Friday, September 18, 2009

More Bonsnian "uh oh" signs...

Storm clouds....

"A few days ago, Nebojsa Radmanovic, the ethnic Serbian member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, said in an interview with the Belgrade-based daily "Evening News" that Bosnia is one step closer to dissolution than it is to being a functioning state. That is a harsh statement to be coming from one of the three men in Bosnia most responsible for seeing to it that Bosnia functions as a state. If Bosnia is not "working," he and the other two presidency members are the first ones to be blamed."

4 comments:

MightyToyCannon said...

Have you read Ivo Andric's novel, "Bridge on the Drina"? It's a powerful retelling of the region's tragic history, spanning centuries and with much resonance for current times. Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1961 for this book. I read it many years ago when I happened to be living in Belgrade and traveling around the Balkans.

Steve Patterson said...

I've heard of it, but haven't read it. Is that the ancient bridge that was destroyed in the war? I remember newspaper accounts from the time about the demise of a Medieval bridge that seemed to symbolize the depth, history, and immense difficulty of halting Balkan conflict.

S

MightyToyCannon said...

The ancient bridge destroyed in the war (and subsequently rebuilt) was the Mostar bridge, in the Bosnian town of that name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostar

The bridge over the Drina is in the town of ViĊĦegrad. It was built in the 16th century and has been damaged and rebuilt several times. Ivo Andric's book is a brutal, tragic story that puts current conflict into context.

Steve Patterson said...

Oh God, Mostar. (*groan*) That's right. Andrec's novel sounds like it's worth a read.