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O izdanju:
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CONTENT
INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE
Enter the Season of High Passions
FORTNIGHTLY NEWS
The Economy Of General Interest
FORTNIGHTLY FEATURE
Things Get Rough
THE ECONOMY
Labour Market Challenges – Croatia’s Rising Unemployment Just the Tip of an Iceberg
EDITORIAL
US and Croatian Bilateral Relations at an all Time High
REGIONAL
Kosovo Celebrates (?) Three Years of Independence
REAL EASTATE
What’s Cooking in the East
INDUSTRY PROFILE
Translation Services for the New Millennium
SPORT
Want to Play a Game of Cricket on an Adriatic Wicket? Come to the Island of Vis.
ENTERTAINMENT
CRO Music Scene: Is Rock and Roll Dead?
SOCIAL AWARENESS
Humanitarian Initiative “With You Forever”
TO DO LIST
Concert Buff s Preferred
INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE
Civil Unrest
On February 28th, Libya’s embattled Colonel Gaddafi sat down with BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, alongside ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, for an interview. If politicians – well, let’s just say world leaders – are known for their characteristically oblique and circuitous answers to diffi cult questions, then Gaddafi ’s responses are singular in their approach. Consider this excerpt from the interview: “They [the demonstrators] are not against us. No-one is against us. Against us for what?...They love me. All my people are with me, they love me all. They will die to protect me, my people.” Gaddafi went on to blame al-Qaeda for the recent widespread unrest in his country. Oblique and circuitous not so much; Gaddafi ’s words savour of denial, and, as some Western leaders have alleged, of delusion. Gaddafi is not the only leader these days guilty of dismissive (and wilfully ignorant?) sound bites; Libya is not the only country whose people have been taking to the streets. In Croatia, too, the spirit of protest has been awakened – though it might be a bit of a stretch to say that the Libyan example (among others) has animated Croatian anti-government dissidents. And PM Kosor’s response, while less outright defensive than Gaddafi ’s (she’s clearly careful not to get on the permanent bad side of powerful veterans’ interest groups), has denounced the public displays of disapproval here in Croatia as “unrest of isolated groups. Most citizens of Croatia support the Government , its poli cies and its effort towards EU integration.” Or something like that. For Kosor, as for Gaddafi , it’s been a hellish week.
The scale of the unrest in Libya – where, in the Eastern city of Benghazi, for example, over 200 people have been killed in the brutally harsh reprisals against demonstrators – makes the recent spate of protests across Croatia seem pitifully inconsequential. That would be a mistake to say, but an understandable one, unless you, reader, happened to witness the throwing of bricks and tear gas here in the Croatian capital last week. It is significant, indeed, when fi fteen thousand Croatians turn out for something other than football.The protests may constitute this issue’s feature, but not everything, fortunately, is about the riots and about crowds that apparently followed PM Kosor last night from venue to venue (from Parliament to HDZ HQ back to her private fl at and on to the Golden Kuna awards). Other shows must go on as well: the unemployment rate – or shall we say the terrifyingly low employment rate – certainly deserves a more comprehensive analysis; as does the real-estate market in the Asia Pacifi c region, for those less concerned about unemployment (and with some change in their pockets). We cannot forget to mention, too, that Kosovo has just celebrated its third year of independence, and Fraulein Riksheim rises to the occasion. I hope that the thorough piece in this issue will shed some light on the inner workings and dynamics of a country everyone likes to mention so often, but a country so few know anything about.By way of endnote, I would like you to join us at the Donors’ Dinner on the 3rd of March (Lobby Bar, Zagreb, 7 pm) in support of the Croatian Centre for Palliative Medicine. Under the circumstances, we would do well to remember that at least some of us have not run out of noble causes.
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O časopisu:
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Croatia: a Fortnight in Review (CR) is the first publication of its kind in Croatia: a twice monthly national English language newspaper for all those seeking high-level analysis of contemporary business, legal, political and cultural affairs and events in Croatia. The editorial office is well-rounded and, of course, international, and draws on the extensive experience of a composite of full-time professionals and outsourced experts.
News in all its insightful and banal forms is everywhere nowadays, but no newspaper should be solely about the news; the task of every self-respecting broadsheet is to provide and create meaningful context. This, simply, is our mission.
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