The Balkan Chronicle

Bosnia's war crimes court found two Bosnian Serb military commanders guilty of involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in which about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed.

The court Monday jailed Slavko Peric, 43, to 19 years and Momir Pelemis, 61, to 16 years. Both men were commanders in the first battalion of the Zvornik brigade.

Troops in riot gear used tear gas to disperse around 100 angry protesters on Thursday, as they tried to remove Serb roadblocks in the volatile northern Kosovo, the state-funded BBC reported.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) and Greek Cyprus have again decided not to hold military exercises this year due to ongoing peace negotiations. 
 
The Greek Cypriot Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that its annual war games have been canceled again this year to avoid ratcheting up tensions amid ongoing talks to reunify the ethnically divided island.

Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan's mother Tenzile Erdogan, 83, was laid to eternal rest at Istanbul's Karacaahmet Cemetery on Saturday afternoon.

Tenzile Erdogan's coffin was brought to the Karacaahmet Cemetery following a ceremony and prayer at the Fatih Mosque.

Tenzile Erdoğan had been undergoing treatment at Kadıköy's Medipol Hospital since Sept. 30 but succumbed to her illness on the morning of Oct. 7.

Macedonia is launching Saturday its largest so far Census of the population, the households and the housing units.

The Census, which began at 8 am, will conclude on October 15, and has the goal to provide complete, transparent and quality statistics. It is monitored by experts from Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU, who are to assess the compliance of Macedonia's Census with international recommendations.

New incidents in Jarinje, KFOR (NATO) used tear gas and stun grenades, seven Serbs were injured by rubber bullets. KFOR (NATO) said that he fired in self-defense.

American KFOR soldiers removed the barricades on Tuesday morning on an alternative way of Jarinje. The most serious took place about 13 pm when local Serbs threw stones at KFOR who then retaliated by throwing tear gas. At least seven Serbs were injured by rubber bullets.

Palestinian Authority foreign minister counts "six or seven" votes for statehood in the Security Council:

The Palestinians are trying to win over Gabon, Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The first, west-central African state seemed to have made up its mind to vote for the Palestinians, but the other two remained hesitant, Malki said.

Islamic Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina Chief Mufti Mustafa Cerić has accused Serbia of "increasingly discriminating" Bosniaks in Sandžak.

He expressed concern that Serbia was provoking a new crisis hotspot in Sandžak.

"As Bosniak Muslims' spiritual chief I want to draw attention of the international institutions and organizations, especially European ones, that Bosniaks' religious and national rights are being violated in Sandžak and I express justified concern that organs of the state of Serbia are provoking a new crisis hotspot in Europe," the Bosnia-Herzegovina chief mufti said in an announcement.

He said that while Bosniaks in Bosnia-Herzegovina were still looking for the remains of the victims of genocide in mass graves Serbia was intensifying pressure, discriminating and violating their national and religious rights in an attempt to create "an atmosphere of fear and lynch just like during the pre-genocide period in Bosnia-Herzegovina".

Greek media attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a speech in Zagreb for Croatia's state TV (HRT) in which she called Macedonia --> Macedonia.

"It is important for Serbia to cooperate with Kosovo, Bosnia needs a stable Government, while Macedonia should work on solving their problem with Greece", stated Merkel in the interview for HRT.

Greece's media is angry and disappointed with Merkel's statement, numerous printed dailies in Athens vetted their anger...

Europe is a "train wreck" and on the "brink of a major financial crisis," Scott Minerd, CIO of the fixed-income firm Guggenheim Partners, told CNBC Tuesday.

"The way Europe is operating right now, it's what I called recently 'cognitive dissonance,'" Minerd said, or "basically doing the same thing thinking they're going to get a different outcome."

Kosovar special police units launched an operation overnight to take control of two disputed border crossings in Kosovo's northern Serb-run border region, the Kosovar interior minister said Tuesday.

The action follows last week's ban by Kosovar authorities on goods coming in from Serbia, a decision made to counter Serbia's ongoing rejection of Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi told The Associated Press said Kosovar authorities were forced to move after the European Union's rule of law mission, known as EULEX, failed to enforce the ban.

Serbian Deputy PM and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said today in Belgrade urged the EU not to set any new conditions for the country in its bid to join the organization.

"If anyone in the EU does not want Serbia to join, they should speak up. If the EU does not want us, we will have to live without it," Dačić said at a press conference after the meeting with Serbian police (MUP) officers who returned from their UN peacekeeping tour in Haiti.

Dozens of small, old rocket warheads were stolen from a train carrying military equipment from Romania to Bulgaria, officials said Monday.

Authorities promised that the 64 warheads posed no danger to the public but offered varying explanations why.

Talking to the delegation from Kosovo was "sometimes like talking to people from another planet." Thus Borko Stefanovic, the chief Serbian negotiator. The two sides' views seem irreconcilable. Kosovo, whose population is mostly ethnic Albanian, declared independence from Serbia in 2008; Serbia says it will never accept this. This makes news of a degree of agreement on July 2nd in talks between the two more remarkable.

Croatian investigators have sought to block five million Euros from businessman Robert Jezic's account due to the suspicion the money is part of the bribe the former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader received from Hungarian company MOL.

To Geller, anyone who murders Muslims is an ally

Remember when Muslim-hating demagogue Robert Spencer wrote a totally dishonest piece for the Guardian to run interference for his crony Pamela Geller, claiming (among numerous other lies and evasions) that she doesn't support murderous war criminals like Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic?

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou says he will form a new government Thursday and immediately ask for a vote of confidence in parliament, after coalition talks with the opposition fell apart.

Papandreou made his announcement on television Wednesday following a day of violent protests against plans for more spending cuts and tax hikes.

"Borissov is the most cunning and charismatic player of the day. He is explicitly cultivating U.S. and European approval to bolster his legitimacy. Using this to our advantage, we can push him and his GERB party into more responsible positions as next year's elections approach," the leaked cable, written in 2008 by former US Ambassador to Bulgaria, Nancy McEldowney, states.

Bosnian Serbs have abandoned their plan to hold a contentious referendum on the authority of the country's central court, a spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced on Friday.The measure, which threatened to worsen the political stalemate in the Balkan country, was contributing to what observers have said is the worst crisis in Bosnia since its war.

Hundreds of Roma (Gypsy) from a village in Hungary have been evacuated out of fear of conflicts with an extreme right-wing organization.

The far-right group, calling itself Vedero, has set up a camp near their homes.