Public Announcement

First of all we would like to extend our deepest sympathies to all of our season tickets holders, not just the one that was unfortunate enough to get shot while attending the football game. We sympathize with everyone because, just like our fine members of the parliament some weeks ago, we do not discriminate people on account of ethnicity, religion, type of admission or amount of pain they have suffered during our team's matches. We are All overwhelmed by the severity of the punishment that the club faces, and five games without the presence of the supporters is, to say the least, unjust, and just goes to show that the State really is hell bent on destroying football in this country. Although it hasn't, this kind of accident could have happened anywhere in the world and is in no way extraordinary.

Concerning the liability for the unfortunate event that happened during the thursday Cup game, we are in no way responsible for the actions of criminals and repeated offenders who, at the same time, are our fan groups leaders and managing board members. During the managing board meetings they have not exhibited any signs of violence that is out of the ordinary and this display of agitation comes as much to ours as everyone else's surprise. Our monitor service has done everything within the confines of the law to ensure the safety of everyone on the stadium. The absence of usual supporter's requisites such as fire crackers, torches, brass knuckles, crowbars, knives and cleavers is a statement to our organizational professionalism. Also, the object associated with the incident is a hand gun, and in no way does it falls under the jurisdiction of the monitor service. It is clearly a domain of the Police.

FC Red Star will appeal to this draconian sentence whose only goal, clearly, is the continuance of the negative campaign towards the Club and domestic football in general. Although we do not expect for the appeal to change anything, since all the levers of control are in the hands of the sworn enemies of our great Family, we are exercising our right in accordance to the statute of the League to which we always have and ever will adhere. Previous thirteen incidents are clearly isolated events and in no way reflect our beloved Club.

Sincerely and Respectfully,
FC Red Star.

Superwall - M-City

All Dogs Go To Heaven (?)

The carcass has been there for 27 days. It was just moved a few feet away so it doesn't inconvenience the people who are waiting for the buss. Now it's easier to pretend it's not there. Kinda like living in Serbia - just pretend you're not there.

Day 35: Dog is still there. Covered almost entirely with snow. Even more convenient.

Day 50: Still stubbornly refusing to decompose into the ground. These last couple of days have been very cold.

Day 67: Sunny at last! Melt away little dog. Just you melt away.

Whatever Works

In the light of the recent unsettling events that took place on the streets of Belgrade (the cancellation of Belgrade pride parade and the murder of a French football supporter) one cannot but admire the tremendous skill of dodging any kind of political damage and bad publicity that Serbian politicians have exercised. The way their non-corporeal, political and corporeal, human bodies wormed their way around every moral and political trap that was laid before them during these incidents is something to be respected.

Unsettling events

Belgrade LGBT pride parade was canceled due to high security risks and the inability of Serbian police forces to guarantee safety of all the participants and bystanders. A number (all of them) of ultra - nationalist, traditionalist, fascist and religious (as well as some of the highest ranking officials of the Serbian Orthodox Church) groups threatened to attack members of the parade in order to stop the shameful exhibition of sexual deviancy and perversity. The parade was canceled one day before it was supposed to take place.
The murder of a French young man, Brice Taton, took place shortly after. One group of football supporters intercepted the other in downtown Belgrade. The man was beaten up with crowbars, and several days later he died in the hospital due to the severe trauma to his head and heart.

Tergiversation

Serbian politician's reactions ranged from true shock and condemnation through passive noninterference to silent approval. But what they all had in common was the shifting of blame and avoidance of any kind of responsibility for the things that are happening in the country they lead. It is remarkable how Serbian politicians can avoid being blamed for anything. To be a politician here, means to master a special kind of speech. The kind that would allow you to talk for hours on end but to say virtually nothing. That way, if anything goes wrong, you are not the one who gets to be blamed. And things go wrong more often than not. Because the ability (and often lack of will) of the average politician here to predict the unfolding of the events is limited to "...i'm sure that sun will rise tomorrow". The only "big picture" they know of is measured in inches and it represents the size of their television sets. In such climate it is dangerous to be responsible.
In these instances, they spent huge amounts of energy to differentiate themselves from the problem, instead of solving it. And they didn't solve it. They just managed to show to the people that they do not "share the values that homosexual people do, but they believe that any person can exercise its right to free speech and sexual orientation". But they didn't do anything to enable a chance for those peoples to do that. So the extremists have won. They have beaten the government and the parade is canceled. But the politicians didn't even flinch. Like nothing has happened.
One other reason for such a behavior is the importance of the ideals that these extremist groups represent and the extent to which they are rooted in peoples minds. Peoples that are registered voters. Direct attack on these groups results in a proportional loss of a significant number of votes. That is why they have operated without any problems for nearly two decades. Again, politicians deal with the situation as it arises, and its always in the way that would benefit their current image.
Today, Serbia really is traveling without moving.

Superwall - Blu

Superwall

Finally someone in Belgrade realized that all those bleak walls would be a lot better if they had murals on them. Artists that contributed are "world renowned street artists" M-City, Blu (im especially pleased with him doing work here) and Valerio Berruti.

Check out more at BELEF.

An der schönen blauen Donau

First, to make things clear i am really excited about the notion that Belgrade could get, not one, not two, but four (4) new bridges over the Danube. However, the huge amount of money (118 and 190 million euros just for the first and the second bridge) and the possibility that something like this is going to be built in Serbia, a country that builds all its mid-range projects for up to thirty (thats 30) years, sounds like something straight out of the pen of Hans Christian Andersen. Until that day comes, we will have to do with this.

5 (five) billion euros scam recipe

Ingredients:

- one rundown public company (we used Belgrade harbor)
- few local multi millionaires hidden behind a foreign company
- one foreign company
- 50 million euros
- lots of corrupt politicians and city officials
Preparation:
Buy one rundown public company with 200 acres of land, less than a mile from the city core. Do it over the anonymous foreign company so that real owners/buyers stay hidden. Pay the land 50 instead of between 500 million and 1 billion euros. Bribe to taste. Let rise for few months, than wait for the urban general plan to change, so that the purpose of your land is changed from industrial to commercial/residential. Again, bribe to taste. Tear down old outdated machinery and warehouses, build 22.000.000 square feet of shopping malls, residential buildings, office spaces, recreation spaces and sell it all for 5 billion euros. Serve with chilled champagne.

http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/belgrade-danube-waterfront/