OUT of the blue, Bosnia’s leaders have agreed to form a government, almost 15 months after the October 2010 general election. The country's politicians had supposedly been on the verge of agreement for so long that most observers had lost faith they would ever be able to strike a deal. There was even talk of a new election.
The deal came on December 28th. “We did not get what we thought we should, but no one got everything they wanted,” said Milorad Dodik, president of the Republika Srpska, the Serbian-dominated half of the country. A corruption investigation into Mr Dodik was dropped on the same day the deal was struck. Vjekoslav Bevanda, a member of one of the two main Bosnian Croat parties, has been nominated for the post of prime minister.
Mr Dodik and the Republika Srpska usually get the blame for the failure of central institutions in Bosnia. But in this case the formation of the Council of Ministers was held up by bitter disputes between the main Croat parties and the technically multi-ethnic, but mostly Bosniak, Social Democratic Party, led by Zlatko Lagumdzija.
Surprise at the deal soon gave way to relief among many observers, although it could be three more months until the government starts work. But Anes Alic, a local analyst, is sceptical that it will bring much change to Bosnia:
What is left of the ruling parties’ mandate (with 15 months already lost) will be characterized by the traditional political obstruction and nationalist rhetoric which the majority of the electorate has grown to accept as par for the course.
Republika Srpksa officials will stay the course of attempting to diminish the power of state institutions, and hints of secession will continue to circulate. Bosnian Croats will continue to work towards the creation of a third entity in the country with a Bosnian Croat majority under the perception that their ethnic identity is under threat. Bosniaks will continue to fight both without any compromise.
Bosnia is in essence a federal state, so most of the everyday work of government is the preserve of its two so-called "entities" (the Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation). But the lack of a central government has stymied European integration, stopped the flow of EU funds and led to a collapse in foreign investment.
Other tasks have been neglected, too. For example, when Croatia joins the EU in July 2013 Bosnia will no longer be able to export eggs, meat and dairy produce to its neighbour because of a lack of agreement on whether it is the state or the entities that should be in charge of veterinary and sanitary regulation.
Bosnia's leaders now say they will tackle several other outstanding issues. One of them is the so-called Sejdic-Finci ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. Under the terms of the Dayton Accords, which ended the Bosnian war in 1995, certain jobs in Bosnia are restricted by ethnicity. Only Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks are eligible for the country’s three-member presidency, for example. The court ruled two years ago that this illegally discriminates against anyone who either is not a member of one of these groups, or who does not want to identify themselves as such.
The inability of Bosnian politicians to get their act together has led to unprecedented levels of gloom about the future of the country. But as Wednesday's deal shows, they are quite capable of working together when they want to. The pity of it is that they have wasted so much time in a country that is already lagging behind in so many areas. (The Economist)
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Kosova's Obdusman accuses Government for inactivity.
"One step closer to the citizen" was the headline of 2011 year review made by directors of the institution of Ombudsman. More than half of the cases adjudicated by this institution this year were resolved positively, said Sami Kurteshi head of ombudsman office.
Although in 2011-ten we saw an increase in the number of citizen complaints by 15% to, the institution has managed to resolve 10 percent more cases compare to a year ago.
Majority of cases brought to our attention were those dealing mainly with the violations that took place in relations between citizens and the state administration, cases of non-compliance of court orders and individual cases about ownership. Despite the achievements, Ombudsman, Mr. Sami Kurteshi, mentioned also some problems that the institution continues to face and which are mainly related to office space and employee salaries shortage.
"The Government did not consider it appropriate to find a space in a public buildings for the institution of Ombudsman. This year we are “victims” of budget cuts, while the Ombudsman Deputies, continue work without receiving salaries, even though they were appointed by the Parliament to these positions."said Kurteshi.
As of today, Ombudsman office began placing boxes for complaints at some institutions where they were not present in the past.
Although in 2011-ten we saw an increase in the number of citizen complaints by 15% to, the institution has managed to resolve 10 percent more cases compare to a year ago.
Majority of cases brought to our attention were those dealing mainly with the violations that took place in relations between citizens and the state administration, cases of non-compliance of court orders and individual cases about ownership. Despite the achievements, Ombudsman, Mr. Sami Kurteshi, mentioned also some problems that the institution continues to face and which are mainly related to office space and employee salaries shortage.
"The Government did not consider it appropriate to find a space in a public buildings for the institution of Ombudsman. This year we are “victims” of budget cuts, while the Ombudsman Deputies, continue work without receiving salaries, even though they were appointed by the Parliament to these positions."said Kurteshi.
As of today, Ombudsman office began placing boxes for complaints at some institutions where they were not present in the past.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Will Asma al-Assad take a stand or stand by her man?
In her Vogue photograph she is beautiful, wrapped in a luxurious fuchsia pashmina. She's very rich, as the story repeatedly conveys, a stern mother of three, a woman who tries to make it happen everyday while, of course, teetering in her beloved Christian Louboutin heels.
Vogue's spring 2011 profile of Asma al-Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was highly controversial. The piece called the British-born 36-year-old a "rose in the desert" but didn't mention Syria's abysmal human rights record. In March, protests began spreading around the country -- and met brute force from the regime led by Asma's husband. After intense criticism in the media, Vogue reportedly first defended the piece then removed the story from its website.
Since then, little has been reported about Asma Al-Assad. It's not even clear where she is. Could she have returned to her native England, where she attended fancy prep schools and got her college degree? Or is she still in Syria with her husband, as he fends off pressure from the growing protest movement and the many governments that have called on him to step down?
Bashar al-Assad has denied responsibility for the violence, which the United Nations says has claimed more than 5,000 lives. Syrian soldiers who have defected said they were ordered to shoot unarmed protesters. The U.N. reports that at least 256 children have been killed since early November, including a 2-year-old girl allegedly shot by an officer who said he did not want her to grow up to be a demonstrator.
Asma al-Assad and her husband have two boys and a girl: Hafez, Zein and Karim, all elementary school age. Before the violence broke out, she was involved in volunteer work to educate Syria's youth.
What must Syria's first lady be thinking now? Could she do anything to stop the bloodshed?
Homs under siege
Discussing violence in Syria
Syrian activist discusses protest video
Suicide bombs explode in Damascus,
"No one can say what's happening behind closed palace doors, but I doubt she feels she has any control or would ultimately have much influence over what her husband is doing," said Syrian expert Andrew Tabler, an American scholar and journalist who lived in Syria between 2001 and 2008. He knew and worked with Asma al-Assad.
"If you consider what appears to be true," he said, "you would conclude that she's standing by her man."
Tabler's new memoir, "In the Lion's Den," details his experiences with the first family and explains Washington's long tense relationship with Damascus.
When Tabler, a Pennsylvania native, moved to Syria, interested in Middle Eastern politics, he was full of hope. Bashar al-Assad had taken power the previous year. He and his new wife seemed a modern couple, and there was the promise of reform.
Eight years later, Tabler left Syria feeling the government was so paralyzed by systemic, decades-old corruption that even the most well-intentioned leaders were unlikely to spur positive change. Now a Next Generation fellow at The Washington Institute's Program on Arab Politics, Tabler believes Bashar al-Assad must go.
Tabler earned a living in Syria as a freelance journalist, some of his early work in the country coming when Asma al-Assad gave him approval and funding to write and publish an English-language magazine called Syria Today in the early 2000s.
Tabler says her assistance at the time was extraordinary. There were no press freedoms in Syria, and yet the president's wife, modern in dress and direct in tone, was sanctioning an American to write about the country.
But then came problems. Tabler worked for Asma al-Assad for a year and agreed to run editions past her before publication. Just before the first edition was due to come out, it was mysteriously quashed. Her assistant delivered the bad news without explanation. At one point, he and another writer felt they were being spied on by the Mukhabarat, the country's secret police.
Syria Today went on to get other funding. Tabler continued working on the project for a short time. It is now published online and has no links with the regime.
"There are two sides to Asma al-Assad," says Tabler. "She is a modern woman, definitely apart from other wives of Arab leaders."
She ran nongovernment organizations specifically geared toward the country's worst problems: high unemployment and disparity between the rich and poor. But Asma al-Assad coveted the good life too, Tabler says.
"She also wanted to be a princess."
From work-a-day to the palace
Asma al-Assad was born in 1975 in London to a well-regarded Syrian cardiologist, Fawaz Akhras, and his wife, Sahar Otri, a diplomat at the Syrian Embassy in London.
Asma means "supreme" in Arabic.
Raised in the middle-class neighborhood of Acton in West London, Asma al-Akhras reportedly got good grades at the tony private girls school Queens College. She went on to obtain degrees in computer science and French literature at Kings College in London. After graduating, she worked for three years in finance with a specialization in mergers and acquisitions for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, according to Tabler's book.
Her colleagues had no idea she had met one of the sons of Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad -- or that they were dating after reportedly meeting while she vacationed with her family in Syria.
It wasn't expected that Bashar would carry on the family's political dynasty. He didn't seem to have the personality for the job; he wasn't deeply involved in military or government matters, according to "Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire," a biography by Flynt Leverett, who worked as an expert on Syria for the CIA in the 1990s and was the senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council in the early 2000s.
Because Bashar's older brother Basil was expected to succeed his father, Bashar al-Assad went to London in the 1990s and studied ophthalmology. He and Asma are believed to have seen each other during this time. Bashar was called back to Syria in 1994 when Basil died in a car wreck. This turn of events made him first in line to rule Syria, and he was appointed president by Syria's rubber-stamp Parliament in 2000 after his father died.
Before 2000 ended, he and Asma were married.
According to Tabler's book, no photos of the wedding appeared in Syrian papers; some Syrians told him the Assad family was unhappy about the union. Assad was a member of the elite Alawite tribe, and Asma's father was Sunni. The groups have a long history of rivalry and conflict -- especially in the city of Homs, Asma's father's hometown. Homs has seen sectarian tensions and killings as the protest movement has evolved.
Shortly after her wedding, Asma al-Assad traveled around Syria incognito to try to get to know the people, Tabler wrote. She found there was massive poverty and a growing population of unemployed young people.
"Villagers are very pure, very willing," she told Tabler in an interview in 2001. "Villagers don't want to leave their villages, but economic opportunities don't exist there."
The politics of glamour
Throughout most of the 2000s, Asma al-Assad's profile in the region increased.
The first lady gained a reputation as a clothes horse, preferring Chanel on her tiny frame. She kept her chin-length honey hair in loose waves and always wore exquisite heels. Her photograph was often published, usually next to that of lithe beauty Queen Rania of Jordan, another Western-styled fashion icon with a busy public calendar.
Syrian and international writers gushed about how Asma al-Assad was not only glamorous but also a champion of women's rights.
The New York Times profiled the Assads in 2005 when they opened an opera house in Damascus: "Together they made a kind of visual rhyme with the building: Tall, slender and young, they seemed the essence of secular Western-Arab fusion, the elegant doctor-turned-president out on the town with his dazzling British-born Syrian wife, the former J. P. Morgan banker whom Syrians call their Princess Diana.
But the story also delved into the tense relationship between America and Syria, as U.S. troops were operating in western Iraq near the Syrian border. When the Times reporter asked President Al-Assad if he was concerned, he said he was not. Then Asma al-Assad "flashed a warm smile and deftly flicked" the reporter away.
''We're off duty,'' she told the Times reporter.
Asma's profile borrowed heavily from Princess Diana. This 2009 YouTube photo compilation shows Syria's first lady helping old people and sick children, sitting in classrooms, planting trees, waving and smiling alongside her husband. It's unclear who posted the video. The poster didn't use his or her real name, and the e-mail connected to the channel featuring other similar videos celebrating the Assads is no longer active.
In 2010, Asma al-Assad talked to diplomats and intellectuals at the Paris Diplomatic Academy. A YouTube video shows her speaking, without notes, about Syria's history and how that heritage informs daily life.
"Some often ask me how then can Syria remain stable, moderate and influential in a region that is increasingly being surrounded by extremism, ideologism (sic), sectarianism and all other forms of negative perceptions in our society," she told the gathering. "The typical answer I get is because of military, political, security reasons. Again, I believe I have a different view.
"It's the very essence of our culture. It's what our history teaches us of openness and engagement," she said. "It's the sense of identity and pride that we have knowing who we are in the world and knowing what we've contributed to the world over thousands of years that gives us that sense of stability and that sense of moderation.
"Some of you might think I am talking politics. ... Trust me, I have no interest in politics," she continued. "My interests are elsewhere. But living in the region for as long as I have, I realize that politics affects every facet of our lives."
"In the Lion's Den" portrays Asma al-Assad as confident, charming, gutsy and focused, but also naïve, someone who seemed to sincerely believe she could better the country through various charities and NGOs.
Tabler describes one meeting he attended with European diplomats where the first lady charmed everyone and left the impression that the Syrian first family was approachable, at least compared to other members of her husband's regime.
Asma al-Assad was "a comprehensible and reasonable individual in an opaque regime," Tabler wrote.
In December 2010, around the time a Tunisian street vendor lit himself on fire and inspired a wave of protests across North Africa, Asma al-Assad and her husband were photographed in Paris. They were smiling, as they left a Monet exhibition.
'These atrocities'
Three months later, the first major protests broke out in Syria. About 3,000 people gathered in Damascus on March 16 to demand the Assad regime release hundreds of political prisoners, many jailed during Hafez al-Assad's regime. Reuters and other news agencies reported that security officers detained and beat demonstrators.
The next day, Asma al-Assad gave the keynote speech at an event hosted by the Harvard Arab Alumni Association at the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus.
In a description online, the alumni group wrote: "In her role as Syria's first lady, Her Excellency Asma al-Assad applies her experience, energy and influence to her country's social and cultural development. Her role reflects the significant economic, political and social change that is happening in Syria today. Asma al-Assad's work supports that of President Bashar al-Assad by fostering the emergence of a robust, independent and self-sustaining civil society."
The group's program director, Sena Halabi, said he didn't have a transcript of the talk and that it wasn't videotaped.
Harvard spokesman Joe Raposo said he could not provide details of her remarks because the conference was a private, non-Harvard-sponsored event.
In October as bodies piled up in the streets of Homs and Hama, aid workers told Britain's Independent newspaper they had met with Asma al-Assad in Damascus, at her request.
The first lady asked the group about the risks of their jobs, one worker told The Independent. But she was expressionless, the workers said, when they told her about abuses they had witnessed by security forces and soldiers.
"There was no reaction. She didn't react at all. It was just like I was telling a normal story, something that happens every day," one worker said.
Tabler said he suspects the first lady "is in denial" about just how severe the violence in Syria has become -- and about her husband's culpability.
"They talked so much about reform that I think she has fooled herself," he said.
But Asma al-Assad's head seemed quite clear two years ago when she spoke with CNN about how she would not tolerate an oppressive and violent regime, except in this instance she was talking about the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
She said that 60% of Middle Easterners are under 25 and feel increasingly frustrated with a lack of economic opportunity. Governments must make those young people "believe in a future," she said.
"The reality on the ground is increasingly ... going further and further and further away from that," she said, foreshadowing the causes of the Arab Spring, a movement led primarily by young people.
The first lady went on to speak about 2009's Gaza War, a three-week bombing and invasion of Gaza by Israel that began in late December when Israel launched a surprise airstrike.
Asma al-Assad called Israel's actions "barbaric" and said innocent Palestinians were dying in droves. She was appalled by reports from human rights workers who witnessed the carnage.
"This is the 21st century. Where in the world could this happen? Unfortunately it is happening," she said.
"As a mother and as a human being we need to make sure that these atrocities stop."
Vogue's spring 2011 profile of Asma al-Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was highly controversial. The piece called the British-born 36-year-old a "rose in the desert" but didn't mention Syria's abysmal human rights record. In March, protests began spreading around the country -- and met brute force from the regime led by Asma's husband. After intense criticism in the media, Vogue reportedly first defended the piece then removed the story from its website.
Since then, little has been reported about Asma Al-Assad. It's not even clear where she is. Could she have returned to her native England, where she attended fancy prep schools and got her college degree? Or is she still in Syria with her husband, as he fends off pressure from the growing protest movement and the many governments that have called on him to step down?
Bashar al-Assad has denied responsibility for the violence, which the United Nations says has claimed more than 5,000 lives. Syrian soldiers who have defected said they were ordered to shoot unarmed protesters. The U.N. reports that at least 256 children have been killed since early November, including a 2-year-old girl allegedly shot by an officer who said he did not want her to grow up to be a demonstrator.
Asma al-Assad and her husband have two boys and a girl: Hafez, Zein and Karim, all elementary school age. Before the violence broke out, she was involved in volunteer work to educate Syria's youth.
What must Syria's first lady be thinking now? Could she do anything to stop the bloodshed?
Homs under siege
Discussing violence in Syria
Syrian activist discusses protest video
Suicide bombs explode in Damascus,
"No one can say what's happening behind closed palace doors, but I doubt she feels she has any control or would ultimately have much influence over what her husband is doing," said Syrian expert Andrew Tabler, an American scholar and journalist who lived in Syria between 2001 and 2008. He knew and worked with Asma al-Assad.
"If you consider what appears to be true," he said, "you would conclude that she's standing by her man."
Tabler's new memoir, "In the Lion's Den," details his experiences with the first family and explains Washington's long tense relationship with Damascus.
When Tabler, a Pennsylvania native, moved to Syria, interested in Middle Eastern politics, he was full of hope. Bashar al-Assad had taken power the previous year. He and his new wife seemed a modern couple, and there was the promise of reform.
Eight years later, Tabler left Syria feeling the government was so paralyzed by systemic, decades-old corruption that even the most well-intentioned leaders were unlikely to spur positive change. Now a Next Generation fellow at The Washington Institute's Program on Arab Politics, Tabler believes Bashar al-Assad must go.
Tabler earned a living in Syria as a freelance journalist, some of his early work in the country coming when Asma al-Assad gave him approval and funding to write and publish an English-language magazine called Syria Today in the early 2000s.
Tabler says her assistance at the time was extraordinary. There were no press freedoms in Syria, and yet the president's wife, modern in dress and direct in tone, was sanctioning an American to write about the country.
But then came problems. Tabler worked for Asma al-Assad for a year and agreed to run editions past her before publication. Just before the first edition was due to come out, it was mysteriously quashed. Her assistant delivered the bad news without explanation. At one point, he and another writer felt they were being spied on by the Mukhabarat, the country's secret police.
Syria Today went on to get other funding. Tabler continued working on the project for a short time. It is now published online and has no links with the regime.
"There are two sides to Asma al-Assad," says Tabler. "She is a modern woman, definitely apart from other wives of Arab leaders."
She ran nongovernment organizations specifically geared toward the country's worst problems: high unemployment and disparity between the rich and poor. But Asma al-Assad coveted the good life too, Tabler says.
"She also wanted to be a princess."
From work-a-day to the palace
Asma al-Assad was born in 1975 in London to a well-regarded Syrian cardiologist, Fawaz Akhras, and his wife, Sahar Otri, a diplomat at the Syrian Embassy in London.
Asma means "supreme" in Arabic.
Raised in the middle-class neighborhood of Acton in West London, Asma al-Akhras reportedly got good grades at the tony private girls school Queens College. She went on to obtain degrees in computer science and French literature at Kings College in London. After graduating, she worked for three years in finance with a specialization in mergers and acquisitions for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, according to Tabler's book.
Her colleagues had no idea she had met one of the sons of Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad -- or that they were dating after reportedly meeting while she vacationed with her family in Syria.
It wasn't expected that Bashar would carry on the family's political dynasty. He didn't seem to have the personality for the job; he wasn't deeply involved in military or government matters, according to "Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire," a biography by Flynt Leverett, who worked as an expert on Syria for the CIA in the 1990s and was the senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council in the early 2000s.
Because Bashar's older brother Basil was expected to succeed his father, Bashar al-Assad went to London in the 1990s and studied ophthalmology. He and Asma are believed to have seen each other during this time. Bashar was called back to Syria in 1994 when Basil died in a car wreck. This turn of events made him first in line to rule Syria, and he was appointed president by Syria's rubber-stamp Parliament in 2000 after his father died.
Before 2000 ended, he and Asma were married.
According to Tabler's book, no photos of the wedding appeared in Syrian papers; some Syrians told him the Assad family was unhappy about the union. Assad was a member of the elite Alawite tribe, and Asma's father was Sunni. The groups have a long history of rivalry and conflict -- especially in the city of Homs, Asma's father's hometown. Homs has seen sectarian tensions and killings as the protest movement has evolved.
Shortly after her wedding, Asma al-Assad traveled around Syria incognito to try to get to know the people, Tabler wrote. She found there was massive poverty and a growing population of unemployed young people.
"Villagers are very pure, very willing," she told Tabler in an interview in 2001. "Villagers don't want to leave their villages, but economic opportunities don't exist there."
The politics of glamour
Throughout most of the 2000s, Asma al-Assad's profile in the region increased.
The first lady gained a reputation as a clothes horse, preferring Chanel on her tiny frame. She kept her chin-length honey hair in loose waves and always wore exquisite heels. Her photograph was often published, usually next to that of lithe beauty Queen Rania of Jordan, another Western-styled fashion icon with a busy public calendar.
Syrian and international writers gushed about how Asma al-Assad was not only glamorous but also a champion of women's rights.
The New York Times profiled the Assads in 2005 when they opened an opera house in Damascus: "Together they made a kind of visual rhyme with the building: Tall, slender and young, they seemed the essence of secular Western-Arab fusion, the elegant doctor-turned-president out on the town with his dazzling British-born Syrian wife, the former J. P. Morgan banker whom Syrians call their Princess Diana.
But the story also delved into the tense relationship between America and Syria, as U.S. troops were operating in western Iraq near the Syrian border. When the Times reporter asked President Al-Assad if he was concerned, he said he was not. Then Asma al-Assad "flashed a warm smile and deftly flicked" the reporter away.
''We're off duty,'' she told the Times reporter.
Asma's profile borrowed heavily from Princess Diana. This 2009 YouTube photo compilation shows Syria's first lady helping old people and sick children, sitting in classrooms, planting trees, waving and smiling alongside her husband. It's unclear who posted the video. The poster didn't use his or her real name, and the e-mail connected to the channel featuring other similar videos celebrating the Assads is no longer active.
In 2010, Asma al-Assad talked to diplomats and intellectuals at the Paris Diplomatic Academy. A YouTube video shows her speaking, without notes, about Syria's history and how that heritage informs daily life.
"Some often ask me how then can Syria remain stable, moderate and influential in a region that is increasingly being surrounded by extremism, ideologism (sic), sectarianism and all other forms of negative perceptions in our society," she told the gathering. "The typical answer I get is because of military, political, security reasons. Again, I believe I have a different view.
"It's the very essence of our culture. It's what our history teaches us of openness and engagement," she said. "It's the sense of identity and pride that we have knowing who we are in the world and knowing what we've contributed to the world over thousands of years that gives us that sense of stability and that sense of moderation.
"Some of you might think I am talking politics. ... Trust me, I have no interest in politics," she continued. "My interests are elsewhere. But living in the region for as long as I have, I realize that politics affects every facet of our lives."
"In the Lion's Den" portrays Asma al-Assad as confident, charming, gutsy and focused, but also naïve, someone who seemed to sincerely believe she could better the country through various charities and NGOs.
Tabler describes one meeting he attended with European diplomats where the first lady charmed everyone and left the impression that the Syrian first family was approachable, at least compared to other members of her husband's regime.
Asma al-Assad was "a comprehensible and reasonable individual in an opaque regime," Tabler wrote.
In December 2010, around the time a Tunisian street vendor lit himself on fire and inspired a wave of protests across North Africa, Asma al-Assad and her husband were photographed in Paris. They were smiling, as they left a Monet exhibition.
'These atrocities'
Three months later, the first major protests broke out in Syria. About 3,000 people gathered in Damascus on March 16 to demand the Assad regime release hundreds of political prisoners, many jailed during Hafez al-Assad's regime. Reuters and other news agencies reported that security officers detained and beat demonstrators.
The next day, Asma al-Assad gave the keynote speech at an event hosted by the Harvard Arab Alumni Association at the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus.
In a description online, the alumni group wrote: "In her role as Syria's first lady, Her Excellency Asma al-Assad applies her experience, energy and influence to her country's social and cultural development. Her role reflects the significant economic, political and social change that is happening in Syria today. Asma al-Assad's work supports that of President Bashar al-Assad by fostering the emergence of a robust, independent and self-sustaining civil society."
The group's program director, Sena Halabi, said he didn't have a transcript of the talk and that it wasn't videotaped.
Harvard spokesman Joe Raposo said he could not provide details of her remarks because the conference was a private, non-Harvard-sponsored event.
In October as bodies piled up in the streets of Homs and Hama, aid workers told Britain's Independent newspaper they had met with Asma al-Assad in Damascus, at her request.
The first lady asked the group about the risks of their jobs, one worker told The Independent. But she was expressionless, the workers said, when they told her about abuses they had witnessed by security forces and soldiers.
"There was no reaction. She didn't react at all. It was just like I was telling a normal story, something that happens every day," one worker said.
Tabler said he suspects the first lady "is in denial" about just how severe the violence in Syria has become -- and about her husband's culpability.
"They talked so much about reform that I think she has fooled herself," he said.
But Asma al-Assad's head seemed quite clear two years ago when she spoke with CNN about how she would not tolerate an oppressive and violent regime, except in this instance she was talking about the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
She said that 60% of Middle Easterners are under 25 and feel increasingly frustrated with a lack of economic opportunity. Governments must make those young people "believe in a future," she said.
"The reality on the ground is increasingly ... going further and further and further away from that," she said, foreshadowing the causes of the Arab Spring, a movement led primarily by young people.
The first lady went on to speak about 2009's Gaza War, a three-week bombing and invasion of Gaza by Israel that began in late December when Israel launched a surprise airstrike.
Asma al-Assad called Israel's actions "barbaric" and said innocent Palestinians were dying in droves. She was appalled by reports from human rights workers who witnessed the carnage.
"This is the 21st century. Where in the world could this happen? Unfortunately it is happening," she said.
"As a mother and as a human being we need to make sure that these atrocities stop."
Government’s regulation on crossings “unacceptable”
Kosovska Mitrovica District Head Radenko Nedeljković and mayors of four northern Kosovo Serb towns and local councilors held a meeting on Sunday.
The Serb representatives announced that northern Kosovo municipal assemblies would make a decision on a referendum, so the citizens could say whether they accept the Kosovo Albanian institutions in northern Kosovo or not.
They also announced that the referendum would probably be held on February 15, the day when Serbia celebrates its Statehood Day.
“The regulation has incurred a great damage to Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija and we do not agree with it,” Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić said after the meeting.
He added that there was no legal basis to abolish the regulation.
“It is our obligation to say that it (regulation) is unfavorable for us and that we do not agree with it,” Pantić explained and stressed that the barricades would remain in northern Kosovo but that the Serbs would not get into conflicts with KFOR and EULEX.
“If the barricades are removed by force, Serbs will set up new ones and that way show they do not agree with Priština’s unilateral moves and KFOR’s violent actions,” the Kosovska Mitrovica mayor pointed out.
The Serb representatives announced that northern Kosovo municipal assemblies would make a decision on a referendum, so the citizens could say whether they accept the Kosovo Albanian institutions in northern Kosovo or not.
They also announced that the referendum would probably be held on February 15, the day when Serbia celebrates its Statehood Day.
“The regulation has incurred a great damage to Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija and we do not agree with it,” Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić said after the meeting.
He added that there was no legal basis to abolish the regulation.
“It is our obligation to say that it (regulation) is unfavorable for us and that we do not agree with it,” Pantić explained and stressed that the barricades would remain in northern Kosovo but that the Serbs would not get into conflicts with KFOR and EULEX.
“If the barricades are removed by force, Serbs will set up new ones and that way show they do not agree with Priština’s unilateral moves and KFOR’s violent actions,” the Kosovska Mitrovica mayor pointed out.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Berisha attacks Topi and its political future
The Albanian Prime Minister Mr. Sali Berisha attacked the "Black Red Alliance" and its leader Mr. Kreshnik Spahiu by saying that "BRA tested herself during Census and didn’t get even 1%. We welcome all new parties as long they do come in accordance with laws and constitution.” He also used the interview on "Ora News" to address issues with the head of state Mr. Bamir Topi . Mr Berisha went on to say that “When individuals usurp the constitutional institutions they should resign other duties and involvements. I am talking about institution of the President and High Council of Justice. A civilized person who has the most elementary notion of the rule of law can not allow himself that these institutions to be lead by little charlatans who took the most exemplary response by the census process.". While asked about the current situation throughout justice system, Prime Minister didn’t hesitate to blame the poor performance and problems to the HCJ, an institutions that acts upon constitution and is being head by Mr. Topi and Mr. Spahiu.
Getting back to comments he has been making about President Bamir Topi, the Prime Minister said that "It is unacceptable to have a small party of charlatans run the head of the state institution. The President, in a parliamentary republic, should lead as a symbol of unity. Once he keeps a hostile position toward the majority in issues outside the Constitution and tries placing stones under wheels then he can not be supported because these are illegal actions. I saw that during the annual meeting with your, reporters, he stated that this was the last meeting between him as President and you, something which made him get melancholic”.
He further spoke about the debate on constitutional changes, saying that “they were made with a full consensus of the major parties. If Mr. Topi would not agree with changes and consensus in itself then he had the right to make efforts for a referendum in order to block this process, but at the personal level should the constitutional majority agree then that is a political decision and there is no place for individual statements" he said.
During the interview he was asked about the fact that Mr. Topi, a former leader of Democratic Party, is being ignored by local leadership belonging to DP. In fact he has been treated warmly by Socialist representatives across Albania. MrBerisha’s take on that was that "he has been accepted and welcomed by the representatives of the Socialist Party much better than Mimi Kodheli did. They treated him as vice-president of the Socialist Party. Obviously, they saw him voting for them so there is not any obstacle.”
Further in the interview, Mr. Berisha spoke about a debatable issue that has sparked comments abroad the Albanian borders as well, the 2011census. He said that "The President chose silence while his deputy kept saying that the census was an act of Serbs and Greeks. This census was the best census conducted in the history of this country. According to data in this census, he said, there are 330,000 Albanian families that have more than one apartment which means that the Middle Class is real and active, in contrary to 2011 when it was in its latent phase .
Mr. Berisha said that the celebration of Independence Day has been most recent contact he had with President Bamir Topi. As he was talking about the new President election process, Berisha said that”..it will be a process based solely in the Constitution. There is no doubt about it. Always, my guide is the Constitution. Politics is the difference. Those who try to present it as consensus are telling nonsense. Politics is the difference and thank goodness that is. At certain moments, politics falls into compromise, but politics is not consensus".
Continuing the discussion about the Presidential run Mr. Berisha went on to state that” The President will be proposed and voted by the majority and should Mr. Rama and Socialist MP’s will join the vote this will be highly appreciated, however, we intend to go on and put a candidate of ours in this race who will win with majority’s votes alone.”
Reacting upon the EU’s recommendations, and especially the hot issue of Electoral Code, Mr. Berisha commented the request of several smaller parties to amend the Electoral Code in terms of open lists of candidates in the next general parliamentary elections. "Should the open lists be allowed, then they will turn into money race. Lists should be elective and prepared with the democratic spirit, but they can not be open. We should make sure to give the chance to anyone who feels that is fit for the position, but this doesn’t mean that if you have the power and/or the money you should get a card blanche toward a parliamentary seat" he said. Meanwhile, because electronic counting of votes was declared as a failure in the first attempt made to count the votes of the National Assembly of the Socialist Party, the prime minister said that is pessimist in using that counting form next time around during parliamentary elections.
Getting back to comments he has been making about President Bamir Topi, the Prime Minister said that "It is unacceptable to have a small party of charlatans run the head of the state institution. The President, in a parliamentary republic, should lead as a symbol of unity. Once he keeps a hostile position toward the majority in issues outside the Constitution and tries placing stones under wheels then he can not be supported because these are illegal actions. I saw that during the annual meeting with your, reporters, he stated that this was the last meeting between him as President and you, something which made him get melancholic”.
He further spoke about the debate on constitutional changes, saying that “they were made with a full consensus of the major parties. If Mr. Topi would not agree with changes and consensus in itself then he had the right to make efforts for a referendum in order to block this process, but at the personal level should the constitutional majority agree then that is a political decision and there is no place for individual statements" he said.
During the interview he was asked about the fact that Mr. Topi, a former leader of Democratic Party, is being ignored by local leadership belonging to DP. In fact he has been treated warmly by Socialist representatives across Albania. MrBerisha’s take on that was that "he has been accepted and welcomed by the representatives of the Socialist Party much better than Mimi Kodheli did. They treated him as vice-president of the Socialist Party. Obviously, they saw him voting for them so there is not any obstacle.”
Further in the interview, Mr. Berisha spoke about a debatable issue that has sparked comments abroad the Albanian borders as well, the 2011census. He said that "The President chose silence while his deputy kept saying that the census was an act of Serbs and Greeks. This census was the best census conducted in the history of this country. According to data in this census, he said, there are 330,000 Albanian families that have more than one apartment which means that the Middle Class is real and active, in contrary to 2011 when it was in its latent phase .
Mr. Berisha said that the celebration of Independence Day has been most recent contact he had with President Bamir Topi. As he was talking about the new President election process, Berisha said that”..it will be a process based solely in the Constitution. There is no doubt about it. Always, my guide is the Constitution. Politics is the difference. Those who try to present it as consensus are telling nonsense. Politics is the difference and thank goodness that is. At certain moments, politics falls into compromise, but politics is not consensus".
Continuing the discussion about the Presidential run Mr. Berisha went on to state that” The President will be proposed and voted by the majority and should Mr. Rama and Socialist MP’s will join the vote this will be highly appreciated, however, we intend to go on and put a candidate of ours in this race who will win with majority’s votes alone.”
Reacting upon the EU’s recommendations, and especially the hot issue of Electoral Code, Mr. Berisha commented the request of several smaller parties to amend the Electoral Code in terms of open lists of candidates in the next general parliamentary elections. "Should the open lists be allowed, then they will turn into money race. Lists should be elective and prepared with the democratic spirit, but they can not be open. We should make sure to give the chance to anyone who feels that is fit for the position, but this doesn’t mean that if you have the power and/or the money you should get a card blanche toward a parliamentary seat" he said. Meanwhile, because electronic counting of votes was declared as a failure in the first attempt made to count the votes of the National Assembly of the Socialist Party, the prime minister said that is pessimist in using that counting form next time around during parliamentary elections.
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