21.3.2010 by CrniLabudovi.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Kosovo: This Week

The north remains quiet – in the northern way – with someone throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Serb-owned vehicle in north Mitrovica on March 14 that injured no one and may have nothing to do with ethnic differences according to police. The northern strategy is still “under study.” Most attention remains on the south, where the focus is corruption, the Kurti trial and Pristina politics. One northern story worth following is the renewed request – this time to the EU – for international support to rebuild a mosque in north Mitrovica. This remains problematic given the continued ethnic differences over status and the north; presumably the competent international authorities will continue to remain cautious about such an initiative. (These and some of the other items noted here can be followed up in the UNMIK local media update. )

Meanwhile:

The northern Serbs held a meeting of their assembly on March 16. They complained of reduced support from Belgrade, rejected the partition of Kosovo and criticized Belgrade’s apparent decision to cut the rail service from Serbia proper to Zvecan. Such a cutoff has long been sought by Pristina, which would like instead to bring the railway in the north under its control. If Belgrade did indeed decide to cut the service, it is a significant political concession to the EU.

The British ambassador to Belgrade made some interesting comments on Serbian relations with Kosovo. He reportedly said that the EU is not asking Belgrade to recognize Kosovo but to establish “some model of cooperation” with Pristina. Best guess is that the cooperation the Ambassador has in mind could be “indirect,” e.g., to work with EULEX and the ICO on implementation of the Ahtisaari Plan including on introducing Kosovo institutions in the north. Any other approach would seem to require actual negotiations between both sides on the forms and specifics of non-recognition cooperation. (For other comments about possible models see: No model right for Kosovo.)

NATO may be fine-tuning its message on the north. The KFOR Commander gave an interview in which he emphasized that the “so-called parallel structures” are “a political issue…[and] political questions can and should be solved by the relevant stakeholders.”…….

http://outsidewalls.blogspot.com/2010/03/kosovo-this-week.html

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21.3.2010 by Lupo.

Ein neues Tourismus Büro und eine neue Einstellung die Kultur zu pflegen.

Old Photos - Shkoder 1930’s

I picked up a couple of postcards when i visited the National Marubi Fototek in Shkoder.
I love the old photos.

One of is of the centre of Shkoder in 1932.

It is interesting to see that the shops stretch across the road over to the mosque.
I can make out a couple of the shops….
One is called “Rruestore” - no idea what that means.
One is called “Udhtimit te perditshem” - I would have liked to know where they went, but I can’t make that out.
Kafe Drini - no surprise there then - a cafe in Shkoder!

The other photo is of a family in Dukagjin in 1937.
I really like this photo.

It reminds me so much , and gave me a lot of help in visualizing life in the mountains, when reading the excellent book “Peaks of Shala” by Rose Wilder Lane.
Notice there is no “chimney” in the house for the smoke to leave. I take it the roofs were thatched and the smoke eventually rises up and through the roof.

I have a couple of questions though…
1) What does the woman on the right have in her hand?
2) What is hanging from the roof, and also what is hanging on the wall under the oil can?

I previously heard that the old bank on the new pedestrian walkway in the Piaca, would be turned into a museum to show off much more of the old Marubi photos than are currently displayed. The outside of the bank has been finished for ages, but still no sign of any work on the inside, nor of the Marubi exhibition moving. I am disappointed. Tourist season is starting and even leaving entrance fee as free, I am sure the the sale of postcards, booklets and magazines on Marubi and his photographs would allow the museum to function. aus Skhoder online

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