Croatia Joins the EU

Croatia Joins the EU 
From ethnic slaughter to stability in two decades: Former war zone Croatia joins EU

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

 

 

 

 

Only 18 years after a peace deal ended violence that left the former Yugoslavia bloodsoaked and gave birth to the term "ethnic cleansing," Croatia is to join the European Union at midnight on Sunday.

It is a major milestone for Balkan countries trying to close the door on decades of Communist rule and the horrors of civil wars that tore apart communities along ethnic and religious lines.

But while European leaders trumpet the latest expansion of the economic bloc, celebrations may be muted in austerity-weary Croatia.

With its thousands of miles of glistening Adriatic coastline, modern highways and sidewalk cafes, Croatia looks as prosperous as its new cousins in western Europe.

That masks an economy crippled by soaring national debt, an unemployment rate of 18.1 percent and an economy heavily dependent upon tourism.

“I fear that we will become another Greece, another Cyprus,” said Vesna Mitrovic, who runs a vacation apartment near Dubrovnik – the historic city that became trapped in a six-month siege in 1991 and is now home to the Museum of Croatia’s War of Independence.

“I signed the petition against EU membership," she said. "I think we will become a small fish in a big pond.”

However Igor Nicolic, 84, of Sibenik, a town north of Split, said he was pleased to see his country join the EU.

 “I have seen World War II, the Iron Curtain and the breakup of Yugoslavia,” he said. “We always thought of ourselves as part of central Europe, so it is really good that we can now join the union. I think it will help with the corruption here and in the long run it will benefit all of us economically.”

He appears to be in the minority. In a poll this month by Ipsos Puls, only 7 percent of Croatians said they would be watching a fireworks display marking Monday’s occasion, Reuters reported. Forty-two percent said such a ceremony was unnecessary.

Croatia is not the first country to join the EU from behind the “Iron Curtain,” the Cold War divide that separated the West from the Communist countries of the Soviet Bloc. Poland and Hungary, for example, joined in 2004.

Nor is Croatia the first part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to join: Slovenia, whose 1991 struggle for independence lasted a few weeks and claimed only 70 lives, was admitted in 2004.

However, Croatia is the first EU member among the protagonists in the post-1991 Balkan civil wars that also included Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro. By the time fighting ended in Kosovo in 1999, 140,000 lives were lost and more than a million people were displaced. 

Serbia could join the EU next year, it was announced Tuesday, with Montenegro next in line - once monitoring teams approve efforts to eradicate corruption and weak public governance. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo have yet to be formally adopted as candidates.

As well as passing economic tests to join the EU, these western Balkan countries were required to comply with efforts by the International Criminal Court in The Hague to bring war criminals on all sides to justice.

Croatia’s first post-independence ruler, autocratic nationalist President Franjo Tudjman, was facing investigation over his possible role in war crimes when he died in 1999. In 2005, Croatia took a significant step, handing over suspected war criminal Ante Gotovina – although he was cleared at the The Hague seven years later.

Fisherman Danilo Latin fears Croatia's accession to the European Union on July 1, and strict new laws and regulations that come with it, may drive the last nail into his industry's coffin.

“Croatia’s membership is part of the political agenda to normalize the Balkan countries,” said Professor Iain Begg, research fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina Richard Kauzlarich called Croatia’s entrance into the EU a “positive step” for both the country and the region as a whole.  

“I can remember the bad old days,” he said. “Croatia experienced a great deal of loss during the war, but the West, the U.S., the EU supported Croatia’s evolution and did everything we could to encourage the kind of leadership that would be necessary to undertake the EU process.”

Now a fellow at the Brookings public policy organization, Kauzlarich said that the country had resolved a lot of issues in order to join.

“I think if there is … a negative element out there it is that Croatia still has a significant corruption problem and they’re not going to be able to drop that because they’ve achieved this very important objective,” he added.

Croatia’s size means its accession will make more of a difference at home than across the rest of the EU. It is slightly smaller than West Virginia, and its 4.4 million citizens will represent less than one percent of the EU total.

Membership means it will qualify for Europe’s generous regional assistance programs – equivalent to federal aid in the United States – in which public money is spent on infrastructure projects that reduce the inequalities compared to wealthier members.

In March, the European Investment Bank approved a $150 million loan for the expansion of the Zagreb Airport, a key link with the rest of Europe. Cultural funds will also help protect Croatia’s heritage in places like Dubrovnik. 

Not all EU citizens are happy. Germany’s Bild magazine labelled Croatia "the new graveyard for our taxpayers' money,” a reference to the Berlin-led economic bailouts necessary to prevent the total collapse of other southern European nations including Greece, Spain and Portugal.

Instead of riding high on Monday’s accession, Croatia’s Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic was forced to address those concerns, saying his country “is not a rose garden but it is not a Greece, either.”

“My message to German taxpayers: We will cost you nothing," Milanovic said.

However, there are fears of a brain drain because EU membership also means fewer barriers to cross-border migration. A Facebook group, "Young people, let's leave Croatia" has attracted almost 60,000 likes.

"I'm happy we'll be able to seek jobs abroad and make more money," Zagreb computer science student Marko Jakic told Reuters. "But I'm also sad we can't do that in Croatia because our economy is bad and there are no jobs, even for us."

NBC News' Henry Austin and Reuters contributed to this report.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/28/19187211-from-ethnic-slaughter-to-stability-in-two-decades-former-war-zone-croatia-joins-eu

 

"Travel is the enemy of prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness."

"Travel is the enemy of prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness."

Here is a Ted Talk by Rick Steves, the American travel guru, tour guide, author and humanitarian, who spends 1/3 of his adult life living out of a suitcase.  I was moved by his presentation about how travel broadens his perspective and humanity.  I love the Mark Twain quote, “Travel is the enemy of prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”.

I hope you enjoy this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYXiegTXsEs&sns=em

 

Don’t ask, What Are You? (EVER)

I continue to be plagued and labeled as “other” on a regular basis because people feel it is OK to ask, What Are You?

I wish they realized how it immediately creates distance because they imply, I am an outsider—not one of the gang--- something abnormal.

 

For the record, it is completely inappropriate to ask this question when it is not pertinent to the interaction.  In fact, there is rarely an occasion when this question is appropriate.

 

My response is usually, what do you mean? Or why do you ask?  Even when I respond with I am American, or I am from Chicago, the person who asks is not satisfied.  That is because the real question is, What Non-White Group are you from?  I just don’t want to directly ask this because it will make me sound small.

 

Here is an article written by a woman who advisors others on how to NOT ask this question.  I agree with her points.

 

 

How to Ask Someone About Their Ethnicity Without Being an AXXXXXXXe

 

By Meher Ahmad

 

If you haven't been able to surmise from my little avatar photo off to the side and my non-WASP name (although, sometimes I like to prance about in Victorian lace numbers and call myself Marjorie Altringham), I am Not a White Person. This means I am a walking version of this fun little game called "What Kind of Not White Person Are You?" Here's how it goes: I introduce myself to you at a party or some such social gathering. You introduce yourself as well. In an attempt to get to know me better, or maybe just keep the conversation going, you want to know exactly how I am a Not a White Person. Which is totally fine at the right time and place, because I love gabbing on about my immigrant parents and how much I love mango pickle. It's all good fun in post-racial America, like wearing a red, white, and blue dashiki on the fourth of July (who knew you could don a dashiki and be patriotic at the same damn time?!)

But the majority of the time I play this game, supposedly well-intentioned people curious about my brownness go about asking it in the wrong way. No, not the wrong way- the ASSHOLE way. I get it, really. You grew up in a suburb of Indianapolis and no one ever taught you how to not be an asshole. That's actually my life story, too, but you can't always throw Indianapolis under the bus as your excuse for being ignorant.

Fret not, dear reader. I'm here to sift through insane Yahoo! Answers and my own Brown Girl Feelings to tell you exactly how not to be an asshole when asking a Not White Person about their ethnicity. It's really very simple once you get the hang of it! Let's practice together, shall we?

HOW TO ASK ABOUT ETHNICITY: THE AXXXXXE WAY

Bring it up right away.

Hint: Do not do this:

-Hi, my name's _______.

-Nice to meet you, I'm ________.

-Cool. So, like, what is your ethnicity?

This is instantly othering. It might be okay to ask, "where did you grow up?" But even then, proceed with caution. It's fine to be curious, and asking about where someone grew up is a good way to figure out if they smoked weed for the first time in the back of a minivan next to a Dairy Queen or on a fire escape next to a vegan co-op. But asking about ethnicity right off the bat is an obnoxious way to ask about something that isn't really relevant to basic introductions. Ask how I know the host, or if I watched the game last night (I didn't). Unless I'm sporting a button that says, "Ask me about my ethnicity!" you really just need to let that burning desire to figure out my brownness go.

"No, but where are you really from?"

For most people, "where you're from" is where you grew up and lived for the majority of your life, or maybe the city where you were born. But asking where someone is really from is not the right way to figure out where my bushy eyebrows and gigantic nose are really from. (They're from ancient Mesopotamia, jerk!) Again, this is othering, making a person feel like they need to explain why they look the way they do.

"But like, where are your parents from?"

See above explanation. Rinse, repeat.

"Let me guess where you're from!"

The guessing game is the best way to make someone feel like a trivialized object for your viewing pleasure. People who play it sound like the Earl of Burma attempting to pinpoint the specific village from where some subject of the British Raj hails. My ethnicity is not a game, so save your guesses for Twenty Questions.

Say anything about me is "exotic."

Here's how the dictionary defines "exotic":

exotic: [ig-zot ik] adjective: of foreign origin or character; not native; introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized: exotic foods; exotic plants.

Guess what? Everything everywhere in the world is non-native now. They have KFC in Japan and sushi in Sacramento. They've got Pakistanis in Norway and Norwegians in Nepal, etc. etc. It's called globalization, people, and it's made this colonial word obsolete. Nothing about my suburban-Indiana upbringing was exotic, let me tell you, so please refrain from describing me as such.

"What are you?"

Sigh. This question. There are many ways to answer it, like, "I'm hungry," "I'm human," or "I'm Tan Mom," but most often, the frenzied mix of anger and disbelief prevents me from answering with words, leaving me to the only other form of communication I know: rolling my eyes and a slow SMH, at best. Take this question, tie it to a rock, and throw it to the bottom of the retention pond in your neighborhood so no one has to hear it ever again.

HOW TO ASK ABOUT ETHNICITY: THE NON-AXXXXXXE WAY

Don't ask at all.

Seriously, the best way to find out is to let someone volunteer the information.

"What's your ethnicity?" (At the appropriate time and place)

See! It's not so hard! Ask when it's appropriate, like when you're about to make a racist joke about an entire people and you want to cover your bases. JK don't do that. Being curious about someone's ethnicity is perfectly fine, but just be aware that how and when you ask it has an impact on people, and if you're an asshole about it, the impact is othering. I've never been curt enough to say it when people ask me about my ethnicity, but the question that always pops up in my mind is, "Why? Why do you need to know at this particular time?" Ask yourself why you're doing it before you question someone about their background. If their ethnicity is relevant to the conversation, or perhaps you're at a point in your friendship where the question is appropriate, then it's fine. But chances are, if you're asking just to ask, you really just shouldn't.

In the words of Dodai, "Keep yourself in check and don't be a jerk." It's that simple.

When can you legally travel without a passport?

Who, what, why: When can you legally travel without a passport?

see this article by: By Tom Geoghegan of the BBC News Magazine, Washington

 

Fugitive Edward Snowden is hoping to get to Ecuador, despite not having a valid passport. So when can you legally travel without one?

The US state department has revoked Snowden's passport and asked other countries to prevent him from travelling.

Wanted on espionage charges, the American flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on 23 June - using his US passport, according to one of his lawyers - and has applied for asylum in Ecuador.

On Monday, a seat was booked in his name on a flight to Cuba, but he was not seen on board.

A passport is usually a condition of international travel, so under what circumstances can one travel without one?

According to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Snowden has a "special refugee travel document" issued by Ecuador.

Millions of refugees cross borders without passports as they flee persecution or fighting.

In 2012, more than seven million people became refugees, according to the United Nations.

Without passports, people would be expected to present some other form of identification, says Larry Yungk, a UNHCR resettlement officer. Some refugees can be registered at a border with no identification at all.

 

The answer

• Refugees cross borders with other forms of identification or none at all
• The US issues 60,000 I-94 documents a year to refugees without passports
• Consulates provide papers for people who have lost passports abroad
• National ID cards are acceptable for travel between certain countries
• The British Queen has no passport

"It's really up to the receiving country whether they wish to accept someone into their country without a passport," says Lavinia Limon, president and chief executive officer of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

The US admits about 60,000 refugees a year from all over the world, she says, and only a handful have passports.

They are each interviewed overseas face-to-face by officials from the Department of Homeland Security to establish whether they are genuine refugees and meet admission criteria.

A document called an I-94 is issued in lieu of a passport and travel to the US is arranged for each one.

"Let's say we're taking people from Malaysia and they have to stop in Hong Kong before they can get to LA," she says. "Hong Kong recognises these are US travel documents and lets them through."

Other countries such as the UK and Canada issue similar documents, as does the International Red Cross.

 

If a particular state wants to allow someone to travel on a state-owned airline, they have the right to do that without even issuing papers, says extradition lawyer Douglas McNabb, if the receiving country agrees.

You can also travel without a passport if it is stolen or lost while abroad.

"You can hang around for days waiting for a new passport," says Simon Calder, travel editor of the Independent newspaper. "Or you can get on a plane with something from your consulate that says 'this person is OK, let him or her take a one-way flight to their destination.'

"But it's rare and any kind of document like that is a get-out-of-jail-free card - go straight to your destination and don't mess around."

There are also special relationships between countries that entitle their citizens to travel between them without a passport.

For example, US citizens can travel to US territories like Puerto Rico and Guam with approved photo ID.

Beyond that, Americans always need a passport to travel by air, although US and Canadian citizens can visit each other's countries with pre-approved Nexus cards.

There are some exceptions to the mandatory passport rule if American citizens are visiting other North American countries by land or sea, according to the US State Department website.

So if they are going to the Caribbean or Bermuda, for example, then a passport card, rather than the passport book, will be accepted. And an enhanced driving licence or military identification can also be sufficient.

The UK and the Republic of Ireland have formed the Common Travel Area, in which photo ID is usually sufficient for citizens of both countries. Immigration officers can ask for proof of nationality, so government advice is to carry one.

In 1995, 26 European countries formed the Schengen area of free travel without border controls. But passenger carriers such as airlines can still impose identity checks that may include a passport.

National identity cards are also accepted in place of passports for member countries of some regional alliances.

These include the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union and some neighbouring countries, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and Mercosur in South America.

Not that Queen Elizabeth II has ever to worry about carrying one. As the person who officially issues them, she is the only Briton who is exempt.

Do you speak Touriste?

Apparently, Parisians are attempting to mend their nasty ways by adapting a friendly attitude toward their tourists.  Where you thinking, "It’s about time?"         See the attached article:

How to Be Nice to Tourists: A New Manual for Snooty Parisians

Do you speak Touriste?

By Mackenzie Yang June 24, 2013

Are the French finally feeling the pinch of their struggling economy and embracing the concept that “it pays to be nice”? Tourism offices in Paris–a city notorious for being unwelcoming to foreigners–are hoping to avoid losing tourists to friendlier destinations by distributing a handbook on being more courteous, reports Reuters.

Titled, ”Do you speak Touriste?”, the small pamphlet has friendly greetings in 8 languages, including Spanish, Italian and Chinese. It also offers suggestions to help locals better understand how visitors from various countries prefer to be addressed. “The British like to be called by their first names,” the guide explains, while Italians should be shaken by the hand, and Americans like to be reassured on prices. Regarding the Chinese, which Reuters describes as the fastest-growing group of visitors traveling to France’s capital, the guide describes them as “fervent shoppers” and advises that “a simple smile and hello in their language will fully satisfy them.”

Brazilians apparently pose a special challenge to a city known for exchanging the ultimate air kiss as a greeting. According to Reuters, the guide suggests offering to speak English to Brazilians — who are described as warm, “readily tactile” and keen on evening excursions — by telling them: “Nào falo Português mas posso informar Inglês.” (Rough translation: “I don’t speak Portuguese, but I can speak English.”)

With tourism supplying 1 in 10 jobs in the Paris area, 30,000 copies of the manual are currently being passed out to taxi drivers, waiters, hotel managers and sales people in areas ranging from the banks of the Seine river up to hilly Montmartre as well as in nearby Versailles and Fontainebleau, according to the report.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/06/24/how-to-be-nice-to-tourists-new-manual-for-snooty-parisians/#ixzz2X8voKQH6

Burma v Myanmar – what's in a name?

Burma v Myanmar – what's in a name?

Obama sidesteps political storm by referring to former pariah as both Burma and Myanmar

By Jason Burke of guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 November 2012

 

Burma v Myanmar – Barack Obama's use of the latter during his visit to the country was described by his hosts as 'very positive'.

What's in a name? A lot if you're a south-east Asian country emerging from decades of military dictatorship.

The British, during their time as colonial overlords, referred to Burma and to its principal city Rangoon. Early independence fighters did not see any problem with this, nor for several decades did the army generals who took power in 1962.

But, after widespread pro-democracy protests in 1988, things changed and Burma became Myanmar, or, more specifically, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; Rangoon became Yangon.

Some countries recognised the change. Others, such as the US and the UK, did not. As both names are used in the country – Burma is more popular, Myanmar is more literary – the decision was rooted more in a desire to show disapproval for the noxious regime.

President Barack Obama had reportedly considered avoiding either name but in the end used both Burma and Myanmar on Monday during his short visit to the country.

 

 

 

The use of the latter pleased his hosts – the Myanmar presidential adviser, Ko Ko Hlaing, called the wording "very positive" and an "acknowledgement of Myanmar's government" – but White House officials were quick to play down the move as a "diplomatic courtesy".

The debate is almost exclusively confined to the English language. The national anthem still refers to bama pyi or the "country of Burma".

France rated itself the most arrogant among eight European Union nations

French Are Most Arrogant, Say French In Pew Poll Of European Union Nations

 

France rated itself most arrogant among eight European Union nations, according to a new survey. I find this intriguing because I would expect an arrogant people to be incapable of seeing themselves through the eyes of others.  Read on……………

 

Are the French really arrogant? They seem to think so.

France rated itself the most arrogant among eight European Union nations, a new survey indicates. But in the same poll, France also said it was the least arrogant -- a twist The Guardian called a "display of Gallic insouciance."

The findings in the Pew Research Center's "Stereotyping in Europe" poll were part of an overall survey of European attitudes, titled "The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study showed that old notions and animosities still appeared to thrive across borders in the EU's struggle for unity amid debt recovery, the Telegraph notes.

 

 

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, cracked to the outlet: “I am delighted that the Eurocrats have failed to crush national stereotyping, which is what makes Europe a great continent.”

Pew polled 7,646 citizens from Germany, France, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, and Spain.

Germany was rated most trustworthy, and it also eclipsed France as most arrogant among the majority of countries polled.

Every nation rated itself as the most compassionate, while Germany was generally considered by other countries to be the least compassionate.

More Europeans could also agree on their dislike for the current economic arrangement. The median of those with a favorable view of the European Union dropped from 60 percent to 45 percent in the past year.

The Huffington Post | By Ron Dicker Posted: 05/14/2013 6:20 pm EDT