

        “We have two options - to normalize relations by reaching an agreement or to maintain a frozen conflict,” Vucic told the deputies, mostly members of the ruling coalition controlled by his Progressive Party.

        Vucic is attempting a balancing act, maintaining both Serbia’s EU aspirations and its close ties with Russia and China, neither of whom recognize Kosovo. Five EU member states have also not recognized its independence.

        However, he said it could take years before an agreement with Kosovo is achieved. He said Serbia would wait for Pristina to remove the 100% tax and then seek a compromise.

        Any solution will also require a referendum in Serbia.

        Slideshow (3 Images)
        “We will ask people to say what they think about a possible compromise solution in a referendum,” Vucic said.

        Most opposition parties boycotted the session in parliament, in protest at what they call Vucic’s autocratic rule. They accuse him of stifling media freedoms and turning a blind eye to high-level corruption. Vucic denies these allegations.

        Gordana Comic, a deputy for the opposition Democratic Party, said Vucic was merely trying to sound like some sort of agreement with Kosovo might be possible soon to please the EU.

        “This is the creation of atmosphere for announcing a ‘legally binding agreement’ (with Kosovo) in a few months ... ahead of the formation of the new European Commission,” Comic said.
        Verata vo Mislite, VMRO vo dushata, Makedonia vo Srceto.

        Vnatreshna Makedonska Revolucionerna Organizacija.

        Comment

        • Gocka
          Senior Member
          • Dec 2012
          • 2306

          So the army is on "high alert", Serbia is on the brink of WAR with Kosovo, but at the same to the Serbian president is saying to parliament that Serbia needs to give up its claim on Kosovo.

          That makes total sense.

          I think Serb media takes the cake for most sensationalist.

          What do you guys think of Vucic making such Zaevist comments? Will it fly in Serbia which has been historically much more nationalistic than North Fyromdonia.

          If Nato is able to pull in Serbia, that effectively backs Russia into only their own territory.
          Last edited by Gocka; 05-29-2019, 10:21 PM.

          Comment

          • Carlin
            Senior Member
            • Dec 2011
            • 3332

            Well, I don't disagree with your points guys but still think this is a serious escalation and who knows where it will lead to. UN expressed concern for the developments as well and 2 UN employees were hurt by the Kosovo Police force.

            Also, the Kosovo Police called this an "anti-organized crime operation" while the policemen were "showing" the Albanian double-headed eagle during the proceedings:
            На социјалните мрежи се појави видео од денешната акција на косовските специјалци на северот на Косово. На снимката се гледа...


            I think the (nationalist) Vucic is saying what he's saying because the Serbs have been operating and pursuing a "strategy" of complete demarcation of borders between Albanians and Serbs (including both "adjustments" to borders and going as far as talking about population exchange) -- where "most" of Kosovo would eventually be recognized in exchange for certain districts/areas of northern Kosovo joining/remaining within the Serbian state. This would also probably entail opening up the question of the (long-term) status of the Serb Republic within Bosnia.

            Of course, most of the international community is against both "adjustments" to borders as well as population exchanges.

            Comment

            • Gocka
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2012
              • 2306

              Originally posted by Carlin15 View Post

              Of course, most of the international community is against both "adjustments" to borders as well as population exchanges.
              It is because of this reason that I don't think the Serbs will get anything out of this. It's a pandora's box type deal especially in that region.

              The Serbs don't have a leg to stand on in the event of a conflict. North fyromdonia, Albania, and Montenegro will all be used against them. It is because of this reason I think the Serbs will not enter into any kind of conflict.

              I think Vucic's speech to his parliament was actually a candid one. They did lose. The window in which they could have acted has long gone. The situation has changed, the region has changed. They dragged their feet in mounting a real response and Vucic knows this. It sounds like he was pandering to the west.

              I'm very curious about how his comments were received by every day Serbs.

              Comment

              • Carlin
                Senior Member
                • Dec 2011
                • 3332

                Serbia blasts EU’s silence on Kosovo’s refusal to implement Brussels Agreement

                URL:
                According to the Serbian president, Belgrade has implemented its obligations under the Agreement


                According to the Serbian president, Belgrade has implemented its obligations under the Agreement

                BELGRADE, May 31. /TASS/. Belgrade is shocked by the European Union’s lack of reaction to Pristina’s refusal to implement the Brussels Agreement, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said following a hospital visit with Russian diplomat Mikhail Krasnoshchekov who had been injured in Kosovo.

                "We are shocked that the European Union has shown no response to Hashim Thaci’s statement, in which he said that Pristina would not abide by the Brussels Agreement. They should tell us if these agreements are still in effect. We waited for 24 hours but nothing happened," Vucic said.

                President of unrecognized Kosovo Hashim Thaci said earlier that he would not allow the Community of Serb Municipalities to be established in the region as stipulated by the Brussels Agreements. According to him, the situation has changed and he cannot let it be done in exchange for the easing of visa restrictions with the European Union. Thaci added that if the Community of Serb Municipalities was created, "the second Republika Srpska will emerge."

                The establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities is a cornerstone of the Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, signed on April 19, 2013. The 15-paragraph document mostly covers issues concerning the powers of Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo. It says that the Community will be a self-governing association of Kosovo’s mostly Serb-populated municipalities. According to the Serbian president, Belgrade has implemented its obligations under the Agreement, while Kosovo started to develop a charter for the Community of Serb Municipalities five years after the document had been signed but later suspended the work.

                Comment

                • Carlin
                  Senior Member
                  • Dec 2011
                  • 3332

                  "Next year in Nish"




                  Comment

                  • Liberator of Makedonija
                    Senior Member
                    • Apr 2014
                    • 1595

                    Well isn't that just confronting.
                    I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

                    Comment

                    • Liberator of Makedonija
                      Senior Member
                      • Apr 2014
                      • 1595

                      Macedonian fairs in Egej

                      I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

                      Comment

                      • Carlin
                        Senior Member
                        • Dec 2011
                        • 3332

                        Edmond Temelko lost the Pustets election

                        URL:


                        In a tense atmosphere, without the participation of the opposition, local elections were held in Albania where up to half of the total of 65 municipalities there was only one candidate for mayor from the coalition "Alliance for European Albania" headed by the ruling Socialist Party.

                        According to initial unofficial results from the field, candidate for mayor of Pustets Municipality, Edmond Temelko, lost the election to his opponent from the Socialist Party Pali Kolefski, also a Macedonian from Mala Prespa.

                        Temelko managed three successful mandates in the Pustets municipality, starting from infrastructure, plumbing, and struggle for equality of Macedonians in the Albanian society and many other things.

                        Comment

                        • Carlin
                          Senior Member
                          • Dec 2011
                          • 3332

                          Ethnic Serbs close shops in Kosovo’s north in protest over 100% import tariffs

                          URL:
                          Shops in the northern part of Kosovo, populated mainly by ethnic Serbs, have been closed since the morning of July 1 in a protest against the 100% ...


                          By bne IntelliNews July 1, 2019

                          Shops in the northern part of Kosovo, populated mainly by ethnic Serbs, have been closed since the morning of July 1 in a protest against the 100% tariffs imposed by Pristina on Serbian products, media reported.

                          In solidarity, petrol stations and taxi drivers also did not work, but bakeries are still working though at reduced capacity.

                          Kosovo imposed 100% tariffs on imported goods from Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina in November 2018 after Kosovo’s bid to join Interpol was thwarted by Serbia. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It is still not recognised as a separate country by Serbia or Bosnia.

                          Initially many local businesses ignored the measure and supplies came from Serbia via illegal channels until the end of May, when police launched a major crackdown and arrested around 20 ethnic Serb policemen who were accused of assisting smuggling.

                          According to local traders, there have been no goods from Serbia in the north of Kosovo for more than two weeks.

                          They refuse to purchase goods from ethnic Albanian distributors from the southern part of Kosovo instead, portal Kossev reported on July 1.

                          Rados Petrovic, head of the Association of Businessmen from North Kosovo, did not say how long the stores would be closed but urged Belgrade, Pristina and the international community to get involved in solving the problem as soon as possible.

                          The Serbian authorities have repeatedly said that north Kosovo is threatened by a "humanitarian catastrophe".

                          Kosovo’s Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said earlier that taxes will be lifted once Serbia recognises Kosovo as a state.

                          Comment

                          • Gocka
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2012
                            • 2306

                            I don't understand what Serbs will accomplish by shutting down their own businesses. Eventually their own communities will need places to shop. They are only punishing themselves and their communities with that strategy.

                            If Serbia wanted to show some balls, they could airlift commodities into Kosovo on the grounds of a western favorite of humanitarianism. Obviously that would cause an immediate conflict but...

                            Comment

                            • Carlin
                              Senior Member
                              • Dec 2011
                              • 3332

                              Originally posted by Gocka View Post
                              I don't understand what Serbs will accomplish by shutting down their own businesses. Eventually their own communities will need places to shop. They are only punishing themselves and their communities with that strategy.

                              If Serbia wanted to show some balls, they could airlift commodities into Kosovo on the grounds of a western favorite of humanitarianism. Obviously that would cause an immediate conflict but...
                              Maybe the Serbs are just being obstructionist and are boycotting Kosovo institutions with no specific end goals (they consider themselves as part of Serbia). I think that most Serbs perceive that what the Albanians were doing in Kosovo in the 80's or early 90's was a similar type of obstructionism and boycott of Yugoslav institutions.

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

                              Thaci submitted a Draft Resolution on the incorporation of the adjacent Presevo Valley region to Kosovo

                              URL:


                              Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has submitted a draft resolution to the Pristina Parliament on the request of the Albanians from Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja for joining Kosovo.

                              Thaci proposes to adopt a resolution that stipulates that the legitimate demands of Albanians from these three Serb municipalities be part of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, while representatives of their political parties are part of the dialogue team.

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

                              A disputed election leaves Albania's democracy in tatters

                              Ballot monitors say Albanian voters 'did not have a meaningful choice' in Sunday's local elections.

                              URL:


                              Shkoder, Albania - International monitors say Albania's local elections "were held with little regard for the interests of the electorate".

                              The critical preliminary assessment on Monday came from Ambassador Audrey Glover, who headed the mission from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

                              "The opposition decided not to participate, and the government determined to hold the elections without it. In the climate of a political standoff and polarisation, voters did not have a meaningful choice between political options," Glover said.

                              The OECD mission will take two months to gather allegations of electoral fraud or misconduct, but some are already beginning to emerge.

                              In the northern city of Shkoder, near the border with Montenegro, Mayor Voltana Ademi told Al Jazeera she collected evidence of electoral commissioners voting on people's behalf.

                              "The commissioners called families and individuals and people they know and they asked for ID cards ... to fill the [ballot] papers they had and to vote for them. And they signed for them on behalf of them," Ademi said.

                              Ademi said she believes state employees in schools and hospitals, as well as the police and civil service, were coerced into voting.

                              "They had to vote to be obedient to an order given to them," she said. "They did a photo of their vote and they have voted but on the other side they have written that, 'yes, we were ordered to do it'."

                              Low turnout

                              Since the fall of communism in 1990, Shkodra has been a stronghold of the Democratic Party, now in the opposition. Since the Democrats boycotted the election, on Sunday a candidate from the ruling Socialist Party stood here unopposed.

                              If the government did coerce state employees to vote, such tactics were largely ineffective. According to the electoral commission, fewer than 10 percent of registered voters turned out to vote, and fewer than seven percent according to a municipal tally.

                              "People - they refused and this is wonderful. This is not political, this is being a citizen and because of that I feel happy today," Ademi said.

                              Although the outcome of the election was not in doubt - Socialist candidates stood unopposed in 31 municipalities and against weak opponents in the other 30 - voter turnout suggests the government did not motivate even its own base.

                              Even in Socialist strongholds such as the capital, Tirana, and the port city of Vlore, turnout was just 26 and 21 percent, respectively.
                              Last edited by Carlin; 07-01-2019, 11:28 PM.

                              Comment

                              • vicsinad
                                Senior Member
                                • May 2011
                                • 2337

                                How cute. BG Borissov makes a joke about speaking many languages, Zaev makes a joke about it being hot in North Macedonia even though it's in the north.



                                Oh, and for the first time, two countries will jointly host the Berlin Process: North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

                                POZNAŃ – North Macedonia and Bulgaria will organise the next summit of the Berlin Process, said on Thursday Ministers of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Nikola Dimitrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Ekaterina Zaharieva, at the Western Balkans Summit in Poznań. Since North Macedonia is praised for achieving...


                                The North Macedonia / Bulgaria Federation is in the works...I bet Boris Malagurski is sad that the Federation of Serbia and Macedonia didn't happen in time!

                                Comment

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