ex-Yugoslavia && ex-USSR
On Saturday we had a party at our place and our Serbian friend brought a movie “Rane” (Wounds). To quote some reviews from IMDB, it’s a “dark, bleak, hopeless, harsh story” on how disintegration of Yugoslavia affected the people. This movie could only be Serbian. This is a “reflection on nation’s conscience in a bitter, cynical and self-parodying attack on blind nationalism, the glorification of violence and the role of the media in perpetuating lies; the story of a descent of two young men from teenaged slackers to drug-crazed killers.” The friend said he watched like 15 times. That made me a bit scared, actually.
It also reminded me of an old journal entry, when I made hypothetical comparisons between former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia. So, if I were to compare the political, economical and cultural development of ex-USSR and ex-Yugoslavian countries, I would classify it like this:
== denotes a very strong parallel;
~= denotes a weaker parallel.
1. Russia == Serbia
2. Baltic states == Slovenia
3. Chechnya == Bosnia
4. North Caucasus ~= Kosova
5. Moldova ~= Macedonia
6. Belarus ~~= Croatia or Montenegro
1. Serbia and Russia: imperial powers aspiring to dominate the respective region, strongly nationalistic, warlike, oppressive.
2. Baltics and Slovenia: the most Western-oriented, the most culturally and economically successful parts, both entering EU.
3. Chechnya and Bosnia: The two wars. A conflict between Muslim and Orthodox.
4. North Caucasus and Kosova: A similar story.
5. Moldova and Macedonia: language and cultural identities problems are very much alike (Macedonians perceived as “Bulgarians”, and Moldovans as “Romanians”)
6. That’s the most difficult call. In this comparision/parallels game I wish Belarus were more like Croatia (because of Catholic and pro-European elements), but unfortunately I think it’s often times more like Montenegro, especially in light of the Belarus-Russia union that Lukashenka wanted to pursue back in 1999. Russians still view Belarus as their satellite.
November 7th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
P.S. From today’s news:
Three die playing catch with grenade
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - A hand grenade being used instead of a ball in a game of catch exploded early on Saturday killing three youths in this Bosnian town, police and news agencies said.
Two youths aged 19 and 20, one of them from neighboring Croatia, were killed instantly while a 20-year-old woman died on her way to hospital, police said. Her sister was slightly injured but two other youths suffered serious injuries.
The blast occurred at 2:00 a.m. in the western town of Novi Grad at a place in the town center frequented by youngsters. Police said an inquiry was under way and declined further comment. It was not clear why the grenade exploded.
ONASA news agency quoted witnesses as saying the youths tossed the hand grenade to each other before it exploded in the hands of one of them.
Bosnia is awash with illegal weapons left over from the 1992-95 war and tragic incidents are frequent despite several successful campaigns by international peacekeepers and police to get people to hand over illegal weapons.
November 12th, 2005 at 6:23 am
Hmmm ok I can understand little kids doing that kind of thing but… adults? Do they actually use their brain?
September 3rd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Are you there?
Nice speech. I’m curious how it went over.