Velimir Velja Ilic, the beaten party in the video is perhaps the best known representative of its kind in Serbia, but among the politicians and the political parties here, the difference between the most corrupt and the least corrupt is only in the authority they have at any given moment and the amount of power they are able to misuse. The person giving the precise blow to Ilic’s head is Dejan Stojadinovic, a nobody – a true representative of the people, the un-politician, a man with no connections, no power and no money. According to Dejan’s facebook profile, some minutes before delivering his “protest note” to Velimir Ilic, he was informed that he can’t get a passport because of some bureaucracy issue. In the video, just before mr Ilic makes his sad smiley face you can hear the people’s representative saying the now infamous quote “Sve ste vi ista banda” – You [politicians] are all the same gang. This sentence summarizes the Serbian general public’s feeling towards politicians perfectly. The biggest party in Serbia is comprised of those who refuse to vote, and in a country where nearly everyone and their mother-in-law have their own political opinion on every topic imaginable, it’s a sure sign that something’s wrong. At the top, the corruption is biggest because it’s legal.

At the same time, the economic situation is getting critical. The average salary may be ca 380 Euros per month, but the stats can be fooling. While the tiny group of politicians and their friends are making a killing, a huge chunk of the working population recieves only 150 Euros per month after working eight hours a day, six days a week – basically that means they are making around 75 eurocents per hour. Lately there has been workers’ protests and rumors that the situation is really becoming not only critical but Argentina-type critical.

This is also why Serbian politicians have security guards – not to protect them from a deranged, mentally unstable random attacker or a paid assasin, although those are also good reasons – no, the biggest threat to a Serbian politician’s head these days comes from your average Joe.

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Documentary director Michael Tolajian found the story of war, friendship and sportsmanship to be interesting enough to include in ESPN’s 30 for 30 series which features some of the greatest sport stories from the past 30 years. The documentary, called “Once Brothers” (Serbian: Jednom braća) will also include the tale of the best European national team of all time, the Yugoslavian national team from 1988-91, which, beside Divac, Petrovic, Kukoc and Radja had such names as  Žarko Paspalj, Predrag Danilović, Stojan Vranković, Jure Zdovc, Zoran Čutura, Zdravko Radulović, Zoran Radović, Zoran Savić and  Aleksandar Đorđević.

I’ll let you know when the documentary is finished, in the meantime, here’s a clip of Vlade from Bill Kralovec’s blog:

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Of course, it is highly unlikely that Cameron actually read and stole some details from the story, and of course the story itself is pretty universal (you can find many different old tales and novels with similar details) but it serves as an interesting reminder of the past Yugo-made science fiction flicks and novels, which were much more appreciated than today. See for example this part of the movie Gosti iz galaksije Arkana (Eng: Visitors from the Arkana galaxy):

Also, take a look at this trailer from the movie Atomic war bride where a nuclear bomb is shown hitting Dom Sindikata in Belgrade:

Today, science-fiction in Serbia is still alive and kicking, but only when it comes to novels, think Zoran Zivkovic as a prime example. I can’t think of any Serbian sci-fi flick made in the last 15 years, but that’s why we have a whole bunch of social dramas and war trauma movies.

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In other news…

Like most European countries, Serbia is preparing for the most important event of the year, the Eurovision. Instead of national competition this year, the deciders said the best thing to do would be if Goran Bregovic wrote a song and then an expert team would choose the best candidate. The most likely candidate so far (and the candidate with the biggest boobs) is Ceca.

But, according to @cicija, there’s a candidate Bregovic secretly admires – it’s Amfilohije Radovic, who is, besides being the secret candidate for the Eurovision, also the biggest candidate for the next Serbian Patriarch (nope, he lost, read the update on top of this article). Let’s listen to his latest performance during the annual traditional competition in getting the frozen cross out of the ice-cold river.

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photo by The U.S. Army

First of all, I don’t know all the names on the “200 intellectuals” list, but I find it to be a too great of a coincidence that there are exactly two hundred of them. This could only mean two things: either not all of them are intellectuals, or there were some intellectuals that had to be removed to achieve the round number (I think we will all agree that “group of 206 intellectuals” sounds stupid).

Second of all, I don’t remember the time when Serbia was military neutral, but I am glad that there are some people (intellectuals, no less!) who had lived in such times.

Third – well, it’s obvious – the most important question of all, and that is – should Serbia join NATO or not? I’m no intellectual, but I would have to add my name to their list, simply because I believe, and I would like to think that the above mentioned intellectuals believe the same, that Serbia does not need to have a military at all, and therefore does not need to join NATO.

What do you think? Answer in comments below

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None Found

Bus nr 16 (line from Karaburma to Pohorska street)

Bus nr 65: (from Zvezdara to Bezanija)

Song: 310 poljubaca (310 kisses)
Original author: Indexi

Have a belgraded new year, wherever you are, dear readers!

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