Opposition calls for special Kosovo debate

Just adopt the transit fee. It hurts the most where the pain is the biggesst.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/comments.php?nav_id=54127

There is no way, bridges and ferries at Kardam-Calafat and Ruse-Giurgiu can keep up with the traffic to Middle East and there is no freeway to Greece avoiding either Serbia or crossing Danube between Bulgaria and Romania.

Make exception to vehicles with Bosnian, Greek, Slovak, Romanian, Russian, Syrian, Iranian etc. license plates. All other vehicles should pay a substantial fee of, say, 1000 Euro if they stay in Serbia a shorter period than 72 hours. Commercial vehicles should pay double.

The money officially should go to compensate Serbian citizens for the lost time and money at Schengen Area consulates while applying for visa.

I bet, the "Schengen White List" countries will come to Serbia and beg to drop the tran$$$$it f€€€€.

And both Montenegro and FYROM will count the incoming tourists one-by-one.

Money really hurts... and if there isn't any, it hurts even more.

Serbia should implement its next phase of legally upholding its sovereignity and persue individual cases against Montenegro and FROM and of course Serbia can outline that it does not do this to against Montenegro or FROM but merely in upholding its legal soverignity. They need to comprehend that all actions that Serbia takes now on are not against them but the illegal and wrong action of their govts who have been pushed to act illegally.

It seems that 'Macdedonia' is decided to become a huge US base. The best way to handle this is for Serbia and Russia to re-evaluate their recognition of that country as 'macedonia'. FYROM will get the message that its neighbors and relatives count more than its opportunistic allies....

@2

Ataman,

I see who you're working for. Thank so much for routing Macedonia's traffic through Albania's harbours (much of that is running that route anyway). It's a longer route, but it costs less than 1000 Euros anyway. And thanks for routing the whole of Macedonian tourism to Albania. You should know that South Albania's coast boomed with Macedonians, mostly Slav Macedonians, this summer (thanks to Greece, and everyone down there was glad of it).

Next question: What about Serbian cars if all the penalized countries would reciprocally apply a transit fee of 1000 E. for Serbian vehicles (even if they bypass Hungary/Croatia reaching Middle Europe through Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia)?

Seriously, I thought you had my age or were even older judging by your references to the Lenin and the old times of communism. Normally people get wiser with the age. And you should be old enough to know that such a policy of "njet" brought to nothing during the Cold War and has even less chances to reach sth. today. That's absolutely true for small sized countries.

The big traffic routes to the Middle East run anyway through Italy (Adriatic highway to Ancona or Bari) and then on fast ferries to Greece and Turkey. Sth. you should know.

If I were a Serb I would be very suspicious over such friendly advices.

Hope this is posted. Serbia's reactions are nothing new. We have seen Serbia expelling people earlier, and that is during the Milosevic era. It is so unfortunate to see this happening again, while Serbia is said to be governed by 'democrats". Serbia should not be surprised by what is about to come. Countries will recognize Kosova. There is not a single reason why they should not do it acknowledging the past that brought to the independence result and also accounting the fact that all neighbors of Kosova have recognized the new reality. The best would be if Serbia would recognize the new reality and let its society and neighbors societies develop and flourish.

What a BIG HUGE shock for Serbia. Jeremic was too busy going to Africa and south America convincing unimoprtant countries to stand with Serbia but he forgot his macedonian and montenegrin neighbors.
Another sign that the serb politicians do not live in the world of reality because otherwise they would understand that Montenegro was much more important than Panama.
Serbs should realize that they really have a big problem because two slavic neighbors standing with Kosova and not Serbia is not good for Serbia.

The best thing the Serb MP's can do is to come out in the open and be brave enough to admit the failed state policy towards Kosovo for the past 85 years.And after that face reality as things are and will be and not to try hard to find ways to stop recognitions of Independent Kosovo.It will not work.

@ 8,

My name is Genc, not Genç, dear Otoman

I have absolutely no objection to route the whole of Macedonian tourism to Albania. Even I may visit one day if the infrastructure is better and less issues with language. Albania is not an "enemy".

- Oh please, do visit us Ataman. We miss You. We’re improving our infrastructure to a decent level just for you (not only the Kosovo highway, but the entire road net). We even promise to change our language und make it easier for Magyar-Russian native speakers (who notoriously have language problems abroad). The day of Your arrival will go down on the books as the brightest day in the Albanian history.
"Enemies" don't exist any longer in Europe.

Regard it rather as a very special visa regime for a transit from countries who do not want to make the "white list" happen - without saying the ugly word "visa". This hits where it is the most painful - transit traffic to Middle East. Obviously, tourists are much less affected.

- The problem is how the Schengen area would regard it dear Ataman. You and me simply don’t matter. I just want to turn to your beloved weak ring in the chain. How much pressure can the Serbian ring bear? As for sea traffic, you should know that embarking a container in Trieste/Koper/Ancona/Pescara/Bari/Brindisi on a huge container ship and shipping it to Igoumenitsa/Patrass or Turkey is by far cheaper than dragging it on Balkanic roads through 3-4 border crossings. Moreover you don’t need to build highways on the sea. Once the ship is there… But I’ve noticed it is not self-explaining to natives of landlocked countries. You’ve even had once an Admiral to lead your country… (and therefore Roosevelt thought Hungary was a naval power)

Horrific transit taxes are the reality in Austria already. I do not see, why Serbia shouldn't do the same.

I agree, provided Serbia’s roads meet the same quality.

All the best!

More to you!

Princip,

you may also ask the Russians to participate in the meeting. Serbs alone do not count for much any more!

Good points, Genç, like your name, like in the famous Mehter song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyoPCQeufnk

I have absolutely no objection to route the whole of Macedonian tourism to Albania. Even I may visit one day if the infrastructure is better and less issues with language. Albania is not an "enemy".

Regard it rather as a very special visa regime for a transit from countries who do not want to make the "white list" happen - without saying the ugly word "visa". This hits where it is the most painful - transit traffic to Middle East. Obviously, tourists are much less affected.

Horrific transit taxes are the reality in Austria already. I do not see, why Serbia shouldn't do the same.

All the best!

Atamann writes, "Just adopt the transit fee. It hurts the most where the pain is the biggesst."

Don't you know that "transit fees' work both ways.

As for Montenegro it has the sea and land routes via Croatia, Bosnia and Albania. The same stands for Macedonia. It has routes through Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Luckily governments don't listen to such recommendations, although I have to admit in Belgrade they still do, otherwise I would not see such follies, diletantism, and lack of understanding of international relations and how diplomacy works.

If there are only wrong way drivers around you, you should reconsider yourself.

Genc,

1) Container loading/unloading costs are the same regardless of the distance traveled. Believe me, I did try my best to send the cars to Koper and Bar - and I was told, that I should rather use Rotterdam or Bremerhaven because of high loading/unloading costs and many other factors, including more professional handling.

Here is the breakdown, what happened:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4063/trackingbe4.png

In other words, the container FSCU9291605 was loaded with my car in Oakland on June 27. It was not until July 15 as it departed Oakland. It did reach Bremerhaven on August 15 (ca. 2 days later than scheduled).

It took less than twice as long for the ship to sail from Oakland, California to Bremerhaven than to wait in Oakland. The reasons:

- the ships are 100% booked
- the loading procedure is pretty long.

Unloading is faster - but it's a very expensive thing. It costs about 800 Euro to let a high cube container to unload at the port because port handling fees are ridiculous. We used a shared container, so the effective costs were less. The charge for the sailing itself ($1700) was not proportional with other charges: unloading (paid over 400 Euro), loading (paid $70), insurance (it's extra!). At the end, the total was close to $2500.

The distances within mediterranian are smaller, the port charges higher, so not everything is peachy with the seafreight. No wonder, we see so many trucks traversing Serbia.

2) As you may guess, I won't enter Kosovo or Albania ever using Hungarian or Russian papers. I am not crazy. As you may guess, you will see an ALL-AMERICAN car, displaying "God Bless USA" or something like that, with true, real AMERICAN license plates and all drivers and passengers having names which do sound IRISH(!!!), not Russian or Hungarian. We are not Irish, of course - bit the life is sometimes funny. And of course we are Americans.

Otherwise, thanks for the hospitality. You make me really curious about Kosovo and Albania - it can't be THAT bad!

Ataman, the Magyar-Russian, whom you should consider mostly Russian. Yes natives of landlocked countries should better not expose their limited knowledge about sea-transport and its advantages.
(Joe, 11 October 2008 02:59)

Joe, there is a #18 posting (regarding sea-transport experience) and #19 posting (regarding Russian, Hungarian or maybe somewhat else). Please read it. I am not here to beat my chest what ethnic background(s) I have.

I have no idea, why are you obsessed with my knowledge of Russian. I speak four languages, this is one of them and I like it to a good degree. You are welcome to post any critical comment about my opinion and if I do not agree with your opinion, I will try to argue. It's only battle of opinions, nothing more. I hope it is evident, B92 is not about my person.

Re: Samardzic's statement with regards to launching legal proceedings against states that had recognized Kosovo ...

States are sovereign entities and there is no such international judicial body in today's world that has the power or the right to decide the nature of bilateral relations of any country with any other sovereign country or individual. Such power is vested only into any judicial, economic or political body or organization whose member countries agree to have one, and that only to the extent of power granted to that body.

United Serbia leader Dragan Marković proposed prohibiting Montenegrin citizens from purchasing property in Serbia.


I ask the Serbian camp to explain to me what democracy is and how "democratic" his or her country is.

From the ICJ website: "The Court can only deal with a dispute when the States concerned have recognized its jurisdiction. No State can therefore be a party to proceedings before the Court unless it has in some manner or other consented thereto."

So it sounds like Serbia is going to have to obtain the consent of other states if it wants to take them to court. I wonder what the chances of that are?

By the way, Genc:

I did write "Genç" because I was thinking, it will please you and it's the real name. I like Meher music so I was thinking, that may find some common ground because you are proud of your name. If you call me "Otoman" or "Ottoman" this is not really far from certain point from the truth, even if it is not obvious, so it does not hurt me to a slightest degree. You may call me "Turk", I am not offended, just the opposite.

What I am shocked tough, is that your response for what I did try to please you was in my opinion pretty rude to say the least.

When has being "mean spirited" ever paid off in Diplomacy. If Serbia were to take the advice of people such as Ataman then for sure the "Recognitions" for an Independent Kosova would quickly reach 190.

Ataman,
Haven't you ever heard of the expression "You can attract more bees with honey than with vinegar". I guess not.


Apparently, Jeremic learned nothing while attending Harvard University. He had better be careful, since Harvard has been known to take away "recognition" of one's university diploma. One of the first concepts you learn in Diplomacy school is NEVER to threaten another country or its officials. It seems that Serbia invariably chooses to do, diplomatically, the exact opposite of that which would produce positive results. But, then again, why am I not surprised.

Amer,

Good point in your #15 post!

I guess then, that Serbia must obtain Kosova's permission before the ICJ will hear the Case. Does this also mean that Kosova must agree to recognize the authority of the ICJ BEFORE the case can be heard?

Good luck Serbia, you are going to need plenty of it.

Hi Genc,

I enjoyed your funny message to Ataman, the Magyar-Russian, whom you should consider mostly Russian. Yes natives of landlocked countries should better not expose their limited knowledge about sea-transport and its advantages.

The genius Palma wants to make it difficult for people to buy realestate durring an international financial fiasco. He suggests that this action be taken against Montenegrans who want closer ties a cooperation and who are willing to invest their money into serbia.

This is even funnier when he tried to explain international law to Kostunica. If memory serves me correctly, I compared that to a donkey teaching a vetrenarian.I am glad he is part of the DS coalition, it looks good on them.

Palma on Bethoven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l5DIQHneWo

@ 18, 19,

Dear Ataman,

There is a saying in Albanian “Afër detit, afër mbretit”, litterally “By the seaside (is to be) near the King”, curiously originating form internal Albania (that was once Tirana). That says everything, apart abstruse calculations about private car transport form Bremerhaven to the Antipodes. And I don’t think Serbia could be used as a transite route to Oakland either! Those trucks crossing Hungary stop mainly in the Balkans. ME is different stuff, and EU is striving to get all that heavy truck traffic off the roads (on rail or ship). I wish anyway you were right, so I wouldn’t have to put up with those sea monsters sailing through the Otranto strait and polluting the still virgin beaches of Southern Albania, which has become a problem in the last years. Same applies to the projects aiming at turning that pearl of the Bay of Vlorë into a huge harbour for oil and containers and to an EU-energetic knot. Go to hell geopolitics if you disturb my summer vacations!

You may show whichever passport you want, dear Ataman. Hungarians are historical friends, Jànos Huniady was an ally of Skanderbeg against the Ottomans, being the common action hampered by Brankovic of Serbia, our Queen (Geraldina Aponyi) was Hungarian and highly appreciated. Even the Communist propaganda couldn’t say a single bad word on her account. The Serb Hungarian Sándor Petõfi is the model of a Hungarian patriot which inspired many Albanians to fight for freedom (if these words are not mere stalinist propaganda to you) until 1990 and in Kosova until 1999. And there are still many fans of Ferenc Puskas and Co (not my age). OK, we lost today against Hungary, but in Tirana we’ll take revenge. Many Hungarian cars were seen in Albania this summer. I was told they enjoy travelling the whole Adriatic-Ionian Coast form Istria to Peloponnesus. Landlock syndrom?

Russians are particularly appreciated, because they’re always full of cash. We don’t like cheques and credit cards, especially now. And there are still Lenin’s old nostalgics to whom Russian sounds pretty sweet. Most of intellectuals and others over 55-60 speak fluent Russian, the youngers speak fluent English, just as younger Russians do(?). Tschaikovsky is one of the most performed classics in Albania. Tolstoi and Chechov are still great masters, Tolstoi’s “Hadzi Murat” has been rediscovered and higly evaluated after the last events, Dostoievsky an universal genius of world litterature, Solzenitsyn a boring writer and a great personality who contributed also to Albania’s freedom etc. etc. etc.

You can also present yourself as a Serb, no problem, last summer we had some 23.000 Serbian tourists. No visas are needed for Serb tourists to enter Albania. What happened prior and in 1999 carries no real significance in business. Serbian behaviour regarding Kosovo seems mere masochism to most Albanians of Albania. It seems also that Montenegro is no longer big enough for Serbian tourism, especially after the Russians have bought nearly the whole coast. In Shkodër and Eastern Albania, till Pogradec you can also speak Yugoslavian (a creative mixture of Serbian, [or Montenegrinian?], Macedonian and et al. for limited communication needs.

Irish are the joy of pub-owners, they’ll never forget those glad, happy-go-lucky Irish fans who drink so much and don’t break anything (only in Albania?) and regret we don’t play Ireland once a month in Tirana.

All the rest of world is welcome, provided they bring some good cash to spend. No enemies left (what for?), money makes good friends. Good friends and glad people easily pay double. No tricks or sophisticated robbery (that’s stuff for banks): joy has also its price.

I really can’t understand what hurt you in my post Ataman. I read it 5 times, no idea. I tried to be as pleasant to You as I could. I weren’t even telling horror tales about Quetzalcohatl or stuff, to irritate people with little sense of humour (which surely you don’t lack). I just stated that it is worth striving to carry out everything that, in my humbleness, I thought to be required for a Maitre de Vie, an Enlightened, to stop for a very short while at our humble country, to share his spiritual (and other) richness with the poorer. I thought also “Otoman” would please you, which seems true. No problem even to call you “Turk” if that pleases you (some scholar wrote once that the feeling between Turks and Albanians could be compared to that between Austrians and Hungarians [from good old k.u.k. times]. Cannot confirm).

Now, if you call that “rude”… Quetzalcohatl would feel shocked.

Hope this is posted. Serbia's reactions are nothing new. We have seen Serbia expelling people earlier, and that is during the Milosevic era. It is so unfortunate to see this happening again, while Serbia is said to be governed by 'democrats". Serbia should not be surprised by what is about to come. Countries will recognize Kosova. There is not a single reason why they should not do it acknowledging the past that brought to the independence result and also accounting the fact that all neighbors of Kosova have recognized the new reality. The best would be if Serbia would recognize the new reality and let its society and neighbors societies develop and flourish.

Princip,

you may also ask the Russians to participate in the meeting. Serbs alone do not count for much any more!

@2

Ataman,

I see who you're working for. Thank so much for routing Macedonia's traffic through Albania's harbours (much of that is running that route anyway). It's a longer route, but it costs less than 1000 Euros anyway. And thanks for routing the whole of Macedonian tourism to Albania. You should know that South Albania's coast boomed with Macedonians, mostly Slav Macedonians, this summer (thanks to Greece, and everyone down there was glad of it).

Next question: What about Serbian cars if all the penalized countries would reciprocally apply a transit fee of 1000 E. for Serbian vehicles (even if they bypass Hungary/Croatia reaching Middle Europe through Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia)?

Seriously, I thought you had my age or were even older judging by your references to the Lenin and the old times of communism. Normally people get wiser with the age. And you should be old enough to know that such a policy of "njet" brought to nothing during the Cold War and has even less chances to reach sth. today. That's absolutely true for small sized countries.

The big traffic routes to the Middle East run anyway through Italy (Adriatic highway to Ancona or Bari) and then on fast ferries to Greece and Turkey. Sth. you should know.

If I were a Serb I would be very suspicious over such friendly advices.

United Serbia leader Dragan Marković proposed prohibiting Montenegrin citizens from purchasing property in Serbia.


I ask the Serbian camp to explain to me what democracy is and how "democratic" his or her country is.

Atamann writes, "Just adopt the transit fee. It hurts the most where the pain is the biggesst."

Don't you know that "transit fees' work both ways.

As for Montenegro it has the sea and land routes via Croatia, Bosnia and Albania. The same stands for Macedonia. It has routes through Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Luckily governments don't listen to such recommendations, although I have to admit in Belgrade they still do, otherwise I would not see such follies, diletantism, and lack of understanding of international relations and how diplomacy works.

Serbia should implement its next phase of legally upholding its sovereignity and persue individual cases against Montenegro and FROM and of course Serbia can outline that it does not do this to against Montenegro or FROM but merely in upholding its legal soverignity. They need to comprehend that all actions that Serbia takes now on are not against them but the illegal and wrong action of their govts who have been pushed to act illegally.

Just adopt the transit fee. It hurts the most where the pain is the biggesst.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/comments.php?nav_id=54127

There is no way, bridges and ferries at Kardam-Calafat and Ruse-Giurgiu can keep up with the traffic to Middle East and there is no freeway to Greece avoiding either Serbia or crossing Danube between Bulgaria and Romania.

Make exception to vehicles with Bosnian, Greek, Slovak, Romanian, Russian, Syrian, Iranian etc. license plates. All other vehicles should pay a substantial fee of, say, 1000 Euro if they stay in Serbia a shorter period than 72 hours. Commercial vehicles should pay double.

The money officially should go to compensate Serbian citizens for the lost time and money at Schengen Area consulates while applying for visa.

I bet, the "Schengen White List" countries will come to Serbia and beg to drop the tran$$$$it f€€€€.

And both Montenegro and FYROM will count the incoming tourists one-by-one.

Money really hurts... and if there isn't any, it hurts even more.

It seems that 'Macdedonia' is decided to become a huge US base. The best way to handle this is for Serbia and Russia to re-evaluate their recognition of that country as 'macedonia'. FYROM will get the message that its neighbors and relatives count more than its opportunistic allies....

What a BIG HUGE shock for Serbia. Jeremic was too busy going to Africa and south America convincing unimoprtant countries to stand with Serbia but he forgot his macedonian and montenegrin neighbors.
Another sign that the serb politicians do not live in the world of reality because otherwise they would understand that Montenegro was much more important than Panama.
Serbs should realize that they really have a big problem because two slavic neighbors standing with Kosova and not Serbia is not good for Serbia.

Good points, Genç, like your name, like in the famous Mehter song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyoPCQeufnk

I have absolutely no objection to route the whole of Macedonian tourism to Albania. Even I may visit one day if the infrastructure is better and less issues with language. Albania is not an "enemy".

Regard it rather as a very special visa regime for a transit from countries who do not want to make the "white list" happen - without saying the ugly word "visa". This hits where it is the most painful - transit traffic to Middle East. Obviously, tourists are much less affected.

Horrific transit taxes are the reality in Austria already. I do not see, why Serbia shouldn't do the same.

All the best!

The best thing the Serb MP's can do is to come out in the open and be brave enough to admit the failed state policy towards Kosovo for the past 85 years.And after that face reality as things are and will be and not to try hard to find ways to stop recognitions of Independent Kosovo.It will not work.

Re: Samardzic's statement with regards to launching legal proceedings against states that had recognized Kosovo ...

States are sovereign entities and there is no such international judicial body in today's world that has the power or the right to decide the nature of bilateral relations of any country with any other sovereign country or individual. Such power is vested only into any judicial, economic or political body or organization whose member countries agree to have one, and that only to the extent of power granted to that body.

If there are only wrong way drivers around you, you should reconsider yourself.

@ 8,

My name is Genc, not Genç, dear Otoman

I have absolutely no objection to route the whole of Macedonian tourism to Albania. Even I may visit one day if the infrastructure is better and less issues with language. Albania is not an "enemy".

- Oh please, do visit us Ataman. We miss You. We’re improving our infrastructure to a decent level just for you (not only the Kosovo highway, but the entire road net). We even promise to change our language und make it easier for Magyar-Russian native speakers (who notoriously have language problems abroad). The day of Your arrival will go down on the books as the brightest day in the Albanian history.
"Enemies" don't exist any longer in Europe.

Regard it rather as a very special visa regime for a transit from countries who do not want to make the "white list" happen - without saying the ugly word "visa". This hits where it is the most painful - transit traffic to Middle East. Obviously, tourists are much less affected.

- The problem is how the Schengen area would regard it dear Ataman. You and me simply don’t matter. I just want to turn to your beloved weak ring in the chain. How much pressure can the Serbian ring bear? As for sea traffic, you should know that embarking a container in Trieste/Koper/Ancona/Pescara/Bari/Brindisi on a huge container ship and shipping it to Igoumenitsa/Patrass or Turkey is by far cheaper than dragging it on Balkanic roads through 3-4 border crossings. Moreover you don’t need to build highways on the sea. Once the ship is there… But I’ve noticed it is not self-explaining to natives of landlocked countries. You’ve even had once an Admiral to lead your country… (and therefore Roosevelt thought Hungary was a naval power)

Horrific transit taxes are the reality in Austria already. I do not see, why Serbia shouldn't do the same.

I agree, provided Serbia’s roads meet the same quality.

All the best!

More to you!

From the ICJ website: "The Court can only deal with a dispute when the States concerned have recognized its jurisdiction. No State can therefore be a party to proceedings before the Court unless it has in some manner or other consented thereto."

So it sounds like Serbia is going to have to obtain the consent of other states if it wants to take them to court. I wonder what the chances of that are?

When has being "mean spirited" ever paid off in Diplomacy. If Serbia were to take the advice of people such as Ataman then for sure the "Recognitions" for an Independent Kosova would quickly reach 190.

Ataman,
Haven't you ever heard of the expression "You can attract more bees with honey than with vinegar". I guess not.


Apparently, Jeremic learned nothing while attending Harvard University. He had better be careful, since Harvard has been known to take away "recognition" of one's university diploma. One of the first concepts you learn in Diplomacy school is NEVER to threaten another country or its officials. It seems that Serbia invariably chooses to do, diplomatically, the exact opposite of that which would produce positive results. But, then again, why am I not surprised.

Amer,

Good point in your #15 post!

I guess then, that Serbia must obtain Kosova's permission before the ICJ will hear the Case. Does this also mean that Kosova must agree to recognize the authority of the ICJ BEFORE the case can be heard?

Good luck Serbia, you are going to need plenty of it.

Genc,

1) Container loading/unloading costs are the same regardless of the distance traveled. Believe me, I did try my best to send the cars to Koper and Bar - and I was told, that I should rather use Rotterdam or Bremerhaven because of high loading/unloading costs and many other factors, including more professional handling.

Here is the breakdown, what happened:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4063/trackingbe4.png

In other words, the container FSCU9291605 was loaded with my car in Oakland on June 27. It was not until July 15 as it departed Oakland. It did reach Bremerhaven on August 15 (ca. 2 days later than scheduled).

It took less than twice as long for the ship to sail from Oakland, California to Bremerhaven than to wait in Oakland. The reasons:

- the ships are 100% booked
- the loading procedure is pretty long.

Unloading is faster - but it's a very expensive thing. It costs about 800 Euro to let a high cube container to unload at the port because port handling fees are ridiculous. We used a shared container, so the effective costs were less. The charge for the sailing itself ($1700) was not proportional with other charges: unloading (paid over 400 Euro), loading (paid $70), insurance (it's extra!). At the end, the total was close to $2500.

The distances within mediterranian are smaller, the port charges higher, so not everything is peachy with the seafreight. No wonder, we see so many trucks traversing Serbia.

2) As you may guess, I won't enter Kosovo or Albania ever using Hungarian or Russian papers. I am not crazy. As you may guess, you will see an ALL-AMERICAN car, displaying "God Bless USA" or something like that, with true, real AMERICAN license plates and all drivers and passengers having names which do sound IRISH(!!!), not Russian or Hungarian. We are not Irish, of course - bit the life is sometimes funny. And of course we are Americans.

Otherwise, thanks for the hospitality. You make me really curious about Kosovo and Albania - it can't be THAT bad!

By the way, Genc:

I did write "Genç" because I was thinking, it will please you and it's the real name. I like Meher music so I was thinking, that may find some common ground because you are proud of your name. If you call me "Otoman" or "Ottoman" this is not really far from certain point from the truth, even if it is not obvious, so it does not hurt me to a slightest degree. You may call me "Turk", I am not offended, just the opposite.

What I am shocked tough, is that your response for what I did try to please you was in my opinion pretty rude to say the least.

Hi Genc,

I enjoyed your funny message to Ataman, the Magyar-Russian, whom you should consider mostly Russian. Yes natives of landlocked countries should better not expose their limited knowledge about sea-transport and its advantages.

The genius Palma wants to make it difficult for people to buy realestate durring an international financial fiasco. He suggests that this action be taken against Montenegrans who want closer ties a cooperation and who are willing to invest their money into serbia.

This is even funnier when he tried to explain international law to Kostunica. If memory serves me correctly, I compared that to a donkey teaching a vetrenarian.I am glad he is part of the DS coalition, it looks good on them.

Palma on Bethoven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l5DIQHneWo

Ataman, the Magyar-Russian, whom you should consider mostly Russian. Yes natives of landlocked countries should better not expose their limited knowledge about sea-transport and its advantages.
(Joe, 11 October 2008 02:59)

Joe, there is a #18 posting (regarding sea-transport experience) and #19 posting (regarding Russian, Hungarian or maybe somewhat else). Please read it. I am not here to beat my chest what ethnic background(s) I have.

I have no idea, why are you obsessed with my knowledge of Russian. I speak four languages, this is one of them and I like it to a good degree. You are welcome to post any critical comment about my opinion and if I do not agree with your opinion, I will try to argue. It's only battle of opinions, nothing more. I hope it is evident, B92 is not about my person.

@ 18, 19,

Dear Ataman,

There is a saying in Albanian “Afër detit, afër mbretit”, litterally “By the seaside (is to be) near the King”, curiously originating form internal Albania (that was once Tirana). That says everything, apart abstruse calculations about private car transport form Bremerhaven to the Antipodes. And I don’t think Serbia could be used as a transite route to Oakland either! Those trucks crossing Hungary stop mainly in the Balkans. ME is different stuff, and EU is striving to get all that heavy truck traffic off the roads (on rail or ship). I wish anyway you were right, so I wouldn’t have to put up with those sea monsters sailing through the Otranto strait and polluting the still virgin beaches of Southern Albania, which has become a problem in the last years. Same applies to the projects aiming at turning that pearl of the Bay of Vlorë into a huge harbour for oil and containers and to an EU-energetic knot. Go to hell geopolitics if you disturb my summer vacations!

You may show whichever passport you want, dear Ataman. Hungarians are historical friends, Jànos Huniady was an ally of Skanderbeg against the Ottomans, being the common action hampered by Brankovic of Serbia, our Queen (Geraldina Aponyi) was Hungarian and highly appreciated. Even the Communist propaganda couldn’t say a single bad word on her account. The Serb Hungarian Sándor Petõfi is the model of a Hungarian patriot which inspired many Albanians to fight for freedom (if these words are not mere stalinist propaganda to you) until 1990 and in Kosova until 1999. And there are still many fans of Ferenc Puskas and Co (not my age). OK, we lost today against Hungary, but in Tirana we’ll take revenge. Many Hungarian cars were seen in Albania this summer. I was told they enjoy travelling the whole Adriatic-Ionian Coast form Istria to Peloponnesus. Landlock syndrom?

Russians are particularly appreciated, because they’re always full of cash. We don’t like cheques and credit cards, especially now. And there are still Lenin’s old nostalgics to whom Russian sounds pretty sweet. Most of intellectuals and others over 55-60 speak fluent Russian, the youngers speak fluent English, just as younger Russians do(?). Tschaikovsky is one of the most performed classics in Albania. Tolstoi and Chechov are still great masters, Tolstoi’s “Hadzi Murat” has been rediscovered and higly evaluated after the last events, Dostoievsky an universal genius of world litterature, Solzenitsyn a boring writer and a great personality who contributed also to Albania’s freedom etc. etc. etc.

You can also present yourself as a Serb, no problem, last summer we had some 23.000 Serbian tourists. No visas are needed for Serb tourists to enter Albania. What happened prior and in 1999 carries no real significance in business. Serbian behaviour regarding Kosovo seems mere masochism to most Albanians of Albania. It seems also that Montenegro is no longer big enough for Serbian tourism, especially after the Russians have bought nearly the whole coast. In Shkodër and Eastern Albania, till Pogradec you can also speak Yugoslavian (a creative mixture of Serbian, [or Montenegrinian?], Macedonian and et al. for limited communication needs.

Irish are the joy of pub-owners, they’ll never forget those glad, happy-go-lucky Irish fans who drink so much and don’t break anything (only in Albania?) and regret we don’t play Ireland once a month in Tirana.

All the rest of world is welcome, provided they bring some good cash to spend. No enemies left (what for?), money makes good friends. Good friends and glad people easily pay double. No tricks or sophisticated robbery (that’s stuff for banks): joy has also its price.

I really can’t understand what hurt you in my post Ataman. I read it 5 times, no idea. I tried to be as pleasant to You as I could. I weren’t even telling horror tales about Quetzalcohatl or stuff, to irritate people with little sense of humour (which surely you don’t lack). I just stated that it is worth striving to carry out everything that, in my humbleness, I thought to be required for a Maitre de Vie, an Enlightened, to stop for a very short while at our humble country, to share his spiritual (and other) richness with the poorer. I thought also “Otoman” would please you, which seems true. No problem even to call you “Turk” if that pleases you (some scholar wrote once that the feeling between Turks and Albanians could be compared to that between Austrians and Hungarians [from good old k.u.k. times]. Cannot confirm).

Now, if you call that “rude”… Quetzalcohatl would feel shocked.