Slobodna Vojvodina

Eva S. Balogh

Only this morning I heard a short interview with one of the political scientists of Méltányosság Intézet. “Méltányosság” can be translated as fairness, fair-mindedness, or even impartiality. In any case, this particular associate of the institute was studying the seemingly entrenched inability of Hungarians to conduct civilized and rational dialogue with people who hold opposing views. Not only are politicians incapable of sitting down to discuss their differences; ordinary people can scream at each other at the slightest provocation. For some it is enough to see a person reading a newspaper not to their liking to become violent.

 How deeply embedded this dangerous and ugly trait is in Hungarian culture is a matter of debate. But I certainly don’t see any desire on the part of the political elite to temper it. On the contrary, some of the verbal abuses hurled by Fidesz hatchet men only add oil to fire. Let’s face it, boorish (and worse) behavior is spreading in Hungary, especially in right-wing circles whose members feel–and not without reason–that their time has arrived. Now they can do anything they want against those whom they consider to be their enemies.

Below Surface, U.S. Has Dim View of Putin and Russia

Early in 2009, as recession rippled around the world, the United States Embassy in Moscow sent to Washington a cable summarizing whispers within Russia’s political class. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, the rumors said, often did not show up at his office.

The embassy titled the cable “Questioning Putin’s Work Ethic.”

“There are consistent reports that Putin resents or resists the workload he carries,” it said, citing Mr. Putin’s “fatigue,” “hands-off behavior” and “isolation” to the point that he was “working from home.”

The cable, approved by the American ambassador, John R. Beyrle, assessed the Kremlin rumors not as indicators of Mr. Putin’s weakness, but of the limits of his position in a period of falling commodity prices and tightening credit. Russia’s most powerful man sat atop Russia’s spoils. The recession left him with less to dole out, eroding “some of his Teflon persona.”

We are an ad hoc self-organized group of web activists. The purpose of our action is to bring to the attention of the Serbian public dangerous influence of the writer Dobrica Co...sic, who has been, again this year, proclaimed by some as a serious contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dobrica Cosic, author and public political figure, active for decades, always close to the highest political power and those who exercise it, from the Communist Party of former SFRY, inspirators of their manifest of Serbian nationalism, infamous Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences, former president of the Milosevic's wartime SR Yugoslavia, to present alliance with reactionary and most dangerous Serbian pseudo-democratic circles in the new era.

page 2005 (part)

"The increasing separation of the Montenegrins and Kosovars has hardened Belgrade's attitude to Vojvodina aspirations for Self-Government, but has also STIMULATED a debate on the Province's Future.
Many Vojvodinians see the integrated European Union as THEIR FUTURE - rather than the continuing Balkan instability.
A proposal for a Sovereign Federation of Autonomous Cantons on the Swiss model is supported by many Vojvodinians, Hungarians and other national groups.
One key consideration that favours the Pro-Sovereignity groups is the Province's relative Prosperity.