Linkovi
- East Ethnia
- Yakima Gulag
- Burek Eaters
- Estavisti
- An American in Belgrade
- Sarajevo Photoblog
- Balkan Baby
- Belgrade Blog
- The Glory of Carniola
- One small lawyer's big adventure
- Finding Karadžić
- Americans for Bosnia
- Bosnia Vault
- Jugoslavija Druga
- Friends of Bosnia - Seattle
- Sam Thought (inactive)
- Mladi Behar - Boise, Idaho
- FK Srebrenica - Boise, Idaho
- Research and Documentation Center - Sarajevo
- Balkan Immigration in Washington
- Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble
- Balkanarama
- Balkan Cabaret
Arkhiv
Potato i Jedinstvo
Friday, August 26, 2005
Rat
Quotes from when Clinton committed military force in former Yugoslavia:
"You can support the troops but not the president."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)
"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99
"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush
"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't
think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)
"You can support the troops but not the president."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)
"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99
"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush
"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't
think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
NK / фK Joe
Monday, August 15, 2005
Jugonostalgija
Yugoslavia nostalgics now have a place to call home -
Welcome to Yugoland: brotherhood and unity for only three bucks!
Bonus link: The Yugo Page!
Seeing one (still) on the road always makes me smile.
Welcome to Yugoland: brotherhood and unity for only three bucks!
Bonus link: The Yugo Page!
Seeing one (still) on the road always makes me smile.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
BiH businesses in Twin Falls, ID
Nonprofit offers refugees business advice, loans
TWIN FALLS -- After a trip to visit relatives in her home country last year, Bosnian refugee Mira Delić isn't looking back.
"Life in America is a lot easier," she said, in an accent that reverberates with the soft sounds of her native Romance language. (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian may be Slavic, but apparently they are also the languages of romance!)
But there was nothing soft about the life that Delić escaped six years ago. The constant fear of ethnic cleansing -- in other words, murder -- in an ongoing civil war (sic) in the eastern European country prompted the Delić family to apply for refugee status in order to come to the United States, she said.
In Idaho since 1999, the wife and mother of two teenagers lives in Twin Falls and runs her own hair salon on Blue Lakes Boulevard North. Money she had saved as a dishwasher in a restaurant and as a hair cutter in someone else's salon enabled her to open her own business, exSALONce, last year.
Before she opened the doors, however, Delić -- who had already practiced hair care in Bosnia for 14 years -- got advice from a nonprofit entity that specializes in counseling refugees on business startups as well as providing loans to refugees who have just come to America. To qualify for either, foreigners must prove their lives are threatened if they continue living where they are.
The nonprofit is META, an acronym for MicroEnterprise Training & Assistance. Funded with federal dollars, META has operated in Idaho for 2 1/2 years.
META has helped about 75 refugees in the Treasure Valley area, with about 30 of those taking out loans, program coordinator Ron Berning said. The nonprofit just recently entered Magic Valley. It's a natural expansion because Idaho has three refugee centers, with two in Treasure Valley and one at Magic Valley's College of Southern Idaho. During the past five years about 500 refugees have settled in Magic Valley, Berning said.
So far about 20 refugees in Magic Valley have used instructions from META on how to structure and maintain a business in the United States, he said. But no Magic Valley refugees have taken loans. META has $50,000 available at any one time for loans up to $15,000.
The loan aspect of META exists because "banks aren't willing or able to lend to refugees," Berning said. "We fill that gap."
Berning wants refugees -- who are often professionals such as doctors, engineers and lawyers who are forced to turn to service-sector businesses to make a living in the United States -- to know they can rely on META soon after they arrive in the United States to help them start new lives.
The stipulation for getting a META loan is that the refugee can't be a U.S. citizen.
Delić said she didn't want a loan. For one thing, it's not part of the Bosnian culture to borrow money, she said. For another, she was afraid of paying a lot of money over the principal in interest payments.
However, she said she took Berning's advice on bumping up advertising and raising her prices a bit. She also said she'll turn to him if she needs help with taxes.
Not all Bosnians are afraid of borrowing money.
Euro Food Store
I loved this store! After the Bosnian cafe on Main Ave. closed, it was the last place in town where I could buy kajmak and ajvar, and a piece of Kras candy for the kid. There's a caffe-bar next door, and tables out on the sidewalk too.
owner Narcis Kurbegović, a veterinarian who came from Bosnia 10 years ago, said he saved money from a welding job and added that to a loan from a local bank to start his business. It would have been easier to get his European-style cafe and ethnic food store going if META had been available when he was ready to start, he said.
So how is business for these new Americans?
"It's OK, it could be better," the former animal doctor said.
Still, Kurbegović said just being in the United States makes him optimistic.
Delic, with only a year's experience upon which to judge her new business, said: "It's getting better and better every day."
TWIN FALLS -- After a trip to visit relatives in her home country last year, Bosnian refugee Mira Delić isn't looking back.
"Life in America is a lot easier," she said, in an accent that reverberates with the soft sounds of her native Romance language. (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian may be Slavic, but apparently they are also the languages of romance!)
But there was nothing soft about the life that Delić escaped six years ago. The constant fear of ethnic cleansing -- in other words, murder -- in an ongoing civil war (sic) in the eastern European country prompted the Delić family to apply for refugee status in order to come to the United States, she said.
In Idaho since 1999, the wife and mother of two teenagers lives in Twin Falls and runs her own hair salon on Blue Lakes Boulevard North. Money she had saved as a dishwasher in a restaurant and as a hair cutter in someone else's salon enabled her to open her own business, exSALONce, last year.
Before she opened the doors, however, Delić -- who had already practiced hair care in Bosnia for 14 years -- got advice from a nonprofit entity that specializes in counseling refugees on business startups as well as providing loans to refugees who have just come to America. To qualify for either, foreigners must prove their lives are threatened if they continue living where they are.
The nonprofit is META, an acronym for MicroEnterprise Training & Assistance. Funded with federal dollars, META has operated in Idaho for 2 1/2 years.
META has helped about 75 refugees in the Treasure Valley area, with about 30 of those taking out loans, program coordinator Ron Berning said. The nonprofit just recently entered Magic Valley. It's a natural expansion because Idaho has three refugee centers, with two in Treasure Valley and one at Magic Valley's College of Southern Idaho. During the past five years about 500 refugees have settled in Magic Valley, Berning said.
So far about 20 refugees in Magic Valley have used instructions from META on how to structure and maintain a business in the United States, he said. But no Magic Valley refugees have taken loans. META has $50,000 available at any one time for loans up to $15,000.
The loan aspect of META exists because "banks aren't willing or able to lend to refugees," Berning said. "We fill that gap."
Berning wants refugees -- who are often professionals such as doctors, engineers and lawyers who are forced to turn to service-sector businesses to make a living in the United States -- to know they can rely on META soon after they arrive in the United States to help them start new lives.
The stipulation for getting a META loan is that the refugee can't be a U.S. citizen.
Delić said she didn't want a loan. For one thing, it's not part of the Bosnian culture to borrow money, she said. For another, she was afraid of paying a lot of money over the principal in interest payments.
However, she said she took Berning's advice on bumping up advertising and raising her prices a bit. She also said she'll turn to him if she needs help with taxes.
Not all Bosnians are afraid of borrowing money.
Euro Food Store
I loved this store! After the Bosnian cafe on Main Ave. closed, it was the last place in town where I could buy kajmak and ajvar, and a piece of Kras candy for the kid. There's a caffe-bar next door, and tables out on the sidewalk too.
owner Narcis Kurbegović, a veterinarian who came from Bosnia 10 years ago, said he saved money from a welding job and added that to a loan from a local bank to start his business. It would have been easier to get his European-style cafe and ethnic food store going if META had been available when he was ready to start, he said.
So how is business for these new Americans?
"It's OK, it could be better," the former animal doctor said.
Still, Kurbegović said just being in the United States makes him optimistic.
Delic, with only a year's experience upon which to judge her new business, said: "It's getting better and better every day."
