Hunting Karadzic

clipped from www.iht.com The Associated Press Top war crimes suspect arrested in Serbia Published: July 21, 2008 BELGRADE, Serbia: Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres making him one of the world's top war crimes fugitives, was arrested Monday evening in a raid that ended a near 13-year manhunt, the country's president and the U.N. tribunal said.

This is old news indeed. But I've been moving between places before I got settled and decided to have my own say about Karadzic.

The modern war in Balkan hit me back in 1991 when I was in Germany and was asked to be aware of possible delays on my way back to Indonesia due to a recent war over the Balkans. That was 1991 and the world was in the middle of the Gulf War (almost in the middle, I guess), so being a high school student who has just finished a student exchange trip around Germany and feasted on Europe's charms, that sentence just didn't make any sense to me. Not until a few years afterwards during my freshmen years at the university when I was taking international relations blah and had to do a paper on Serbian-Bosnian War that ended in 1995.

My interest to war has always been movie-bound. The "Band of Brothers" was amazing, while "The Black Hawk Down" and "Hotel Rwanda" was mesmerizing. Although I found "Welcome to Sarajevo" as so so, I think "The Hunting Party" was a smart movie. The latter brought my memories to early 90s when the modern Balkan war just begun. Especially when the news on Karadzic arrest hit the media.

The timing between the production and release of "The Hunting Party" and the arrest of Karadzic was not that far. Can it be a coincidence? I guess I've been reading too many spy novels and watching too many movies

If you've seen "The Hunting Party", you'd also recognize the plot, which revealed (by a UN officer who was interviewed by Richard Gere and Terence Howard as the lead actors) that the war criminal was somehow not captured because there was some sort of deal between the CIA (or NATO or whatever) and the war criminal himself. This is rather interesting if we pay attention to recent news on Karadzic claims about his deal with Richard Holbrooke, an American diplomat who brokered the Dayton Accords that ended the Serbia-Bosnian war.

I don't know, which one is real. Richard Gere and Terence Howard in "The Hunting Party" or Richard Holbrooke and Radovan Karadzic in "Dayton Accords" and "Bosnian War"..

clipped from www.presstv.ir

Karadzic: I had a deal with Holbrooke Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:00:15

Karadzic (L), Holbrooke (R) Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appears at the UN's Yugoslav war crimes tribunal for the first time, charged with genocide.

Sleepy lil town

Staying for a few days in a small town that sleeps at around 9 PM can be a challenge sometimes. Not if you're in Malang, a lively small town that's growing to be a small city. Experiencing a couple of rides using small transportation called "bemo" aka a 1,000 cc van can be fun if you know where to go despite the chilling wind of summer evening.

If you're staying at Santika Hotel, cross the road and hop in to a bemo with "AG" code. The first drop off is "Bakso President" by a small mall called "Mitra", take a walk into a small alley nearby the mall and just before a railway you'll find a small eatery called "Bakso President". It's a classic place to unwind your evening with a bowl of steamy meatball soup. Then go back to the alley's entrance and take "ADL"-coded bemo.

Ask the driver to drop you off at "Hotel Tugu". Smile and chat a bit with the friendly receptionists and ask for a quick tour de hotel. I'd recommend you to go with Alberto, a guy who's usually taking the helm at the reception. He speaks fluent English and a great guide. He would take you into the "Alley of Love", "L'amour Fou", "La Chambre de Romeo et Juliette", "Warung Shanghai" and end up at "Kafe Und". Grab a home-made gelato at Kafe Melati or Kafe Tugu before leaving the hotel. "Soy bean Crackers" finish fast, while "Lemon Cheese", a buttery and cheesy cornflakes cookies with subtle lemony flavor will surely tickle your taste buds.



Cross the hotel and walk around the "Tugu Monument" surrounded with lotus pool. When you're done circling the monument roundabout, go across and you'll find Malang's town hall. It's showered with downlights during the evening. Forget the chilling wind and head down the road, leaving the town hall behind you for another 200 meters towards the direction of "Kayu Tangan District" until you find a huge catholic church and "Toko Oen", an ancient ice cream parlor dated back to Dutch era. You'll meet "Alun-alun Malang" aka "Malang Plaza" (plaza refers to a public space in the heart of a town/city, not a mall). Take "AG"-coded bemo and head back to the hotel.

If you prefer to unwind you evening at Hotel Tugu, it is also recommended. Stay until late night by the pool and enjoy intimate talks with friends and your significant other at the main restaurant, the "Warung Shanghai" (a cafe basically) or "Kafe Und".

seat number three

20:15
Departing. Dunno how to recline my creaking seat. The advertised headphone as part of vehicle facility had gone kaputt, leaving only a knotted cord. I asked the girl in seat number six about the way to recline my seat.

20:20
Seat #5: "What's yours?"
Seat #6: "Two point nine seven."
Seat #5: "That's quite an achievement. Mine is zero point nine seven."

"..aku bukan siapa-siapa.. untukmu..." (ring ring.. the cellular phone rang) "Cok lon di Fatmawati. Jak ngen moto, beuh.. Fatmawati beuh.. Ka beuh.."

20:30
Irfan Herlambang
09-Jul-08 20:17
Fwd: Trima kasih saya ucapkan atas semua pengetahuan dan bimbingannya selama 3 hari di setiabudi. insya ALLOH manfa'at dan barokah.

20:40
Thinking about "Plurk" that Toni showed this afternoon. I'm just being too paranoid

20:45
Busy securing my laptop bag, two packs of steamed brownies and camera case (loaded with US$350 office camera). I'm being paranoid again, although I'm actually inside an intercity shuttle service, not in a more thief-prone night train. But still tho..

21:15
Dots of lights deep in the darkness. Looks like a plant.

21:20
Cows' butts on a semitrailer truck.

21:30
"I feel kinda sad. I got rejected. Yasmin went back to her ex. Where are you?"

Forcing my cellular phone to restart aka opened the battery latched and pulled out the battery. Too slow to play music and games at the same time.

21:35
"Well.. she said there was no chemistry. D'oh.. of course, it's only been a month.."

21:40
"Yes, talking on the cell.. It's ahy ěm θriː that I'm using."

21:45
Counting minutes. Where's Fatmawati?

21:50
Cursing myself not to make any efforts to by an MP3 player.

"..swear, I'll never get married.. That's what she said in front of her ex.."

21:55
"Yeah, I plan to go out. With a guy."

21:00
"I'm on the way, Man!"

Bekasi Square. A copy of European castles. Highway lights! Uh oh.. I'm blind..

"Hana.. Di jalan tol.. Honda jeut? Hana.. Ka beuh.."

22:05
The car picks up its speed. Hurrah!

"..Jati Asih.. Ka beuh?"

22:15
Where's my left loafer??

22:20
A neon sign read "Leading the Human Development Paradigm" by TB. Simatupang highway. What a brand..

"Where are you? Slept already? Pick up mummy, okay. Now."



Note:
This is my record of a two hours non stop travel from Bandung to Jakarta, using an intercity shuttle service with seven passengers and a driver. We left Bandung at 20:15 and reached Jakarta at 22:25.

Words typed in regular style are my thoughts, while those in italics belongs to people sitting around me. Each line represents a person's voice.