The people of Serbia will look on with deep cynicism as former Yugoslav president and Serbian nationalist Slobodan Milosevic launches his defense against war-crimes charges at The Hague this week.
Milosevic is due to make an opening statement in his self-defense today and the proceedings, as they have been for more than two years, will be broadcast live on TV throughout the Balkan republic.
But the broadcasts long ago lost their appeal in a country that is trying to move on rather than constantly relive the past. To many the proceedings have become little more than a tiresome soap opera starring a man most would rather forget.
Analysts expect few surprises, saying Milosevic will stick to his strategy of challenging the legitimacy of the UN war-crimes court while using the trial as a political platform to speak to the Serbian people.
"He has combined ignoring of the procedural side of the trial and the evidence, addressing more the domestic audience," journalist Nenad Stefanovic said in the weekly Vreme.
"Surely he will not give up such tactics" during his defense time, said Stefanovic, who has been covering the trial for Vreme.
At the start of the trial Milosevic announced that he would summon world leaders including former US president Bill Clinton and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to give evidence about the Balkans wars of the 1990s.
"There is no doubt that he will try [on Monday] to change places with the prosecution as he thinks that the trial should be held against those who have brought him there," Stefanovic said.
Sociologist Dragan Popovic estimated that the resumption of the trial would hardly "glue anyone to the television screen, although his supporters have not disappeared from Serbian soil."
"But even they have now realized that this will be a long process, with almost no chances for Milosevic to return to his homeland," Popovic said.
Last week, on the third anniversary of the former strongman's extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, only several hundred supporters gathered in Belgrade to demand his release.
Public interest in the almost daily TV coverage of the trial has waned from the start of proceedings, when it nearly brought the country to a standstill.
In a bid to revive the ratings of the broadcast on B92 TV, the only station which has constantly transmitted the proceedings, editors decided to combine the trial with "current affairs" programs.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS