Day 21

I am now staying at Milos' apartment which is about 5 minutes drive from where I was on Strahinjica Bana since my landlord had already scheduled someone else to rent the apartment for the next week. He is nice enough to let me use his computer so I can keep blogging :)

This morning I decided to wander around the city. I began near Kalemegdon, went down to the statute commemorating the non-alignment movement, walked by the Sava for awhile near the bridges, cut up to Kneza Milosa and passed numerous embassies including the American embassy and Croatian both of which have no windows-- I can't imagine how depressing it must be inside. From a psychological perspective I would think that this would have a very negative impact on the types of reports generated back to the US from Serbia especially from those who are just briefly visiting. I mean what does it say about a country when your embassy has no windows-- it makes you feel like you're still in war time when really thats not the case anymore at all. I really hope that the Obama administration decides to change that. It is a sign of distrust.

That is really jarring and upsetting.

Along Kneza Milosa were several military buildlings which were bombed in 1999. The buildings are still there. I was able to take pictures of them on the side of the street on which they are located but when I crossed the street to take pictures a policeman stopped me and told me it was not allowed. I wish I spoke Serbian fluently because I would have liked to hear his reasoning. It was quite bizzarre honestly. The buildings are there in broad daylight and a few minutes earlier a tour bus had passed and I could see the flashbulbs. Moreover, I wish that I could have told him that I was taking pictures to show to my friends and family in the USA. That I was trying to show the harm that the bombing had done and raise awareness. I guess it's actually a good thing I wasn't able to communicate all this to him :-p Knowing my temper it could have gone badly. At least I got two pictures before he stopped me-- one is below.

I also took more pictures further down the way at a larger military complex which is similarly just sitting there gutted. I don't understand why the rubble is still there... I have several theories-- one of course is that the government wants to remind the world that Serbia was bombed by NATO... this is a perspective that lends itself to the victimization thing and I really have a hard time buying it. Another is there there is no money-- that a private investor would have to buy the property and pay to build something in its place. Once again I am skeptical that there's no money even to bulldoze the buildings and let the space be an empty lot. I think that the truth lies in the middle. To me they represent that nature of the NATO bombing in present day Serbia-- people have gotten on with their lives but the wound is still there, the memories still vivid and painful. Even though seems impossible, I really think that an international conference or at least a legal team needs to address the NATO bombing of Belgrade. It is an unprecedented event-- a bombing as a humanitarian mission-- and at the very least needs to be subject to analysis. It is an underlying part of Serbia's relationship to the NATO member countries and their relationship to Serbia. It needs to be addressed head-on in some way. Massive bombing campaigns are overcome/ reach catharsis either through occupation (Germany, Japan, Austria) or victory (England, Netherlands). The NATO bombing campaign in Serbia by its unique nature has not been able to avail itself of either of these methods. Consequently, like those bombed out shells, the issue remains ever in the background.

This trip has been wonderful for my research. For starters it makes me feel much more confident to move towards publication of my research having been here and conducted interviews, etc-- I feel a tad more qualified to talk about Serbia. It's also given me an idea of the issues which are truely important. I think that this is something that all political scientists must do-- don't settle on your research question/ layout until after visiting the country. During my trip here I have seen that corruption is a major issue here-- something which I HAVE to include in my research. Moreover, talking with people I realize that Serbia really has progressed a lot since 2000-- duh right? but somehow walking the streets and imagining what the 1990s were like on the same streets really brings that notion home. This is important for me in that I can't say that democratization or even conditionality hasn't worked in Serbia. Rather it is that it hasn't been as efficient or it has stalled or... something around there. While I knew this already I am seeing that within the newsmedia there really is an image of Serbia portrayed as if nothing had changed since Milosevic-- especially in articles such as Roger Cohen's (I link this only to give you an idea of how rediculous the coverage of Serbia in the US is) around the declaration of independence of Kosovo. Consequently, even I, and know that I know a lot more about Serbia than your average American, find my perspective slightly skewed. It's wonderful to have interviewed lots of different people with VERY different perspectives. I think I really have an idea of where basic Serb opinion lies... Hopefully one day soon I will be able to come back here with a big enough grant to finance my own survey.

Okay my fingers are getting tired :-p Tomorrow is going to be crazy (or at least I hope it will be-- otherwise it'll mean my two most awesome interview opportunities crashed) so I don't know if I'll have a chance to post anything. My flight takes off at 12:30 on Tuesday and, following a 4 hour layover in Paris, I land at JFK in NYC at 6pmEST.

cao for now!