Arquivos mensais:agosto 2020

Back in Sarajevo in October 1995, the expectancy on the good results of the American diplomacy was very high. Richard Holbrooke had managed to construct a Cease-Fire Agreement with the three factions, and he was pushing for the final Peace Agreement. The population wanted Peace and the Americans were getting it for them. On theContinuar lendo “1995 Bosnian Americanism”

When the belligerent factions insist in disagreeing with each other, you have to promote peace with an iron fist dressed with a pellet glove. Quando as fações beligerantes insistem em discordarem entre si, temos de promover a paz com um pulso de ferro e uma luva de pelica.

We – the military & police peacekeepers – are color blind. We are not able to recognize skin colors; only camaraderie. If you save my “skin” I trust you, regardless the pigmentation of your “skin”, and I will save yours. What I am looking for is the competency, not the melanin. Skin colors are justContinuar lendo “Peacekeepers are “color blind””

Up until about 2008, the wars also had a Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT) in our living rooms, more specifically – in from of the TV set. It was common to hear the buzzwords “if you control the media contents, you have access to the hearts and brains of your audiences”. The military didContinuar lendo “Social networks at the FLOT”

Nas missões de Apoio à Paz por vezes acontecem coisas muito preocupantes, mas que, quando recordadas muitos anos depois, não deixam de ter um toque de pitoresco, com algum humor à mistura. Recordo um camarada brasileiro, Observador Militar da UNPROFOR na Bósnia Herzegovina, tal como eu, que havia sido aprisionado por forças Sérvias e usadoContinuar lendo “Estórias de missão – O heroísmo Bossa Nova”

During the last year of Bosnia’s War, I had to interview several people to understand and report the population’s feeling regarding the ongoing conflict. Regardless of the ethnic group, age, gender or social condition, the population had had enough of the war. They all recognized the disagreements between the different ethnic groups, but that warContinuar lendo “Dayton babies get to power in Bosnia”